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Born: 07 January 1935, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim / Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 06 September 1952, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 1967
Died: 06 February 2013, Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park, Dublin (Priest of the Westminster Diocese, England)

Left Society of Jesus: 20 June 1966

Father was Superintendent of the Guards and the family lived at John’s Mall, Birr, County Offaly.

Third of five boys with two sisters.

Early education was at a Convent school and then at the Presentation Brothers in Birr for nine years, and then at Mungret College SJ for three years.

Priest of the Westminster Diocese, England

Funeral at Milltown Park, Dublin

Buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in the Jesuit burial plot.

Address 2000 & 1991: More House, The Grove, Isleworth, Middlesex, England

Irish Jesuit News, February 20, 2013

Mourning Fr Ken McCabe

Fr. Ken McCabe (Westminster Diocese) died peacefully on the evening of Wednesday, February 6th. In recent years, a series of strokes left Ken struggling with severe health issues. Since 2010, he received wonderful nursing care from the team in Cherryfield Lodge. He had an unusual history, as Kevin O'Higgins recounts.

Ken had life-long links with the Irish Province. He was educated at Mungret College, and entered the Jesuit Novitiate in 1952. As a scholastic, he spent several years teaching in Belvedere College. During those years of Jesuit training, the plight of disadvantaged children became the main focus of his concern. In the mid-1960s, his efforts to sound the alarm about the mistreatment of children in Industrial Schools led to difficulties with both Church and State authorities. The upshot was that Ken departed from both Ireland and the Society. He was ordained to the priesthood for Westminster Diocese in 1967.

For the next 40 years, Ken devoted his energies to working on behalf of children from distressed families. He founded the Lillie Road Centre, which offered education and residential care to over 400 such young people. His final project was to establish a branch of this Centre in Edenderry, near Dublin.

During all those years in London, Ken maintained close links with many Irish Jesuits. Thanks to Fr. Joe Dargan’s decision to send novices to work with Ken on summer placements, those links transcended Ken’s own generation. It is wonderful that, in his final years, Ken returned to Milltown Park and the loving care of the nursing staff in Cherryfield. Fittingly, his mortal remains were laid to rest in the Jesuit burial plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. Ken was a great man, and a dedicated priest. May he rest gently in God’s love.

Interfuse No 151 : Spring 2013

Obituary

Fr Kenneth W (Ken) McCabe (1935-2012) : former Jesuit

Kenneth W. McCabe was born in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland on 7th January 1935. After education at the Presentation Brothers School in Birr, Co. Offaly and Mungret College, Co. Limerick, he entered the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus in September 1952. After his Novitiate he studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at University College Dublin and later taught at Belvedere College in Dublin. His theological formation was at Milltown Park in Dublin.

A profound interest in the connection between poverty and delinquency deepened during his studies and various pastoral placements, so much so that he saw this as his particular vocation as a priest. At that time – the early 1960's - the Irish Province of the Jesuits was involved mainly in running schools and colleges. In conscience Ken did not see his future in teaching and asked to be released from his Jesuit vows to work as a secular priest in Westminster. He was granted this leave in the spring of 1966 and after some months residing in Edgware parish while taking up a probationary year as a teacher at St James' School, and after a short period of study at Allen Hall, he was ordained to the Diaconate at St Edmund's in December 1966. He was ordained to the Priesthood at Sion Hill Convent in Dublin on 27th May 1967 by Bishop Pat Casey.

He returned to Edgware immediately after ordination and was then appointed to St Charles' Square. He became chaplain at the Cardinal Manning Boys School where he also did some part-time teaching. He moved residence from Ladbroke Grove to Brook Green. During this time he set up the “Lillie Road Centre - a service for children and families in times of trouble”. Fr Ken spent the next thirty years running the charity he had set up which had various incarnations in Chiswick and Osterley. He returned to Dublin to live with his sister Muriel in 2007. His health began to deteriorate and after a period in the Mater Hospital he was very kindly given a place at the Jesuit Retirement Home in Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park.

A personal appreciation by Kevin O'Higgins

Ken McCabe was a complex man, but with a very simple, straightforward faith. He took the Gospel seriously, made it the guidebook for his life, and everything he did followed from that. The Beatitudes could be seen as the script he tried his level best to follow. Perhaps because he kept his Christianity simple and straightforward, he was a force to be reckoned with! Ken was passionate about the causes he espoused, and stubborn to the point of driving other people to exasperation. Yet he was always in touch with the lighter side of life, especially when he could persuade a couple of people to join him at a table adorned with a pot of tea and some nice biscuits! He had a great sense of fun, and often enjoyed being mischievous, particularly when things were serious. His life was devoted to doing good, helping others, especially the most vulnerable, and always standing up for the truth. He was uncompromisingly true to his conscience, a maverick of the kind that the Church and society need more than ever!

Ken's life story merits a book. In fact, he has been mentioned in several books and articles already. Fifty years ago, at a time when few people wanted to listen, he tried his best to sound the alarm about the mistreatment of children in Industrial Schools. In a dark period for the Irish Church and State, the young Jesuit scholastic Ken McCabe took a courageous stand, even though it meant standing in a cold and lonely place and, ultimately, accepting exile from his beloved Ireland. He tumed that exile into a magnificent opportunity to do good. His children's charity in London helped to transform the lives of hundreds of young people, many of them of Irish descent. In the persons of Cardinal John Heenan and, later, Cardinal Basil Hume, Westminster Diocese encouraged Ken in his pioneering work, freeing him from more conventional parish work in order to help children in danger.

Over the years, more than 400 children passed through the Lillie Road Centre. Ken cherished every single one of them. Many young Jesuit students passed through the Lillie Road Centre also. Shortly after Ken began working in London, Fr. Joe Dargan decided to send novices to work with him on summer placements. This decision kept alive Ken's life-long link with Irish Jesuits. Providentially, many years later, when decisions had to be made regarding Ken's nursing care and, indeed, the final resting place for his earthly remains, one of the young Jesuits who had worked with him as a novice, Fr, Tom Layden, was now Provincial of the Irish Jesuits. Ken's family and friends, as well as his Diocese of Westminster, will be eternally grateful to Tom.

Initially, Ken fought against the process of slowing down. His last big project was to open an extension of his London charity near Dublin, in Edenderry. He acquired a wonderful house, and opened a new centre for troubled young people. Those who worked with Ken on this project knew that, even early on, there were signs that all was not well with his health. He did his very best to carry on regardless, but was actually relieved when he was finally persuaded that it was time to see a doctor. Scans revealed that he had suffered several minor strokes, and these bad begun to impair his memory and his ability to communicate.

Ken knew his energy, dynamism and even his independence were all slipping away. That was an unimaginably painful realisation for someone like Ken, who had always been, literally, in the driving seat, always pursuing some new project, always in control. The fact that he came to accept his new reality with so much grace was an indication that, in spite of appearances, Ken himself always knew that he wasn't really the one in charge. He fought the good fight for as long as possible.

About three years ago, in addition to his struggle with memory loss, Ken's physical health began to decline and he had to spend a couple of months in the Mater Hospital. From there, he moved to Cherryfield, into the loving care of Mary, Rachel and the entire staff. He was cared for also by the Jesuits of Cherryfield community, who went out of their way to make him feel welcome and at home. In his final two and a half years, Cherryfield gave back to Ken what he had offered to so many young people - care, understanding, love and a refuge from the storm.

To end, a recent memory of Ken. One Sunday afternoon, about four months ago, we were sitting in Cherryfield watching an Andre Rieu concert on the television. When the orchestra began to play the beautiful 2nd Waltz by. Shostakovich, Ken suddenly called to one of the nurses and said “I want to dance!” So they danced a waltz for a couple of minutes. I hadn't seen Ken so happy for many months. When he sat down, there was look of triumph on his face, as if to say “The old Ken McCabe spirit is alive and well”. It was. And it still is. May he waltz away to his heart's content, in God's loving company, forever and ever. Amen!

◆ Mungret Annual, 1959

Behind the Jesuit Curtain

Kenneth McCabe SJ

A Thing that always puzzled me w about the Jesuit in Mungret was the secrecy they inevitably displayed in any discussion about Jesuit life. Later I was to discover that the problem was by no means confined to Mungret. Men from all other Jesuit colleges had experienced the same mystery. For some unknown reason what took place behind the “Jesuit-curtain” was a secret.

I remember on one occasion bringing the subject up with a scholastic, This man had a sense of humour and decided to treat me to a highly imaginative account of what went on in the Jesuit novitiate. None of the common misconceptions of the novitiate of fiction was left unexplored. I heard of the practice of sweeping endless corridors with the inevitable tooth-brush. I was given vivid pictures of innocent-eyed novices obediently planting young cabbages upside down, I was even convinced of the benefits of sweeping swirling leaves against the fury of fierce March winds. The whole fantastic description (which I partly believed) filled me with a nagging curiosity, Surely, I told myself, there must be even stranger things to be seen by the initiated. It was with a spirit of adventure that I set out a year or two later to share in a first-hand peep behind the “Jesuit-curtain”.

The Irish Jesuits have their novitiate at Emo, near Portarlington, Co Leix I arrived there on September 7th, 1952 prepared for the worst. My first surprise was meeting another Mungret re presentative who had entered there the previous year. It was a relief to see tha: he was none the worse for his year with the Jesuits, and, in fact, he seemed to have benefited by the country air and Jesuit food. As I hadn't heard a word about this man since he left Mungret a year previously (another example of Jesuit secrecy) I was greatly relieved at what I saw. With this extra assurance I walked bravely into the Jesuits.

The Master of Novices was on the door-step to meet me and with him was a young man wearing a Jesuit gown over his ordinary lay clothes. This man I was told, was a second year novice and would be my guide or angel for the first two weeks in the house. When I said good-bye to my parents I began my grand tour of the house eager to see the worst.

I was amazed at what I saw. The house literally swarmed with young me dressed like my guide. The funny thing was that they all looked extremel cheerful and full of the joys of life. I met, too, the other young men who were to be my companions for the next two years in Emo. The whole place seemed so natural that I already began to have my doubts about the novitiate of fiction. However, I daren't ask my guide any thing the first night, so I decided to wait till morning to discover the worst.

A good night's sleep is always a revitalizing tonic. Next morning the clang of big bell left me with no illusions as to where I was but I found no difficulty getting up, eager to begin my round of exploration. (I must admit that the “first-fervour” attitude to getting up, which I had on that great morning, has ever since eluded me). First there was Mass and then breakfast. There followed an interview with the Master of Novices and also with his assistant. Then my guide told me we would have half an hour's manual work. This was it. I smiled bravely to myself and obediently went along to collect my tooth-brush. But here I had my first disappointment. I was given an ordinary, if well worn-out, brush and told to sweep, in an annoyingly normal way, a long corridor. The only item that came up to my expectations was the phenomenal length of the corridor. Bang went the tooth-brush myth.

The other items on the list of my Scholastic friend were eventually exploded in the same very ordinary way. Emo is blessed with extensive and very beautiful grounds and it takes forty vigorous novices all their spare time to keep them in reasonably good order, without wasting valuable time planting cabbages upside-down or sweeping leaves against the wind.

Life in the novitiate is divided mainly between prayer and learning the rules of the Society of Jesus. There is, of course, no shortage of games and recre ation that every normal young man must have. One or two features of novitiate life merit special mention. A month after his entrance the novice begins a thirty day retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. Without seeming too “pitious” every Jesuit must admit that this is one of the greatest experiences of his life. Even the schoolboy doesn't take long to be gripped by the intensity of the thirty days.

Perhaps the most unforgettable of the “tests” imposed on the Jesuit novice is the month he must spend in the County Home in nearby Mountmellick. The novice works there as a wardsman helping in the many chores of the hospital and around the old and straggling house. Comparatively speaking the work in the County Home is tough but the novelty carries him over the first few days and then he begins to enjoy the experience, It is no exaggeration to say that his month in “Mellich” is the most vivid memory the average young Jesuit carries with him from Emo. Perhaps for the first time in his life he will come face to face with real poverty and suffering. It is an experience that does much to mature the schoolboy novice and to imprint and mould in the future priest a respect and a love for Christ's poor.

At the end of two years in Emo the novice takes three perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Now he is a Jesuit for life. He says good bye to his friends in Emo and sets out for the next stage in his training, his university studies, which he does for three years at Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin,

University studies: the very idea might send a tremor of fear through the innocent reader. He might even think that it is at this stage that the Jesuit sheds his cloak of humility (it is a well known fact that all novices are humble) and begins his quest for wisdom and superiority. But this is not true. The average Jesuit confines himself to Bachelor of Arts degree and finds the work as tough as everyone else. At the end of three years, instead of being proud and superior, he is much mo likely to be humbler and far more aware of his own limits. Of course, occasionally the law of averages will send in the ranks of the society a genius, This young man might very well take pride in his achievements but if he does, he does so, not because he is a Jesuit, but because he is a man, as such, subject to the weaknesses of human nature. Strange though it may seem the briliant man is generally the most humble of all.

Three years in Rathfarnham is followed by three years in the midland bogs. In St Stanislaus College, near Tullamore, the Jesuit Scholastic studies philosophy to deepen his knowledge of the realities of life. More than anywhere else this is the place where the “schoolboy Jesuit” becomes the mature man, who in a short year or two, will called on to share some of his learning and training with the youth entrusted to the care of his society. This is duty that the young Jesuit eagerly to forward to.

So after eight years of training Jesuit Scholastic is considered ready for the colleges. This is where most of us first meet him. There are always three or four Scholastics in every Jesuit College. They are generally full of enthusiasm and ideas, both of which have been brewing since the young novice was first inspired by the ideals of St Ignatius. The mystery still remains however, why the Scholastic is so slow to share his secrets of Jesuit life. One explanation is that he does not wish to give the impression of “fishing” for vocations. St Ignatius wisely forbids his men to do this. However, once a possible “vocation” approaches a Jesuit friend and tells him of his intention, then the Jesuit will do all he can to encourage and direct him in his choice.

What kind of people join the Jesuits? There is no definite answer to this question. It is true to say that the majority of Jesuits are young men straight from school but many, too, have already tasted the pleasures of life in the world. Late vocations come from all walks of life and it is not unusual to find a wide variety of men in a Jesuit novitiate. How does his training affect the Jesuit-to-be? Jesuits are often accused of being all of a type; moulded in a set fashion and turned out stamped “Jesuit”. This accusation is losing vogue nowadays. The great diversity of work undertaken by Jesuits all over the world is an undeniable proof of the individuality of each member of the Society of Jesus. One thing is true, however. Every Jesuit is the same in so far as all are dedicated to a common cause, all are fired by a single ideal, all work under the same motto: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, to the Greater Glory of God.

This brief peep behind the “Jesuit curtain” shoud help to show that Jesuits are really human despite appearances or accusations to the contrary. Life in a college community is as rich in human experiences as is the life of any large family. Schoolboys see their Jesuit teachers as a group of austere but well-intentioned men, (at least I hope they do) men, who to all outward appearances may seem devoid of the many faults and weaknesses that are part and parcel of human nature.

The Jesuit, on the other hand, knows himself for what he really is. He has a fairly shrewd idea, too, of what his confrère really is beneath the cloak of external trappings. He knows his good qualities as well as his weaknesses and admires him for both. Together the Jesuit community try to preserve as much of the family spirit as can be preserved outside the natural family, Christmas in a Jesuit house would amaze even those who think they know Jesuits well. No effort is spared to make this homely of feasts as happy and as enjoyable as possible, Anyone still convinced of the legend of the Jesuit of fiction would be well advised to ask a Jesuit friend about his Christmas fes tivities, He will discover, that at least once a year, the Jesuit sees fit to doff his mask of formality and take an active part in the little simple joys that human nature delights in,.

Before concluding it might be well to retrace our steps and complete the description of the Jesuit training. After colleges the Scholastic goes to Milltown Park in Dublin where he reads Theology for four years, and is ordained at the end of the third. A final year of novitiate, called Tertianship, is spent at Rathfarnham Castle. Here the young priest does the full thirty days retreat for the second and last time. From then on he will make an annual retreat of eight days. At the end of his Ter tianship he is assigned to one of the many works carried on by his order.

This article is written to help anyone interested, to pierce the barrier of Jesuit secrecy. Anyone wishing to learn something of the Jesuit way of life will get enough from it to enable him to open a discussion with a Jesuit friend. There are no Jesuit secrets. If anyone still believes the Jesuit-of-fiction legend he should make a point of meeting and talking with a real Jesuit, Knock on the door of any Jesuit house. Ask to speak to a Jesuit priest. If he turns out to be a tall dark figure equipped with the legendary cloak and dagger, and a hat well down over his eyes, be sure to let me know of your discovery. However, I don't think such a person will have much trouble in realising that every Jesuit is first of all a man endowed in varying degrees, with the virtues and eccentricities of his kind.

https://dominusvobiscuit.blogspot.com/2012/05/autobiography-of-stamp.html

I read a very powerful piece about moral courage, and the lack of it, by Dermot Bolger in yesterday's Irish Times.

He mentioned Fr. Kenneth McCabe:
"The young Jesuit, Kenneth McCabe, got a truthful report about Irish industrial schools to Donogh O’Malley in 1967. The minister was sufficiently shocked to establish a committee that abolished these lucrative sweatshops, but at the last minute McCabe was excluded from the committee. Tainted as a whistleblower, he resigned from the Jesuits and went to work as a priest with deprived London children."
The name rang a bell but it took me a while to place it.

When I was editing the Shanganagh Valley News in 1958, Fr. McCabe had contributed a short story called "Autobiography of a Stamp, or, Converted by the Jesuits" as a vehicle for appealing for used postage stamps for the Missions.

I bet at that stage he had little idea how his career was to pan out ten years later. I checked out the priest list in the Diocese of Westminster and he is listed there as retired and in a Jesuit nursing home in Milltown.

Until today, I had no idea he had run into trouble for following his conscience. This upset me enormously. I'm not sure why. I never met Fr. Kenneth. I had only corresponded with him by letter. But he was nonetheless part of my growing up and he belonged to a more innocent era, as the story of the stamp so strikingly illustrates. So perhaps my upset was at a loss of innocence, a nostalgia for a time when things seemed simpler, and fixed, and true for all time.

Mind you, my upset is slowly turning into a cold anger at how he was treated. From what I read in the Ryan Report he was one of four people proposed for the Committee of Inquiry, and came recommended by Declan Costello TD, but his name got "dropped" somewhere between the Government Memorandum and the final Cabinet decision. It is not clear what role the Jesuit order played in all of this but his resignation from the Order, if such, would not reflect well on them. On the other hand, he seems to be in some way under their care today.

This post is just a small contribution to making sure he, and his bravery, are not forgotten.

Of course I don't have as many readers as the Irish Times, but, never mind.

Update - 9/2/2013

In the third comment below, Fr. Kevin O'Higgins has informed me that "Fr. Kenneth McCabe died peacefully a few days ago (Wednesday, Feb 6) in Cherryfield nursing unit, at Milltown Park". He says Fr. Ken was "a genuinely great man" and I totally agree. May he rest in peace.

Fr. Kevin himself is no slouch, as his bio on the jesuit missions website shows. He says Fr. Daniel Berrigan inspired him to join the Jesuits, and as I was reading the bio I was also thinking of Fr. Roy Bourgeois who seems to have shared some of the same experiences as Fr. Kevin on the missions.

Born: 20 November 1913, Rathdown Road, North Circular Road, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 15 July 1946 (from Milltown Park)

Father, John, was a land valuer in the Civil Service with the Boundary Survey Department. Mother, Annie McCarthy) died in 1923.

Fourth of five boys with four sisters.

Early education was at the Dominican Convent school in Eccles Street and then at O’Connells school.

Baptised at St Paul’s, Arran Quay, 23/11/1913
Confirmed at St Agatha’s, Nth William St, by Dr Byrne of Dublin, 03/03/1925

1932-1934: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1934-1937: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1937-1940: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1940-1943: Belvedere College SJ, Regency
1943-1943: Milltown Park, Theology

Reported to have gne to Cairo where he lectured in English during WWII and after. He was married to a girld from abroad.

Born: 01 May 1910, Orchard Terrace, Omagh, County Tyrone
Entered: 02 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 24 October 1943 (for health reasons)

Father, James, was foreman for a building firm. Mother was Elizabeth (Doherty). Family then lived at Pretoria Terrace, Omagh.

Eldest of two boys with a sister.

Early education at Christian Brothers Grammar School Omagh, County Tyrone and Mungret College SJ (1928-1929)

Confirmed at Sacred Heart, Omagh, by Dr McHugh of Derry, 24/05/1922

1929-1931: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1931-1934: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1934-1937: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1937-1939: Loyola, Hong Kong - studying language
1939-1940: Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, Regency
1940-1943: Canisius College, Pymble NSW, Australia - Theology

RIP 06/06/1974 ???

Born: 28 November 1908, Australia
Entered: 02 March 1928, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 29 January 1931

Teacher before entry and also involved in journalism

1928-1930: Loyola Greenwich, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1930-1931: Rathfarnham Castle, studying

Born: 06 May 1951, Coolbawn, Goatstown Road, Dundrum, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1970, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 08 September 2015, Goatstown, Dublin, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 06 October 1976

Father was a doctor - Niall, RIP 1977. Mother was Sheila (Healy).

Eldest with two brothers and two sisters

Educated at Mount Anville (1956-1959); Gonzaga College SJ (1959-1963) and Belvedere College SJ, Dublin, (1963-1970)

Baptised at University Church, St Stephen’s Green, 11/05/1951
Confirmed at Holy Name, Beechwood Avenue, by Dr McQuaid of Dublin, 22/03/1963

1970-1972: Manresa House, Dollymount, Novitiate
1972-1973: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1973-1974: Milltown Park, Philosophy
1974-1976: Belvedere College SJ, Regency

Address 2000 & 1991: Gonzaga College SJ, Sandford Road, Dublin City

https://jesuit.ie/news/danny-mcnelis-rip-a-man-committed-to-service-and-living-life-fully/

Danny McNelis RIP: committed to service and living life fully

Daniel last Christmas learned that he had pancreatic cancer. It was a great shock and a severe blow to all the plans he had made for his retirement. He had even got a new artificial leg to enjoy his retirement more fully. The shortness of time that he probably faced forced him to live life ever more fully. Every day, every hour mattered. He tried everything to restore his health but his cancer proved to be very aggressive and made rapid inroads into his health. He still went sailing and cycled to the doctor for every appointment up to the last few months. As it dawned on him it was more likely he was going to die than to live, he surrendered to God, “Whatever is for your greater glory, not my will but Thy will be done!”

Even though he wanted to have more time with Bríd and see Áine and Niall blossom into full adults, he couldn’t deny that he had no fear of death, and that part of him was dying to see God and to meet people like Ignatius. He decided that his last mission would be to die well. He asked Mr McCaul, the headmaster in Gonzaga College, could he talk to the sixth years on what it is like to be dying. They were spellbound by his cheerfulness and his courage. He embraced each one as they left the room, many with a misty eye. He also chose to make a farewell speech at the staff dinner in May. Again he made a deep impression.

His final task, the last thing he had any control over, was his funeral Mass. He planned it meticiously as if it was his next class. He chose the readers, readings, psalm, hymns, the celebrants, a letter he wrote to Jesus on his last sixth year retreat and who was to read it. The final hymn he chose was ‘Sailing’ by Rod Stewart and it was particularly poignant. I don’t think anyone in the packed church was ever at a more beautiful and uplifting funeral. As a mark of respect the boys of Gonzaga College, past and present, lined the avenue on both sides, three deep, and clapped the cortège as it left the grounds.

Danny had loved every day of his life in Gonzaga, from being headmaster in the Junior school to pastoral director in the Senior school, thirty years in all. He was always cheerful, full of gratitude, deeply appreciative of each boy, knowing each by name, as he watched them with interest grow and develop from first year to sixth year. He never regretted the ten years he lived as a Jesuit, in fact he seemed to love Ignatius and his early companions more than many Jesuits! He loved the outdoor life, especially sailing, a hobby he passed onto the Transition Year students. He loved preparing the leaders for the Kairos retreat each year and that and the retreats with relish and thoroughness.

Danny was an avid Leinster rugby fan (no one is perfect!). He spent many years running the Children’s Mass in his Kilmacud parish. Above all, he lived for Jesus, the Scriptures, and especially the psalms. The following letter which he wrote to Jesus on his last retreat in October 2014 gives a flavour of his devotion to Jesus:-

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for reaching out to me, embracing me, caring for me, intervening for me, inspiring me.
Help me to be the man whom you wish me to be.
Inspire me with the passion of the great saints to be your presence in the world.Give to me the urgency and passionate conviction to serve you.
Make me realise and relax in my own goodness.
Help to to change from judging others to seeing them loved by you.
Help me progressively to reduce fretting and worrying and to live more completely in the present moment.
Find me a rewarded and rewarding role in which to serve you for your greater glory.
Your loving brother Daniel.

Finally the following prayer on his Mass card sums up Danny’s spirit.

Without exception, live every day of your life with gratitude. As you look in the mirror say, thank you God, for life, for my body, my family, my loved ones, for this day and for the opportunity to be of service. Thank you, thank you, thank you…

A few days before he died, I drew one of the last smiles from Danny’s face with the comment “Do you know Danny, there is one surprise you may get when you go to heaven, there might be more Munster supporters than you ever imagined!” Of course I almost forgot, he had a great sense of humour. May he rest in peace.

Myles O’Reilly SJ

Born: 24 July 1915, Shannon View, Ennis Road, Kildysart, County Clare
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 14 February 2002, Cayman Islands

Left Society of Jesus: 05 August 1942

Father, Thomas was a road ganger for Clare County Council. Mother was Brigid (Carmody).

Youngest of four boys with four sisters

Educated at a National School for ten years, then he went to Mungret College SJ (1932-1935).

Baptised at St Michael’s, Kildysart, 25/07/1915
Confirmed at St Michael’s, Kildysart, by Dr Fogarty of Killaloe, 03/06/1928

1935-1937: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1937-1940: Rathfarnham Caltle, Juniorate, UCD
1940-1942: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

Address 2000: Strathnaim Street, Bermondsey, London, England

After leaving he became a priest : Right Reverend Monsignor John A Meaney, was Regional Director for the Pontifical Mission Aid Societies in Beirut. He retired to the Cayman Islands in 1984 serving as pastor of St Ignatius Parish on Grand Cayman from 1984 to 1995.

Msgr. John A. Meaney, CNEWA Director, Dies
By CNEWA Staff

Category: News 19 February 2002
Msgr. John A. Meaney, CNEWA’s Regional Director in Beirut from 1978 through 1984, died on 14 February in the Cayman Islands. He was 86.

Before he joined CNEWA, Meaney had served in the Caribbean as Regional Director for the Pontifical Mission Aid Societies. When Msgr. Richard Mahowald, then Director of CNEWA’s Rome office, invited Msgr. Meaney to take charge of CNEWA’s operating agency in the Middle East, the Pontifical Mission, Msgr. Meaney said: “I don’t speak Arabic, and I know nothing about Arabs and very little about the Middle East.”

Msgr. Meaney proved to be a fast learner. He arrived in Lebanon at a particularly dangerous time. Israel had invaded the south and Syria had attacked eastern Beirut, displacing some 60,000 families. He organized relief efforts that distributed food, clothing and medical supplies. He was also instrumental in rebuilding schools, hospitals and housing facilities. Although based in Beirut, Meaney also reviewed operations in Amman and Jerusalem.

He was known for his fundraising skills and his compassion for the suffering children of Lebanon.

John Andrew Meaney was born in County Clare, Ireland, on 24 July 1915. He graduated from University College in Dublin in 1940 and received a master’s degree in English from New York University in 1952. He studied at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome from 1956 to 1960, and was ordained on 2 April 1960 for the Archdiocese of Kingston, Jamaica.

After ordination he was appointed headmaster of St Mary’s College in Jamaica, 1960-1965. He served as pastor of St. Ignatius Parish on Grand Cayman from 1984 to 1995, when he retired. He was named a domestic prelate in 1974. Burial took place in Ireland.

Born: 07 November 1926, Dollymount Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 22 October 2010, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin City

Left Society of Jesus: 06 September 1949

Father, James, was an insurance official. Mother was Elizabeth (Whelan).

Eldest of three boys with one sister.

The Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary education was at a St Pat’s Boys National School, Drumcondra and then at O’Connell’s school

Baptised at the Visitation, Fairview, 22/11/1926
Confirmed at St Agatha’s, North William Street by Dr Wall of Dublin, 03/02/1937

1945-1947: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1947-1949: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD

After leaving was said to be living in Clontarf, unmarried and in good health on all levels.

https://rip.ie/death-notice/alan-charles-meehan-dublin-dollymount-95016

Alan Charles MEEHAN
Dollymount, Dublin

Date of Death:
Friday 19th February 2010

In the loving care of the doctors and nurses in St Mary’s Ward at Beaumont Hospital, after an illness bravely borne. Sadly missed by his loving sister Ruth, brother Ken, sisters-in-law Anne and Mairaid, nieces and nephews.

Born: 15 September 1894, Inglewood, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 27 November 1911, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 06 June 1918

Father a retired Police Constable and with his mother live at “Carmel”, Golf Links Avenue, Oakleigh, Victoria.

Fourth of five boys (2 died in infancy) and he has five sisters.

Early education was at a convent school in and Northcote, in 1908 he went to St Patrick’s College Melbourne for two years.

1911-1913: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg,, Novitiate
1913-1917: Rathfarnham Castle, studying Rhetoric and at UCD
1917-1918: Belvedere College SJ, Regency

Born: 10 June 1906, St Anthony’s Road, South Circular Road, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 20 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 10 May 1938 (from Milltown Park)

Father worked for Browne & Nolan’s, Nassau Street.

Third eldest of five boys and he has four sisters.

Early education was for three years at a Convent school, and then he went to Synge Street (1914-1923). He then spent a final year at Belvedere College SJ.

1924-1926: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1626-1928: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1928-1929: Granada, Spain (BAE) for Philosophy but was unable to continue on account of Latin
1929-1930: Milltown Park, Philosophy
1930-1932: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1932-1935: Mungret College SJ, Regency
1935-1938: Milltown Park, Theology

Born: 03 October 1939, Lower Clanbrassil, Street, South Circular Road, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1957, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 14 January 2022, Henley Place, Cedarhollow Boulevard, London, ONT, Canada

Left Society of Jesus: 03 December 1970

Father was a Radio Dealer.

Eldest in a family of three boys and two girls.

Educated at Synge Street until after the Intermediate Certificate. he then went to the High School of Commerce and did his Leaving cert there. He then took a job working in an office.

1957-1959: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1959-1963: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1963-1966: Maison Saint-Louis, Chantilly France (GAL S) studying
1966-1967: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency
1967-1968: Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick, Regency
1968-1970: Milltown Park, Theology

Address 2000 & 1991: Jamestown Road, Inchicore, Dublin City & Lambourne Avenue, Clonsilla, County Dublin

https://rip.ie/death-notice/james-brendan-nolan-dublin-468755

The death has occurred of

James (Brendan) NOLAN
Ontario, Canada and formerly, Dublin
NOLAN, James ‘Brendan’ - Born October 3, 1939 in Dublin, Ireland, Brendan Nolan passed away peacefully on Friday, January 14, 2022, at Henley Place LTC Residence in London, Ontario, Canada, in his 82nd year.

Survived by his wife Maryann Nolan; his children Anne Ravanona, Jaime Nolan Miralles, David Nolan, Michael Nolan, Sarah Nolan Miralles; first wife Rosario Miralles Sangro; siblings Eileen Nagle, Kenneth Nolan and Anne Donegan; brother-in-law Willie Donegan; grandchildren Emily and Ethan Nolan Ravanona, Aaron, Ines and Daniel O’Keefe Nolan Miralles, Sophia and Mathew Nolan, Aisling Campbell Nolan, Roxy, Billy, and Lily-Rose Nolan, Uma and Cormac Nolan Miralles DeBrun; son-in-law Stéphane Ravanona, Anne Marie Devitt, Kate Stewart; nephews and nieces; and Maryann’s daughters Laura, Beverley and families.

Predeceased by his beloved son Paul Nolan Miralles and brother Michael Nolan.

Funeral service will be conducted on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Road North, London, Canada at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time - Canada) / 6pm Irish Time with visitation one-hour prior, followed by a burial at St. James’ Cemetery in Watford, Ontario, Canada. Registration will be required to attend as attendance numbers will be restricted.

https://www.westviewfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/james-brendan-nolan/#:~:text=James%20Brendan%20Nolan%20was%20born,the%20young%20age%20of%2017.

James Brendan Nolan
January 14, 2022

Peacefully passed away on Friday, January 14, 2022, at Henley Place LTC Residence in London, Ontario, Canada, in his 82nd year.

Survived by his wife Maryann Nolan; his children Anne Ravanona, Jaime Nolan Miralles, David Nolan, Michael Nolan, Sarah Nolan Miralles; first wife; siblings Eileen Nagle, Kenneth Nolan and Anne Donegan; brother-in-law Willie Donegan; grandchildren Emily and Ethan Nolan Ravanona, Aaron, Ines and Daniel O’Keefe Nolan Miralles, Sophia and Mathew Nolan, Aisling Campbell Nolan, Roxy, Billy, and Lily-Rose Nolan, Uma and Cormac Nolan Miralles DeBrun; son-in-law Stéphane Ravanona, Anne Marie Devitt, Kate Stewart; nephews and nieces; and Maryann’s daughters Laura, Beverley and families.

Predeceased by his beloved son Paul Nolan Miralles and brother Michael Nolan.

James Brendan Nolan was born in Dublin, Ireland on October 3, 1939, the first child of Ellen and James Nolan. He had 2 sisters, Eileen and Anne and 2 brothers, Michael and Kenneth. As a young man he excelled academically and entered the Jesuit order at the young age of 17.

He obtained a BSC in Mathematics and Physics at University College Dublin, Ireland followed by Bachelor degrees in Philosophy and Theology, and a diploma in higher education.

As a Jesuit, he studied in Chantilly, France, became a teacher and taught Math and Physics at the prestigious Clongowes Wood College for boys in Ireland. He spoke fluent French and Spanish, had a good understanding of German and was well travelled.

He left the Jesuit order, then married his first wife in 1971 and they enjoyed 28 years of marriage and had six children together. During that time, he worked as a training manager at Rowntree Macintosh (now Nestlé) before joining Leo Laboratories pharmaceutical company in Dublin, where he worked for many years as HR Director. He remained spiritual, took part in bible study groups in Ireland and Canada for many years. He was an expert on the Gospels, with a preference for the gospel of St. Paul.

He loved art (in particular Picasso, Markey) and music (from Bach, Schubert, Mozart and Chopin to Jacques Brel and Leonard Cohen) and enjoyed playing bridge when younger. He loved going to art exhibitions and concerts, was an avid reader and enjoyed meditation.

Later he took over part of the English Language School his first wife had set up and managed it for a few years before retiring permanently to London, Canada in 2001. He married his second wife Maryann Bach Maier in 2000 and they lived out the end of his years in London, Ontario, Canada.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Road North, London at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time – Canada) with visitation one-hour prior, followed by a burial at St. James’ Cemetery in Watford, Ontario, Canada. Registration will be required to attend as attendance numbers will be restricted.

Born: 20 May 1900, Moyne Road, Ranelagh, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 04 October 1925

Father owned a window blinds factory at Batchelor’s Walk.

Only child.

Early education at a Convent school and then at St Enda’s for two years, but intermittently due to health. He then went to CUS (1911-1914) In 1914 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ until 1917.

1917-1919: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Novitiate
1919-1920: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Juniorate, Rhetoric
1920-1923: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1923-1925: Milltown Park, Philosophy

Born: 27 August 1910, Maryborough (Portlaoise), County Laois
Entered: 14 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 30 May 1938 (from Clongowes Wood College SJ - Regency)

Father was a Civil Servant and family lived at Prison Avenue, North Circular Road, Dublin.

Third of five boys (3 deceased) and he has three sisters (one deceased)

Early education at Christian Brothers Portlaoise, and then at the Christian Brothers Kilkenny he then went to O’Connell’s School Dublin

1929-1931: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1932-1935: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1935-1938: Clongoiwes Wood College SJ, regency

Born: 15 November 1902, Australia
Entered: 28 October 1925, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 07 September 1932

Transcribed: HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

1925-1927: Loyola Greenwich, Australia, Novitiate
1927-1930: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1930-1932: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

Born: 23 June 1909, Harcourt Street, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 26 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 18 June 1931 (from Rathfarnham Castle)

Father was Assistant Collector for Customs & Excise in Dublin, and the family was at Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge.

Youngest of four boys with three sisters.

Early education was at a National School in Belfast (1916-1921). He then went for two years to North Monatery, Cork, and then moving to Dublin went to Synge Street.

1927-1929: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1929-1931: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate

Born: 07 August 1917, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 09 February 1942

Father was a merchant, and family lived at Mount Eden Road, Donnybrook, Dublin.

Eldest of four boys with five sisters.

Early education was at CBS Westland Row and then at O’Connells School for six years.

1936-1938: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1938-1941: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1941-1942: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

Reported to have married and had a big family, and had been Managing Director of the Portlaw Tannery, County Waterford. His wife had died of cancer.

Born: 31 January 1910, Suffolk Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died 18 July 1983, Riverside Drive, Rathfarnham, Dublin City, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 18 June 1935

Father, Henry Joseph owned a House Agency and Auctioneers, and later involved in the Hotel business (Jury’s & North Star). Mother was Mary Josephine (Byrne). Family resided at Claremount, Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin

Younger of two boys (older brother being in the Society) and one sister.

Early education was at a Holy Faith Convent, and then at Synge Street. Finally he spent six years at Belvedere College SJ.

1927-1929: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1929-1932: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1932-1933: Vals, France (TOL) studying Philosophy
1933-1935: Belvedere College SJ, Regency

https://www.dib.ie/biography/obrien-john-joseph-jack-a6477

O'Brien, John Joseph (Jack)
Contributed by
Murphy, Angela
O'Brien, John Joseph (Jack) (1910–83), businessman, was born 31 January 1910, second son of Henry Joseph O'Brien, hotel proprietor and house agent of Waterloo Rd, Dublin, and his wife Mary Josephine (née Byrne). Educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, he took a keen interest in rugby, tennis and, in particular, public speaking. Graduating BA from UCD, he enrolled at King's Inns in 1938 and qualified as a barrister in 1941. He rose to prominence within the business community when in 1937 he became secretary of a Dublin-based employers’ organisation, the Federated Employers, which had its origins in the labour disputes of 1913. O'Brien was ‘the driving force of the organization’ (McGuire, unpublished memoir, 74). It was O'Brien who envisaged unifying employers’ bodies throughout Ireland into one national organisation, which could match the professionalism of the trade unions in the arts of industrial relations and bargaining skills. With the support of their council, O'Brien and Edward McGuire (qv), president of the Federated Employers, set about forming a national body which would be manned by a staff of full-time professionals. The result was the foundation in 1942 of the Federated Union of Employers, with O'Brien as its general secretary (later redesignated as director general in 1951); he held this position until his retirement in 1960. During this time, he led negotiations with the ITUC on unofficial disputes and wage agreements.

His international career began in 1945 when he was elected adviser to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). During 1947–60 he held the position of employers’ delegate to the ILO. Moreover, in 1954 he became the first Irishman to hold a seat on the ILO's governing body, a seat that he held for two consecutive terms. His international prestige as a renowned public speaker grew, and in 1960 he was elected president of the International Organisation of Employers and vice-chairman of the International Labour Office. In 1958 he became a director of the Shannon Estuary Co. He still maintained a pivotal role within the commercial sector after he retired. His chief business interests lay in the hotel and tourism trade, and in 1960 he became chairman of Jury's Hotels Ltd. In the same year he was elected vice-president of the Dublin chamber of commerce, and the following year he became its president.

He always maintained an association with Belvedere College; in 1935 he was made honorary secretary of Old Belvedere Rugby Club and subsequently became its president (1953–6). He was also elected president of the College Union in 1966. A very dapper man, he always ran the FUE with great style; his renditions of ‘How can you buy Killarney’ and ‘Frankie and Johnnie were lovers’ were a feature at many annual dinners. The delivery of Trinity cigarettes from Fox's to the FUE every Friday was also an example of his style. He lived most of his life at 15 Riverside Drive, Rathfarnham, Dublin, with his wife Claire, their daughter, and their four sons until his death on 18 July 1983.

Sources
Ir. Times, 8 Dec. 1959, 19 July 1983; Brian Hillery and Patrick Lynch, Ireland in the International Labour Organisation ([1969]); Ir. Independent, 19 July 1983; Belvederian Yearbook 1984; Basil Chubb (ed.), FIE: Federation of Irish Employers 1942–1992 (1992) (photo); Kenneth Ferguson, King's Inns barristers 1868–2004 (2005); E. A. McGuire, unpublished memoir (private possession)

Born: 30 March 1947, Williamstown House, Williamstown, Carbury, County Kildare
Entered: 07 September 1965, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 29 January 2020, Sunnybrook Hospital, Bayview Avenue,Toronto ONT, Canada

Left Society of Jesus: 29 August 1978

Born in Dublin

Father (Eugene J) was a Company Director. Mother Ellen (Dempsey)

Youngest of three boys.

Educated for three years at a Preparatory school outside Naas, County Kildare, he then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ for seven years.

Confirmed at the Oratory, Kilashee by Dr Keogh of Kildare and Leighlin, 15/05/1957

1965-1967: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1967-1970: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD (BA)
1970-1973: Milltown Park, Philosophy
1973-1975: Gonzaga College SJ, Regence
1975-1977: Regis Toronto (CAN S) studying Theology
1977-1978: College of Industrial Relations, Lecturing

Tom and his wife Christine gave a directed retreat at Manresa in 1982

Address 2000 & 1991: Ramwood Drive, Weston, Toronto, ONT, Canada

https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/thomas-o-brien-obituary?id=40581960

THOMAS O'BRIEN Obituary
O'BRIEN, THOMAS (TOM) Thomas (Tom) O'Brien passed away surrounded by family and loved ones at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on January 29, 2020 at age 72. Beloved son of the late Eugene and Ellen, and loving husband of Christine, Tom will be dearly missed by his children, Ellen (Paul), Michael (Vanessa), Wanda, and Patrick (Ashley); brothers, Eugene (Ingrid) and Paul (Sheila); in-laws, George, Stan (Tish) and Mara; nieces and nephews; grand-nieces and grand-nephews; best friends, Tony (Marian) and Patrick (Dianne); Irish relatives; the Senator O'Connor community; the St. John the Evangelist Parish community; and his many many friends. Born March 30, 1947, in Dublin, Ireland, Thomas was a proud child of two Irish counties; he grew up on the farm and fields of Williamstown House, Carbury, County Kildare, and on the fairways and in the supermarket in Edenderry, County Offaly, the centre of his father's business enterprises. Thomas was introduced to Ignatian spirituality during secondary school at Clongowes Wood College, after which he joined the Irish Jesuits, with whom he spent 13 years living in community, learning the practice of discernment and building the faith foundations that lasted throughout his life. A student of theology, philosophy, politics and history, Thomas obtained his undergraduate degree from University College Dublin and Master of Divinity from Regis College, University of Toronto. Although he moved on from the Society of Jesus, Ignatian spirituality never left him. He married Christine in 1981, started a family, and proudly made Canada his second home. Tom had an extraordinary ability to make a deep connection in everyday moments: from the hallways of Senator O'Connor where he taught for over 30 years, to St. John the Evangelist Parish where he sang every Sunday, to the friendships he formed co-founding North York Storm Girls Hockey League, playing at Weston Golf & Country Club, volunteering in the community and so much more. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, for his kindness, compassion, voice (as both storyteller and musician), quick wit, intelligence and beautiful golf swing. Visitation on Sunday, February 2nd, 1:00 - 4:00 and 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., and Monday, February 3rd, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Ward Funeral Home (Weston), 2035 Weston Rd. Funeral Mass on Tuesday, February 4th at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 520 Sherbourne St., Toronto. Burial to follow. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Good Shepherd Refuge.

Born: 02 September 1921, Marlborough Street, Derry, County Derry
Entered: 07 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 27 February 1948

Father, Joseph, was the Cathedral Organist and Professor of Music at the Diocesan College Derry, and then became the Director of The Municipal School of Music, Chatham Row, Dublin, and organist at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner Street. Mother was May (Byrne)Family moved in 1930 to Merrion Road, Dublin.

Second eldest of seven boys and two girls.

Early education was at various schools and then at Belvedere College SJ for six years

Baptised at St Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry 03/09/1921
Confirmed at Church of the Assumption, Booterstown by Dr Byrne of Dublin, 22/03/1932

1940-1942: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1942-1945: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1945-1948: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

Address 2000: Newlands Crescent, Portstewart, County Derry

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https://rip.ie/death-notice/dr-vincent-obrien-derry-portstewart-160420

Born: 23 February 1906, Main Street, Doneraile, County Cork
Entered: 06 September 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 30 July 1929 (from Heythrop - Philosophy)

Parents were shopkeepers and father died in 1917.

Eldest of three boys with five sisters.

Early education was for a year at a Convent school, and then five at the Christian Brothers in Doneraile. He then went to St Colman’s in Fermoy

1923-1925: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1925-1927: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1927-1929: Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying Philosophy

LEFT from Heythrop (Philosophy)

Born: 19 February 1928, Breaghna, Willbrook Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 06 January 2018, Abbey Haven Nursing Home, Boyle, County Roscommon

Left Society of Jesus: 24 February 1950 (from Rathfarnham Castle)

Diarmuid born at the Nursing Home based at 37, Lower Leeson Street, subsequently part of the St Ignatius Jesuit Community of Leeson Street.

Father, Colman John was a Civil Servant and businessman, Mother was Mary (Brennan) and family lived at Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin City. Family then moved to Bay View, Courtmacsherry, County Cork

Elder of two boys with two sisters.

Early education was for two years at a Convent school in Dublin and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ for five years.

Baptised at Church of the Annunciation, Rathfarnham, 26/09/1928

1945-1947: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1947-1950: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD

Address 2000: Warren, Boyle, County Roscommon

The death has occurred of

Diarmuid O'Donovan
Warren, Boyle, Roscommon
Diarmuid O'Donovan, Warren, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, January 6th 2018. Peacefully at Abbey Haven Nursing Home, Boyle. Sadly missed by his loving wife Mary, brother Fr. Dan O'Donovan (Australia) late Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork, nephew, relatives friends and neighbours.

R.I.P.

Reposing at Abbey Haven Nursing Home, Boyle, Co. Roscommon on Sunday evening 6 o'clock until 7 o'clock. Arriving to St.Joseph's Church, Boyle, for Mass of the Resurrection on Monday morning at 11 o'clock. Funeral afterwards to Kilcolman Cemetery, Ballaghadereen.

Date Published:
Saturday 6th January 2018

Date of Death:
Saturday 6th January 2018

Born: 18 April 1907, Wellpark Avenue, Drumcondra, Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 05 December 1927

Family lived at Home Farm Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, with his father, Daniel, being a Civil Servant.

Eldest of eight with five boys and three girls.

Early education was at a private school, and then in 1913 he went to Kilcoole Preparatory College, and then went to St Pat’s BNS, Drumcondra. he then went to Belvedere College in 1920 for one year and then to O’Connells School

1924-1926: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1926-1927: Ratfarnham Castle, Juniorate

Born: 05 September 1917, O’Curry College, Carrigaholt, County Clare
Entered: 14 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 19 March 1950

Father, Brian, was a journalist at publisher. Mother, Anne (Kenny). Family lived at Hollybrook Road, Clontarf, Dublin.

Youngest of four boys with one sister.

Early education was at a Convent school in Glasnevin and then at O’Connells School. (1927-1936)

1936-1938: St Mary's, Emo Novitiate
1938-1941: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1941-1944: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1944-1946: Coláiste Iognád SJ, Regency
1946-1950: Milltown Park, Theology

After leaving was married and had six children. He lived at Goatstown Road, Dundrum, Dublin and worked at Gill & MacMillan, Belvedere Place, Dublin

Born: 15 February 1915, Eyrecourt, Ballinasloe, Co Galway
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 12 February 2003, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 15 June 1945

Parents, Patrick and Mary (Donnellan) were shopkeepers and father died in 1915.

Elder of two boys.

Early education was at a Convent school and National school both in Eyrecourt, and then he went to Rockwell College for two years, followed by three years at St Joseph’s College, Ballinasloe.

Baptised at St Brendan’s, Eyrecourt, 21/02/1919
Confirmed at St Brendan’s, Eyrecourt, by Dr Dignam of Clonfert, 11/05/1926

1933-1935: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1935-1939: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1939-1941: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1941-1942: Clongowes Wood College S, Regency
1942-1944: Campion Hall, Oxford, England, Studying for a DPhil
1944-1945: St Ignatius Leeson St, preparing thesis for publication and assisting at University Hall.

On leaving was appointed as Assistant Lecturer in Classics at UCD. He was ultimately appointed Professor of Latin at UCD.

Address 2000 & 1991: Maple Road, Clonskeagh, Dublin City & UCD, Belfield, Dublin City

https://www.dib.ie/biography/omeara-john-a9461

O'Meara, John
Contributed by
Bradley, Bruce
O'Meara, John (1915–2003), academic, was born 18 February 1915 at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, the elder of two sons of Patrick O'Meara, a small businessman from Ilaunmore on Lough Derg, and Mary O'Meara (née Donelan). The very early death of his father, at the end of 1915, and the troubled state of the country coloured his early years but he was to paint a warm portrait of his childhood in his gentle, elegant memoir, The singing masters (1990), written towards the end of his long life. After primary education in the local school, he was sent to Rockwell College in 1928. Planning to become a priest, he transferred to Garbally College, the minor seminary of his native diocese, Clonfert, in 1930. His academic ability and attraction to the ancient classics were quickly apparent and he remembered reading all the Odes of Horace four times during his last two years at school. During a retreat, he decided that his call was to the Society of Jesus rather than the diocese and he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Emo, Co. Laois, in October 1933. This was followed by four years at UCD, while living in Rathfarnham Castle. Here he studied Latin under Patrick Semple (1875–1954), whom he was later to succeed in the chair, and Greek under the redoubtable Michael Tierney (qv), with whom he would cross swords on several issues when his former patron had become president of the college.

A brilliant academic course led to the award of an MA and an NUI travelling studentship in 1939, but the outbreak of war encouraged his Jesuit superiors to send him first to philosophical studies in St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, Co. Offaly (known as 'Tullabeg' to the Jesuits), for two years, and then to teach in Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, for a further year (1941–2). Although not over-impressed by the quality of philosophical teaching he encountered at Tullabeg, he began his first serious work on Neoplatonism there, when studying the Enneads of Plotinus, and he delighted in what he remembered as a life 'of study, good companionship and a common noble purpose' (Singing masters, 78). He retained a special affection for the Jesuits throughout his life.

In October 1942 he was finally able to embark on his studentship, which, owing to the war, he took up in Oxford rather than Berlin or Leipzig, as he might have wished. An inclination towards Platonism from his early years, stimulated by Michael Tierney's tuition, and a growing interest in the Irish ninth-century Platonising philosopher John Scottus Eriugena (qv), then largely neglected, led him to propose the topic 'Prolegomena to the Contra academicos of St Augustine' for his doctoral thesis. This was intended to allow him to explore both Augustine and Plotinus, along with Plotinus's disciple Porphyry. Partly, at least, because of the war, these were not, academically, the best of times in Oxford. Living in the Jesuit Campion Hall, he had to pursue his studies with a lack of adequate supervision and largely on his own. Later on, as professor, he tended to direct his students towards the great European centres of classical study in preference to Oxford or Cambridge. But he loved the enchantments of Oxford itself and the opportunities it afforded of being taught by the great German classicist Eduard Fraenkel and of encountering such memorable figures as Edwin Lutyens, Evelyn Waugh, a very elderly Hilaire Belloc, and the brilliant master of Campion Hall, Fr Martin D'Arcy, and his own bright, attractive personality and high intelligence enabled him to make the most of it.

From early in his years as a Jesuit student, he had struggled with issues of faith, and, as the challenge of priesthood drew nearer, the struggle became critical and the reassurance of superiors that this was a common experience no longer sufficed. In June 1945, having returned to Dublin, he decided to leave the order. For a time, gifted as he was with musical ability and a fine tenor voice, he wondered about embarking on a singing career. Meanwhile, he had begun working in the classics department at UCD and, with Michael Tierney's support, he obtained Semple's now vacant Latin chair, becoming professor at the early age of 33, in 1948. A year earlier he had married Odile de Barthès de Montfort from the Passy section of Paris, who was secretary to the French ambassador in Dublin at the time. They were to have one son, Dominique, who followed him into the classics, and two daughters, Caitríona and Odile.

The UCD appointment proved inspired and created a context in which he could exercise his wide range of abilities as teacher, scholar and administrator to the full. Handsome, urbane, witty and approachable, he quickly emerged as an excellent teacher, equally competent in dealing with Latin as language and as literature. He could adapt his teaching to the needs of the large numbers of students whose only interest in Latin was to fulfil the university requirements then in force by passing a preliminary examination in it, but his special gift was to be able to inspire and encourage those better equipped and more committed to the higher reaches of the subject.

Meanwhile, despite the demands of administering a relatively large department, his own scholarship was not neglected and he produced a steady stream of studies, editions, translations and reviews from the beginning of his tenure, which in time won him international recognition in his two chosen fields. He had been elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1953 and, in time, would play a leading role in the Academy's Hiberno-Latin project. He represented Ireland on many overseas bodies, including the Fédération Internationale des Études Classiques. He was especially at home in French culture and his work with eminent French scholars duly won him inscription in the Légion d'honneur. His translations included not only Augustine's Against the academics (1950), on which he had written his doctoral thesis, and the third-century Greek Father of the Church Origen of Alexandria's On prayer and his Exhortation to martyrdom (1954), but also the Topography of Ireland (1951) of Giraldus Cambrensis (qv), and the The voyage of St Brendan (1976).

The main focus of his research always remained Augustine and Neoplatonism, but the interest he had developed in Eriugena came increasingly to the fore in later years and in 1970 he founded a society to promote Eriugena studies, in which he had long taken the lead. In Eriugena he saw a thinker who wrote in Latin but, remarkably for a ninth-century western European, knew Greek, and who had 'sought to reconcile the dominating, somewhat de-Platonised Augustinianism of the West with the Neoplatonised theology of the Greek Fathers' (Singing masters, 63). O'Meara's The young Augustine: the growth of St Augustine's mind up to his conversion (1954) became something of a classic on its subject and was later translated into French (1958) and reissued in paperback in 1980.

He took a keen interest in university politics, being elected to the UCD governing body (1956 and 1962) and to the senate of the National University of Ireland in 1962. By the time he ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the college in 1964, following Michael Tierney's retirement, he had become a somewhat controversial figure in the eyes of some, owing to his views on such matters as the move of UCD to Belfield, which he opposed, and closer association with Trinity College, which he strongly espoused. In both instances, he was on the opposite side of the argument from Tierney. From early in his life, he had been a sceptic in relation to the revival of Irish: he was attracted to the language itself but viewed public policy in the light of what he saw as Ireland's enduring need to escape from cultural isolation. He was pragmatist enough to argue that Latin should cease to be required under university regulations, which, along with changes in the catholic church in the 1960s, had the effect of gradually reducing the hitherto large numbers in his department. Its larger impact may have been to contribute to the decline of Latin in the school curriculum, but this can hardly have been part of his purpose. He took a genuine interest in encouraging second-level teachers of classical subjects and was responsible for launching the Association of Classical Teachers in this cause. In all of these issues, his steely, combative side, not unfamiliar to his students, and his willingness to swim against the stream in the name of principle, whatever the cost to himself, was amply demonstrated.

Following retirement in 1984, he remained active in the studies to which he had devoted a significant part of his life, spending time in Princeton and other centres of excellence, as well as writing The singing masters, in which he displayed lyricism of vision and the felicity of his own style. The memoir deals only with his early life, ending with his departure from the Jesuits and marriage to Odile. There were many who regretted that no later volume followed. The year after it appeared, his colleagues produced a small Festschrift, From Augustine to Eriugena (1991), in his honour. This contains a comprehensive bibliography of his published work. He continued to keep in touch with and encourage his former students, offering friendship and advice as he had throughout his professorial career, up to the time of his death, which occurred unexpectedly in Dublin, after a minor operation, on 12 February 2003.

Sources
John O'Meara, The singing masters (1990); F. X. Martin OSA and J. A. Richmond (ed.), From Augustine to Eriugena: essays on Neoplatonism and Christianity in honor of John O'Meara (1991); personal knowledge

Forename: John
Surname: O'Meara
Gender: Male
Career: Education, Classics and Languages
Religion: Catholic
Born 18 February 1915 in Co. Galway
Died 12 February 2003 in Co. Dublin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._O%27Meara

John J. O'Meara

John J. O'Meara (18 February 1915 – 12 February 2003) was an Irish classical scholar, historian of ancient and medieval philosophy (in particular Augustine and Eriugena), educationalist and writer.

Biography
John J. O'Meara was born in Eyrecourt (Co. Galway) to Mary Donelan and Patrick O'Meara on 18 February 1915, but lost his father when he was less than a year old. He had a younger brother, Patrick ('Paddy'). He was educated at Rockwell College and Garbally, Ballinasloe, becoming for a time a Jesuit seminarist. In his autobiographical book, The Singing Masters, O'Meara describes the hard times of his childhood, including the terror brought by the British Black and Tans, and by the subsequent Irish Civil War. He also describes his early experience of the beauty of nature, and of the difficult experience of following and at last ending his engagement as a Jesuit novice. A collection of short stories, Remembering Eyrecourt. Vignettes and Tales of earlier Days, Eyrecourt 2003, also describes the world of his childhood

O'Meara took an M.A. degree in classics at University College Dublin in 1939 and was awarded a scholarship allowing him to complete a Doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Oxford (1942–45). The Singing Masters also describes war-time Oxford and the antiquated (and quaint) conditions in which he studied there. His thesis concerned Augustine's use of Porphyry and was later revised and published in Paris (1959). Returning to Dublin he was appointed Professor of Latin at University College Dublin in 1948, where he remained until his retirement in 1984. O'Meara held visiting appointments at the Princeton Institute of Advanced Study, Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University) and Vassar College. In Ireland he played a major role in the effort to modernize education in the schools and universities, in particular the teaching of Latin and Irish, and the collaboration between University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. His ideas were ahead of their time in the conservative and Church-dominated atmosphere in Ireland.

O'Meara contributed to the founding of the Irish Association of Classical Teachers in 1959. In 1954 he published The Young Augustine (with many re-editions), an introduction to reading Augustine's Confessions which has kept its value. As well as being a leading internationally recognized scholar on Augustine, he did much to further the study of the early medieval Irish philosopher John Scotus Eriugena, founding the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies in 1970 which stimulated a spectacular development in the study of Eriugena. He published a monograph on the philosopher, Eriugena (1988), and when he died he was working on finishing a complete edition and English translation of Eriugena's masterpiece, the Periphyseon. O'Meara also published English translations of Latin texts important to Ireland, Giraldus Cambrensis' Topography of Ireland and The Voyage of Saint Brendan. O'Meara was president of the Alliance Française in Ireland and was awarded the Légion d'Honneur. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and of other international scholarly associations. In 1947 O'Meara married Odile de Barthes de Montfort, with whom he had three children and with whom he published a little book presenting new discoveries concerning Bernadette of Lourdes (Ordeal at Lourdes).

Select bibliography
A short biography and a bibliography of John O'Meara's publications in: From Augustine to Eriugena: Essays on Neoplatonism and Christianity in Honor of John O'Meara, ed. F. X. Martin and J. A. Richmond, Washington, D. C., 1991, pages ix-xx.
The Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis, Dundalk 1951 (also in Penguin Classics)
The Young Augustine: the growth of St. Augustine's mind up to his conversion, London, 1954
Reform in Education, Dublin 1958
Porphyry's philosophy from Oracles in St. Augustine, Paris, 1959
(with Odile de Montfort) Ordeal at Lourdes, Dublin 1959.
Charter of Christendom:the Significance of St. Augustine's city of God, New York City, 1962
The Voyage of Saint Brendan, Dublin 1976 (also Atlantic Highlands 1978).
Eriugena Periphyseon (The Division of Nature), translated by I. P. Sheldon-Williams revised by J. O'Meara, Montréal and Washington, D. C. 1987.
Eriugena, Oxford 1988.
The Singing Masters, Dublin 1990.
Studies in Augustine and Eriugena, edited by T. Halton, Washington, D. C., 1992.
Understanding Augustine, Dublin 1997

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/outspoken-and-popular-classical-scholar-1.349887

Outspoken and popular classical scholar
JOHN O'MEARA: John J

JOHN O'MEARA: John J. O'Meara, who has died aged 87, was Professor of Latin at University College, Dublin, from 1948 to 1984. A prominent figure in educational circles for almost half a century, he made a remarkable contribution to the development of classical studies in Ireland.

John Joseph O'Meara was born on February 18th 1915, the eldest of the two children of Patrick O'Meara and his wife, Mary (née Donelan), of Eyrecourt, Co Galway. His father died the following year and his mother took over the running of the family business; he and his brother were reared by their aunt.

He was educated at Rockwell College, Cashel, Co Tipperary, where he was drawn to the religious life and transferred to St Joseph's, Garbally, Co Galway, to pursue his vocation.

He later decided to join the Society of Jesus and, as a Jesuit scholastic, studied at UCD for the BA (1938) and MA (1939) in classics. Having studied philosophy at St Stanislaus College, Co Offaly, he taught Latin, Greek and German at Clongowes Wood, Co Kildare. In the early 1940s he studied at Oxford University, taking a doctorate in philosophy.

But doubts about his faith had taken hold and he reluctantly decided after 11 years to leave the Jesuits. In 1945 he started as an assistant in the UCD classics department. Two years later he was appointed to the chair of Latin. His lectures were immensely popular, treating Latin, a former student recalled, "as literature and not merely as a language". He presided or spoke at many student meetings, and students and colleagues were generously entertained in his period house in Sandymount.

A long series of scholarly publications established his reputation as a classicist of the first order. His research was primarily concerned with Eriugena (Johannes Scottus), the most notable of the ninth-century Irish scholars in Europe, whose work had been long neglected. In 1970 he founded the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies, which has resulted in a wealth of studies.

He himself wrote Eriugena (1988) and translated into English the final two books of the edition of Eriugena's greatest work, Periphyseon (De Divisione Naturae), published by the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies in 1995.

His reputation was further enhanced by his many works on St Augustine, particularly by The Young Augustine: an introduction to the Confessions of St Augustine (1980). He is known in Ireland for Gerald of Wales's The History and Topography of Ireland and St Brendan's Navigatio. A memoir of his life up to the age of 30, The Singing-Masters, was published in 1990.

He was no stranger to controversy.

He opposed the proposal to move UCD from the centre of Dublin to Belfield. He criticised national policy to revive the Irish language. He advocated that Latin should cease to be a compulsory requirement at university. And his recommendation of a partial merger between UCD and Trinity College, Dublin, was attacked in 1958 by the Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal D'Alton. His outspokenness almost certainly cost him election to the presidency of UCD in 1964.

On the expiry of his terms of office as a member of the UCD Governing Body and as a senator of the National University, he did not seek re-appointment to either body. When compulsory Latin requirements in church and university were dropped in 1966, his student numbers dropped dramatically.

Increasingly he spent semesters and sabbatical years abroad, including periods at Dumbarton Oaks as a fellow of Harvard and at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton. He built up a wide range of international contacts and his cooperation with leading French scholars was acknowledged by honours that included the Légion d'Honneur.

He played a major role in launching the Hiberno-Latin Dictionary project at the Royal Irish Academy.

His term as chairman of the National College of Art and Design coincided with significant improvements in its facilities and recognition for degree-level courses. He founded the Association of Classical Teachers to raise standards and morale among secondary teachers. Governor for Ireland of the Fondation Européenne de la Culture, he was also a director of Irish University Press.

He had a lifelong interest in music, studying the piano in his youth. He later considered pursuing a career as a singer. Later he was content to play for the entertainment of his grandchildren, "a not unjoyous or useless occupation".

He is survived by his wife, Odile de Barthès de Montfort, son Dominique, and daughters Caitriona (Brennan) and Odile (Ryan).

John O'Meara: born, 18th February; died, February 12th 2003

Born: 25 December 1899, Bride Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 20 November 1916, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 10 August 1929 (from Heythrop - Theology - Ordination was postponed)

Father was an employee of Duffy & Sons, Westmoreland Street, Dublin, publishers, and died in 1908. Mother was then supported by eldest sister who is a National Teacher.

Fourth eldest of a family of six (4 boys and 2 girls of whom 2 boys and 1 girl are deceased

Early education was at a local National School and at 7 years of age went to Synge Street). When his father died he was sent to the O’Brien Institute, Grace Park Road, Marino, Dublin (1909-1916).

1916-1918: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1918-1920: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1920-1923: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency
1923-1926: Milltown Park, Philosophy
1926-1929: Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying Theology

Born: 17 June 1906, Bray, County Wicklow
Entered: 31 August 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 21 July 1936

1922-1924: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1924-1927: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate UCD
1927-1930 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying Philosophy
1930-1933: Belvedere College SJ, Regency
1933-1936: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency

Address following departure: Alexandra Terrace, Novara Road, Bray, County Wicllow

Born: 25 February 1900,
Entered: 01 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 05 August 1924 (from Milltown Park)

1919-1921: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1921-1923: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1923-1924: Milltown Park, Philosophy

Born: 09 May 1872, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 13 August 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down / St Stanislaus, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 09 December 1913, Waterloo Road, Dublin, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 1902

Was NOWLAN then from 1898 : O’NOWLAN

by 1898 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

Born: 19 September 1884, The Square, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 12 November 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 December 1955, Blackrock College CSSp, Blackrock, County Dublin
Died: 01 August 1969, St Michael’s Nursing Home, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 02 May 1914

Known when Jesuit as Alfred J Rahilly.

Father was Clerk at the Petty Sessions to three districts, flour agent, Insurance and Emigration Agent, and died February 1899.

Mother then lived at Ballybunion, County Kerry. Had four brothers and ten sisters (1 brother and sister deceased)

Educated at local Convent and St Michael’s College, Listowel and then went to Blackrock College CSSp

1901-1903: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1903-1905: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, studying
1905-1908: University College, studying
1908-1911: Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
1911-1913: St Ignatius, Leeson Street, teaching and research (at British Museum, London)
1913-1914: Milltown Park, studying Theology

Married Agnes in 1916 with two children. Ordained priest 18/12/1955 by Archbishop McQuaid at Blackrock College after the death of his wife and his retirement from UCC. Lived as a secular priest at Blackrock College CSSp. Created Monsignor in 1960. He was buried at Kimmage Manor in the Spiritans graveyard. In his will he left his theologial library to the Society of Jesus at Milltown Park, and his other books to Blackrock College.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/orahilly-alfred-a6973#:~:text=After%20retirement%20he%20went%20to,two%20children%2C%20Ronan%20and%20Sybil.

O'Rahilly, Alfred

Contributed by
Murphy, John A.

O'Rahilly, Alfred (1884–1969), scholar, university president, controversialist, and priest, was born 19 September 1884 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, eighth child of Thomas Francis Rahilly and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry); he changed his name to ‘O'Rahilly’ by deed poll in 1920. His fourteen siblings included Celtic scholars Thomas Francis (qv) and Cecile (qv), and a first cousin was The O'Rahilly (qv), killed during the 1916 rising. Educated at St Michael's College, Listowel, Blackrock College, and UCD, he underwent a long period (1901–14) of training as a member of the Society of Jesus, but eventually left during the final stages of preparation for the priesthood, because of temperamental unsuitability. Appointed an assistant lecturer in mathematics and mathematical physics at UCC in October 1914, he became the dominant figure in the institution within six years. He became professor of mathematical physics on 1 June 1917 and registrar on 11 February 1920, and vacated these offices when he became president (1943–54).

His early career in UCC was set against the background of the revolutionary period, and he became predominantly identified, within and without the college, with the rise of post-1916 Sinn Féin. In UCC he led the nationalist interest that ousted the perceived pro-British old regime, personified by Sir Bertram Windle (qv), who resigned from the presidency in 1919. O'Rahilly was flamboyant, extrovert, disputatious and dynamic. During the low-key, unassertive presidency (1919–43) of P. J. Merriman, O'Rahilly as registrar was heir-presumptive and acted as de facto president. All in all, the whirlwind age of O'Rahilly lasted for almost four decades.

He was a volatile and bristling polymath of inexhaustible energy: the vast range of his scholarly interests – politics, sociology, finance, Christology, mathematical physics, history – aroused astonishment and envy. One critique of his work on Money ended with the reflection that the book would enable people to relieve rural tedium by laughing the winter nights away. His contemplated multi-volume life of Christ prompted a National University colleague to observe (not very originally) that a life of O'Rahilly by Christ would be much more interesting. O'Rahilly, who was vain but not stuffy, was not offended by such descriptions of him as ‘a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Jimmy O'Dea’ (qv), but was not pleased by the jibe that he had the best mind of the twelfth century, since he considered himself a very modern man indeed. But he would not have taken exception to the waggish description of the Holy Shroud of Turin (the subject of his province-wide lectures) as ‘Alfie's flying carpet’.

There were some negative and even frivolous aspects of his UCC presidency. He had a strong appetite for the hurly-burly of academic politics and, it was said, entered no controversy that he did not aggravate. He had the reputation of being a bully and exploiter in his dealings with junior academic staff; but he could be kind, helpful, and extraordinarily generous to staff and students with problems. His zeal for vigorously promoting a Roman catholic ethos in a nominally pluralist institution was frequently paternalistic and extended to acts of petty supervision, particularly perhaps over women students. This was the kind of atmosphere that prompted a visiting examiner to describe the UCC of the 1940s as ‘a convent run by a mad reverend mother’.

All this being said, O'Rahilly was one of the most vibrant and effective presidents in the history of the National University. His initiatives included extensive improvements in the library, of which he was director, and the institution of student health and restaurant services. He founded the electrical engineering department and the Cork University Press, which he believed would provide a publication outlet for the researches of his colleagues, particularly those concerned with native learning. He strengthened UCC's links with the city and the province, and these were significantly expressed through the provision of adult education courses, an area where O'Rahilly was particularly innovative and pioneering.

As a young academic, he had become caught up in the struggle for independence. He served on Cork corporation in the heroic age of Tomás Mac Curtáin (qv) and Terence MacSwiney (qv), and spent a patriotic period in jail and on the run. He represented Cork borough (1923–4) in Dáil Éireann for Cumann na nGaedheal but resigned his seat in 1924. He was a constitutional adviser to the Irish delegation at the treaty negotiations in 1921, argued publicly for the acceptance of the treaty, and helped to draft the constitution of the Irish Free State. His links with the local labour and trade-union movement were long and close, and at national level he served as Irish government chief representative in successive sessions of the International Labour Conference in Geneva. He was also a member of government commissions on banking and vocational organisation. After retirement he went to reside at Blackrock College, where he was ordained a priest (18 December 1955), and became a domestic prelate (monsignor) in 1960. O'Rahilly died 2 August 1969. He married (4 September 1916) his first cousin, Agnes O'Donoghue (d. 14 September 1953); they had two children, Ronan and Sybil.

No other layman of his day so self-confidently assumed a central role in so many areas of catholic life – philosophy, sociology, theology, scriptural studies. The controversies in which be became involved were a source of interest and pride to UCC students. Their president was a pugnacious polemicist (who jousted with such eminences as H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw (qv)), a man of stature, and a formidable catholic intellectual. And who could not be impressed, as well as entertained, by his exuberant claim: ‘I have not now the smallest doubt that I have Einstein refuted’?

Sources
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly (4 vols, 1986–93); John A. Murphy, The College: a history of Queen's/ University College Cork 1845–1995 (1995)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_O%27Rahilly

Alfred O'Rahilly

Alfred O'Rahilly, KSG (1 October 1884 – 1 August 1969) was an academic with controversial views on both electromagnetism and religion. He briefly served in politics, as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork City, and was later the president of University College Cork. He also became a priest following the death of his wife.

Education and academia
Born (with the last name Rahilly) in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland to Thomas Francis Rahilly of Ballylongford, County Kerry and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry) of Glin, County Limerick. He was first educated at St Michael's College, Listowel[1] and at Blackrock College in Dublin. O'Rahilly first earned University College Cork degrees in mathematical physics (BA 1907, MA 1908).

The O'Rahilly Building (left) houses UCC’s Humanities Faculty.
He studied scholastic philosophy at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire following his master's degree, then returned to UCC for a BSc (1912). In 1914, he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and then in 1917 he was made Professor of Mathematical Physics.

In 1919 he received a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He became Registrar of UCC in 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President of the University. O'Rahilly founded Cork University Press in 1925. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard studying social and political theory.

In 1938, he published a controversial book surveying electromagnetic theory called Electromagnetics (Longman, Green and Company), republished in 1956 by Dover as Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals.

In 1939, UCC conferred on him the degree D.Litt., and in 1940 the National University of Ireland awarded him a DSc.

The O'Rahilly Building was one of the major developments on the UCC campus in the 1990s and was named in honour of O'Rahilly.[2]

Politics and public life
After the 1916 Easter Rising, O'Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for political writings, O'Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison.

Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O'Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State with Darrell Figgis.

O'Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on a conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. As President of University College Cork, he initiated workers' education courses in the university in the late 1940s which proved popular with Cork trade unionists.[citation needed]

Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dáil at the 1923 general election.[3] He resigned in 1924,[4] causing a by-election later that year which was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Michael Egan.

Religion
A deeply religious Catholic from early life, O'Rahilly was a member of the Society of Jesus but left before ordination and was dispensed from his vows. He maintained his (sometimes controversial) religious views throughout his life, and became a priest, and then Monsignor, in later years following the death of his wife. He wrote a biography of Willie Doyle. He also contributed to The Irish Catholic weekly newspaper.

In 1954, Pope Pius XII conferred on him the Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

He was also an advisor on university education to the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid and sat on an informal committee from 1950. The committee included O'Rahilly, and the other presidents of the National University of Ireland; Michael Tierney of UCD, Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, Cardinal D'Alton, and Bishops Cornelius Lucey of Cork and Michael Browne of Galway.

Science
In O'Rahilly's major survey of electromagnetic theory, Electromagnetics (1938),[5] he opposed Maxwell's dominant (British) theory of the electromagnetic field and followed the French Catholic physicist, historian of science, and philosopher of science Pierre Duhem in rejecting Maxwell's field account.[6] As a logical consequence of his rejection of Maxwell, O'Rahilly also rejected Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. O'Rahilly embraced Ritz's ballistic theory of light and Ritz's electrodynamics.[7] While Ritz's theory reduces to Coulomb's Law and Ampere's Law, since its derivation is phenomenological, it differs from the Liénard–Wiechert potential. O'Rahilly also wrote against applying the theory of evolution to human society.

Because O'Rahilly thought Cork lacked a social science curriculum he volunteered to teach courses in economics and sociology. When told that they could not spare him from the physics courses, he volunteered to teach an economics course and sociology course along with his physics courses.

Family
His brother T. F. O'Rahilly was a Celtic languages scholar and academic, noted for his contribution to the fields of historical linguistics and Irish dialects.[8] His sister Cecile O'Rahilly was also a Celtic scholar, and published editions of both recensions of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and worked with her brother in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[9]

His first cousin The O'Rahilly was one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers and died in the Easter Rising.[10]

Writings
O'Rahilly's writings include: Father William Doyle, S.J. (1920, 4th ed. 1930), Flour, Wheat and Tariffs (1928), Money (1941), Jewish Burial: The Burial of Christ (1941), Religion and Science (1948), Aquinas versus Marx (1948), Moral Principles (1948), Social Principles (1948), The Family at Bethany (1949), Moral and Social Principles (1955), Gospel Meditations (1958) and Electromagnetic Theory (2 vols, 1965).

Father William Doyle S.J. (1922)
Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (1938)
References
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly Biography (Kingdom Books, 1986) (ISBN 0-9506015-6-X)
"O' Rahilly Building Extension and Quadrangle". University College Cork. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Worldcat entry for "Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals" - First edition published in 1938 under title: "Electromagnetics"
See Pierre Duhem: Against "Cartesian Method": Metaphysics and Models from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for why Duhem rejected Maxwell's theory.
For a short description of O'Rahilly's criticism of the special theory of relativity, see this section of Challenging Modern Physics by Al Kelly
Murphy, John A. "O'Rahilly, Alfred". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa. "O'Rahilly (Ní Rathaille, Ó Rathaille), Cecile (Sisile)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Breathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire. "Ó RATHGHAILLE, Micheál Seosamh (1875–1916)". Ainm. Retrieved 27 December 2020.

https://www.ucc.ie/en/heritage/history/people/ucc-presidents/president-alfred-orahilly/

Alfred O'Rahilly

Alfred O’Rahilly MA DPhil DSc KSG, President, University College Cork, 1943-54

Alfred O’Rahilly, was born in September 1884[1] in Listowel, Co. Kerry, the son of Thomas F. Rahilly, clerk of petty sessions, and his wife Julia M. Curry. He changed his surname by deed poll in 1920 to ‘O’Rahilly’.[2] He was educated at St Michael’s College, Listowel, and at Blackrock College, Dublin.[3] O’Rahilly was awarded a BA (1907), MA in Mathematical and Experimental Physics (1908) by the Royal University of Ireland. He then entered Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England, where he is an resident at the time of the 1911 census. At Stonyhurst, he studied at St Mary’s Hall, where he attended a three-year course in scholastic philosophy in the Jesuit novitiate for which he was awarded the papal degree of DPhil.[4] O’Rahilly then gained a BSc (1912) at University College, Dublin. In 1914 he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and made full Professor of Mathematical Physics in June 1917. He became Registrar of the college in February 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard University studying social and political theory. On his return, he persuaded the Governing Body to establish a lectureship in sociology, which he took on without salary.[5] The National University of Ireland conferred on him the honorary degree DLitt in 1939 and, in the following year, his work on Electromagnetics obtained for him the degree DSc.

After the 1916 Easter Rising, O’Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for his political writings, O’Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison in Cork harbour. Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O’Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State. O’Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dail at the 1923 general election but did not go for re-election in 1924.[6] As representative of the Irish Government, he attended the Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva in 1932.[7] He was a member of the Banking Commission and, from 1923, Chairman of the Cork Arbitration Board, where he was prominent in the settlement of industrial disputes. In this latter role he was active in securing compensation for the loss of employment suffered by the workers of the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, for which work some of the tramway men of the city presented him with 'The Tramway Cup' in 1933.

O’Rahilly had a dominant personality and was a prolific scholar, polymath, controversialist and public figure. His UCC initiatives included improvements in his role as Director of the Library, the institution of student health and restaurant services, and the acquisition of the extensive former County Gaol site which made significant building expansion possible. Other innovations included the foundation of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Cork University Press in 1925 (which he handed over to the College in 1928)[8] and UCC’s second in-house magazine, Cork University Record, in 1944. O’Rahilly strengthened College links with the city and the province, particularly in adult education courses. He instituted a diploma in Social Science, the first diplomate was Seán Casey who was later a TD for Cork city and Lord Mayor.[9] He published prolifically, often on issues relating to religion and politics.

Alfred O’Rahilly married Agnes O’Donoghue on 4 September 1916 at Rathmines, Dublin. They had two children. She died on 14 September 1953.[10] He retired from the presidency of UCC in October 1954 and moved to Blackrock College (Holy Ghost Fathers), Dublin, where he was ordained as a member of the order on 18 December 1955, aged 71. He remained at Blackrock, becoming a monsignor in 1960. O’Rahilly died at St Michael’s nursing home, Dún Laoghaire, on 2 August 1969. He is buried in the community cemetery in the grounds of Kimmage Manor, headquarters of the Holy Ghost Fathers.[11] O’Rahilly left his theological library to the Jesuits at Milltown Park; in 2019 the Milltown Park library was transferred to Dublin City University;[12] his other books were given to Blackrock College.

In 1998 the new Business and Languages building, named the Alfred O’Rahilly Building, was opened by Micheál Martin, Minister for Education (a UCC graduate).[13] O’Rahilly’s tenure as Director of the Library is remembered in the relief created by Séamus Murphy RHA that is on display in the Boole Library.

Born: 18 July 1902, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 31 August 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 03 August 1932 (from Milltown Park Dublin, studying theology)

Mother died in 1910. Father died in 1912

Educated Mercy Convent Galway and then at the Presentation Sisters school. After his mother died he went to the Christian Brothers in Galway.. Then his father died and his Uncle, Rev SJ Nestor of the Galway diocese was made his guardian (Ennistymon, County Clare). He sent him with his two younger brothers to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Banagher. After two years there he was sent to Blackrock College for one year and then to Mungret College SJ in 1915.

1920-1922: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1922-1923: Montée de Fourvière, Lyon France (LUGD) studying
1923-1924: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1924-1927: Milltown Park, Philosophy
1927-1931: St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney - Regency
1931-1932: Milltown Park, Theology

Born: 07 June 1921, Ferrmanagh Road, Clones, County Monaghan
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 25 February 1947 (on health grounds)

Parents, Bernard and Brigid (Kelly) were shopkeepers. Family lived after 1930 at Ben Vista, Omagh, County Tyrone.

One of six boys and five girls.

Early education was in Clones at Convent and National schools. In 1931 the family move to Omagh, County Tyrone, and he went to the Christian Brothers elementary school, and then the secondary school.

Baptised at Sacred Heart, Clones, County Monaghan, 10/06/1921
Confirmed at Sacred Heart, Clones, 07/06/1931

1939-1941: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1941-1944: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1944-1947: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

Six months after leaving he got a job in Omagh Technical School for three years. Health considerations meant he had to resign.

Born: 24 June 1901, Frederick Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 23 September 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 19 August 1974, Woodville Terrace, Clonmel, County Tipperary

Left Society of Jesus: 28 May 1926 (from Milltown Park, Dublin)

Father Daniel O’Sullivan, Mother Bridget (O’Halloran)

Was in the Redemptorist Juniorate before joining.

1920-1922: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1922-1924: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1924-1926: Milltown Park, Philosophy

Became a Secondary school teacher and taught at Rockwell College and CBS High School, Clonmel, County Tipperary

Born: 27 March 1963, Bridge Street, Ballylongford, County Kerry
Entered: 26 September 1985, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 04h October 2022, Clonard Village, Wexford Town, County Wexford

Left Society of Jesus: 1998

Educated at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Regency at Belvedere College SJ

by 1993 at Cambridge MA, USA (NEN) studying

Address 2000: Farmhill Road, Goatstown, Dublin City

https://rip.ie/death-notice/david-osullivan-wexford-wexford-town-491641

The death has occurred of

David O'Sullivan
Clonard Village, Wexford Town, Wexford / Ballylongford, Kerry
David passed away peacefully at home, after a long illness borne with dignity and bravery in the loving care of his family and the Wexford Palliative Care Team. Beloved and devoted husband of Anne and loving father to Catherine and son-in-law to May, special brother to Tice, Mary-Rose and Paul, and beloved of brother-in-law of Steve, Niamh and Nancy, Billy, Caitriona and John. Beloved uncle to Hannah, Sarah, Evanne, Emelyn, Andrew, Cian, Tara, Barry, David, Eimer, Claire, Ciara, Henry, Hugh & Guy. Deeply regretted by his colleagues and pupils at Presentation Secondary School Wexford and his wider family circle and many friends.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Reposing at Macken's Funeral Home, Distillery Road, Wexford (Y35 T1K2), on Thursday (6th October) from 4pm leaving for the church at 6:30pm. Requiem Mass on Friday (7th October) in The Church of the Annunciation, Clonard, Wexford (Y35 YV0F) at 10am, with burial afterwards in Enniscorthy cemetery.

Date Published:
Tuesday 4th October 2022

Date of Death:
Tuesday 4th October 2022

Born: 23 February 1915, Parnell Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 2001, Harare, Zimbabwe

Left Society of Jesus: 05 October 1945

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

Third of six boys.

Educated at a preparatory school and O’Connells school and then he went to Mungret College SJ

Baptised at St Agatha’s North William Street, 26/02/1915
Conformed at St Agatha’s North William Street by Dr Byrne of Dublin, 15/02/1927

1933-1935: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1935-1938: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1938-1941: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1941-1943: Mungret College SJ, Regency
1943-1944: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency
1944-1945: Milltown Park, Theology

Reported (1973) to be married and living in Yorkshire

Address 2000: Ridgeway South, Harare, Zimbabwe

Born: 06 April 1913, Parnell Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 12 May 1939

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

He is the fourth of seven boys.

Early education was at a private school for six years, he then went to O’Connell’s School for eight years.

Baptised at St Agatha’s North William Street, 08/04/1913
Conformed at St Agatha’s North William Street by Dr Byrne of Dublin in March 1925

1931-1933: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1933-1936: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1936-1939: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

After leaving he looked after the butcher’s shop in Parnell Street, but sold that and went into property investment successfully.

By 1972 he was married with three sons.

RIP by 2000

Address 2000: Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin City

Born: 28 October 1917, Mount Vincent View, O’Connell Avenue, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 19 September 1947

Father was a postal clerk.

Third of four boys with two sisters.

Educated at a local Convent school and then at Crescent College SJ (1927-1933).

Born: 08 March 1930, Ballina, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 25 October 2019, Ivy Lodge, Main Street, Saugerties, NY, USA

Left Society of Jesus: 16 April 1953

Father, Michael Patrick, was a commercial traveller and business man. Mother was Anne (Daly). Family lived at Emmet Square, Birr, County Offaly.

Elder of two boys with two half brothers and three sisters. Father married twice. Half brother was a priest in France.

Early education was first at a Convent school in Birr, and then at the Presentation Brothers school also in Birr for eleven years. Finally at Mungret College SJ

Baptised at St Muredach's Cathedral, Ballina, 11/03/1930
Confirmed at St Brendan’s, Birr by Dr Fogarty of Killaloe, 12/04/1942

1948-1950: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1950-1953: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD

Address 2000: Brendenwood Road, Rockford, IL, USA

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/recordonline/name/michael-quinn-obituary?id=14532405

Michael Quinn Obituary
Michael P. Quinn
March 8, 1930 - October 25, 2019
New Paltz, NY
Michael P. Quinn, 89 of New Paltz, passed away peacefully on Friday, October 25, 2019 at Ivy Lodge in Saugerties, NY. Born March 8, 1930 in Ballina, Mayo County, Ireland, he was the son of the late Michael and Anne (Daly) Quinn.
On August 13, 1956, in Cloghan, in the county of Offaly in Ireland, he married Teresa McCabe. They had 54 years together before her passing on October 3, 2009.
Michael earned his Bachelor of Art Degree from the University of Dublin and earned his Master's Degree at Loyola University in Maryland. He taught English Literature and Poetry at Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL, from 1965 until his retirement in 1997 and was chair of the English Department. Michael was a devoted parishioner of St. Joseph's Church in New Paltz.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was predeceased by his son, Paul Quinn.
He is survived by one daughter, Marian Quinn and her husband, Tommy Weir of Dublin, Ireland, and three sons: Declan Quinn and his wife, Edda, Aidan Quinn and his wife, Elizabeth and Robert Quinn; his grandchildren: Jack, Liam, Mae, Stella, Sarah, Alice, Rae, Ava, and Mia.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Monday, October 28, 2019 at Copeland-Hammerl Funeral Home, 162 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated after the visitation, at St. Joseph's Church, 34 South Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY, and beginning at 1 p.m. The Rite of Committal will follow at St. Charles Cemetery, Routes 44/55, Gardiner, NY.

Born: 26 April 1913, Keadue, Boyle, County Roscommon
Entered: 16 November 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 10 August 1938

Father (John) was a doctor. Mother was Brigid (Dolan).

Third of four boys with four sisters.

Early education was eight years at a National School and then he went to Mungret College SJ (1927-1931).

Baptised at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kilronan, Keadue, 02/05/1913
Confirmed at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kilronan, Keadue in May 1925

1931-1933: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1933-1936: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1936-1938: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy

After leaving opened a school called Kostka College in Clontarf

Address 1973, Howth Road, Dublin
Address 2000 & 1991: Leeson Village, Ranelagh, Dublin City

Born: 20 March 1855, County Kilkenny
Entered: 29 January 1878, Milltown Park, Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 26 October 1884

Educated at St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny

1878-1880: Milltown Park, Dublin, Novitiate
1880-1881: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Regency
1881-1883: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency
1883-1884: Oña Spain (ARA) studying Philosophy

Born: 17 June 1900, Tralee, County Kerry
Entered: 26 September 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 15 June 1927

Born: 18 March 1962, Churchtown, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 25 September 1980, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 18 August 2019, Galway Cheshire Homes, Merlin Park Lane, Curraghagrean, Galway City, County Galway (Roscahill, County Galway)

Left Society of Jesus: 1986

Address 2000 & 1991: The Manse, Hollymount, Claremorris, County Mayo & Lower Churchtown Road, Churchtown, Dublin City, County Dublin

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/frank-stapleton-obituary-pioneering-irish-film-maker-1.4002362

Frank Stapleton
Born: March 18th, 1962
Died: August 18th, 2019

Frank Stapleton, prolific writer and talented film director has died following a long illness. Stapleton was a leading light in Irish filmmaking in the 1980s and 1990s before his career was cut short by the onset of multiple sclerosis.

The Whole World in His Hands, an award winning documentary filmed 10 years after Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979, Dr Brown Also Spoke, a polemic documentary with Dr Noel Browne (Minister for Health from 1948-1951) and Michael D Higgins and The Fifth Province (1997) were his best known films.

The Fifth Province which was about a frustrated writer living the rain-soaked Midlands, won Best First Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh and the Audience Prize at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Porto, Portugal. Stapleton worked with Michael D Higgins on a number of film proposals and his film crew made a documentary with Higgins at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro called, 12 Days to Save the World.

Frank Stapleton grew up in Churchtown, Dublin with one older and one younger brother. He attended Belvedere College, Dublin from the age of eight to eighteen where his friends included Fintan Connolly who also went on to become a filmmaker. Reminiscing about their school days, Connolly said that Frank had a strong interest in photography and social justice and was “fizzing with ideas”.

With fellow Belvedere students, Stapleton and Connolly pushed a bed from Dublin to Cork and later the same year, a telephone box from Knock to Cork to raise money for Concern. They made their first documentary, No School is an Island while still at Belvedere College.

After school, Stapleton joined the Society of Jesus and lived in Manresa House, Clontarf where he completed his 2 year novitiate. He then moved to a Jesuit residence in Monkstown in 1982 while studying English and Philosophy at University College Dublin. In 1984, he made his first film, A Second of June, a drama documentary inspired by Ulysses about a day in the life of two ordinary Dubliners when Ronald Regan visited Ireland. After graduating from UCD in 1985, Frank lived for a time in one of the Ballymun Towers while working on social projects with Peter McVerry and other members of the Jesuit community.

To broaden his horizons, he moved to London. Around this time, he also left the Jesuits and immersed himself instead in contemporary film and the psychoanalysis of R D Laing. In 1989, he founded Ocean Films with producer, Catherine Tiernan and over the following decade, they made many documentaries and dramas together.

“Frank had an uninhibited imagination, huge energy and motivation to bring his ideas to the screen and to make dreams a reality,” says Tiernan. “In the beginning, we went abroad to seek commissions as RTÉ had not yet opened up to independent production. There was no TV3 or TG4 and the Irish Film Board had yet to be re-activated. The Whole World In His Hands - which was funded by Channel 4 - was among the first Irish independent documentaries to be screened on RTÉ.”

In 1999, Stapleton married Katharine West and the couple bought a Presbyterian manse and church in Hollymount, County Mayo with the intention of restoring it to provide them both with living and working accommodation. However, a year later, Stapleton was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and then in 2001, with multiple sclerosis which quickly limited his ability to write and direct films. Their daughter, Alice Mimosa was born in 2002 and for a number of years, Frank was a wonderful home-based father to her while Katharine, a ceramic artist, lectured at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology.

In 2004, the family moved to Roscahill, County Galway where they had great support from the local community. With Galway based poet, Mary Dempsey as his scribe, Stapleton completed an MA in Film Studies at the Huston Film School at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) in 2006. In 2008, his condition had deteriorated to the extent that he needed to move to supported accommodation in the Cheshire Home in Galway, returning home at weekends and during the holidays.

In 2012, the Galway Film Fleadh showed five of Stapleton’s films in a retrospective of his work. In the catalogue for the festival, Tony Tracy, from the Huston School of Film at NUIG, wrote that Stapleton was part of a vanguard of Irish film directors who attempted to launch a career in the 1980s. “Like others from that period, his work was defined by daring and determination, balanced between an ambition to create a personal cinema and the need to make a living.” Tracy said that Stapleton had a commitment to exploring the condition of Irishness that is imaginative, engaged and wide-ranging. His six-part series, Irish Dreamtime (2000) explored concepts of Irish heritage at the turn of the millennium.

In a tribute piece, the Irish Film Institute archivist, Sunniva O’Flynn said that much of Stapleton’s work was “distinguished by a delightful air of whimsy tethered to a foundation of deep erudition. He was a man of endless intellect, kindness, compassion and fun who bore his long illness with great fortitude and dignity.”

Frank Stapleton is survived by his wife Katharine, daughter Alice Mimosa, his mother Catherine, brothers John and Colum.

https://ifi.ie/frank-stapleton-a-tribute/
The staff and board of IFI have learnt with great sadness of the passing of film director Frank Stapleton.

Frank was an enormously talented writer, director and producer, a leading light of the Irish filmmaking world in the 1980s and 1990s before his career was cut short by the onset of multiple sclerosis. He established Ocean Films with producer and great friend Catherine Tiernan and together they made a series of memorable documentaries. Frank directed Irish Dreamtime, a series about Irish identity and heritage; Dr Browne also Spoke, a biographical film about Noel Browne; and The Whole World in his Hands, a film about Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979.

His Poorhouse was, for many years, one of very few dramas set during the famine. A Second of June a Ulyssean meander through Dublin on the day of Ronald Reagan’s visit was a documentary/drama hybrid which perfectly captured the texture of 1980s Dublin. Frank’s surrealist feature The Fifth Province about a frustrated writer living in the rain-soaked midlands was a fitting vehicle for his colourful story-telling and his wry sense of humour. His work was the subject of a retrospective at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2012.

Much of Frank’s work was distinguished by a delightful air of whimsy tethered to a foundation of deep erudition. He was a man of endless intellect, kindness, compassion and fun who bore his long illness with great fortitude and dignity.

We extend our deepest condolences to Frank’s family and many friends.

https://ifi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Frank-Stapleton-by-Tony-Tracy.pdf
Tony Tracy
from Flynn & Tracy, Historical Dictionary of Irish Cinema, 2nd Ed. (Rowan and Littlefield, 2019)

STAPLETON, FRANK (1962–). It is easy to forget just how difficult it was for the first wave of Irish directors who attempted to launch a career in the 1980s. Frank Stapleton was part of that vanguard. Like others from the period, his work is defined by daring and determination: balanced between an ambition to create a personal cinema and the need to make a living. At first glance, his oeuvre seems characterized by an eclecticism of topics and formats, but on closer consideration, continuities can be traced through a portfolio of creative documentaries, TV drama, short-film and feature film output, and a TV documentary series. Across these works, we encounter an intellect that is both limpid and ludic, a visual sense that is ambitious and original, and a commitment to exploring the condition of Irishness that is imaginative, engaged, and wide ranging.

A native of Churchtown in Dublin’s southern suburbs, he attended the distinguished Belvedere College, where, like the impressionable James Joyce before him, he came under the spell of the Jesuitical mind-set. However, unlike Stephen Daedalus, he did not initially choose an artistic vocation over a priestly calling and spent several years studying within the Society of Jesus. While still appending an “SJ” to his director credit, Frank commenced a career in film, directing the subversive and inventive A Second of June (1984), a contemporary drama-documentary inspired by Ulysses focusing on a day in the life of two ordinary Dubliners against the backdrop of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 visit to Ireland. Two years later, Frank finally uttered “non servium” and left the Jesuits. After a few years in London (where he developed an interest in R. D. Laing’s psychoanalytical techniques), he returned to Dublin and formed Ocean Films with producer Catherine Tiernan in 1989.

The absence at that point of either a film board or state funding structures for independently produced television saw Ocean Films apply for funding wherever it could. Its first success was a prestigious but controversial com- mission—The Whole World in His Hands—a documentary about what Ire- land had become in the 10 years since the visit of Pope John Paul II made for U.K.broadcaster Channel 4. Several similarly polemic documentaries fol- lowed, including two with Noel Browne (Requiem for a Civilisation [1991] and Dr. Browne Also Spoke [1992]) and two in collaboration with Michael D. Higgins just before he became Ireland’s first minister for arts, culture, and the Gaeltacht.

Moving away from documentary and able to secure funding from Radio Telefís Éireann, Frank directed the short film Poorhouse (1996), an evoca- tive adaptation of a Michael Harding story setduring the Famine that featured strong central performances and memorable visuals. Its success paved the way for what proved to be the creative high point of Frank’s career as a filmmaker, The Fifth Province (1997), an artfully realized, unclassifiable feature from a script that Frank cowrote with the late Pat Sheeran and Nina Witoszek (aka Nina FitzPatrick). Attracted by its startling originality, it was British Screen (Simon Perry) that first offered funding to the project, with the Irish Film Board subsequently contributing to its production. Evocative- ly shot by celebrated French
cinematographer Bruno de Keyzer (who contributed a European sensibility to the film’s quirky tone), the film is set in the Irish Midlands and is a worthy cinematic successor to the surrealistic perspective of that liminal zone inaugurated by Flann O’Brien. Once again, it offered an alternative view of Ireland and its culture, challenging official or sanctioned narratives (notably in an amusing but pointed scene about what makes a successful Irish screenplay), and centers on a maverick and dreamer in the figure of Timmy Sugrue (Brian F. O’Byrne).

The Fifth Province was well received at film festivals (winning Best First Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh [Festival] and the Audience Prize at the Fantasporto Festival) but didn’t manage to find a distributor outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland, perhaps because it was not perceived as “Irish” enough. In its aftermath, Frank worked on a range of documentary series before the onset of multiple sclerosis prematurely ended his career. These included Irish Dreamtime (2000), an ambitious six-part series exploring con- cepts of Irish heritage at the turn of the millennium. Each, in different ways, continued the work of his fiction and nonfiction films in seeking to interrogate and articulate the distinctive qualities of the Irish condition at a specific moment in time with a bias
toward the marginal, the excluded, and the unorthodox.

Born: 12 January 1894, Australia
Entered: 09 October 1914, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 20 July 1923

1914-1916: Loyola Greenwich, , Sydney, Novitiate
1916-1920: Loyola Greenwich, Sydney, Cook
1920-1924: Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, working

Born: 15 December 1943, Mountain View Road, Ranelagh, Dublin City
Entered: 07 September 1961, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 09 November 2021, Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross, Dublin (Hermitage Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin City)

Left Society of Jesus: 10 July 1968 (from Milltown Park)

Father, Liam H, was a Vocational teacher at Kevin Street College of Technology, Head of Engineering Dept. Mother was Mary (Tynan). Family lived at Sandford Road, Ranelagh until 1958

Older of two boys with one sister.

Educated at a Convent school for three years he then went to Synge Street.

Baptised at St Andrew’s, Westland Row, 21/12/1943
Confirmed at St Kevin’s, Harrington Street, by Dr Dunne of Dublin, 16/03/1954

1961-1963: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1963-1966: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1966-1968: Milltown Park, Philosophy

Address 2000 & 1991: Hermitage Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin City & Woodpark, Ballinteer, Dublin City

https://rip.ie/death-notice/liam-bosco-trundle-dublin-rathfarnham-461174

The death has occurred of

Liam Bosco TRUNDLE
Rathfarnham, Dublin

Date of Death:
Tuesday 9th November 2021

Trundle, Liam Bosco (Hermitage Park, Rathfarnham) 9th November 2021, peacefully at Our Lady's Hospice, Harold’s Cross, predeceased by Graham; sadly missed by Teedi, Steven, Carrie, Julie, Maarten, grandchildren, Josh, Mia, Alex and Sophie, his brother Pat and wife Dairine, nephews, nieces, extended family, friends and neighbours.

"May he Rest In Peace"

A private family funeral will be held on Friday, 12 November, at 11.30am in the Church of the Divine Word Marley Grange (maximum of 80 people), followed by burial in Mount Venus Cemetery, Rathfarnham.

https://hhtireland.org/news/hht-ireland-loses-a-great-friend/

HHT IRELAND LOSES A GREAT FRIEND

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO A DEAR FRIEND….
It is with deepest regret that the Board of HHT Ireland shares the sad news today of the recent passing of Liam Trundle on 9th November, 2021.

Liam was an excellent accountant and a much respected and revered treasurer in HHT Ireland, keeping our Patient Organisation in immaculate financial health.

But more than this, Liam was a dear friend who generously offered advice and support on a variety of topics to ensure a better future for our many HHT families nationwide.

Liam died peacefully in Our Lady’s Hospice, Harolds Cross, Dublin, with his devoted wife Teedi by his side.

Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam.

https://notices.irishtimes.com/acknowledgement/trundle-liam-bosco/60332439?s_source=itir

TRUNDLE, Liam Bosco: Acknowledgement

TRUNDLE - Liam Bosco (Rathfarnham and Ranelagh) - First Anniversary shared by his treasured son, Graham, 1980 - 1993. Both missed daily by Teedi, Steve, Carrie and Pat, together with Julie, Maarten, Dairine and cherished grandchidren, Josh and Sophie Blanken and Mia and Alex Trundle, Liam's Healy niece and nephews and Donegal McGintys. The family are forever grateful to the community of family, friends and neighbours who surrounded us with love and support at all times. Chris and Eileen and Divine Word parish team led by Fathers Jim and Liam. They propped us up so gently. Liam's special doctors along the way, in particular, Frances Stafford and Alan Laing and teams. Also The Care at Home team in Terenure. Thank you Angels. Every kindness of a call, text, meals. We bless you all. To the Oaks in Druids Heath and colleagues from EY and pals who sent Liam emails of friendship on his last days which the family will forever treasure. Liam and Graham, may you rest in peace. We are so grateful for your lives.

Born: 18 October 1888, St Patrick’s Quay, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 16 January 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 08 October 1919 (from Milltown Park, for health reasons)

Father was a Master Mariner and was lost at sea shortly after William’s birth. Mother lives at “Tuckerville”, Copley Place, Cork City.

Younger of two boys.

Educated at PBC Cork and then St Colman’s Fermoy then after illness returned to PBC and then went to UCD.

1909-1911: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1911-1913: Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
1913-1914: Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, Regency
1914-1916: St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Regency
1916-1917: St Aloysius College SJ, Sydney, Australia, Regency
1917-1919: St Joseph’s College, Philadelphia in MARNEB Province - for health reasons
1919: Milltown Park

Born: 07 September 1909, Summerhill, Cross Avenue, Blackrock, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 18 October 1933 (from Mungret College SJ, Regency)

Family moved to Mount Anville, Dundrum, County Dublin. Father, Kevin, was the gardener at Mount Anville. Mother was Helena (Kelly).

Eldest of a family three sister and one brother.

Early education at Mount Anville NS, and then went to Stillorgan NS. He then went tot CBS Synge Street, Dublin

Baptised at St Mary’s, Booterstown, 09/09/1909
Confirmed at St Kevin’s, Harrington Street, by Dr Byrne of Dublin, 15/03/1921

1926-1928: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1928-1929: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1929-1932: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1932-1933: Mungret College SJ, Regency

Born: 02 october 1886, Killenaule, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1903, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 06 February 1956, Anglo-American Hospital, Cairo Governorate, Cairo, Egypt

Left Society of Jesus: 26 July 1915 (for health reasons)

Father was a general merchant and died in 1900.

One of four brothers and three sisters. Eldest brother is a priest in the diocese of Dubuque, Iowa, USA, and eldest sister is in the Presentation nuns.

Educated at local NS he then went to Mungret College SJ for two years.

1903-1905: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1905-1907: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Philosophy
1907-1910 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying Philosophy
1910-1915: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency

Sought dismissal in part due to the experience of deafness.

Address after leaving, 32, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin Was supported financially by the Provincial until he finished his studies.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/walshe-joseph-patrick-a8908

DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY

Walshe, Joseph Patrick

Forename: Joseph, Patrick
Surname: Walshe
Gender: Male
Career: Administration and Diplomacy
Religion: Catholic
Born 2 October 1886 in Co. Tipperary
Died 6 February 1956 in Egypt

Walshe, Joseph Patrick (1886–1956), diplomat, was born 2 October 1886 in Killenaule, Co. Tipperary, fifth among six children of James Walshe (1835–1900), hotelier, retailer, farmer, and nationalist county councillor for Tipperary South Riding (1899–1900), and Frances Ellen (‘Fannie’) Walshe (neé Heenan; 1858–1931). Educated at the Jesuit apostolic school, Mungret College, outside Limerick city, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1903, studying for two years at the Jesuit noviciate at Tullybeg, King's Co. (Offaly). He continued his education at Gemert in the Netherlands, where he remained to 1910, studying with priests from the Jesuit province of Toulouse forced to take refuge in the Netherlands because of the anti-clerical laws then in force in France. During these years he became fluent in French and acquired the rudiments of German and Dutch.

On returning to Ireland in 1910 Walshe taught French, Latin, Greek, English, mathematics, and Irish (of which he was a fluent speaker) at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. His students included the future archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid (qv). In 1913 Walshe entered UCD and was awarded a BA (1916). He left the Jesuits in 1916 without completing his training, possibly suffering from ill health, but remained a devout catholic through his diplomatic career, seeking to place Irish foreign policy on a strongly catholic footing. He eschewed the catholicism of Maynooth and looked to Rome, the Holy See, and European catholicism for inspiration. In December 1933 he wrote that ‘the church in Ireland . . . has failed because it has departed from the ideals of the universal Church and concentrated the minds of the people on one or two negative commandments to the exclusion of the general teaching of Christ’ (Documents on Irish foreign policy, iv, 275).

Returning to UCD on leaving the Jesuits, Walshe studied for an MA in French, which he was awarded in 1917. During this period he also studied law and became politically active in the Irish independence movement. He held a number of short-term jobs in Dublin in these years, including waiting in Jammet's, the famous French restaurant (he was, after all, a hotel owner's son) and working in a French-language bookshop in the city. France and Italy, in particular the Vatican, in addition to the Holy Land, were to exert an enduring cultural and intellectual influence on Walshe through his life.

Though he was a qualified solicitor, diplomacy interested Walshe more than a legal career. In November 1920 he joined the Dáil Éireann mission to the Paris peace conference, led by Seán T. O'Kelly (qv), as part of the clandestine pre-independence Irish foreign service. This period in Paris, as well as his earlier years in Gemert, had a strong influence on Walshe and his later style showed influences from French diplomacy. Returning to Dublin in early 1922, he became secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the suggestion of the outgoing secretary, Robert Brennan (qv), who had resigned, being unable to accept the 1921 Anglo–Irish treaty. Holding the pro-treaty core of the department (renamed External Affairs in December 1922) together through the civil war (1922–3), Walshe was initially designated ‘acting secretary’, a term he disliked.

In the 1920s Walshe protected his small department from the predatory Department of the President of the Executive Council, which sought to incorporate External Affairs into its own structure, and from the Department of Finance, which sought to close External Affairs down. In August 1927 he was officially appointed secretary, his position now being equal to the heads of other government departments. Walshe used the period following the assassination of his minister, Kevin O'Higgins (qv), to effect this change when the president of the executive council, William T. Cosgrave (qv), was acting minister for external affairs. With Cosgrave on his side, Walshe could overcome any opposition from Finance. A small expansion of the department's overseas missions followed in 1929, when Ireland opened legations in Paris, Rome, and the Holy See. By the end of the 1920s Walshe had built a professional, apolitical, and impartial diplomatic service out of the ruins of the Dáil Éireann diplomatic service which split over the 1921 treaty. He undertook important overseas work, attending the assemblies of the League of Nations and the imperial conferences of 1923, 1926, and 1930. Travelling to Rome in 1929, he undertook the groundwork for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Ireland. When Ireland hosted the 1932 eucharistic congress, he organised the official welcome for distinguished visitors.

Through the 1920s Walshe identified himself strongly with the incumbent Cumann na nGaedheal government. Following the election of Fianna Fáil in 1932, Éamon de Valera (qv) became president of the executive council (prime minister) and minister for external affairs. Walshe initially feared that he would be removed as secretary of the department, but on the contrary he made himself indispensable to de Valera in the most important areas of Irish foreign policy (in particular in Anglo–Irish relations), and he and de Valera developed a strong working relationship. Though the strategic direction of foreign policy remained with de Valera, Walshe had considerable latitude in its execution, revelled in being de Valera's éminence grise, and often appeared to model his modus operandi on those of seventeenth-century French diplomats such as Père Joseph, Cardinal Richelieu, or Cardinal Mazarin. Though he committed very little to paper of his views on the correct style and manner of diplomacy, there are striking similarities between François de Callières's On the manner of negotiating with princes, first published in 1716, and Walshe's diplomatic style.

Under de Valera, Walshe further strengthened External Affairs's position in the Irish administrative system. By the outbreak of the second world war, External Affairs, and Walshe himself, had played a central role in de Valera's redefinition of Anglo–Irish relations, culminating in the 1938 Anglo–Irish agreements on trade, finance and defence. Walshe was now identified closely with de Valera, and the later 1930s saw his greatest hold on power.

Through the war Walshe undertook high-level negotiations with British officials to ensure that Ireland, though neutral, provided Britain with intelligence reports and other assistance. Walshe knew that Ireland was under threat of invasion from Britain and from Germany. Ireland lacked a viable military capacity to repel any invader, and throughout the conflict had to rely on the soft power of its diplomatic service to protect Irish neutrality. Heading that service, Walshe made sure to keep on good terms with the British representative in Dublin, Sir John Maffey (qv), and the German minister to Ireland, Eduard Hempel (qv), but he found his relationship with the American minister, David Gray (qv), much more difficult to maintain. Photographs show that Walshe aged noticeably during the war. Coming close to complete physical and mental breakdown in 1942, he nevertheless skilfully handled the crises of wartime diplomacy, in particular the ‘American note’ incident of February 1944, and had earlier calmed growing tension between Ireland and Germany as Hempel showed his disapproval at the interning of crash-landed German airmen while allied airmen were allowed over the border into Northern Ireland. Walshe ensured that Ireland, though secretly strongly pro-Allied, appeared in public as scrupulously neutral. However, he was unable to prevent de Valera from undertaking on 2 May 1945 his visit to the residence of the German minister to give his condolences on the death of Hitler. Walshe had a strong interest in the politics of Vichy France and something of an interest in Italian corporatism; like many people of his time he was also prone to the occasional anti-Semitic remark, but he was never a supporter of the ideologies of Hitler's Germany – he was a firm supporter of democracy, and his catholicism was strongly at odds with Nazi policies.

In September 1946 Walshe presided over a four-day conference of the heads of Irish missions abroad and the heads of key senior departments of state at Iveagh House. It was to draw up the blueprint for Irish foreign policy in the post-war years, which would in particular promote national cultural propaganda and foreign trade. The conference had the feel of a religious retreat about it, and in his résumé of the conference Walshe tellingly referred to Ireland's diplomats as ‘apostles for this country’ (NAI, DFA Secretaries files, P100).

But Walshe's years running External Affairs were drawing to a close. In May 1946 he took up the post of ambassador to the Holy See, his first overseas posting since 1922. He was the first Irish diplomat to hold a posting at this diplomatic rank. In the post-war world his old-style diplomacy was overtaken by new forms of technocratic and multilateral diplomacy, and he became something of an anachronism to junior officers in External Affairs. But to Walshe, representing Ireland at the Vatican was the highest possible accolade and the crowning moment of his diplomatic career. During his eight years at the Holy See he was on the front line of the Cold War. With Italian politics bitterly divided between left and right, he – a lifelong opponent of communism – obtained financial support from Ireland for the Christian Democrats in the 1948 elections. He wished to show the Vatican that Ireland was a strong supporter of the catholic church in its anti-communist crusade, but Irish fidelity did not always rank as highly in Vatican opinions as Walshe hoped. Having moved from a post that involved running a growing department, down to running an embassy with a very small staff, he often appeared to be depressed while posted to the Holy See. He no longer held the levers of power; and while he could operate in one of his dearest environments, he was now only a minor player on a much larger and more complex stage. In 1954, in recognition of his services, the Holy See awarded Walshe the Order of the Sword and Cape, and made him a Chevalier Grand Cross of the Order of St Sylvester, with the rank of papal chamberlain.

On retirement in October 1954 Walshe hoped to live in Rome and remain of service to the Vatican. However, the heart and respiratory problems that had dogged him during his life returned. To improve his health he moved to Kalk Bay, Cape Province, South Africa. While returning to Rome in early 1956, he was taken ill in Egypt and died of cardiac asthma at the Anglo–American Hospital, Cairo, on 6 February 1956. He was buried in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, Cairo. It is said that Walshe had made it clear before he died (though it is not in his will) that he wished to be buried where he died, expecting it to be Rome, rather than Cairo. Yet, as he was a frequent traveller in Egypt, Sudan, and Palestine in the 1930s, this can perhaps be regarded as a second best.

Joseph Walshe remains among the most significant figures in the history of twentieth-century Irish diplomacy. He was the founder and father of the modern Irish diplomatic service. He rebuilt the Department of External Affairs from the ruins of the split over the 1921 treaty, and served the Cumann an nGaedheal, Fianna Fáil, and inter-party governments. His colleague Leo McCauley (qv) wrote to Walshe in 1934 that he knew that the Department of External Affairs was ‘the apple of your eye, bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh’ (NAI, DFA S78(a)).

Walshe favoured a closed style of diplomacy and was often in conflict over matters of policy with his own colleagues and with senior officials in other government departments. He often kept his assistant secretary and best friend from UCD days, Seán Murphy (qv), in the dark about important decisions. Walshe was also mercurial and quick to take offence. Though he would say that his mood swings were merely mischievous on his part, he almost fell out with Murphy over the direction of Irish policy towards France in 1940–41, when Murphy, on the spot as minister to the Vichy government, was in a better position to comment on developments in France. Walshe had had a similar run-in with Seán Lester (qv) in 1931 over the Irish response at the League of Nations to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria; and by the 1950s he had a less than civil relationship with the Irish minister to Rome, his old colleague from the Dáil Éireann foreign service, Michael MacWhite (qv). It is therefore no surprise to learn that when he was approached by Michael McDunphy (qv) to contribute a witness statement to the Bureau of Military History, he replied: ‘I am afraid that I should have to ask to be relieved of such a task . . . I cannot believe that it would be a good precedent for a civil servant to tell the story of his own period . . . that kind of story, especially in a post like mine, would have repercussions which, cumulatively, could be quite detrimental to the interests of the state’ (NAI, DFA Holy See Embassy 20/87). It is abundantly clear that Walshe saw External Affairs as his creation, and that he and it were inseparable.

Though a civil servant, Walshe was a strongly political actor, often uneasy with the constraints of public service. He was not always a cool, calm diplomat and was prone to being excitable, overzealous, and emotional. His complex personality left a strong impression on those who met him. He could appear as all things to all people, seeking out their vulnerable points and using them as a means to achieve his own ends. Contemporaries remarked on his ability to influence people and to win them over to his way of thinking. Yet in his private life Walshe was unostentatious and humble, happy to have been of service to the Irish state.

He never married and on his death left an estate to the value of £3,014 to his brother Patrick. Unsubstantiated lore in External Affairs was that he had always hoped to marry his colleague Sheila Murphy (qv), but his poor health came in the way.

Sources
NAI, Department of Foreign Affairs archives; Éamon de Valera papers, UCD Archives; NAI, 1901 and 1911 census data; GRO; NAI, Wills and administrations; Ir. Times, 4 Feb. 1946, 19 Jan. 1952, 19 Aug. 1954, 7 Feb. 1956; Ir. Independent, 20 Aug. 1954; Dermot Keogh, Ireland and Europe (1989); id., ‘Profile of Joseph Walshe, secretary of the department of external affairs 1922–1946’, Irish Studies in International Affairs, iii, no. 2 (1990); id., Ireland and the Vatican (1997); Ronan Fanning, Michael Kennedy, Dermot Keogh, and Eunan O'Halpin (ed.), Documents on Irish foreign policy, i–iv (1998–2004); Michael Kennedy, ‘“Nobody knows and ever shall know from me that I have written in”: Joseph Walshe, Éamon de Valera and the execution of Irish foreign policy, 1932–38’, Irish Studies in International Affairs, xiv (2003); private information

Born: 01 June 1912, Poland
Entered: 30 July 1932, Brzozów, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland - Poloniae Minoris Province (POL Mi)

Left Society of Jesus: 20 January 1942

Had a brother or uncle a priest in Poland.

1932-1934: Brzozów, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland (POL Mi), Novitiate
1934-1937: Ignatianum University, Mikołaja Kopernika, Kraków, Poland, Philosophy
1937-1940: Jezuici Boholanum, Aleje Radawickie, Lublin Poland, Theology (POL Ma)
1940-1942: Milltown Park (HIB) studying 1940-1942

Address after leaving, Hollybank Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, then Antrim Road, Belfast.