Showing 1926 results

Born: 30 November 1903, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1921, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1939
Died: 26 March 1988, Vauxhall, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1934 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1933-1937

Born: 08 November 1906, Hollywood, Carrickmines, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 31 May 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 22 August 1986, Saint Teresa's Hospital, Mong Kok, Hong Kong - Hong Kongensis Province (HK)

Part of the Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed : HIB to HK 03/12/1966

Older Brother of Denis (DP) Kennedy - RIP 1988

Born in Harcourt Street, Dublin

Second of five boys with five sisters.

Early education with a private tutor and then at Belvedere College SJ and Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1932 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1934 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency

Second World War Chaplain

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father R. Kennedy, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Richard Kennedy, S.J., of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, died of cancer in St. Teresa’s Hospital on Friday, 22 August 1986, aged 79.

Father Kennedy was born in Ireland on 8 November 1906. He joined the Jesuit noviciate in 1924 and spent the years 1933-36 in Hong Kong as a scholastic. He returned to Ireland for theology and ordination. World War II delayed his return to Hong Kong, so he took up work as a British Army chaplain in 1941.

Within a few months he was a prisoner of war - in Singapore first, and later in Japan and Manchuria. In later life he spoke little of this period, but that little showed clearly that he retained throughout all difficulties a high spirit, veering at times towards reckless courage.

After the war he went to Canton for language study and pastoral work. After the Communist take-over his high spirit got him into trouble with the authorities. He spent a short-time in prison and was expelled form China. Thus he returned to Hong Kong.

He taught in Wah Yan College, Kowloon, until he reached the official age for retirement. After that he taught in Newman College until the last remnants of his strength had gone. When he could no longer face a classroom he stayed on as spiritual guide to the students.

About two years ago, doctors in Ireland diagnosed cancer and advised him to remain in his native country, but Hong Kong had become his home and he insisted on coming back to do his last work here and to die here.

Archbishop Dominic Tang, S.J., led the concelebrated Mass of the resurrection in the chapel of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, and officiated at the graveside at St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley, on Tuesday, 26 August.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 29 August 1986

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :

Note from Tommy Martin Entry
He first arrived as a Scholastic for regency in Hong Kong in 1933. He was accompanied by Frs Jack O’Meara and Thomas Ryan, and by two other Scholastics, John Foley and Dick Kennedy.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 2 1941

General News :
The Irish Province has to date sent 4 chaplains to England for home or foreign service for the duration of the war. They are Frs. Richard Kennedy, Michael Morrison, Conor Naughton and Cyril Perrott. The first three were doing their 3rd year's probation under Fr. Henry Keane at the Castle, Rathfarnham, while Fr. Perrott was Minister at Mungret College. They left Dublin on the afternoon of 26th May for Belfast en route for London. Fr. Richard Clarke reported a few days later seeing them off safely from Victoria. Both he and Fr. Guilly, Senior Chaplain to British Forces in N. Ireland, had been most helpful and kind in getting them under way.

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

General :
Seven more chaplains to the forces in England were appointed in July : Frs Burden, Donnelly, J Hayes, Lennon and C Murphy, who left on 1st September to report in Northern Ireland, and Fr Guinane who left on 9th September.
Fr. M. Dowling owing to the serious accident he unfortunately met when travelling by bus from Limerick to Dublin in August will not be able to report for active duty for some weeks to come. He is, as reported by Fr. Lennon of the Scottish Command in Midlothian expected in that area.
Of the chaplains who left us on 26th May last, at least three have been back already on leave. Fr. Hayes reports from Redcar Yorkshire that he is completely at home and experiences no sense of strangeness. Fr. Murphy is working' with the Second Lancashire Fusiliers and reports having met Fr. Shields when passing through Salisbury - the latter is very satisfied and is doing well. Fr. Burden reports from Catterick Camp, Yorks, that he is living with Fr. Burrows, S.J., and has a Church of his own, “so I am a sort of PP”.
Fr. Lennon was impressed very much by the kindness already shown him on all hands at Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and in his Parish. He has found the officers in the different camps very kind and pleased that he had come. This brigade has been without a R.C. Chaplain for many months and has never yet had any R.C. Chaplain for any decent length of time. I am a brigade-chaplain like Fr Kennedy and Fr. Naughton down south. He says Mass on weekdays in a local Church served by our Fathers from Dalkeith but only open on Sundays. This is the first time the Catholics have had Mass in week-days

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Gardiner Street

Fr. R. Kennedy supplied in the Church for some weeks before leaving for China on October 8th. Fr. Brian Kelly has been at work with us since September. He preached on Mission Sunday.

Irish Province News 61st Year No 4 1986

Obituary

Fr Richard Kennedy (1906-1924-1986) (Macau-Hong Kong

The 8th November 1906: born in Co Dublin. 1917--21 Belvedere, 1921-24 Clongowes.
1st September 1924: entered SJ. 1924-26 Tullabeg, noviceship. 1926-30 Rathfarnham, juniorate (1926-27 home studies, 1927-30 at UCD: BA in English language and literature). 1930-33 philosophy: 1930-31 at Tullabeg, 1931-33 at Valkenburg, Netherlands.
1933-36 Hong Kong, regency: Regional seminary, studying Chinese and teaching mathematics; Wah Yan, Robinson road, teaching.
1936-40 Milltown Park, theology (31st July 1939: ordained a priest). 1940-41 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1941-47 chaplain to British army and prisoner of war: 1941-42 Singapore, which in Feb. 1942 was captured by the Japanese. Taken as prisoner to Changi, for six months; 1942-44 a mining camp in Taiwan (Formosa); Fukuoka, Japan, for two months; spring to mid-September, 1945, in Manchuria; then released. End of 1945: to Ireland for recuperation. Feb. 1946-Mar, 1947: chaplain to British army of the Rhine; then demobilised. Six months furlough.
1947-48 Wah Yan, Hong Kong, teaching. 1948-53 Canton (under Communist government from 1949), teaching in university/Shing Sam/ Sacred Heart college. 11th August-25th September 1953: imprisoned, then expelled to Hong Kong, where he under went an operation. A year's rest and recuperation in Ireland.
1955-86 Wah Yan, Kowloon: teach ing: 1955-71 in WYKL (1955-64 directing boys' club), 1971-85 in Newman College (1985-86 spiritual counsellor there). 22nd August 1986: died.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1987

Obituary

Father Richard Kennedy SJ (1921)

Dick Kennedy was born in Dublin in 1906. He was at Belvedere 1917-21. He went from Junior Grade to Clongowes and entered the Society of Jesus in 1924. He had the usual Jesuit formation: novitiate in Tullabeg; BA in English at UCD, from Rathfarnham Castle; philosophy in Tullabeg and, for two years, at Valkenburg, Holland; regency in Hong Kong, spent in the Regional Seminary, where he studied the language and taught mathematics, and in Wah Yan College as a teacher; theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained on July 31st 1939. He made his tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle.

Immediately afterwards he joined the British Army as a chaplain in Singapore. He became a prisoner of war when Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 and remained in captivity until the war ended. For six months he was at Changi in Singapore, then in a mining camp in Formosa until 1944, then in Fukoka (Japan) for a few months, and finally for six months in Manchuria, before release and return home to recuperate from his experiences. He rejoined the British Army on the Rhine 1946-47 until demobilisation,

After a year teaching at Wah Yan, Hong Kong, he was sent to teach in Canton in 1948. The Communist government took, over the city a year later but Dick continued working until he was arrested in August 1953 and expelled in late September back to Hong Kong, where he had to undergo an operation.

Restored by a year's recuperation at home, he returned in 1955 to Kowloon, where he spent the rest of his long life at Wah Yan. He taught in the College until 1971 and at Newman College until 1985. His last year was spent as spiritual counsellor at Newman.

During his final illness, he had many visitors in hospital: priests, sisters, past students whom he had taught or baptised, poor people he had befriended and helped. His rector, Fr Fred Deignan, writes:

“Fr. Dick in his humility never spoke very much about the many people he knew and helped, instructed and baptised. He must have suffered a lot during his internment under the Japanese but I'm sure that he gave very much help, hope and courage to his many fellow-prisoners. He was always very good to the poor and those in trouble. He loved young people and was happiest when they were around him”.

He died on August 22nd 1986. The funeral Mass was concelebrated by a large number of his brother-Jesuits, led by his friend from their difficult days together in Canton, Archbishop Dominic Tang SJ, who preached the homily. Among the many present was a group of Catholics from Canton, some of whom had been imprisoned for years because they were members of the Legion of Mary. “This was just a sign”, as Fr. Deignan writes, “that a great number of people loved and revered in”.

His younger brother Dermot died a few months before him. To all his family, especially Fr Denis P (Paddy), a former rector of Belvedere, our most sincere sympathy on their loss.

Born: 22 May 1914, Kilbaha, Newtownsands, County Kerry
Entered: 09 June 1933, St Charles, Grand Couteau LA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Ordained: 16 June 1946
Final Vows: 01 February 1970
Died: 03 January 2011, New Orleans LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

by 1948 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 17 February 1853, Kilbaha, Newtownsands, County Kerry
Entered: 10 May 1872, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg (HIB for NOR) - Neo Aurliensis Province
Ordained: December 1883, New Orleans LA, USA
Died: 22 September 1885, Spring Hill College, AL, USA - Neo Aurliensis Province (NOR)

Three is also a William Kennely, Born Kilbaha, County Kerry 23 June 1842; Entered 1862 ?? (NOR); Died 31 January 1901, Grand Coteau LA, USA - Neo Aurliensis Province (NOR) who must be a relative.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - KENNALLY. It would appear that Fr Finegan is recording him as having entered in the Tullabeg Novitiate, but the LUGD CAT of 1873 has him at St Stanislaus College, Macon, GA, USA

Born: 07 July 1779, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 20 September 1804, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 04 December 1808, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Final Vows: 16 June 1819
Died: 19 November 1841, Professed House, Rome, Italy

Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Ireland : 30 September 1812- 28 September 1817; 29 September 1821- May 1830;
Visitor to Maryland Mission : 1819 - 1822; 14 November 1830 - 1833;
Vice-Provincial: April 1834 - May 1836;
Vice-President Maynooth College : 1813 - 1814;

Peter Kenney was an Irish Jesuit credited with restoring the Society of Jesus in Ireland after their suppression, as well as with establishing several colleges and devoting much of his life to the education of youth.
There were seventeen Jesuits at the time of the suppression in Ireland. No longer members of the Society, they were forced to act as diocesan priests. One of these last remaining Jesuits, Fr Thomas Betagh, taught children of poor families in Dublin. One of his students was Peter Kenney, the son of a coachmaker. Sponsored by Betagh, Kenney entered Maynooth College. From here he travelled to Palermo in Sicily to continue his religious training, as Sicily was allowed to maintain its branch of the Society of Jesus. Here in 1808 he was ordained as a priest.
Kenney travelled back to Ireland in 1811, the same year that Fr Betagh, the last remaining Jesuit in Ireland, died. Kenney arrived intent on re-establishing the Jesuits in his home country. Using money that had been put aside by the previous Jesuits, he bought Castle Brown in 1813. This would become the site of a new Jesuit school, Clongowes Wood College, which opened the following year. In 1818 a further school was opened in Tullabeg, Offaly. Tullabeg College was originally planned as a noviciate for the Society but became in time a proper college.
In 1822 Kenney travelled to America to visit the missions. In Missouri he met Jesuit farmers and was appalled that they owned slaves, ordering them to set their slaves free. Back in Ireland, Kenney and three others founded the Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier in Dublin after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was passed. For his remaining years, he continued his work across Ireland, both as a preacher and as an educator, until he passed away in 1841, worn down by constant toil and travel.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” : :
Early education in Humanities at Carlow and Stonyhurst. Father Betagh was the first to discover his abilities. Priests used to go listen to him teaching Catechism while he was an apprentice coach-builder. Betagh and O’Callaghan, ex-Jesuits, sent him to Carlow College, and he was loudly applauded by fellow students, and even the venerable President. In the Novitiate - as per fellow Novice Father Postlethwaite - he was asked to leave the Refectory pulpit by Father Charles Plowden, as the Novices interrupted their meal as they were spellbound and astounded by his exordium. At Stonyhurst, he distinguished himself in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
He completed his Higher Studies and Theology at Palermo, where he defended his theses of Divinity with applause, and was Ordained there. In a letter from the Procurator General to Father General, he calls him “l’incomparabile Kenny”. Father Angolini writes to Father Plowden from Palermo in 1809 “in the public disputations vel maxime excelluit P Kenny”. In 1810 he says “P Kenny excellit supra omnes; dona habet ingenii, virium, zeli animarum, activitas et efficaciae in agendo simulet prudentiae vere insignia. Deus illum ad sui gloriam Hibernorumsque Missionis incrementum conservit”. Father Provincial writes in 1810 “P Kenny ingenio pollet prompto et acri”, and again in 1811 “P Kenny acerrimi et ingenii, studiique amans, ut optimam de se spem faciat. Tum religiosum colit disciplinam, ingenio ipse nimis vivido, quandoque judicii, sui tenacior apparet”.
1811 Sent to Ireland in November, and served at the Chapel of St Michan, Dublin, the ancient Residence of the Society. He was vice-President of Maynooth for a short while at the request of Archbishop Murray, and his portrait is preserved there.
1815-1817 Destined by Providence as an instrument to revive the ancient Irish Mission SJ, he was joined by four Fathers and several Scholastics from Stonyhurst, and was Superior until 1817. He bought Castle Brown, or Clongowes Wood Co Kildare, and took possession 04/03/1814 and opened it as a school on 15 May 1816, himself being the Rector.
1819 He was sent as Visitor to the American Mission SJ, and returning again to Ireland, was declared Superior of the Mission, 27/08/1822, and its first Vice-Provincial, in its being erected into a Vice-Province in 1829. He remained Vice-Provincial until 1836.
1830-1833 He was again sent as Visitor to the American Mission SJ, where he rendered signal services, and in July 1833, published the General’s Decree for constituting the American Mission into a Province, installing Fr William McSherry as its first Provincial. During his years in America, he was constantly Preaching and Confessing, kept diaries of his travels, and had a very extensive correspondence with people of all ranks and conditions. His Retreats and Sermons were spoke of by Priests fifty and sixty years later, and long eloquent passages quoted with enthusiasm.
Tullabeg, and St Francis Xavier’s Residence Dublin are principally indebted to him for their foundation and erection.
Recommended by medical men to winter in warmer climates, he made his way to Rome with great difficulty, and died at the Gesù of an attack of apoplexy aged 62. He is buried at the Gesù. (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS). Archbishop Murray of Dublin was overwhelmed with grief at his passing, and considered him a national loss. He and the other Bishops celebrated High Mass and said the Office for the repose of his soul.
He tried several times to write the history of the Irish Mission. Of his own life, short sketches have been written in Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS and Foley’s Collectanea, as well as Mgr Meagher in his “Life of Dr Murray” and by Father Hogan in some numbers of the Limerick Reporter.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His mother was said to have been a woman of remarkable piety and high intellect. She trained him in piety. he soon proved himself an apt scholar of virtue. Even as a young boy, he joined one of the sodalities for young men, which, in spite of Penal times, were flourishing in Dublin at the time. Their custom was to gather after nightfall, say prayers together and listen to a pious reading. It was Peter’s custom to regularly give ferverinos to his young companions which moved them so much, and even the priests - encouraged by Father Betagh - would stop to listen to him. This was a forerunner perhaps of his reputation later on as one of the foremost English speaking pulpit orators of his day.
1802 he was at Carlow College studying Logic and Metaphysics, and here too, his oratory was highly thought of, as it was usual for the students to preach in turn to each other. A famous talk he gave was on “The Dignity of the Priesthood” which was met with applause, even from the Superior.
1804 He went to Stonyhurst and completed his Noviceship. After First Vows he remained and studied Mathematics and Physics. His health troubled him, especially his eyes, and his Superiors decided to send him to a milder climate in Sicily for Theology. He duly completed his Theology to much acclaim and graduating DD (document of record of achievement from the University of Palermo preserved at Clongowes).
After Ordination he offered some support to Irish and English soldiers stationed at Sicily. At the same time, the King of Sicily was anxious to give refuge to Pope Pius VII, and Cajetan Angiolini SJ was commissioned to negotiate the matter with the Pope. He chose Peter Kenney as his assistant. The Pope refused to leave Rome.
1811 he left Sicily for Ireland. On the way he spent some time at Malta, ministering to English soldiers there. His name remained for a long time in fond memory.
1812 He arrived in Ireland to begin his long and fruitful career. The timing saw a Catholic Church beginning to emerge from the strictures of Penal Laws, though they were still in force.
He is described as the “foundation stone” of the Restored Society in Ireland. Father Betagh had just died the previous year, and since he was so beloved, Kenney was received with open arms by the Archbishop and priesthood in Dublin. He quickly earned a reputation as a great Preacher, and on all the great occasions, was called upon, including the funeral of the Archbishop and the Jubilee of 1825. He was then asked by Maynooth College, supported by the Archbishop to become the President. He accepted, only on condition that the Archbishop should be declared President, and he the Vice-President, but only for one year. His real desire was to found a Jesuit College.
1814 He purchased Clongowes. The money used to purchase it had been carefully handed down from the time of the Suppression. The College opened that year, and students flocked from all parts of the country. Due to overcrowding, a fever broke out at the College, and it had to be disbanded for a while.
1817 He left Clongowes to Bartholomew Esmonde, and took his place in Hardwicke St, Dublin, and he remained working there until 1819.
1819 Fr General Thaddeus Brzodowski entrusted the task of Visitor to the new Maryland Mission to Peter Kenney. It was a difficult task, but his work was approved of by all.
1821 He returned to Ireland, and initially back at Hardwicke St, but was then appointed Rector of Clongowes again, and later Mission Superior. This was a difficult period for the Church in the country, and some focus was on the Jesuits, with the old accusations of intrigue etc, being spoken of to the point where a petition was sent to Parliament by a group of zealous Irish Protestants asking that measures be taken to check the dangerous machinations of the Jesuits. Kenney’s diplomatic skills, particularly among influential Protestants in the Kildare area resulted in Lord Leinster moving a counter petition, suggesting the opposite, and this position was supported in the Irish press. Nonetheless, the Government set up an inquiry on the influence of the Jesuits, and Peter Kenney was summoned before the Chief Secretary and Privy Council. Again his skills won the day and the admiration of the Council which had summoned him.
1829 He went to a General Congregation, and there it was announced that Ireland would become a Vice-Province, and he the first Vice-Provincial. He was again sent as Visitor to American Provinces, and achieved much in that position, to the point where there were efforts to keep him in the US.
1833 On his return, his health was beginning to suffer, to the point that he found it difficult to be about, but he nonetheless stuck to his task to the end. He ran a Provincial Congregation in 1841 and he was even elected himself as Procurator of the Vice-Province to go to Rome. In spite of appalling weather conditions which made travel very difficult, especially for one in such health, he made the journey, but once in Rome succumbed to a fever. He is buried in the Gesù in Rome.
News of his death was issued at Gardiner St, and vast crowds assembled there in sorrow. The Archbishop wrote of the great loss to the Society and Church, in a letter of condolence. Many clergy and bishops attended his funeral, and a similar memorial event at Maynooth.
He was a man of exceptional powers as an administrator and Superior. In addition, he was known as a remarkable Preacher.
Note on excerpts from Mgr MacCaffrey, President Maynooth, “The Holy Eucharist in Modern Ireland” at the International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin 1932 - Book of Congress p 160 :
“There is not wanting evidence to indicate that even in the lifetime of St Margaret Mary (Alacocque) devotion to the Sacred Heart found many warm adherents in Ireland, and amongst them ...Blessed Oliver Plunkett. But whatever about individuals, the first Sodality of the Sacred Heart in Ireland of which we have an authentic record was founded at Maynooth College in the year 1813 by the eminent Jesuit Father Peter Kenney, Vice-President of Maynooth and founder of Clongowes. This new Society was regarded as important and so dangerous that it was denounced in English newspapers and reviews, was warmly debated in the House of Commons, and was even deemed worthy of investigation by a Royal Commission. But that Father Kenney’s work bore fruit in spite of much hostile criticism is proved by the fact that when years later Pope Gregory XVI granted an extension of the Mass of the Sacred Heart to Ireland, he did so, as he says, in consequence of the great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that prevails in that Kingdom.”

◆ Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ Past and Present Notes :
16th February 1811 At the advance ages of 73, Father Betagh, PP of the St Michael Rosemary Lane Parish Dublin, Vicar General of the Dublin Archdiocese died. His death was looked upon as almost a national calamity. Shops and businesses were closed on the day of his funeral. His name and qualities were on the lips of everyone. He was an ex-Jesuit, the link between the Old and New Society in Ireland.

Among his many works was the foundation of two schools for boys : one a Classical school in Sall’s Court, the other a Night School in Skinner’s Row. One pupil received particular care - Peter Kenney - as he believed there might be great things to come from him in the future. “I have not long to be with you, but never fear, I’m rearing up a cock that will crow louder and sweeter for you than I ever did” he told his parishioners. Peter Kenney was to be “founder” of the restored Society in Ireland.

There were seventeen Jesuits in Ireland at the Suppression : John Ward, Clement Kelly, Edward Keating, John St Leger, Nicholas Barron, John Austin, Peter Berrill, James Moroney, Michael Cawood, Michael Fitzgerald, John Fullam, Paul Power, John Barron, Joseph O'Halloran, James Mulcaile, Richard O'Callaghan and Thomas Betagh. These men believed in the future restoration, and they husbanded their resources and succeeded in handing down to their successors a considerable sum of money, which had been saved by them.

A letter from the Acting General Father Thaddeus Brezozowski, dated St Petersburg 14 June 1806 was addressed to the only two survivors, Betagh and O’Callaghan. He thanked them for their work and their union with those in Russia, and suggested that the restoration was close at hand.

A letter from Nicholas Sewell, dated Stonyhurst 07 July 1809 to Betagh gives details of Irishmen being sent to Sicily for studies : Bartholomew Esmonde, Paul Ferley, Charles Aylmer, Robert St Leger, Edmund Cogan and James Butler. Peter Kenney and Matthew Gahan had preceded them. These were the foundation stones of the Restored Society.

Returning to Ireland, Kenney, Gahan and John Ryan took residence at No3 George’s Hill. Two years later, with the monies saved for them, Kenney bought Clongowes as a College for boys and a House of Studies for Jesuits. From a diary fragment of Aylmer, we learn that Kenney was Superior of the Irish Mission and Prefect of Studies, Aylmer was Minister, Claude Jautard, a survivor of the old Society in France was Spiritual Father, Butler was Professor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology, Ferley was professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Esmonde was Superior of Scholastics and they were joined by St Leger and William Dinan. Gahan was described as a Missioner at Francis St Dublin and Confessor to the Poor Clares and Irish Sisters of Charity at Harold’s Cross and Summerhill. Ryan was a Missioner in St Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin. Among the Scholastics, Brothers and Masters were : Brothers Fraser, Levins, Connor, Bracken, Sherlock, Moran, Mullen and McGlade.

Trouble was not long coming. Protestants were upset that the Jesuits were in Ireland and sent a petition was sent to Parliament, suggesting that the Vow of Obedience to the Pope meant they could not have an Oath of Allegiance to the King. In addition, the expulsion of Jesuits from all of Europe had been a good thing. Kenney’s influence and diplomatic skills resulted in gaining support from Protestants in the locality of Clongowes, and a counter petition was presented by the Duke of Leinster on behalf of the Jesuits. This moment passed, but anti Jesuit feelings were mounting, such as in the Orange faction, and they managed to get an enquiry into the Jesuits and Peter Kenney and they appeared before the Irish Chief Secretary and Privy Council. Peter Kenney’s persuasive and oratorical skills won the day and the enquiry group said they were satisfied and impressed.

Over the years the Mission grew into a Province with Joseph Lentaigne as first Provincial in 1860. In 1885 the first outward undertaking was the setting up of an Irish Mission to Australia by Lentaigne and William Kelly, and this Mission grew exponentially from very humble beginnings.

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Kenney, Peter
by Patrick Maume

Kenney, Peter (1779–1841), Jesuit priest and educationist, was born in Dublin, probably at 28 Drogheda Street, on 7 July 1779, the son of Peter Kenney, a businessman, and his wife, Ellen (née Molloy). He had one sister (who became a nun) and a much older brother (possibly a half-brother by a previous marriage of his father). Kenney attended schools conducted by the former Jesuit Thomas Betagh (qv), who became his principal mentor, at Saul's Court and Skinner's Row; after being briefly apprenticed to a coach-maker, he became Betagh's assistant in his schools. In 1799 Kenney took a leading role in the foundation of the first Young Men's Confraternity in Dublin.

On 6 June 1801 Kenney entered St Patrick's College, Carlow, to study for the priesthood. He was one of a group of young men who had their fees paid from the residual funds of the Irish Jesuit mission (administered by Irish former Jesuits) in return for a commitment to enter a revived Society of Jesus. The Jesuit order had been suppressed by the papacy in 1773, but survived unofficially in Russia. In 1801 the holy see granted official recognition to the Russian province of the order and allowed Jesuits elsewhere to attach themselves to it. Former Jesuits in England took advantage of this dispensation to reestablish the English province of the society under the jurisdiction of the vicar general in Russia, but the legality of this remained uncertain until the formal restoration of the society in 1814.

In September 1804 Kenney went to Stonyhurst College, Lancashire (founded 1794), to undertake his novitiate. He was recognised as an outstanding student, particularly in theology and philosophy. After developing asthma and eye problems he was sent to Palermo in April 1808 to complete his studies. This also allowed him to take his vows with the surety of being recognised as a Jesuit by church law, since the society had been formally reestablished in the kingdom of Naples in 1804. Shortly after his arrival Kenney served as interpreter on a secret and unsuccessful mission to persuade Pope Pius VII to leave French-occupied Rome and place himself under the protection of British forces in Sicily. Kenney received his tonsure and minor orders in June 1808, was ordained deacon and subdeacon in November, and received priestly orders on 4 December 1808. He carried on his studies at the Jesuit college in Palermo (completing them in April 1811, though he did not receive a degree for technical reasons), while ministering to catholics in the British garrison, despite obstruction from their superior officers.

Kenney returned to Ireland in August 1811 as acting superior of the Jesuits’ Irish mission (whose independence from the English province he successfully asserted). He ministered in Dublin with three other newly admitted Jesuits, and rapidly acquired a reputation as a calmly eloquent preacher. For the rest of his life he was much in demand as a preacher of charity sermons and as principal speaker on major ecclesiastical occasions; the Maynooth professor Patrick Murray (qv) compared his style and eminence as a pulpit orator to those of Daniel O'Connell (qv) as a public speaker. Between August 1812 and 1813 Kenney acted as vice-president of Maynooth at the insistence of Daniel Murray (qv), co-adjutor archbishop of Dublin, who had been asked to serve as temporary president. Kenney appears to have undertaken most of the administrative duties because of Murray's other commitments, but his principal impact was as a spiritual guide and retreat leader to the seminarians.

In 1813 Kenney used much of the money inherited from the former Irish Jesuit funds to purchase Castle Browne House, Clane, Co. Kildare; in summer 1814 this opened as Clongowes Wood College, which became the most celebrated school run by Irish Jesuits. In managing the new school and overseeing the implementation of the traditional Jesuit curriculum, Kenney showed himself a capable organiser. At the same time he lobbied against calls by ultra-protestant politicians for the passage of new anti-Jesuit legislation, acquired a chapel in Hardwicke Street, Dublin (from which Gardiner Street church and Belvedere College later developed), and negotiated the purchase of the site of the future Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, King's County (Offaly).

In September 1817 Kenney (whose career was punctuated by lamentations over the burdens of leadership and expressions of desire to devote himself to pastoral work) resigned as rector of Clongowes and superior of the mission. The acceptance of his resignation was encouraged by tensions among the Irish Jesuits, which were aggravated by his frequent absences owing to other commitments. He spent the next year and a half at the Jesuit chapel in Hardwicke Street, adding to his lifelong reputation as a skilled (though perhaps somewhat strict) confessor to all classes of penitents and a leader of retreats.

In April 1819 Kenney was appointed visitor to the North American Jesuits. As a preliminary, he took his four solemn vows as a fully professed Jesuit on 16 June 1819 and sailed on 31 July, thereby avoiding an attempt by the secular clergy of Kerry to secure him for their vacant bishopric. During his first mission to America (September 1819 to August 1820) Kenney reorganised the struggling Jesuit college at Georgetown, and reported on the financial and pastoral problems created by the American Jesuits’ badly managed slave plantations in Maryland. His Irish and continental experience enabled him to mediate effectively between older European-born Jesuits and their native American confreres (who combined ignorance of Europe with pride in republican institutions). Evading efforts to nominate him for the sees of Philadelphia and New York, Kenney returned to Europe in August 1820 to participate in the election of a new Jesuit general and report to the general congregation on the state of the order in America.

Kenney returned to Ireland in 1821 and in 1822 was reappointed to the rectorship of Clongowes and the leadership of the Irish Jesuits (whose status had been raised to that of a vice-province in 1819) [This is incorrect Vice-Province 1830; . In this period he experienced tensions with Bishop James Warren Doyle (qv) on such issues as Jesuit social aspirations and the perceived desertion of parish clergy by penitents seeking lenient Jesuit confessors. He testified before a royal commission on Irish education and advised Edmund Ignatius Rice (qv), Mother Mary Teresa (Frances) Ball (qv), and Mary Aikenhead (qv) on drawing up the constitutions of their nascent religious orders. He later experienced tensions with Aikenhead and Rice over disputes within the Irish Sisters of Charity and the Christian Brothers.

In 1830 Kenney was relieved of his offices at his own request and thereafter the positions of Clongowes rector and vice-provincial were separated. But this respite was brief as he was promptly sent on a second mission to America as temporary Jesuit superior as well as visitor. On this visit, which concluded with his receipt and formal promulgation of the Vatican decree constituting the Maryland Jesuits a full province, covering much of the eastern United States, he implemented further reforms in Georgetown, reclaimed a church formerly run by the Jesuits in Philadelphia, and visited the Jesuit mission in Missouri, which had been founded by Belgian Jesuits in 1823 with the intention of evangelising the indigenous population. In Missouri he greatly raised the standing of the Jesuit college at St Louis, which became the first university west of the Mississippi, and attempted to diminish the harsh discipline exercised by the local superiors. His support for the continuing independence of the Missouri mission from the Maryland province was one of the achievements that mark his two visitations as a watershed in the development of the American Jesuits and, by extension, of the whole catholic church in America. His memory was revered among his American brethren for decades.

After his return to Ireland in September 1833 (having refused the bishopric of Cincinnati on health grounds) Kenney was reappointed vice-provincial in 1834, but stepped down in 1836 as he was no longer able to combine this role with his pastoral duties as superior of the Gardiner Street community, where the Dublin Jesuits had moved when their new church was constructed in the early 1830s; the Hardwicke Street chapel became the site of a school, which later moved to Belvedere House. Kenney remained superior at Gardiner Street until 1840, though he was now suffering from heart problems complicated by asthma, overwork, and obesity. In this period he strongly supported Archbishop Murray's acceptance of the national schools, writing to Rome in rebuttal of the position of Archbishop MacHale (qv).

In 1840 Kenney was relieved of his superiorship, having asked permission to spend some time in southern Italy for the good of his health and to undertake historical research on the history of the Irish Jesuits. He reached Rome in October 1841 but died on 19 November 1841 of a stroke, his condition exacerbated by poor medical treatment; he was buried at the Jesuit church of the Gesù in Rome. Kenney was a significant force in the nineteenth-century revival of institutional Irish catholicism, the key figure in the revival of the Irish Jesuits, and an important presence in the American church; but perhaps his greatest influence was wielded through his labours in pulpit and confessional, which led Archbishop Murray's eulogist to call Kenney ‘the apostle of modern Dublin’.

Louis McRedmond, To the greater glory: a history of the Irish Jesuits (1991); Patrick J. Corish, Maynooth College, 1795–1995 (1995); Thomas Morrissey, As one sent: Peter Kenney SJ 1779–1841, his mission in Ireland and North America (1996); ODNB

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-going-multi-denominational/

JESUITICA: Going multi-denominational
In founding Clongowes, Fr Peter Kenney told Sir Robert Peel that he intended to establish a lay school for education of Protestants as well as Catholics. Jesuits had made such moves before. In 1687, with royal sponsorship, they opened a school in the Chancellor’s House in the Royal Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh. It lasted only a year, but its prospectus is an object lesson in the virtues of religious tolerance and educational opportunity. Its book of rules begins with the welcome news that the scholars shall be taught gratis; nor shall they be at any farther charges or expenses than the buying of their own pens, ink, paper and books. The prospectus was copied in founding other Jesuit schools, and remains instructive today. Read more “Although youths of different professions, whether Catholics or Protestants, come to these schools, yet in teaching all, there shall be no distinction made, but all shall be taught with equal diligence and care, and every one shall be promoted according to his deserts. There shall not be, either by masters or scholars, any tampering or meddling to persuade any one from the profession of his own religion; but there shall be all freedom for every one to practise what religion he shall please, and none shall be less esteemed or favoured for being of a different religion from others. None shall upbraid or reproach any one on the account of religion; and when the exercise of religion shall be practised, as hearing Mass, catechising, or preaching, or any other, it shall be lawful for any Protestant, without any molestation or trouble to absent himself from such public exercise, if he please.”
Behind this were agreed moral norms: “All shall be taught to keep God’s Commandments, and therefore none shall be permitted to lie, swear or curse, or talk uncivil discourse. None shall fight or quarrel with one another.”

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 7th Year No 3 1932

Father Peter Kenney Saves the Scholastic Method

On the occasion of the Congregation of 1829 the Fathers had to deal with the question of the direction of studies, and with the means of bringing the old Ratio Studiorum into line with the requirements of modern times. The principal matter under discussion was the use of the scientific method in dealing with sacred studies. The majority, having completed their studies in seminaries or in lay universities, according to the system then in vogue, showed themselves hostile to the “metodo scolastico” and favored the “metodo dissertivo”.
But Father Kenny, a gifted orator, at that time Superior of the Irish mission, addressing the Fathers, made a spirited and vigorous defence of the Scholastic method. He recalled
how deeply the Church and the Society were indebted to it, how the most distinguished men had been trained on that system, and how the enemies of religion had belittled and assailed it precisely because of its force and perfection. He concluded by affirming that by rejecting the Scholastic method they should not have carried out a work of construction but one of destruction.
All were carried away by the eloquent words of Father Kenny so much so that the Congregation declared unanimously that as in the past, the Scholastic method should remain as a sacred patrimony of the Society, and that the questions of “scientist media” and others commonly held by the theologians of the Society, should be considered as anything but useless and obsolete.
It were difficult to describe with what warmth Father Roothan applauded the eloquent words of the orator, He entertained for Father Kenny such affection and gratitude that he declared him to be a signal benefactor of the Society, and attributed to him the merit of having replaced the Society's true method and, true doctrine in its honoured position. He concluded by saying that were it not contrary to the practices of the Society a monument should be erected to him as a mark of that Society's everlasting gratitude.
The above is taken from a “Life of Very Rev. J. Roothan General of the Society”, written in Italian by Father P. Pirri.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

A MODERN APOSTLE OF DUBLIN
FR PETER KENNEY SJ (1779-1841)
Just a hundred years ago, on 19th November 1841, Father Peter Kenney, S.J., the founder of the Irish Province of the restored Society of Jesus, died in Rome. Few men played so large a part in the Catholic Renaissance which marked the opening half of the nineteenth century in Ireland. On his death Dr. Murray, then Archbishop of Dublin, said that Rome alone was worthy to be the scene of Fr. Kenney's death; some ten years later Mgr. Meagher, in a sketch of the dead Archbishop's life, called Fr. Peter Kenney the Apostle of Dublin.(1) To-day, one hundred years after his death, Dublin has forgotten almost all but the name of her great Apostle.

I.
Peter Kenney was born a Dubliner on 7th July, 1779, just six years after the Suppression of the Society of Jesus. Of his early years we have no very full record; he was already a young man of twenty-three when he entered Carlow College to begin his philosophy in 1802. While quite a boy he was apprenticed to a coach-builder and spent his days in the work-shop. Like many another ambitious lad he profited by Dr. Betagh's evening school in Saul's Court, off Fishamble Street, and every evening when his work was done he took his place in the old cellar where Dr. Betagh taught his free school, and where, as Dr. Blake, Bishop of Dromore, tells us “three hundred boys, poor in everything but genius and spirit, receive their education every evening, and where more than 3,000 have been already educated”. Dr. Betagh, carrying on the work of his confrère, Fr. John Austin, S.J., rewarded the more diligent of his pupils with a full classical education ; his school in fact did duty for a Diocesan Seminary for Dublin and Meath, and besides Peter Kenney numbered among its pupils Dr. Murray, Dr. Blake, Mgr. Yore and many others who did so much for the Church in the early nineteenth century.
The future Apostle of Dublin early showed his marked talent for preaching. While still an apprentice he used to treat his fellow-workers to versions of the sermon he had heard the previous Sunday. One day his master entered the work-shop and found young Kenney, mounted on a chair, preaching a sermon to his fellows who were gathered round him. “This will never do”, cried the master in a rage, “idling the apprentices! You'll be sure to be at it again. Walk off now; and never show your face here again”. Thus a sudden end was brought to his youthful apostolate and poor Peter's zeal had lost him his job. Much put out by his dismissal he stayed away from the evening school. But Dr. Betagh soon missed him and decided to find out what had happened to him. He feared that there had been some trouble at home, but when he questioned Peter the young lad admitted that he had been trying to preach to his fellow-workers and had been dismissed for his pains. From that day Peter and Dr. Betagh became fast friends. Realising the great zeal and ability of the boy he decided to give him every chance to become a real preacher, and, perhaps if God willed it, he might yet become a worker for Christ in Dr. Betagh's old Society now slowly rising from the tomb. (2)
In 1802 Dr. Betagh sent him to Carlow College to begin his higher studies. Here his powers as a preacher were more appreciated. It was customary for the students to preach in turn before their professors and companions. Young Kenney was chosen to preach On “The Dignity of the Priesthood” and so well did he grip his audience that at the end of the sermon they greeted him with rounds of applause in which the President joined heartily.
On 20th September 1804, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Hodder near Stonyhurst. Of his noviceship we have little record; his future life seems to point to the thoroughness with which he made it. But once again his powers as an orator proved troublesome. On the authority of Fr, Postlewhite, a fellow-novice of his, we know that he was told to leave the refectory pulpit by Fr. Charles Plowden, his novice-master, as the novices were spell-bound by his sermon and listened to him intently at the expense of their dinner. After his noviceship he studied mathematics and natural philosophy at Stonyhurst with much success. His health, however, became poor, and he suffered a great deal from his eyes. His Superiors thought a change of climate would prove beneficial and so he was sent to Palermo in Sicily to read his course in theology.
In Palermo he quickly made his mark; in a letter of the Procurator General of the Society of Jesus to Fr. Plowden he is referred to as “l'incomparabile Kenney” and even in his first year's theology he is said to have spoken “da maestro”. At the end of his course he defended his theology in a public disputation with great distinction. And yet while working at his theology he found time also for apostolic work. Ordained in 1808 he was shortly afterwards appointed chaplain to the British soldiers in Sicily. The Governor of Malta objected to this and asked him to give up his work among the soldiers. Fr. Kenney replied that as he was ordered by his General to act as chaplain he could not abandon his work unless he received a written order from the Governor to do so. As the Governor was determined to force him to give up his ministry he wrote the necessary order forbidding him to act as chaplain to the troops. Later Grattan raised the question at Westminster; the Prime Minister, Perceval, denied that any such order was ever given. Fortunately, however, the document had been preserved and was forwarded to the Prime Minister by Dr. Troy. As a result Catholic soldiers were from that time given liberty of conscience.
Sicily at this period was occupied by British troops who were defending it for the King of Naples against the French who had already driven the King out of his kingdom of Naples. The Pope, Pius VII, was a prisoner of the French in Rome and a daring attempt to free him was determined upon in which Fr. Kenney was invited to play a leading part. He was told by his Superior to be ready to set sail within an hour's time on a British man-of-war, bound for Civita Vecchia. When the frigate, which was commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Cockburn, reached the Papal port Fr. Kenney remained aboard while his companion Fr. Angiolini went on to Rome to propose to the Pope that he should leave Rome, come aboard the man-of War and sail for England where the British Government were willing to put a residence at his disposal until the French were driven out of Rome. However, the Pope preferred to remain with his stricken flock and so the project fell through. Captain Cockburn was charmed with his two Jesuit guests and was afterwards fond of recounting that he alone of His Majesty's Navy could boast of the honour of being ordered to hold himself and his ship at the disposal of two Jesuits with a view of bringing the Pope to England.

II
Dr. Betagh died on the 16th February, 1811; he was the last surviving Irish member of the old Society of Jesus. Towards the close of his life his friends often used to say to him: “Oh! Dr. Betagh, what will become of us all when you go to heaven?” To such questionings Dr. Betagh, it is said, always answered : “No matter; I am old and stupid ; but there is a young cock coming from Sicily that will crow ten times as loudly as ever I could”.
Just ten months after his death in November 1811, Fr. Peter Kenney, accompanied by ty. Dinan and Fr. Gahan, arrived in Dublin from Palermo to prepare the way for the new Irish mission of the restored Society of Jesus. He took a house on George's Hill, beside the Presentation Convent which his old friend and former master in Dr. Betagh's classical Academy, Fr. James Philip Mulcaile S.J., had helped to found ; thus the first Residence of the restored Society was in the middle of St. Michan's parish which had been so faithfully served by the Jesuits of earlier times.
Dr. Betagh had succeeded Fr. Mulcaile as Vicar-General of the Diocese and by his great sanctity, learning and zeal had become one of the greatest figures of the Irish Church. Dr. Troy and his clergy were, therefore, doubly warm in their welcome of Fr. Kenney to whom they looked to carry on the Venerable Betagh's work. On his arrival in Dublin in 1811 Fr. Kenney was a young man of thirty-two. Between 5 foot 7 inches and 5 foot 8 inches in height he looked a good deal taller because of his large build and his majestic bearing. His face was not regular, though some of his features were very fine; his forehead noble, his eyebrows massive, his eyes most brilliant and piercing, though winning, his mouth and the under portion of his face full of strength, it up at times with a sweet smile. Though his limbs were irregularly formed yet few seem to have noticed this so carried away were they by the sweeping effect of his strong personality. Richard Lalor Sheil wrote this description of him ; “His rectilinear forehead is strongly indented, satire sits upon his thin lips, and a livid hue is spread over a quadrangular face the sunken cheeks of which exhibit the united effects of monastic abstinence and meditation”. (3)
Fr. Kenney lost no time in getting to work; preaching, hearing confessions, giving missions, all these he undertook and with great fruit. He was not long in Dublin, however, before the Archbishop, Dr. Troy, and his co-adjutor, Dr. Murray, began to beg of him to take on the Presidency of Maynooth. For many reasons Fr. Kenney was slow to accept this responsible position, in the end he consented to act as Vice-President for one year during which time Dr Murray was to act as President. Writing to the Archbishop in October, 1812, Fr. Kenney pointed out : “Nothing could be more foreign to my intention and to the wishes of my religious brethren than a situation in Maynooth College. I, however, yield to your Grace's desire and opinion that in my actual circumstances, the greater glory of God may be more effectually procured there than in my present situation, Your Grace's anxiety on this head is now removed, since I promise to go for the ensuing year, provided a duty more directly mine does not necessarily call me thence before the expiration of that time. I must, however, earnestly request that if your Grace meet in the interim with a person who would accept the proposed situation I may be allowed to spend in the humble domestic library of George's Hill, not as yet arranged, the hours that I can spare from missionary labours”. (4)
The Archbishop was glad to have Fr. Kenney's services even for a year and he had every reason to be delighted with his prudent and skilful rule which was most fruitful in the fervent spirit of piety and study and in the exact observance of discipline which he instilled into the students. His memory has long been held in grateful and kindly memory in Maynooth where his portrait hangs in the Students' Refectory. Besides his year of office he had frequent contacts with the College in later years giving retreats to the Students and to the Priests from time to time. While Vice-President he proposed points for meditation to the students regularly and these were eagerly copied down and continued to circulate in Maynooth for many years afterwards. I have one copy-book of these meditations before me as I write these lines. Dr. Patrick Murray, the great Maynooth theologian, in some MSS. reminiscences of Fr. Kenney, published after his death, in 1869, states : “The first trace of his (Fr. Kenney's) luminous and powerful mind I saw was in some MSS, meditations which he composed during the short period of his holding the office of Vice-President in Maynooth November, 1812 November, 1813), and copies of which were handed down through some of the College officials. It was in the second or third year of my course (I entered College at the end of August, 1829) that I was fortunate enough to obtain the loan of a copy of some of these meditations - how I now utterly forget. But I remember well that I was quite enchanted with them; they were so different from any thing I had up to that time seen. I transcribed as many of them as I could—they were given me only for a short time-into a blank paper-book which I still have in my possession”. (5)
Fr. Kenney's reluctance to remain longer than a year in Maynooth was due to his anxiety to establish as soon as possible a Jesuit College for boys. The Fathers of the old Society had always believed that the day would come when the Society would once more flourish. To provide for this new dawn they had carefully husbanded the resources of the old mission and these with some legacies and the accumulated interest now amounted to the goodly sum of £32,000. With this capital behind him Fr. Kenney began to look about for a suitable home for his new College. The Jesuit tradition had been to have their schools in the cities or near them, and from this point of view Rathfarnham Castle seemed a good site. However, it was thought that it would be more prudent not to open a Jesuit school so near Dublin Castle. Fr. Kenney wrote to Dr. Plunkett, the Bishop of Meath, about his plans and the difficulties in the way; the following is part of Dr. Plunkett's reply, dated 25th January, 1813 :
"My dear and Rev. Vice-President,
Having been so long honoured with the very obliging letter you were so good as to write to me, I cannot suffer the bearer, Mr. Rourke, who is going to place himself under your care, to withdraw from us without a line of thanks for your late communication. I have been educated in this kingdom by the pious and amiable Mr. Austin. afterwards in a seminary ever attached to your Society, the seminary in Paris which gave you the venerable Mr. Mulcaile. I naturally feel a most sincere desire of seeing your revival commence amongst us in one shape or other, as soon as circumstances will allow. That a combination of such favourable circumstances approaches rather slowly I am not surprised. Few great undertakings advance fast to maturity ; obstacles of various kinds stand in the way. Active zeal is a powerful instrument well calculated to remove them, but must be accompanied with patience, prudence, caution and foresight. Dunboyne Castle, for the reason you mention, cannot be thought of at present; it is perhaps, also, too near Maynooth. Balbriggan, as to situation, would suit you better, not however, without considerable expense. I mean the house at Inch. I saw it some years ago. No striking idea of it remains in my mind. A convenient extensive building would appear there to great advantage. To the price or rent asked for the ground I should not very much object; we pay here higher for chosen spots of land. I should prefer purchasing if it could be done. Building, whatever advantages might attend it, would be tedious. There are in this county a few ancient mansions, some one of which your cordial friend Mr. Grainger, my most excellent neighbour, thinks ere long may be disposed of. It would afford you every thing desirable. Divine Providence is perhaps preparing a place of this sort for you. Your friends in England are, perhaps, waiting to be informed that such a place is attainable. It would, I humbly imagine, be worth waiting for. In the meantime your actual highly respectable occupations do not estrange you from your vocation ; out of your own sphere scarcely could they be more conformable to it. I am inclined to think that the esteem and respect entertained for you in the College, and the reputation you there and throughout the kingdom enjoy, have a closer connection than is apprehended with the designs of the Divine Founder of our holy religion. It has at times occurred to me that the Capital would be the situation most advantageous for your principal residence; because the means of cultivating learning, and kindling the fire of the true religion, which the Saviour of the world came to spread on earth, abound chiefly in great cities. ...” (6)
Towards the close of the same year, Fr. Kenney decided that the Wogan Browne's family seat, Castle Browne, formerly known as Clongowes Wood, would provide a suitable home for the first College of the Society. Details of the purchase were hardly fixed before the alarm that the Jesuits were plotting against the Government went abroad. Fr. Kenney was summoned before Peel, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, to explain his position. Dr. Corcoran, S.J., has printed an account of part of this interview in The Clongowes Record to which we also refer the reader for a full account of the early years of Clongowes, whose history is inseparably linked with that of Fr. Kenney. The following less well-known account of the interview from Lord Colechester's Diary will show how good a match Fr. Kenney was for Peel.
“May 29th, 1814 : Peel called by appointment. Talked over the Church fermentation about Quarantotti's letter and Dr. Kenney's foundation of the school of Clongowes Wood, late Castle Browne. Kenney's conversation with him asserting the £16,000 to be his own funds, though how obtained he refused to disclose and that when his vow of poverty was objected to him in bar of his being the proprietor of such funds he said that his vow was simple not solemn. (7) To all questions he generally answered by putting some other question instead of giving an affirmative or negative. He admitted that he was in early expectation of two Jesuits from Sicily, Wolfe and Esmonde, whose fathers and brothers respectively had been hanged in Ireland as traitors, and that he proposed to employ these two men as Professors in the College. (8)
Despite the refusal of the Protestant Bishop of Kildare to grant a licence for the new school and the lively interest of Dublin Castle in all his proceedings, Fr. Kenney opened Clongowes in May, 1814; by December, 1816, there were 200 pupils in the house. Fr. Plowden, S.J., of Stonyhurst wrote in October of that year: “I must tell you that the most heartfelt comfort which I have enjoyed these many years comes from Mr. Simpson's report (which fills Stonyhurst) of the excellent arrangements, order, progress, and success of your new establishment. It shows what one intelligent and active man can achieve”. (9)
The boys in Clongowes both then and later always called him "”he great Kenney”; his Sunday instructions were indescribably impressive, according to some of his pupils; he seems to have been able to grip their attention completely and to have won their confidence as the kindest of fathers. He loved talking to boys and engaging them in discussions. On one occasion probably after his return from America, “he was heard to give a brilliant exposition of the American constitution, which he very much admired, and he unconsciously delivered for twenty minutes before a large company what might be called a masterly statement that would have carried the admiration of any Senate - all were amazed and enchanted”.
Besides being Rector of Clongowes he was also Superior of the Irish Mission. Plans for a Residence in Dublin and for a novitiate occupied his attention but did not prevent him from satisfying the constant demand from Bishops and priests for retreats, missions, sermons and advice. In a short account like this his varied activities can only be barely indicated, but the reader will easily gather from their mere mention how closely Fr. Kenney was bound up with the life and development of the Irish Church. In February, 1815, Mary Aikenhead and her companion Mother Catherine Walsh returned from the Bar Convent in York to begin, under Dr. Murray's direction, the founding of the Irish Sisters of Charity. In all his plans for this new institute Dr. Murray constantly consulted Fr. Kenney, and when in September 1815, he had to return to Rome to give the opinion of the Irish Bishops on the Veto question he entrusted the care of the infant Congregation to Fr. Kenney. In September, 1817, Fr. Kenney preached on the occasion of the first public clothing of novices of the new Congregation; taking as his text the words of St. Paul : Caritas Christi urget nos (2 Cor. 7 v14) - “The Charity of Christ urgeth us”. From that day to this the text of that sermon has been used as the motto of the Irish Sisters of Charity. Later on Fr. Kenney introduced Fr. Robert St. Leger, the first Rector of the College of St. Stanislaus, Tullabeg, to Mother Aikenhead; in Fr. St. Leger, Fr. Kenney gave to the new Congregation a staunch and learned friend, to whom the Sisters owe their Rules and Constitutions which he modelled on those of St. Ignatius. (10)
The only criticism levelled against Fr. Kenney was that he was inclined to take on too much work. And yet in this matter of accepting extra work, though Superior of the Mission, he consulted his brethren. Fr. Aylmer records in his diary : “The letter from Mr. Kenney on the 3rd was to desire the opinions of Frs. Ferley, Butler and Aylmer with regard to his preaching a charity sermon in Cork at the request of the Bishop, Dr. Murphy, and, consequent to his accepting that of Cork, another in Limerick. The two former were of opinion that both ought to be accepted; the latter said that he did not entirely agree with them, because he thought that Fr. Kenney's frequent absence from the College, where he had so often declared that all were too young and not to be depended upon, was highly injurious. As to the propriety of preaching both sermons, Mr. Kenney himself could alone determine, as he alone knew the circumstances and situation of affairs”. (11)
Fr. Kenney seems to have followed Fr. Aylmer's opinion and to have declined the sermons but in so gracious a way as to win this reply from Cork : “Your apology (for not preaching for the Poor Schools) was calculated to produce a different effect from what you intended, for the more the Committee heard of it, the more they seemed eager to hear yourself”. However his over-activity was soon forgiven him for, if we may anticipate a little, Fr. Plowden wrote to him when on visitation in America in 1820 :
“The General, or rather Fr. Rosaven remarks as an inconsistency, that while you governed Clongowes complaints used to arrive of your conduct, and that now all Clongowes re-demands you loudly, as indispensably necessary for the support of the Irish mission”. (12)
Before Fr. Kenney left Ireland to make his first Visitation of the Maryland Mission in July, 1819, he had founded besides Clongowes, the Jesuit Residence attached to Hardwicke St. Church and the College at Tullabeg, but we shall have to reserve details of these foundations for some other occasion.

III
The new Mission in Maryland needed help in its difficult task of reorganisation and Fr. Kenney's great skill as an administrator, coupled with his prudence and discretion, made him ideally suited for the difficult position of Visitor. During the few months he remained in the United States he did excellent work the full fruits of which he was to witness ten years later when Fr. John Roothaan sent him to make a second visitation of the Mission in 1830. Though absent from Ireland for less than a year on this first visitation he was greatly missed. Fr. Plowden writes to him on September 24th, 1819 : “You are much missed and wanted in Ireland. As soon as I heard of your being elected by the diocesan clergy Co-adjutor to Dr. Sughrue (Bishop of Kerry), I wrote to Rome to engage our friends to frustrate the measure by every means in their power. We know now that the Lord Lieutenant has publicly notified that the election of Mr. Kenney to a bishopric is disapproved of by the Government. What a dreadful man you are! It seems your conference with Mr. Peel terrified the Ministers. All this makes me smile....” (13)
But the bishopric of Kerry was not the only honour which Fr. Kenney had to take steps to avoid; later on we shall see how anxious the American bishops were to have him as a confrère. Even now on his first visit to the States many influential people were anxious to keep him there. He wrote to Fr. Aylmer from Georgetown on October 5th, 1819 :
“I arrived at New York on the 9th ult. Matters are not so bad as they were made to appear. The General has been more plagued than he ought to have been.
All parties seem glad that a visitation has been instituted by the General.
I assure you that I have not the least intention or wish that you should take any measure to prevent the success of the Archbishop's efforts. In strict impartiality, after contrasting the wants of this country with my obligations to the Irish Mission, I have resolved to guard cautiously that religious indifference that leaves the subject sicut baculum in manu senis. Were I at my own disposal, I should think it almost a crime to return from any motive of affection or attachment to those comforts and sympathies which I shall never enjoy outside Ireland.
Were a man fit to do no more than catechize the children and slaves he ought to consider his being on the spot, by the will of God, a proof that it is most pleasing to God to remain amongst them, and so sacrifice every gratification under heaven to the existing wants of Catholicity, I shall not even lift my hand to influence the General one way or the other, because I am unwilling and unable to decide between the claims of the Irish Mission and the wants of this, when I am myself the subject of discussion”. (14)
However Ireland was not to be deprived of so valued a son and in the following August (1820) he returned to Dublin. On his arrival he took up duties as Superior of Hardwicke Street; in the next year he was reappointed Superior of the Mission and Rector of Clongowes. His work in Clongowes has been treated of elsewhere, and so here we shall give it scant mention; there were many worrying moments when the old outcry against the Jesuits was raised again, and it took all Fr. Kenney's influence and tact to avert the storm.
It was during this period between his American visitations that Fr. Kenney's greatest work as a preacher was done. On almost every big occasion he was invited to fill the pulpit. Thus he preached the panegyric of Dr. Troy in 1823, the consecration sermon of Dr. Crolly in 1825, the first appeal for the Propagation of the Faith ever preached in Dublin, and the great Jubilee of 1826. Dr. Murray opened the Jubilee on 8th March, 1826, in the new Church of the Immaculate Conception (the Pro Cathedral). Every day for a month Fr. Kenney addressed the faithful with commanding eloquence which achieved the most astonishing conversions. Mgr. Meagher tells us that the confessionals were crowded almost without interruption by unprecedented multitudes. On the first morning of General Communion the Pro-Cathedral presented a spectacle such as Dublin had never before witnessed. The Church was packed to overflowing and every member of the vast congregation received Holy Communion. At the conclusion of the ceremonies Fr. Kenney led the people in a renovation of their Baptismal vows. Beholding the sight that met him as he ascended the pulpit he“burst forth into such strains of jubilation and thanksgiving, as made his overflowing audience almost beside themselves, while with uplifted hands and streaming eyes they literally shouted aloud their eternal renunciation of Satan and his works”. (15)
Dr. Patrick Murray, the Maynooth Professor, has left us his opinions of Fr. Kenney's powers :

“Fr. Kenney aimed not at the ear or the fancy but through the understanding at the heart. Not to steal it; he seized it at once and in his firm grasp held it beating quick in its rapt and willing captivity. ... The only other orator to whom I thought of comparing him was Daniel O'Connell. I recollect that while both were yet living I remarked in a conversation with a very intelligent friend on Fr. Kenney's great powers that he was ‘the O'Connell of the pulpit’. My friend not only agreed with me but expressed his surprise that the resemblance had never occurred to himself. The reason it did not occur to him was, no doubt, that ordinarily men do not think of searching for such comparisons out of the species; but set off pulpit orators against pulpit orators as they set bar orators against bar orators, and parliamentary against parliamentary.
Overwhelming strength and all-subduing pathos were the leading, as they were the common, characteristics of these two extraordinary men. I say nothing of clearness, precision, and those other conditions which must be found in all good composition, whether written or spoken, and especially in oratory addressed to the many; without which all seeming or so-called eloquence is mere hurdy gurdy clattering. Also I say nothing of O'Connell's inimitable and irresistible humour. There are undoubtedly certain occasions on which this talent may be exercised in the pulpit. But Fr. Kenney, if he possessed it, never in the least degree displayed it. I never saw a more serious countenance than his was on every occasion of my hearing him. Not solemn, not severe, but serious and attractively and winningly so. There he stood - or sat as the case might be - as if he had a special commission direct from heaven on the due discharge of which might depend his own salvation and that of every soul present. Indeed so deeply did he seem to be penetrated with the importance of his sacred theme, so entirely did the persuasion of that importance display itself in his whole manner that his discourses appeared to be the simple utterances of what his heart and soul had learned and digested in a long and absorbing meditation before the crucifix. That they were often in fact such utterances I have no doubt whatever ; one instance of this I once, by mere accident, happened to witness with my own eyes.
In another point he also strikingly resembled O'Connell. He never indulged in those poetic flights of mere fancy which delight only or mainly for their own sake. Imagination, of course, he had and of a high order, too; otherwise he could never have been a true orator. But it was imagination subservient not dominant; penetrating the main idea as a kindling spark of life, not glittering idly round about it; the woof interwoven with the warp not the gaudy fringe dangling at the end of the texture. You will find none of these poetic flights to which I allude, in Demosthenes, or Cicero in Chrysostome or Bourdaloue; and where they are found in modern orators of high name they are blemishes not beauties. Of course, too, he had great felicity of diction, which is equally essential - using the very words and phrases which above all others exactly suited the thought and set it off in its best light, so that the substitution of any words would be at once felt as an injury like the touch of an inferior artist covering the delicate lines of a master....
Fr. Kenney, like O'Connell, attained the highest perfection of his art which consists in so appearing that no. one ever dreams of any culture or art having been used at all, according to the hackneyed phrase summae artis autem celare artem. So perfect was O'Connell in this respect that though I heard him very often in the winter of 1837-8 and the following years it never once entered my mind to suspect that he had ever given any great attention to oratory as an art; his delivery always appearing to me spontaneous and unstudied as are the movements and prattle of a child. It was only after his death that I learned from some published memorials of him, and was at the time surprised to learn, that in early life he had taken great pains in forming his manner, and in particular that he had marked and studied with care the tones and modulations of voice for which the younger Pitt was so famous. Fr. Kenney, like O'Connell, hardly used any gestures. His voice was powerful and at the same time pleasing, but I I do not ever remember to have heard from him any of those soft pathetic tones sometimes used by O'Connell which winged his words to the heart and the sound of which even at this distant period still seems to vibrate in my ears.
Fr. Kenney was eminently a theological preacher, and this too without the slightest tinge of that pedantry and affectation always so offensive to good taste, but particularly so in the pulpit. Indeed he was the only preacher I ever heard who possessed the marvellous power of fusing the hardest and most abstruse scholasticisms into forms that.at once imparted to them clearness and simplicity and beauty without in the least degree lessening their weight and dignity.....” (16)

Dr. Murray was not alone in thinking Fr. Kenney an outstanding orator. One old bishop used to recall the over mastering tenderness and vehemence of his apostrophes to the crucifix, which he delivered with streaming eyes on some occasions ; this same bishop declared that his vivid recollection of Fr. Kenney's preaching had made him unable to relish any other preacher however eminent, even Fr. Tom Burke himself. Fr. Aylmer, who was an effective preacher, used to say that his greatest humiliation was to have to preach from the same altar steps from which Fr. Kenney had electrified the congregation on the previous Sunday, So packed was the church when he preached that the congregation overflowed out on to the street; his following numbered all classes. It is said that Grattan used to admire his eloquence greatly and used to attend his sermons at Hardwicke Street.
As this account of Fr. Kenney's career has already grown too long we can make no mention of Fr. Kenney's close connection with the Presentation Convent on George's Hill. We must, however

Born: 08 May 1813, Cloonclare, County Leitrim
Entered: 12 March 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missourian Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1847
Professed: 15 August 1859
Died: 14 April 1885, St Gall's Church Milwaukee, WI, USA - Missourian Province (MIS)

Born: 28 June 1863, Glenkeen, County Tipperary
Entered: 06 September 1886, Florissant MO USA (MIS for Neo-Aurelianensis Province NOR)
Ordained: 01 August 1897, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1903
Died 22 November 1946, Touro Infirmary, New Orleans LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

part of the Spring Hill College, Spring Hill AL, USA community at the time of death

by 1895 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1894-1897

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1897
Marching Through Georgia
Father Michael Kenny SJ

Writing from the South, as we term the southern half of the United States, the first thing that just now occurs to one to speak of is the climate. The papers are raging with yellow fever in Louisiana, much more than is Louisiana herself, and New Orleans used to have a bad name in Ireland, I remember, before I came to America, having been comforted by my friends with the statement, “New Orleans is the Irishman's grave”. Well, I have since lived thereabouts several happy years, and have not yet owned in it even grave. I have been through the South, from Missouri to Mobile, and from Georgia to Texas, and I can say with truth that its climate, though not so bracing, and not always so pleasant, is as healthy as that of Ireland. The hot season is longer than in the Northern States, but never so oppressive. Sunstroke is practically unknown in the South. The thermometer scarcely ever shows more than 86° in the shade, and, owing to the dryness of the air, 90° in the South is not more severe than 75° in Ireland. The Gulf Stream, it must be remembered, is our next-door neighbour, and its effects on the South would be even more noticeable than on Ireland, were not the equator a close neighbour too.

"But, then, what about your yellow fever?” It is not ours; it is an intruder. It comes in from the Central American States when the quarantine officers are napping. It has occurred only about as often as an Irish rebellion. When it stays it does less damage than smallpox, and it disappears before the breath of the first wind from the North, The terror it inspires in non Southerners is not much better grounded than that of the English traveller in Ireland, who expected to see a blunderbuss aimed at him from behind every hedge.

So much by way of introduction. Let us be “marching through Georgia”. I select Georgia, as “the subject of my story” because certain incidents that occurred during my stay there are likely to prove interesting, and because the College in which I lived frequently reminded me of Mungret. It looks out from the summit of a gently sloping hill over a wide-extending plain. It is three miles west of Macon, a city of much the same size as Limerick, and a mile south of it flows the Ocmulgee, a river as large, though not so imposing, as the Shannon.

The State of Georgia is about the size of New York, but the population, half of which is negro, is not yet quite as large as that of Ireland. Except in the larger cities, there is scarcely any Catholic population.

So much are the sons of Ireland identified with the Catholic Faith, that the terms Irish and. Catholic are synonymous. This was brought home to me before I was a day in Georgia. Arriving in Macon, I called for a buggy - every conveyance that is not a railway-car or a wheel-barrow is a “buggy” - and I told the driver, a “coloured gem'man”, to take me to Pio Nono College.
“Dar ain't no Nono College round heyar, sah”.
“Isn't there a college at Vineville?” “Oh, yas, sah, de Irish College!”
And when I asked him on the way why he called it the “Irish” College, he replied, “ “Caw, sah, dey is aw Irish up dar”.
I told him this was not so. There were Americans, French, German, and even English.
“Yas, sah, but dey is aw Irish. Yous aw done jined de Irish Chu'ch”.

Pio Nono College having become a Jesuit .Novitiate, the name was changed to St Stanislaus, and, to advertise the fact, an arch was erected over the main entrance on which the new name was painted in prominent characters. The intelligent natives at once concluded that the “Irish College” was now the property of Mr Stephen Stanislaus, who was presumed to be the “boss” of the whole concern, and vendors of eggs and poultry would frequently call on their way to market to ask “Mr Stanislaus” to “sample their wares”. And so it remained the “Irish College”.

In the rural districts around us there was not a single Catholic, white or black. Most extraordinary notions were prevalent about Catholics and their faith. They worshipped idols several times a day, and whenever and wherever they had the power they delighted in feeding their cattle on good fat Protestants. This doctrine was preached from a “white” pulpit in our neighbourhood. The particular breed of cattle named was pigs!

When we passed near their houses the negro mothers were on the look out lest we should kidnap their children, for we were supposed to be medical students. When they passed our grounds and saw us robed in gown and cincture, they were greatly puzzled, never having seen the like before, and one was overheard to say, with a sigh of relief, “Gosh! dey wear pants, anyhow!” But we soon became better known by white and black, and their ignorant prejudices were dissipated.

Having come to know the neighbourhood, we were on the look-out for lost sheep, chiefly black ones. One negro told me his grandfather was “Irish”, and he himself was inclined “dat a-way”, but was not as yet quite “contracted and disposed to it”.

“But”, he said, “yous aw should see Josh Brown; he's Irish, you bet”. “You mean Catholic?” “Yas, sah, dat's what he says. I reck'n Josh's a Ca'h’lic f'om away-back. He talks religion in de forge ovah yondah. Yas, sah, he's a blacksmith, an' I tell you, sah, he kin talk. White gem'men argufy wi' Josh!”

This was a very high testimonial to a negro's respectability and attainments, so we determined to interview “Josh”.

We met him coming out of his forge one evening. He was a man of fine proportions, in spite of the absence of a part of one of his legs. His features were regular and pleasing, and, unlike negroes generally, his forehead was high and broad, and did not recede; but his face was as black as night. Change his colour, and he could pass as a good type of Caucasian. Even his accent or manners would not betray him, for he spoke and acted like his white neighbours, and his moral tone would certainly not suffer by comparison with theirs. We told him we were informed he was a Catholic.

“Yes, sir”, he said, doffing his hat, and holding it out at arm's length; “I believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church!”.
Expressing our pleasure at the news, we asked where he went to church.
“Sir”, he answered, “I don't go to church. I was never in a Catholic church in my life”.
“And you say you are Catholic?” .
“Yes, sir, I have been a Catholic seventeen years”.
We explained the inconsistency of his position. He admitted it.
“But”, he added, “to go to a Catholic Church I have to expose myself to the contempt and the slights of the whole white congregation, and I don't think the Lord expects me to do that. They look down upon me as a ‘nigger’, and would despise me as an intruder, and neither there nor elsewhere do they want my company. So, sir, I say my prayers - the Catholic prayers and worship God in my own house, and I trust he hears me”.

When we tried to show him his mistake, he interrupted us with a story :
“Shortly before the War” - the American War of Secession is always referred to as ‘the War’ - “I was walking one Sunday with my wife in the streets of Atlanta. As we passed an Episcopal Church we heard the organ playing and the choir singing. We stopped to listen, and my wife was so attracted by the music that she went just inside the door to hear it better: I called her back, but she did not hear me, and I walked on. As she entered the door the preacher was ascending the pulpit. He saw her, and immediately called to the clerk :
‘Take that impudent negress and teach her not to dare enter the company of white people. Give her thirty lashes’.
And he gave them. She came to me bleeding and crying, and I swore a solemn oath never to enter a white man's house or a white man's church. Was I wrong?”
“You did'nt swear not to enter God's church when God Himself commanded you to enter?”
“Well, no, sir, but you see ...”
Not waiting to see, we explained to him that, with Catholics, there was no distinction of class, or colour in church matters, and that, believing in the Catholic church, he was bound to become a Catholic in reality, and we invited him to the College chapel for the following Sunday.
“Are there any Irishmen there, sir?” “Oh, yes, plenty of them; I'm one”.
“Then, sir, I'll be there. Irishmen were the only whites that ever treated me as if I had a soul. They would speak to me, and instruct me as a fellow man. It was an Irishman taught me to read, and it is owing to Irishmen I am a Catholic. Sir, I will attend your church next Sunday”.
It is but just to Catholics of other nationalities to add that Irishmen were nearly the only Catholics that had come in Brown's way.
Sunday morning arrived, and at the hour appointed, a large sable figure stalked up the avenue with great dignity, and Brown entering the chapel knelt down, stowing away his wooden leg as best he could.

After Mass the Father Superior interviewed him, and was astonished at his thorough know ledge of the Catholic religion and his quick intelligence. He talked with ease and directness about what he knew, and never about any thing else. His manner had much more of the unconscious tone of independence of the American white than the unconscious servility of the American negro. As he was thoroughly instructed he was told to prepare for baptism in a few weeks; in the meantime I ascertained his history.

He had been born a slave in Virginia, and his master was a Doctor Griffin, a brother of Gerald Griffin, a name that should be dear to Mungret men, who have within easy reach the scenes immortalised by his pen. Doctor Griffin, himself, taught him to read and write, contrary to the wishes of his American wife and the laws of Virginia, which forbade, under heavy penalties, the teaching of reading or writing - not to say arithmetic - to any coloured person. This law was not peculiar to Virginia. But Dr. Griffin's tuition stopped there. He gave no religious instruction. Brown, like all negroes, felt the need of some religion, so he attended the services of the nearest negro conventicles. He “sat under” Baptists Northern and Southern, Hard-shell and Soft-shell; Methodists North and Methodists South, Methodists Episcopal, Non-Episcopal, and Afro-Americans; Seventh day Adventists, Moravians, and Presbyterians of every variety. He shook with Shakers and quaked with Quakers, and even once had his feet washed gratis at a gathering of Feet washers, whose religion consists exclusively in “washing one another's feet”.

But he “found salvation” among none of them. The most devout at these meetings were the loudest shouters, and the favourite preachers were they who screeched and jumped most frantically. Brown grew tired of shouting and being shouted at, so he read his Bible at home on Sundays, and observed the Christian law as best he knew how to. Only one thing he had in common with his neighbours thorough going hatred of the “Irish” religion, and if half the atrocious things he had heard about it were true, he would have been quite justified.

One day, however, while working as a rail road blacksmith, his boss, who happened to be an Irishman, talked to him about religion. There was a warm controversy, which resulted in the Irishman lending Brown Challoner's Catechism and Reeve's History of the Bible. Brown slept none that night. “I commenced Challoner at sun-down, and at sun-up I had him read through”. He then took up Reeve, and when he had finished he re-read both, verifying the Scriptural quotations in his Protestant Bible. He was surprised to find that some of the books referred to were omitted. He borrowed a Catholic Bible and some other Catholic books from Irish acquaintances, and found that the omissions from the Protestant Bible and the alterations of texts were quite arbitrary, Finally he got together the Catechisms of the principal Protestant sects, compared them; one by one, with the Catholic Catechism (Butler's), and by burning them, throwing in the Protestant Bible, as “lagniappe”.

“I found”, he said, “more sense and truth in one page of the Catholic Catechism than in all their religions put together”.

When he returned the books to his Irish friends, and told them the result, they made him a present of the whole collection. He had them bound, and, owing to his constantly circulating them, had to repeat the process several times. When I saw then they were tastefully bound in calf, but the leaves were in rags. “I'll keep them as long as I live”, he said, “and whenever my eyes fall on them, I offer a prayer for all Irishmen”. About the same time somebody gave him a newspaper cutting of a sermon on the Church by Fr Damon SJ, a famous American preacher. Finding it to express his views accurately and precisely, be read it as a profession of faith every Sunday.

When he had become thoroughly converted, as he thought, great zeal began to stir up within him. He would spread the light of truth among his brethren; so he became a Sunday-school teacher teaching Catholic doctrine at Methodist Sunday-schools. But the preacher detected him, denounced him as a “wolf in sheep's clothing”, and he had to quit. He tried the Baptists next, but they also expelled him as a dangerous heretic, and finally he confined his propaganda to his forge, where, hammer in hand, he boldly preached and stoutly defended Catholic truth from behind an anvil. I found him once engaged in controversy with a white gentleman, while the hoof of a mule was reposing in his apron. In spite of the difficulties of the situation, he reduced his educated opponent to silence. In fact, to anyone who attacked the Catholic religion from a Protestant standpoint, Brown was a dangerous adversary. He knew his ground, had a quick, logical mind, and his practice for years in debating with all comers had made him ready of thought and speech.

He was baptized in due time, and when, soon after, his wife followed his example, ho obtained a list of devotions as practised in Irish Catholic families, drew up an “order of time” for the same, and he and his wife continue to practise them faithfully to this day.

Catholics, white and coloured, are numerous in his neighbourhood now, many of whom owe their conversion to his word and example: They all respect and esteem him as a model Catholic. Had he lived in the days when to be a Catholic was to be a saint, his brethren in the faith would have done no less.

The first white converts in the district owed their conversion to Brown. There was a young man of twenty who used to amuse himself occasionally by chopping logic with “Uncle Josh”. Having travelled somewhat, he had few anti-Catholic prejudices, being rather inclined to think there was something good in the Catholic religion, since every liar he knew had a fling at it. However, he tried to take a fall out of Josh on the subject. But for once declining discussion, Brown produced his Challoner, Řeeve, and the “Faith of our Fathers”.

“Take these, Master Willie”, he said, “and read them, and when you know what you're talking about I'll argue with you”.

When “Master Willie” had read the course prescribed, he had no longer a desire for argument. He was convinced, but for various reasons was unwilling to join the Church just then. Brown introduced him to us. There was no moving him. “But”, he said, “you must see my grandmother. She is very old and cannot have long to live. She was never baptized in any church, and I should like to see her become a Catholic before she dies”.

I had often heard the negroes speak of “ole Mrs. Reilly”. She was rich, wicked, and wise, I was told, and very close in her business dealings, though she could at times be generous. Negroes she held in supreme contempt, all except Josh Brown and his wife. These were of the few “niggers” she would allow to have any claim to heaven, and she would relegate even them to a separate compartment labelled “coloured”, as in railway carriages, and far away from “white folk's heaven”. She would have naught to do with the hypocrites in the various churches around her, and she delighted to give the full length of a terrible tongue to any preachers who presumed to crack their wares at her door.

Nevertheless, the “Irish preachers” marched upon her fortress with a brave show of courage - the presence of her grandson ensured our safety from the dogs. Entering we saw a sharp featured intelligent-looking old lady seated in an arm-chair. Her great age may be inferred from the fact that her husband had fought at the battle of New Orleans, which took place in 1813, and only a few years before their marriage. At the time I speak of, 1888, she was still in receipt of a pension awarded for his bravery.

She neither welcomed nor repelled us, but sat in her chair with a fixed expression on her face as if she had made up her mind to hear us out, We talked of the weather, the crops, her health, and finally her name. Her husband, she said, was of Irish origin. We told her the O'Reillys were a famous Irish family, to which O'Reilly, the Spanish Governor of New Orleans, and many other celebrities, belonged She told some humorous stories of Irishmen she knew; we added our quota, and when leaving we were invited to call again. Meanwhile her grandson explained away some of her objections to Catholicism, and our next visit found her disposed to receive instruction. Her grandson and another non-Catholic undertook to teach her the Catechism, and they did it so well that in a few months she was ready for baptism. She had only one difficulty. Baptism would wash out not only all the sins of her long life, but all the punishment due to them, and of so great a grace she was utterly unworthy. When with the thought of her unworthiness she weighed the other thought of God's mercy, all her difficulties vanished, and her prejudices along with them. She wished all negroes to be saved, and even prayed for them.

I thought the edge of her tongue had disappeared too, for so far I had seen no indication of it. But the day before her baptism it proved as sharp as ever. A swarm of grand-children, and even great-grand-children, hearing of the intended ceremony, swooped down upon her from the city to dissuade her; and one after another took up the note, rebuking her and reviling the Church.
“What religion would you have, me join” she asked. This was a bombshell in their midst. Belonging to different sects and sub-divisions thereof, they were all at one another's ears in a moment, each declaring that his or her's was the only genuine article. Then the old lady gave her temper full swing.

“Away with ye, ye gibbering hypocrites! Ye come here hovering around me like a flock of buzzards, waiting for any body to drop, to gorge on my property. Not content with wishing my old carcass in the grave, ye would give my soul to the devil, and ye dare to dispute, here before my face, about the worst devil to give it to. Away with ye, ye pack of rattle snakes!”

Mrs Reilly was baptized in her eighty-eighth year, and it was affecting to see the tears course down her furrowed cheeks as the cleansing waters flowed upon her head. She lived only a few years, and died with the blessing of the Church. Nor did her grandson and the other non-Catholic who instructed her “unto justice” themselves become “cast-aways”. They married, entered the Church, and are now rearing a large family of Catholics.

After Brown's conversion several scholastics devoted their walks to giving instruction to the negroes, old and young, who were willing to receive it. Contrary to Brown's theory, two of the most indefatigable and persevering were not Irish. One was an American - the negros called him Mr “McLoch” and the other a young Englishman, whose name they turned into something like - “Bamboo”. They frequently walked miles under a hot sun to instruct an old negro or negress, and returned, time, after time, to find everything forgotten. As we were passing once the shanty of an old man of eighty, whom we had been trying for weeks to enlighten on the Trinity, he called out, hobbling after us :
“Ques'on me, sah ; ques'on me. I knows it au now, sah, right sma't”.
“Well, how many Persons in One God?”
“Wall, sah, you see, dar is” - and he 'pro ceeded to count on his fingers - “dar is de Fadah, an' de Son, ar' de Holy Ghost, an' Amen!”

It took over a year to instruct him, but he was finally baptized If he was weak in knowledge, be was strong in faith. He wore his beads around his neck, and his scapulars out side his coat, and, to be an out-and-out, finished Catholic, he asked for a gown and cincture like “Massa M'Loch's”. He reached his ninetieth year, and died in the faith.

The children were more easily instructed, and some of them were very intelligent, but, being utterly unaccustomed to Catholic ways of looking at things, their answers were sometimes startling. Here is a dialogue that took place at our Sunday-school :

“What are angels, Ebenezer?” “Dem's heaven's folk, sah”. “George Washington, is that right?”
“No, sah, 'cause dar is oder folk in heaven 'sides angels”.
“Well, then, what are angels?”
“Dem's God's own folk, sah!”
“Augustus, what is the most necessary thing for baptism?”
“Do watah, sah!” “Next?” “The priest, sah!” “Next?” “De baby, sah!”

I had some prints representing St. Peter Claver baptizing a very repulsive-looking negro. I thought it a very suitable prize for negro children. Before distributing to the deserving ones, I held the prints up to their admiring gaze. Pointing to St Peter Claver, I asked who they thought that was. “I reck'n dat dar is a saint”, said Ebenezer, “dar is a yaller rim 'round his head”.
"And what is he doing?”
“He's Christ'nin' the devil, sah”.
The prizes were never awarded.

Though my store of reminiscences are not exhausted, my time and space are, so I will no further tire my readers. A variety of incidents came under my notice during my stay in Georgia which would furnish to a Catholic “Ian MacLaren” still untouched material for an interesting and edifying book. Should these notes fail to inspire some still unknown genius with the desire of portraying negro life, perhaps they would suggest to him the nobler thought of saving negro souls.

The American negroes ignorance of the Christian Religion is almost as dense as that of those who were the object of Claver's zeal and the occasion of his crown. Yet they are an intensely religious race When you speak to them of Christ they will listen eagerly, and religion is the frequent subject of their conversation They undergo no small part of the privations and sufferings that induced the poor of the Roman Empire to turn to Christianity for consolation. Yet there are in a civilized land eight million negroes outside the Church of Christ, and absolutely ignorant of its truths.

This ignorance is not to be laid at their door. They have not rejected the light. They have never seen it While the various sects have expended millions, and are yearly expending immense sums in providing them with so called Christian teachers, the Catholic Missionary has done for them practically nothing. Irish and Irish-American priests are doing noble work among the whites in America, but their hands are full. Anyhow, they have not reached the negro.

Yet, I believe if a Columbkille or Columbanus were amongst them, he would find opportunities Is the race of the Columbas and Galls and Aidans dead in Ireland? Are there not in the cradle-land of apostolic men youths generous enough to emulate the example of the noble Spaniard, “the slave of the slaves for ever”? Such a man should be ready to endure the sufferings and toil of the apostleship of the heathen, without its glamour; contempt, and persecution from without and from within, sustained by no hope of a martyr's crown. He should be a man of unbounded zeal and unshakeable constancy, of warm heart and generous sympathies; a man who beneath dirt and rags and colour can recognise a soul and love it.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1900
Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ

The name of Rev M Kenny SJ, is by this time very familiar to every reader of “The Mungret Annual”, and to him the magazine owes a great deal, both in its foundation and afterwards. His kindly advice and generous sympathy encouraged in no small degree the first editors to undertake a task which at the time seemed hazardous ; and the high excellence of his literary contributions and the trueness of their spirit to the object of the magazine have been an essential element in obtaining for “The Mungret Annual” the position it occupies among college journals. We feel confident that we only echo the sentiments of all our readers when we express a hope that Father Kenny will continue to allow many an old friend to enjoy in “The Mungret Annual” some of the fruits of his spicy wit and his Fare creative fancy.

Father Kenny entered the Apostolic School in the Crescent College, 1880. He afterwards read what promised at first to be a very distinguished University course in Mungret, where from the beginning he gave evidence of rare literary talent. Owing however, to excessive application when studying for a scholarship in Ancient Classics, RUI, in 1883, he contracted a tedious headache, which resulted in his being compelled to leave Mungret before obtaining his degree. He was among the first band of Apostolic students to leave Mungret for America, and entered the noviceship of the Society of Jesus for the New Orleans Mission in 1886. He read his Theology in Milltown Park, Dublin, was ordained in 1897, and after spending his year of Third Probation in Tronchiennes, Belgium, he returned to America, where he is now attached to Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from the Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ
Rev Fr M Kenny, who is now working among the negroes in Macon, Georgia, writes to us in his usual racy style. The following extracts will be of interest :--

“I'm a kind of a pastor here, but I've got to make my own parish. You remember, perhaps, something I had in the first “Annual” about Marching through Georgia. Well, here I am again marching over the same ground, but now as a priest, gathering together the few surviving veterans, healing the ‘wounded soldiers’, and, above all, raising recruits, maintaining meanwhile perpetual skirmishes with the devil, the world, and the flesh, in the shape of heretics and heresiarchileens of every denomination, but principally Methodists and Baptists and the countless sub-divisions thereof: Baptists, Regular and General, North, South, Coloured and White, Separate, United, Primitive, Freewill, Hard-shell, Soft-shell, Feet washers, Six Principle, Seventh Day, Original, Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit-Predestinarian! etc; Methodists, Episcopal, North, South, African, White, Wesleyan, Protestant, Congregational, Zion Union, Evangelical, Primitive, Free, Independent, etc. Yesterday I met a boy who told me he belonged to the Brick Methodists, and of course I told him he was a brick.

This state of things has its humorous aspects, but in itself it is all very sad. We have organized Catechisin classes for Whites and Coloured, which are doing very well, especially the latter. It would do your heart good to hear forty darly children singing ‘Teach me, teach me, Holy Mother!’ To appreciate it to the full you should stand at least a quarter of a mile away. I go around every day and catechize on the highways and bye ways, 'in season and out of season, Black and White, at home and abroad.

If I had time I would write you an article, but this sketch of my present work (omitting many other duties) will convince you that I have not.

Please pray for my catechumens, Black and White, and particularly that I may find means to erect a church anir folwol for them. I am especially here for that purpose. But the folk here are all poor, as poor as I ever saw thein in Connemara, and I have to depend on the charity of outsiders altogether. I want to establish if possible, an Industrial School, to be placed in the charge of a sisterhood instituted for that purpose. So please pray, and get the Mungret boys to pray, that we may succeed, for it is a truly apostolic work, in spite of the fact that the apostolic character is lamentably deficient in the projector of the enterprise. But ecclesia supplet”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1907a

Letters from Our Past

Father Michael Kenny SJ

The following extract from a letter of Fr M Kenny SJ, under date October 22nd, 1906, relates incidents which seem so characteristic of missionary life in the Southern States of America that we venture to quote it:

On my way last year to. Palm Beach, on the eastern coast of Florida, I made Jacksonville, Florida's chief city; a half-way house. I was received with open arms by my old friend and fellow Tipp, Father Michael Maher, and I assure you I never felt nearer to Mungret or Tipperary since I left them. God be with them both! Fr Maher is pastor, and deservedly held in high respect by all. He is at present building a $100,000 church, which is not likely to be in debt when completed. Fr Veale who has charge of missions in the neighbourhood - that is, within sixty miles or so - dropped in while I was there, on the grounds that he had a right to a short rest, having just completed a school edifice, every brick or which he laid will his own hands. He proved himself as proficient in the nicest points of Theology as in brick-laying, not to mention innocent jollity. Fr Veale is a man of earnest and efficient zeal and solid, unassuming ability, of whom Mungret may be proud. We phoned to Fr O'Brien, at Fernandina - about 1oo miles away, and the same evening he was taking supper with us. It was a great pleasure to me to meet him, for he is the same quiet, warm-hearted scholarly old friend as in Mungret days. We were soon the four of us - on both sides of Shannon's banks, and while we recalled reminiscences of all kinds, and praised and blamed, we felt that Mungret is very dear to a Mungretman.

My stay was short perforce, but its pleasant memories had not faded from my mind when, after travelling several hundred miles my train stopped at St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, and I was met at the station by another Mungretman, Father Curley. He took me to the Cathedral, where my name alone made me welcome. Bishop Kenny is the worthy prelate who rules the Floridas. I told him I was rejoiced that, after struggling hard for a thousand years, the Clan-Kenny had at last succeeded in producing a bishop (St Kenny was only an abbot, I believe). After that we took a genial swim together in the broad Atlantic. The bishop spoke in the highest terms of the zeal and ability of his Mungret priests. Those I have met, including Fr Parry, (whom I had the pleasure of entertaining in Augusta, last February) are certainly a credit to their Alma Mater ; and our Florida fathers are loud in praise of all the Mungretmen in that diocese.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1932 : Golden Jubilee

Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ
The name of Fr Michael Kenny SJ, (1882-'86) has frequently appeared beneath interesting and witty articles in the earlier numbers of the “Annual”. The “Annual” owes a great deal to him both in its foundation and afterwards. Fr Kenny belongs to the rapidly dwindling band of pioneers who joined the Apostolic School in the Crescent. He afterwards read what promised to be a very distinguished University course in Mungret, where from the beginning he gave evidence of rare literary talent. Owing, however, to excessive application when studying for a scholarship in Ancient Classics, RUI, in 1883, his health became impaired and he was compelled to leave Mungret before obtaining his degree. He was among the first band to leave Mungret for America, and entered the noviceship of the Society of Jesus for the New Orleans Province in 1886. He read his theology in Milltown Park, Dublin, was ordained in 1897, and, after spending his year of Third Probation in Tronchiennes, Belgium, he returned to America.

He was for some years Professor in Spring Hill College, Mobile, Albama, and in St Charles' College, Grand Coteau, La. His literary talents got full play when he was appointed one of the editors of the “Catholic Weekly, America”, then just founded. It is in no small part due to his unsparing energy that America is at present one of the most important and influential Catholic papers in the United States.

For many years he was Regent of the School of Law at Loyola University, New Orleans. Well known as an author and lecturer, his latest book, Catholic Culture in Alabama, has been well received, not alone by Catholic journals, but by the whole American Press.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1935

Moscow in Mexico
Father Michael Kenny SJ
The American Public has been aroused out of its apathy towards things Mexican by the facile pen of this great friend of Mexico, who has not shirked the toil and danger of a long journey through the country to collect first-hand information for his exposure of the present Mexican situation in the World Press.

The Mexican Crisis
To a Missionary as well as to a liberty-loving people, Mexico should prove a gratifying and even inspiring theme.

In the latest of a series of articles I. have been writing. on Mexican conditions, at the instance of Mungret's illustrious alunmus, Archbishop Curley, for the “Baltimore Catholic Review”, I recorded that though less than three hundred priests are now tolerated, in all Mexico, some two thousand are still toiling bravely for their people at the risk of liberty and life.

Heroism
I mentioned the aged Archbishop Orozco who lately ordained twenty priests in a cave, and other hunted prelates who pontificate in rags, particularly one who is unnamed because Federal assassins are upon his track. For its reminiscence of the heroism of Irish penal: days, this passage may be cited :

A theologian of highest rank, a scholar, an orator, a teacher and a writer of distinction, this prelate has for nine year's defied decrees of expulsion, and, despite constant espionage, has traversed the Sierra from crag to crag, bringing encouragement to his people, who in turn risk" their lives for his defence. The Mexican constitution also prohibits priestly training. This Bishop is providing for the priesthood of the future. There is a rude log cabin in the Sierra Madre which is dormitory, dining room, lecture, and study hall and chapel for twenty-two young men whom he himself is training for the ministry and providing the complete ecclesiastical course. Often they have had to fly for their lives and build another log seminary in a more remote Sierra fastness.

In the Irish penal days Bishop O'Gallagher held such a seminary in the mountains of Donegal, and, driven thence, Heroism. he trained other youths in the Bog of Allen. From that school came several patriot prelates, among them Dr Doyle, who divides with O'Connell the honours of Catholic Emancipation. May we not expect that emancipators of Faith and country will yet issue from that log seminary in the Sierra, where again Bishop and priest aspirants meet feloniously to learn?”

The Indians
Extending 1833 miles on the south western border of the United States, Mexico has a population of 15,000,000, of whom some forty per cent are pure Indian, fifty per cent Mestizo or Indo-Spanish with Indian usually predominating, and ten per cent purely white. There are scarcely any negroes; for the reason that slavery was never permitted in Mexico. It is predominantly an Indian nation with native outlook in all except in its Christian culture; and in both these respects it presents a striking contrast to its northern neighbour where the native The remnants are less than one Indians. half of one per cent, and scarcely one half of these are Christians. The relative conditions are due to the fact that the first aim of Spanish policy as well as of missionary effort was to Christianize the natives and preserve them. Aiming solely at profit and aggrandisement and finding the natives an obstruction to material progress, the Protestant Auglo-Saxons crystalized their policy in, the phrase, “a good Indian is a dead Indian”. Hence, the United States has no Indian problem, having killed it off; and Mexico, with her natives kept both alive and good by Christian zeal and sacrifice, presents the problem of a mainly Indian nation, foreign in most respects to the European, but particularly to the Anglo-Saxon concept of material civilization.

Early Evangelisation
There is now more Indian blood in Mexico than Cortez found there at his conquest; and it is there because Christian zeal prevailed over profiteering. In.1524, twelve Spanish and three Flemish “Franciscans” entered Mexico. They and their successors, aided by the converted natives; transformed the warring nomad tribes into a devout people of a distinct and autonomous Catholic culture.

Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Augustinians, also founded training schools, academies of arts and crafts, colleges of higher studies, for natives and Mestizos as well as Spaniards and Creoles, and they formed pueblos with church and school and hospital, from coast to coast under native mayors, governors, and teachers.

This marvelous transformation was accelerated by the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin at Guadalupe, near Mexico City, to a poor Indian named Diego, on whose mantle she imprinted the marvelous image that is now universally venerated as Our Lady of Guadalupe. It soon became imprinted on the native heart, and the imprint is still there.

The decline of Spain in the 18th century affected her colonies also. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 brought about the ruin of all work for the good of the native. communities. Schools became abandoned and illiteracy became general when the anarchic regime, which subverted the Spanish rule, shut out the priests from the schools. A fund of some fifty million dollars, which the Jesuits had established for the benefit of small farmers was confiscated.

Masonic Activity
Von Humbolt wrote in 1810 that the schools and colleges and various benevolent - institutions in Mexico were in number and character far in advance of the United States of that period and literacy was more universal than in any other American country.

Rapid decline of general culture and public well-being followed the replacement of Spanish domination in 1810 by a series of mock republics ruled for the most part by a bandit minority who robbed and antagonized the Church to maintain them selves in power and pelf. This antagonism was promoted by the Masonic Order, which again was fostered and in part founded by the first United States Envoy, Joel R. Poinsett, in order by secret machinations to organize parties who would sell out northern Mexico to the United States. He thus created a political pro American machine of Masonic personnel and purpose which, through the arms and other support it has received from American administrations, has been enabled through a less than ten per cent minority 'to rule and ruin Mexico for the greater part of a century.

Anti-Clericalism
Poinsette's immediate aim was to form enough slave states out of Mexican territory to enable the pro-slavery South to dominate the abolitionist North, and he found that in order to effect this, the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico must be broken. In New Orleans, 1825, he got the Supreine Masonic bodies to head their signed and sworn program with resolutions that the Church must be shorn of all civic rights and that all her schools and all education must be monopolized by the state, and religion must be excluded from all teachings. This is the program that the Juarez code enacted in 1857, that the Carranza and Villa banditry further extended in the Constitution of 1917, and Calles and his communists gang have fully and finally realized in 1934, by the imposition of the most rabidly atheizing education on all schools by constitutional amendment.

By their assistance in men, money and arts, from the days of President Buchanan down to the seizure of Vera Cruz and Tampico by President Wilson, the United States administration have given consistent support to the bandit minority, and: never once to the conservative leaders who think and would govern on essentially American principles.

The Cristeros
The Cristeros rose in 1926 under the banner of “Christ the King” for Faith, Fatherland, and Liberty; and despite the strict embargo held against them by our government while it supplied munitions freely to their enemies, they were making a winning fight in a dozen states when Calles patched up a treaty with the Church that stopped the revolt. He and his gang broke their pledge within a week, and they have since executed some five thousand of the Cristero leaders, and priests unnumbered. The orgies of persecutions and robberies and murderings went on until now the Church is as bare of property and rights as happened in the worst of Ireland's penal days, and to Church and people there is not a shred of religious or any other liberty left.

American Vested Interests
The bigoted sects that had dominant political influence in the United States up to the repeal of the Prohibition amendment, and the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree Scottish Rite Masonry gave enthusiastic support to the Mexican persecutors of the Church. This and the urgings of powerful American Companies and individuals, that secured and still secure oil and mining concessions in Mexico, will account for United States support of the persecuting and corrupt regimes and of the present Ambassador Daniel's laudations of Calles, and his dereligionizing acts and policies:

Moscow in Mexico
But the power of the United States sects has waned, and the Masonic Council's claim of political control over its three million membership has been exploded. Following my exposure in October of present Mexican conditions the general public gradually became aware that the National Revolutionary Party, the only one permitted in Mexico, was a communist, atheistic force, as determined as Moscow to extinguish not only the Catholic religion but all religion and set up an atheistic communism on the grave of liberty.

Press Investigation
The exclusion by the Mexican government of some secular papers of wide range that published my interviews stimulated inquiry, and the general arraignment that followed in the Catholic press and in public meetings addressed often by leading Protestants and Jews, and specifically in Congress by non-Catholic as well as Catholic Congressmen and Senators, induced the great dailies of New York and Washington and Chicago and other cities to publish series of articles by special correspondents on Mexican conditions. This is the first time that the American press has furnished the people with some idea of the communistic system on their borders and the unspeakable outrages that have been perpetrated with their own government's contrivance and often with its positive support.

These revelations have also aroused the Catholic body to a unity and energy of civic protest that it had not risen to before. A resolution that was sent out in October of last year by the students of Spring Hill College to a thousand educational institutions throughout the States brought about a widespread student propaganda in favour of Mexico, and was the model of thousands of resolutions that poured and are still pouring from all quarters into Washington.

Canabal’s Atheistic Education
What impressed the public imagination most was the barbaric lewdness of the anti-Christian teachings row being forced by public authority on all the children of Mexico, and the clear evidence that the onslaught was made not merely on the Catholic Church, but upon religion as such and all the moralities it fosters. The grand exemplar whom Calles held up as the model of all governors was Garrido Canabal of Tabasco. Having expelled all priests from that State and closed and confiscated all churches, he issued a treatise on Socialistic Education, which his picked legislature promptly adopted as ordered. He had it illustrated with pictured mockeries of the Way of the Cross and of the most sacred religious beliefs and practices, and he tells then that God and Christ and religion are myths and were debasing the masses until he had taught then to burn up their Christianl symbols and “fetiches” and schooled them in scientific socialism.

How it is Done
Premising that “God is a grotesque, fanaticizing, debasing myth”, they put this Canabal system into organic law and are now enforcing it throughout the land. How, it is asked, can a less than ten per cent minority impose such Soviet monstrosities on a people more than ninety per cent Catholic. Their style is simpler even than Moscow's. The minority have organized gangs, called army and police, thoroughly supplied with United States arms, minitions and aeroplanes; and the people are shut out from such supply. Their armed gangs run the elections, and if, despite these precautions, hostile candidates are elected, the PNR Committee on qualification of candidates promptly counts them out. This happens in all state and Federal elections, with the result that the National Revolutionary Party Candidates are always returned, even when overwhelmed at the polls. This will supply the answer to another obvious question, “Why do people put up with it?”

Heroic Resistance
In fact they do not; and their heroic resistance at terrible risks augurs well for the liberty movement they are now organizing widely and effectively against overwhelming odds. Two million voters had sent in signed resolutions of protest; and when these were ignored by the mongrel legislatures, they had the courage to make their protests vocal and public. Recently a hundred thousand men and women marched in Mexico City, in face of tear gas and batoning; in like demand. Similar marchings of women and school children as well as fathers of families and youths have been held throughout the country, though subject to the firing and bombshells of Canabal's Red Shirts and police. At Guadalajara on March 3, over three thousand women and Children, bearing placards denouncing atheo-communist education, braved the fire of the Red Shirts; and though several were killed and many wounded, they marched to the governor's palace urging their demands and crying, “Viva Cristo Rey”. Monster indignation meetings that were organised by fathers and students were also shrapnelled; and this but served to further unify the University bodies against the whole government program and personnel.

Students Public Protests
I was present at a secret convention in Mexico City of delegates from the twenty four Universities of the country. For six days, under the guidance of the Jesuit Fathers, they discussed the best methods of resisting the atheizing education and other dereligionizing projects and of de feuding and diffusing Christian culture. They returned to their States, Students and within a week, the Federated University Students. were holding meetings and marchings and organizing public protest against atheo-commuuist education. They succeeded in forcing the government to exempt the Universities from its application ; and their influence is now extending, further.

Defenders of Liberty
The allied societies of Fathers and Mothers of Families have practically emptied the government schools in many districts. Since private schools are forbidden they hold classes in their homes, graded from house to house; and the raiding of these by the Red Shirts and police has become increasingly perilous to the raiders. The defenders of Liberty groups have been multiplying, and they have managed to get sufficient arms to hold their own against the Red Shirt gangs. They are being formed into a nucleus in many states somewhat after the Sinn Fein fashion of Michael Collins, for the general revolution that is now in the making.

United States Sympathy
This a national uprising against Callism on civil, social, and economic grounds, and is not specifically religious. The Church is not a party to this movement,. but Archbishop Ruiz, the Apostolic Delegate, has emphasized, in a recent Pastoral, the right of the people to defend themselves; and should they determine that only by arms can they recover and defend their natural rights, the Church would have thought to say, “neither promoting nor prohibiting”. Their prospects of success are enhanced by the understanding and practical sympathy now being manifested
for the first time by the people of the United States. The secular press in the larger: cities have been issuing a series of revealing articles on the persecutions they found launched by law and force against all religion and all liberty in Mexico; and Father Coughlin, the famous “Radio priest” of Detroit, has given to his more than ten million audience a clear and inspiring account of the Mexican horrors and their own government's responsibility for the tyranny that perpetrates them. This was at the instance of his Bishop, Most Reverend Michael Gallagher DD, a Mungret College alumnus.

The Catholic body is now more united and determined and its action more intelligent than heretofore in regard to Mexico's rights and America's duties.

Intelligent Co-operation
The Knights of Columbus, are now organizing the Catholic laity to demand and exact as citizens that our Intelligent government take suitable action against the destruction of human rights in Mexico. Protestant and Jewish as well as Catholic legislators introduced resolutions in Congress to that effect; and Senator Borah brought before the Senate his famous Resolutions demanding a Congressional investigation into the facts of the persecution in Mexico and effective corresponding action by the government.

Borah Resolution Undermined
But the Administration proved mysteriously obstinate. Millions of protests against their connivance with Mexican tyranny through Ambassador Daniels' favouring utterances and otherwise, went unheeded; and they exercised every influence to kill the Borah Resolution. This was due to the underground influences, Masonic and financial and sectarian, that had hitherto been able to frustrate all action in favour of a Catholic people by a government which had again and again intervened in favor of oppressed of other faiths in distant lands.

Archbishop Curley Intervenes
This is all the more 'strange in view of the “New Deal” which President Roosevelt based on the principles of the Leo XIII and Pius XI encyclicals. However, the latest news is that the administration has suddenly modified its attitude and will no longer oppose Congressional investigation. On March the 25th, at the Jesuit College auditorium in Washington, within earshot of the Capitol and White House, Archbishop Curley delivered an address which has changed the situation. He stated on personal knowledge that the Administration had given instructions to frustrate further efforts on behalf of persecuted Christians in Mexico and to prevent Congressional investigation into these inhuman outrages, even when infringing on American rights. Citing the numerous historical interventions of President and Congress in favor of persecuted Christians and Jews in distant lands, he said :

“'Secretary of State Hull, in refusing to express a formal and dignified protest to the Mexican Foreign Office, is creating a new departure in American diplomatic practice and is reversing an honourable and time-honoured principle of American sympathy and protest on behalf of the oppressed in other lands, substituting for this century-old tradition an unjustifiable policy of ignoble silence...... Millions of American citizens who have devoted their blood and treasure for the maintenance of this republic have a right to learn from some authoritative source just what is blocking public hearings on this question. One word from the Administration would secure consideration. This word has not been uttered...... Consequently, our fellow citizens, irrespective of race of creed, are faced with the regrettable but undeniable fact, that the present Administration is ranged in definite opposition to the maintenance of one of the most prized principles of American life and international obligation.

The Effect
The Archbishop of Baltimore's words, as wise and timely as they were courageous, have had instant effect throughout the country, as in Washington, and give promise of moving the Administration to range itself no longer with the destroyers of all liberty in Mexico. Even this negative assistance will suffice to enable the defenders of liberty to overthrow the clique
that enchains it. A postscript to my articles, which will soon be issued in book form, has some acknowledgements which may throw further light on the kind of people they were pleading for:

Inspiring Examples
The writer would pay tribute to the many men and women in Mexico who supplied him at much risk with ample materials, were not their taming the equivalent of sentences to jail or to death. He would also record his lasting indebtedness for the thrill of inspiration furnished him by the examples of heroic sacrifice and religious loyalty it was his privilege to witness in men and women and children of all classes.

Among these he would mention the Indians who wove so cunningly an immense carpet of multicoloured flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine that he mistook it for a great Persian rug, and who, by faithful worship in their plundered churches, atone for such sacrilege; the tradesmen and peasants who set up altars in their shops and homes when their churches were robbed of them; the children who sang out bravely in chorus, “Hay, Dios, hay, Dios”, when taught that God is not; the student delegates of twenty-four universities, who risked their careers by training for a week in Mexico City under Jesuit guidance to preserve their nation's institutions from the atheo-communist taint; the Catholic leaders of National Defence who daily challenge death for liberty; and the two thousand priests who, often in penury and rags and hunted as felons, still bring the Bread of Christ to their people.

The Jesuits in Mexico
A secular correspondent gives the Jesuits the credit for preserving the Faith in Mexico. This is generous exaggeration; but fraternal bonds must not deprive them of their due. They
are some two hundred in number, all native Mexicans, and all under sentence of expulsion; but every one of them is there, under varied guise, organising young and old, parents and sodalities, students and teachers, workers and merchants, employers and employees, and issuing and distributing apposite literature, to keep the Faith in Mexico. Experience in many Provinces of both hemispheres warrants the judgment that, in ability and virtue and multiple sacrificial activity and in sterling patriotic as well as religious devotedness, there is no Jesuit body in the world superior to the Jesuits of Mexico, nor truer to the ideals of Ignatius of Loyola. The spirit of Father Miguel Pro, Mexico's most venerated martyr obviously animates his brethren.

Altogether, our people may take the message confidently to heart : The Catholics of Mexico are brethren worth praying for and working for and fighting for.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1944

Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ

Father M Kenny SJ (1882-86) has never failed to provide matter for a note in the Annual. He is eighty now but still going strong. Mons R O'Donoghue (1906-'12) brought him over to St Mary's from Springhill College to celebrate his birthday in proper style - with a dozen old Mungretensians. Father Kenny's literary vein is far from exhausted. He sends us a copy of the Catholic World in which he has a timely article on Hispanidad - the spirit of Spain. He brings his ripe culture to bear in explanation to the USA citizen of why the South American wishes to be very much a Spaniard in spite of the good neighbour policy. Father Kenny also writes an introduction to the poems of Father O'Brien “Sagart Singing”. Last, we notice that he has collaborated in a study of a parish in Tipperary-Glankeen. Readers of the first numbers of the “Annual” will remernber a poem on Glankeen, signed “MK”. Surely Father Kenny merits the words of the Catholic World : “he represents the best in the culture of the old and the new worlds”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1947
Obituary

Father Michael Kenny SJ

Readers of the “Mungret Annual” and many of our Past will have learned with regret of the death of Father Kenny who died on the 22nd November, 1946, at Springhill College, Mobile. He was one of the first Apostolic students, entering the Apostolic school in its infancy at the Crescent, October, 1880. As a student he was outstanding and was prefect of the Seminarists in his last year at Mungret. He was among the first batch to enter the New Orleans Provence of the Society in 1886. He returned to Ireland for theological studies and was ordained in Dublin in 1897. Father Kenny's services to the Church in America during his long course as Professor of Philosophy, Jurisprudence, Sociology, Regent of Loyola Law School and Associate Editor of America, would be impossible to estimate. Yet these numerous occupations did not mean that he had forgotten his Alma Mater or the “Mungret Annual”. As early as '97 we find him contributing a poem called “Mungret Old and New”, and again in ‘99 and the following year we find his versatile mind putting into poetry the old story of the “Dead Language Duel” and many following editions of the Annual have his name among its contributors. To these we must add his priestly work of giving retreats and missions. Among his outstanding works as an author are “The Mexican Crisis”, “Catholic Culture in Alabama”, “The Romance of the Florida's”, and “No God next Door”.

His last visit to Mungret was to be present at our Golden Jubilee, 1932. We mourn the passing of one of our earliest students and one of our most outstanding Past. To his relatives and friends we offer our sincere sympathy.

Born: 08 November 1889, Charleville Parade, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 17 March 1973, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

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

Father was a solicitor and died in 1899. Family then moved to Dublin. Mother now resides at Brookfield Terrace, Blackrock, Dublin

Second eldest of three - 2 sisters.

Early education at a convent school in Dublin, then went to Dominican Convent Wicklow for two years and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ. Left CWC in 1906 for a year to go to the South of France for his health

Nephew of Timothy Kenny - RIP 1917 and Peter Kenny - RIP 1912

by 1913 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1924 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying

Born: 10 August 1851, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 29 September 1869, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1884 Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows 02 February 1889, Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Galway
Died: 19 July 1912, Ms Quinn’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Younger Brother Timothy was Provincial - RIP 1917; Uncle of Paddy Kenny - RIP 1973

Early education and St Finian’s, Navan and UCD

by 1872 at Roehampton London (ANG) Studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1874 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1875 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1882 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1888 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was of a very old Catholic family in Tullamore. His older brother Timothy had been Provincial - RIP 1917

After First Vows He taught at Clongowes, and also studied Philosophy and Theology at Louvain, where he was Ordained.
After Teritianship he was sent to Galway, where he showed great talents as a Preacher.
1894 He was sent to Gardiner St.
1903 He returned to Galway as Operarius. He was soon in failing health and died there 10 July 1912 having been removed to Ms Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square beforehand.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Peter Kenny (1851-1912)

Brother of a former Provincial, Father Timothy Kenny, was born near Tullamore and entered the Society in 1872. Shortly after his ordination, Father Kenny was appointed to the Crescent but remained here only two years, 1885-87. With the exception of eight years, 1894-1902, the remainder of his religious life was spent at St Ignatius, Galway. He died in Dublin after a brief illness.

Born: 01 February 1843, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 08 January 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1883
Died: 04 August 1917, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia

Older Brother of Peter - RIP 1912; Uncle of Paddy Kenny - RIP 1973

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 3 February 1888-2 December 1894
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 1 February 1895-11 February 1901

by 1875 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was of a very old Catholic family in Tullamore. His older brother of Peter - RIP 1912

He spent some years studying at Louvain where he passed ad gradum.
When he came back to Ireland he was sent to Galway, and he worked hard in both the School and Church for many years.
1882 He was appointed Rector at Galway, a position he held until he was appointed Provincial by the then Visitor, Robert Fulton (MARNEB) in 1888.
1888 Provincial. He held this post for six years, and during that time he was sent as Visitor to Australia. He was a most successful administrator.
1894 He was sent to Australia. By 07 February 1895 he had been appointed Mission Superior there. He did this for six years as well.
1901 He was appointed Minister at the Sydney College.
1903 He was appointed Rector at St Patrick’s Melbourne, and he remained in this place until 1916.
His last two years were spent at Richmond, and he died there 04 August 1917. He had helped posts of one kind of Superior or another for almost 32 years.

Note from Morgan O’Brien Entry :
1889 In the Autumn of 1889 he accompanied Timothy Kenny and Thomas Browne and some others to Australia

Note from John Murphy Entry :
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Timothy Kenny was educated by the Vincentian Fathers at Castleknock, Dublin, and studied for the priesthood at Clonliffe and at Maynooth. After ordination, he worked in the town of Maynooth, and then entered the Jesuit noviciate in Ireland, 8 January 1872, at the age of 29. He revised his theology at Louvain, 1874-75, and taught at Galway, 1875-88, becoming its rector in 1882; he was also prefect of studies. It was here that he became a friend with the bishop of Galway, Dr Carr, who was later archbishop of Melbourne.
His energy and administrative skills were recognised, and he was appointed Provincial of the Irish province until 1894. He visited both the Austrian and Irish missions in Australia in 1889, with a view to negotiate a union. Far from deserving credit for the amalgamation, he dithered over it until the Austrians were out of patience.
Sent to Australia in 1894, Kenny was mission superior until 1901. He resided at North Sydney. After a few years as minister at Riverview, he was appointed rector of St Patrick's College, 1903-16. During that time his letters expressed much concern about the future of the college. He was a tired man, and the many problems of the college added to his depression. During his term of office, compulsory military training was introduced. Former students believed that the discipline learnt during cadet training raised their morale and improved their attitude towards one another.
He spent his last few years doing parish work at St Ignatius', Richmond.
Kenny was a man of many gifts, pious, full of zeal, and prudent, even too prudent, but kind and generous to the individual. He seemed to be a man of nervous temperament and lacking in self-confidence - the kind of Superior who is kept in office because he can be relied on not to give trouble. He spent half his Jesuit life in Australia. He brought to the problems of his age a mind attuned to the previous century, fighting against the perceived evils of his day, especially the abuse of the virtue of purity.

Note from Patrick Keating Entry
The Irish provincial, Timothy Kenny, while visiting Australia in 1890 believed Keating to be “the most admirable man I ever met”. That being the opinion that counted, Keating became the next Irish provincial

Born: 09 June 1915, Rostrevor Terrace, Rathgar, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 30 July 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, College of Industrial Relations, Ranelagh, Dublin
Died: 08 November 1999, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Younger brother of James Kent; Ent 01/09/1928; LEFT from Juniorate 22/12/1930; both at Clongowes?

Father was a Commissioner of Public Works.

Fifth of six boys.

Early education at two Convent schools, at age 8 he went to CUS, Dublin (1923-1928). In 1928 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1949 North American Martyrs Retreat House, Auriesville NY USA (NEB) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Kent, Edmond
by David Murphy

Kent, Edmond (1915–99), Jesuit priest and economist, was born 9 June 1915 at 15 Rostrevor Terrace, Rathgar, Dublin, son of Pierce Kent, civil servant and later commissioner of the board of works, and Mary Catherine Kent (née Connolly). Educated at Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, he entered the Society of Jesus at Emo on 7 September 1933, taking his first vows in September 1935. He lived at the Jesuit community in Rathfarnham 1935–9 while studying economics at UCD. In 1939 he moved to Tullabeg, where he studied philosophy, before returning to Dublin, where he studied theology at Milltown Park (1944–8). Ordained priest on 30 July 1947, he spent his tertianship (1948–9) at Auriesville, where he completed further studies in social sciences.

Returning to Dublin, he became assistant-director at University Hall (1949–52) while also teaching extramural classes in economic science at UCD in a diploma course for trade unionists. He had long been interested in the trade union movement and was often criticised by members of the Federated Union of Employers, who accused him of being too left-wing. In fact his convictions were firmly based in his Christian faith. He once remarked: ‘I honestly believe that we can have no industrial peace unless people are living truly Christian lives' (Interfuse, no. 104, 29). The Jesuit order had founded (1946) an education programme for workers, and Kent spent a period in New York observing Jesuit initiatives in the labour colleges there. On his return to Dublin, he worked as a lecturer in the newly founded Catholic Workers College (est. 1951), later renamed the National College of Industrial Relations. Teaching trade unionism and acting as prefect of studies, he had a great impact on students and union officials, helping them formulate and present their cases in the Labour Court.

In 1969 he moved to the Jesuit community at Leeson St. and, although he still continued to lecture at the Catholic Workers College, gradually moved away from his trade union activity. He took over as director of the Messenger office (1969–89), and several of his colleagues thought that he would find the transition difficult. He threw himself into his new work with enthusiasm, however, travelling around the country promoting the Messenger while also giving seminars on devotion to the Sacred Heart. Preaching in numerous parishes around the country, he also conducted seminars at the adult education centre in Birmingham. He later served as chaplain at St Vincent's private hospital in Dublin (1983–9).

In his later years he suffered from failing eyesight and had a bad fall (1989) while visiting Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit retirement home in Dublin. On his release from hospital he became a permanent resident there, taking care of the home's accounts and reorganising its library. He died at Cherryfield Lodge, 8 November 1999, and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery.

Ir. Times, 20 Nov. 1999; Paul Leonard, SJ, ‘Father Kent and the Messenger Office’, Interfuse (Jesuit in-house publication), no. 104 (2000), 29–33; Interfuse, no. 105 (2000), 21–4; further information from Fr Fergus O'Donoghue, SJ, Jesuit archives, Dublin

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Tommie O’Meara Entry
Fr .Eddie Kent did him a great service by supplying him with books of varying interest for him, spiritual, Irish and so forth. Dormant interests were awakened and life surely was made a little more bearable; concelebrated Mass with other ailing Jesuits in Cherryfield and the many daily rosaries also helped him.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949

LETTERS :

Fr. Edmund Keane, writes 27th September, from Our Lady of Martyrs Tertianship, Auriesville, New York :
“On the eve of the Long Retreat (it begins this evening) I write to commend myself in a special manner to your Holy Masses and prayers. Auriesville certainly affords all the exterior aids for a faithful retreat : peace, coolness, and the wide open-spaces so welcome after the heat and hurried tempo of New York, and one can depend on the weather to behave. After four weeks Fr. Kent and I are now well settled into the Tertianship, and both are in good health, D.G. The house is very comfortable and well appointed, food excellent, and surroundings from a scenic point of view very beautiful. In all there are 43 Tertians, of whom only about 8 hail from Provinces other than American, so there are no language difficulties. Fr. Keenan is our Instructor, and I am glad of the opportunity of spending a year under his direction.
Yesterday, the Feast of the Matryrs was marked by special celebrations, and during the day the number of pilgrims that flowed in through the Shrine must have been over 10,000. Solemn High Mass coram Episcopo (Most Rev, Dr. Gibbons of the Albany diocese) in the Coliseum at noon, preceded by a procession into it of various bodies, the Knights of Columbus, The Order of Alhambra and the A.O.H., etc. A sermon was preached by Fr. Flattery, Director of the retreat-house. The celebrant, deacon, subdeacon and M.C. were Filipino, Canadian, Italian and Dutch respectively Tertians). Supply work comes round about every third week : one regular week-end call brings us a distance of 150 miles, and so we are armed with the faculties of three dioceses - New York, Albany and Syracuse. Some hospital work, too, may likely fall to my lot, such work, apart from its value as an experimentum, should be rich in experience ..."

Irish Province News 24th Year No 3 1949

LETTERS :
From Fr. R. Ingram, Holy Family Rectory, 1501 Fremont Ave., South Pasedena, Cal., U.S.A. :
“I have just missed a trip to the Marshall Islands and Hawaii. Shell Ox Co. is sponsoring a world-wide experiment op gravity observations to be taken simultaneously at many different stations. We had arranged a party to take the observations in the Pacific, they were to be made every 1 hour, and the Navy had agreed to co-operate by flying the personnel and instruments to the locations. But an automatic recorder was perfected by La Coste (the designer of the ‘gravy-meter’) and off he went alone. God bless American efficiency! Instead of flying across the Pacific a party of us have charge of the observations for the Los Angeles region. We hope to get a lot of information.
I plan to leave the West for St. Louis at the end of July. I sail for Ireland with Frs. Kent and Keane on 7th September”.
(Fr. E. Kent has been acting as Assistant Chaplain in City Hospital, New York.)

◆ Interfuse No 105 : Special Edition 2000 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2000

Obituary

Fr Edmund Kent (1915-1999)

1915, June 9: Born in Dublin.
Early education: Clongowes Wood College.
1933, Sept 7: Entered the Society at Emo.
1935, Sept 8: First vows at Emo.
1935 - 1939: Rathfarnham, studying Economics at U.C.D.
1939 - 1942: Tullabeg, studying philosophy.
1942 - 1944 : Mungret College, teaching.
1944 - 1948 : Milltown Park, studying theology.
1947 30th July: Ordained priest at Milltown Park,
1948 - 1949: Tertianship at Auriesville, and Social Studies.
1949 - 1952: University Hall, Asstd. Director and giving extra mural courses at UCD & Catholic Workers' College (NCI).
1952 - 1954: Milltown Park, Dir. Catholic Workers' College.
1954 - 1969: Catholic Workers' College, Minister, Prefect of Studies, Lecturer in Trade Unionism, etc.
1969 - 1989: Leeson St., Lecturer at C.I.R. (NCT); Messenger Office: in charge of sales and promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart
1983 - 1989: Chaplain, St. Vincent's Private Hospital.
1989 - 1999: Cherryfield Lodge, Treasurer and assistant Province Archivist for some years, Writer.

Father Kent first went to Cherryfield Lodge for lunch. But while taking a walk around the grounds, and with impaired eyesight, he fell on a high wall and had to be hospitalized. He returned to Cherryfield Lodge as a convalescent and then remained on as a permanent resident. At first he did the books and then reorganized the library. Gradually he lost his sight and became increasingly infirm.

He died peacefully at Cherryfield Lodge on 8th November 1999.

May he rest in the peace of Christ.

The following obituary appeared in the Irish Times, Saturday, November 20th, 1999

Father Edmond Kent SJ, who died in Dublin on November 8th, played a seminal role in establishing and moulding the ethos of the National College of Industrial relations (formerly known as the Catholic Workers' College), to which many leading figures from the Irish trade union movement - past and present - and some top business men are indebted for their tertiary education.

The son of a senior civil servant, who became a Commissioner of the Board of Works, he was sent to Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit school and afterwards entered the Order's novitiate at Emo at the age of 18.

Unusually for the time, he was asked to study for a degree in economics - the norm for Jesuit students was to take a degree in a subject that they could go on to use as teachers. He focused on agricultural economics for his master's degree - taking “the dual purpose cow” for his thesis.

As early as 1938 - and again in 1946 - the General Congregation of the Jesuit order directed that a Centre of Information and Social Action be set up in all its provinces, including Ireland. The catalyst for this was the papal encyclicals on social teaching, Rerum Novarum (1891) and Quadragesimo Anno (1931). The essential philosophy was based on the need for "strong democracy" as the way to bring about reconstruction of the social order.

Worker education was to be the key ingredient. Father Kent was sent to New York for a year to find out what his fellow Jesuits were doing in the labour colleges there. He returned to teach alongside Edward Coyne SJ, on the social and economic science diploma course for trade unionists at UCD. It is significant, however, that the Catholic Workers College did not open its doors before 1951. This would suggest that the Jesuits were motivated much less by anti-communism in the Catholic ethos of the time than by Alfred O'Rahilly of UCC, for example, who had set up a similar diploma course for workers in Cork in 1946.

Father Kent had an impact from the start on students and trade union leaders alike. He shared a real empathy with and concern for workers, motivated by the belief that people should be enabled to assert their just rights, regardless of status or social class: the establishment of the Labour Court in 1946 meant that union representatives had to be articulate in presenting their members' cases.

It was an ethos that did not endear Father Kent to the upper echelons of the Federated Union of Employers who regarded the Jesuit ground breaker as being much too left wing. He never saw himself as being anything other than orthodox, however.

His was the “mustard seed” in those early years that gradually helped to create a vibrant and educated industrial relations environment in the Republic, over the following decades, culminating in the current era of social partnership - as the college went on to cater for both sides of industry. The NCIR continued to be run by the Jesuits until 1988 when it became a company limited by guarantee.

Fr Edmund Kent: born 1915, died November 1999

Born: 20 May 1854, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 05 February 1880, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Ordained: 1892
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 09 December 1929, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 1882

by 1894 at Castres France (TOLO) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He made his Novitiate at the Austrian Novitiate, Sevenhill, but he Entered the Irish Mission.
After First Vows he was sent to Riverview Teaching, Prefecting and completing private study.
1887 He was sent to Ireland to study Philosophy at Milltown., and then to finish his Philosophy at Mungret with four others. Then he returned to Milltown for four years Theology, and finished his formation with Tertianship at Castres under the celebrated Père Ginhac.
1894 He was back in Australia doing more Regeny at St Patrick’s Melbourne, by 1896 he was Minister there, and the following year Vice-Rector.
1901 He was appointed Rector at Sevenhill - now of HIB - and remained in that position until 1911.
1911 He spent a year at Riverview and was then sent to Hawthorn, where he spent four years, two as Minister.
1918 He was sent to Loyola, Greenwich as Vice-Rector, and remained in that post until his death there 09 December 1929

He was a man of sound practical common sense. he never allowed imagination lure him along a path he though led to disaster. He was very kindly and holy, and this made him an excellent and safe Superior.
From the time of his return to Australia as a Priest, he had held positions of authority. His death was keenly felt by those who served under him, especially at Sevenhill. Mr Lachal there wrote “He was the kindest of Superiors, a real father to the Novices, keeping a particularly keen eye on their health. I wish I had Father Rector’s ticket to heaven, Father Master once said to his Novices.’ Noviceship Concerts could always rely on an item or two from their Rector. His comic songs added much to these bright evenings. His charity also promoted to write regularly to his ‘young friends’ in Europe, keeping them in touch with events on the Australian Mission.
For many years he said Mass every morning at an orphanage several miles away until his health confined him to the house. He was much in demand as a Confessor. Religious and lay people will remember him with gratitude as a kind, gentle, able guide they had to direct them on the road to heaven.

Note from Francis X O’Brien Entry :
He studied Philosophy at Milltown and then Mungret for with three other Philosophers , Edward Masterson, Franics Keogh and Patrick Barrett.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Francis Keogh was one of the first pupils at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, when the Jesuits took over in 1865 . He worked as a pharmacist before entering the Society at Sevenhill, 5 February 1880. He taught the lower classes at Riverview, bookkeeping, writing, arithmetic and Latin, 1882-87, before going to philosophy and theology studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1887-93. Tertianship followed at Castres with Paul Ginhac, 1893-94, and then he returned to Australia and St Patrick's College, 1894-04, being rector from July 1897.
He spent a few years as minister at Hawthorn, 1903-06, and was then appointed superior at Sevenhill, 1906-12. He returned to Riverview teaching for two years, and then went to the parish of Hawthorn, 1913-18. He was appointed rector of Loyola College, Greenwich, in 1918, and he remained there for the rest of his life, examining candidates and assisting the editor of the Jesuit Directory.
Keogh had a good sense of humor and even as an old man would join in singing at novices' concerts with much mirth. He was quite without affectation, and valued by the novice master for his work and counsel.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 2 1930
Obituary :
Fr Francis Keogh
The holy death of Fr. Francis Keogh took place in Sydney, on the 9th December 1929.
Fr. Keogh was born in Melbourne on the 20th May 1854 and entered the Irish Province on the 5th Feb.1880. He made his noviceship at the Austrian novitiate, Sevenhill, and when it was over was sent to Riverview. There he remained as prefect and master, as well as doing some private study, until 1887 when he travelled to Milltown Park and joined the 2nd year philosophers. Next year the 3rd year philosophers went to Mungret (there were four of them) and there Fr. Keogh finished his philosophy.
In 1889 he returned to, Milltown for theology, and when the four years finished he went to Castres in France for his tertianship. He had the advantage of having the celebrated and holy Pére Ginhac for tertian master.
1894 saw him back in Australia doing duty in St Patrick's, Melbourne. In 1896, he became Minister, and in the following year Vice-Rector of St Patrick's. He held this position until 1903 when he was transferred to Hawthorn as Minister. Three years later he was appointed Superior of Sevenhill, (now belonging to the Irish province), and held the position until 1911. A year at Riverview, then back to Hawthorn where he spent four years, two of them as Minister. In 1918 he was appointed Vice-Rector of Loyola, Sydney, and remained in charge until his holy death in 1929. Fr. Keogh was a man of sound, practical common sense. He never allowed imagination to lure him along paths that often lead to disaster. This, added to his kindliness of character and to his holiness, fitted him to be an excellent and safe superior. From his return to Australia in 1894 to his death in 1929 he held positions of authority for 28 years, either as Minister, Superior or Vice-Rector. His loss is particularly felt by those who had the good fortune to live under him during any part of the eleven years he was Vice-Rector of the novitiate. One of them (Mr. Lachal) writes : “He was the kindest of superiors, a real father to the novices, keeping a particularly keen eye on their health”. “I wish l had Fr. Rector's ticket to heaven” the Father Master once said to his novices. His life was indeed edifying, simple, humble, kind, an exact yet gentle observer of his rule. For many years he said Mass every morning at an orphanage several miles away until failing health confined him to the house. He was much in demand as a confessor. Not religious alone but crowds of seculars will remember with gratitude what a kind, gentle, able guide they had to direct them on the road to heaven. Noviceship concerts could always count on an item or two from their Rector. His comic songs added much to these bright evenings. His charity too, constantly prompted him to write regularly to his to young friends in Europe, keeping them in touch with events on the Australian mission. Early this year he would have celebrated his golden jubilee in the Society. May he rest in peace.

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

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

The Reverend Frank Keogh was Prefect during the whole year 1886, and was a very efficient one. He had a medical training before he joined the Order, and acted as dispenser at the College. Being an Australian, he knew how to deal with the boys, and they gave him very little trouble.

He was a consistent student, and the lightest book one would find him reading, when he had charge of us in the playground, was the Greek Testament. He was a very good oarsman, and he took a great interest in all the games and sports. We regretted his departure, when that impending event was announced to us before the breaking up; but we regretted it still more keenly later on. He went to Europe to complete his Theological studies. He afterwards returned to the Old School, as Father Keogh, and I had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions, and recalling old times. Although much younger than the Fathers of my time I am sorry to say that he, like most of the Fathers of my time, has passed away.

Born: 29 February 1824, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 04 September 1839, Drongen, Belgium - Blegicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 24 September 1854, St Beuno's, Wales
Final Vows: 02 February 1860
Died: 16 December 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin

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

by 1853 Theology at St Beuno’s (ANG)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1843 Sent to Clongowes as Teacher for Regency.
He was then dent to Belgium for Philosophy, and then England for Theology, and he was Ordained at S Beuno’s 24 September 1854 by Dr Browne.
1856 He was sent to Clongowes where he remained until a short time before his death at Milltown Park 16 December 1872.
He had been on a visit to Milltown from Clongowes when he died suddenly.
He was a very skilled musician with wonderful musical taste. He was also a very successful teacher of Natural Philosophy at Clongowes.

Born: 06 April 1919, Church Avenue, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1954, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 28 February 1978, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Father was a Civil Servant in Local Government. Family resided at Ormond Road, Drumcondra, Dublin.

Second of three sons with one sister.

Early education at St Patrick’s BNS, Drumcondra (1925-1931). In 1931 he went to O’Connells Schools

by 1975 at Canisius College, Buffalo NY, USA (NEB) Marriage Encounter◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 53rd Year No 2 1978

Galway
The sudden death of our parish priest, Fr Jack Kerr, came as a great shock. Although he had been parish priest here for only a little over two years, he had achieved a great deal, and had endeared himself by his kindness, generosity, and openness to all. His work in the parish, his involvement in Marriage Encounter, the Charismatic Movement, and the Samaritans, brought him very many friends not only here in Galway, but elsewhere as well. This was evident in the huge number of Mass cards for him, and in the very large attendance at his funeral.
His remains were removed from the Residence to the Church on the evening of March 2. The Assistant Provincial, Fr Joseph Dargan, was present. Immediately afterwards Fr Jack's cousin, Fr Frank Kerr, a diocesan priest from Clones, Co. Monaghan, said the public evening Mass for him.
On Friday, March 3, over forty priests concelebrated at his funeral Mass, and many more were in the congregation. The chief concelebrants were the Provincial, Fr Patrick Doyle, the Rector, Fr Robert McGoran, and Fr Frank Kerr. The former Bishop of Galway, Dr Michael Browne presided. The present Bishop, Dr Eamonn Casey was unavoidably absent, as he was confined to the house after a severe dose of the flu. In his sermon, Fr McGoran paid fitting tribute to Fr Kerr and his work.
To Fr Jack's sister and brother and his many relations our sincere thanks.

Crescent College Comprehensive
At the moment of writing, the very sad news has reached us of the death of Fr Jack Kerr SJ, former Chairman of the Board of Management. Few did more for the new Crescent than Jack did. From the preliminary planning stages in the 1960's right through his period of active chairmanship up to 1974 the school could not have had a better friend and champion. In very difficult moments his support of the school administration and his genuine concern for the well-being of pupils and staff was of incalculable importance: with humour and great humanity he helped to unify diverse elements in the new Board of Management structure and to ensure that the over-all good of the school was served with dedication and competence. Jack Kerr brought joy and laughter to so many that his death is felt in a very personal way: to have known him, worked and laughed with him was a bonus to life. May he experience everlasting joy. On Monday, March 6th, the members of the Board of Management, staff and pupils will join in offering Mass for his eternal happiness and peace.

Obituary :

Fr John Kerr (1919-1978)

The Province received an unpleasant shock when it heard of the death, on February 28th, 1978, of Father John Kerr. Father Kerr had not yet completed his sixtieth year, so that his sudden death was a serious loss to the Province in which Jesuits of the most active years of life are becoming alarmingly small in number.
Father Kerr was born in Dublin on April 6th 1919. He was educated at O’Connell’s School and entered the Noviceship in Emo on September 7th, 1936. He completed all his studies in Ireland and was ordained in Milltown Park, Dublin, on July 28th 1948. He pronounced his Final Vows at Belvedere College on February 2nd 1954.
Father john Kerr spent the years 1950-1960 in the Irish Messenger Office, Belvedere; and after a year at Manresa he spent a year in Tullabeg as Professor of Metaphysics, and Minister (1961 1962), He was Rector and doctor of Philosophy in Mungret College 1962-1968, and Rector in Belvedere from 1968-1974,
Father John Kerr spent the year 1974-1975 studying “Marriage Encounter”, at Canisius High School, Buffalo.
From 1975 to his death in February 1978 he lived in St Ignatius college, Galway, where he was Promoter of “Marriage Encounter” and where he was Parish Priest of the Church.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1978

Obituary

Father Jack Kerr SJ

Those who knew Fr Jack Kerr during the years he lived in Belvedere first as National Director of the Sodalities of our Lady and later as Rector must have been deeply shocked by the news of his sudden death on the last day of February this year. Those close to him knew that he had not been well for some time - he had been in hospital twice undergoing treatment for angina - but there did not appear to be reason for undue alarm. He had just returned to Galway after a period of recuperation in Dublin when he took ill and died within an hour.

Fr Kerr had many gifts which were given ample scope to develop in the various posts he held in the Society of Jesus. Shortly after ordination, he was: made national Director of the Sodality, a post he held for eleven years. Then followed six years as Rector of Mungret College, Limerick, after when he came to Belvedere as Rector in 1968. In 1974, he went to the United States to gain experience of Marriage Encounter, which was growing in importance both in the States and in Ireland. The following year, he returned to Ireland and was sent to Galway as Parish Priest of St Ignatius parish and to initiate Marriage Encounter in the West of Ireland.

His six years as Rector in Belvedere were years of achievement: they were also years which saw the growth of many close friendships with a host of people connected with Belvedere. Fr Kerr brought to fruition the preparatory work done by a number of previous Rectors with the building of the new school block, the gymnasium and the swimming pool. It was due to his energy and devoted hard work that the Covenant Scheme was launched, which over the years has done so much to meet the very large costs of building and maintaining the complex. It was he also who was responsible for buying the land at Nevinstown, which may well prove of great value to the College in the years to come.

Those who were associated with him during those years might well have considered that his outstanding gifts were organisational: he had a shrewd business sense, an ability to grasp complex details and great energy and drive. But this was only one aspect of his character: more important for his work as a priest and as a Jesuit was the quite unique gift he had for relating to people. He had always possessed great humanity, warmth, sympathy and understanding. There are many connected with Belvedere, I know, who can vouch for this ability of his to comfort and strengthen in times of bereavement and distress. But it was in the last years of his life during his time in Galway that these gifts really came to flower: his life appeared to take on an added quality. In a short period of two and half years, he affected many people in quite an astonishing way and his death has left a void in their lives. He made people believe in thernselves; he made them feel special; he healed them emotionally and spiritually; he helped them to forgive themselves; he gave them a spirit of joy. He accepted them for what they were with all their faults and failings, just as he accepted himself with his own weaknesses. And this attitude to people was a mirror to of his attitude to God: for him, God was a Father who knew his failings and yet loved him and loved all of us. As a result of contact with him, people developed an attitude of more joyful trust in the Lord.

We offer our sincere sympathy to his sister and brother and his other relations and friends who feel his loss deeply; and we pray that God our Father may take Fr Jack back to Himself to the peace and joy which will be his forever.

R McG

Born: 01 January 1942, Montenotte, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1959, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 17 June 1972, St John the Baptist, Kinsale, Co Cork
Final Vows: 02 February 1979, Università Gregoriana, Rome, Italy
Died: 17 August 2018, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father (Patrick) was a surgeon, and family lived at Kenilworth, Douglas Road, Cork.

Youngest of four boys (2 deceased) and he had five sisters.

Educated at a private school for two years he then went to CBC Cork for eleven years.

by 1966 at St Louis MO, USA (MIS) studying
by 1973 at Rome, Italy (DIR) studying

Early Education at CBS Cork

1961-1965 Rathfarnham - Studying Science at UCD
1965-1968 St Louis, MO, USA - Studying Philosophy at St Louis University
1968-1969 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Regency : Teacher
1969-1972 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1972-1976 Bellarmino, Rome, Italy - Studying Theology & Psychology at Gregorian University
1976-2014 Gregorian University, Rome, Italy - Lecturer in Psychology at Gregorian University
1977 Doctorate and occasional Lecturer at Milltown Institute
1978 Alcalà de Henares, Madrid, Spain - Tertianship
1980 Professor of Moral Theology & Psychology
1987 President of Institute of Psychology (to 1993)
2014-2018 Loyola - Convalescence; Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/bart-kiely-faith-and-mission/

Bart Kiely SJ – a life of “faith and mission”
Bartholomew (Bart) Kiely SJ died on 17 August, 2018 aged 76 years in the loving care of the staff at Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, Dublin. People can listen to the homily at his funeral Mass given by Fr Mike Drennan SJ.
Fr Kiely reposed at Cherryfield Lodge on 19 August and his funeral Mass took place at Milltown Park Chapel on 20 August followed by burial at the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. He is deeply regretted by the Jesuit community in Ireland and Rome, and by his brother Paddy, sisters Christine, Anne, Margaret and his many nephews, nieces, cousins and many friends.
Born and raised in Cork City, Bart attended the Christian Brothers College and entered the Society of Jesus in 1959. His Jesuit training included studies at UCD, Saint Louis University in Missouri and Milltown Park and he taught at Crescent College, Limerick as a regent before being ordained in 1972. He was known as a gifted student, studying philosophy and earning a doctorate in biochemistry at the same time and going on to do a doctorate in theology. He taught at the Gregorian University, Rome from 1976-2014. While there, he was Professor of Moral Theology & Psychology and President of the Institute of Psychology.
Having spent almost all of his priestly life in Rome at the Gregorian, Bart suffered a very serious traffic accident in 2014, which significantly compromised his health. He then came home to Cherryfield Lodge for convalescence where he was greatly loved and very content in himself. His mission was to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus. He died peacefully after a very brief respiratory illness.
At the funeral Mass, homilist Fr Mike Drennan SJ said: “To understand Bart, you have to look at faith and mission. Otherwise you miss the core. Those were driving elements of his life of service, of availability. He had a bigger picture with Christ as very much the centre”. Fr Drennan also spoke of Bart’s influence as an educator, helping to form people from more than 70 countries who went on and did great work in the five continents.
There was a particular emphasis on the value of his convalescence since the debilitating
injury: “Vulnerability made him more lovable as it does for all of us... Bart has surrendered in a new way, he has loved and let go. Now it’s time for us to let him go.”
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20215305.html

Missing Irish Jesuit found in Rome hospital

An Irish Jesuit who went missing for several days in Rome has been found in a hospital following searches involving police, family from Cork, and former president Mary McAleese.

Fr Bartholomew Kiely, 70 — whose brother is retired Mercy University Hospital surgeon PB Kiely — went missing on Nov 14 after leaving the Pontifical Gregorian University on his bicycle.

A relative of Fr Kiely, who did not wish to be named, said concern was heightened by the fact that riots had taken place in Rome on the day of his disappearance, as well as substantial flooding.

“It was a miracle really that he was found and that he is alive, he said.

He confirmed that Fr Kiely appeared to have been the victim of a hit and run. Several ribs were broken and he was unconscious, but not in a coma.

Fr Kiely’s sister, Anne Gaffney, from Mallow, has travelled to Rome along with her husband, surgeon Peter Gaffney. Fr Kiely’s prognosis was not clear but neurologists are said to be pleased with his progress.

A professor in moral theology and psychology, Fr Kiely lectures at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and is a friend of Mrs McAleese, who is pursuing a licentiate of canon law. She assisted in the search, co-ordinated by a nephew, Dr Steven Sullivan.

Fr Kiely was located at Ospedale S Filippo Neri in north-west Rome. Facial bruising and absence of ID meant his identification was difficult. He was in training for the Lee Swim and was hoping to win the over-70s category next year.

He is also a member of the committee advising on the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Born: 22 April 1881, Rathbrist, County Louth
Entered: 07 September 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1917, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 18 January 1945, St John of God's Hospital, Stillorgan, Dublin

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

Parents were farmers at Rathbrist. One of four brothers and one sister - second youngest in the family.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1903 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, 2 March 1931-7 September 1941.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-jesuits-name-bugs/

JESUITICA: The flies of Ireland
Only one Irish Provincial has had a genus of flies called after him. In 1937 Fr Larry Kieran welcomed Fr Hermann Schmitz, a German Jesuit, to Ireland, and he stayed here for about four years, teaching in Tullabeg and doing prodigious research on Irish Phoridae, or flies. He increased the known list of Irish Phoridae by more than 100 species, and immortalised Fr Larry by calling a genus after him: Kierania grata. Frs Leo Morahan and Paddy O’Kelly were similarly honoured, Leo with a genus: Morahanian pellinta, and Paddy with a species, Okellyi. Hermann served Irish entomologists by scientifically rearranging and updating the specimens of Phoridae in our National Museum. He died in Germany exactly fifty years ago.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 3 1934

On 14th May the following notice was sent by Father Socius to all the Houses of the Irish Province. : “Rev. Father Provincial (Kieran) has been ordered a period of rest by his doctor, and in the meantime, with Father General's approval, Father Cyril Power has been appointed to act as Vice-Provincial.”

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941
General :
Fr. John R. MacMahon, Rector of Milltown Park since August. 1938. was appointed Provincial by Very Rev. Fr. General on 8th September. The best wishes and fervent prayers of the Province are tendered to him on his elevation to his new post of responsibility.
The best thanks of the Province follow the outgoing Provincial Fr Kieran, whose fidelity to duty, understanding ways and kindly charity during the many wears in which he guided the destinies of our Province will long be remembered with gratitude and appreciation. A special feature of his humanity was the quite remarkable devotion and charity which he ever showed to our sick.
We wish him many years of fruitful work for God’s glory and much happiness in his new post as Director of the Retreat, House Rathfarnham Castle.
Fr. Patrick Joy was appointed Vice-Superior of the Hong Kong Mission on 29th July.

Irish Province News 20th Year No 2 1945

Obituary

Fr. Laurence J. Kieran (1881-1898-1945)

Fr. Kieran, Instructor of Tertians and a former Provincial of our Irish Province, died in Dublin very suddenly on 18th January, 1945. Travelling in the forenoon of that day (which was the Tertians' villa day) in a Bus on the Stillorgan Road, he had a heart seizure and died almost immediately. A Franciscan, who providentially happened to be a fellow-passenger, gave him the final absolution, and shortly after wards he was anointed by the chaplain of St. John of God's, Stillorgan. He was dead on admission to St. Michael's Hospital, Dunleary.
Born at Rathbrist, Co. Louth, on 22nd April, 1881, he was educated at Clongowes Wood College and entered the Society at Tullabeg on 7th September, 1898. Having completed his novitiate and two years of rhetoric there, he made his philosophical studies at Gemert in Holland from 1902 to 1905, and then began his career as master and prefect in his alma mater, Clongowes. He studied theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest on 26th July, 1914, by the Most Rev. Dr. Brownie, Bishop of Cloyne. On the completion of his tertianship, under Fr. Ignatius Garlan as Instructor, at Tullabeg, he succeeded the late Fr. James Daly as Prefect of Studies at Clongowes, a post he held till 1925. After spending a year at Rathfarnham Castle as Minister and Procurator, he was transferred to Mungret College where he was appointed Rector on 31st July, 1927. He was made Provincial in March, 1931, and governed the Province for over ten years. When Fr. Henry Keane returned to his Province to take up the post of Rector of Heythrop College, Fr. Kieran succeeded him as Instructor of Tertians at Rathfarnham Castle in the autumn of 1942; he had been Director of the Retreat House, Rathfarnham, after relinquishing the post of Provincial.
Fr. Kieran's unexpected death caused great grief throughout the Province of which he was such an exemplary, efficient, loyal and kindly member. The principal note of his spiritual life was his unfailing meticulous fidelity to his spiritual exercises from the days of the noviceship to the sudden close of his life.
He was an indefatigable WORKER, with a tremendous sense of duty; and it was the happy combination of these two characteristics which rendered him so efficient. No pains were too great when there was question of duty, whether that city was study, teaching or administration. Though not gifted with outstanding philosophical ability, he studied so methodically and consistently that he occupied a very high. place in a very good class in the French Philosophate at Gemert and was more than once chosen to defend theses or make objections in the usual public disputations, acquitting himself well. Studying in the same manner at Militown Park, he completed a very good course of Theology. Though not much of a reader, he would study and read with meticulous care all that his work demanded. And this was true of him as a teacher, as prefect of studies, as Provincial and as Instructor of Tertians. He was always perfectly prepared for any tasks assigned him by Superiors.
His LOYALTY to the Society and to his own Province in particular was admirable. In Gemert, in the olden days, he was always instilling into the minds of his companions of the Irish Province the need of giving a perfect example of observance and hard work to the members of other Provinces. He scouted the idea of any Irish scholastic asking for any dispensation from common life. He led the way by his own example, and his inspiration had not only a striking effect on his Irish companions but established also a tradition, which continued when he left.
Fr. Kieran was a very LOVABLE companion, whether as an ordinary member of a community, or as a Superior. He was unusually homely and natural and sincere, and these qualities shone with special lustre in him when in office and made it particularly easy for all his subjects to approach him without embarrassment. He was full of common sense and understanding. He loved to laugh and to see others laugh, told a story excellently, and, in his younger days showed a great gift of acting.
As a SCHOLASTIC at Clongowes from 1905 till 1911, Mr. Kieran (as he then was) had charge of College theatricals in addition to strenuous work in Line or Class-room. Past students will still retain vivid recollections of the success he achieved as producer of plays like ‘Guy Mannering,’ The Ticket of Leave Man,' operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan To this sphere of 'side-shows,' as he used later call them, he devoted the same meticulous care in preparation and rehearsal which he brought to the more serious duties of his calling.
Returning to CLONGOWES as a young priest, he served a short apprenticeship under Fr. James Daly, the famous Prefect of studies, before he inherited his mantle, and with it that singleness of purpose and devotion to duty which continued to be rewarded with great successes in the public examinations. As confessor, too, of the boys he exerted the widest influence for good, and won that affectionate which prompted so many of them to turn to him for help and guidance in the trials and perplexities of life.
Fr. Kieran's transfer from Clongowes in 1925 came as a surprise to many, including himself. Providence, however, through his Superiors was preparing him for the heavier responsibilities which lay ahead. At Rathfarnham and Mungret he was to acquire an experience in the details of administration and in the handling of new and delicate problems which was to be so useful to him some years later when called upon to govern the Province As RECTOR OF MUNGRET College Fr. Kieran took his responsibilities very seriously. While allowing subordinate officials every scope for initiative, he retained a personal and active direction of every department of school life. His talks to the boys at the beginning of the school year and of each new term, setting forth the lofty purpose of life and the opportunities they were being afforded of developing their God-given talents, made a deep and lasting impression on their young minds. He got to know each boy personally and used every occasion for individual guidance. He taught classes himself, especially in religious knowledge and in philosophy, fostered proficiency in Irish with wise solicitude and no mean success, as is attested by the remarkable results Mungret pupils attained more than once during his term of office at the Thomond Feis in the matter of Irish conversation and dialogue. He never failed to put in an appearance at games on half-days, at concerts and other school entertainments.
The same kindly interest he extended to the APOSTOLIC SCHOOL, with whose Superior he ever remained in the closest and most cordial touch. He gave monthly talks to the apostolics, which were greatly appreciated, as not a few have testified in later life. He erected a two storey building for them, to serve as study-hall, class-rooms, dormitory, kept in close touch with past alumni, promoted the founding of a magazine to link them more closely with their alma mater. In these and other ways he made apostolic students, past and present, feel that the Society, faithful to the best traditions of Mungret Apostolic School, was promoting its true interests to the utmost. The historic visit to Mungret on 21st July, 1928, of the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda did but confirm these happy impressions : Cardinal Van Rossum, O.SS.R., was visiting Limerick for the jubilee celebrations of the men's Confraternity in the Redemptorist Church, and came out to Mungret at Fr. Kieran's invitation. Before returning, His Eminence left in writing a gracious message of appreciation of the work of the Apostolic School and his blessing, and consented to be photo graphed. These photos were later sent Very Rev. Fr. General at Frascati, where the Curia were in sun mer residence, and occasioned him the liveliest satisfaction and pleasure.
On a day in early February, 1931. Fr. Fahy journeyed from Limerick to tell Fr. Kieran that he had been chosen to succeed him as PROVINCIAL. This news was a heavy blow to the Rector who could not contain his tears of emotion and apprehension at the burden to be laid on his shoulders. His only comfort was the assurance Fr. Fahy gave him that he would govern the Province in the same constitutional way in which he had administered Mungret College.
In this new post which he was to hold for ten years (1931-1941), Fr. Kieran's exceptional talents for ADMINISTRATION were given their widest scope. These may be particularised as prudence and practical judgment joined to a rare dexterity and vigour in the conduct of affairs. From his high sense of duty, coupled with his love for the Society, flowed the determination which enabled him to master so completely the details of his exacting and responsible office. Indeed, at the beginning of his Provincialate he tended to overdo his reading of the Institute during free hours, and to neglect his health, which suffered for some years from overstrain. On three occasions (in August, 1931, in the beginning of the following year and in the summer of 1934), a Vice-Provincial had to be appointed in order to allow him a complete rest. Thereafter his health was quite robust and enabled him to put in a further period of over seven years of strenuous activity and achievement.
Many IMPORTANT EVENTS Occurred during his term of office : the separation (prepared by his predecessor) from the Irish Province of Australia which became an independent Vice-Province (5th April, 1931): the world economic depression so severely felt in the first years of his Provincialate during which he implemented Fr. General's recommendations for succouring the distressed poor, the International Eucharistic Congress at Dublin in June, 1932, during which he led the way in extending to many. Prelates and members of Foreign Provinces of the Society that remarkable hospitality which drew from Fr. General a special letter of appreciation the celebrations in connection with the Centenary of St. Francis Xavier's Church and with the Golden Jubilee of Mungret Apostolic School, both of which fell in the summer of 1932. The completion of the new building in Clongowes, the extension of the Theologians wing and erection of a fully-equipped library on the most modern lines at Milltown Park, the opening of the Language School at Loyola, Hong Kong (September, 1937), the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war (1937), the fourth Centenary of the foundation of the Society (1940-41), the outbreaks of the world war the previous year, which necessitated many adjustments, such as the recalling from Houses abroad of our scholastics, the reception into the Province of members of continental Provinces and Missions, the sending of military Chaplains to the Forces, the providing at very short notice of a Tertianship in the Province, (October, 1939), when Fr. Kieran's dynamic energy was never shown to better advantage. He presided at the three Provincial Congregations held in 1933, 1936 and 1938. the last of which was preparatory to the General Congregation held in Rome, at which he assisted.
The outstanding QUALITIES which Fr. Kieran admired so much in the late Fr. Ledóchowski he possessed himself in a marked degree : a supernatural outlook upon all the problems be had to handle, a burning zeal for the interests of the Church and our Society, a definite conviction that our way to God and to success in our apostolic ministry lay in the acquiring of the true spirit of St. Ignatius, in observance of our rules, fidelity to Ignatian asceticism and those spiritual arms God has confided to our Society : the Spiritual Exercises, devotion to the Sacred Heart through the Apostleship of Prayer, devotion to Our Lady through the Sodality, accuracy in sizing up a situation, and remarkable skill and prudence in advising as to the steps to be taken, a deep sympathy and understanding which enabled him to make allowance for human weakness and human shortcomings while at the same time standing firm where questions of principle and observance of the rules were involved, finally, accuracy and expedition in the transaction of business.
He WORKED TIRELESSLY for the promoting of vocations to our novice ship and for the spiritual advancement of our young men with whom he kept in close touch, made wise provision for the training of professors in our scholasticates, and showed ever a great readiness to oblige His Paternity by sending subjects, as occasion demanded, to the Curia or the Gregorian University. The Hong Kong Mission he promoted to the utmost, and was rewarded by repeated commendation, from Fr. General for the quality and number of the missioners he sent out, with no small sacrifice to the Province. Towards the needs of other Provinces he showed a practical sympathy and to their members who came to Ireland an overflowing charity, which called forth letters of appreciation from their Provincials.
Fr. Kieran was a great believer in the utility of CONFERENCES, held in order to discuss the various problems connected with our work and ministry. He presided at the four he convened in Dublin (in the years 1933, 1936, 1937 and 1941) to discuss the work of our missions and retreats, the development of the Sodality and Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action.
Fruit of such Meetings were the BOOKLET he issued in 1938 on the method of adapting the Exercises to various categories of exercitants, the Report on Catholic Action in the Province (1936), the printed Instructions he gave from time to time containing detailed recommendations to missioners, sodality directors, promoters of Catholic Action.
The COLLEGES, of whose working and study programmes he had such accurate knowledge, came in for a large share of his solicitude. Arising out of the Commission appointed by his predecessor to examine the status of our Colleges, he issued in December, 1934, an important document, entitled 'A Memorandum on Aims and Methods in the Colleges,' In November of the same year he appointed an Inspector of the Colleges; and, to implement later one of the Decrees of the General Congregation (1938), set up a Concilium Permanens to advise Superiors on the problems connected with programmes and co-ordination among our Colleges of studies of the pre-examination classes, supervised the proper training of the scholastics during the years of their magisterium and furthered measures to improve a working know ledge of Irish for masters. In September, 1938, he appointed a Committee to advise on the introduction of scholastic philosophy in our schools. Two Conferences he convened in 1935 and 1937) to discuss school problems, and be prepared the material for that useful booklet issued later. 'Hints on the Colleges' for masters and prefects,
In connection with the carrying out of DECREES OF THE GENERAL CONGREGATION already referred to, Fr. Kieran convened in December, 1938, a Meeting of Rectors, and also appointed & Committee to draw up a draft Ordinatio studiorum inferiorum for the Juniorate studies. He had previously sent to Rome a draft Custom Book of the Province for consideration by Fr. General, as well as one for the Novitiate at St. Mary's.
With his practical and thorough-going knowledge of the details of FINANCE, and his desire for greater uniformity in matters touching temporal administration, Fr. Kieran warmly welcomed Fr. Ledóchowski's Instructio de administratione Temporali, issued in 1935. In forwarding Superiors copies of this document he wrote a very able letter to them, drawing attention to its main provisions. Not content with this, he later made a detailed synopsis of the Instructio, in three parts, for the use of Superiors, Ministers, and Procurators respectively, and issued in 1937 a useful Memorandum on the Duties of Minister and Procurator.
In fine, there was no province of our life and ministry which did not benefit by Fr. Kieran's wise and able administration.
Though Fr. Kieran could, and often did, write a forthright and vigorously worded letter, especially to Superiors, his pen was NEVER HARSH or intemperate. And if his correspondence ever hurt, and it did sometimes, the effect was speedily neutralised and forgotten by a personal approach and interview. Then it was that his affectionate heart and understanding humanity were shown to such advantage. This warm humanity made many conquests during his life in the Society, among the boys with whom he had to deal at Clongowes and Mungret, so many of whom kept in touch with him in later life, among the staff' or farm hands, in the houses in which he lived (who for him were never 'hands,' servants,' but, very personally, 'Joe,' or 'Bill,' or 'Bridgie'), among the exercitants at Rathfarnham Castle during the all too brief period he was Director of the Retreat-House there, among his own brethren most of all, especially the scholastics and, in the closing years of his life, the Tertian Fathers with whom he lived on such fondly intimate and brotherly relationship, in that simple naturalness and humility which was his special characteristic.
In an early issue of the Clongownian' we are given a glimpse of L. Kieran, the SCHOOL-BOY chosen for a principal part in the 'Mikado'; This is how a visitor to the College on the night of the entertainment wrote of him :
“L. Kieran as Pooh-Bah could scarcely have been surpassed by any amateur. Without much voice, he went through his songs with skill and taste. But it is his acting which will have won for him a bright place in the memory of all who saw him. Simple naturalness, un marred by any excess of stage gestures or declamation, was his characteristic. There was no straining after effect. He came on and went off, he spoke and was silent, as if he was only moved by his own individual will in such matters, and had never seen such a thing as a stage edition of the play”.
On the wider stage of life Fr. Kieran played his part with the same simple naturalness, the same self-restraint and self-effacement. And when the curtain fell with such tragic suddenness at the close, he passed away, leaving a host of friends, sorrow-stricken, it is true, but inspired by his example to play their parts, shoulder their responsibilities, as he had done with a like simplicity and naturalness, with the same detachment from self, the same consideration for others and the same heroic devotion to duty.
May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Laurence Kieran SJ 1881-1945
Fr Laurence Kieran will go down in the history of the Province as the man who ruled its destinies for over ten years, a record among Provincials of his own day, and certainly a record in the history of the Irish province.

Born at Rathbrist, County Louth on April 22nd 1881, he was educated at Clongowes, entering the Society in 1898.

At the conclusion of his training, he was chosen to succeed Fr James Daly as Prefect of Studies in Clongowes, an appointment which was no mean compliment in itself. He became Rector of Mungret in 1927, and eventually Provincial in 1931 to 1942.

Many important events took place during his term of office. The Mission of Australia became an independent Vice-Province in 1931. He celebrated the Centenary of Gardiner Street Church and the Golden Jubilee of Mungret in 1942. The new building was completed in Clongowes, the Theologian's Wing was extended at Milltown and the new Library built. He founded the Language School at Loyola, Hong Kong, and finally celebrated the fourth Centenary of the Society in 1940.

After relinquishing office in 1942, he became Instructor of Tertians. His end came quite suddenly on January 18th 1945,

He was a man dedicated to God, the Society and his work.

◆ The Clongownian, 1945

Obituary

Father Laurence Kieran SJ

Many people on taking up the morning paper of Friday, January the 19th, must have received a profound shock as they read the announcement of Fr L Kieran's sudden death in Dublin. Although he had been under the Doctor's care during the year for rheumatic trouble, there was nothing to cause anxiety, certainly nothing to indicate that death was so near. A member of the Rathfarnham Community who met him as he walked down the avenue for the last time, was struck by his brisk step, his vivacity and excellent spirits.

At D'Olier Street, Fr Kieran took the Mount Merrion Bus, with the intention of visiting his sister Mrs L McCann, who lives at Stillorgan Park, Blackrock. Nearing Booterstown Avenue, he was seen to be in distress, and, very soon after, he collapsed from a severe heart attack, He was immediately attended by the Rev Father Eustace OFM, Merchant's Quay, Dublin, fortunately a fellow passenger. The Bus drew up at the gate of St John of God's, Stillorgan where every assistance was rendered by Rev Br de Sales (resident Doctor of the House, and brother of Fr Whitaker SJ), and by the resident Chaplain who administered Extreme Unction.

The remains were removed by ambulance to the Sisters of Mercy Hospital, St Michael's, Dun Laoghaire. Office and Solemn Requiem, at which the Very Rev J R MacMahon SJ, Provincial, was celebrant, took place on Saturday, January 20th, The Right Rev Monsignor Dunne PP, VG, presiding. The Sacred Music was rendered by the Choir of Milltown Park. The general attedance included Mr de Valera, Mr Little, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, W. T. Cosgrave, &c. The Clongowes Union was represented by Messrs J V Doyle, J O'Mara, and W D Frisby.

Fr Kieran was born in Rathbrist, Co Louth, on April 22nd, 1881, where, in the bosom of a deeply religious family, were laid the foundations of that spirit of faith which sustained him through life, and led him to see the loving hand God in everything. After five years as a boy in Clongowes, went to Tullabeg for the Noviceship and Juniorate, and then studied for three years in the French House of Philosophy, at Gemert, Holland. He worked as prefect and Master in Clongowes from 1905 to I911. In addition to the constant arduous work in the Classroom, he took charge of the College Theatricals. The Past have vivid recollections of the marked success with which he produced “Guy Mannering”, :The Ticket-of-leave Man”, and the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

After his Ordination at Milltown Park and Tertianship in Tullabeg, he was appointed Prefect of Studies at Clongowes, in succession to Fr James Daly, whose great work he carried on with remarkable efficiency and success. In 1925 he was Minister and Procurator in Rathfarnham Castle, before going to Mungret College, Limerick, where he became Rector in 1927. In March, 1930, he was made Provincial, a position he held for more than eleven years, years embracing the Eucharistic Congress and the beginnings of the disastrous World War, His tenure of office was marked by prudence and practical judgment, combined with a rare skill in the conduct of affairs.

The outbreak of the war necessitated the closing of St Bueno's, North Wales, and obliged Fr Kieran to open, at very short notice, the Tertianship at home, He set himself to the task with his accustomed energy, and guided and ably assisted by his great friend, Fr Henry Keane, of the English Province, he had the satisfaction of seeing the Tertianship established at Rathfarnham Castle, September the 30th, 1939. He himself was Instructor of Tertians at the time of his death.

When Fr MacMahon became Provincial, Fr Kieran was placed in charge of the Retreat House, Rathfarnham. Here, his zeal, his homeliness and his desire to help made a deep impression on the minds of the exercitants, many of whom came back during the year to lay their troubles before him, to consult him in their difficulties, sure of a sympathetic hearing, certain to go away comforted and encouraged. What a shock it must have been for these worthy men when they learned that Fr Kieran was dead!

When Fr “Willie” Doyle was a Master at Clongowes in 1898, he produced the “Mikado”, and picked out L J Kieran for a principal part. A visitor to the College on the night of the entertainment wrote “L. Kieranas Pooh-Bah could scarcely have been surpassed by any amateur. Without much voice, he went through his songs with skill and taste. But, it is his acting which will have won for him a bright place in the memory of all who saw him. Simple naturalness, unmarred by any excess of stage gestures or declamation, was his characteristic. There was no straining after effect. He came on and went off, he spoke and was silent, as if he was only moved by his own individual will in such matters, and had never seen such a thing as a stage
edition of the play”.

On the wider stage of after-years, just as at school, Fr Kieran played his part with the same simple naturalness, the same self-restraint, the same self-effacement. And when the curtain fell in the last tragic scene, he passed away, leaving a host of friends, grief-stricken it is true, but inspired by his example to shoulder their responsibilities, to play their parts as he had done with such singular detach ment from self, such heroic devotion to duty.

To his sister Mrs L McCann, and to his brother, Mr Robert Kieran, we offer our sincerest sympathy in their great bereavement.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1945

Obituary

Father Laurence Kieran SJ

The Past boys who were at Mungret during the years 1926-31 will learn with deep regret of the death of Father Kieran which occurred with dramatic suddenness at Stillorgan on January 19th, 1945. Father Kieran, who was travelling in a bus, had a sudden seizure; a priest gave a last absolution and after a short time the Sacrament of Extreme Unction was administered.

Born at Rathbrist in Co Louth in 1881, Father Kieran was educated at Clongowes Wood College. He entered the Novitiate in 1898 and passing through the usual course of studies was ordained at Milltown Park in 1914 and then went back to Clongowes as Master and, later, was Prefect of Studies there.

In 1926 he came to Mungret to direct the Studies. He came as a stranger but it was not long till he had an assured place in the heart of the school. His grasp of essentials and his attention to details, his: extraordinary kindness as well as his firmness, when that was called for, endeared him to the boys. Her gave himself completely to his work and the results of the public examinations showed that a master hand was at the wheel.

In the following year he became Rector and it is no truism to say that his zeal and energy made themselves felt in every department of the College. Accommodation was wanted, so he added the New Wing, thus improving the Study Hall for the Lay Boys, increasing the number of classrooms, and giving the Philosophers a new Dormitory. Other schemes to build new refectories; to erect boot rooms; and to improve. the dormitories were in hand, when Father Kieran was called away to be Provincial. During his time as Provinciai he was always interested in the progress of Mungret and one could always count on his interest and encouragement in any scheme for its betterment.

These improvements will always be associated with the name of Father Kieran. But his great work was in fields whose harvests cannot be measured in this world. For he realised that his prime work was to lead. the young to their Heavenly Father, by firmness, if necessary, with kindness always. His genial manner made him a very approachable character, one to whomn boys could speak without fear or reserve. His constant interest in their families, their studies, their games, and their hobbies made them realise that bere was one who was genuine in his desire for their welfare and their happiness. They felt that he, who could so appreciate their boyish interests, could also console them in their sorrows and support them in their troubles.

His authority with boys came, one felt, not so much from his position as Rector but from their instinctive appreciation that his decisions were based on a ripe and rich experience of a boy's mind and world. It was the very “humanity” of the Rector which made them willing to seek and to follow his advice. One of the joys of his later life was when some young friend of former days called on him and they both re-lived their days in Mungret. The Philosophers became in particular his intimate friends and after their ordination they called to give tbeir blessing to him who had so helped them on the road to the priesthood. Reading the letters that came to Mungret on the death of Father Kieran, one cannot help noticing the sense of personal loss which the writers tried to express. They would all endorse the words of one of his past students, now a Monsignor in America: “To all of us he was a devoted father and a model of priestliness”.

His kindness and courtesy were always in evidence in his dealings with the old retainers of the College. He had at all times a kind word for them and his solicitude for them and their families eamed for him their gratitude and their prayers.

To those who mourn the passing of Father Kieran we offer our sincerest sympathy. RIP

Rooms at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly (top floor) named 'Tuck's Terrace' after Kieran, when as Provincial, he partitioned the rooms (whose walls shook in the wind) to make space.

Born: 13 March 1646, County Louth
Entered: 24 February 1668. Salamanca, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 01 May 1678, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 15 August 1685
Died: 22 May 1710, Irish College, Santiago de Compostella, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

Alias MacTiernan

1678 At Salamanca
1681 Teaching Grammar at Compostella
His “Sodality Book” was sold as waste paper and is at Clongowes

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Two Entries (1) Bernard Kiernan, (2) Bryan McTernan
Bernard Kiernan
1686 Teaching at Drogheda
1696 In Dublin as Superior and Prefect of Sodality - his Sodality Book is at Clongowes.
1708 In Dublin, but deported. He died 1710 of the plague at Compostella
Bryan McTernan
1697 In Dublin, living in the Parish of St Catherine’s (Report of a spy, in St Patrick’s Library, Dublin V 3.1.18)
Possibly is the same as Bernard Kiernan

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
After First Vows he was sent Regency for two years and then for Philosophy studies at St Ambrose, Valladolid
He was then sent to Royal College Salamanca, where he was Ordained by 01 May 1678
He then taught Humanities at Compostella and Oviedo until he was sent to Ireland
1686 Sent to Ireland and to Drogheda, where he taught Humanities until the town fell to the Williamites. So he went to Dublin and became Superior at the Dublin Residence. His particular Ministry was the promotion of Christian Doctrine circles and the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. The Sodality register presented to him in 1696 is at Clongowes archive
1697 After the Proclamation against the regular clergy in 1697 he went into hiding in St Catherine’s parish but was discovered and deported. He was received back into CAST and for the next three years taught philosophy at Pontevedra. He was then sent to the Irish College, Santiago and taught Humanities there until his death 22 May 1710.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
KlERAN, or KlRWAN, BERNARD.This excellent and well disposed Missionary, “insignis operarius et bonae voluntatis”, had returned from Spain to Ireland early in 1686. Twelve years later I find him labouring in the Dublin Mission. This “pious and irreproachable Father” died abroad, early in the last century.

Born: Ireland
Entered: 07 July 1808 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Professed: 02 February 1821
Died: 09 September 1822, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 03 June 1912, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 31 October 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 13 April 1998, St. John's Hospital, New Road, Limerick

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

Father is a retired Resident Magistrate and with his mother lived at King’s Square, Mitchelstown, County Cork.

Youngest of three boys with five sisters.

Early education privately, then at CBC Cork, he then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1924-1929)

by 1971 at Lusaka, Zambia (ZAM) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Edward (Ted), though born in Galway on 3 June 1912, came from a family whose origins were on the Laois-Kildare borderlands near Athy. In the post-famine days, they had suffered eviction from a very good property and the fact that his father had been a pupil of the famous Tullabeg school showed that they were part of the post-emancipation Catholic middle classes.

Ted went to school with the Christian Brothers in Cork and then on to Clongowes Wood College. After philosophy, he went to his old school as teacher and Lower Line and 3rd Line prefect, work which he liked and he would have loved to remain in education for life. That was not to be. His care for others, his ability to organise and his welcoming approach as guest master made him almost tailor-made for the job of minister. He was minister for almost 30 years in five of the Jesuit houses, not just in Ireland but also in Zambia where he worked for nine years as Minister in St lgnatius, Lusaka. Retreat work was another aspect of his ability, at Manresa and Rathfarnham Retreat Houses and at Tullabeg. A part of this so varied and versatile life was his work on the mission staff when he preached all over Ireland and England and was most helpful to Irish emigrants. His unfailing humanity to pupils and people in trouble was a part of his large, strong personality.
Ted was given to duty and generous work in the church and in the house where he lived. His affable and interesting presence made people feel welcome and at home.

He was a great man to converse on all subjects of the day and of the past, for he had a ready and cultured mind. This was enriched by the variety of his interests. He was a member of the Bird Watchers Society, collected stamps very successfully and had a keen interest in rugby and hurling. All things artistic – poetry, painting and music –were important in his life. The staff working in the houses loved and respected him as a true Christian gentleman. He had a noblesse of great natural and spiritual conviction – never one to be a time server. Loyalty, almost to a fault, was most marked in him. In his later years he showed an openness to new, valid developments which was quite remarkable.

People always felt comfortable in his presence and he was always ready to serve. He died in St. John's Hospital, Limerick on 13 April 1998 at the age of 86.

◆ Interfuse No 97 : Special Edition Summer 1998 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1998

Obituary

Fr Edward (Ted) KilBride (1912-1998)

3rd June 1912: Born in Galway
Early education: Christian Brothers, Cork, and Clongowes Wood College
31st Oct. 1929: Entered the Society at Tullabeg
1st Nov. 1931: First Vows at Emo
1931 - 1934: Rathfarnham, Arts at University College Dublin
1934 - 1937: Tullabeg: Philosophy
1937 - 1940: Clongowes: Lower line and 3rd line Prefect/Teacher
1940 - 1944: Milltown Park: Theology
29th July 1943: Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1944 - 1945: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1945 - 1951: Mungret College, Prefect and Teacher
1951 - 1953: Manresa, Minister, Asstd. Director Retreat House
1953 - 1956: Rathfarnham, Director Retreat House
1956 - 1958: Emo, Mission Staff, Retreats
1958 - 1959: Galway, Minister, Church work
1959 - 1965: Clongowes, Minister, Prefect, Spiritual Director
1965 - 1966 Manresa, Retreat work
1966 - 1969: Tullabeg, Minister, Retreat work
1969 - 1978: Zambia, Minister, St. Ignatius, Lusaka
1978 - 1987: Galway, Minister
1987 - 1998: Crescent Church, Limerick, Church work
13th Apr. 1998: Died at Limerick aged 86.

On 10th March Ted returned to his Community after some weeks in Cherryfield with pneumonia. He took ill suddenly in early April and was admitted to St. John's Hospital, Limerick, where he died a few days later on 13th April 1998. May he rest in the Peace of Christ!

Ted KilBride, though bom in Galway, came from a family whose origins were in the Laois-Kildare borderlands near Athy. In the post famine days they had suffered eviction from very good property, and the fact that his father had been a pupil of the famous Tullabeg school showed they were part of the post emancipation Catholic middle classes. His father was to be judge in the then regime, while an uncle became a very well established doctor in Athy.

When Ted entered the society in 1929, the new state was well under-way. After the usual training he was ordained priest in 1943. Though he had an early desire to be engaged in education for life, he in fact worked in a variety of works and places. He worked in Mungret and Clongowes, in the retreat houses in Rathfarnham and Tullabeg and Manresa, in our churches in Galway and the Crescent. As well as being pastorally engaged, he was a minister in several places, an outstanding prefect of students in Clongowes and Mungret, and eventually bursar in the Crescent. Nine years of his life (1969-78) were spent as minister and pastor in St. Ignatius, Lusaka. A part of this so varied and versatile life was his work on the mission staff, when he preached all over Ireland and England and was most helpful to our emigrants. His unfailing humanity to pupils and people in trouble was a part of his large, strong personality.

When Ted died a great gap was left in the Crescent, not only because of the loss of his ever dutiful and generous work in the church and house, but because of the loss of his affable and interesting presence. A great man to converse on all subjects of the day and of the past, he had a ready and cultured mind. This was enriched by the variety of his interests. He was a
amber of the Bird Watchers Society, collected stamps very successfully and had a keen interest in rugby and hurling. All things artistic, poetry, painting and music were important in his life. As guest master in Galway and Lusaka, the staff who took care of him there loved and respected him as a true Christian gentleman. He had a noblesse of great natural and spiritual conviction - never one to be a time server. Loyalty, almost to a fault was was most marked in him. In his later years he showed an openness to new valid developments which was quite memorable. His presence is greatly missed in the Crescent community. His shrewd humor and voracious maturity remains a very happy memory with us. The sense that he went straight into the presence of his Maker was unique and inescapable. He will nobly and surely look after us from this position of advantage. The spirit of this great hearted man lives on faithfully; his love is eternal for his friends, the young and old he helped, for his family and the Society, and for all who were dear to him.

Dermot Cassidy, SJ

Born: 23 June 1889, Castlepollard, County Westmeath
Entered: 29 September 1911, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 31 August 1963, Meath Hospital, Dublin

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

Father was a dispensing doctor and Justice of the Peace.

In a family of ten he is the second of eight boys (the fifth died in 1911) and two girls.

Early education at Castlepollard National School and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ until 1907. He received a First Class Bishop’s scholarship and attended classes at UCD in Arts, acquiring a BA.

Had studied forBA before entry

by 1914 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1922 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 39th Year No 1 1964

Obituary :

Fr Henry King SJ

Fr. “Hal” King, as he was affectionately known in the Province, died very suddenly on 31st August, 1963, in the Meath Hospital, Dublin, following on a surgical intervention. He was actually engaged on retreat work in England and was due to give the thirty days' retreat to the students in Clonliffe College for the twelfth time when his prostate trouble developed with fatal results.
Born at Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath, on 23rd June, 1889, second son in a family of ten, he spent the years 1900-1907 as a boy in Clongowes. He excelled both in studies and games, was an exhibitioner in each grade in the old Intermediate and was on the house cricket XI. In his final year at College he won the Palles gold medal in mathematics as well as a first class entrance scholarship in mathematics to the University. Though received by the Provincial, Fr. John Conmee, in 1907, he did not enter the noviceship till four years later as his father, who was a dispensary doctor and justice of the peace in Castlepollard, objected, apparently, to his entering. From Clonliffe College he attended lectures in U.C.D. in mathematics and logic for his First and Second Arts, and in 1911 obtained his B.A. in philosophy. The year previous to his entry into the Society he spent at Winton House, a hostel for university students run by our Fathers in the south side of the city.
As soon as he reached the age of twenty-one he was able to carry out his long-cherished resolve to join the Society which he did on 29th September, 1911. After taking his Vows he studied philosophy in Stonyhurst, Lancashire, for two years and was then master and Third Line Prefect in his old alma mater from 1915 to 1919. In the latter year he began his theological studies first at Milltown Park and for the second, third and fourth years at Ore Place, Hastings. He was ordained at Milltown on 15th August, 1922 at the hands of Most Rev. William Miller, O.M.I,
Before making his Third Year probation at Paray-le-Monial in 1926-7 he spent one year at Mungret as prefect and one year as Higher Line Prefect in Clongowes. It was during this latter year that the College XV under his training won from the sister college Belvedere the coveted senior schools' rugby cup, an event that still evokes mingled feelings! After returning from Paray, Fr. King was made Socius to the Master of Novices a position he held till 1931, first at Tullabeg and, on the transfer of the novitiate in August 1930, at St. Mary's, Emo. From 1931 he was at Mungret College, first as Prefect and then as Minister (1932-36). For the next six years he was back again at Clongowes as Higher Line Prefect. In 1942 a new chapter in his career was opened and a new field to his priestly zeal. Writing the usual biographical details that are asked for from entrants to the novitiate, Br. King, as he then was, mentioned the “strong attraction he felt towards missionary work such as the hearing of confessions, the direction of souls and preaching”. This attraction was from 1942 to the end to be fully catered for. Up to 1949 he was based at Galway and travelled extensively giving the Exercises to religious communities and to pupils in boarding and day schools. Then at Milltown Park he worked in the same capacity, and for many years was also attached to the retreat staff there, busily occupied in giving priests' and laymen's retreats. He was also for some years Superior of missions and retreats.
True to the conception of St. Ignatius, Fr. King was never merely the preacher of a retreat; he was always the director; he gave spiritual direction its essential place in every retreat. He had made a close study of the Exercises, was well read in spiritual literature, and given his solid firm judgment was well qualified for the work of the discernment of spirits. Perhaps the best tribute to his competence as a retreat-giver and director was the fact that he was appointed to give the thirty days' retreat to the young students of Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, and held that position for eleven consecutive years. His spiritual influence on a great number of young priests and students of the Dublin archdiocese was undoubtedly very considerable: he came to be a sort of an institution at Clonliffe until his sudden death.
Fr. King was endowed with many social gifts; his charm of manner, his “gay and festive” spirit, his unruffled patience and good humour endeared him to a host of friends both within and without the Society and went to explain the ascendancy he exercised over externs. We end by citing a passage from The Leader of October 1963 in this connection:
“I had not the opportunity of meeting the late Fr. Henry (Hal) King very often, but for a short time I did meet him frequently. I thought that he was one of the most perfect human beings I have ever met. There was an impression of completeness, of serenity about him that in my experience was rather exceptional. I have not known very many Jesuits, but I have been very fortunate in those I have met. It was a blessing to know Fr. King. I am aware that many people, not only the hundreds who went annually to Milltown, but others who kept in touch with him by correspondence felt in his presence the grace of the Master. He spent himself in that cause, and there is none more precious”.
Requiescat in pace.

Born: 24 June 1714, Crickstown, County Meath
Entered: 18 July 1741, Seville, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)
Ordained: 20 December 1738, Seville, Spain - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1755
Died: 12 April 1768, Galway Residence, Galway City, County Galway

1743 was in Carmona

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A good Thelogian and stood a public examination in Philosophy and Theology
1750-1755 At Galway
1766-1767 Rector at Salamanca until the Jesuits were expelled from Spain

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Probably educated at the Dublin Jesuit School where he became known to Leonard Sweetman who recommended him to the General for admission to Andalusia, and the General wrote to the Provincial there asking him to accept John. That he was not then received may be traced to unpopularity of the Irish with the Spanish Jesuits as a result of the friction caused by John Harrison. He was admitted to the Irish College, Seville and was Ordained priest there 20 December, 1738 before Ent 18 July 1741 also in Seville
1740-1746 After First Vows he was sent for a Regency to teach at Carmona, and then sent for more studies at Seville.
1746-1748 Tertianship at Baéza and remained there for a year as Minister.
1748-1750 Sent to teach at Úbeda
1750-1765 Sent to Ireland and to Galway Residence
1766 Rector at Irish College Salamanca in succession to John O’Brien, where he arrived 26 July 1766. He was the last Rector there when the Jesuits were expelled in 1767
1767 It is assumed that he made his way back to Galway and spent the rest of his life there until his death 12/04/1768
An entry in Pue's Occurrences on 16 April, 1768, stated: "Died a few days ago at Galway, the Rev. Mr. John King, a Romish clergyman”

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
KING, JOHN, of Meath, was born on the 24th of June, 1715, and aggregated himself to the Society in the Province of Seville, on the 18th of August, 1741. He returned to serve the Mission of his native country in 1750, and was promoted to the rank of a Professed Father on the 15th of August 1755, whilst assisting in the care of souls at Galway.

Born: 01 September 1840, Finuge, County Kerry
Entered: 10 November 1859, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1866
Died; 13 October 1867, Mount St Mary’s, Sheffield, England

by 1865 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theol 1
by 1867 at Newhall Chelmsford England - St Ignatius London (ANG) working and health

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows came back to Ireland, presumably for studies and Regency.
1865 Theology at St Beuno’s, and Ordained 1866.
He was then quickly sent to Newhall, Chelmsford for health reasons, and then moved to Mount St Mary’s, where he died 13/10/1867, after a distressing lingering pulmonary disease.
Fellow Novices of 1859 : William Ryan (E 1857); Joseph Cleary (E 1856; L 1883); William Flynn (E 1856); Thomas Molloy (E 1858); Stephen O’Donnell (E 1856); Matthew Russell (E 1857).

Born: 25 September 1632, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 16 October 1652, Mechelen, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1663, Louvain, Belgium
Final Vows: 11 June 1672
Died: 19 September 1710, Irish College, Poitiers, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

Parents Edmund and Anastasia Blake
Studied Humanities at Galway for 5 years then sent by parents to study in Belgium - 2 years at Antwerp under the Jesuits
1663 At Limerick on Tertianship
1666 Catalogue At Galway, Catechist, administering Sacraments on the Mission a year or longer
1700 At La Flèche College
1705 Went to Ireland
1705-1710 At Irish College Poitiers Operarius and teaching Grammar (1708 in Ireland again)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Edmund Kieran and Anastasia née Blake
Early Education at Galway and Humanities at Antwerp
1633 A Tertian at Limerick in December
1644 Came from Belgium to Ireland in July (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
1666 Living in Galway and had been a Missioner there for up to a year (HIB CAT BREV - ARSI)
1699 and 1708 At Poitiers in exile, and had been invited to La Flèche, where he probably died before April 1674
Described as “a distinguished Missioner” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Edmund (benefactor of the Society) and Anastatia née Burke
After First Vows he was sent to Antwerp for Philosophy and spent Regency successively at Oudenaarde and Ypres.
1659-1663 He was then sent to Louvain for Theology and was Ordained there in 1663
1663-1664 Tertianship at Lierre (Lier)
1664 Sent to Ireland and to Galway as an Operarius and Catechist. He remained there until the Williamite war when he moved to the Dublin Residence.
1698-1706 He was deported and found refuge at La Flèche College as a Missioner
1706 Sent to Irish College Poitiers where he died 19 September 1710

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
KIERAN, or KIRWAN, DOMINICK, was making his third year of Probation at Limerick in Dec. 1633, and was recommended as successor to F. Maurice Ward, who had died at Galway on the 2nd of the preceding month. After the Revolution he retired to Poitiers, and was courteously invited by the French Fathers to sojourn at La Fleche, where, I think he ended his days. This venerable man certainly died before April of the year 1714, as I find by F. Anthony Knoles letter of that date, who stiles him “praestans operarius”.

Born: 1589, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 27/08/1661, Rennes, France (”in articulo mortis”)
Ordained: 1614, Cashel, Co Tipperary
Died: 27 August 1661, Rennes, France

Parents Matthew and Juliana Lynch both from distinguished families.
Received early education from his uncle Fr Arthur Lynch. Higher education at Lisbon
1614 Ordained by AB Kearney of Cashel
1618 At Dieppe College teaching Philosophy
1620 Appointed VG by DR Conry AB of Tuam and later by AB Malachy O’Queely
1645 Consecrated Bishop of Killala at Paris 07 May 1645. Member of Supreme Council of Kilkenny. Opposed to Nuncio on Censures, but later publicly renounced opposition.
1649-1652 Worked zealously and had to evade capture,, by hiding in cellars of friends home in Galway 14 months.
1655 Exiled with AB of Tuam and others till death. Lived mostly at Nantes in poverty and prayer, Wrote that the Society had always been loved by him. His funeral was described as more like a canonisation than a funeral. A Jesuit delivered the homily and he is buried in Society grave at Rennes. Reputed to be a “saint”, and miracles attributed to him (Fr General.
Left monies in Ireland for the purchase of a Residence/School for the Society

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Bishop of Killala
His life was written by Dr Lynch “Pii Antistitis Icon”
1660 Father Quin writes to Father General “Dr Kirwan is reputed a saint here”. Miracles were performed by him.
The saintly Father Yong says his obsequies were more like a canonisation than a funeral.
Received into the Society by General Vitelleschi pro articulo mortis 15 January 1640, since he could not be received otherwise at that time.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Matthew and Julia née Lynch
Early studies under an uncle Arthur Lynch and later priestly studies at the Irish College Lisbon.
Ordained in Ireland by Archbishop Kearney of Cashel 1614
1614-1620 Teaching Philosophy in France and spent some time in Louvain, before being appointed Vicar General of Tuam by the exiled Bishop. e exercised this ministry assiduously, visiting many priests and regularly accompanied by various Jesuits, as he was very attached to the Society.
1645 Became Bishop of Killala 06 February 1645.
Exiled under the “Commonwealth” he found refuge with the Jesuits at Rennes. Before or on his death (”in articulo mortis”) he was received into the Society. He died at Rennes and was buried in the Jesuit church of that city

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Kirwan, Francis
by Terry Clavin

Kirwan, Francis (1589–1661), catholic bishop of Killala, was the son of Matthew Kirwan and his wife, Juliana Lynch, both of Galway city. He was taught at Galway by his maternal uncle, Arthur Lynch, who was a priest, and subsequently studied at Lisbon. In 1614 he was ordained a priest by David Kearney (qv), archbishop of Cashel, before travelling to France where he was teaching philosophy at Rouen by 1618. Subsequently, his uncle William Lynch removed Kirwan (against his wishes) to Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands. There he impressed Florence Conry (qv), archbishop of Tuam, who sent Kirwan back to Ireland in 1620 to act as vicar general of the archdiocese of Tuam.

Kirwan was indefatigable in attending to his duties as vicar general and effective head of the catholic church in Connacht, travelling to the most remote areas of the archdiocese. His ascetic lifestyle and modest demeanour earned him the respect and awe of the catholic laity, although he was criticised for his tendency to favour the hospitality of wealthy catholics. He worked particularly hard to ensure that his clergy met strict counter-reformation standards, stipulating that each priest could have only one parish, and supervising those training to become priests. Generally the local authorities turned a blind eye to his activities and Kirwan seems to have been on friendly terms with William Daniel (qv), the protestant archbishop of Tuam. Indeed, his main opposition came from his own clergy, many of whom preferred a more lax brand of catholicism.

Conry died in 1629, but his successor as archbishop of Tuam, Malachy O'Queely (qv), retained Kirwan as vicar general. About 1637 he decided to depart for France to preside over the education of a group of Irish youths there. They settled at Caen and were maintained for several years by funds sent from Ireland. However, the beginning of a long period of warfare in Ireland in 1641 meant that this revenue source was cut off. Kirwan's scholars dispersed and he travelled again to France, where he attempted unsuccessfully to gather together the Irish students under his leadership and tried to organise the sending of arms to the catholics in Ireland. During this period he also befriended Vincent de Paul.

As early as 1625 Kirwan had been recommended for a bishopric, and on 7 May 1645 he was consecrated bishop of Killala at the church of St Lazarus in Paris. He travelled to Ireland and, after being warmly received by the supreme council of the Catholic Confederation at Kilkenny, took possession of his see in October 1646. The most powerful local lord was Ulick Burke (qv), marquess of Clanricard, a strong royalist with whom Kirwan became close. As well as attending to his pastoral duties, he frequently travelled to Kilkenny and Waterford to participate in the confederate assemblies.

In June 1646, along with the rest of the catholic hierarchy, Kirwan supported the decision of the papal nuncio GianBattista Rinuccini (qv) to excommunicate those who adhered to the alliance between the Catholic Confederation and the protestant royalists. However, his association with Clanricard put him on the moderate wing of the church and increasingly at odds with the nuncio. In May 1648 he was among the minority of bishops who opposed Rinuccini's excommunication of those who supported the truce between the confederates and Murrough O'Brien (qv), Lord Inchiquin, the commander of the protestant forces in Munster. Later that year he helped Archbishop John Bourke (qv) of Tuam celebrate mass at the collegiate church in Galway, in defiance of the nuncio's interdict. His stance was vociferously opposed by his own diocesan clergy, who complained against him to Rinuccini.

From 1649 to 1652 he was active in the last struggles of the confederates and strongly supported Clanricard, who became royalist lord deputy of Ireland in 1650, against the more hard-line members of the hierarchy. He was also involved in efforts to persuade the duke of Lorraine to intervene in Ireland on behalf of the catholics. After the Cromwellian forces had completed their conquest of Connacht in the summer of 1652, he spent nearly two years in hiding, constantly pursued by the authorities. Weary and in poor health, he gave himself up in Galway in 1654, before being freed in December that year on condition that he left Ireland within two months. In the event, he sailed into Nantes with other exiled catholic clergy in August 1655. He spent two years there before settling in Brittany. Virtually destitute on his arrival in Nantes, he was maintained by grants from the French clergy and by the patronage of noblewomen. He also repented of his past opposition to Rinuccini, and in 1655 appealed to Rome for absolution, which he received two years later. He died 27 August 1661 at Rennes and was buried in the Jesuit church there. Long an admirer of the Jesuits, he was admitted as a member of their order on his deathbed.

Laurence Renehan, Collections on Irish church history (1861), i, 397–8; G. Aiazzi, The embassy in Ireland of Monsignor G. B. Rinuccini, trans. A. Hutton (1873), 468; J. T. Gilbert, A contemporary history of affairs in Ireland. . . (3 vols, 1879), i, 653; ii, 141, 191; iii, 124, 178; John Lynch, The portrait of a pious bishop; or the life and death of Francis Kirwan (1884), passim; J. T. Gilbert, History of the Irish confederation. . . (7 vols, 1882–91), iii, 183; vi, 211–12, 226; vii, 58, 213; Comment. Rinucc., vi, 126, 191–2; Patrick Corish, ‘Rinuccini's censure of 27 May 1648’, Ir. Theol. Quart., xviii, no. 4 (Oct. 1951), 322–37; Peter Beresford-Ellis, Hell or Connaught (1988), 106–8; T. Ó hAnnracháin, Catholic reformation in Ireland (2002), 238

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
Francis Kirwan, Bishop of Killala (his Lordship had obtained to be admitted into the Society “pro bona mortis”, and was buried in the Jesuits Church at Rennes)

Born: 26 November 1871, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 17 April 1890, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1909, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 15 May 1950, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

Early education at Belvedere College SJ and Clongowes Wood College SJ

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg ;
by 1896 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
Came to Australia 1910

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Kirwan entered the Society at Tullabeg, 17 April 1890, and after his juniorate at Milltown Park, studied philosophy at Enghien, Champagne province, 1893-96, taught at Belvedere College, the Crescent, Limerick, and Clongowes, 1896-1903. Theology followed at Milltown Park, 1903-07, with tertianship following. He taught at Galway, and Mungret, 1908-10.
He was sent to Australia where he taught at Xavier College, 1910-11 and 1915-17; and St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1914, and 1918-20. Parish ministry was at Richmond, 1911-13, Norwood; 1920-21 and 1925-27 and 1939-50, ; Sevenhill, 1921-25 and 1927-28, Richmond, 1928-31, and Hawthorn 1931-39. He certainly resided in many houses of the province.
He was reputed to be a good worker, but not always an easy man to live with. He was not a good minister because he was too fussy and domineering. He even gave a brother an order under holy obedience to tell his fault for taking some sugar from the refectory.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 3 1950
Obituary
Fr. James Kirwan (1871-1890-1950) – Vice Province of Australia
We are indebted to Fr. G. Ffrench for some notes on Fr. Kirwan written for “ The Clongownian" by Sister M. Ita of Cappagh (Fr. Kirwan's sister) :
James Kirwan came to Clongowes about 1885. After school he studied law. But following the call of Christ he went to the Jesuit noviceship at Tullabeg in 1891. There he set himself to conquer the hot temper that had distinguished him as a boy, and he succeeded so well that no one in after life could believe he had ever been anything but gentle and meek.
In 1906 he was ordained. Writing at this time he says:
“The effect wrought on me by the Archbishop's hands is still present. I mean the sensible effect, the strange feeling of happiness, I feel that life has changed. The chief event of each day is the Mass.” All his life he loved and worked for the poor. In 1910 Fr. Delaney, the Provincial, sent out an S.O.S. for Volunteers for Australia. Father James was in Galway teaching, but he heard again Christ's call to follow in sacrifice and exile and he offered himself and was accepted. It cost him much to leave Ireland and those he loved, so not trusting himself to say good-bye, he stole away one morning in September, 1910 by the mail-boat from Dun Laoghaire, seen off by a colleague, Fr. H. Gill, S.J.
For forty years he worked in Australia doing parish work among the people in Sydney, Melbourne and South Australia. He was their friend, consoler and adviser. Fr. Lockington, his Provincial, told us that during the great flu, Fr. James never rested. Night and day he worked for the poor sufferers. He paid no heed to any danger for himself, but only thought of their souls, bringing Our Lord to console thein in death, The people in turn loved him and reverenced him as a saint. They used to kneel down and kiss the hem of his soutane.
He died in Norwood, S. Australia. The Master called his faithful servant to Himself on 15th May, 1950.

◆ The Clongownian, 1950

Obituary

Father James Kirwan SJ

A friend sends the following appreciation :

Born in 1872, one of a family of fifteen, James Kirwan went to Clongowes in 1884. As a boy he was full of life and fun and boyish pranks. He had a hot temper which won him the name of “The Cock”.

On leaving school he entered on his studies for law, but within a year confided to his father, “Father, I'm throwing up law to follow Christ”. His father, a deeply religious man, readily consented, and James entered Tullabeg in 1891. There he so mastered himself that no one in later life could ever have believed that he had had a strong temper.

Having followed the usual course of studies, being for a time a scholastic in Clongowes, he was ordained in 1906, and after his studies, was sent to St Ignatius, Galway where he was a master. When more priests were called for in Australia Fr James volunteered to follow Christ in sacrifice and in exile. His offer was accepted and he left for Australia in 1910.

It cost him much to leave Ireland and those he loved. He did not trust himself to say good-bye, so one morning in September, he stole away by the mail boat from Dun Laoghaire, seen off at the steamer by his old friend from school-days, the late Fr H V Gill SJ (84-89).

For forty years he worked in Australia doing parish work amongst the people in Sydney, Melbourne and South Australia, He was their friend, consoler and admirer. “It is hard to work amongst the poor”, he once said, “and not be happy”.

During the 1918 influenza epidemic, he worked night and day amongst his people. They in their turn loved him and revered him as a saint.

On May 15th, 1950 God called him to his reward.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father James Kirwan (1871-1950)

A native of Dublin, was educated in Clongowes and had begun his studies for the law, when he entered the Society. He made his higher studies at Enghien and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1906. He spent two years of his regency at the Crescent, 1885-87. On the completion of his studies, Father Kirwan was appointed to St Ignatius, Galway where he spent two years. In 1910 he was transferred to Australia where he gave distinguished service over the next forty years until his death in Adelaide.

Born: 19 February 1884, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 01 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 23 June 1912, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 19 August 1942, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Parents are shopkeepers in Waterford City.

Second of a family of four, with one brother and two sisters.

Early education was at St Joseph’s Convent school in Waterford and then at the Christian Brothers School Waterford. In 1901 he went to St John’s College at John’s Hill, Waterford and then to St Patrick’s College Maynooth where he was ordained 23rd June 1912. He then returned to teach at St John’s College, Waterford, 1912-1914, and was Diocesan Inspector of Waterford and Limerick, 1914-1919.

Tertianship at Tullabeg

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 17th Year No 4 1942
Obituary :
Rev Michael Kirwan SJ
He was born in Waterford in 1884, the son of the late Mr. Michael Kirwan. former Mayor of Waterford. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' School, Waterpark, and at Blackrock College, Dublin, and entered Maynooth, where, after winning Degrees in Arts and Divinity, he was ordained Priest in 1912. For the next two years he was Dean and Professor of St. John's, Waterford, and Diocesan Inspector from 1914 to 1919. In the latter years he attained his long-cherished desire of entering the Society and made his two years' noviceship in Tullabeg. After a year of study in Miltown Park he joined the staff at Gardiner Street Church where he labored until his death. He was Superior from 1935 to 1941. Among the varied activities to which he devoted his organising talents were the St. Joseph's Young Priests Society, having been personally associated with the foundation of every new branch of the organisation for the past twelve years. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of which be was an ardent apostle from his first connection with Gardiner Street, guiding for many years until his death the destinies of the Boys' Club at Nelson Street, one of the chief activities promoted by the Conference of Blessed Oliver Plunkett never missing his weekly talk to the distressed of Ozanam House He also organised and placed on a successful basis the St. Joseph's Penny Dinners and Free Meals at Cumberland Street. Fr Kirwan was one of the best known and best-loved priests in Ireland, and the City of Dublin, where he worked for the past two decades, has reason to cherish his memory. A man of outstanding qualities of mind and heart, of a remarkable mental and physical energy, he crowded into a comparatively short life an amount and variety of work that surprised his friends. Of rare practical common-sense, of an exquisite gift for friendship and deep sympathy for the poor and suffering, he spent himself unselfishly for others. As a speaker he was most liked when most blunt and forceful, and he had the power of getting down to the plain man, whom he understood in all his ramifications, winning his heart. He was never at a loss when confronting the most diverse type of audience. His musical and histrionic talents were of no mean order. Keen on all manly sport, he was a powerful swimmer, and only last year added once again to his already long list of rescues from drowning.
He had been in hospital since April 8th, and had undergone an operation which seemed to be most successful. For some weeks prior to Fr. Gallagher's death, he had been out and about and seemed on the verge of complete recovery. But simultaneously with Fr. Gallagher's illness, he developed a pneumonic condition which caused grave anxiety for about ten days. He got over this, but later had severe attacks which pointed to the existence of a dangerous clot. However, with careful nursing, he seemed to be over this trouble when at 5.30 a.m. on August 19th, the fatal seizure came.
Universal sorrow was manifested all over Dublin and throughout the country when the news of his death was published. Messages of condolence were received from many members of the hierarchy. His Grace the Archbishop called to offer his sympathies and said Mass for Fr. Kirwan the next morning. The funeral was a remarkable tribute from Church, State and people. His Lordship the Bishop of Thasos presided, and about 200 priests and 60 nuns attended. Mr. de Valera, Mr. O'Ke1ly and the Lord Mayor of' Dublin were present. But again as at Fr. Gallagher funeral, the most touching tribute was from the poor, who, the preceding night, came in large crowds to touch the coffin and lay their rosaries and other objects of devotion on it.
On the same morning there was Office and Requiem in the Cathedral at Waterford, presided over by Right Rev. Dean Byrne Vicar-Capitular, and attended by many of Fr. Kirwan's fellow-diocesans. Innumerable messages of sympathy were received from private individuals and the many charitable bodies with which Fr. Kirwan had been associated.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael Kirwan 1884-1942
Fr Michael Kirwan was one of the best known and popular priests in Dublin, and indeed Ireland. He was ordained for his native diocese of Waterford, and he worked there as Professor in St John’s Seminary and also as Diocesan Inspector, before he entered the Society in 1919.

He spent all his life as a Jesuit in Gardiner Street, of which house he was Superior from 1935-1941. A man of outstanding qualities of mind and heart, of remarkable mental and physical energy, he crowded into a comparatively short life an amount and variety of work which astonished and edified his friends and contemporaries.

He died on August 19th 1942, and the long queue of people who filed past his coffin is a tribute to his genuine love and work for the ordinary man in the street.

Born: 10 April 1648, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 12 June 1666, Santiago de Compostella, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1675, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 15 August 1684
Died: 14 August 1727, Waterford City, County Waterford - Romanae Province (ROM)

Alias Sherlock
Superior of Mission 15 May 1694-14 August 1727

In Society Studied 3 years Philosophy and 4 Theology. Taught Grammar, Moral Theology and Philosophy
“Thrifts Index to Irish Wills iii.60 give date 1731 of will of Rev Anthgony Knowles R Catholic priest, Waterford”
12/06/1666 Compostella CAST; FV Sherlock and Sherlog 15 August 1684 at Monforte - “Sherlogus” 18 August 1684; RIP 14 August 1727 Ireland
1672 “de Sherloque” at Tuetensi
1675 “de Sherloque” at Salamanca in Theology
1678 “Sherlog” at Medina CAST
1681 “Sherlog” at Valladolid
1685 “Sherlog” at Monforte College teaching Philosophy and Moral Theology. Was a Missionary. Talent for higher subjects. Not 1690 Catalogue
1708 1714 1717 Catalogue Was Minister and Vice-Rector, now Superior of Mission
“Anthony Knowles SJ, Superior of the Jesuits in Ireland sends John Higgins to Rector of Irish Seminary in Rome, praying that he may be admitted as soon as possible 07 November 1720. He sent Henry Marshall 04 June 1721; Thomas Stritch 21 July 1724. He always begins “cum studiorum causa Romam mittanus” (Arch Rom Coll Lib 19 pp46, 47, 49)
“Sherlog in Bibliotheca Hispan was highly esteemed for the excellence of his erudition at the time when we were in the same school.”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Professor of Belles-lettres, Theology and Philosophy for fifteen years.
1694-1727 Superior of Irish Mission
1727 Imprisoned
Short abstracts from his letters 1694-1714, dated mostly from Waterford are given in Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS. These letters expose a terrible system of cruel persecution carried on against Catholics, especially against the education of their children. In one letter dated 26 December 1696, he says that he had been committed to prison with all the clergy of Waterford diocese four weeks previously, and the same had happened in other parts of Ireland. The imprisonment appears to have lasted over thirteen weeks.
The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, March 1874, mentions a letter from Father Roche, dated 13 June 1727, which states : Here we are, few and frail. Father Knowles is incapable of doing anything, unless suffer. Tamburini has relieved him of his poor mission, and has placed it on my shoulders, and I assure you I am tired of it”.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
After First Vows he spent a short Regency at Santander and was then sent for studies in Philosophy to Oviedo and in Theology to Royal College Salamanca and he was Ordained there 1675.
1676-1679 Sent to Medina del Campo teaching Latin
1679-1680 Minister and Vice-Rector at Monforte
1680-1682 Sent successively to St Ignatius Valladolid
1682-1686 Sent back to Monforte to teach Philosophy and Moral Theology
1687 Sent to Ireland and to Waterford.
1694 Appointed Superior of Irish Mission 15 May 1694 by the General, Tirso González de Santalla. He remained in office for the rest of his life (33 years) was carried out in the darkest of penal times. Yet he not only maintained a foot-hold for the mission in face of overwhelming odds but assured the succession of the Jesuits through the recruitment of worthy candidates.
General Tirso González de Santalla said of him “I knew him well in Spain, and I know him to be a learned, industrious, religious and pious man, eminently equipped with all the talents and virtues attributed to him”. The Superiorship of Knoles was one that might daunt the bravest spirit, but for thirty three years he withstood the first fury of the Penal Laws against religion. He was arrested in November 1596 at Waterford and imprisoned for thirteen months. At the start of 1713 he was in the strictest hiding, and by 1714 known to be hiding at New Ross. In spite of all this hardship, be built up the Irish Mission again slowly. On 06/12/1675 he used his influence abroad to prevent the King’s assent being given to a shameful Bill passed by the Irish Parliament against Catholic Clergy. In 1725 when his health was failing he secured as Secretary and Assistant Ignatius Daniel Kelly with right of succession. Not long after he was stricken by a deep paralysis and he died in Waterford 14 August 1727.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
Anthony Knoles (1694-1727)
Antony Knoles was born in Waterford on 10th April, 1648. In Spain he was called Sherlock, which was probably his mother's surname. He was admitted into the Society at Santiago on 12th June, 1666. After teaching Latin at Santander, he studied philosophy at Oviedo and theology in the Royal College of Salamanca. On the completion of these studies in 1676, he taught Latin at Medina del Campo for three years, acted as Minister and Vice-Rector of the College of Monforte for one year, and taught philosophy in the College of St Ignatius at Valladolid for two years. He then returned to Monforte, where he lectured on moral theology for four years (1682-86), and made his solemn profession of four vows on 15th August, 1684. He arrived in Ireland early in 1687, and was stationed at Waterford. He was appointed Superior of the Mission on 15th May, 1694, by the General, Fr Thyrsus Gonzalez, who says of him: “I knew him well in Spain, and I know him to be a learned, industrious, religious, and pious man, eminently equipped with all the talents and virtues attributed to him”. The future Fr Knoles had to face was one to daunt the bravest spirit, but for thirty-three years he withstood the first fury of the penal laws against religion. He himself was arrested in November, 1696, at Waterford, and imprisoned for thirteen months. At the beginning of 1713 he was in strict concealment, and early in 1714 he was hiding near New Ross. Yet, in spite of persecution and great poverty, he maintained his ground and built up the Mission again slowly. On 6th December, 1723, he used his influence abroad, not without success, to prevent the King of England's assent being given to a shameful bill passed by the Irish Parliament against the Catholic clergy. In 1725, when his health was fast failing, he secured the appointment of Fr Ignatius Roche as Secretary and Assistant, with right of succession. Not long after he was stricken down with paralysis, and after lingering on for several months he died at Waterford on 14th August, 1727.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Antony Knoles 1648-1727
Antony Knoles was born in Waterford in 1646 and entered the Society at Santiago in 1666. He spent some years professing philosophy and theology until 1687 when he returned to Ireland.

Appointed Superior of the Mission his term of office lasted the unprecedented length of 33 years, the lifetime of his Master. He suffered the first fury of the Penal Laws against the Catholic religion.

Arrested in Waterford in 1696, he was imprisoned for 13 months. The years 1713 and 1714 he spent in hiding, yet in spite of persecution he built up the Mission. By means of the Society on the continent and through the interventions of the Catholic powers, France Spain and Portugal, in 1723 he prevented a very obnoxious Bill being passed by the Irish Parliament against the Catholic clergy.

In 1727 he laid down the burden of office and not long after on August 15th the worn out warrior of Christ died from paralysis.

Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ was a Dutch Jesuit priest who served as the twenty-ninth Superior General (Father General) of the Society of Jesus (1983-2008).

Born: 02 June 1924, Murska Sobota, Slovenia
Entered: 07 September 1953, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois, HIB for Japonicae Province (JPN)
Ordained: 10 October 1950, pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1964
Died: 18 July 2022, Loyola House, Nerima-ku, Tokyo, Japan , Japonicae Province (JPN)

by 1954 came to Emo (HIB) Novitiate 1953-1955

Father was the head of a commercial business. Family lived at Poska Ulica, Maribor, Slovenia

Eldest of three boys with two sisters.

Education was at a Gymnasium in Ljubljana, Slovenia and entered a seminary there in 1945. He was ordained priest in October 1950, where he studied from 1945 to 1953, at the Gregorian University, and as a member of the German-Hungarian College.

He was accepted by Peter van Gestel, Assistant of the Northern German Province. He was assigned to the Japanese Province and sent to ireland for Novitiate.

Appointed Apostolic Administrator of the new Prefecture of Lusaka in 1950

Born: 14 April 1817, Stans, Tyrol, Austria
Entered: 21 September 1836, Graz Austria - Austriacae-Gallicianae Province (ASR-GAL)
Ordained: 1847
Professed: 15 April 1859
Died: 25 August 1880, Heidelberg, Victoria - Austriacae-Gallicianae Province (ASR-GAL)

Part of the St Ignatius, Richmond Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Irish Mission only begins in 1901, but joins new Irish Missioners in 1870 at Melbourne;

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1849 he accompanied a group of German emigrants, most of whom settled in South Australia. they settled in areas which at the time were deserts and are now flourishing orchards, vineyards and farms. He was the first Jesuit to land in Australia, and he was Pastor to this flock until he was joined by other Jesuits from the Austrian Province, and together they built the College and Church at Sevenhill.
1870 The Jesuits of the Irish Province, who had been in Melbourne since 1856, asked for one of the Austrians to come work with them to tend to many Germans who were in their district, in and around Victoria. Aloysius volunteered and went to live at St Ignatius Richmond. he spent ten years with the Irish Jesuits, which were full of hard work, and he won universal esteem. He was a model religious, cheerful and exact in everything, of tender piety and gentle as a child. He was beloved by his penitents, who made it their mission to encourage many to choose him as their Confessor.
1879 A wetting he received whilst in a rural district saying Mass brought on an illness which affected his lungs, and consumption caused his death in less than a year. He was removed to Heidelberg, a village near Richmond for a change of air, a few days before he died. On the day of his death he asked by telegram to be relieved of the obligation of reciting the Divine Office. he also said that he was feeling much weaker, but that there was no need for anyone to visit him just yet. As he grew weaker he was encouraged to send another telegram, but he declined saying “God is good, He will, take care of me”. His confidence was well placed, because as soon as the first message arrived at Richmond, Joseph Mulhall decided to go to Heidelberg anyway. As he entered, Aloysius uttered “Thanks be to God that you are here!”. A short time afterwards he died. His last hours were spent in prayer, and his death was very peaceful. he died 25 August 1880.
During his funeral, the people gave many tokens of their sorrow both in the Church and Cemetery, and his name was sure to be long remembered with affection and gratitude in Richmond and South Australia.

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
Kranewitter, Aloysius (1817–1880)
by G. J. O'Kelly
G. J. O'Kelly, 'Kranewitter, Aloysius (1817–1880)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kranewitter-aloysius-3970/text6267, published first in hardcopy 1974

Catholic pries; grape grower

Died : 25 August 1880, Heidelberg, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Aloysius Kranewitter (1817-1880), Jesuit priest, was born on 14 April 1817 in Innsbruck, Austria, and entered the Society of Jesus on 21 September 1836. He was ordained priest in 1847 but in the revolutions of 1848 the Jesuits were expelled from many of the German-speaking states. Opportunely, a wealthy Silesian farmer, Franz Weikert, asked for a chaplain to accompany German migrants whom he wished to settle in South Australia. Kranewitter and Maximilian Klinkowstroem, a Viennese Jesuit, volunteered. Weikert sold his properties to underwrite the passages of the group who were to work for him in forming a settlement near Clare, but dissensions split the party on the voyage and when they arrived at Port Adelaide in December 1848 only fourteen of the original eighty stayed with Weikert. The arrival of the two Jesuits was a welcome surprise to Bishop Francis Murphy. The thinly-scattered and polyglot nature of the Catholic community presented many difficulties. Murphy asked Klinkowstroem to assist Dr George Backhaus in the care of German Catholics around Adelaide, but ill health soon forced him to return to Europe. Kranewitter moved north with Weikert to Clare. In 1853 he bought a property some miles from Clare, named it Sevenhill and planted the first vines there.

Kranewitter's letters to Rome in these years are valuable accounts of pioneering in the mid-north of South Australia. In 1852 he accompanied a large group of diggers from the Clare district to the Victorian goldfields. On his return he established the settlement at Sevenhill on a European pattern, with houses and farms around a large church and college. Local German Catholics moved into the area to escape the bigotry to which they had been exposed at Tanunda but copper discoveries further north proved a strong attraction to many settlers. By 1856 four other Austrian Jesuits had joined Kranewitter and St Aloysius College was opened. In 1858 Kranewitter was recalled to Europe for his last year of Jesuit studies, and he returned next year with three more companions. In May 1870 he was sent to Richmond to minister to the German-speaking Catholics in and around Melbourne. For ten years he worked mainly in the semi-rural districts of Nunawading and of Heidelberg where he died suddenly on 25 August 1880.

Kranewitter was an affable priest, deeply dedicated to his people and receiving great devotion in return. His chief memorial was Sevenhill, which became a complex of boarding school, seminary for diocesan students, Jesuit novitiate and scholasticate, wine cellars and the base from which the priests made their circuits of the mid-north. These journeys covered 25,000 sq. miles (64,750 km²), from Morgan to Blinman, across to Wallaroo, Port Pirie, Port Augusta and even down to Port Lincoln. From Sevenhill more than forty stone churches and schools were built. Some 450 pupils passed through the college in 1856-86 and seminarians ordained to the priesthood included Julian Tenison-Woods, Christopher Reynolds and Frederick Byrne (vicar-general). In 1882 the Daly River Mission in the Northern Territory was founded from Sevenhill and lasted till 1899. By 1901 some fifty-nine Austrian priests and brothers had worked in South Australia and the Northern Territory, a tribute to the initiator, Aloysius Kranewitter.

Select Bibliography
M. Watson, The Society of Jesus in Australia (Melb, 1910)
P. Dalton, A History of the Jesuits in South Australia and the Northern Territory (State Library of New South Wales)
Australian Jesuit Provincial Archives (Hawthorn, Melbourne).

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Aloysius Kranewitter entered the Austrian province of the Society, 21 September 1836, and 1846-48 was spent prefecting and studying theology in the Theresianum College, Innsbruck. He was ordained in 1848 and set out for South Australia, the same year wide Maximilian Klinkowstrm and a group of German migrants under the leadership of Franz Weikert, who wanted a chaplain for the group. The life of Klinkowstrom details the planning for this journey.
They arrived in Port Adelaide, 8 December 1848, and on 14 December he and his German companions set out for the area of Clare in the north. On 20 December, land was selected at Sevenhill, two miles south of Clare. Kranewitter worked among the farmers in the area for the next few years, being the only priest in the region that included Clare, Burra, Undalya, and Saddleworth.
On 28 January 1851 a site was chosen for a residence at Sevenhill, then called the Barnburnie region, and building began in 1853 after the arrival of Brothers George Sadler and John Schreiner. Mass was celebrated in a weatherboard chapel built that year. Vines were planted very early on and the first grapes were served on Easter Sunday 1852.
These were the days of the gold rushes in Victoria, and so, in 1852, travelling overland, Kranewitter visited the largely Irish miners working in the area of Bendigo.
When Pallhuber arrived early 1856, Kranewitter left Sevenhill, 28 March 1856, for Austria to complete his theology and tertianship. On 5 April 1859 he took final vows at Baumgartenberg Austria, arrived back in Melbourne on 21 August, and reached Sevenhill on 6 September. On this journey Joseph Moser and two brothers, John B. Schneider and James Matuchewsld accompanied him.
Upon his return, Kranewitter engaged in pastoral work until1870, chiefly at Burra, Saddleworth and Undalya. He was also minister at Sevenhill, 1866-70, and did some teaching in the new school. In 1870 he was sent to the Irish Mission to evangelise Germans in Melbourne and its neighborhood and left Sevenhill, 21 May 1870. The South Australian Germans rendered some assistance. He resided in the parish of Richmond, but was constantly engaged in missionary work, especially in the semi-rural area of Nunawading.
In 1876, Kranewitter, distressed at the sufferings of the Catholic clergy of Germany under the Kulturkampf originated by Bismarck, organised the German Catholics of Melbourne to
contribute generously to a fund to assist them. All the churches of the diocese had sermons preached and funds were collected for this cause; £640 was raised.
While giving a retreat in 1880 he died in the presbytery at Heidelberg of an inflammation of the lungs.
His contemporaries acknowledged Kranewitter as a model religious, childlike and simple. He showed good judgment and prudence in secular affairs, and was a good spiritual director of his people. His chief memorial was Sevenhill, which becaine a complex of boarding school, seminary for diocesan students, Jesuit noviciate and scholasticate, wine cellars and the base from which the priests made their circuits of the mid-north. These journeys covered 25,000 square miles, from Morgan to Blinman, across to Wallaroo, Port Pirie, Port Augusta and even down to Port Lincoln. From Sevenhill more than 40 stone churches and schools were built.
The Australian province owes much to this first Jesuit in Australia who worked as a missionary for over 30 years.

Note from Patrick Dalton Entry
He translated many of the early German documents, such as the letters of Father Kranewitter and the diary of Brother Pölzl.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1933

Jesuit Pioneers

A Page of Australian Mission History (1848-1901)

To the lover of the few “antiquities” we have in Australia a visit to the wine country near Adelaide is well worth while. There, in the midst of sweetly undulating fields and sun-kissed vine yards, are “remains” that tell a story of great deeds of forgotten heroes. To day, the motorist, as he speeds northwards from the beautiful “garden city”, little dreams that where now the broad North Road stretches straight before him, some eighty years ago a lonely Jesuit Missionary urged on his faltering horse through trackless bush seeking for the Highland shepherd's hut or, more rare, for the few rude farm houses of the Austrian settlers. And yet, if he only knew it, these woods and hills and vineyards could tell a story, quite unknown to most Australians, but worthy of an undying record in our history. Hidden in their midst, the modest buildings of rough-hewn stone built by the Jesuit Missionaries and their own silent graves, remind us to-day of these men, who left home and Fatherland and sailed away into the great Southern Sea to lay the foundation of God's Church in this “lovely morning land”.

It was in May last that I drove from Adelaide to the old Jesuit College at Sevenhill; a drive of some ninety miles through the autumn-tinted vine yards; and it was then that I longed to let others share with me the thrill I felt on hearing of the labours of the men who had toiled for fifty-three years ministering to the scattered Catholic population and founding a diocese to hand over to others when time was ripe.

And here fortune came to my aid. For treasured in the old library in Sevenhill, in the original German, are the letters and relations of the early missionaries, and these were being translated by one of the Fathers residing there to-day. A few extracts from these, chosen here and there, will reveal, far better than anything else, the noble story of self-sacrifice and zeal.

Father Peter Sinthern SJ, an Austrian, writing on the occasion of the Centenary of the restoration of his Province, begins his “Memoir of the Mission in Australia” with words that we may well echo to-day:

“On the 8th December, 1848, the first Jesuit Missionaries, two Austrian Fathers, set foot on Australian soil; in 1901 the last Austrian Superior handed over the Mission to his Jesuit Brethren of the Irish Province, and returned to his Austrian homeland. To-day, when missionary activities have everywhere received such a mighty impetus, it is certainly fitting that these 53 years work of the Austrian Jesuit Mission should be known to a wider circle. They fill a page of glory in the mission history of Austria, and of the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus”.

Father Sinthern recalls the circum stances which led to the foundation of the Austrian Jesuit Mission:

“Founded in 1836, the colony (of South Australia) ten years later was already in a position to export a considerable amount of grain. The discovery of the copper mines at Kapunda and Burra-Burra gave a strong stimulus towards its further development. Great efforts were made to entice townsfolk, tradesmen, and farmers to emigrate to the colony from Germany and from England. Among the newcomers were a number of German protestant families, who settled in the neighbourhood of Tanunda and Angaston, The good news sent home by these induced other Germans to follow in their footsteps, and the resolution to emigrate was made more easily in the midst of the confusion of 1848, the year of revolutions

A well-to-do Catholic of Silesia, Franz Weikert, allowed himself to be persuaded to act as the leader of a group of emigrants. He sold his large farm in order to be able to pay the passage money for all the group, a matter of £1000, there were to be none but Catholics among the company of travellers, ... Weikert, who was a thoroughly practical Catholic, did not wish to find himself and those who shared his destiny, without a priest in his new home. To secure a priest he approached the Superior of the St Ludwig Mission-Verein in Bavaria, the Reverend Hofkaplan Muller, of Munich, who referred him to the Provincial of the Austrian Jesuits, and thus it was that the Austrian Jesuits secured their Australian Mission. The General of the Jesuits approved of the Mission but insisted on two conditions, that not one, but two Fathers should go, and that, as far as possible, they should remain together in Australia. It was at Innsbruck that the Pro vincial communicated the decision of the General to the assembled Fathers, and then asked who was ready to go. There was silence for a minute, and then a young Viennese, Father Max Klinkowstrom, came forward and said, “Ecce ego, mitte me”. (Here am I, send me.) And he was sent. Then a second announced his readiness to go, a young man, Father Aloysius Kranewitter, a Tyrolese, who at his first Mass had begged God to send him wherever the need of priests was greatest. He was the second one chosen for the Mission, ... The good ship ‘Alfred’ took all the travelling companions on board at Hamburg on the 15th August, 1848, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. On the next great feast of Mary, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the 8th December, at Adelaide, the first Austrian Missioner set foot for the first time on Australian soil”.

Fortunately, Father Aloysius Kranewitter was a good letter-writer, and the story of the early days of the Mis sion is best told in the letters he wrote to his Provincial at home in Austria:

“On the 4th December we heard the cry, ‘Land! Land!’ and could you describe the emotions in the hearts of all of us at the cry? It was Kangaroo Island that lay straight in front of us. On the 5th December we lay in the Outer Harbour of Adelaide; we had still to go up a narrow bight to reach Port Adelaide, the harbour of South Australia proper. This inlet of the sea follows a serpentine course inland for about two English miles and the water is very shallow. A good - tide and wind are necessary to sail up it, and often a ship must lay in wait for eight days for a favourable chance. We reached Adelaide on the 8th December, having left Hamburg on the 15th August.

Having more than enough of ship life, we seized the first opportunity of landing. We wore fortunate enough to be able to do this in the afterncon. A launch lay alongside the ‘Alfred’ and its pilot agreed to bring the passengers to land at a reasonable price. At four o'clock Father Klinkowstrom and I, Mr Weikert and three other of our company, stood on Australian soil; in front lay a broad stretch of deep sea and behind was a plain bounded by hills covered with green trees stretching right across in bow shape from side to side. The first thing we noted was the sand with its mussels and cockles, and then the plant life, all new and unknown to us. Not a shrub, plant or tree like those at home, except perhaps the red stock-gilliflower that grew wild in the sand ridges.

Adelaide is situated about two German miles inland. Hackney-coaches ply constantly between the harbour and the city, and these brought us there by eight o'clock in the evening. It was only after much trouble that we found the ‘Catholic Chapel’, and the residence of the Bishop, as well as that of the Right Reverend Dr Bockhaus.

Great was our joy to have reached the goal of our voyage, and it was a great consolation to us to have completed the journey on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, and on the next day to be able to say Holy Mass again after such a long interruption. ... Weikert, a simple, honest countryman, the father of eight children, and a fervent Christian, leased a piece of land about 60 miles north of Adelaide, near a little hamlet called Clare Village. Most of the inhabitants of the village are Irish Catholics, and they have built a small church, which the Bishop will consecrate soon. Since I, as far as the languages go, could help at the same time the German family of Weikert and the Irish Catholics, I decided to accompany him. The Bishop approved of the plan. He thanked Weikert for bringing us with him, and commissioned me to give especial attention to the German catholics, who live scattered about the country. I was to visit them and often go the rounds of my district, and if at any place there were a good many living together he would secure me an altar stone and Mass vestments for them; up to the present, owing to the scarcity of priests who could take care of them, often, for a very long time they had had no opportunity of attending to their religious duties, and this put many of them in danger of losing their faith. I very gladly undertook this task and on the 14th December (1848). I set off with Weikert for Clare Village.

It was midsummer, all the grass was dried up with the heat and the sun burnt fiercely, though the heat of it was tempered by a slight cool breeze. Even in our own Tyrol it is more fatiguing to travel on foot in the summer heat than it is here. The heat is not so oppressive, since it is freshened by a prevalent sea breeze, and heavy dew falls every night, although often for months on end there is not a drop of rain. On the 20th we arrived at Clare Village, and took up our residence in a perfectly new house which an Irish Catholic had built on a section of land a little off the road in a low-lying valley”.

Father Kranewitter's companion, Father Max Klinkowstrom, after but a few months labour among the Catholics in Adelaide, was compelled by ill-health to return to Europe. He sailed on 17th March, 1849. Happily Father Kranewitter was not left alone for very long, for in the month of April, 1849, two Jesuit Laybrothers, Brothers Schreiner and Sadler, arrived in Australia to help him in his Mission.

“Our little house, of split tree trunks bound together, with a roof of thatch, has only two rooms, but all the same we three live in it with a German doctor quite satisfactorily.... We are living about half a mile from Clare in a delightful valley, quite alone, in peaceful isolation. Brothers Sadler and Schreiner are active at work on the farm, I see to the spiritual ministrations for all of us, and every first Sunday make a missionary visitation to the German settlements. My flock here is certainly a small one, but in the German villages I have already found more than fifty Catholics. The poor people are planted in the midst of Protestants of a fanatical and pietistic stamp, and hardly have the courage to proclaim themselves openly as Catholics. But already much of that has been changed. The Protestants do not dare to mock so constantly as they used to do at the Catholic Church, and a young man who through cowardice had allowed himself to be taken up by one of their congregations came back after my third visit to his good mother the Catholic Church. I find the good people most zealous in their attendance at Mass, and although many live two or three leagues from the house in which I say Mass, they are always most regular in attendance, and the delight that they always show at having their spiritual director once more with them, is always a rich reward for the tiring journey. I travel about 30 leagues to these people, and on the way I rarely meet a soul, and still more rarely a human habitation; and as one finds here instead of fresh springs and murmuring brooks, only now and then a tank of collected rain water, the heat of the sun and the thirst is very trying during one's travels. ...

This so far is the scope of my missionary work. It is a small beginning, but in the course of time we may easily advance much further than that. This rests largely with my superiors and depends on the hidden de signs of eternal Providence. The colony is in process of growth and the number of its mines are a guarantee of abiding prosperity. It is probable that the number of German Catholics will soon greatly increase, and what has been done in America may soon be accomplished in South Australia too; to say nothing of the aboriginals the conversion of whom will give work for us to do of no small magnitude. All the attempts made on them by the Protestants of the various sects have so far proved useless. ... The conversion of our blacks will always remain a difficult and repulsive task - here; for all the evil conditions that men found among the lowest tribes in America are to be found amongst these people. They have no fixed place of abode, but wander over the country in small groups, they are divided into many different tribes, they either have no chiefs or have little respect for them, they are not at all numerous, and yet every second hundred of them will have their own peculiar language; so little is the idea of a Supreme Being developed amongst them that you would hardly credit their ignorance. They are not of evil disposition, you would rather say that they are of a kindly nature; they are not a warlike race, and in general are devoid of any outstanding sign of real character. They shun work like lazy children and for a little bit of work they want ‘Plenty to eat’; but in spite of all this I believe that a missioner of the True Church would not work without profit among them”.

Inscrutable are the ways of Divine Providence. Reading these lines of the Jesuit Missioner eighty years after he penned them, we wish that his dream of a great and populous Catholic land had come true. But he had not reckoned with the greed and folly of men. The poor aboriginals are gone, and gone because unchristian men denied them the right to live and refused to them the civilizing message of Christian Truth. Gone also are the prosperous German villages because the call of the “accursed gold” lured the simple farmer from his vine-garlanded cottage to the reeking “diggings” of Victoria.

Bitter, indeed, are the thoughts of what might have been but for the folly and the greed of men.

Father Kranewitter, it is true, even early in his Mission work, experienced many disappointments and saw the promise of failure, nevertheless he planned and prayed with his eyes fixed on a glorious future. His letters home show him as a man of God and as a shrewd and prudent man of affairs; to his foresight we owe the founding of the German and Polish settlement at Sevenhill and the College and lands that gave stability to the Jesuit Mission and served as a spiritual centre from which radiated through the South the life-giving light of the Faith.

“As I told you before we bought a piece of land on which to found a permanent station, and here again I must say that God in His loving Providence has blessed our plan and prospered it. ... The Mission now owns 700 acres of land of which a part is over grown with stout gum trees, while a part consists of rich soil suitable for tilling and pasture, but most of all for the planting of vines.

‘What a beautiful place for a college!’ said a protestant on a visit to us, rightly guessing, even though he was not a prophet, at the thoughts which we, however, had not yet openly expressed. The fine healthy position of the place beside a spring of water which one so rarely finds in Australia marks it off as especially appropriate for such a purpose, and one could hardly undertake anything more profitable to the good cause in Australia than the cpening of a college to train up men in the true Catholic spirit.

But in these times when the hire of labour is so costly, since the discovery of gold mines, when one nust give an ordinary labouring man $50 a year and his keep, and pay a brick layer 14/- for a day's work, building is not to be lightly undertaken. But, when in the second half of 1855, as we had expected, the price of labour became more moderate, we set our hands to the work in God's Name, and started to build a house to satisfy our immediate pressing needs, and to accommodate a few pupils”.

In October, 1852, there had joined Fr Kranewitter one who was to become the best known and best beloved priest in South Australia, Father JosephTappeiner. This heroic missionary at first, owing to his as yet imperfect knowledge of the English language, restricted his labours to the German population, while Father Kranewitter atterded the distant stations and looked after the Irish Catholics in Clare, the Burra, Undalya and Saddleworth. From 1853 to 1855, Father Tappeiner visited regularly Tanunda, Adelaide and Romburnie.

Father John Pallhuber arrived in the beginning of 1856 He was destined to do strenuous work as a missionary, for which he had been prepared by a seven years' residence in the Province of SJ Maryland. USA. His arrival was opnortune, for Father Kranewitter left Sevenhill on March 28th, 1856, to proceed to Austria for the completion of his theological studies and the making of his third year of probation. Of his recall Father Kranewitter writes:

“In November, 1855, my fellow-worker, Father Tappeiner, made his first mission journey 100 English miles to the north, and visited afterwards all the scattered Catholics of German speech south of here. At Christmas he stayed in Adelaide to assist in the work there. On his return he brought the news that my successor, Father Pallhuber, sent by our superiors, had arrived in Adelaide from North America. My orders were to return to Europe to complete my studies and prepare for my profession. On the 28th March on board an English ship I was carried out on to the high seas once more, we rounded Cape Horn and under the loving protection of God reached London after a voyage of 100 days. At the beginning of August, 1856, I stood once more on my native soil, which I had left eight years before”.

In 1859 Father Kranewitter returned to Australia where he worked on the South Australian Mission until 1870. when he was sent to take care of the German Catholics in Melbourne. For ten years as a member of the Jesuit Community at St Ignatius', Richmond, he discharged this duty faithfully, winning for himself universal esteem. The History of the Society of Jesus in Australia says of him:

“A model religious, cheerful, exact in all details of duty, of tender piety and gentle as a child, he was beloved by his penitents, who made it their mission to induce others to choose him as confessor. A wetting received during a visit which he paid to a country district to say Mass and administer the Sacraments, brought on an illness which affected his lungs, and consumption caused his death in less than a year. He removed for changes of air a few days before he died to Heidelberg, a village near Richmond. On the day of his death he asked by telegram to be relieved from the obligation of reciting the Divine Office. He also sent word that he felt much weaker, but thought there was no necessity for any Father to visit him just then. As he grew worse he was urged to have another telegram sent, but he shook his head, saying, ‘God is good, He will take care of me’. His trust in the Divine goodness was not in vain; for as soon as the first message reached Richmond, Father Mulhall determined to go at once to Heidelberg. He did so, and on entering the sick man's room, the latter exclaimed: ‘Thanks be to God that you are here’. A short time afterward's Father Kranewitter died”.

The College of St Aloysius, Seven hill, founded by Father Kranewitter, was therefore the first Jesuit College in Australia. For thirty years it struggled against difficulties of every kind, the great distance from any centre of population, the scattered nature of the Catholic stations and the lack of funds, until finally in 1886, when the colleges in other States were opened, it was closed. It became, what it is to-day, the Church and Residence of St Aloysius.

We must not forget, however, that in spite of its chequered career, nearly 400 pupils had passed through its classes during these 30 years, and some of these achieved distinction in after life, One of the first pupils was Julian Tennison Woods, afterwards so well known as a priest and scholar.

For a time Sevenhill served as the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus, and in 1866 there came to St Aloysius' College to enter the Society, Thomas O'Brien, a native of Sydney, the first Australian to enrol under the banner of St Ignatius. It is interesting to note that as Father Thomas O'Brien he was the last Rector of the old College when it closed its doors in 1886.

In the meantime, as year by year missioners arrived from Europe, the work of spreading the Gospel went forward steadily: from the rough stone fortress at Sevenhill the “White Horse men of Christ”, as so many valiant knights, sallied forth bearing the Stand ard of the Cross, preaching, teaching, healing and by their selfless lives win ning the love of the simple pioneers and kindling in their hearts the love of Christ. Churches and schools and stations they raise as they push farther and farther into the unknown, following in the wake of the intrepid settlers. I cannot name them all, but just a few to show how far-flung and how thorough was the work of these Jesuit Missioners: Mintaro, the musical Spanish of its name recalling the rapture of the muleteers as they drove their teams on to the mines at Burra-Burra; Tanunda with its glorious grapes; Wakefield; Kooringa of the mines; Bomburnie with its model German Village; Undalya and Farrell's Flat; then far away to the north, Jamestown and Port Augusta.

Of this rapid spread of Catholicism Father Tappeiner tells in a few vivid lines in a letter to the home land:

“When the foundation was laid of the church at Mintaro there wore only three Catholic families with their dependants in the place, now it is our strongest station. The whole district, especially towards the north, is dotted with the homes of practising Catholics so that the larger number of them find it necessary to assist at Mass outside the doors of the Church”.

At the end of the letter he adds: “What I say of Mintaro is true, more or less, of the other stations, no church can hold all the faithful. Fifty or more are obliged to hear Mass at the church door..”.

Among all the missioners the personality of Father John Pallhuber stands out as being that of a Xavier or an Anchieta. A scholar to whom the direction of the studies at the College at Sevenhills were entrusted, and who was the wonder of all for the breath and versatility of his learning, theologian and classical scholar; and, as an Apostle. one who counted as naught toil and danger in the quest of souls.

From Sevenhill he writes:

“Every month I cover, at the very least, 1000 English miles. Here is the routine I follow: On Thursday morning I leave on horseback or by the waggon, taking with me everything I shall need on the journey, including a chalice and wine for Mass.

I have two routes to choose from, one of which will secure me a night's lodging once on my way, and the other perhaps three. Either way I must go through fields and scrub and even forests, some of them stretching for more than 20 English miles. As for water, there is scarcely a drop, and what there is, is | foul or salty; at times I lodge at a shepherd's hut, where I say Mass and baptize the children, Before my track was well-worn and familiar, I got lost sometimes, but, thanks be to God, I have always been fortunate enough to find my way again; not everyone has been so fortunate, for several have met disaster on this trail.

On Friday evening, as a rule, I reach Kadina, a little town of two to three thousand inhabitants, about 60 miles from Sevenhills. Here for the last five years I have invariably lodged with the same family. As soon as I arrive I visit the sick and transact any business that awaits me; then on Saturday morning, at half past nine, I hear confessions and say Holy Mass, after which I visit the good folk and settle their little troubles. I then go to Port Wallaroo, six miles away to the west by a rough horse track; in this small place of some 3000 souls I first made known my arrival and arrange for the morrow, and in the evening make my way back to Kadina. At six o'clock on Sunday morning I ride or drive to Wallaroo, where I hear confessions and say Mass, give an instruction and baptize the children; at ten back as fast as I can to Kadina, where I do the same. I have some thing to eat at midday and at about two o'clock I set out for Moonta, another town of three or four thousand people, twelve miles to the south, where I go through the same round of work. At midday, according to the needs of the case, I return to Kadina or to Wallaroo. Then lest my normal work at Sevenhill should suffer, I must, sometimes on Monday evening, more usually on Tuesday, and in exceptional cases on Wednesday, set off on my return journey.

It was only the tall gums and the laugh of the Kookaburra that reminded me, as I stood waiting for the high power car that was to whisk me back to the ugliness of modern life, that I was in Australia and in the twentieth century. Surely this old stone house, with its high gables and its dormer windows, its stone-flagged passages and its dungeon-like cellars, is a little bit of medieval Europe that has lost its way in the bush or has slept or wandered for centuries in the manner of the fables ! And this old Gothic church, built by the hands of religious brethren, surely it has watched over the fortunes of some Austrian village and seen the centuries slip by, seen Crusaders ride past and heard the toscin sound as armies, like the ages, rolled on! And I thought of the more than thirty heroes that sleep their last sleep in the vault beneath the old church, of Pallhuber the scholar, a peer of the grandest mis sionaries, of the beloved Tappeiner, of Rogalski of the Poles, whose little church I had seen abandoned at Hill River, its door ajar and still the glorious oil-painting of St Stanislaus over the altar, sent it was from Poland to raise the hearts of the exiles; I thought of them all, how far away from home and friends and from their beloved Fatherland, they had dreamed a great dream of founding another great Catholic land, had prayed for strength in this same stone church, before this same tabernacle over which hung, as it hangs to-day, the great Madonna sent them by King Ludwig of Bavaria, and how strengthened to bear the heats and burden of the day, they had gone forth, from their very door at which I stood, down that same straggling path, out into the bush”.

Of such men and of such a work as they have done there can be no thought of failure.

AK

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1934

The First Jesuit in Australia

Early Letters (1849-1851)

The splendid story of the pioneer priests of Australia should be better known. We love to trace the story of our pioneers, and in fact, are inclined to surround them with a certain halo of romance: none deserve better our study and our respect than those brave men, who left home and friends, and faced the hardships and the dangers of an un known continent, to spread the Kingdom of Christ in this our great South Land.

As I read, for the first time, last year, the letters of the first Jesuit in Australia, written to his Superiors at home in Austria and published by them in 1851, I felt that here was a man, whose person ality would surely call forth the admir ation of others as it had done mine, and whose achievement was worthy of being placed on record in the land of his adoption.

Aloysius Kranewitter was born near Stams in the Tyrol on the 4th April, 1817. The beauty and the majesty of the mountains that nurtured the lofty spirit of Andreas Hofer, did not fail to inspire the soul of young Kranewitter, for when he had completed his studies in the Gymnasium of Meran, he felt drawn to consecrate his life to a great ideal, and entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Gratz in 1836. Until his ordination in 1848 his course was the usual one followed by the Jesuit Scholastics; he studied the Classics and then Philosophy; taught for five years . in the College at Innsbruck and finally went through his theology. At his First Mass, we are told, he prayed that God would choose him for a mission in that part of the world where priests were needed most. Events which followed, little expected as they surely must have been, show how fully his prayer was answered. In the year 1848, amidst the turmoil of universal revolution, the Jesuits were expelled from the Austrian Empire. Many sought refuge and a field to work in, far away in the missions of the United States and Canada and of South America, while the rest were dispersed among the provinces of Europe.

It was just at this moment that a strange request was made to the Father Provincial of Austria, Father James Pierling. He was asked to supply two Fathers to accompany a band of Catholic emigrants from Silesia, leaving home to settle in the recently-established colony of South Australia. A bold request certainly was this, made in the simplicity of his Faith by Francis Weikert, the leader of the venture. To send two fathers to an unknown land, with a party of farmers, of their own Faith and Fatherland, it is true, but going to seek their fortune among strangers and with out any certainty of what the future might bring, would seem to us rash, indeed. Yet this was the means Divine Providence employed to send the sons of St Ignatius to this great South Land.

Father Pierling called together the Fathers at Innsbruck and asked for volunteers, and then it was that Father Kranewitter stepped forward and offered himself for this mission, joining himself to a young Viennese, Father Max Klinkowstrom, who had first expressed his readiness to go. They boarded the good ship “Alfred” at Hamburg and set sail on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, 1848. Their voyage is described by Father Kranewitter in his first letter to his Provincial, written 10th June, 1849.

“The whole sea voyage comes back to me iike an unpleasant dream, the remembrance of which bring's little that is joyful, for nothing is more disagreeable than to be tossed for months on end on the wide desert sea, which one has already been gazing on to satiety. Certainly one learns from experience inore than from a thousand books, but the study is painful. On the 15th August our ship left Hanburg harbour, and on the 19th we left the mouth of the Elbe. We were hardly foating on the waves of the sea before its al most magic power displayed itself. In about an hour nearly half the passengers Were afflicted with sea-sickness. Our course lies by the Gulf Stream and the Trade Winds towards Rio de Janeiro, then we make for the Cape of Good Hope, and from there direct to Adelaide with the West Trade Winds, which always blow more strongly toward the South. The reckoning is about 90 to 100 days to Port Adelaide. On the 20th August, as we sailed past Heligoland, a Danish frigate, which tay at anchor off the south of the Elbe, caught sight of us. She at once set after us with full sail. But as she had seen us a little too late, and was stationed north of the island, though she exerted her self for an hour, she could not overtake us, and at 1 pm regretfully she turned back on her course.

On the 23rd I had to baptize a child of Protestant parents; and the day before, after I had blessed it, a child was plunged into the depths of the stormy waves. At 12 o'clock that night I was called to the bedside of another child struggling with death. It was carried off with convulsions next day. The last day of our first month out, we had the misfortune to discover that in our cabin there were some who were practically nothing but Christian pagans. An historical discussion which occurred at table revealed the fact. One of our cabin mates declared that quite a number of historical assertions had as little truth in them as the Bible itself. This declaration naturally led to others, and it became quite plain that those unfortunate men had long suffered shipwreck in matters of faith. On another occasion one of these gentlemen maintained that were the Catholic religion logically consistent in all its teachings, real belief would not be found any more among its members; the Protestants were already taught in their schools to cast off all belief, I was ready to argue with him on this matter, after I had instructed hin as to what faith and religion really was; we could not engage in any argument regarding religion unless that were clearly settled.

The 2nd September was a Sunday, the Feast of the Guardian Angels. It was the first day on which we were able to preach on deck to our ship's company, consisting of Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Christian heathens. After that, my companion, Father Max Klinkowstrom, preached overy Sunday when the weather was fine and the sea calm, and he was always sympathetically listened to. ... I had time on my hands in abundance to cast my thoughts back to you and all my be loved friends at Innsbruck, to my homeland, and those dear to me there. Hardly a night passed that I did not dream that I was just as near to you as I really was far away, and with every minute was going farther away from you all. Still this was not home-sickness, nor regret, nor a longing to go back again; it was simply a painful feeling deep down in the soul.

On the 11th October we stood before Rio's lovely harbour. The finest art could not produce a more beautiful picture. On the right and on the left at its entrance, rocky heights rise up, separated only by a narrow strait, the veritable pillars of the harbour fashioned by Nature itself. On each side, on three terraces strong forts frown, with 30 cannon on each terrace. Our three-master ran up the German flag and the favouring breeze soon brought her between two lines of forts. We were questioned as to who we were and where we came from. The German flag had not yet been seen in these waters, so we had to declare this also. Then a cannon from the left hand fort announced our arrival. A general permission was given for us to land.

Of course we availed ourselves of the opportunity. Four negroes rowed us ashore. Rio is a city of 190,000 inhabitants, of whom about two-thirds are blacks. These do all the hard labour, for it is considered a disgrace for a white man even to carry anything through the streets of Rio; you see niggers in swarms loaded like beasts of burden, and they sing a howling kind of alternating chant as they haul things along. It is a doleful sight. Our first trip was to a German hostel, and the first thing we asked for was fruit. They brought us oranges and Musa paradisiaca (Bananas. Translator's note). These last were a novelty to us. They are round and long in shape, not unlike very long potatoes, about three to four inches in length, of a dark-yellow colour when ripe, with a skin about the thickness of the back of a knife, light and soft; the fruit is rather mealy, with little juice, but with a very pleasant flavour. It is quite a common fruit here.

We had a pleasant surprise when we met the only German priest to be found in the whole of Brazil, who happened to be here at the time. He is called Reis, and comes from Vienna. He was formerly a Redemptorist, but of late years he has been settled in the neighbourhood of Rio, about 10 miles from the city, and he comes, from time to time, to town for the confessions of the large number of German Catholics who live in Rio. He was very kind and obliging to us, and was able to give us reliable information about religious conditions here. We were not a little shocked by the picture he drew for us, and if he were not a priest we would not have believed half of what he told us. There is a general indifference and neglect in matters of religion, though there are four or five religious houses in the city, and the Italian Capuchins on a hill near the city are real men of God. He recommended a visit to these last, but it was too late to do so that evening, as we had to stay the night in the German hostel. Later in the day, how ever, we visited the Church of the Carmelites, where there were devotions in honour of St Theresa. But little was the devotion we found there! When we entered the brightly-lit church, it was like going into a café; people stood in groups engaged in open conversation, while loud music of a very inferior type resounded from the choir. Hardly anyone knelt, except some few, these mostly negroes, at the communion rail. The next morning, in nasty weather, we visited the Capuchin Fathers. Our route led up to a pretty hill, one of four in the city, on three of which are the homes of religious, The one to which we climbed rose in terraces, and I could see on it a small church with two towers, on the left of which was a large building like a monastery. I thought this must be where the Fathers lived whom we were going to visit, but the church was shut up, and all around I saw Brazilian soldiers. I was told I must go on further, Finally I found a second small church on the very top of the hill and a new building beside it; this was what I sought. I was received very kindly, and I had the great delight of saying Mass once more. The little Italian that I knew proved very useful to me in making myself understood by the Father Superior. His whole appearance was one of kindliness, piety and mortification, and when I told him who we were he invited us to stay with him. Nothing could have been more welcome to us, and even yet, whenever I think of it, there comes vividly back to my memory, standing there on its hill, the little monastery and church where we were so courteously received. I shall never forget the kindness of these sons of St Francis; only God in His charity can repay them for it. The Capuchin Father's have a residence in Rio which they recruit with subjects from Italy. There are four priests and a lay brother there at present, distinguished by the poverty and simplicity everywhere found among the Franciscans, and most kind and obliging, My companion (Father Max) was suffering from a severe earache and had to keep his bed. But the kindness of the Fathers made it possible for me to visit the city on several occasions. The streets are very dirty; they have pavements at the side, but one is in constant danger of tripping on them, as they are so badly built and full of holes. The houses are all low lying, only a few two stories high, so that with its large population the city is spread out over a large area. It has hardly any noteworthy buildings. There is a museum, but it is badly arranged, and has only a small collection. Near the entrance are two wire cages in which are kept Brazilian snakes of about 12 feet long; most of the Portuguese do not go any further than these, and they seem to take the greatest pleasure in teasing the poor beasts with little sticks. The way to and from the town always took me past that little church, so that I naturally was anxious to have a closer view of it, I found that it had once had a building attached to it at one side, and this had either been pulled down or fallen down in decay. The stones that lay round about showed that it had been a building with a broad pillared en trance. The church, of no great size to look at, had two little towers over the entrance, and over the door was a date, 1565, and a little above the date the word Jesus. You can imagine what I conjectured from this. And my conjectures were confirmed by what I learnt from the Capuchin Fathers. it was the first and the last residence of the Society of Jesus in Rio, the church itself built perhaps by Father Anchieta. It was the most beautiful site that Blessed Anchieta could have chosen for a residence. Built on a terrace on the hill side, the building had one of the best positions in Rio; in front was a fine view of the beautiful harbour and the whole city, and behind was a fertile slope suitable for a nice garden.

But now the church is closed - there are only left now in Brazil two establishments of the Jesuits, away in the interior, the nearest being S Catarina, 40 miles from Rio. How gladly would I have flown there! But the time was too short; we had to be on board ship by next Sunday evening.

It was the Sunday of the dedication of the church, the Feast of St Theresa, and I was delighted to be able to say Mass still on that day, the best way in the circumstances of celebrating the dedication. That Sunday we had our last meal with the Fathers. My colleague was so much better that he was in a condition to continue the voyage. As the time for our departure approached, the good Fathers did not wish to let us go, and wanted us to stay longer with them; my colleague should first completely recover from his illness. We excused ourselves by saying that our destination was Australia; the Fathers undertook to get us berths on another ship, and even to pay for them! Surely the argument that we could not leave our own people unaided was sufficient to persuade us not to go away yet? This was a plea that had its attractiveness indeed. We could visit our bro thers at S Catarina, we could see Brazil with its primitive forests, we could recreate ourselves by a pleasant journey, we could stay for a time with people so worthy of a visit, and perhaps we could do quite an aniount of good. work among the many Germans to be found in Rio and else where! But our call was further afield. We had quite a tender leave-taking, and the kind Fathers were moved to tears at our departure”.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the 8th December, 1848, Father Kranewitter and his companions landed at Port Adelaide. Weikert who had sold his fine property in Silesia and had paid the passage of nearly all the little band of exiles, found him self, soon after landing, abandoned by them and in serious financial straits. He was compelled, therefore, to lease a piece of land about 60 miles north of Adelaide, near a little hamlet called Clare Village.

What was Father Kranewitter to do? The plan of the little Catholic Settlement had fallen to pieces. He consulted the Bishop of Adelaide, Dr Murphy, who arranged that Father Klinkowstrom should stay in Adelaide, but that Father Kranewitter should go north with Weikert and his family and share their home, making of it a centre from which he could sally forth to attend to the spiritual needs of the Catholics scat ered thinly in the surrounding country. He became, indeed, a shepherd, who had to go in search of his flock, As he had no horse, nor money to buy one, he travelled on foot, seeking for his fellow emigrants. He found many of them sett led near Angaston and east of Gawler, some fifty miles from Clare Village.

“On the first Sunday of the month I pay a missionary visit to the German settlements. My congregation is as yet very small. I have found about forty Catholics, who live in the midst of bitter Protestants and hardly dare to profess their faith. However, a change for the better is apparent. Protestants are becom ing more tolerant and the Catholics come regu. larly to Mass, wherever it is said, even from a distance of eight or ten miles”.

After some months of this life, alone in the household of the farmer, the welcome news came to the missionary that help would soon arrive. Great was the Father's joy when two good Brothers of his own religious family arrived to share his labours !

“On the 20th we arrived at Clare Village, and took up our residence in a perfectly new house that an Irish Catholic had built on a section of land a little off the road in a low lying little valley. As people speak here it is a large liouse, though it is only one storey high with five rooms and no windows. Though this dwelling seemed to us mean and narrow, it was the best in the neighbourhood, and its pretty setting, together with the pleasant mildness of the climate, made it quite a tolerable place to live. We found the church only half finished, and, so I had to hold Divine Service on Sundays and Feast Days in the house of an Irishman. I could not start on my rounds as soon as I should have wished, for the winter rains came on too soon, and I had no horse at my disposal. I have now remedied that defect, and next week I hope, under the protection of the most Blessed Virgin after the Feast of her Assumption, which I intend to celebrate here, to begin my first mission journey. May the Holy Mother and our loving Father Ignatius secure blessings from heaven for the enterprise.

My companion, Father Max Klinkowstrom, remained in Adelaide to attend to the spiritual needs of the German Catholics in the city; he carried out this duty conscientiously until he was compelled to return to Europe. The climate of Australia was quite unsuitable for him, and the doctor in Adelaide, Dr Bayer, a German, told him that the Australian sun played havoc with such as have trouble with the liver, that it was like poison for him, and that he must go back. Violent head pains and diarrhoea had nearly brought him to the edge of the grave already. On the 17th March, 1849, as an English ship sailed that day for London, he took ship back to Europe, God in His love so arranged matters that the news of his departure reached me at the same time that your letter to me arrived. I received your letter before Holy Mass, and at once recognised the handwriting of the address, but did not open it then I, first seeing myself left so deserted in union with the Holy Sacrifice, united my will with that of the all-beneficent God. After Mass I opened the letter and what a surprise I had! I am not to be left alone; for your letter informed of the arrival in the near future of two helpers from Europe. Think with what delight I devoured the lines of your dear script full of fatherly affection. Was it not the merciful providence of God that brought together the sad depar ture of my dear companion and the consoling news of the near arrival of two others. How happy I was to see good Brothers Schreiner and Sadler arrive here in April, quite hale and hearty, just at the time that we needed hands for our work. We are building on to our house a hut in which will serve as a sleeping com partment for the two new-comers; they are now having plenty of hand work and much discomfort; but soon things will be better and their work will be richly rewarded. I have inade a contract with Weikert to share with him for some years labour and attention to the property and profits, expenses and receipts. Our neighbour who has a lease of the better part of the block of land on which we live is going back to Adelaide and has handed over to -: us his small house and his lease under very favourable terms. And so we have living accommodation which is sufficient for our means, though not attractive in appearance, and sufficient income to live on. For this year then we have two pieces of land for cultivation and so are quite safe financially. We intend to keep house with Weikert for two years, and meanwhile look round for an opportunity and then buy from the Government a fertile piece. of land in a good position. If this plan is not unpleasing to God and has His blessing, I am quite sure that it will prosper. Unless I am much mistaken, in four years I should be in the position to send you the passage money for those who would be pleased to come to us, especially if you would send us some inore help ers, for labour is very costly here. These should not look for easy conditions at first, and must be ready for hard work; but, as I said before, labour reaps a quick profit here.

Make whatever arrangements seem best to you, and let us know of your intentions. With my heart full of gratitude I kiss your hands for sending me here, and for the help that you have sent me too. If it should please you to make any changes in our disposition, or send us anywhere else, we would gladly exert our selves to obey the slightest indication of your wishes; if we should receive further helpers it i would be an inexpressible consolation. Mean while, we act according to the first suggestions you gave us, making no change, which was to aim at securing a good piece of land with fertile soil, and to get our good brothers to cultivate it.

You might think that this country is al most over supplied with priests, seeing that a bishop and ten priests have charge of a Catholic population of only about 4000 souls; but that is not so at all. South Australia is a colony in process of very fast development. The first settlers only came here about 19 years ago, and already the population has grown to 40,000. Every month ships come from England with immigrants, and every year from Germany, and of the immigrants a small number set themselves up in the city, while the greater number settle on the land.

If the growth in population continues I shall soon need priests for a college. Any helpers who are coming to us or intend to come in the future should bring with them, above all things, all that is needed for saying Mass. We have a small church without a tabernacle or altar pictures, and, except for the set of Mass Vestments that I brought with me, there are hardly any serviceable ones to be got.

I shall now tell you something about the financial side of our farming. All the soil is wonderfully fruitful here. The first year, without any help from manure, it produces a very fine crop of wheat. A section of land cuch as the immigrants usually buy or lease here is 80 acres forming a square, so that each acre runs for 200 feet in both directions. The work of cultivating a piece of new land is certainly hard and constant, but the return is great; to take an example, a ton of potatoes cost £10, or 100 florins of English money, and a good acre gives a return of five to six tons, and often eight to nine. A ton of oaten hay is worth £5. Wheat is, at the least. al ways a profitable crop, good land giving 20 to 30 bushels (a bushel is equivalent to a tyrolese staar) per acre, and a bushel of wheat is sold for 37. The climate is extremely mild, so that the keeping of cattle practically costs nothing, as they can be let run freely on the pasture lands during the whole of the year without the need of stalls for shelter; you only have to milk the cows morning and evening in an enclosure of some kind. It is winter here now, but it is little different from a summer in the Tyrol. On the coldest day we have had there was some ice in the morning, but the sun soon made it melt. The winter here merely serves to provide the soil with moisture so that it may be in a condition to produce its various types of fruit. One finds practically no fruit growth here, but whatever one plants and cultivates gives a good crop, especially vines and Southern European fruit trees. No one, then, will have a reason to re gret tilling this soil, But whoever expects to find everything here already will be bitterly disappointed. Hence it is necessary to bring with one house and land implements, and seeds of all kinds.

As regards the black natives living here, they are, in a word, just grown-up children. They are swarming at this moment all around our house with a number of scraggy-looking dogs; but as I can make nothing yet of their language, I am not in a position to announce the gospel to them. They are very like our gipsy folk in Europe in appearance, and the only beggars in the country. I intend to write sone more about them in my next letter, when I have got to know them better myself, and also after I have learnt more about them from the German Catholics whom I shall meet on my mission round. It is possible to send let ters to Europe every month from Australia now, and there are prospects of a fast steamship service between Australia and Europe; I would make good use of this for sending letters.

The struggle for very existence which absorbed so much of the missionaries' time, must have caused Father Kranewitter to chafe at the slow development of their spiritual work. Two plans he had at heart, with which he hoped to lay the foundations of an enduring apostolate; firstly he wished to form a purely Catholic settlement with its church and school and secondly he longed to establish a College of the Society of Jesus. To realise both these projects he prayed and worked, and thanks to his trust in God and his courage and foresight, realise them both he did, before he was recalled to Europe in 1856. He writes to his Provincial on 2nd May, 1850:

“I have just made my mission visitation of the German settlements for the first Sunday in April, after which I went on about 30 Eng lish miles to Adelaide to pay a visit to an old Catholic lady and her daughter who arrived in Australia about four months ago to strengthen their Faith, which had met with various strong trials; I got back on the sec ond Sunday to the station where I always say Mass on that day. A few minutes before I began, a letter from overseas was handed to me, sent to my address by Dr Backhaus, What a delightful surprise it was to receive a letter from Your Reverence! I opened the envelope - there were two enclosures - and in one of them two most valuable money bills. This was quite beyond my expectations. At once the thought flew to iny mind - Is it the passage money? I did not read the letters then, but laid then quietly together, and first at the Mass that I was on the point of celebrating I availed myself of the opportunity of begging God to make me fully resigned to whatever the letter might bring me. After my devotions I could not wait long before opening the letter I was longing so much to read. You I could not easily realise the effect that your beloved writing and your fatherly words had on me under the circumstances in which I was, I still less could I put it in words. We send you our most heartfelt thanks for the generous gift of all that the letter contained. We shall consider it as a treasure entrusted to us, and make use of it in the very best way we can. As I was not more than 50 Erglish miles from Adelaide, I decided to make the most of my opportunity and to return to Adelaide, to cash the draft, to have an interview with the Bishop, Dr Murphy, and communicate the whole matter to him, and to find out from him in person what way I might act most in accordance with his wishes, so that I should be able to send you news at once about the matter. What an improvement has been made in our affairs in the course of a year Your Reverence will already have seen from my other letter. We are in such a fortunate condition that very soon we may hope to have a proper German Mission Station; what our hampered circumstances have so far made impossible, will certainly be a reality in the course of a year, if God so wills.

Most of the German settlers that I visit at present on my rounds are to be found in a place which is very unprofitable to them, where they settled on their first arrival, owing to their ignorance of the condition of the land. All this can be remedied now at one stroke. It is quite easy to se

Born: 26 April 1899, Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria
Entered: 24 August 1917, Sankt Andrä, Austria - Austriae Province (ASR)
Ordained: 26 July 1928
Professed: 02 February 1935
Died: 01 February 1997, Taipei, Taiwan - Sinensis Province (CHN)

by 1954 came to Aberdeen Hong Kong (HIB) teaching 1953-1960

Born: 11 March 1809, Calcutta, Bengal, India (on journey)
Entered: 04 September 1825, Montrouge near Paris Galliae Province (GALL)
Ordained: 24 December 1839, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1848
Died 31 December 1879, Milltown Park, Dublin

He was a son of a Major Francis Kyan (1752–1814) of the East India Company. Elder brother, Esmond Kyan was hanged as a rebel in 1798.

by 1829 in Clongowes
by 1839 Theol 3 in Vals (LUGD)
by 1868 at St Wilfred’s Preston (ANG) working
by 1870 at Bristol (ANG) working
by 1871 at Frome, Somerset (ANG) working
by 1877 at Wells (ANG) working
by 1878 at Husbands, Bosworth, Rugby (ANG) working

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a son of an Indian Officer.

Early education was at Stonyhurst.

He served as a Teacher and Prefect at Clongowes and Tullabeg for many years. He was Ordained at Clongowes by Dr Haly, Bishop of Kildare 24 December 1839.
In company with Father Haly and Father Fortescue in the Dublin Residence.
1848-1850 He accompanied Patrick Sheehan to India and spent two years there. He went back to the Dublin Residence on his return.
1856 He was sub-Minister in Clongowes.
1868-1878 He found his health was greatly impaired and so he asked to go on the ANG Mission, and he worked at Wells, Frome and Bosworth at different times over these years, except 1876 when he was in Ireland.
1878 He was again called back to Ireland and went to Milltown, where he died 31 December 1879. The Rector James Tuite was with him when he died.

He was a man of imposing presence, fine manners and an innocent mind.

Born: 1620, County Galway
Entered: 06 January 1641 - Nuevo Reino Mission (NEU REI)
Ordained: 1654, Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia
Final Vows: 01 November 1661
Died: 25 July 1675, Santa Fé de Bogotá - Nuevo Reino Mission (NEU REI)

Alias De Acuña

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
1641-1654 At College of Santa Fé de Bogotá studying and teaching to Ordination in 1654
1654-1675 Working on the Indian Missions surrounding Santa Fé de Bogotá

Born: 11 May 1906, Northcote, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 08 March 1925, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 30 June 1940, Liverpool, England
Professed: 02 February 1979
Died: 19 March 1991, St Xavier’s, Bokaro Steel City, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India - Ranchiensis Province (RAN)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05-April 1931; ASL to RAN 12 March 1956

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :

Note from Francis Keogh Entry :
His death was keenly felt by those who served under him, especially at Sevenhill. Mr Lachal there wrote “He was the kindest of Superiors, a real father to the Novices, keeping a particularly keen eye on their health. I wish I had Father Rector’s ticket to heaven, Father Master once said to his Novices.’

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Lou Lachal received his early education at the local parish school and his secondary education at Xavier College, Kew, where his father had been before him. Though he excelled perhaps more in sports than in studies, he graduated in 1924 with honours in French and Latin in the final examinations.
In March 1925 he joined the Jesuits at Greenwich, Sydney, and in 1927 he went to Rathfarnham for his juniorate studies, gaining a BA from the National University of Ireland. Philosophy studies followed in France, and he did regency at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, from 1933. He was rowing master among other things, and received a reprimand from the general for allowing the boys to mix with non-Catholics in the rowing sheds!
Theology studies followed at Naples, Italy, but World War II broke out and he moved to Liverpool in 1940 with a letter of commendation to any bishop to ordain him. He was ordained in Liverpool, completed his theology at Heythrop, Oxford, and then spent a few months caring for the needs of working class people in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
Towards the end of 1941 Lachal returned to Australia via the Panama Canal. He was once again sent to Riverview. Tertianship at Loyola College, Watsonia, followed in 1945, after which he taught for two years at St Patrick's College. He worked in the parish of Richmond in 1948. He enjoyed his time there, and they appreciated the tall, strong, modest, pipe-smoking priest who could he relied upon for service at any time of day or night.
Lachal was among the first Australian Jesuits assigned to the mission in the Hazarihag region of India in 1951. He was 45 years old at the time, and was to spend another 40 years in India. He found Hindi studies difficult, but could generally make himself understood. His good humor and friendliness did the rest. Soon after arrival in India he became involved with direct missionary work at Chandwa, then one of the two parishes in the district of Palamau.
Later, he became parish priest of the Chechai region, which stretched for 130 miles, and then at Mahuadanr, followed by Hazaribag, Chandwa, Bhurkunda and Bokaro Steel City
Wherever he worked, his constant aim was first to provide an adequate education system, followed by health and other development projects to uplift poor people.
One of his greatest triumphs was setting up the Christian Centre at Bokaro Steel City in the vanguard of the ecumenical movement, Lachal proposed the Christian Centre as his
solution to the problem of how to share one small piece of real estate allotted by the Steele Authority to no less than ten groups all claiming to be Christian.
He was a caring father to all Jesuits in the Hazaribag diocese and to religious and lay people all over the Daltonganj diocese. Many sought his wise advice, encouragement and
companionship. People meant much to Lachal. He was a great conversationalist with a quick wit. In addition, he wrote thousands of letters, especially to the mission's friends and
supporters in Australia, assuring them of his interest and concern.
Lachal, commonly known as 'Lou', was greatly loved, respected and trusted by everyone, Jesuits and lay friends alike. He had a strong, outgoing personality, a man of immense charm, wisdom and optimism. His life was characterised by his availability to people anywhere at any time. He was rarely seen alone, he always had people around him. He had a solid, simple spirituality with a great devotion to Our Lady. He was regularly seen saying the Rosary, or heard singing Marian hymns during Mass. He regularly said two public Masses a day, even when he could only travel by rickshaw. When asked what he had been doing, he jokingly said that he had been “witnessing”, a constant feature of his long and happy life.

Born: 14 January 1914, Diósgyőr, Borsod, Miskolc, Hungary
Entered: 30 July 1936, Hungariae Province (HUN)
Ordained: 08 June 1946, Shanghai, China
Professed: 15 August 1952
Died: 23 September 1990, Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Part of the Ricci Hall, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed HUN to ExOr; Applied ExOR to HK 1950
by 1949 came to Ricci Hall, Hong Kong (HIB) working 1949-1967

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Veteran China Watcher
Father Laszlo Ladányi Dies

Father Laszlo Ladányi S.J., veteran China watcher died of lung cancer on 23 September 1990 at the Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong, aged 76 years.

Laszlo Ladányi was born in Hungary in 1914. He later graduated from the University of Budapest and he also received training in the violin at the Music Academy in Budapest. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 22 and arrived in Beijing, China in 1939. He was later transferred to Shanghai where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1946. In mid 1949, Fr. Ladányi came to Hong Kong and was appointed chaplain to university students at the Ricci Hall.

In 1953 Fr. Ladányi founded the China News Analysis (CNA) in Hong Kong, a weekly and later a fortnightly newsletter. Ever since then, he worked as Editor to this publication for the following 30 years. The main purpose of the CNA is to keep missionary circles informed of Mainland China’s developments. The CNA is widely subscribed by those who are interested in the Mainland China affairs.

In 1982, the editorship of the China News Analysis was passed over to the present team of Jesuit priests, but Fr. Ladnay was still deeply engaged in his China studies up to the time he was admitted to Hospital last month.

The funeral took place at 10am on 26 September with a Mass of the Resurrection concelebrated by his Jesuit confreres and friends at St. Margaret’s Church, Happy Valley, Hong Kong. He was buried in the St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 5 October 1990

In Memory of Father Laszlo Ladany, S.J.
R.I.P.

On 23 September 1990, 9:35am, our beloved Father Ladányi left this world. My mother phoned me from Hong Kong, weeping, and informed me about his death. As soon as the news came, the Chinese Catholics in America passed the information round and all expressed their affection and remembrance of him, as well as their sorrow and prayer for him…

Father Ladányi was a Hungarian, ordained priest in China in 1946. When he was a missionary in China, he already had deep love for China. After mainland China was taken over by the Communists, he was expelled and sent to Hong Kong. He always wanted to be near China and so he stayed in Hong Kong and began his work there. Diligently, spending 40 years as one day, he studied the problem of China with total dedication. In this way, he worked silently for the Church in China to the end of his life.

He was an outstanding political observer. He had a unique understanding of the problem of China. No one could match him for penetrating understanding, foresight, the depth and width of his study in the problem of China. He was a gifted writer, scholar and commentator. He wrote many analyses about China and the present and past situation of the Church in China. His sources made his information very accurate, looking at the question from every angle and written with simple precision so that his Analysis became an essential source of information for others and had much authority. All the Embassies bought and used his China News Analysis for reference. Libraries throughout the world have his writings, which are of the greatest historical value.

But, we are not only commemorating his outstanding work or his life, but paying tribute to his heart which really understood, loved and sympathised with the Church in China - this heart was precious as gold and as bright and crystal-clear as water. This is what we most cherish today and find most worthy of remembrance. His clear and firm stand-point and views always harmonised with the spirit of the faithful Church in China. His sense of Justice, experience and solid knowledge of the facts, moved him to speak from a sense of Justice. He never left anything unsaid which he knew could be said and he always said everything without fear of human respect. He worked with dedication and spoke up for the faithful Church in China. His heart beat as one with the faithful Church in China. He was the intimate companion of the faithful Church in China, and the good understanding teacher and friend of the faithful Church in China.

In the 1950’s the Catholic Church in mainland China was severely crushed. Bishop Kung of Shanghai was arrested. Many priests and Catholics were imprisoned. Only a few Catholic had the chance to flee abroad. It was he, the good shepherd, who organised these exiled sheep, cared for them, gave them guidance in their spiritual life and helped them to keep their faith. When the Trappist Monastery in Yang Jai-ping was persecuted, some of the monks fled to Hong Kong. It was he, their spiritual brother, who consoled them and later helped them to build the monastery and restore their community life.

When my younger sister became very sick in Shanghai Prison, she was allowed to leave the prison for medical treatment and died a year later. It was father Ladányi who crossed to Kowloon during the night to console my sorrowful parents. It was he who always opened wide his arms to embrace with affection the suffering Chinese Catholics. In his simple office, he used to talk intimately with these exiled faithful so that they might enjoy the warmth of a family spirit.

When I arrived Hong Kong in 1979, I carried within myself all the wounds as well as a loving memory of the faithful Church in China. He said to me; “Write it down! Write it down as soon as possible!” I said reluctantly, “I have been imprisoned for so long, I don’t know how to write freely. Also, I have no experience in writing.” He said very earnestly: “Write! When you begin to write, as you go along, you will discover how to write!” So with his encouragement, I finished writing the book entitled “Catholic Children in the Labour Camp” within half a year.

I visited him in his office a number of times, listening to all he had to say. He spoke Mandarin perfectly, sometimes mixed with a few sentences of Cantonese. There was no difference of nationality between us. Sometimes when I saw him two hands trembling because of his sickness, I wanted to give him a helping hand but he always made every effort to arrange everything himself. Sometimes when I saw his desk was in disorder and wanted to put in order for him, he would said, “Not necessary. I am accustomed to it.” Yes, even if your desk was disordered, this would not affect your clear mind and thinking, nor your keen eye-sight. His tall, thin frame conveyed an impression of profound wisdom. His ageing face expressed the warm affection of his heart. It would not be easy to find another good missionary like him, an understanding priest!

Good-bye, Father Ladányi! Best wishes for your journey. The memory of you will never fade from our hearts. But now, your long journey, this important long journey, has made us in this world, think so much of you and your life.

You are another Father Lebbe, the glory of missionaries. May you still continue from Heaven, to protect the Church in China. Bless our faithful brothers and sisters who are still suffering now, who are crushed to the ground and are not understood! Bless those who are exiled in other countries, waiting for the mercy of God to re-establish the Church in China.
By Ho Hoi-ling from America
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 9 November 1990

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He was a scholar who published many articles and books which include :
“The Catholic Church in China” (Freedom Press, New York 1987); “The Communist Part of China and Marxism : A Self-Portrait” (Hoover Institute Press, Stanford, 1988); “Law and Legality in China : The Testament of a China-Watcher” (Hurst, London, 1992).

His books are scholarly and influential to the study of modern and contemporary China.

Note from Alan Birmingham Entry
He was the Editor of the “Sunday Examiner” for almost 33 years (1957-1991). For more than twenty years he edited the English writings of László Ladányi in the “China News Analysis”

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 64 : Easter 1991
DEATH OF A CHINA-WATCHER - Fr Laszlo Ladany
Jurgen Domes

For several decades, Hungarian Jesuit Fr Laszlo Ladany edited in Hong Kong his China News Analysis: the publication attempted, by comparing different versions of official reports, by noting omissions and changes, to outline the true trajectory of events within China. He died on 23rd September, 1990, and is recalled in a commemorative issue of the periodical (kindly sent by Michel Massan, S.J.).

Robert Elegant, journalist, writes:
He was very proud and fiercely defensive of his work. He had contempt for journalists who rewrote his reports under their own names. Still, he had pity for those, sometimes the same individuals, who could not make the intellectual and imaginative jump that would enable them to see what was happening in China with the same clarity he did.

That incapacity was particularly marked during the Cultural Revolution, which, as we later discovered, outdid in horror even our most daring reports. Nonetheless only four professional China Watchers came close to the true story: Laszlo Ladany in the van; Burton Levin of the American Foreign Service, later Ambassador to Burma; Knobby Clark of the Regional Information Office; and myself with Ladany's guidance. Almost everyone else first believed that Chairman Mao Zedong had everything under control - and later refused to believe the enormity of the cataclysm.

Simone de Beauvoir called him “a fanatic anti-communist full of hatred”. After many accusations in the same vein, Han Suyin eventually remembered him as her “Hong Kong Jesuit Friend”, “tall and dignified and admirably versed in Chinese”, “owner of uncommon intellect” who spoke “with eloquence and restraint” and had “humour, zest and knowledge”.

For the many sycophants and apologists of totalitarian communist dictatorship in American and West European Contemporary China Studies, he was hardly quotable. They tried to ignore him as much as possible. But for all of us who ventured the attempt to develop a distanced and sober view of the Peoples' Republic of China, he had assumed an unprecedented prestige as a China scholar. Indeed he was the dean of the international trade which observes contemporary politics in the Peoples Republic of China.

With Fr. Ladany, we lose a brilliant analyst, a steadfast Christian, and warm-hearted friend.

For almost forty years of continuous observation of the developments on the Chinese mainland, thirty years of which were dedicated to the regular publication of China News Analysis, he succeeded in submitting, with very few exceptions, a correct and precise picture of the Peoples' Republic of China as well as projections of her future perspectives which have proven much more often right than wrong. When thinking back, we remember that he was the first among the very few observers who, at that time, realized that the “Great Leap Forward” resulted in economic chaos, and in the greatest famine in this century. In January 1967, he suggested that the military leaders in the provinces were the men to watch in the following years. And in his last conceptual January edition of China News Analysis entitled “Deja Vu”, he drew the first comparison between the developing features of communist collapse and the final years of Kuomintang rule on the Chinese mainland.

What made him so correct in his descriptions and so reliable in his analysis? Three observations provide the answer to this question. First, he knew China and the Chinese very well. His sovereign command of Chinese among altogether eight languages which he spoke fluently gave him access to all available sources including the extremely important interviews with recent refugees from the Peoples' Republic of China. Second, he had a firm and deep understanding of Marxism-Leninism. Philosophically trained, he had developed the ability to divest the communist ideology of its fallacious prophecies and to penetrate the rosy fog of the doctrine to unveil the realities of totalitarian rule. Third, he had a deep compassion for humanity, for the joys, trials and tribulations which affect human beings everywhere in the world.

These three elements produced his unique analytical approach, the method of qualitative content analysis which is based on rigid and uncompromising Textkritik.

But apart from his fundamental contribution to the understanding of China, he was also a wonderful person. While never propagandizing his Christian beliefs in a patronizing manner, his life as a Christian has been convincing for many and decisive for some.

Hence, we have lost a great scholar and a passionate man. Hong Kong changed, and the international community of China specialists changed when God called him. It is a small consolation in this moment of grief that Fr Ladany could still be alive when his Hungarian motherland was liberated from Communism.

Born: 18 February 1919, Dublin City, County Dublin & Bray, County Wicklow
Entered: 16 September 1938, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1955, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 26 March 2019, Highfield Healthcare, Whitehall, Dublin

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

Brother of Br Christopher J Laheen Ent 23/03/1940 - LEFT 24/04/1945

Parents are supported by private business. Family moved to Bray, County Wicklow and then back to Dublin.
Youngest of three boys with two sisters.
Early education was at Presentation College Bray. Then he went to Belvedere College SJ.

Born: 29 July 1931, Convent Road, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 09 January 1998, Chikuni, Zambia - Zambia-Malawi province (ZAM)

Part of the St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 02 February 1967

Son of Mr Frank Lane Mrs Lane of Tullamore. Father was a commercial traveller.

Younger of two boys with two sisters.

Early education was with the Christian Brothers in Tullamore for nine years. He then went to UCD studying engineering for a year before entry.

by 1959 at Chivuna, Monze, N Rhodesia - studying language Regency

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Not long before Fr Bill Lane died, he was chatting with Fr Bob Kelly at St lgnatius, Lusaka. A young lady whom they both knew had died in a very sudden manner at U.T.H. Fr Bill remarked, ‘You know, Bob, that's the way I'd like to go, quickly and without fuss’. And that is the way it happened. On Friday, 9 January 1998, Bill was on his way to Chilalantambo with Fr Jim Carroll to give some Scripture talks to the parishioners. As they drove on that bumpy road, Bill suddenly stopped talking. Fr Jim was shocked to find that Bill was dead beside him. There seems to have been no intervening period of sickness or pain. His departure was, as he had wished, ‘quickly and without fuss’.

Bill was born in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Ireland in 1931. After school with the Christian Brothers, he went to Dublin University to study engineering for a year. At the end of that year he joined the Society in 1950. For his regency he was sent to Zambia and taught at Canisius for a year as well as learning ciTonga. After the usual course of studies, he was ordained priest in 1964 at Milltown Park, Dublin.

Returning to Zambia he worked in the Kasiya parish, then Mukasa Minor Seminary at Choma. From 1969 to 1973, he was education secretary in the diocese of Monze, responsible for a network of 80 primary schools. His organizing and administrative talents were recognized at this time. He was the last expatriate Education Secretary in the Monze diocese as the primary schools were handed back to Government.

Bill was moved to the Archdiocese of Lusaka. The late Fr Dominic Nchete asked, ‘Why are they moving our best men away from the diocese? Fr Lane knows how to work with our people’. He was asked to become secretary for communications (1978-85). He combined the job with the office of province bursar (1982-88). From 1990 until his untimely death, Bill worked for the Zambia Episcopal Conference first as secretary for catechetics and then as coordinator of the Bible apostolate.

Publishing was big in his life during all these years, to help people come to grips with Sacred Scripture, with methods of prayer and with the history of the Church in Zambia. His writing was clear and concise and very practical in the many booklets he produced. All Bill's activities were carried out with wit and good humour which made him a popular member of any group he was in. He could also be a devastating critic when aroused by what he considered hypocrisy. Bill considered himself to be politically incorrect in that he expressed his views honestly, rather than resort to making the right noises in the right places and he was aware that this did not enhance his chances for advancement through the hierarchy of the Society. In fact he never was a superior.

The number of people whose lives he touched was great indeed. He had a rare gift for reaching out to those whom others might have considered black sheep. His sensitivity to those who were ill at one time or another was another remarkable facet of his life. Bill was a gifted person who gave generously of his time and talents to the Church and people of Zambia for the forty years he worked in the country.

Throughout his years in Zambia, he preached and directed numerous retreats as well as helping at Kalundu Study Centre and in the Major Seminary. In his busy career he was always willing to help out in the parish, supplying Masses and other church services when needed. He was a good confessor and a no nonsense preacher.

Note from Fred Moriarty Entry
Fr Fred was a radio program coordinator. He recorded many programs in ciTonga and English for ZNBC. He coordinated with Fr Bill Lane and Fr Max Prokoph in this area.

Born: 1591, Naas, County Kildare
Entered: 05 April 1625, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae province (ROM)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 17 January 1647, Unknown

1626 ROM Catalogue Novice in Rome
1637 Catalogue Mediocre in all and choleric - has experience
Kildare Arch Journal Vol III p190

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Of the Morristown-Lattin family (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
1627 Came to Irish Mission
1642 Living and working in Dublin in disguise.
1643 Imprisoned
Named in two letters, Waterford 10 October 1642 and Galway 03 August 1643
Though many Priests and Religious had been seized and executed by Puritans, James Latin and two of his Brethren braved every danger and were indefatigable in consoling and assisting suffering Catholics.
In the postscript, of the first letter the writer had just received intelligence of Latin’s arrest and committal to gaol. In the second letter it says he was still in prison, and had been arrested in the street while on his way to administer the Sacrament of the Sick. (cf Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Already Ordained on Ent 08 April 1625 Rome
1627/28 Sent to Ireland and Dublin Residence after only eighteen months in Novitiate. He arrived in Rouen to get a passage to Ireland, but while there the Mission Superior Christopher Holywood asked him to head for Paris on some Irish Mission business. So it was probably around 1628 by the time he arrived in Dublin. Once there he stayed in Dublin and along with Thomas Quin and John Purcell, survived the expulsion of clergy there by the Puritans of 1641-1642. However, he was then arrested and thrown into prison, Autumn 1642 or Spring 1643, and was still in prison a year later. For a while in prison he was able to say Mass and receive visitors, but these privileges were eventually revoked.
He was still living 10 June, 1647 when he managed to say Mass but was after the consecration stripped him naked and scourged him in the presence of bystanders by parliamentarians who profaned the Sacred Species, but the bystanders out of compassion prevailed on the torturers to spare him further ill treatment.
It is likely that he died soon after. He is not mentioned in Verdier’s report 'of the mission in 1649
About ten years after his arrival on the Mission he came into a sizeable fortune, sufficient to found a Residence and support two Jesuits at Naas.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LATIN, JAMES. All that I can gather concerning this zealous Father is from two letters, one dated from Waterford, (Manapia) 10th of October, 1642, the other from Galway, the 3rd of August, 1643. The first informs me, that though many Priests and Religious had been seized and executed by the Puritans, yet F. James Latin, and two of his Brethren braved every danger, and were indefatigable in assisting and consoling the Catholics groaning under Puritanical despotism. In the Postscript the writer says, he had just received intelligence of F. Latin s apprehension and commitment to gaol. The second States, that he was still a prisoner, and that he had been apprehended in the street in the act of proceeding to administer the sacraments to the sick.

2021 notes:
3 July 1614 James Lattin, youngest son of John Lattin & Alson Ashe from Morristown Lattin, Co. Kildare, was ordained in Rome. He joined the Jesuit order in 1625 and became a coadjutor in Dublin. He was arrested & deported in 1642 #localhistory

Born: 24 November 1655, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 05 September 1675, Paris, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1686, La Flèche, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1691, Rouen
Died: 13 January 1726, Irish College, Poitiers, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

1685 At La Flèche teaching Humanities and Rhetoric
1690 Gone to Ireland for 3 years
1693 At Quimper College teaching Grammar, Rhetoric, Philosophy
1696 At Brest. MA in University of Nantes. Teaching Philosophy.
1705 At Blois College teaching Grammar, Philosophy. Spiritual Father, Minister and Procurator 4 years
1709-1720 At Irish College Poitiers. Rector 1718-1710
1724-1725 Infirmus

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1717 Rector at Poitiers
Said to have been a learned man; Professor of Philosophy; Of pleasing address; He had been on the Irish Mission (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had previously studied at Nantes graduating MA before Ent 05 September 1675 Paris
After First Vows he was sent to Hesdin for Regency, and then to La Flèche for Theology where he was Ordained 1686
1687-1691 Sent to Ireland, but four years later was deported to France
1691-1695 Sent to Quimper and holding a Chair in Philosophy
1695-1696 Missioner at Brest where he was also chaplain to the French navy in the Mediterranean for a year.
1696-1709 Sent to Blois College as Minister and Procurator
1709 Rector of Irish College Poitiers for two terms 1709-1717 and 1722-1724. he died there 13 January 1726

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Walter Lavallin 1655-1726
Fr Walter Lavallin a native of Ireland, was appointed Rector of the Irish College at Poitiers in 1709. He was still Rector in 1714, when he wrote to the Superior that he had erected a new public chapel for the use of the College, that the expense had exceeded his expectations, but that hen would not contract any debt that he was not able to discharge.

He died at Poitiers on the 10th or 13th of January 1726.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LAVALLIN, WALTER, was certainly appointed Rector of the Seminary at Poitiers in 1709. He was still filling the same office on the 6th of September, 1714, when he addressed a letter to his Superior, acquainting him of his having erected a new public Chapel for the use of the College; and that the expenses had exceeded his original calculation, but that he had not contracted, nor would contract, any debt, which he was not able to discharge.

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

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

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

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

Third of four boys with one sister.

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

Born: 1670, Magheralin, County Down
Entered: 06 January 1698, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Ordained: 1697, Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1709
Died: 07 August 1725, Dublin City, County Dublin - Romanae Province (ROM)

Completed his studies before Ent
1700 At Bordeaux College teaching Grammar
1705 At Xaintes (Saintes) College (AQUIT) teaching Humanities and Philosophy and studying Philosophy and Theology
1706-1708 At Poitiers
1714-1717 At Poitiers Spiritual Father
1717 CAT Good talent, learned and speaks elegantly. It is wished he had greater love of poverty. When on Mission people complained he was irascible and wanting in meekness and humility

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Patrick and Mary of Ulster. Probably a brother of Susan Lavery OSB, a nun, of Dunkirk (Foley’s Collectanea Vol vi p 439)
He was one of James II Demies sent to Magdalen College, Oxford, 1687
Entered the English College Rome for Higher Studies 30 March 1689.
Professor of Philosophy; Eloquent Preacher; Charming in conversation
1708 and 1714 In Ireland (HIB Catalogues)
1717 At Poitiers

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Irish College Rome and was already a Priest 1697 Rome, before Ent 06 January 1698 Bordeaux
1700-1707 After First Vows he taught Humanities at Bordeaux, Nantes and Poitiers
1707-1714 Sent to Ireland and Dublin and worked in the Dublin district.
1714-1717 Sent to Irish College Poitiers as Spiritual Father
1717 Sent to Dublin and worked as an Assistant Priest until his death there 07 August 1725

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Charles Lavery SJ 1670-1717
Fr Charles Lavery was born at Magheralin County Down in 1670. He entered Magdalen College Oxford, as one of James II demie or foundationers At this time great efforts were being made to obtain for the Fathers a firm footing in the University. Although both Christ Church and University College were governed by Catholics, the chief hope was placed in Magdalen, which had been given by the King to his Catholic subjects. In 1688 however, all fifteen demies at the College were expelled. Charles Lavery first went to Rome and entered the English College. He returned to Ireland without taking orders, and he entered the Society in 1697.

He was appointed Professor of Philosophy. In addition, he was an eloquent preacher and a gifted conversationalist. His name is found as having been in Ireland in 1708 and 1714.

He died in Poitiers in 1717.

Born: 05 June 1927, Gurteen, Knapton Road, Monkstown, County Dublin
Entered: 22 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 04 February 2012, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father was a District Justice

Early education was at local preparatory schools in Dublin and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ for six years. He then attended lectures at the Kings Inns for three years.

by 1951 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1976 at Loyola Hall, Lahore, Pakistan (PAK MISS) working

Born: 29 October 1909, Main Street, Newtownbarry, Bunclody, County Wexford
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 17 July 1938, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 16 June 1993, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

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

Eldest Brother of Donald - RIP 1984

Early education at Clongowes Wood College Sj

by 1933 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1936 at Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria (ASR) studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 8th Year No 4 1933

Father T. Corcoran's labours in connection with the examinations for the Higher Diploma had scarcely concluded when he had to betake himself to Holland to preside at the second International Congress of Catholic Secondary Education. The meetings of the Congress took place at the Hague each day from 31st .July to 5th August.
Their Excellencies, the Bishops of Holland, were patrons of the Congress, which was attended by some 350 delegates representing the leading Catholic countries. Among the delegates were about 45 members of the Society from lands outside Holland. Prominent among the visitors were the Provincial of the Paris Province, with various Rectors and Prefects of Studies from our French Colleges. Père Yoes de la Brière, the Rectors of Brussels, Namur, Liege and other Belgian Colleges, Fathers Errandonea, Herrera and others from Spain,the French Oratorian Sabatier and various distinguished lay-men from Germany and Italy.
Cardinal Pacelli, in the name of the Holy Father, sent a long and cordial telegram of good wishes to the Congress , also the Nuncio Apostolic in Holland, who was prevented by serious illness from attending in person.
In the absence of the Nuncio the final allocution was delivered by the Bishop of Haarlem, after the Rector Magnificus of the University of Nijmegen and Father Corcoran, as President of the Congress had already spoken. Mr. J. O'Meara from Louvain Messrs. B. Lawler and C. Lonergan from Valkenburg acted as assistants to Father Corcoran at the Hague.
A splendid paper on “The Present Condition of Secondary Education in Ireland” was read by Dr. John McQuaid, the President of Blackrock College. All accounts agree in stating that the Congress was a brilliant success.
As the proceedings at the Hague coincided with the Biennial Conference of the World Federation of Education Associations, Father Corcoran was unable to be present at the functions in Dublin, but an important paper from his pen was read by Mrs McCarville, Lecturer in English in University College, Dublin. This paper expounded the Catholic philosophy of Education.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 77 : Summer 1994 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995
Obituary
Brendan Lawler (1909-1993)

29th Oct. 1909; Born, Bunclody, Co. Wexford
Early education: Clongowes Wood College
Ist Sept. 1926: Entered the Society at Tullabeg
1928 - 1932: Rathfarnham - studying Science (biology) at UCD
1932 - 1935: Valkenburg, Holland, studying Philosophy
1935 - 1938: Innsbruck, studying Theology
17th July 1938: Ordained at Innsbruck
1939 - 1940: Tertianship, Rathfarnham
1940 - 1941: Tullabeg, Professor of Cosmology and Biology
1941 - 1943: 35 Lower Leeson Street, Private Study
1943 - 1962: Tullabeg - Professor of Cosmology and Biology. (From 1953 - '59 he was Rector)
1962 - 1968: Loyola House - Socius to Provincial
1968 - 1992; Milltown Park: Secretary, Institute of Theology/Philosophy, and Lecturer (Philosophy), (1982 Assistant Registrar)
1993: Cherryfield Lodge. Hospitalised in The Royal, Donnybrook and then in Our Lady's Hospice.
16th June 1993. Died Our Lady's Hospice.

For many members of the Irish Province the name of Brendan Lawlor is synonymous with memories of the philosophate in Tullabeg, Once can see him still on a dark day in the tiered lecture-room, reading from the yellowing pages of his cosmology notes or play-acting as to whether the continuum could be found in the drawer or under the table. These memories can be crowned with those of drowsy afternoon sessions with diverting slides portraying the innards of the amoeba. In retrospect one can only admire the patience and endurance of those who, after years of no mean scholastic attainment, accepted from the Society the “world without event” of life in Tullabeg.

Brendan had a distinguished scholastic career behind him when he came to Tullabeg as Professor of Cosmology and Biology in the autumn of 1943. He was one of those “stars” who had been picked out for a four-year Juniorate (1928-1932), ending up with a MSc in biology. In the autumn of 1932 he made his way with Con Lonergan to do his philosophy with the exiled Germans in Valkenburg, and then in 1935 both of them went on to join Donal O'Sullivan for theology in Innsbruck. It was typical of the man that he could spend those years so close to the drama of the rise of Hitler and the Anschluss of Austria and so rarely speak of these momentous events afterwards. Even the theology of the times was rarely mentioned by him, though Innsbruck in those years was the centre of “kerygmatic theology” and of the liturgical and catechetical renewal spearheaded by JA Jungmann. Within a short time of Brendan's leaving Innsbruck the house in Sillgasse was turned into the headquarters of the Gestapo, but Brendan by that time was safely back in Ireland doing further studies in Leeson Street.

It will come as a surprise to most people to realize that by far the longest period Brendan spent in one place was not Tullabeg but Milltown Park. He spent nineteen years in Tullabeg at a stretch, being Rector there from 1953 to 1959. He left the midlands in 1962 to become Socius to the Provincial (1962-68), and after those six years in Eglinton Road was assigned to Milltown Park, where he was to spend the next quarter of a century. For many years during this period he did some teaching in the area of logic, but his principal task was to look after the administrative staff of the Institute and to keep the scholastic records of the students. He was also responsible for organizing what came to be called “Saturday Theology”, a very successful programme of lectures for extra-mural students which, over a period of twenty years, introduced innumerable religious and laity to the mysteries of Vatican II.

For a person who in many respects was the quintessence of predictability, Brendan could be a source of hidden talents. The last instance of this came about only a few weeks before his death, when his community was presented with an amazingly competent landscape which Brendan had painted during occupational therapy in the hospice. Who would have thought that we had another Paul Henry in our midst? Then there was his early interest in the scriptures, which eventually bore fruit in his book, Epistles in Focus, widely read in Ireland at the time, and for many years the only scholarly book on scripture by a member of the Province. During his years as Professor in Tullabeg, he rarely, if ever, published anything in philosophy, but in his final years in Milltown he had some published work in Milltown Studies, including one article of which he was particularly proud, “The Star of Implication” (Milltown Studies, no.5).

Those who knew Brendan in the two main periods of his life, that in Tullabeg and that in Milltown, will have been struck by the contrast between the two, especially if one was a scholastic in the earlier period. In Tullabeg he seemed constrained by the stricter regime of the times. In Milltown his natural humour and spirit of companionship blossomed, so that he became one of the most appreciated members of the community. He maintained amazingly good health, even after retirement, and took a great interest in all that was happening in the world, not least in the world of sport, Brendan before the television-set, with cigarette in hand, was one of the fixtures of Milltown life during those years. This continued up to the time that the onset of Parkinson's necessitated his hospitalization. The decline that set in developed with a speed that surprised us all. The disease took him from us within a matter of months, and so he died at the impressive age of 83. May he rest
in peace.

Ray Moloney

Born: 02 March 1911, Main Street, Newtownbarry, Bunclody, County Wexford
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 08 January 1944, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 04 December 1984, Lisheen, Rathcoole, County Dublin

Chaplain in the Second World War.

Younger Brother of Brendan - RIP

Father was a business man and died in 1914

Youngest of three brothers.

Early education at Dominican Convent Wicklow for two years and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ for seven years.

Transcribed HIB to HK - 03 December 1966; HK to MAC-HK; MAC-HK to CHN

by 1937 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency
by 1941 at Pymble NSW, Australia - studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Donald Lawler, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Donald Lawler, SJ, formerly of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, died in Ireland on Tuesday, 4 December 1984, after a very long illness, aged 73.

Father Lawler was born in Ireland in 1911 and joined the Jesuits in 1928. He came to Hong Kong in 1936. After two years of study of Cantonese, he taught for two years in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. He then studied theology in Australia and was ordained priest there in 1944. After a final year of Jesuit formation in Ireland, he returned to Hong Kong in 1946 and was senior Science Master in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, for thirty years. He suffered a stroke in 1976, and for the rest of his life was as invalid sinking steadily into ever more complete helplessness as the years went by. About five years ago he was brought by hospital plane to Ireland, where the care of his elder brother, also a Jesuit, helped to mitigate the hardship imposed such prolonged illness.

Death came gently.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 14 December 1984

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 20th Year No 2 1945

Frs. J. Collins, D. Lawler and P. Toner, of the Hong Kong Mission, who finished theology at Pymble last January, were able to leave for Ireland some time ago, and are expected in Dublin after Easter.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 60th Year No 1 2 1985

Obituary

Fr Donald Lawlor (1911-1928-1984) (Macau-Hong Kong)

2nd March 1911: born in Bunclody, Co Wexford. 1st September 1928: entered SJ. 1928-30 Tullabeg, noviciate. 1930-33 Rathfarnham, juniorate (physics and chemistry to B. Sc.), 1933-36 Tullabeg, philosophy. 1936-40 Hong Kong (study of Cantonese. 1938-40 teaching in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong). 1940-45 Australia, theology (Pymble, NSW: ordained priest in 1944). 1945-46 Rathfarnham, tertianship. 1946-78 Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, teaching science chiefly. 1979-84 Lisheen nursing home, Rathcoole, Co Dublin.

The following notice of Fr Lawler, written by Fr Alan Birmingham (M-HK), has been copied from Macau-Hong Kong Province Letter no. 265 (12: 1984):

On Tuesday 4th December, Fr Vincent Murphy telephoned from Ireland to tell us that Don Lawler had died a few hours earlier. Everyone's first reaction was one of gratitude for the ending of Don's long Purgatory on earth. There was of course shock in learning that the companion of so many years was no longer in this world, but it would have been hypocritical conventionalism to pretend to sorrow over his death. The Don of the crystal clear mind, the Don of the lithe vigorous body, the Don of unquestioning independence, had gone years before. Death had brought to an end joyless years of fading powers.
Don Lawler received his schooling at Wicklow Convent and at Clongowes Wood College. I first met him when we arrived together to start our noviceship at Tullabeg. His elder brother Brendan took his first vows on the morning after our arrival and he stayed on in Tullabeg for a short time to act as Don's angelus, The Don of noviceship days was in most ways very like the Don of full maturity. He already had a sturdy distaste for loose thinking and for conventional expression or manifestation of piety. Eschewing gush, he had an unrivalled grasp of the theological and spiritual principles underlying noviceship training and the whole Jesuit life. He took his vows in the ambulacrum in Emo Park (newly acquired as the noviciate house) on 2nd September 1930.
He might have been miserable if he had been asked to do an arts degree in the juniorate. It is hard to imagine Don labouring over Wordsworth or Mrs Gaskell. In fact, he worked for a BSc in physics and chemistry. Clear theory derived from exact experiment was what he seemed made for. Philosophy also suited him; Platonism would have seemed to him to be merely sublime vagueness. If he had been born in another age, Descartes' clear and distinct ideas' might have won him: but as it was he found satisfaction in the highly rational Aristotelianism taught by Fr E Coyne. Philosophy always remained one of his major interests.
He had always been deeply interested in the missions, and he felt that one of his dearest dreams was being fulfilled when he was chosen for Hong Kong, along with Paddy Walsh and.me, in 1936.
My abiding friendship with Don dates from that time. In earlier years I had been mildly alarmed by his ruthless intellectualism and his black-and-white judgements on right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, sense and folly. A month with him in a two-man cabin in the Sua Maru was enough to teach me that I had found a true comrade, able to take peculiarities in his stride, and ready to depend on others and to have others depend on him. I never had to alter that judgement.
After two years of not very successful drudgery in the language school, there came the year in Wah Yan in the old Robinson Road building. In that year Don was not merely a teacher. He was a vigorous sportsmaster. He was deeply interested in the boys. He took part in nearly every school activity. In addition he began to make numerous friends round the city. Already, on the way to Hong Kong, he had been the social centre of the ship. Now he seemed to be on to becoming one of the people that everyone knows, almost a second and more scientific Fr George Byrne. The vitality he showed in that year was something unimagined by those who knew him only in later years..
In the summer of 1939, he and I were expecting to sail for Ireland, but the necessary documents did not arrive until later than the date on which Joe Howatson and Seán Turner had sailed in the previous year. When the documents did arrive, late in June, they contained bad news. Don was offered either immediate return to Ireland with removal from the Hong Kong Mission, or a ‘fourth year’ in Wah Yan. Without hesitation he chose the second alternative, and at once set about organising the tasks of the coming year, notably the forthcoming St Vincent de Paul Bazaar (the predecessor of the Caritas Bazaar).
Normally a fourth year in the colleges is a relatively unimportant setback not worthy of obituary mention. Don's fourth year was an exceptionally hard blow, and seems to have changed his whole life. In summer 1939, war was certain. If he did not sail at once, he would not return to Ireland for theology, and the suddenness of the change made this hard to bear. More important probably was the suggestion that he should consider leaving the Mission. He had always cherished missionary hopes; now a cloud had come over them. Joe Howatson, who probably knew Don better than any other Hong Kong Jesuit, once told me that Don had taken the fourth year as a condemnation of all his past expansiveness. Certainly, when I met him again after tertianship, all that side of his life seemed to have vanished, and he had largely withdrawn from the city into Wah Yan. He made friends through his educational committee work and through his abiding interest in games, but the old expansiveness was gone. I never discovered why he got the fourth year. To me he had seemed a model of what a scholastic in the way a college should be. My guess was some of his superiors had worked through mild suggestions and gentle hints, regarding these as sufficient indications of what they wanted to be done. Don, however, was never sensitive to hints. Anything less scientific than a clear and direct statement seemed contumacious when he was quite unconscious of ignoring orders.This, however, is only a guess.
In 1940, he went to Australia for theology, and he was ordained there in January 1944. He liked Australia, and he had many friends there from juniorate and philosophy days. In 1945 he went to Ireland for tertianship.
In 1946 he returned to Hong Kong to start the long career as senior science master that was to last till his strength ailed thirty years later. This was the main work of his Jesuit life, but there is little to be said about it. He was an outstanding and extremely conscientious teacher of physics to the higher forms, and he played a considerable part in the organisation of scientific teaching in the schools of Hong Kong. He was also always ready to take on the instruction of more intellectual converts whom others regarded as formidable. One of these converts is now a Dominican priest. In the 1960s one of the professors in the University of Hong Kong was waging an all too successful war for atheism. Don took him on in a radio debate and by cool and courteous logic won a striking victory that helped to diminish the professor's influence. This debate was almost his only dramatic incursion into public life in his long years as a priest-teacher.
In community life, however, he was no hermit. He was always ready to expound at length any theological, philosophical or scientific theory that came up. Sometimes his expositions would develop nearly into a lecture, but it was a good lecture, clear, orderly, full, and devoid of rhetorical irrelevance or dialectical tricks.
Over the years he was an unremitting student of the Bible, reading it over and over again. He was also careful to keep abreast of scientific progress. For diversion, more and more as the years went by, he turned to scientific fiction, the frivolous counterpart of his work. to him mere whimsy.
No account of Don would be completed without some reference to his congenital tidiness with both time and things. Every action seemed to have its exact unchangeable time - his shower for instance at exactly 6.30 pm. If any visitor to his room moved an ashtray on his desk, Don would put it back where it had been, not chidingly, but because the ashtray had its own unchangeable place. In 1976 he had his first stroke. For a time he tried to carry on, hoping that by using a microphone he could still talk to his classes, but this proved impossible. After a second stroke he was given generous hospitality for some months by the ever-generous Columban Sisters in Ruttonjee Sanatorium. He returned to Wah Yan and was able to take a slight part in community life. He managed to attend his Golden Jubilee dinner for a short period. He was able to concelebrate Mass on extreme invalid terms. He could still read, and a fading memory enabled him to read and reread his favourite scientific fiction books with fresh interest at every reading. Another stroke transformed him into a complete invalid, and he was brought to St Paul's Hospital, Causeway Bay. His hospital room was comfortable and he had plenty of visitors, the Columban Sisters being exceptionally kind. Yet his complete dependence on others must have been galling to one of his independent character. His Cantonese had never been very good, and as his voice was failing he found it almost impossible to communicate with the hospital staff. It was decided that he would be happier in Ireland. He was far too ill to travel by an ordinary plane, but helpful authorities agreed to give him space in a space in a military Red Cross hospital plane. In Ireland, he went first to St Vincent's Hospital and then to Lisheen Nursing Home, Rathcoole, co. Dublin. His brother Brendan and Fr Vincent Murphy were assiduous visitors, despite ever increasing difficulty in communication.
He sank slowly but steadily. Those who visited him during holidays in Ireland brought sadder and sadder news, yet he did not seem to suffer much physically and the gradual dimming of his consciousness of this world probably lessened mental suffering. Always we were waiting for the last news. It came on December 4th.
He worked hard. He suffered much. God be with him. May he be with God.

◆ The Clongownian, 1986

Obituary

Father Donald Lawler SJ

Don Lawler received his schooling at Wicklow Convent before coming on to Clongowes. His elder brother Brendan took his first vows in Tullabeg on the morning after Don's arrival and he stayed on for a short time to act as Don's angelus. The Don of noviceship days was in most ways very like the Don of full maturity. He already had a sturdy distaste for loose thinking and for conventional expression or manifestation of piety. Eschewing gush, he had an unrivalled grasp of the theological and spiritual principles underlying noviceship training and the whole Jesuit life. He took his vows in the abulacrum in Emo Park (newly acquired as the noviciate house) on 2nd September 1930.

He might have been miserable if he had been asked to do an arts degree in the juniorate. It is hard to imagine Don labouring over Wordsworth or Mrs Gaskell. In fact, he worked for a BSc in physics and chemistry. Clear theory from exact experiment was what he seemned made for. Philosophy also suited him; Platonism would have seem to have to be merely sublime vagueness. If he had been born in another age, Descartes clear and distinct ideas might have won him: but as it was he found satisfaction in the highly Aristotelianism taught by Fr E Coyne. Philosophy always remained one of his major interests.

He had always been deeply interested in the missions, and he felt that one of his dearest dreams was being fulfilled when he was chosen for Hong Kong, along with Paddy Walsh in 1936. After two years of not very successful drudgery in the language school, there came the year in Wah Yah in the old Robinson Road building. In that year Don was not merely a teacher. He was a vigorous sportsmaster. He was deeply interested in the boys. He took part in nearly every school activity. In addition he began to make numerous friends around the city. Already, on the way to Hong Kong, he had been the social centre of the ship. Now he seemed to be on the way to becoming one of the people everyone knows, almost a second and more scientific Fr George Byrne. The vitality he showed in that year was something unimagined by those who knew him only in years later.

In 1940 he went to Australia for theology, and he was ordained there in January 1944.

He liked Australia, and he had many friends. there from juniorate and philosophy days. In 1945 he went to Ireland for tertianship.

In 1946 he returned to Hong Kong to start the long career as senior science master that was to last till his strength failed thirty years later. This was the main work of his Jesuit life, but there is little to be said about it. He was an outstanding and extremely conscientious teacher of physics to the Higher forms, and he played a considerable part in the organisation of scientific teaching in the schools of Hong Kong. He was also always ready to take on the instruction of more intellectual converts whom others regarded as formidable.

In community life, however, he was not a. hermit. He was also always ready to expound at length any theological, philosophical or scientific theory that came up. Sometimes his expositions would develop nearly into a lecture, but it was a good lecture, clear, orderly, full and devoid or rhetorcal irrelevance or dialectical tricks.

Over the years he was an unremitting student of the bible, reading it over and over again. He was also careful to keep abreast of scientific progress. For diversion, more and more as the years went by, he returned to scientific fiction, the frivolous counterpart of his scientific work.

In 1976 he had his first stroke. For a time he tried to carry on, hoping that by using a microphone he could still talk to his classes, but this proved impossible. After a second stroke he was given generous hospitality for some months by the ever-generous Columban Sisters in Ruttonjee Sanatorium.

It was decided that he would be happier in Ireland. He was far too ill to travel by an ordinary plane, but helpful authorities agreed to give him space in a military Red Cross hospital plane. In Ireland, he went first to St Vincent's Hospital and then to Lisheen Nursing Home Rathcoole, Co Dublin. His brother Brendan and Fr Vincent Murphy were assiduous visitors, despite ever-increasing difficulty in communication, He sank slowly but steadily.

Alan Birmingham

Born: 28 May 1921, Riverview, Newtownbarry, Bunclody, County Wexford
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1956, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 14 April 2001, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare

Father was a doctor and died in 1935. Mother died in 1924. Father remarried.

Second of three boys with one sister.

Early education at Dominican Convent Wicklow he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1932-1938)

by 1982 at Regis Toronto, Canada (CAN S) Sabbatical

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Raymond Lawler was born in Co. Wexford, Ireland on 28 May 1921. Fr Raymond (Ray) came to Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school, as a small boy of eleven years. Little did he realise that he would spend almost half of his life there as teacher, prefect of studies, higher line prefect, and finally as third line Spiritual Father which he was when he died at the age of 80. Clongowes (CWC) was the love of his life (apart from golf) and it was a mutual relationship between him and the successive generations of boys – always a difficult and critical body, who held him in high esteem. After the funeral Mass, members of his family and students of the school carried his coffin along the Third Line gallery where he had passed so often in the final six years of his ministry. A guard of honour was formed by present and past pupils in a moving tribute to someone who had come to mean so much to so many young people over so many years.

Ray followed the normal formation of the Society: humanities (BA honours in Latin and French), philosophy, regency in Crescent, Limerick and CWC, and theology in Milltown Park where he was ordained on the feast of St Ignatius in 1952. After tertianship, he was posted to CWC as teacher and then prefect of studies for eight years. An official visitor from Rome to the Province did some shuffling of personnel and Ray found himself changed to Belvedere College for two years. He returned quietly to CWC in 1964 again as higher line prefect (1964 - 68) and teacher from 1968 to 1981.

Now at the age of sixty, Ray had a sabbatical in Toronto. Then came a big change in his life when he opted to come to Zambia, Africa where he spent two years teaching French and Scripture to the novices in Lusaka. Fr Bob Kelly went on sabbatical for a year and left his gleaming new car in charge of Ray whose talents did not extend to motor maintenance! But this was ideal for Ray to ferry himself and his clubs to the nearby golf course. He had a passion for birds and was appreciative of anyone who helped him add to his beautiful collection of Zambian bird stamps.

When he returned to Ireland he worked in Tullabeg as Director of the Spiritual Exercises for a year followed by ten years at Gardiner Street Church as parish chaplain. Like a captain viewing the horizon from the bridge of his ship, Ray looked south to his beloved CWC and at the age 74 moved there to be third line spiritual Father.

He enjoyed good health to the end. He preached on Holy Thursday to the past pupils who were on retreat in CWC and played golf all Good Friday afternoon. He died in his room on Holy Saturday following a massive heart attack, on the 14 April 2001 at the age of 80.

Ray was a man who found God in all things whether playing cards, scrabble, chess, whether on the golf course, whether teaching, whatever he was doing he was never far from God. Before he left for Zambia, the school made him a presentation of a set of golf clubs. The school secretary said in his speech, ‘If there were a university degree for gentleness, I think that Father Lawler would have a PhD’. His character was summed up in the phrase “a lovable and loving person”.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 108 : Special Edition 2001

Obituary
Fr Raymond (Ray) Lawler (1921-2001)
28th May 1921: Born in Bunclody
Early education at Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1946 - 1948: Crescent College - Regency
1948 - 1949: Clongowes Wood College - Regency
1949 - 1953: Milltown - Studying Theology
31 July 1952: Ordained at Milltown
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1962: Clongowes Wood College - Teacher
2nd Feb 1956: Final Vows
1956 - 1962: Clongowes - Prefect of Studies
1962 - 1964: Belvedere - Teacher
1964 - 1968: Clongowes - Higher Line Prefect
1968 - 1981: Clongowes - Teacher
1981 - 1982: Sabbatical Year
1982 - 1984: Zambia
1984 - 1985: Tullabeg - Director of Spiritual Exercises
1985 - 1995: Gardiner Street - Parish Chaplain
1995 - 2001: Clongowes - Third Line Spiritual Father; Assisted in Cherryfield
14th April 2001: Died Clongowes Wood College

Ray enjoyed good health to the end. He preached on Holy Thursday to the Past Pupils, who were on Retreat in Clongowes, and played golf on Good Friday afternoon. He died in his room on Holy Saturday following a massive heart attack. He will be greatly missed by all, but particularly by his beloved Third Liners.

Michael Sheil writes

When Ray Lawler came to Clongowes as a young boy of 11 in 1932, he had already spent 7 years in boarding school. At the tender age of 4 he had started his academic career in Dominican Convent, Wicklow. When he died suddenly in Clongowes at Easter, he had experienced over three-quarters of a century of institutional living.

He once described his birthplace, Bunclody, as the back of beyond (he was preaching at the funeral Mass of his neighbour and friend Dr Tom Murphy, former President of UCD, who lived “a bit beyond that”!) But he was always loyal to Wexford and rejoiced when good fortune came the way of their teams,

After leaving Clongowes, where he figured prominently at cricket and rugby, Ray followed the usual pattern of Jesuit formation in the 40s and 50s, studying Arts at UCD, philosophy in Tullabeg. He did his regency in Crescent College and Clongowes and was ordained on 31 July 1952. Afterwards Tertianship in Rathfarnham followed and then began his long association with his beloved Clongowes.

He filled a number of posts there, beginning as a Teacher for 5 years and then as Prefect of Studies for a further 3, until in the general mass migrations which signalled Fr Visitor's (McMahon) passage through the Province in 1962, Ray moved to Belvedere,

My own memories of him go way back to 1949 when, in my first year in the Third Line in Clongowes, we used to hear everyone talking about the marvellous Mr Lawler, who had left the year before. For he had just finished his regency there. In my last two years, I had him for Latin and French and Religion - and was able to realize for myself just why he had been held in such high esteem by that most discerning - if not downright difficult, critical body - the students themselves!

After two short years in Belvedere, Ray returned for what was to be his longest stint in Clongowes - 17 years, until 1981. He began as Higher Line Prefect ( 4 years) and rejoined the teaching staff for the remainder of that time. He was an excellent teacher of French and duly coached rugby and cricket (he played cricket regularly for the local club, North Kildare.) But it was during this time that he fell in love...he discovered the joys of golf! He became a regular sight on the College's golf course and competed frequently in competitions in Naas Golf Club. One year he came home with no less than 5 turkeys won there. And the school's S.R.P.A. (The Society for the Relief of the Poor and Aged - founded by Fr Brian Cullen) was the happy beneficiary.

He was still here when I returned as Higher Line Prefect in 1975 and was a marvellous companion in Community .... and I don't ever remember getting the better of him in a game of golf! Before the golf course was as good as it is today, he used to practise hitting golf balls from the Third Line rugby pitches on to the cricket oval - in all kinds of weather. I remember one day taking a Senior Rugby Practice in miserable, cold, sleety weather. After a while the Captain dared to suggest that we were only wasting our time, for it was too cold to do anything really useful. But I insisted that we might have to play a Cup match in such conditions (as indeed turned out to be the case - it even snowed!). So we battled on. However, after a while, the Captain approached me again and said, “Look, Fr Lawler has gone in!” “All right”, I said, “if it's too cold for Fr Lawler, then it's too cold for us!” And so in we went!

Six years ago we both returned together for what was to be such a wonderful Indian summer of his life. The story is told of how a fellow-Jesuit, on meeting Ray shortly after that change to CWC was announced, said that he had heard that it had taken him only 5 minutes to accept to come back here as Spiritual Father to the Third Line. The story goes that Ray got quite angry at the suggestion and protested that that was an awful thing to say about him. His companion - unused to see the usually placid Ray showing anger - back-pedalled a bit and said that it was only what he had heard from someone else. But Ray was only having him on - and to put him out his agony explained that 5 minutes was a gross exaggeration - it had taken him only 5 seconds! Just after he died, someone said: Surely he is in heaven - to which the reply came back: Sure he arrived in heaven when he came back to Clongowes! That speaks wonders for the spirit which he helped to encourage. It also means that the boys themselves had a part to play in making him so happy - in making him what he was - a lovable and loving person.

When he left CWC in 1981 to go to Zambia - the school made Fr Lawler a presentation of - surprise, surprise! - a set of clubs ... for that, even then, was his great pastime love. In his speech in the Concourse, the School Secretary said something which I never forgot - and which summed Ray up to perfection. “If there were a University degree for gentleness - I think that Fr Lawler would have a PhD.!” For that was indeed one of his great qualities.

On his return to Clongowes in 1995 he became Spiritual Father (or, as some used to say, Spiritual Grandfather!) and he became a central figure in the lives of very many young boys - some of them desperately homesick - and of their parents. The testimony of the great number of letters of sympathy written to the Community bears witness to this. His night prayer with Third Line was spiritual and deeply thought out - informal and always interesting - relevant and touching the lives of Third Liners where they were. How appropriate was it - however much it brought a lump to the throat - to see him on the recent RTE programme, leading this year's Opening Assembly last September, for what was to be the last time - reminding the assembled school of the importance of what really brought the school community together - when they gather to give thanks and glory to God.

St Ignatius of Loyola wanted his companions to be able to find God in all things. And, surely, didn't Ray do just that?! Whether playing cards - scrabble - chess - whether on the golf-course (as he was on the very day before he died) - whether teaching the yoyo (the very first online purchase made by CWC on the internet was yoyo string!) whatever Ray was doing - wherever he was - he was never far from God. For God was never far from him. Psalm 138 (139) was his favourite and he often quoted the lines: “It was you who created my being... ...I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation”. The Psalm ends with the words: “See that I follow not the wrong path and lead me in the path of life eternal”.

And so God did come to lead Ray home - as quietly as he had lived - in the silence of a Holy Saturday morning. As the Church waited to celebrate again the great Feast of Christ's Resurrection Ray left for a better place. Although his funeral took place during the school holidays at Easter, the College Chapel was full for Mass. Afterwards, members of his family and students of the school carried his coffin along the Third Line gallery (where he had passed so often in the final six years of his ministry.) A guard of honour was formed by present and past pupils in a moving tribute to someone who had come to mean so much to so many young people over so many years. In Clongowes Ray continues to be an inspiration to his Brethren who remember with gratitude and affection his pleasant companionship. And his memory will long be held in reverence in the school where he spent nearly half of his long and full life.

Born: 15 March 1907, Durham Place, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin
Entered: 05 January 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1979
Died: 17 January 1994, St Xavier’s College, Bihar, India - Ranchi Province (RAN)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931; ASL to RAN : 12 March 1956

Father was a journalist with the Irish Times. Parents live at Guanamara, Dalkey, County Dublin

One of five boys with two sisters.

Early education at Prentation Brothers College, Dun Laoghaire (Glasthule)

Socius to Vice-Provincial Austin Kelly in Australia

by 1930 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Gerald Lawlor was the fifth and youngest son of seven children. His father, James, had lived in London as a young man and had trained as a stenographer. His mother, Frances Teasdale, was born of a Protestant family, but later became a Catholic. His early education was entrusted to the Presentation Brothers in Dublin, and through the instrumentality of a Loreto Sister he came to experience Jesuit mission-preacher. Lawlor decided to become a Jesuit. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 5 January 1925. His juniorate studies were at Rathfarnham Dublin, when he studied for a BA at the National University of lreland, graduating with honors. He studied philosophy at Chieri, Italy and at Tullabeg. During these years, Lawlor had a growing desire to become a missionary. He was at first interested in China, then Russia, and finally Australia. He was sent to Australia for regency for four years at St Aloysius' College, Sydney. He was a memorable teacher and well liked by the boys. In the autumn of 1936 Lawlor went to England for his theology studies at Heythrop College. He was ordained, 31 July 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II, and returned a year later to Australia. The story of his trip on the boat, which rammed an enemy submarine, was recalled with exciting detail. After his return, he worked in the parish of North Sydney, taught philosophy at Loyola College Watsonia, and taught secondary students at St Louis School, Perth. He was then appointed socius to the vice-provincial, Austin Kelly, in 1947. In mid-January 1952 Lawlor was assigned to the new mission in India, where he was head of the department of English at St Xavier's College, Ranchi. Except for short periods, he was to remain at the college for the rest of his life. Lawlor was experienced as a man of genuine culture and innate courtesy, as well as a distracted, wistful person. He was a remarkable teacher, dramatising what was dull and making it come alive, by illustrating whatever seemed too abstruse or complex. He was also interested in and successful in directing a variety of plays with his own personal flair. He even wrote his own dramas that were well received. Another important ministry of Lawlor's was pastoral care for the English-speaking Catholics of Ranchi. He was experienced as a caring, assiduous pastor, compassionate to all. He was always available to people, his door always open, and his alms giving was most generous, even to the apparently undeserving poor. He was called the “Messiah of the Shunned”, a title given to him for his work with the Missionaries of Charity and for the rehabilitation of leprosy sufferers. He rejoiced in Vatican II, claiming that it gave him a real sense of freedom, but the movement of the Spirit never gave him fluency in Hindi. He was a true charismatic whose usual mode in every relationship was the theatrical-dramatic. Added to that was his personal aura, the air of mystery that seemed to surround him no matter where he went or what he did. The end result was that he always made an impact on people and situations. It was never easy to challenge his ideas and never easy for him to accept those of others. He was a man once encountered, never forgotten.

Note from John Phillips Entry
Regency was at Riverview, where, with Gerald Lawlor, he produced a notebook called “Notes on European History”, designed to remedy deficiencies in the presentation of Catholic aspects of history.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948
Extracts from a letter from Fr. P. J. Stephenson, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne :
“... We had brilliant results last year. Xavier boys won 28 1st Class Honours and 68 2nd Class Honours in the December Examinations, 1947. Besides that, they won Exhibitions in Greek, French and Physics ; and four General Exhibitions and 2 Free Places in the University. That was a fine record for a class of about 40 boys. Five Xavierians joined the Noviceship this year : four were boys just left school. An Old Xavierian took his LL.B. Degree and became a Dominican.
Fr. Mansfield has been kept going since his arrival. He will be a great addition to our staff as he can take over the Business Class and the Economic Class. Fr. Lawlor came over from W.A. about three weeks ago and has taken up the duties of Socius to Fr. Provincial. Fr. Boylan and his assistant Editor of the Messenger leave for Ireland and Rome soon”.

Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977

Calcutta Province

Extract from a letter from a Jesuit of Calcutta Province, Darjeeling Region (Fr. Edward Hayden, St. Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling, Western Bengal)

I was one of the old “Intermediate” boys of the Christian Brothers, Carlow. I left off in 1910, 67 years ago, at the end of June. Yes, we learnt the Gaeilge. The Brothers - or some I met, one in particular, a Brother Doyle, was very keen on it. The others didn't teach it as it was only in the “Academy” that they began with languages: French, Gaeilge, Algebra, Euclid and of course English. (5th Book - Senior Elementary Class - was followed by the “Academy”). The Brothers had dropped Latin just before I joined the “Academy”. We were living at a distance of 5 Irish miles from Carlow, and I was delicate, so I often fell a victim of 'flu, which didn't help me to make progress in studies - made it very hard: but at that time the rule was “do or die”. There was only one excuse for not having home work done – you were dead! That was the training we had: it stood me in good stead through life; it is the one thing I am grateful for.
We had a number of Irishmen here, a handful: Fr Jos Shiel, Mayo, died in Patna. Fr James Comerford, Queen's County, died in Bihar. I met the Donnelly brothers, they were Dubliners. The one who died (Don) was Editor of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Many of his stories were about horse-racing - he must have read plenty of Nat Gould when he was a boy! (Nat wrote a number of horse-racing stories supposed to have been in Australia). There are three Irishmen in Ranchi: Frs Donnelly, Phelan and Lawlor. Fr Phelan has spent nearly his whole life in India. As a boy he was in North Point, and after his Senior Cambridge he joined the Society. At that time there was only the Missio Maior Bengalensis of the Belgian Province. The Mission took in half or more of north-east India - Patna, Ranchi and south of it, Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim - an area four or five times that of Ireland! Needless to say, there were parts of it which had no SJ within a hundred miles ...Down here in the Terai where I am “hibernating” out of the cold of Darjeeling, some forty-five years ago there was no priest. One or two of the professors of theology from Kurseong, some 40 miles away, used to visit this district at Christmas and Easter. It was very malarious. Catholics from Ranchi came here to work on the tea plantations. Then a Jesuit was sent to reside in it. Now the district has schools and Jesuits galore, also non-Jesuits. Great progress has been made. The Salesians took up Assam, the American SJs took over Patna. The Northern Belgians took over Ranchi and the Southern Belgians took Calcutta. (The Belgian Province grew till its numbers reached 1400. Then, about 1935, Belgian separated into Flemings - North - and Walloons - South). Ranchi was given to the North and Calcutta to the South. On the 15th August last year (1976) Calcutta was raised from being a Vice Province to be a full-blown Province. 100% of those joining the SJ now are sons of India. Madura in the south has been a Province for years. Nearly all the Europeans are dead: no more are allowed to come permanently unless for a very, very special reason, India has begun to send her sons to East Africa in recent years.
Fr Lawlor is Irish-born but somehow joined the Australian Province about the time it started a half-century or so ago.
Brother Carl Kruil is at present in charge of an ashram: a place for destitutes, in Siliguri. Silguri is a city which grew up in the last forty years around the terminus of the broad gauge railway and the narrow (two-foot) toy railway joining the plains with Darjeeling - one of the most wonderful lines in the world, rising from 300 feet above sea-level, 7,200 feet in about 50 miles and then dropping down to about 5,500 feet in another ten. Three times it loops the loop and three times climbs up by zig-zags. I seem to remember having met Fr Conor Naughton during the war. Quite a number of wartime chaplains came to Darjeeling. The mention of Siliguri set me off rambling. Br Krull remembers his visit to Limerick. (He stayed at the Crescent, 11th 13th June, 1969). He is a born mechanic. Anything in the line of machinery captivates him. He has to repair all the motors and oil engines – some places like this have small diesel generators which have to be seen to from time to time and all other kinds of machinery: cameras, typewriters etc. At present he comes here to do spot welding (electric welding of iron instead of bolts and nuts.
The PP, here is replacing an old simple shed with a corrugated iron roof by a very fine one with brick walls and asbestos-cement roof. Two years ago or so, the roof was lifted by a sudden whirlwind clean off the wooden pillars on which it rested. Since then he has been saying the Sunday Masses on the veranda of a primary school. In this school 235 children receive daily lessons and a small mid-day meal. The Sisters are those of St. Joseph of Cluny – all from South India. They are really heroines: no work is too difficult for them. They do all their own work and cook for us. Their Vice-Provincial is from somewhere in the centre of the “Emerald Gem”. They are growing in numbers and do great work, running a dispensary amongst other things. The church is very broad, approximately 90 by 60 feet. As no benches are used - people sit on the floor - it will hold nearly 450 people at a time. The altar is in one corner. :
Fr Robert Phelan (Ranchi Province) had a visit one night from dacoits (armed robbers), but with help managed to beat them off.
Ranchi had several of these raids last year. In nearly every case the dacoits managed to get some cash.
One night about two weeks ago a rogue elephant (one that is wild and roaming away from the herd) came to a small group of houses close by. A man heard the noise and came out. The elephant caught him by the leg and threw him on to a corn stack - fortunately. The corn stack of rice waiting to be thrashed was quite broad and flat on top! He was very little the worse for the experience. And that is the end of the news.
One more item: please ask the new Editor of the Irish Province News to let me have copies as (?) and send them by overland (surface mail). Even if they are three months coming, they will be news. God bless you and reward you handsomely.
Yours in our Lord,
Edward Hayden, SJ (born 15th October 1893, entered S.J. Ist February 1925, ordained 21st November 1933, took final vows on 2nd February 1936. Now conf. dom. et alumn. and script. hist. dom. at the above address).

Born: 28 October 1911, Mary Street, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 06 December 1989, St John’s Hospital, Limerick

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

Father was a tailor’s cutter.Family moved to Ballinacurra, Limerick City, County Limerick.

Third of five boys with five sisters.

Educated at Christian Brothers in Limerick (Sexton Street). He then went to the De La Salle Training College in Waterford., and became a National School Teacher. He then taught at Mungret College SJ for one year.

Grew up, 3 County View Terrace, Ballinacurra, Limerick.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Teacher at Mungret College before Entry

Born: 31 May 1825, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 26 August 1851, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1856
Final Vows: 25 March 1865
Died: 18 June 1879, St Ignatius College Prep, Chicago, IL, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 04 April 1912, Richmond Hill, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 26 January 1984, Dublin, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin

Father was an accountant.

Youngest of three boys.

Early education at CBC Cork and 1 year of Science at NUI before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 59th Year No 2 1984

Obituary

Fr Hilary Lawton (1912-1929-1984)

Entered Tullabeg 7th September 1929. First vows 8th September 1931.
Juniorate, Rathfarnham 1931-33. Philosophy, Tullabeg 1933-36. Regency, Clongowes 1936-39. Theology, Milltown 1939-43; ordained 13th May 1942. Tertianship. Rathfarnham 1943-34. Apostolate: Clongowes: teaching, 1944-47; Prefect of studies, 1947-59; Rector, 1959-65. Crescent College: teaching, 1965-66; Prefect of studies, 1966-71. Crescent College Comprehensive: Administrative assistant, 1971-74. Loyola: Socius to Provincial, 1974-80. Leeson street: Minister, 1980-81; Superior, 1981-84.
Hilary joined us for First Probation in September 1929 at Tullabeg. I can see him, a spruce slight young man in a bowler hat and light tweed coat, mounting the steps to the hall-door while we sat in the sunshine in the Spiritual meadow'. He was then the youngest of us all in years - and yet, at 17, somehow our senior; for we had, none of us, attained higher academic distinction than a Leaving Certificate or Matriculation, but Hilary had an Honours First Science qualification from UCC to his credit, with all the sophistication, real or imagined, that was festooned around such.
“Festoons” - that word, I think, sums up - one of the most engaging characteristics that we all can recall of Hilary - his festooning of his memoirs and adventures. Though one of the most private of men, he would tell many a tale of his boyhood, youth, and as years went by, of his later experiences - tales that gave rise to much enjoyment in his own family and a certain scepticism among his contemporaries and brethren. Yet there was always, as careful sifting revealed, a hard kernel of fact: the rest was an artistic verisimilitude' festooning the “bald and unconvincing narrative”.
Among the hard facts were indeed his being directed to the Society by the late Archbishop Finbar Ryan, OP, who was prior of the Dominicans in Cork when Hilary was a boy. Another: he played the organ in the Dominican church, Pope’s quay, Cork, being a student of the Royal College of Organists. He must have been quite an exceptionally brilliant school boy. He matriculated at the age of sixteen, was apparently considered by his teachers at “Christians' College, Cork”, suitable material to attempt an Entrance scholarship at Cambridge (this is the fact behind his working in the Cavendish laboratory and his “coxing of the College Eight”). Though he did qualify for an honours Science degree and was an excellent teacher of science in Clongowes, academic ambitions seemingly held no very great attraction for him.
Hilary's interest and competence in music - both organ and piano, and I believe the viola - has left quite a mark on the Province, notably in Clongowes, where he spent so many years. Organist as novice, junior, philosopher; choirmaster as a scholastic in Clongowes (where he followed another little remembered musician of the Irish Province, Fr Sydney Lennon † 1979); organist and choirmaster in Milltown, he trained many of us both in execution and appreciation of classical ecclesiastical music. As one who followed Hilary's footsteps as choirmaster in Clongowes and in Milltown, I can testify to the results of his training of the choirs which I took over from him. He was choirmaster, finally, of the choir of the Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent. Limerick: but then the great days of church music were fading, if they had not already faded, and scope for his gifts and interests were unhappily narrowed. Perhaps it is worth recording (for posterity!) that he and I collaborated in editing a Hymnbook for Clongowes. Mungret and our scholasticates ... Our hopes of a total acceptance of this product were never realised. One man's hymn is another man's horror!
I must leave to others a fuller appreciation of Hilary's work for Clongowes throughout his eighteen years there as Prefect of studies and Rector, (cf, the obituary notice in the Clongownian). One knew by report what he was doing in upbuilding the lay staff, in imaginative curriculum development, in the creation of one of the finest music schools, both choral and orchestral, in the country. Interspersed of course was the occasional account of his own doings from Hilary himself, never wanting in the “festoons” of “corroborative details”.
It would ill become me were I not to record that the burgeoning of Sacred Heart College, The Crescent into Crescent College Comprehensive Dooradoyle, would have been fraught with immense difficulties were it not for Hilary's calm, unperturbed, meticulous planning of the transfer. As the Headmaster's Administrative Assistant' - a post created for him by the Department of Education! - we had flawless “ignition and lift-off”. I think Hilary really enjoyed his short spell in Dooradoyle: and he regretted his return to the metropolis.
So much for his public career, so to speak. He was as I said a most private man, his stories of his life-adventures maybe only covering up his desire for privacy. As a friend he was ever-cheerful and even tempered. He enjoyed company; enjoyed his hobbies of photography and music-making; enjoyed the frequent visits to the ruined abbeys and castles which dot the counties of Limerick, Tipperary and Clare (how many he visited in some eight years!). We could and did go on villa together for twenty-odd years, and could year by year contemplate going (but never did go, unfortunately) on foot to Compostella for the feast of St James.
What more can I say? “He was my friend, faithful and true to me ...” May God have him in his keeping and may we be merry together in heaven.
SH

Born: 1545, Cloyne, County Cork
Entered: 24 June 1570, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Provine (ROM)
Died: 23 July 1586, Cork

Alias MacMuiris

1574 General Catalogue Aged 27 in Rome 24 June 1570. Made vows 6 months later. Studied 2 years Theology at Roman College (1573-1584). A prisoner on parole and practising medicine. In Ireland was teaching under the Bishop of Cork

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Dr Morris Lea
Educated at Paris, Oxford and Cologne
Taught School in Youghal in 1575
Was imprisoned for the faith; Was a Physician and Surgeon who gave great relief to Archbishop O’Hurley, who in June 1584 had been tortured by having his legs broiled in a fire.
Perhaps he was “Mauritius”
(cf "Hibernia Ignatiana" p28 and O’Sullivan Beare’s “Hist” p 125)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Charles Leae SJ 1545-1586
The fellow labourer of Fr Rochfort in the school at Youghal was Fr Leae.

He was born in Cloyne in 1545. His father was a doctor of medicine, Charles Morris Leae. Charles studied at Paris, Oxford and Cologne, and finally entered the Society on June 24th 1570. Rome was the scene of his activities for some years. Then in 1575 he came to Ireland with Bishop Tanner of Cork,

He taught in the school at Youghal till 1579, in which year Bishop Tanner died. Fr Leae was captured and put in prison in Dublin. Hence he was released on account of his skill in medicine and was allowed a certain amount of freedom to move around the city. He was known by his fathers name Charles MacMorris.

In the course of his official duties he attended Archbishop Hurley after his torture by the English : A worthy priest names Charles MacMorris of the Society, skilled in medicine, found access to the archbishop and treated his wounds with such skill that in a few days, he was enabled to sit up in bed”. Fr Leae continued to work in Dublin for some years after the execution of the Archbishop.

His death in 1586 brought to an end the Second Mission of the Society of Jesus to Ireland.

◆ Rev. Edmund Hogan SJ : “Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century” - London : Burns and Oates, Limited, New York, Cincinnati : Chicago, Benzinger Brothers, 1894 : Quarterly Series : Volume Ninety

Father Charles Leae

Father Rochfort's fellow-labourer in Youghal was Father Charles Leae; he was born in the town of Cloyne, co. of Cork, in the year 1545; his father was Morris Leae, a doctor of medicine, and probably the same whom Stanihurst called “Leie a learned and expert physician”. His mother's maiden name was Mary Sheehy or Hickey; he had studied literature from his early years, and was educated at Paris, Oxford, and Cologne. He became a Jesuit in Rome on June 24, 1570; in 1575 he came to Ireland with Bishop Tanner and Father Rochfort, and taught school, and preached at Youghal and in the surrounding districts up to the year 1579, when Dr. Tanner died, after having endured great sufferings in prison for eighteen months. Father Leae remained in Ireland, and was captured and imprisoned, as we may gather from the following narrative, if we remember that an Irishman was very often called after his father's Christian name, and that Charles the son of Morris Leae would be named Charles McMorris. On the 4th of June, 1584, Diarmait O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, was hanged in Dublin for the profession of the Faith. Some days before his execution, his feet and legs were forced into boots filled with oil and salt, and a fire was put under them. The oil heated by the flames, penetrating the soles and other parts, tortured him in an intolerable manner, and “his skin fell from the flesh and portions of the flesh from the bare bones”. There happened to be then at Dublin a priest of the Society of Jesus, named Charles MacMorris, who had much experience in medicine and surgery, and who had been himself confined in prison by the English, but was released on account of the skill with which he had treated some noblemen who were dangerously ill. This Father visited the Archbishop and applied some remedies which gave him great relief. The hideous details of the roasting are confirmed by the State Papers, and must for ever brand with infamy the names of Loftus and Wallop. I lose sight of Father Leae after this; I know not whether he was able to remain in Ireland for some time going about under various disguises, and instructing and consoling the Catholics of that country, or whether he was driven away by the fury of persecution, and was sent by his Superiors to teach in the Continental Colleges - a task for which he was well fitted by his University training. He was certainly dead before the year 1609. I was fortunate enough to find the following entry, written by him in the Roman Novice Book on the 24th of June, 1570 : “I was born in the town of Cloyne, diocese of Cork; my father and mother are dead; my father was Maurice Leae, a Doctor of Medicine, my mother's maiden name was Mary Chihi. From my earliest years I have devoted myself to learning; I have studied one year at Paris, then I went to the University of Oxford, and lastly I have read Logic and Philosophy during three years at Cologne, when I took the degree of Master of Logic and Philosophy. I promise to observe all the rules, constitutions, and mode of life of the Society, and to do whatever the Society shall order. In witness of which I subscribe this with my hand, CHARLES LEAE”. In the same book I found these items : Charles Leae, an Irishman, made his first vows. in the Professed House on January 17, 1571, on the 24th of

Born: 1605, County Waterford
Entered: 11 June 1626 - Villarejo, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Final Vows: 28 March 1644, Paraguay
Died: 15 March 1675, Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia - Nuevo Reino Mission : COL, ECU, VEN (NEU REI)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
In pencil 1628 At Villareal

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
Shortly after Entry was sent to South America and was the first Irishman to enter the new Province of “Nuevo Reino” (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela)
Having completed his studies at Santa Fé de Bogotá, he engaged in missionary work, being a distinguished preacher in Spanish and Indian languages.
1641 Minister at Fontibón Residence (suburb of Bogotá)
1655 Professor of Theology at Santa Fé de Bogotá
1656-1663 Rector of Merida College, Venezuela
1664-1671 Rector of Pamplona College, Colombia

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Francis Lea SJ 1605-1675
Fr Francis Lea of Waterford was the first Irishman to join the Province of Nuevo Reino, comprising the modern South American States of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

He was born in 1605 and he entered the Society at Villarejo in Spain in 1626, whence he passed soon to South America.

He did his studies at Santa Fe de Bogota and thereafter was engaged in missionary work. He was a distinguished preacher in Spanish and Indian. Later on in his life he was engaged in administration and professing, being Rector in Venezuela and Colombia.

He died at Santa Fe de Bogota in 1675 after a strenuous life of missionary and administrative activity.

Born: 1619, County Meath
Entered: 25 March 1644, Kilkenny
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 27 March 1650, County Kilkenny - described as a Martyr of Charity

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He was the first Novice to enter at Kilkenny. The foundress of this house was Lady Elizabeth Nugent, sister of the Earl of Westmeath. She died 26 October 1645 “A true mother of the Society in Ireland”, quoted from a letter of Robert Nugent 31 October 1645 (cf Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS).
He died a victim of charity in attending the plague stricken in Kilkenny with four companions.
He is highly eulogised in Drew’s “Fasti SJ”. S great was the opinion of his sanctity, that people would run in crowds from the houses to kiss the hem of his garment as he passed, being attracted by the sweet odour of virtue beaming from his face and entire person.
Besides being distinguished for his learning, he was skilled in the medical science, of which he made full use in his missionary career. He was described as a “doctor by nature, and he seems to have the gift of healing. Taught in Kilkenny 1648, he was a Martyr of Charity. He qualified to profess with éclat Theology, Philosophy and Medicine. A man of extraordinary learning and holiness.
He is also named in Mercure Verdier’s long Report on the Irish Mission 1641-1650 made to the General, a copy of which from the English College in Rome is at the Library of the Public Record Office, London.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Already Ordained before Ent 1646 Kilkenny
His skill as a 'natural doctor' was widely known and commented on by the visitator, Mercure Verdier. But while ministering to the plague-stricken he fell a victim to the disease himself and died at Kilkenny 27/03/1650. Described as being a “Martyr” (of charity?)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick Lee SJ 1619-1650
Patrick Lee was the first novice admitted to the new Novitiate in Kilkenny in 1644. He died a martyr of charity during a plague which broke out in Kilkenny in 1650. “It is incredible” says Dr Oliver, “how this angel of comfort assisted, relieved and restored so many of his fellow creatures, by his heroic courage and active zeal and medical services; for he was a skilful physician of the body as well as of the soul”. It is interesting to note that he was a physician like his namesake and fellow Jesuit Lea, who attended Archbishop Hurley in his torture and death. It seems to prove that they came from the same old Gaelic stock who were devoted to medicine.

So great was the opinion of the sanctity of Fr Lee amongst the people that they used to run in crowds from their houses to kiss the hem of his garments as he passed. It happened that poor man he was attending died. The body was spreading contagion all around. Ft Lee took up the body in his arms and carried it to a nearby cemetery, and digging a grave he buried it. Owing to the heated conditions he was in and the contact with the corpse, he was stricken down with the fatal disease. As soon as it was known that he was dying, the people hurried to get his blessing and it was said that many were cured by touching his gown.

He had been received into the Society on the eve of the Annunciation and before he went to attend the dying he declared to others that he himself would die on the anniversary of his reception. And so it came to pass.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LEE, PATRICK, was the first Novice admitted into the house of Probation at Kilkenny. In this Novitiate,* erected under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin Mary, F. Lee imbibed the genuine spirit of the Society, which is essentially the spirit of zeal and charity. Whilst in the prime of life, this fervent and highly gifted Father devoted himself to the care of the infected, when Kilkenny was ravaged with the pestilence. It is incredible how this angel of comfort assisted, relieved and restored so many of his fellow creatures by his heroic courage, active zeal, and medical services : for he was the Physician of body as well as of soul. At length he fell a victim of charity on the 27th of March, 1650, (the day before the town surrendered to the besiegers,) in the most edifying sentiments of piety and joy. His death was justly regarded as a public calamity.

• The founders of the Novitiate was the Lady Elizabeth Nugent, (Countess of Kildare, and sister to the Earl of Westmeath.) who died, after an illness of eight months, most piously, on the 26th of October, 1645. “Haec vere erat Mater Societatis nostrae in hoc Regno”, says F. Robert Nugent in his letter of the 31st of October, 1645. This Novitiate flourished at Kilkenny for four years, under that able master of spirituality, F. John Young. It was then removed to Gal way in 1649, and in the autumn of the year following, the young men were transferred to the Continent, and drafted among the various provinces of the Society.

Born: 22 July 1920, County View Terrace, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1978, Mazabuka, Seminary, Choma, Zambia
Died: 26 October 2004, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin Dublin - Zambia-Malawi province (ZAM)

Part of the Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia community at the time of death.

Brother of Henry (Harry) Leahy - LEFT 10 January 1944 for medical reasons; Uncle of Niall Leahy SJ

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 01 December 1977

Parents were supported by business.

Eldest of three boys with six sisters.

Early education was at a National School in Limerick and then at Crescent College SJ.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Brother of Henry (Harry) Leahy - LEFT 10 January 1944 for medical reasons

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
To look at Fr Maurice, a rather frail figure, one would not imagine that he was a fine rugby player on the school team during his schooldays at the Crescent College, Limerick. In a way, Maurice was a Limerick man through and through. He was born there on 22 July 1920, grew up there and went to school there. He was a bright student coming top of his class year by year and winning many prizes. He was a good sportsman and athlete, playing on the school junior and senior rugby teams. With those long thin legs of his he was, not surprisingly, the Boys’ High Jump Champion of Limerick.

He joined the Society in 1937 at Emo Park, took Latin and History at University, studied philosophy at Tullabeg and went back to Limerick for regency to his old school. After ordination at Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1952, he spent six years at Gonzaga College in Dublin teaching and holding the job of minister. From 1960 to 1972 he was back in Limerick, first in Crescent College teaching and then for five years at Mungret College, again teaching and vice-superior at the Apostolic School. His qualities of simplicity and outstanding patience and kindness must have made teaching rather a trial.

1966 seems to have been a turning point in his life as regards work. He moved to the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick as a pastoral worker for six years, functioning quietly and successfully. In 1972 another big change took place in his life, this time he was missioned to Zambia at the age of 52 where he spent the rest of his life at pastoral work. After his ordination he had asked to be sent to the missions (Hong Kong) and twenty years later his wish was answered (Zambia).

To begin with, he studied ciTonga at Chikuni and then moved to Namwala (1973) as parish priest and superior there. Here he had plenty of practice at the language as he worked in the parish with all that that entailed. After nine years there he was transferred to Assumption Parish in Mazabuka for a year before moving to the Sugar Estate at Nakambala, where he worked for eleven years in the parish, ten years of these as superior and eight years as parish priest.

His younger brother Harry singles out his gentleness and simplicity. He was always kindly and thoughtful, never bad-tempered or argumentative. He really was ‘the good peaceable man’ of Thomas a Kempis. Everyone was good in Maurice’s eyes. His brother tells of his happiness during these years in Zambia. He was at home among the villagers in Namwala, the urban dwellers in Mazabuka and Nakambala, as well as the sick and feeble in Chikuni hospital. As one person put it: ‘A man of simple and quaint goodness, who had his heart in the right place’.

In 1994, Maurice now 74, moved to Chikuni again as pastoral worker. He was a very dedicated priest, a man of God and deeply spiritual. This the people recognized in their own perceptive way. He was an easy person to live with as he was so undemanding even as a superior. He became a charismatic, again in his own quiet way and became a much-sought-after giver of directed retreats.

He developed a peculiar up-down characteristic in his speech, one minute bass and the next falsetto. This affected his preaching in public but it did not interfere with his retreat giving. He was a very methodical man. The data on the outstations where he supplied were kept up to-date so that the priest who took over the outstations, when Maurice was transferred to Chikuni, had a clear picture of each of these outstations and of the people there, who were being prepared for baptism, for marriage and so on.

At the end of 2003, he was operated on in Lusaka for a colostomy and moved to John Chula House. While there the doctor remarked that Maurice had the recuperative powers of a man of 25! – Maurice was 83 years of age at the time. The doctor suggested that he return to Ireland for the next operation for a number of reasons. This Maurice did on 14 February 2004. The operation was a success. Later, while at Cherryfield Lodge, he suffered a stroke, unrelated to the operation and he died on 26 October 2004 in Dublin but he was buried in his own beloved Limerick.

Born: 25 August 1846, Ballinasloe, County Galway
Entered: 05 August 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1880, Laval, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1886
Died: 11 February 1908, St Patrick’s, Melbourne, Australia

Educated at Summerhill College, Athlone; St Brendan’s Seminary, Loughrea

by 1868 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1871 at Antwerp Institute Belgium (BELG) Regency
by 1879 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1885 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia in 1887

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education at College of Immaculate Conception, Summerhill, Athlone. Here he had as fellow students, Michael Watson SJ, Sir Anthony MacDonnell who became Under-Secretary for Ireland and Mr TP O’Connor, later editor of “MAP” and other Journals.

After First Vows he studied Rhetoric at Amiens, Philosophy at Louvain, Theology at Louvain and he was Ordained there in 1880.
He was a Teacher at various Colleges, Tullabeg, Galway and Belvedere, and later Minister at Crescent.
1880 After Ordination he was sent to Australia.
1890 Appointed Rector of St Patrick’s Melbourne. After his time as Rector he continued on teaching at St Patrick’s, acted as Minister for a time, and remained there until his death 11 February 1908 aged 62.
He was thought gentle and courteous to all, and sometimes called “Silken Thomas”. His death was reported as most edifying.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Leahy studied at Athlone before entering the Society at Milltown Park, 5 August 1865 . He studied philosophy at Louvain, 1869-70, and theology at Laval, France, 1879-80. He taught mathematics and natural philosophy at the Crescent, Limerick, 1874-76, and French, mathematics and physics at Belvedere College, Dublin, 1880-83. Before tertianship at Roehampton, England, 1884, he was minister at University College, Dublin. Then he was appointed to teach at the Crescent and in Galway, 1885-87, before leaving for Australia in 1887. His first appointment was to prepare students in Classics, French and English for the public examination at Riverview. He became prefect of studies at St Aloysius' College, Bourke Street, 1889-90, and continued his teaching for the public examinations. His first administrative appointment was as rector of St Patrick's College, 1890-97, when he was also procurator and prefect of studies, as well as a teacher. Afterwards he taught in succession at St Aloysius' College, 1897-98, Xavier College as minister, 1898-1901, and St Patrick’s College as minister 1901-08. He was a very gentle, kind man, whom everybody seemed to like, and he did a great deal of good work, but without any fanfare. At Riverview he was considered a fine teacher of classics.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1908

Obituary

Father Thomas Leahy SJ

Xaverians of the early nineties will remember Father Leahy. He was Minister of the College during part of the time in which Father Ryan was Rector. Later he was transferred to St Patrick's. He was remarkable for his kindness and good nature, having al ways a cheerful word, and loving a quiet joke. He died at St Patrick's, after a short illness, on February 11th, RI.P.

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

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

Fr Leahy, who came to Riverview at the same time as Fr Tuite, in 1886, was his opposite in many respects.. A big handsome man with a singularly benevolent face. And he was as good as he looked. When he took over the office of Prefect, he addressed us, and announced his policy, and told us what we might expect from him, and what he expected from us. For the first two or three weeks he rather kept us at arm's length, but after that he put unbounded confidence in us, and I think I can fairly say that this attitude was justified. During the half it was not necessary for the Prefect to secure order, the boys relieved him of that duty. Some times one of the “game chaps” would be inclined to play up, but an admonition from the more steady ones to the following effect would secure order: “Don't be a fool, you don't know when you have a good thing on”. Such warning or advice was not couched in formal terms, or strictly correct language, but it was always effective, because it expressed the opinion and the will of the majority. I have said that Fr. Leahy was not to be imposed upon by “leg-pullers”, and the boys soon found that out. They tried it in the playground, and they tried it in class, but he was proof against all their wiles. He was teacher of classics in my class, and a fine teacher, too. His idea of learning any language was to acquire it by ear. Acting on this principle, he used to make the whole class recite, in a good loud voice, declensions and conjugations, he leading. This was soon found to fix the grammar, even into the heads of the inattentive. It also had the effect of imparting a correct idea of “quantity”. When construing a Latin text, he would recite, in his fine style, parallel passages from both Latin and Greek authors, and it was a treat to hear him giving out the sonorous Greek. The artful boys used to “fag up” passages from “word books” of these languages, and put them to him as posers, but he was equal to them. When they attempted to coax him away from the class work, he would say: “Now boys, we have digressed sufficiently, let us return to our work”. Nothing delighted him more during playtime, than to engage the boys in conversation, above all he was anxious to learn all he could about Australia. Its birds, animals and plant life interested him intensely, and he longed to see the conditions of life in the interior.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Thomas Leahy (1846-1908)

A native of Ballinasloe, entered the Society in 1865. He spent four years of his regency at the Crescent, 1874-78. He returned for a year after the completion of his studies when he held the position of minister. The next year was spent in the same office at St. Ignatius', Galway when he was transferred to the Australian mission. The greater part of his career was afterwards spent at Melbourne, where he was rector of St Patrick's College from 1890 to 1896.

Born: 15 March 1798, Edgeworthstown, County Longford
Entered: 23 May 1835, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 29 November 1848, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Fr Wlodimir Ledóchowski SJ was a Jesuit priest who served as the twenty-sixth Superior General (Father General) of the Society of Jesus (1915-1942).

Born: 07 December 1915, Ferrybank, County Waterford
Entered: 09 October 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 30 July 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1950, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 04 June 1992, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

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

Father was Station Master and Goods Agent at Waterford Station Family resided at Newtown, Waterford City, County Waterford.

Youngest of four boys with five sisters.

Early education Ferrybank BNS and then at Waterpark College, Waterford.

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Bill went through the usual studies of the Jesuits, was ordained in 1947 and after tertianship was posted to Limerick. Plans were then afoot to send Irish Jesuits to what was then Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Bill conceived a keen desire NOT to go there. He was just settling down in the Crescent when he received a letter telling him to get a medical check-up with a view of going to Northern Rhodesia. The Irish Jesuits had been asked to help out their Polish colleagues there. So in 1950, nine Irish Jesuits sailed from Ireland, including Fr Bill.

For many years, Fr Zabdyr had moved out from Chikuni, his base, in order to set up elementary schools in various places. In 1951, two of these places (Kasiya and Chivuna) became new mission stations. Kasiya was set up by Fr. Bill Lee in 1951, the year after he arrived in the country. Later in December, he was joined by Fr J Gill. A letter from Fr Bill to Fr Zabdyr dated 17 June 1951 reads:

‘I have been in “permanent residence” here since the beginning of May, more or less, and will continue so for the future. I am busy building my Mission-station and it is going fairly satisfactorily. A space has been cleared in the bush, foundations are down, a well dug in the river, and grass for thatching cut and piled. After that, things will go smoothly as far as I can foresee. Somewhere near the end of July the house will be finished as far as I can do it this year. I may have to wait until later for cement to make proper floors. lt will be a two-roomed house, with a small kitchen near it. In the meantime I have a class going each evening for Christians who have not married in church’.

When Fr Gill arrived and a 250cc motorbike was available, Fr Gill looked after the station and set out to visit the centres of Christianity within a radius of up to 30 miles. Bill was transferred to Fumbo and later to Chikuni where he taught and was Spiritual Father to the African Sisters. He was also, for a time, secretary to the Bishop of Lusaka.

Having spent seven years in Zambia, he returned to Ireland to Gonzaga College for 30 years, teaching physics etc. up to 1987. The remaining five years of his life he spent at University Hall and at 35 Lower Leeson Street. He died in St Vincent's Hospital on 4th June 1992.

Bill came from a large Waterford family and was distinctive among them, ‘he alone of the 10 children greeted orders with “Why” and all information with “How do you know”? and he always enjoyed a good argument as much as other children enjoyed a party. He endearingly retained these characteristics to the end’. He loved discussion and debate but his kindness, good humour and generosity were no less noticed and appreciated. He was a good teacher and had a marvellous rapport with his students who really loved him. He was a colourful member of his community, enjoying the interchange and contributing much to it. He always had a sense of wonder. As he watched a fellow Jesuit perform some simple 'magic' tricks, he would be enthralled and laugh.

In pastoral work he was most successful, if somewhat diffident. Indeed he was suspicious of those who trafficked in certainties. Nor was he one for laying down an inflexible code of behaviour. He accepted people as he found them and in whatever circumstances they were in. He was keen to help them to make sense of their lives in their own way and to give their own meaning to their lives. He never entertained the idea that he could solve all people's problems but he did try to help others to live more easily with those human and religious problems that everyone experiences and that are beyond solution in this life. He was especially good with those whose faith was fragile, whose link with the Church was tenuous or whose practice was spasmodic. He himself lived happily with questions unanswered and problems unsolved but with the absolute certainty that the day would come when he would get his answers and solutions.

Pulmonary fibrosis was what took him in the end. Actually he had planned to visit Zambia with his sister in the autumn of the year he died but the Lord had other plans for him.

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

Obituary
Fr Bill Lee (1915-1992)

7th Dec. 1915: Born, Waterford
Early education: Christian Bros. Schools, Waterford up to Matriculation
9th Oct. 1934: Entered the Society at Emo
1936 - 1939: Juniorate, Rathfarnham
1939 - 1942: Philosophy at Tullabeg
1942 - 1943: Teaching at Clongowes
1944 - 1948; Theology at Milltown Park
1947: Ordained
1948 - 1949: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1950 - 1957: Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Having studied the language, he served in Kasia, Fumbo, Chikuni, etc.
1957 - 1987: Gonzaga, teaching Physics, etc. (In 1981 he took a sabbatical in the U.S.A.)
1987 - 1989: University Hall - adj. Prefect; also keeper of Records, Milltown Institute
1989 - 1991: 35 Lower Leeson Street, Minister in 1990. Assistant Registrar at Milltown Institute and teaching Latin
4th June 1992: Died at St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

William Lee, known to his family as Willie and to his Jesuit brethren as Bill, was born in 1916 in Waterford where he spent most of his youth. He was one of ten children of whom Sheila, Teddy and Peggy survive and to them we offer our sincerest sympathy. They will miss him terribly. Our sympathy also to his nephews, nieces and other relatives amongst whom he was greatly beloved and in whom he took a keen and warm avuncular interest. Within the family he is remembered as being distinctive: he alone of the ten children greeted all orders with “Why?”, all information with “How do you know?” and enjoyed an argument as other children enjoyed a party. He endearingly retained these characteristics to the end. He was educated in Waterpark College by the Christian Brothers whom he held in the highest esteem and of whom he had the happiest memories. As a student, he was most capable, a voracious reader and utterly stubborn in refusing to learn or study any thing that did not capture his interest. Attempts to break this habit by carrot and stick proved fruitless.

He had little or no contact with Jesuits until a Fr. Mackey descended on Waterpark College to give the boys a retreat. It appears that this man was a famous recruiting sergeant for the Jesuits in the '20s and '30s and he added Bill to his list. Bill's parents received the news that he was to join the Jesuits as a sign of lamentable judgement. After all he had acquired a good position in the bank, and if he was thinking of the priesthood or religious life, did he not know the Franciscans, the diocesan priests and the Christian Brothers? So why join the Jesuits of whom he knew nothing? Characteristically, the more his parents opposed it, the more Bill warmed to the idea. He cut the argument short one day, by getting on his bike in Waterford ad cycling to Dublin. He arrived at Leeson Street to meet Fr. Mackey. Just as the good father was extolling the virtues of the religious life in general and those of the Jesuits in particular, Bill, tired out by his journey, fell fast asleep. When the startled priest discovered the reason for this, he was suitably impressed and sent Bill to the Provincial with a strong recommendation. By the time Bill returned to Waterford, he had, more or less, signed on. The family's disappointment at his decision was mitigated by the conviction that he would soon be sent home from the Jesuit novitiate. They did not put a tooth in it: they told him that the Jesuits, of all people, would not put up with his incessantly asking, “Why?”, “Wherefore?” and “How do you know?”. However, Bill proved not to be one of nature's natural martyrs. He reserved his taste for robust debate for his fellow novices, one of whom reported that going out with Br. Lee for a discussion was like walking across a mine field. However, if Bill made his mark as a lover of debate and discussion, his kindness, good humour and generosity were no less noticed and appreciated.

After the novitiate, he began his studies that he greatly enjoyed, obtaining a good honours degree in Arts, and then in Philosophy in Tullabeg, and completed what was then known as the long or higher course in Theology. He was ordained in 1947, Between Philosophy and Theology he showed great promise as a teacher in Clongowes and The Crescent. His theological studies left him with an abiding interest in the subject. For him, theology was not merely an academic or intellectual interest. He read it seriously as a means of making sense of his beliefs and convictions. If in latter years his reading tended to concentrate on Schillebeeckx, Kung and the more unorthodox theologians, this reflected his moderate esteem for orthodoxy. He completed his formation with tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle. Plans were afoot to send some Irish Jesuits to what was then Northern Rhodesia. Bill conceived a keen desire NOT to go there, was greatly relieved not to be sent and in these circumstances found a posting in Limerick quite attractive. He was just settling down comfortably to life in the Crescent when he received a note from the Provincial's assistant telling him to get a medical check with a view to going to Northern Rhodesia.

He went in 1950. He was one of the pioneering group, and experienced all the difficulties of establishing the mission. He built a mission station physically with one or two others, taught, spent some time as secretary to the Bishop and picked up a touch of malaria.

He returned to Ireland in 1957 to teach in Gonzaga, which was founded as he was leaving for Africa. He joined a gifted staff that was conscious that the school was doing something new in Irish education. He appreciated the refreshing and innovative ethos of the place but was critical of the role of science in the curriculum. He rightly considered that it did not enjoy a sufficiently central place in the new school and that science should be at the heart of 20th century liberal education. He persuaded the authorities to permit him to go to the USA for six summers to obtain a degree in Physics. He set up the science department in Gonzaga, initially in a loft over converted stables, and introduced a demonstration course in science. This was hardly ideal but was all that resources allowed. Over the years he was joined by excellent teachers and science gradually assumed a central place in the curriculum but by the time the splendid new science wing was built he had retired. However, he was certainly the founding father of the now flourishing science department in Gonzaga.

He was a very good teacher, albeit with a short fuse at times and with less than an unerring way with experiments. He had a marvellous rapport with his students by whom he was much beloved. He was deeply interested in his subject, and had broad intellectual interests that enabled him not merely to teach but to educate.

Bill, however, was appreciated for what he was, rather than for what he did: humane, kindly, tolerant and unpretentious. There was about him something difficult to define but palpable to experience; one did not relate to him as a teacher or a cleric. He did not, as many clerics do, give the impression that he was fulfilling a role or assuming a function. He was very much the human face of the clerical and religious life. He was immensely popular in the staff room and was a colourful member of the community life. He was clubable, enjoying and contributing much to community life. He had his own style. He seemed to “sniff” the general drift of conversation and then assume a position against the commonly held view. The more vigorous the argument, the more pleased he seemed to be. While some found his style more attractive than others, it was salutary for those who took themselves too seriously.

He left Gonzaga in 1987 after 30 years and moved to University Hall and then to Leeson Street while working in The Milltown Institute as Bursar, Assistant Registrar and teacher of Latin, To his colleagues in Milltown he was a popular and lively companion. He was Minister for a year in Leeson Street in addition to his tasks in Milltown and was always ready and happy to supply in the Barrett Cheshire Home where he had the affection and respect of the residents.

In pastoral work he was most successful, if somewhat diffident. He was not one for passing on certainties. Indeed, he was suspicious of those who trafficked in certainties. Nor was he one for laying down an inflexible code of behaviour. He accepted people as he found them and in whatever circumstances they were. He was keen to help them to make sense of their lives in their own way and to give their own meaning to those lives. He never entertained the idea that he could solve peoples' problems but he did try to help people to live more easily with those human and religious problems that we all have and that are beyond solution in this life. He related well to the dedicated and practising Christians in the Teams of Our Lady who so much appreciated him. The presence of the residents of the Barrett Cheshire Home, who went to so much trouble to be at his funeral, reflects their appreciation of a man who unostentatiously and unondescendingly conveyed his understanding of those whom providence left gravely disadvantaged. He was especially good with those whose faith was fragile, whose link with the Church was tenuous or whose practice was spasmodic. He was helped in dealing with such people by his awareness that Faith and its consequences are a gift and so he tended to be more surprised by their presence than by their absence. He himself lived happily with questions unanswered and problems unsolved but with the absolute certainty that the day would come - and for him it has - when he would get his answers and solutions. However, should they turn out to be the orthodox ones, he will, I suspect, be bitterly disappointed.

About a year ago, the pulmonary fibrosis that was to prove fatal was diagnosed. This restricted his activity greatly, and consider able damaged his quality of life. The signs were there for all to see. The work in Milltown became a little too much for him. He frequently and uncharacteristically absented himself from community recreation. He went to his sisters on Fridays and Sundays armed with a video as the effort to keep up his usual rate of conversation waned. But he retained his spark and interest in life. He had acquired a second hand computer shortly before going into hospital and was happily working on it when he got his fatal attack. He had planned to visit Zambia this Autumn with his sister Peggy and generally was looking forward rather than looking back.

We will miss his colourful manner, kindly personality, and genuine goodness but he has left us the happiest memories of a good life lived to the full.

◆ The Gonzaga Record 1992
Obituary
William Lee SJ
I am very pleased to have been asked to write about Fr William Lee. But I shall refer to him simply as Bill, for that was his name among his religious colleagues. The boys, I know, used to call him Willie behind his back with a sense of daring: they may be slightly deflated to learn that this was the form of William by which he was known among his own family.
When I received the news of Bill's death, along with a great sadness came the relieving thought ‘Now, at last, he knows all the answers!'

Bill was always noted for his questioning spirit. His was always a curious mind, in the Latin sense of the word. Everything was of interest to him and he wanted to know everything about it. But then, Alistair Cooke says ‘Curiosity is free-wheeling intelligence', or, in the words of Samuel Johnson, 'It is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect!'
This, I think, was one of the qualities that made him an exceptional teacher, a stimulating companion and a great asset to community life.

He loved a good argument. I, a purveyor of the classics, could see in him a touch of Socrates who, with his famous maieutic method, could lead his adversary first into a confession of total ignorance and then be opened to the truth. Bill, of course, was always conscious of that salutary admonition of St Ignatius - that, when a Jesuit argues “it is not to get the upper hand, but that the truth may appear'. Or haven't you noticed it?

He and I always kept up a good-natured rivalry. It was science versus the classics. But, really, it was a rather uneven contest, for while I was almost completely ignorant of matters scientific and had little interest in them, Bill was no mean Latin scholar. He could quote his lines of Virgil and Horace with the best and, towards the end of his life, was actually teaching Latin for a time in the Milltown Institute.

There was a memorable summer (1974) when we went together on a trip to Greece. As we visited the great sites. - the Acropolis, Delphi, Mycenae, Epidaurus, Knossos — his thirst for answers was insatiable. I recall with some amusement how once, in Athens, he remarked on the crowds that gathered every evening in Omonia Square. There were large groups of men engaged in earnest and vociferous discussion. The natural conclusion (for him) was that they were talking politics - a scene that would have brought joy to the heart of old Socrates who encouraged people to dialogue on the real essentials of life and the eternal verities. Great, however, was his disillusionment when Bill discovered that they were merely arguing about the soccer results of the day.
Surprisingly enough, Bill's university degree was not in physics or any science subject, but in English and history. When he came to teach in Gonzaga in 1957, though already more than competent, he worked hard to prepare himself for the task of being the College's one and only science teacher for many years. Besides attending courses in Dublin and Cork he spent many of his early summers in the US plundering the brains and know-how of the Americans at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Universities of Kentucky, Fordham, Notre Dame and Colombia. There he studied such diverse subjects as physics, chemistry, electronics and geology.

Thus he equipped himself superbly as a teacher who could introduce into Gonzaga a physics course that would be in line with modern developments and requirements. In 1962 he was President of the Irish Science Teachers' Association, Editor of their magazine in 1966 and Public Relations Officer in 1971.

Bill was Editor of the first three issues of The Gonzaga Record (1985-87). The first and second issues contain his succinct and invaluable 'History of Gonzaga College 1950-85'. In it was a section entitled “The Introduction of Science Teaching' wherein he gives the reasons why there was no place for science in the original curriculum and describes how the subject made a tentative beginning in 1959 as a sort of gentleman's demonstration course. He recounts how the facilities gradually improved - from the humble beginnings in the upper room in the lower yard (until recently the Music Room) to a pre-fab. structure that, erected in 1972, was eventually replaced, in 1983, by the present well-equipped specialist science block. Now that we have it,' he wrote in his editorial of 1987, ‘one wonders how we did without it.' One wonders even more how he did without it, for, alas! Bill himself never enjoyed the luxuries of this building. Having reached pensionable age in 1981 he withdrew from the classroom and never looked back.

However, in spite of the limitations of a mere demonstration course and the below-par facilities, many of his pupils did him great credit, not only in examinations but also at the annual Young Scientists' Exhibition. Notable among these were Lothar Enders, Leslie Daly, Peter Duggan and John David Biggs.

I could have adjudged Bill, even a priori, an excellent teacher. He had this earnest, patient way of explaining difficult things simply, lucidly, logically. What's more, he gave everyone he talked to his full attention, taking quite seriously even the most stupid question. Had I been, e'en briefly, a 'fly on the wall' in one of his classes, I could have observed what went on, but had to settle for a few words with some of his past pupils. Somehow I had expected to extract from them some special insider information - personal idiosyncrasies, funny incidents, the stuff of legend. I was, in a way, disappointed. They all - as past pupils will — suggested that they had been the bane of his life, but remembered him with deep affection and gratitude and no-one had an unkind word to say of him. There were memories of occasions when the experiments went a bit wrong, of the odd prank, but nothing of epic proportions. When I asked what special measures he took to maintain discipline, one answer was that his main weapon was a wide smile which could, in turn, register pity, reproval or encouragement.

Bill would be highly amused at any mention of his sporting proclivities or achievements. But I should like here to record that, on his arrival at Gonzaga, he humbly undertook the office of Gamesmaster for about three years. Reffing rugby, umpiring cricket and organising sports was really not his scene, but, as in everything else, he did a whole-hearted job. I remember, with a touch of awe, the first time he took part in the cricket match between staff and boys and revealed himself as a fast bowler of some merit, though with a strong tendency towards involuntary bodyline. He possessed, too, a meagre and poverty-stricken collection of golf clubs with which he once got his name on the Veterans' Trophy at the Annual Jesuit Golf Outing. The clubs, incidentally, were left-handed, and yet he was right-handed in most things else. This ambidexterity was, perhaps, a physical expression of his ability to argue from both sides of any question.
It is fitting that this account of Bill should confine itself mainly to his years as teacher in Gonzaga. Were I writing a wider appreciation I would have much to say about him as a spiritual man, a zealous religious and about his role as guide, counsellor and friend to so many people. Here, at least, I might recall that before his coming to Gonzaga in 1957 he had worked as a pioneering missionary in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) for some seven years: among his souvenirs from this period was a touch of malaria. Along with his science he taught religion in the classroom and did his share of counselling. In holiday time, apart from his attendance at many courses, he was often engaged in pastoral work especially in the US and in England. In 1981 he made a tour of the Holy Land.

For many years there was a regular Sunday Mass in the college chapel. Bill's homilies, I know, were greatly savoured. He always had a fresh and original angle. A Gonzaga mother was talking to me about this recently and she recalled a little story he told about a boy who had some scruples about reading in bed because his parents had told him to put the light off as soon as he turned in. (Ah for the days when disobedience to parental instructions was regarded as at least an imperfection!) Anyway, this boy confided his unease to Bill. “What I do”, he said, “is to leave the bedroom door open and by a system of mirrors draw the light from the corridor onto the pages of my book”. Far from condemnation, Bill had nothing but commendation for such ingenuity and scientific know-how. I wonder was this homily on Luke 18, 8?

Bill left Gonzaga in the summer of 1987. His first appointment was to University Hall, Hatch St, where he acted as Assistant Prefect; at the same time he was Keeper of the Records in the Milltown Institute. Thence he moved, in 1989, to the Jesuit residence in Leeson St where for a time he was Minister while he still commuted daily to the Milltown Institute, now as Assistant Registrar. But soon his health began to deteriorate. He was hospitalised on 24 May, 1992, with pulmonary fibrosis, and died peacefully in the early hours of 4 June. He was 76.

Jesuits working in Dublin are usually buried from St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner St, but circumstances did not so allow. Gonzaga was the next obvious choice but its chapel had already been reserved for another ceremony. And so, his Requiem Mass was concelebrated in Milltown Park, and I can't help thinking that Bill must have felt a little heavenly glee in having his obsequies presided over by Father General himself and in upsetting the timetable drawn up for a Meeting of the whole Jesuit Province.

Our deepest sympathy to all his relatives and friends. We, his confrères, miss him sorely.

Edmund Keane SJ

Born: 03 June 1885, Walluf, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany
Entered: 13 April 1904, Exaeten, Limburg, Netherlands - Germaniae Province (GER)
Ordained: 27 August 1916
Professed: 02 February 1920
Died: 26 January 1963, Maring-Noviand, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany - Germaniae Inferioris Province (GER)

by 1940 came to Leeson St (HIB) writing and Censor 1939-1946
by 1947 came to Tullabeg (HIB) writing 1946-1948

Born: 29 August 1922, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 10 February 1947, Millfield, OH - Chicagensis Province (CHG);
Ordained: 24 March 1958
Professed: 02 February 1961
Died: 06 June 1999, Chicago, IL, USA - Patness Province (PAT)

Born: 1561, Drogheda, County Meath
Entered: 10 November 1596, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: pre Entry
Final Vows: 1617
Died: 06 September 1621, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Studied Theology before Ent. BA An Oxford graduate, MA of Douai and BD of Louvain. For 6 years a student of Stapleton and Lessius
1600 Not in Catalogue
1616 Catalogue On Irish Mission 14 years Age 60 Soc 17. Consultor on Mission. Strong in health, preacher, talented and zealous, pleasing address. Fit to be Superior. Of a choleric nature. Gifted as a Missioner “in perpetual motion”, a reconciler of enemies.
1617 Age 63 Soc 20. In Ireland
1621 At Poitiers, confined to bed by sickness
1622 In Leinster, Consultor of Mission. Suffering from Apoplexy.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
He was a missioner in Leinster and is mentioned in a letter of Thomas Lawndry (vere Christopher Holywood) to the General, November 1611, and printed in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record April 1874.
The Royal Commissioners in 1615 state :Lennon, a famous Priest, is kept by Nicholas Netterville” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
He was an accomplished Theologian and Missioner “in perpetual motion”, the great reconciler of enemies.
He was a graduate of Oxford; MA Douai; BD Louvain; for six years a pupil of Stapleton and Lessius - a gifted solid man. (cf Holiwood and Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Studied Humanities at Oxford. Graduated MA at Douai and BD at Louvain, and was already Ordained on Ent 10 November 1596 Rome
1598-1600 After First Vows he studied at the German College
1600 Sent to Ireland and to the Dublin Residence and his work was limited to the city due to his lack of Irish language.
1606 Superior of Dublin Residence, succeeding Richard Field, until his death in office there 06 September 1621

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick Lenan SJ 1561-1621
In Drogheda in 1554/5 was born Father Patrick Lenan. He was an accomplished scholar and theologian, a graduate of Oxford, an MA of Douai, BD od Louvain. He was for 6 years a pupil of Dr Stapleton, the great English controversialist, and also had Leonard Lessius as his Professor. He became a Jesuit in 1597, returning to Ireland in 1601.

His work lay mostly in the Pale and in Dublin, where together with Henry Fitzsimon and Barnaby O’Kearney, he was engaged in educating the youth of Dublin.

The Superior Fr Holywood referred to him as a very mature and reliable man and appointed him his Socius. The Royal Commission or Visitation of Dublin, charges Sir Nicholas Netterville as privately harbouring Lenan, a famous popish priest, and others in 1615.

A Proclamation of October 18th 1617 banished all priests from the country and Father Lenan was forced to leave. His subsequent history is unknown, but he died about 1621.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LENAN, PATRICK. With regret I am obliged to confess that I can barely state of this worthy Jesuit, that I find him actively employed in Leinster, in February, 1603, and in February, 1605. I believe he is the person thus reported by the Royal Commissioners in 1615, “Lennon, a famous Priest is kept by Nicholas Neterville”.

Born: 31 January 1906, Longwood Avenue, Portobello, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 February 1942, Craighead, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died: 10 October 1979, Holy Cross Hospital, Myers Street, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Part of the St Joseph’s, Geelong, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Father was a photographer.

Youngest of one girl and five boys.

Early education at a Convent National School (seven years) and then at CBS Synge Street

by 1952 in Australia

Second World War Chaplain

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Sydney Lennon received his secondary education with the Christian Brothers, Dublin, and entered the Society at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 1 September 1924. During his juniorate at Rathfarnharm, 1926-31, he studied at University College, Dublin, and also gained a diploma in Gregorian chant from Solesmes Abbey. Philosophy studies were at Tullamore, 1931-34, and theology at Milltown Park, 1936-39. Tertianship was completed in 1940.
Lennon's Erst priestly ministry was as a chaplain with the British army, 1941-46, followed by a few years in the parish of Gardiner Street, Dublin. He was then sent to Australia, and after a few years teaching, went to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, 1949, to profess liturgy, elocution, voice training and chant. He was at various times minister, dean of students and bursar. He remained there until 1969, when he did parish work at Norwood, SA. His final appointment was as a chaplain to St Joseph's Mercy Hospital, Aphrasia Street, Newton, Geelong, Vic., 1978-79.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

General :
Seven more chaplains to the forces in England were appointed in July : Frs Burden, Donnelly, J Hayes, Lennon and C Murphy, who left on 1st September to report in Northern Ireland, and Fr Guinane who left on 9th September.
Fr. M. Dowling owing to the serious accident he unfortunately met when travelling by bus from Limerick to Dublin in August will not be able to report for active duty for some weeks to come. He is, as reported by Fr. Lennon of the Scottish Command in Midlothian expected in that area.
Of the chaplains who left us on 26th May last, at least three have been back already on leave. Fr. Hayes reports from Redcar Yorks that he is completely at home and experiences no sense of strangeness. Fr. Murphy is working' with the Second Lancashire Fusiliers and reports having met Fr. Shields when passing through Salisbury - the latter is very satisfied and is doing well. Fr. Burden reports from Catterick Camp, Yorks, that he is living with Fr. Burrows, S.J., and has a Church of his own, “so I am a sort of PP”.
Fr. Lennon was impressed very much by the kindness already shown him on all hands at Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and in his Parish. He has found the officers in the different camps very kind and pleased that he had come. This brigade has been without a R.C. Chaplain for many months and has never yet had any R.C. Chaplain for any decent length of time. I am a brigade-chaplain like Fr Kennedy and Fr. Naughton down south. He says Mass on weekdays in a local Church served by our Fathers from Dalkeith but only open on Sundays. This is the first time the Catholics have had Mass in week-days

Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942

Chaplains :
Our twelve chaplains are widely scattered, as appears from the following (incomplete) addresses : Frs. Burden, Catterick Camp, Yorks; Donnelly, Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk; Dowling, Peebles Scotland; Guinane, Aylesbury, Bucks; Hayes, Newark, Notts; Lennon, Clackmannanshire, Scotland; Morrison, Weymouth, Dorset; Murphy, Aldershot, Hants; Naughton, Chichester, Sussex; Perrott, Palmer's Green, London; Shields, Larkhill, Hants.
Fr. Maurice Dowling left Dublin for-Lisburn and active service on 29 December fully recovered from the effects of his accident 18 August.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Australia :
Frs. Fleming and Mansfield (who is a member of the Australian Vice-Province) were able to leave for Australia via America in July.
Frs. Lennon and Morrison are still awaiting travel facilities.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 1 1973

Fr Sydney Lennon to whom we are indebted for the details of the tragic accident in Australia reported later, is an Operarius in our parish at Adelaide. He is engaged, with, other activities, in giving retreats, talks and conferences and participated in the recent Lombardi retreat which was attended by some 65 Australian brethren ranging in age from 91 to 20.

Irish Province News 55th Year No 1 1980
Obituary :

Fr Sydney Lennon (1906-1924-1979)
Sydney Lennon was always interested in music. Even while still a schoolboy in CBS, Synge Street, he acted as organist in his local church. From his noviceship onwards, he was choirmaster in every Jesuit house where he was stationed. For four years in University College, Dublin, he studied music under Dr John Larchet. On many occasions he visited Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight, for courses in Gregorian chant given there by the Benedictines: he himself became an authority on gregorian or plain chant. These were the days when Frs John Bourke and Bertie O’Connell combined to bring gregorian chant and the liturgical movement to a high point of perfection in Dublin.
His choirs both at Rathfarnham and later at Milltown Park were in frequent demand by Radio Éireann for items such as the Lamentations and Passion music of Holy Week; also for the requiem Office and Mass on such occasions as the death of a Pope or Archbishop. At the requiem liturgy for Ours at Gardiner Street and Glasnevin Cemetery, the choirmaster was nearly always Sydney.
Even when he was in Tullabeg, doing philosophy, on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress, he and his choir were called upon to sing the Russian texts for the Divine Liturgy in the Eastern rite which was celebrated in Gardiner Street. On a lighter note, he organised Gilbert and Sullivan operas in every house to which he was assigned. In Milltown Park, these were performed during the Christmas vacation for the inmates of the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook (popularly known as the “Incurables”); the Blind asylum, Merrion Road and the Magdalen asylum, Gloucester Street (now Seán McDermott Street).
Sydney was a perfectionist in all that he did

Fr. Syd Lennon died at 7 o'clock on Wednesday morning, 10th October, in Holy Cross Hospital, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He had been admitted the previous morning following a bout of acute abdominal pain. This had been controlled but he remained somewhat confused during the day. Though his condition was not good he was not expected to die. There was a vigil Mass on Thursday at the Immaculate Conception Church, Hawthorn, celebrated by Fr Ambrose Byrne and 30 concelebrants. Fr Paul Keenan in his homily spoke of Syd's complete absorption in whatever work he was doing and of his deep interest in people.
The funeral Mass next day drew a very large number of clergy, the fruit of Syd’s 20 years at Corpus Christi College, Werribee. Archbishop Frank Little was principal celebrant, joined by Bishops Fox, Mulkearns, O'Connell, Perkins and Daly, together with 90 concelebrating priests. At the beginning of the Mass the Archbishop linked the name of Syd Lennon with that of Fr Albert Power, the 31st anniversary of whose death was 12th October.
Fr Provincial centred his homily on Syd Lennon the man for priests. In the congregation were Sisters from several congregations with whom Syd had worked over the years. Present also was a small group of people from Maryknoll where Syd had spent so many Christmas vacations during his time at Werribee. Some time ago he expressed the hope that he might be the first chaplain at St. Joseph's hospital, Geelong, to be buried in the little cemetery along with those he had ministered to over the past eighteen months.
Ambrose Byrne, John Monahan and Bill Daniel accompanied the hearse to Geelong where another Mass was celebrated by Monsignor Jim Murray and 23 priests in the chapel of the Mercy convent at Newtown. Jim Murray paid a worthy tribute to Syd in a ceremony which was a great act of thanks from Sisters and patients alike. Six of the priests carried the coffin from the sanctuary to the cemetery in the hospital grounds. There is to be a Mass in St Ignatius, Norwood, on Thursday, 18th October, with Archbishop Gleeson as the principal celebrant.
(Australian Province Fortnightly Report, no. 256)

The Australian newspaper, The Advocate, fills in some of the back ground to his Werribee and later years (acknowledgments to Fr PJ Stephenson, who sent a copy of this and the above extract):
Fr Lennon arrived in Sydney early in 1947 to teach at St Aloysius College, Milson's Point. He spent 1948 teaching at Burke Hall, Kew, before joining the staff at Corpus Christi College, Werribee. He worked there for twenty years, the first ten as dean of discipline. He held the post of minister twice for short spells, and when he relinquished the post of dean, he became a popular spiritual director for many of the students. During his time in the seminary, he was responsible for teaching gregorian chant, liturgy and public speaking. He also lectured in Scripture. Music played a large part in his life, both in choir work and directing orchestras In 1970 he ended his long association with the seminary and on medical advice moved to South Australia, where he worked in St. Ignatius parish, Norwood. He also gave papers on liturgical topics to the Senate of Priests and other groups in the archdiocese of Adelaide. For the last eighteen months of his life Fr Lennon was resident chaplain at St Joseph’s hospital of the Sisters of Mercy for their sick and aged sisters at Newtown, Geelong.

Born: 27 July 1805, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 25 November 1843, Avignon, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 17 June 1849, Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Puy, Le Puy-en-Velay, Auvergne, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1858
Died: 23 December 1884, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Uncle of Victor Lentaigne - RIP 1922

First Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 8 December 1860 - [ ] 1863;
Vice Provincial: 11 February 1858-1860
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 1865-1866;

by 1847 at Vals (LUGD) studying
1st Missioner to Australia with William Kelly 1865

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Sir John Lentaigne (Lawyer and Privy Counsellor and one of the first Clongowes students); Uncle of Joseph Lentaigne - RIP 1922

1849 Ordained at Vals France, by Dr Morlhaer (?) 17 June 1849
1850-1858 Arrived at Clongowes, and was Prefect of Studies and Teacher until his appointment as Rector in November 1855.
1858-1863 He was appointed Vice-Provincial, and then on 08 September 1860 the First HIB Provincial, in which office he served until 1863.
1863-1865 Appointed Rector and Master of Novices at Milltown.
1865-1866 He sailed with William Kelly to Australia to found the Irish Australian Mission.
1866-1871 He returned to Ireland and Gardiner St.
1871-1872 he was sent to Clongowes as Spiritual Father.
1872-1873 Appointed Rector of Belvedere.
1873 He went back to Gardiner St, and remained there until his death 23 December 1884.
During the last years of his life he suffered a lot from bronchial trouble, and it ended up rendering him a complete invalid. The July before his death he was sent by the Provincial Thomas Browne to Milltown, but this never came to pass. Interestingly, that same summer, John Gaffney was sent to Limerick, William Fortescue to Galway, John Norton to Milltown and John Keogh to Tullabeg. (not sure why this is recorded, perhaps because none of them moved??)

Note from Peter Freeman Entry
By a strange coincidence, Fr Joseph Lentaigne, who had received him as Provincial, died in the same community the day before. Both coffins were laid on the High Altar on 26 December 1884.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/commemorating-the-sesquicentenary-of-the-arrival-of-irish-jesuits-in-australia/

Commemorating the sesquicentenary of the arrival of Irish Jesuits in Australia
This year the Australian Province of the Jesuits are commemorating the sesquicentenary of the arrival of Irish Jesuits in Australia. Australia became the first overseas mission of the Irish Jesuit Province. To mark the occasion the Archdiocese of Melbourne are organising a special thanksgiving Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne 27 September. On 20 June Damien Burke, Assistant Archivist, Irish Jesuit Archives gave a talk at the 21st Australasian Irish Studies conference, Maynooth University, titled “The archives of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia, 1865-1931”. In his address Damien described the work of this mission with reference to a number of documents and photographs concerning it that are held at the Irish Jesuit Archives.
Irish Jesuits worked mainly as missionaries, and educators in the urban communities of eastern Australia. The mission began when two Irish Jesuits Frs. William Lentaigne and William Kelly, arrived in Melbourne in 1865 at the invitation of Bishop James Alipius Goold, the first Catholic bishop of Melbourne. They were invited by the Bishop to re-open St. Patrick’s College, Melbourne, a secondary school, and to undertake the Richmond mission. From 1865 onwards, the Irish Jesuits formed parishes and established schools while working as missionaries, writers, chaplains, theologians, scientists and directors of retreats, mainly in the urban communities of eastern Australia. By 1890, 30% of the Irish Province resided in Australia.
By 1931, this resulted in five schools, eight residences, a regional seminary in Melbourne and a novitiate in Sydney. Dr Daniel Mannix, archbishop of Melbourne, showed a special predication for the Jesuits and requested that they be involved with Newman College, University of Melbourne in 1918. Six Jesuits (five were Irish-born) served as chaplains with the Australian Forces in the First World War and two died, Frs Michael Bergin and Edwards Sydes. Both Michael Bergin and 62 year-old Joe Hearn, earned the Military Cross. Bergin was the only Catholic chaplain serving with the Australian Imperial Force to have died as a result of enemy action in the First World War.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Joseph Lentaigne, after studying law at Trinity College and serving at the Irish bar, entered the Society at Lyons in his 38th year on 25 November 1843. He studied at Vals, and was ordained priest, 17 June 1849. He arrived at Clongowes about the year 1850, where he acted as prefect of studies and taught until his appointment as rector in November 1855. In 1858 he became the first Vice-Provincial, an office he held until 1863. From 1863-65 he was rector and master of novices at Milltown Park, and during 1865 sailed to Australia with Father William Kelly to found the Irish Australian Mission.
On 21 September 1865, after 58 days at sea, Lentaigne and Kelly disembarked at Melbourne. They had been fortunate to secure a passage on the “Great Britain”, Brunel's steamship which four years earlier had carried the first all England cricket eleven to tour Australia. Compared with the sailing vessels that sometimes took up to or over 100 days to reach Australia, it had been luxury travel. There were 100 Catholics on board, and the two priests administered to their spiritual and sacramental needs.
On the evening of their arrival Kelly preached at St Francis' Church in the city centre where Bishop Gould was conducting a mission. The climate, Lentaigne reported, was like that of the south of France, but food, clothing and housing were expensive, perhaps twice as much as in Ireland.
The arrival of the Jesuits appears to have caused little comment from the people of Melbourne. “We have never met any incivility, our being Jesuits has not excited any attacks”, wrote Lentaigne.
He was not slow to comment on Australian society. He believed that Melbourne was particularly corrupt, with heretics, Jews and idolatrous Chinese. In addition, he was concerned that the Protestant colleges flourished in Melbourne, and Catholics needed to retain the faith, so great need existed for a boarding school. He found it difficult to raise funds, as the Catholics were generally poor, small business people.
Lentaigne praised the Catholic boys as “affectionate, manly but wild creatures. Great liberty has been allowed them by their parents. The mixture with Protestants, Jews and infidels is most dangerous to them”. Furthermore, he believed that Melbourne Catholics suffered from mixing with these people and they were not good at approaching the Sacraments, or hearing Mass. He was concerned about much drunkenness and immorality in Melbourne society.
In March 1868 Lentaigne was recalled to Ireland, as he suffered from bronchial trouble.
During his time in Melbourne he had been responsible for making the original agreement with Bishop Goold, and in fact laid the juridical foundation of the Irish Mission for both missionary and educational work.
He spent the rest of his life, except for two years as rector of Belvedere College, 1872-73, at Gardiner Street, where he died. He was a member of a famous, old Anglo-Norman family, a real gentlman, and a prominent Jesuit.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925

St Patrick’s College, Melbourne has just celebrated its Diamond Jubilee as a Jesuit College. It is the mother house of the Australian Mission.
On September 21st 1865, Fathers Joseph Lentaigne and William Kelly, the pioneer Missioners of the Society in Victoria, landed in Melbourne and took over the College.
On September 17th, 1866 , the second contingent of Irish priests arrived - Fr. Joseph Dalton, Fr. Edmund Nolan, Fr. David McKiniry and two lay brothers - Br. Michael Scully and Br. Michael Goodwin.

Born: 27 October 1848, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 26 September 1865, Loyola College, Loyola, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1877, Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows: 02 February 1884
Died: 18 August 1922, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ & Jesuit College in Spain

Nephew of Joseph Lentaigne, First Provincial of HIB - RIP 1884

by 1869 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1871 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1876 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1883 at at Hadzor Hall, (FRA) making Tertianship
by 1903 in Collège Saint-François Xavier, Alexandria, Egypt (LUGD) Military Chaplain and Teacher

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Son of Sir John Lentaigne (Lawyer and Privy Counsellor and one of the first Clongowes students) and Nephew of Joseph Lentaigne, First Provincial of HIB - RIP 1884

He did his early studies in Spain, and the Philosophy and Theology in Belgium, where he was Ordained 1877.
1900 He was sent to Alexandria, Egypt as a Military Chaplain, and when he returned he was appointed Spiritual Father at Belvedere.
After this he was sent as Spiritual Father and Missioner to Clongowes which he loved dearly and did a lot of good work.
Much to his own disappointment, he was move from Clongowes to Rathfarnham, and died unexpectedly a short time afterwards 18 August 1922.

He was a very indistinct Preacher, so did not make much impact from the pulpit. He as of a very sensitive nature, and a thorough gentleman to all classes of people.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 3 1946
FROM OTHER PROVINCES :
England :
Fr. Quigley, who is Senior Chaplain to the British Forces in Egypt, finds the names of other Jesuit chaplains in the Register at Alexandria, and among them Fr. David Gallery (1901), Fr. V. Lentaigne (1904-5) and Fr. Joseph Flynn (1907-14).

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Victor Lentaigne 1848-1922
Fr Victor Lentaigne was the son of Sir John Lentaigne, and a nephew of the first Provincial of then Irish Province. Born in Dublin on October 27th 1848, he made his early studies in Spain, his philosophy and theology in Belgium, where he was ordained in 1877.
He was sent as a Military Chaplain to Alexandria in 1900. On his return, he was Spiritual father in Belvedere, and later in Clongowes. He read all his sermons, and owing to indistinctness, failed to impress his flock as a preacher.
He was of a very sensitive nature, but a thorough gentleman with everybody, both poor and rich.
Being changed from Clongowes to Rathfarnham, he died very suddenly and was buried from Gardiner Street on August 18th 1922.

◆ The Clongownian, 1923

Obituary

Father Victor Lentaigne SJ

A French Doctor named Lentaigne escaped from France during the horrors of the French Revolution, and made his permanent home in Dublin, where he continued to practise his profession. He attended Wolfe Tone when the latter was dying, and saved him from execution by giving a certificate stating that the patient could not be moved without a causing his immediate death. One of his sons named Joseph joined the Jesuits. After having been for some years Prefect of Studies at Clongowes, he was sent to Australia, where he did very useful work, until his health at last broke down and he returned to Ireland, a victim of chronic asthma. His brother John, afterwards Sir John Lentaigne, became, as head of the Prison Board, nobly famous as a pioneer in the reclamation of criminals, and proved, by his success in very many cases, the soundness of his philanthropic principles. Two of his daughters became nuns, one a Carmelite in Firhouse Convent, while the other joined the Irish Sisters of Charity and became celebrated for her most able and most kind management of the Blind Asylum at Merrion. Of Sir John's sons, Joseph obtained a high Government position as Secretary to the Lord Chancellor. John became one of our most distinguished Dublin surgeons, and was knighted in recognition of his high merits; Victor, who, although not the youngest, survived all his brothers and sisters (except Benjamin, who now holds a leading legal position in Burmah), became a Jesuit.

Victor Lentaigne was born in Dublin on the 27th October, 1848. When I had been at Clongowes for about a year, Victor Lentaigne joined our ranks in the Third Line. That would have been in the autumn of 1860, or . some time in 1861. He was only at Clongowes for about twelve months when his father sent him to a Jesuit College in Spain.

While still in Spain he joined the Society, 26th August, 1865, and made his noviceship at Loyola, the ancestral home of St Ignatius. After his noviceship he was sent to Louvain in Belgium, where he studied philosophy for two years, and was sent to Stonyhurst for his third year's philosophy. In 1871 he was sent to Clongowes, where he remained until 1875. In 1871. I was also sent to Clongowes. It was the first time that we had met since we had been little boys together in dear old Clongowes, and I still cherish the memory of many happy walks and intimate chats which we had together in those old days. He was one of the simplest, gentlest, kindest and most sympathetic friends whom I have ever known, In 1875 he was sent back to Louvain for his theological studies, and on their termination in 1879, Father Victor Lentaigne came back again to our dear old Alma Mater, where I again was with him.

The winter of 1880 was a superb one for skating The field between the grand avenue and the Kapolis gate had been flooded, and there was superb surface of mirror-like ice all. over the wide expanse. Even to this hour I can see in fancy that great tall figure moving with the speed of a good motor-car, and yet with the grace and gentleness of the apparently, effortless flight of an eagle circling above in the thin air. Never have I seen man or woman skate with such combined ease and power as Fr Lentaigne.

In 1886, after a couple of years spent at Tullabeg, Father Lentaigne was again back at Clongowes. In 1888 he was sent to Galway as minister, but in 1893 he was again back in Clongowes. On the death of Father John Anderson SJ, Chaplain to the British Troops at Alexandria in 1900, Father Lentaigne was sent to take his place, and remained there until 1906, during which time a great admirer and friend of his, Father Patrick Kane SJ, held a similar position at Cairo, and they were able occasionally to meet. From Egypt he was recalled in 1906, and sent as minister to Belvedere College, but 1911 found him once more again in Clongowes. This time he was Spiritual Father to the Community. He had also the charge and care of the People's Chapel. All the people, but most especially the poor and sick, soon grew to feel for him the deepest veneration and the most affectionate gratitude. At last his health broke down completely. He be came utterly unable for work of any kind, A change was inevitable. In 1921 he was sent to Rathfarnham Castle - he had to bid his last good-bye to Clongowes. To him it was a sore wrench; he accepted it nobly and patiently, but it broke his heart. He died peacefully and happily on the 18th August, 1922.

Father Lentaigne was known as the calmest yet most masterful of Study Prefects. Seated in the high pulpit, his glance passed so quietly over the great silent Hall that it seemed as though he saw all the boys at once, until some : incautious idler suddenly felt the magnetism of a steadfast gaze fixed upon him, and looking up beheld the wide brow lowered in a frown of thunder; while from the indignant eyes beneath flashed forth an electric fire that shrivelled up the terrified culprit, who straightway cowered intently over his book or pen.

Father Lentaigne was a gentleman. This is one of the first remarks usually made by those who knew him well. It means very much more than the mere circumstance of gentle blood and good breeding. It means much more than the mere politeness of out ward manner, or social becomingness. In its full sense, which is the only true sense, it means that great broadmindedness of judgment, that generous kindliness of appreciation, that delicate sympathy for feeling, that refined considerateness for failing, or even for fault, which each and all are of the very essence of that noble character whose out ward evidences are in the word, manner, and action of high courtesy.

He loved Clongowes. He loved it with a love characteristic of the old Clongownians of long ago, a love proud, chivalrous, warm, with the tenderness and sympathy of a true home-love, a love that loved the old place itself, the old spot, the old Castle, the old Halls, the old rooms, the old playground, the old avenue, the old woods, but above all, the old schoolfellows, the old subjects and the old Masters; a love which, I trust, still exists in the minds and the hearts of the new old Clongownians who are called to face a graver, a more perilous, but it is to be hoped, a more glorious future than we of the older past. :

Father Victor Lentaigne was deeply religious, not in the sense which mere piety commonly has and is by many thought to have deserved the name, but in the old noble Christian sense of sterling holiness. God bless him, and may he rest in peace.

Robert Kane SJ

Born: 22 January 1912, Home Farm Road, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 08 January 1992, Fethard, County Tipperary.

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

Father was a butter wholesaler, and now the family lived at North Circular Road, Dublin City.

Eldest of four boys with one sister.

Early education in a Convent school and then at Belvedere College SJ (1921-1928) At Christmas 1927 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1927-1930)

by 1936 at Vals, France (TOLO) studying

Born: 13 July 1925, Charleville, North Circular Road, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1957, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 December 1977, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome Italy
Died: 08 November 2006, Hospital Central Samaritano, Asunción - Paraguayensis province (PAR)

Part of the Novitiate, San Roque González, Asunción, Paraguay community at the time of death

Cousin of John A Leonard - RIP 1992 and Paul Leonard - RIP 2001
Cousin of D Louis Meagher - RIP 1980 and Paddy Meagher - RIP 2005

Transcribed HIB to PAR : 22 January 2003

Father was in the wholesale business.

Only boy with one step-sister.

Early education at a Dominican Convent school in Dublin he then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ for six years.

by 1959 at Gandía, Valencia, Spain (TARR) making Tertianship
by 1977 at Rome, Italy (DIR) Sec to English Assistant; and 1978 for Roman Houses
by 1993 at Asunción, Paraguay (PAR) working

◆ Interfuse No 133 : Special Issue September 2007 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2007

Obituary

Fr John P Leonard (1924-2007) : Paraguay Province

17th October 1924: Born in Dublin
Early education in Cabra and Clongowes
7th September 1943: Entered the Society at Emo
1945 - 1948: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
12th March 1946: First Vows at Emo
1948 - 1951: Tullabeg -Studied Philosophy
1951 - 1953: Crescent - Regency
1953 - 1954: Clongowes
1954 - 1958: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1957: Ordained at Milltown Park
1958 - 1959: Tertianship in Gandia, Valencia, Spain
1959 - 1964: Mungret - Spiritual Father to lay students
1964 - 1969: Belvedere – Teacher
1969 - 1976: Clongowes – Teacher
1976 - 1990: Rome (Curia) - Secretary of English Assistancy
1st December 1977: Final Vows at Curia, Rome
1990 - 1991: Paraguay
1991 - 1993: John Austin House, NCR - Directs Sp. Exercises
1993 - 1994: Paraguay - Directs Spiritual Exercises
1994 - 1996: Parish Curate
1996 - 1998: Assistant in Parish, Novitiate, Retreat House
1998 - 2007: Teacher to Novices, Directs Sp. Exercises
January 23rd 2003: Transcribed to Paraguay Province
November 8th, 2006: Died in Samaritan Hospital, Assuncion.

Paul Andrews writes:
When you mention Johnny Leonard to Jesuits who have known him, they smile. He is a happy, interesting memory. People liked to have him around. He was a Dubliner, born on the North Circular Road. Through his father he was a cousin of two highly visible and assertive Jesuits, Jack and Paul Leonard; and through his mother he was related to another Jesuit, Paddy Meagher. John was still a young boy when his mother died. His father married again, to Kitty who, as stepmother, became an important figure in John's life. She was a lively and emotional person who had taught music in Loreto on the Green.

The Leonard brothers ran a solid grocery business and were able to send their boys to Clongowes. The shock of this home leaving was mitigated by a new friendship. Paddy Crowe had gone to Clongowes a year before John, but they were in the same year, though in different streams, all the way up the school, They went together to Emo, Rathfarnham, Tullabeg, Crescent and Clongowes for Regency, and theology in Milltown (John went to Gandia, Spain, for tertianship, and his fluency in Spanish stood to him in the last mission of his life). As schoolboys they were small of stature, not particularly athletic, and instead they enjoyed the cycling club – less physical, more talkative than rugby - in the company of Fr Gerry O'Beirne.

John could also enjoy the oddities of his elders. The prefect of the small study was a Jesuit nicknamed Bananaskin, because his head displayed a tightly plastered covering of yellow hair. He was known too for an ostentatious piety – he would say his beads in full display as he walked up and down the study. John spent some idle moments sketching him – he drew with a sharp eye and sensitive hand - and wrote underneath Saint Bananaskin. Unfortunately it was spotted by the Prefect of Studies, Bill Dargan, who probably enjoyed the picture, but felt it his duty to explode in simulated fury.

In their last summer in Clongowes Paddy Crowe and John discovered that they both were thinking of joining the Jesuits. On 6th September 1943 John drove to Paddy's home in Edenderry with his father, stepmother Kitty, and half-sister Anne. They had a party that night. Kitty played the piano and sang the Vera Lynn song We'll meet again till she broke down in tears. Mr Leonard felt this was over the top - not his style. He hired a taxi to take Paddy and John to Emo next day, and so began the long, clearly demarcated journey of Jesuit formation. There was one unexplained hiccup. John did not take first vows at the end of his noviciate. In September he went up to Rathfarnham with the rest, and at Christmas he returned to Emo for his first profession. Why the postponement? Novice-master John Neary is no longer with us to tell the tale. Perhaps John was still thinking of the Cistercians, a way of religious life that had attracted him as a boy.

His health was never robust. While in Mungret he contracted brucellosis, which was not diagnosed for a long time. He languished in hospital, but one night, at 2 a.m., he woke up feeling his health had returned. He rang for the nurse: I feel an appetite for the first time in months. “Could you get me scrambled egg on toast, please?” God bless her, she obliged. Next morning John put it to his consultant: I am better now, Doctor; but what was wrong with me? John loved to imitate the Dublin 4 response of the doctor: Well, Fr. Leonard, you had this mysterious complaint, and we hit it with everything we had. Whatever we did worked so well that we had you cured before we could find out what was wrong with you!

John was an intelligent student, and did a good degree in History and Latin at UCD, He took neat, well-articulated notes which were prized by all who could lay hands on them. He became an exceptionally gifted teacher of history and geography and spent seventeen years in the classrooms of Mungret, Belvedere and Clongowes; his historical sense informed his later work in Rome.

In 1976 John was called to Rome as Regional Secretary of the English-speaking Assistancy. His thirteen years there suited him in all sorts of ways. He liked the sense of being near the hub of decision-making, and scanning and summarising letters and other documents, He enjoyed both the gossip of headquarters and its style of bureaucratic discretion - Of course I couldn't possibly comment on that - as Nigel Hawthorn would say in Yes, Minister. He lived through stirring times in Rome. He saw Fr Iparraguirre falling to his death from the roof of the Curia. And after that sad summer when Father Arrupe was felled by a stroke, and the Pope unseated Vincent O'Keefe as Vicar General, John joined the group holidaying in Cahirdaniel, Kerry, and held us enthralled with his insider stories and his quirky, mischievous humour. He would generally return to Ireland to avoid the Roman summer, and for a month or two would join the retreat team in Manresa, which valued him both as a director and as congenial company.

When his term in Rome was over, John found a new and demanding mission. In 1990, at the age of 64, he went to Paraguay, and worked there – apart from a two-year stint in Austin House, giving retreats - till his death. What sort of work? Teaching history to the novices, with the same conscientious preparation he had always shown as a teacher, spiritual direction with a range of people, and parish work. He remained curious and creative, continued to read widely, loved new books on spirituality, and translated a book on the Paraguay Reductions.

He decided that he was not going to cross the Atlantic again, and settled in to the final furlong with a generally high heart, though like most of us he was sometimes afflicted by down moods. He would start the day with a big breakfast, the most important meal of the day for him. Like Jesus, he also loved parties, which were sometimes just a 'cuppa' with a friend. He relished his golden moments with Barry's tea, which Henry Grant used to send him from Ireland. As he felt the end approaching, he invited his friends to join him in the Infirmary for a farewell party which was compared to the famous banquet in Babette's Feast. How many of us would have the nerve, or the energy, to throw a party like that? As with the old Dean in Babette's Feast, you could say of John:

The only things we take with us from our life on earth are those which we have given away. He had given up his family, fatherland, language and many friends, and given richly to those he worked for. May the Lord reward him

Born: 14 April 1924, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 29 March 2001, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Brother of John A Leonard - RIP 1992; Nephew of Patrick Leonard - RIP 1909 (Scholastic)
Cousin of John P Leonard - RIP 2006

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 108 : Special Edition 2001

Obituary

Fr Paul Leonard (1924-2001)

14th April 1924: Born in Dublin
Early education in Holy Faith, Glasnevin and Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1942: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1944: First Vows at Emo
1944 - 1947: Rathfarnham - studying Arts at UCD
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1950 - 1953: Belvedere College, Teaching
1953 - 1957: Milltown Park - studying Theology
31st July 1956: Ordained at Milltown Park
1957 - 1958: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1958 - 1960: Eglinton Rd - Assist. Director Marian Cong.
1960 - 1961: Belvedere - Assist. Director Marian Cong.
1961 - 1962: Manresa - Assist. Director Marian Cong.
1962 - 1994: Leeson Street - Editor of Messenger and National Secretary (later Director) of the Apostleship of Prayer (until 1989)
1977 - 1981: Superior
5th Nov. 1977: Final Vows
1982 - 1983: Sabbatical year - Mainly in California
1988: Vice-Superior
1990 - 1991: Research for Province Health Delegate
1991: 1993: Health Delegate Health & 'Troisième Age' Delegate; Writer
1994 - 1996: Cherryfield Lodge - Superior, Health & Troisième Age Delegate
1996 - 2001: Leeson Street - Health & Troisième Age Delegate (until 1998)
1997 Mini-sabbatical - writer

Paul had a severe stroke in 1996 and was admitted to Cherryfield, where he made a very good recovery. He then went back to Leeson Street, where he enjoyed reasonably good health until July 1999. He was admitted at that time to Cherryfield with loss of balance and had a fairly good quality of life up to last November, when his general health began to deteriorate gradually. He was admitted to St. Vincent's on March 19th 2001, and died peacefully in the hospital on 29th March 2001.

Brendan Murray preached at Paul's Funeral Mass....

Fr Paul Leonard, whose loss we mourn today and whose life we celebrate in this Eucharist, was a man of many gifts. For thirty years or so, he was known to a wide public as a fine writer, a skilful editor, and an eloquent preacher, who graced the pulpit of this Church on many occasions. At the same time, he was known to a wide circle of friends and colleagues as a compassionate counsellor and an efficient administrator. Throughout his life as a Jesuit, he was content to follow the counsel of Saint Ignatius by placing his talents at the service of others and by giving freely what he had freely received.

For twenty-seven years, from 1962 to 1989, Paul was National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer and Editor of the Messenger. During that time he navigated a safe passage through the turbulent waters created in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. As the changing circumstances of the sixties forced many religious magazines to stop publication, Paul guaranteed the survival of the Messenger by an astute mixture of caution and innovation,

He adapted the style and contents of the magazine to the new theological and pastoral orientations of Vatican II. He introduced the new technologies that were being developed in the printing world. He engaged the services of an expert designer and elicited contributions from many young writers and photographers while maintaining the highest editorial standards and achieving record levels of circulation.

In 1985 he took the expensive and risky step of changing the Messenger from black and white print, and decking that venerable old lady out in bright new colours. Three years later, in 1988, he presided over the nation-wide celebrations of her centenary. For Paul, that was a proud achievement. And so too was the effort he put in to promoting the canonisation of Claude de la Colombiere, the friend of St Margaret Mary Alacoque, and the great promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart.

If, for obvious reasons, Claude de la Colombiere was one of his favourite saints, one would also have to say that Francis de Sales was never far behind. The frequency with which he quoted de Sales in his writing, or referred to him in his conversation, indicated that he had a special affection for, and indeed a special affinity with, that most lovable of saints. Perhaps that's not too surprising when we recall that Francis de Sales was once described as “a gentleman who was a saint, and a saint who was a gentleman”.

Paul, of course, would never have seen himself as a saint or allowed anyone to describe him as one. However, he would, I think, have been content to be accepted as a gentleman, and certainly as a man of faith. For Paul's faith was rooted deeply in his being and was centred firmly on the person of Jesus Christ. In the light of that faith, he saw himself as one who was in constant transition from the sorrow of sin to the joy of forgiveness; he saw his mission as a calling to present the good news of the Gospel to others, not as a burden to be borne, but as a love-song to be sung.

Paul was a practical man, whose faith expressed itself in his abiding love for his family, his deep appreciation of his friends, his loyalty to the Church, his fidelity to his vocation, his affection for his Jesuit colleagues, his passion for justice, his compassion for the poor and his life-long devotion to prayer.

Anytime you visited Paul in the Jesuit Nursing Home, Cherryfield Lodge, you were likely to find him with his breviary on his lap or his rosary beads in his hands. Those beads had been bequeathed to him by his elder brother, Father Jack, who in turn had received them over seventy years ago from their beloved Aunt Hannah, a saintły Carmelite nun,

One of the great gifts God gave to Paul was a facility in prayer. Another, perhaps greater gift, was his ability to help others to pray. Those who knew Fr. Paul Leonard will remember him as a modest, unassuming man; cheerful and friendly in his manner, moving quietly through life with a firm sense of purpose. They will remember him also for his sense of humour, which was playful rather than hurtful; and, like his taste in sherry, dry rather than sweet.

Paul liked to recall the circumstances in which the Sacred Heart Messenger came into being and to record his admiration for the wily resourcefulness of its founder, Fr James Cullen. He liked to point out that the birth of that popular magazine, a paragon of rectitude in the eyes of many, was tarnished somewhat by a tinge of illegitimacy. It had reached a circulation of 2000 before the Provincial of the time became aware of that development.

And when Fr Cullen asked him for financial assistance he responded, not with a munificent grant, but with a mişerly loan of the sum of £1. That loan was still outstanding during Paul's term as Editor and when I asked him once if he intended to repay it, he said, “Certainly, as soon as we can afford it!”

Shortly after Paul retired from his position as Editor of the Messenger, the Provincial found a new outlet for his administrative skills and for his delicate sensitivity to the needs of others. He was appointed as a special assistant with responsibility for the care of the elderly and the sick. It was a position for which he was well suited and which he fulfilled with great distinction.

During his term of office he brought the care of the elderly and the sick up to professional standards and introduced many innovations, including the restructuring of Cherryfield Lodge. His most important contribution, however, was the engagement of a very caring and gifted nursing staff who, in God's providence, were there to look after Paul himself in 1996 when he was recovering from a severe stroke and again in 1999 when failing health compelled him to take up permanent residence.

Throughout his life Paul always enjoyed that inner freedom which allowed him to show his love for others and to accept their love in return. He remained that way to the end, always grateful for the affection that was lavished on him by his family and friends and Jesuit confreres, and by the many angels of mercy who nursed him.

Born: 01 May 1710, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 17 July 1732, Seville, Spain - Baeticae province (BAE)
Ordained: 1739/40, Granada, Spain
Final Vows: 15 August 1747
Died: 04 August 1759, Jesuit Church, Granada, Spain - Baeticae province (BAE)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Probably he received his classical education at the Jesuit School in Dublin.
He accompanied James MacInerney to Spain and shared the latter’s trials and disappointment over his deferred entry to the Society.
After First Vows he was sent to Granada for studies and was Ordained there 1739/40, and then made his Tertianship, also at Granada.
Not invited to join the Irish Mission due to complete lack of knowledge of Irish language, though he also found it difficult to acquire a good Spanish accent, and therefore not allowed to teach in the Colleges, or teach at University, which his intellectual ability merited.
1744 His entire Ministry was spent in Granada as Operarius at the Jesuit Church attached to the College, where he had a high reputation as a sound Spiritual Director and Confessor, and he died there 04 August 1759.

Born: 25 March 1624, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 05 August 1649, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: c 1651,
Final Vows: 15 August 1666
Died: 28 September 1691, Limerick

1651 Scholastic at Arévalo Spain (near Avila)
1651 ANG Catalogue Was at Salamanca in 4th year Theology, was a priest before Ent, suitable for rectorship in Irish Seminary in Spain
1655 At Pontevedao College (CAST) teaching Grammar (B)
1666 ROM Catalogue At Cashel : Restored the BV Sodality, preaches, administers Sacs and 5 years PP. Gives satisfaction ro “U Geul”, after whose death he devotes himself to affairs of the Irish Mission. Was 7 years on the Mission (D)
1678 At Poitiers Minister and teaching Humanities

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1657 Came to Irish Mission and worked from Waterford and Cashel Residences. When Andrew FitzBennet Sall was committed to prison in Waterford, 22/01/1658, Thomas Leary supplied for him in the town and country.
1669 He was in Cashel, and witnessed the miraculous cure of his niece, Elizabeth Xavieria Leri, of Cashel, who was cured by a Novena to Francis Xavier (cf Morris’s Louvain “Excerpts”; Foley’s Collectanea and Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John and Isabel née Young
Had studied Philosophy at Santiago and two years Theology Salamanca before Ent 05 August 1649 Villagarcía
1651-1652 After First Vows he was Ordained and sent on Regency to Arévalo
1652-1658 He then continued studies at Salamanca followed by a period teaching Humanities at Pontevedra
1658 Sent to Ireland and initially probably at Cashel. For a while he replaced Andrew Fitzbennet Sall at Waterford when he had been captured, and deported. After restoration he was sent to Cashel where he ministered at Catechising, Preaching and administering the Sacraments and where he also restored the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin
1674 Appointed Consultor of the Mission and sent to Dublin.
1677 Sent to conduct business for the Mission Superior at Poitiers, investigating complaints brought against the Rector Ignatius Browne. Though it was intended that he return immediately, he was kept in France until the end of the Titus Oates Plot
1680 He returned to Cashel where he remained until the arrival of William's army. He then withdrew to Limerick and died there 28 September 1691

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LEARY, THOMAS, arrived in Ireland during the latter end of 1657, and “was stationed at Waterford”. When F. Andrew Sall, (of whom we have made mention in a note to the article on Ignatius Brown), was apprehended in that city on the 22nd of January following, and thrown into jail, F. Leary supplied his place in town and country with great spirit and success. In 1669 I meet him at Cashell, where he witnessed the remarkable cure of his niece, Elizabeth Xaverira Leary, of dysentery and deafness, after performing a Novena in honour of St. Francis Xavier. The fact was certified by the grand Vicar of Cashell, as F. Stephen Rice reports it in the Annual letters. After this event I lose sight of him.

Born: 1567, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 1586, Lisbon, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: c 1594, Lisbon, Portugal
Professed: 1616
Died: 27 January 1624, Clonmel, County Tipperary

Alias Leinagh

1590-1592: Studying Theology at Funchal College, Madeira (LUS) Age 21 Soc 3.
1597: At St Anthony’s College Lisbon, Minister and Confessor there since 1594.
1600: Came to Mission Was Superior in West Munster, ie Limerick, Waterford and Clonmel.
1616: Catalogue Prefect of Ours in Residence of Munster some years. Was Consultor some years in Spain. Delicate in health a good Moral Theologian. Prudent though sometimes choleric, though inclined to meekness. Governs with tact, esteemed by the people.
1621: Catalogue Better suited for practical than speculative subjects.
1622: Catalogue Consultor in East Munster.
ARSI “A man of great prudence, circumspect, zealous and energetic. Had special credit and authority. There was a Nicholas Lynach at Newgate Prison 1598 or 1599.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
He wrote from St Anthony’s College Lisbon, Portugal, 25 September 1598, begging to be sent to the “holy and happy Irish Mission”.
He was assigned to Munster with Andrew Morony, and known to be in Ireland 1617.
In a letter from Fr Lawndry (vere Holywood) to Richard Conway 14 November 1611 (Irish Ecclesiastical Record April 1874) he says “Of the west part of the Southern Province Nicholas Lynach hath care, assisted only by Thomas Shine and Thomas Bourke, save what help he hath from Andrew Morony” (cf "Hibernia Ignatiana for several more letters).
Alive in 1622.
He was a man of talent; a great Preacher; “hath” says the Attorney General “special credit and authority” (State Papers); “Circumspect, zealous and energetic” (Holywood)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1588-1590: After First Vows he spent two years Regency at Évora and Funchal, Madeira.
1590-1594: His studies were limited to a course in Moral Theology in Lisbon and he was Ordained there c 1594.
1594-1601: Operarius at Irish College, Lisbon and Minister for a while.
1601: Sent to Ireland in February. Most of his work was done in Munster, though he did visit many parts of Connacht during his first decade back in the country with Andrew Mulrony
1610: Consultor of Mission.
1621: Stationed at Clonmel where he died 27 January 1624 and is buried at St Mary’s Church, Clonmel

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Nicholas Leynich SJ 1567-1624
The names of Fr Walter Wale and Fr Barnaby O’Kearney are always linked together for many reasons, so also the names of Nicholas Leynich and Andrew Morony. Both were born in Clonmel around the same time, entered the Society within a few years of each other, and finally come to Ireland together in 1601, and laboured both outstandingly in Munster.

Nicholas Leynich was born in the 60’s of the sixteenth century in Clonmel, entering the Society in Spain in 1586. In a letter dated 25th September 1598, from St Antony’s College, Lisbon, he pleaded with the General to be sent on the Irish Mission. He got his request, and worked with such great profit of souls, that he was marked out by the authorities as one of their greatest enemies. The Superior at the time, Christopher Holywood entrusted him with a great deal of the governance of the province of Munster and Connaught.

He was engaged for a few years in the educational work in Dublin along with Frs Field and Wale. His death occurred some time after 1622.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LYNCH,NICHOLAS, (sometimes called Leynach) applied from St. Anthony College, Lisbon, 25th September, 1598, “to be named, though an unworthy and useless servant, amongst the labourers in the holy and happy mission of Ireland”. His earnest petition was granted. Minister was assigned to him and his colleague, F. Andrew Morony, as a field for Apostolic labor : and this Province had cause to say in the words of the Acts xvi. 17. “These men are servants of the High God, who declare the way of salvation”. In a letter dated, “ex desertis Hyberniae”, the 3rd of April, 1605, “he recommends that none be sent over to this Mission, but men that are ripe and sedate, conversant with the Institute of the Society, interior, solid, and mortified men; for such are truly required for this new plantation; not indiscreet young men, conceited in their own judgment”. F. Nicholas was still living in February, 1622.

Died: 18 November 1680, Prague, Czech Republic - Bohemiae Province (BOH)
◆ In Chronological Catalogue Sheet
◆ CATSJ I-Y has “Linck (Lynch)”; RIP 18 November 1680

Born: 30 November 1623, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 25 June 1642 - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: c 1652, St Ambrose Valladolid, Spain
Final Vow: 02 February 1660
Died: 14 February 1686, Irish College, Salamanca, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

1645 At Pamplona teaching Humanities
1651 ANG Catalogue declared fit to be Superior in Irish Seminary
1655 At Bilbao College teaching Grammar - very high talent, a taste for letters
1665-1685 Rector Irish College Salamanca Teaching Philosophy

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Later than 1634 he was studying with John Clare and Andrew Fitzbennet Sall in CAST.
1665-1689 Rector at Salamanca (Irish Ecclesiastical Record August 1874, and Hogan’s List)
Note from Andrew Lynch Entry :
1672 Rector at Santiago, between whom and Father Andrew Lincol, Rector of Salamanca, Father Patrick Lynch was arbitrator in the case of Nicholas’ Wise’s will in 1672

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
After First Vows he spent a short Regency at Pamplona and then was sent for studies at Royal College Salamanca and St Ambrose Valladolid, where he was Ordained c 1652
1655-1656 At Bilbao
1656+1658 Sent to Santiago to teach Philosophy
1658-1666 Rector of Irish College Poitiers
1666 Rector of Irish College Salamanca until his death there 14 February 1686

Died: 12 November 1690, Bad Münstereifel, Germany - Rhenish Inferioris Province (RH INF)

◆ CATSJ I-Y has RIP Monaster Eifflice 12 November 1690

◆ In Old/15 (1)

Born: 01 February 1715, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 04 May 1741, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: Salamanca, Spain - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1755
Died: 13 September 1791, John’s Lane, Dublin

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He died in the Augustinian House at John’s Lane
Great Preacher; Professor of Humanities
1752 In Dungarvan
1761-1766 Rector at Salamanca
Note from Gaspar Stafford Entry :
1739 One of the Examiners of Father Lisward (Dr McDonald and de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Hugo and Kathleen née Norris
Had studied at the Irish Colleges of Santiago and Salamanca where he was Ordained before Ent 04 May 1741 Villagarcía
1743-1745 After First Vows sent to Royal College Salamanca for further studies
1745-1750 Taught Humanities at León and for a time was Minister
1750-1761 Sent to Ireland and Dungarvan where he worked for eleven years
1761-1765 Rector of Irish College Salamanca
1765 Sent to Cadiz to arrange the business of the Mission and then to Ireland and the Dublin Residence. There is little record of his work in Ireland after his return until the suppression of the Society.
He was one of the signatories to the instrument accepting the suppression and became incardinated in Dublin diocese. he was a Curate at St. James's parish but in consequence of some difference with the PP he went to live with the Augustinians in John's Lane and ministered at their chapel, where his sermons attracted large numbers, until his death 13 September 1791

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edward Lisward 1715-1791
Fr Edward Lisward was the pioneer of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ireland. He was Parish priest of our parish in Waterford from 1750-1761. There he founded a Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, the first in Ireland, anticipating by more than fifty years the Confraternity founded in Dublin by Archbishop Murray in 1816.

Fr Lisward had done his studies in Spain, and there he had drank in the devotion from Fr Bernard de Hoyas, who in turn had imbibed it from Fr Gilifret in France, who himself was a disciple of Blessed Calude la Colombière. So, the devotion came to Ireland in a direct line from its original sources.

Fr Lisward was born in Clonmel, the son of Hugh Lisward and Kathleen Morris. He entered the Society in 1741, and was Rector of Salamanca after his period in Waterford from 1761-1766.

He died in Dublin on September or December 13th 1791, in the Augustinian House at John’s Lane.

◆ Clongowes Wood College SJ HIB Archive Collection - SC/CLON/142

Edward Lisward 1715-1791
Edward visward, son of Hugo and Kathleen née Morris was born in Clonmel in February, 1715 and made his ecclesiastical studies at Santiago and Salamanca He was already a priest when he was received into the Society at Villagarcia, 4 May 1741. After his noviceship he was sent to complete his theological studies at the Royal College,Salamanca. From 1745 to 1750 he taught humanities and was also Minister at the College of Leon. On his return to Ireland he was assigned to work in Dungarvan and district and exercised his ministry there until summer 1761 when he was appointed rector of the Irish College Salamanca. Three years later he returned to Ireland. On his return to Ireland he seems to have settled in Dublin, certainly after the suppression he lived and died at the Augustinian monastery at John's Lane. He had already officiated at St James’ Parish but he left it in consequence of some difference with the Parish Priest.

Note, St James's Parish registers C of I “Burials: September 15 Rev. Mr Lisworth, Thomas St”.

◆ MacErlean Cat Miss HIB SJ 1670-1770

Loose Note : Edward Lisward
Those marked with were working in Dublin when on 07/02/1774 they subscribed their submission to the Brief of Suppression
John Ward was unavoidably absent and subscribed later
Michael Fitzgerald, John St Leger and Paul Power were stationed at Waterford
Nicholas Barron and Joseph Morony were stationed at Cork
Edward Keating was then PP in Wexford

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LISWARD, EDWARD, was born at Clonmel on the 1st of February, 1715, and joined the Society at Salamanca, on the 5th of May, 1741. Nine years later he revisited his native Country as a Missionary, and was placed by Superiors at Dungarvan. After his Profession of the Four Vows, on the l5th of August, 1755, I can no longer trace him.

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

Early education at Belvedere College SJ & Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for BA Classics, 1st Class Honours at UCD

by 1924 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney
by 1932 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
As a regent, Arthur Little taught at Riverview, 1923-26, where the bright and brash Riverview boys turned his classes into chaos. After tertianship at St Beuno's, Little spent the major part of his life as a philosophy professor at Tullabeg. He was a very skilled thinker as well as being an excellent musician and wrote on aesthetics and poetry.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 25th Year No 1 1950

Obituary

Fr. Arthur Little (1897-1914-1949)

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

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

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

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

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

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

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

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

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1950

Obituary

Father Arthur Little SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1950

Obituary

Father Arthur Little SJ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 27 June 1865, Terra Nova, Newfoundland, Canada
Entered: 10 April 1885, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 1900, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1903
Died: 21 July 1933, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Brisbane, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

part of the Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1895 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia in 1887 post Novitiate for studies and Regency
by 1902 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert Little was the son of the then premier of Newfoundland, but was domiciled at Monkstown, Dublin, and was educated at Clongowes College, 1880-84.
He entered the Society 10 April 1885 and, early in 1887, was sent to Australia to complete his noviciate and juniorate. He began teaching French and English at Riverview, 1888-94, and was also involved with rowing, debating and the library. He went to Jersey for philosophy and then Milltown Park for theology; and was ordained in 1901. Tertianship was undertaken at Mold, Wales, 1901-02. He taught at Belvedere College, Dublin, 1902-03, and was solemnly professed, 15 August 1904. He set sail again for Australia in 1903. For several years he was attached to the staff at Riverview, and was prefect of studies, 1905-13. He spent a few years in the parish of Richmond and St Patrick's College, and in 1916 was transferred to the Brisbane parish of Toowong where he remained until his death. During these years he distinguished himself as a controversialist. While at Riverview, his students believed him to be an admirable English teacher. He loved Chaucer and was given that name. Not only was he painstaking in his work, but he also gave the impression of giving his students individual tutorship. He gave graphic illustrations of what he wanted to convey in his teaching. There was a charm of mind and manner about Little that no one who knew him well would easily forget. He was a reserved person, even shy, which was not easy to penetrate. He had a mind well stocked with a wide range of information, an excellent literary taste and a delicate sense of values that made his criticism valuable and sought after. His keen intellect made him deadly in controversy and this led to his being feared by anti-Catholic propagandists. He had an old world culture that was singularly attractive, but he was also unpractical and somewhat distrait. To this he added a gentleness of manner and a kindness of heart. Through his charm of manner there shone a strong, spiritual man. His last illness lasted two years and he bore his pain with resignation and patient endurance.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 8th Year No 4 1933

Obituary :
Father Robert Little
Father Robert Little died in Australia, Friday, 21st July 1933.
He was born in Newfoundland, 27th June, 1865, educated at Tullabeg and Clongowes, and began his novitiate at Dromore, Co. Down, 10th April, 1885. According to the Catalogue Father Little was at Kew Melbourne, in 1887, where he studied for a year, six years at Riverview, as master or prefect, followed, He began philosophy at Jersey in 1894, theology at Milltown Park, 1897, tertianship at Mold 1901. After a year as Minister in Belvedere he returned to Riverview. He spent one year in that College as Master and was then appointed its Prefect of Studies, which position he held until 1913. One more year at Riverview as Master etc., was followed by a year at Richmond, another at St, Patrick's College, and then in 1916 he became Minister at Brisbane. He held that post until 1931. As Cur. Val. he passed the last two years of his life at Brisbane.
The following is taken from the “Irish Independent” 25th July, 1933 :
By the death of Rev. Robert Little, SJ., at Toowong Brisbane, the Jesuit Order has lost a brilliant member, an erudite theologian, and eloquent preacher. He was son of the late Philip F. Little, a premier of Newfoundland, and brother of Mr. P. I. Little, T.D,, Private Secretary to the President of the Executive Council , Mr. E. J, Little, D.J., and Mr. C. W. Little of the Land Commission.
Born in 1865, he was educated at St. Stanislaus College Tullabeg, and Clongowes Wood College. After his novitiate at Dromore, Co, Down in 1885, he was sent to Australia and
engaged in College work at Riverview College, Sydney. After nine years he went through philosophical and theological studies in Jersey and Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1900. Following a year in Belvedere College, he again went to Australia where he was a close friend of Archbishop Mannix.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1933

Obituary

Father Robert J Little

Father Robert Little SJ, died at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, on July 21st, after a long and painful illness. Confined to his bed for the last two years of his life and in constant pain, he bore his lengthy and severe trial with a patience and resignation which edified all who were with him. To those who knew him, his patient endurance and calmness of soul fitted in with that deep holiness and perfect mastery of himself which distin guished him through life.

Father Little was born in Newfoundland in 1865. He was thus in his sixty ninth year when he died. He was the son of the late Judge Little who, for many years, was district Judge in Ireland.

He was educated at St. Stanislaus College, Tullabeg. Ireland, where he laid the foundation of that ripe scholarship which he acquired so fully in after life.

He entered the Society of Jesus in 1885 and, early in his career, was sent to Australia. He began his years of teaching at Riverview in company with the late Fr Pigot SJ, and under the Rectorship of the late Fr Keating SJ In due course he returned to Ireland for his higher studies and was ordained in 1901. Two years later he set sail again for Australia. For several years during his second period in this country he was attached to the staff at Riverview. For some twelve years he held the position of Prefect of Studies. In 1916 he was transferred to Brisbane to the newly founded Parish of Toowong, where he remained till his death, During these years he distinguished himself as a controversialist-a work in which he showed himself very skilled.

There was a charm of mind and manner about Father Little that no one who knew him intimately will easily forget. Perhaps these will be comparatively few, for he had a reserve, one might say a shyness, which it was not easy to penetrate. He had a mind well stocked with a wide range of information, an excellent literary taste and a delicate sense of values which made his criticism valuable and sought after. : It was an old world culture which was singularly attractive. To this he added a gentleness of manner and a kindness of heart which won him a multitude of friends. And through this charm of man ner shone the earnestness of a soul imbued with holiness and utterly unselfish. His work for God and for souls absorbed him. No one was too insignificant, nothing too small if there was question of something to be done for God.

Father Little's was a life passed close to God from Whom he derived that love of men of which nothing too great could be demanded. He united the simplicity of soul of a St Francis to the culture of a University don; and the austerity of the religious garb did not hide his gentleness, his urbanity and his unfailing sincerity. These fitted him well for his life's work as teacher of youth and seeker of souls for Christ. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1934

Obituary

Father Robert Little SJ

Father Robert Little was born at St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1865. He was the son of Judge Little, who became Premier of Newfoundland. The family also lived in Prince Edward Island. Mrs Little had property in Ireland and thither the family went, Robert being educated at Clongowes with his numerous brothers, More than one of his brothers adopted the profession of law, and one of them is at present a judge in the Free State. His brother Ignatius was a major in the Indian Army, spent a considerable time in India, and is now in Ireland. His brother Philip Francis is well-known as a poet, some of his compositions being of remark ably high quality.

Robert entered the Society of Jesus in 1885 and went to Australia in 1887. He was a master in St Ignatius' College, Riverview, for some seven years and then went to Europe to complete his studies for the priesthood. In 1897 he was ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin, and a couple of years later returned to Australia where he resumed work first at Riverview, and then in other Houses, being finally appointed to Brisbane where, after several years of parish work, he died.

Father Little was a fascinating personality, of remarkable originality, and of the keenest sense of humour. He radiated fun wherever he went, and I venture to say that in the whole course of his life he never said an unkind word to anybody, though his pranks assumed, at times, almost the characteristic of eccentricity. So great was his geniality and his kindness that no one ever felt any resentment at whatever he did. He was the perfect gentleman to the tips of his fingers. It was in his blood and in every member of his family.

He dearly loved a discussion. In order to finish a discussion it made no matter whether you or he missed a train, tram, steamer, or aeroplane. On the point of punctuality he was well-nigh hopeless. His great delight, as a younger man, was - to use a humorous metaphor that he sometimes adopted - to catch the train or the boat “on the hop”. He always arrived at the last moment, just as the conveyance was moving out. Sometimes he bounded into it while it was in motion, at other times he chased it, and even one time leaving Galway for Dublin - got an express to stop outside the station for him.

He was continually in the centre of amusing pictures. His Ford car was well-known around Brisbane, especially when he was learning to manipulate it, and it is said that those who went out with him in those hectic days, on the return felt so near Eternity that they began to make their wills! On one occasion he found himself out a distance of a few rniles from Toowong, The Ford car would not go forward, so he backed it all the way from Mogill to Toowong, to the amazement of the population. On another occasion when Father Roney, a great stickler for punctuality, was his Superior, Father Little arrived an hour and a half late for dinner, Father Roney looked very grave and said solemnly, “You are an hour and a half late. What has happened?” “Oh”, said Father Little, “those motor cars, you know, are apt to play tricks on one and cause delays on the road”. This was very satisfactory so far as it went, but the whole story is as follows: Father Little, having reached a certain river and not finding the ferry which would take the car across, accidentally drove the car into the river - which was deep - and left it there. The following morning he organized a relief party of men and boys with ropes, horses, and things, and they pulled the car out of the river.

On another occasion the Superior of the Australian Mission (Father J Sullivan) was on visitation and Father Little undertook to drive him around in his Ford, They got up the hills all right, but they had a tempestuous time coming down. Father Little had a theory that it was a mistake to use the brakes, as it wore them out, so he let the Ford run by the force of gravity down the hills. Suddenly the horrified Superior saw they were heading full career for a stone wall, and when the car leaped on to the footpath he was expecting an instantaneous departure to Eternity, when fortunately, the mudguard was hooked by a lamp-post and the car waltzed around into the road. This experience must have appreciably shortened the life of the poor Superior

On another occasion when the Superior was leaving for the South, Father Little undertook to see him safely to his train, He was to pick the Rev Father up at 8.30, but did not appear till 8.40. The poor Superior was already anxious about his train, but what was his amazement when Father Little asked him to give a hand at shoving the Ford out into the road as the engine would not move till warmed up. Father Suilivan threw his weight on to the machine and got it out, under the direction of Father Little, into the middle of the road. But the Ford refused to move, so Father Little said genially, “Let's get out and shove it down the hill, The engine is not yet warmed up”. Having started it down the hill, Father Little and the Superior frantically leaped in, and down the hill went the Ford and reached the bottom without any sign of activity in the engine. Father Little said coolly, “It is not yet warm enough. We'll have to push it up another hill!” Thereupon the Father Superior and Father Little astonished the population by shoving their car up a long hill. They got in and again let it slide down, the Superior almost despairing of getting to his train, when suddenly the Ford's engine started running and all seemed well until at a certain point it stopped dead in the middle of the tram line with a tram tearing down behind them. Here they had to get out again and shove the Ford off the line. Finally, at another halt near the station the Superior seized his luggage and made a frantic dash for the train which he boarded, all breathless, when it was already in motion. Then Father Little, radiant with pleasure at the morning's excitement, appeared, waved him a cordial farewell, and said in the most matter-of-fact way, “Be sure to tell Arthur (his cousin) to take up the study of metaphysics instead of literature”. The Superior sat back and tried to calm the excessive palpitation of an overstrained heart.

Incidents like the above are distributed through the whole life of Father Little and, in his case, produced amusement where in the case of anyone else they would have produced explosions of indignation. He was popular everywhere, with children, with old people, with learned professors, and Protestant divines. Everyone liked him, and I feel sure that his many controversies in the Brisbane papers never made him an enemy. He is greatly missed by the parishioners of Toowong. He was the soul of charity, and as already mentioned, never said an unkind word of anyone.

The gaiety of the world is lessened by his departure, but the remembrance of his delicate charity and courtesy will remain like a sweet perfume in the hearts of all his friends.

E Boylan SJ

Born: 09 December 1903, Laopaitsun, Xianxian (Síenhsíen), Beijing, China
Entered: 26 September 1923, Xianxian (Síenhsíen), Beijing, China - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 10 June 1933
Professed: 02 February 1938
Died: 01 June 1975, Taipei, Taiwan - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed CAMP to CHN : 1992

by 1950 came to Aberdeen, Hong Kong (HIB) working 1949-1958

Born: 28 October 1916, Hebei, China
Entered: 21 May 1938, Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 03 June 1948
Professed: 02 February 1951
Died: 31 October 1977, Luodong, Taiwan - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed CAMP to ExOr 03/02/1958; App ExOr to HK 1949-1958

Worked in Hong Kong from 1949-1958

Born: 10 October 1619, Colemanstown, County Dublin
Entered: 08 October 1629, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: c 1648, Wilna (Vilnius), Lithuania
Final Vows: 25 October 1654
Died: 08 December 1671, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Son of Patrick and Mary Sarcefield
Studied in Ireland and Douai
1641-1642 Repeats Philosophy at Lille (GAL-BEL) and teaches Philosophy
1642-1646 At Vilnius studying Theology
1645 Not at Lille
1647 In Tertianship
1648-1651 At Brunsberg College Lithuania - made Doctor of Philosophy in 1651
1655 The Cossacks invade Lithuania, Jesuits dispersed, Locke went to Ireland
1665 In Brixia College (VEM)
1668-1669 Rector of Irish College - where?
related to Sarsfield and Edward Locke surgeon

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1650 D Phil at Wilna (Vilnius)
Rector of Irish College Rome; Travelled to England with Primate Plunkett
Had been out of Ireland thirty-five years on return

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick and Mary née Sarsfield
Had studied Humanities and Philosophy under the Jesuits firstly in Dublin and then at Douai before Ent 08 October 1639 Tournai
After First Vows he studied at Lille graduating MA, and then went to Poland for Regency and studies where he was Ordained c 1648 and graduated D Phil at Wilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1650
1650-1655 Teaching Philosophy and then Theology at Wilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania)
1655-1660 Driven into exile with his Polish Jesuit colleagues, and he found refuge in the Lower Rhenish Province where he taught Moral Theology at Trier.
1660-1667 He was in the Venetian Province teaching Moral Theology at Brescia and Bologna
1667-1679 Rector of the Irish College Rome
1670 Sent to Ireland, he made the journey with Oliver Plunkett, arriving 20 February 1670, and he was made Superior of Dublin Residence, where he died the following year 08 December 1671

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Edward Locke 1620-1671
Fr Edward Locke was a Dublin man, born about 1620. In 1635 he left that city for Rome, where he was educated and joined the Society.

In a letter of his from Dublin, dated 27th February 1670, he tells us, that after a long and painful journey, he had reached Dublin 7 days before, and that owing to a severe winter he had remained about six weeks in London before sailing for Dublin. He says that he had left Dr Oliver Plunkett behind, in whose company he had travelled from Rome. He also remarks that he had returned to Dublin in the very same hour that he had quitted it 35 years beforehand.

Fr Locke was appointed Superior of the Dublin Residence, and in that capacity he called on the Archbishop, Peter Talbot, a sincere friend of the Order.

He died as Superior on December 8th 1671

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LOCKE, EDWARD. His letter dated Dublin, 27th of February, 1670, informs us, that after a long and tedious journey, he had reached Dublin seven days before that owing to the very severe winter he had remained about six weeks in London, before he took shipping for Dublin that he had left Dr. Oliver Plunkett behind (in whose company he had travelled from Rome) - that he returned to Dublin the very same hour that he had quitted it thirty-five years, before - that the new Superior of the Mission, F. Richard Burke, arrived at the same time, of whose character he speaks highly, and of whose future government he augurs most favourably that he had waited on the most illustrious Archbishop Dr. Peter Talbot, who was a sincere friend to the Order. The Father gives it as his opinion, that the distress of the country cannot be equalled elsewhere. I learn from F. Stephen Rice’s Annual Letters, that F. Locke died at Dublin in the year following, “in Missione et alibi de Societate bene meritus”.

Born: 26 February 1871, Ross, South Island, New Zealand
Entered: 02 June 1897, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 26 July 1910, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 10 October 1948, Manresa, Toowong, Brisbane, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1901 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1902 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1911 at St Andrew on Hudson NY, USA (NEB) making Tertianship
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 24 January 1917

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from Raphaël Gennarelli Entry :
Father William Lockington invited him to Australia from Naples for his health. He died at Sevenhill a few years after his arrival.

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

Note from Arthur (Frank) Burke Entry
He feel foul of the Rector William Lockington when he took photos of the Chapel roof falling down on morning during Mass - it was thought the original design was the result of an impetuous decision by the Rector.

Note from George Byrne Entry
He was sent to Australia as Superior and Master of Novices at Loyola College Greenwich. He was also a Consultor of the Sydney Mission and gave Retreats and taught the Juniors.. This occurred at a time when it was decided to reopen the Noviceship in Australia. As such he was “lent” to the Australian Mission for three years, but the outbreak of war and some delaying tactics on the part of the Mission Superior Willliam Lockington, he remained longer than expected.

Note from Edward Carlile Entry
He was a convert from Anglicanism at the age of 25, as a result of the preaching of William Lockington, and was 28 years of age when he entered at Loyola Greenwich

Note from John Carpenter Entry
When the Superior of the Mission - William Lockington - visited Lester House, Osterley, London, he impressed three seminarians, John Carpenter, Laurence Hessian and Hugo Quigley. All three joined the Austraian Province.

Note from James Farrell Entry
He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview. The Rector there at the time was William Lockington and he tried to take him in hand endeavouring to effect a cure, and not entirely in vain.

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University onlne :
Lockington, William Joseph (1871–1948)
by G. J. O'Kelly
G. J. O'Kelly, 'Lockington, William Joseph (1871–1948)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lockington-william-joseph-7216/text12489, published first in hardcopy 1986

anti-conscriptionist; Catholic priest; school principal

Died : 10 October 1948, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

William Joseph Lockington (1871-1948), Jesuit priest, was born on 23 February 1871 at Ross, New Zealand, eldest of eight children of Elisha Lockington, carpenter and later sawmiller from Derbyshire, England, and his wife Mary, née Canfield. Elisha had migrated to the Beechworth, Victoria, goldfields in the 1850s, moving to Ross in 1862; Mary, a milliner, had arrived in New Zealand from England in 1868.

After primary education at the Convent of Mercy, Hokitika, William at 14 became a pupil-teacher at Ross and at 18 head-teacher of the public school at Capleston; his wide reading and retentive memory, talent for music and passion for physical exercise made him a highly esteemed schoolmaster. He was also a well-known racing cyclist. On 2 June 1896 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Greenwich, Sydney, where Aloysius Sturzo, the former superior of the Australian Jesuit communities and then master of novices, disseminated a feeling for internationalism and concern for the poor. Lockington subsequently studied at Tullamore, King's County, Ireland, in Jersey, Channel Islands, and at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England. He taught at The Crescent College, Limerick, Ireland, in 1902-07 and undertook his tertianship at Milltown Park, Dublin, and Poughkeepsie, New York. Ordained in July 1910, he returned to Ireland to assist at Milltown Park in the training of novices and tertians in 1911-13. A course of his lectures, published in 1913 as Bodily Health and Spiritual Vigour and reprinted and translated several times, illustrates his continued emphasis on physical fitness. His admiration for Ireland resulted in his book, The Soul of Ireland (1919).

Recalled to Australia in 1913, Lockington worked as parish priest at Richmond, Melbourne, until his appointment in 1916 as rector of St Patrick's College, East Melbourne. In 1917-23 he was superior of the eleven Australian Jesuit communities; in addition to overseeing four secondary colleges, one seminary and six parishes, he helped to establish Newman College at the University of Melbourne and a seminary at Werribee, Corpus Christi College, for the training of priests from three States.

During this period in Victoria, Lockington gained a reputation as controversialist in the tradition of William Kelly. This partly sprang from his association with Archbishop Mannix whom he drilled in oratory, requiring him to practise declaiming from one end of the cathedral grounds to the other. Lockington was described by a colleague as 'the best platform orator in Australia'. His topics covered religion, temperance, education and the plight of working people; many of his addresses were published. He worked hard to further the growth of the Australian Catholic Federation and was regarded by the Protestant press as a principal in the 1917 anti-conscriptionist 'Jesuit scare'. In 1916 he founded the Catholic Women's Social Guild (later, Catholic Women's League). With Mannix presiding, he was a key speaker in the federation's mid-1917 lecture series which drew a Melbourne audience of thousands; his accusations of sweated labour in confectioners' establishments occasioned debate in the Legislative Assembly. In 1921 the town of Lockington was named after 'the noted author, preacher and lecturer'. His most famous panegyric was yet to come—that for Marshal Foch at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, in April 1929.

Lockington was headmaster of St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney, in 1923-32. Despite the Depression, he resumed a massive building programme, halted since 1901, to complete the main features of the college. He promoted religious music, drama and physical vigour; open-air dormitories bear his stamp. After 1932 he undertook parish duties at Toowong, Brisbane, until 1936 and at Richmond and Hawthorn, Melbourne, until 1947. He was a committee-member of the Catholic Broadcasting Co. and, particularly on Archbishop Duhig's urgings, gave numerous retreats and lectures.

On his way to one such retreat, Lockington died in Brisbane on 10 October 1948. One of the best-known Catholic priests in Australia, and to Mannix 'the friend of half a lifetime', he was buried in Nudgee cemetery.

Select Bibliography
U. M. L. Bygott, With Pen and Tongue (Melb, 1980)
Jesuit Life, no 7, Dec 1981
Lockington papers (Society of Jesus Provincial Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne).

◆ Jesuits in Ireland

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-a-town-called-lockington/
Some 200 km north of Melbourne, Australia, is a town called Lockington, one of the few towns called after a Jesuit, Will Lockington (1871-1948). He was a tough West Coast New Zealander whose wide reading and retentive memory, talent for music and passion for physical exercise (he was a well-known racing cyclist) made him a highly esteemed schoolmaster – he was Principal of a local school at 18, and later, as a Jesuit, Headmaster of St Ignatius College, Riverview for nine years. He was a lifelong friend of Archbishop Mannix whom he drilled in oratory, requiring him to practise declaiming from one end of the cathedral grounds to the other. During his ten years in Ireland, he taught in Crescent College, studied in Tullabeg, and published “Bodily health and spiritual vigour”, a book well ahead of its time.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Lockington, the eldest of eight, received his early education in New Zealand with the Sisters of Mercy at Hokitika. He had no formal secondary education, but the pupil-teacher system appealed to him from the first.
He became a teacher in 1891 and was appointed headmaster of the school at Capleston, a school with about 80 children. He joined in the activities of the local community, played the violin at entertainments and acted in dramatic productions. By 1896 he had decided to join the Jesuits as a brother.
He joined the noviciate at Greenwich, Sydney, 2 June 1896, aged 25. During his noviciate the novice master, Aloysius Sturzo, convinced him to become a priest and so he took his vows as a scholastic in June 1898.
After a year of Latin and Greek in Sydney, he was sent to the Irish juniorate at Tullabeg. He found these studies too difficult, and never matriculated. He was sent to Jersey for
philosophy, and also studied French. However, he only stayed a year, and was sent to Stonyhurst, England, to complete his studies. He became a powerful force in community life, gave lectures on New Zealand, played in the orchestra, helped with plays, and was a promoter of games and sport.
Next he taught at the Crescent College, Limerick, 1902-07. He conducted a choir, and helped produce musicals. He was reported to be a good teacher, and was prefect of studies, 1905-07. He fell in love with Ireland, and later expressed that affection in his book, “The Soul of lreland”.
In 1907 he went to Miiltown Park for theology, and was ordained, 26 July 1910. He did tertianship at Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1911 he returned to Ireland as socius to the master of novices at Tullabeg, and it was during this time that he wrote his more celebrated book, “Bodily Health and Spiritual Vigor”. The work, developed out of a course of lectures he gave to the tertians, reflected Lockington's spirituality - religious life implies a total dedication of oneself to the love and service of God and one's fellow human beings, and that body was included as well as soul.
He was sent back to Australia in 1913, was briefly at Xavier College, and in 1914 was made superior at St Ignatius' Church, Richmond. He was to remain a superior until 1947. He was rector of St Patrick's College in 1916, and at once made plans for its renovation and extension.
However, the next year he was appointed superior of the Mission until 1923. Newman College and Corpus Christi, Werribee were negotiated at this time. It was during these years that he became a national Church figure, lecturing, preaching and giving retreats from Brownsville to Perth, and in New Zealand. He was a powerful preacher, long and loud. His topics included religion, temperance, education and the plight of working people. He even had a town in Victoria named after him in 1921.
He did well to make the name of the Society of Jesus acceptable to the parish clergy in the country, and became a good friend of Dr Mannix, the archbishop. They were both fighters and thought alike on most issues One of their joint ventures in 1917 was the “National Foundation Stones”, a series of seventeen lectures, three of which were given by Lockington. Twenty thousand attended the last lecture given by Mannix at the Melbourne Town Hall.
Lockington had two important qualities, his passion for social justice and his deep sympathy for women. in 1916 he founded the Catholic Women's Social Guild. He valued the contribution women could make to the Church and society.
When his term as Mission Superior ended, he was appointed Rector of Riverview in October 1923 for eight years. Some believe that he built the College from a small school into a “Great Public' school”. The main south front was then not much more than half finished. He completed the main front and the first bays of the east wing. Open air dormitories bear his stamp. He also pulled down the old wooden hall and the original stone cottage.
Internally, he reformed the choir and the performance of the liturgy. He revived the tradition of drama. He was not a popular rector, but respected, trusted and even revered. He never stood on his dignity, as he did not need to. He played handball with the senior boys, and worked with axe or crowbar, pick or hammer. He had no time for mere ceremonial. He was simple and straightforward. All during this time he continued preaching, lecturing and giving retreats.
In 1932, aged 61, he went to Brisbane, to the parish of Toowong. Here he continued his usual round of retreats, lectures and sermons. One lecture lasted one hour and 25 minutes. It was in Brisbane that he developed angina and expected to live a quieter life. He recovered sufficiently to become parish priest in 1933, and in 1936 was appointed parish priest of Richmond, Melbourne. Here he remained until 1947, and at 76, returned to Toowong. However, his heart gave out and he died in the midst of a visitation of religious houses for the archbishop. He was buried in Nudgee cemetery.
He was not a man of great intellect or learning, but he made the best use of his talents. He cared little for reputation, for his own dignity for pomp or circumstance of any kind. He could be overbearing. He was not a good organiser. He had too much contempt for public relations. Yet for all this he was a man totally developed, body and soul, and totally dedicated to Christ, a man, wholly man, Catholic and Jesuit, all for God's greater glory

Note from Arthur (Frank) Burke Entry
He fell foul of the Rector William Lockington when he took photos of the Chapel roof falling down on during Mass - it was thought the original design was the result of an impetuous decision by the Rector.

Note from George Byrne Entry
He was sent to Australia as Superior and Master of Novices at Loyola College Greenwich. He was also a Consultor of the Sydney Mission and gave Retreats and taught the Juniors.. This occurred at a time when it was decided to reopen the Noviceship in Australia. As such he was “lent” to the Australian Mission for three years, but the outbreak of war and some delaying tactics on the part of the Mission Superior William Lockington, he remained longer than expected.

Note from Edward Carlile Entry
He was a convert from Anglicanism at the age of 25, as a result of the preaching of William Lockington, and was 28 years of age when he entered at Loyola Greenwich

Note from John Carpenter Entry
When the Superior of the Mission - William Lockington - visited Lester House, Osterley, London, he impressed three seminarians, John Carpenter, Laurence Hessian and Hugo Quigley. All three joined the Australian Province.

Note from James Farrell Entry
He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview. The Rector there at the time was William Lockington and he tried to take him in hand endeavouring to effect a cure, and not entirely in vain.

Note from Thomas Forster Entry
When William Lockington embarked on his building programme in 1928, he used Thomas as clerk of works with excellent results. His sudden death from a stroke was a severe blow to Lockington.

Note from Michael O’Brien (ASL) Entry
He did not take kindly to Charles Fraser shooting his cows in the rose garden, nor in William Lockington showing him how to do his work. One recreation he enjoyed was to attend meetings of the Irish in Sydney, details of which he kept close to himself.

Note from Hugo Quigley Entry
He was enrolled at Osterly, the house for “late vocations” conducted by the English Jesuits to prepare students for entry into various seminaries. There, with John Carpenter and Laurence Hession, he answered the appeal of the then superior of the Australian Mission, William Lockington, for men willing to volunteer for the Society in Australia.

Note from Jeremiah Sullivan Entry
The province liked him more than either his predecessor, William Lockington, or his successor, John Fahy

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

Note from Gerard Guinane Entry
Gerard Guinane was only sixteen when he entered the Society at Tullabeg, and following early studies he was sent to Riverview in 1926. He taught in the school, was prefect of the study hall and, for a while, was assistant rowing master. He was very successful as a teacher and highly regarded by William Lockington.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 6th Year No 1 1931
From 23 to 27 August, Riverview celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its foundation... The College was founded in 1880 by Fr. Joseph Dalton, He was “wisely daring enough” to purchase a fine property on Lane Cove from Judge Josephson, The property consisted of a cottage containing eight or nine rooms with substantial out offices, and 44 acres of land, at a cost of £4 500. 54 acres were soon added for £1 ,080, and an additional 20 acres later on completed the transaction. This little cottage was the Riverview College of 1880. The modesty of the start may be measured by the facts, that the founder of Riverview, and its first Rector, shared his own bed-room with three of his little pupils , and when the College played its first cricket out match, it could muster only ten boys to meet the opposing team. By the end of the year the number had increased to 15.
In addition to Fr. Dalton's, two other names are inseparably connected with the foundation of Riverview. The first is that of His Grace, Archbishop Vaughan, who invited the Jesuits to Sydney, formally opened the College and gave the Fathers every encouragement.
The second is the name of the great Australian pioneer, the Archpriest Therry. “One hundred years ago”, says one account : “Fr Therry was dreaming of a Jesuit College in Sydney... and when he went to his reward in 1865 he gave it a special place in his final testament”. Fr Lockington called Frs. Dalton and Therry the “co-founders” of Riverview, and added
that it was the wish of the latter to see Irish Jesuits established at Sydney.
An extract from the Catalogue of 1881 will interest many. It is the first time that Riverview is mentioned as a College in the Catalogue :
Collegium et Convictus S. Ignatius
R. P, Josephus Dalton, Sup a die 1 Dec 1879, Proc_ Oper
P. Thomas Gartlan, Min, etc
P. Joannes Ryan, Doc. 2 class. etc
Henricus O'Neill Praef. mor. etc
Domini Auxiliairii duo
Fr. Tom Gartlan is still amongst us, and, thank God, going strong. Soon a brick building (comprising study hall, class rooms and dormitories) wooden chapel, a wooden refectory, were added to the cottage, and in three years the numbers had swelled to 100, most of them day-boys.
The first stage in the history of Riverview was reached in 1889, when the fine block, that up to a recent date served as the College, was opened and blessed by Cardinal Moran.
The second stage was closed last August, when, amidst the enthusiastic cheering of a great gathering of Old Boys, the splendid building put up by Fr. Lockington was officially declared ready to receive the ever increasing crowd of boys that are flocking into Riverview. The College can now accommodate three times as many students as did the old block finished in 1889. Not the least striking part of the new building is the Great Assembly Hall erected by the Old Boys as a memorial to their school-fellows who died during the Great War.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Obituary

Fr. William Lockington (1871-1897-1948) – Vice Province of Australia
Tho' born in New Zealand in 1871 Fr. Lockington came of English stock, his father being a former scholar of St. Paul's, London who after his conversion emigrated to New Zealand as a young man. Fr. Lockington was a primary teacher before entering the Society at the age of 26. He made his novitiate at Greenwich under Fr. Sturzo and studied rhetoric at Tullabeg. He made his philosophy at Jersey and Stonyhurst and taught at the Crescent from 1902 to 1907. He studied theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1910. He made his tertianship in St. Andrew-on-Hudson in the U.S.A and on his return to Ireland was Socius to the Master of Novices and Minister at Tullabeg. In the autumn of 1913 he returned to Australia and was Superior of St. Ignatius, Richmond and St. Patrick's, Melbourne from 1914-1917 and in the latter year was appointed Superior of the Mission of Australia, a post he held till 1923 when he became Rector of Riverview, Sydney. From 1932 to 1936 he was Superior of the Brisbane Residence and from 1937 to 1937 of St. Ignatius, Richmond. He was the author of “The Soul of Ireland” and “Bodily Health and Spiritual Vigour”, and a popular retreat director and as a preacher was in the first rank of pulpit orators in Australia. R.I.P.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949
A further notice of Fr. W. Lockington reached us in February, drawing attention to the remarkable fact that two Archbishops preached panegyrics at his obsequies. Archbishop J. Dhuhig of Brisbane preaching in the Church of St. Ignatius, Toowong, Brisbane on October 12th, called him a militant priest in the best sense of the term," and compared his spirit with that of SS. Paul and Ignatius.'' Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne preaching in St. Ignatius Church, Richmond on 21st October paid tribute to him as the “friend of half a lifetime- as preacher and director. A manly, zealous, broadminded, big- hearted Jesuit has gone to his reward”, said His Grace, “may God deal gently with his noble soul”.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1932

Father Lockington

Eight years of unparalleled progress and a new school; there you have a retrospect of Father Lockington's term of office at Riverview. That he had had little association with the College prior to assuming the reins of government was, strangely enough, a very distinct gain to the school; being unfamiliar with the past he was free to concentrate the whole of his broad vision on the future. He read the destiny of Riverview at a glance, and compared it with the state of the College as he found it. To him the discrepancy was all the more striking. Those who have been for any length of time associated with the Old Riverview would have easily been lulled into a contentment with the established order of things, a contentment, not altogether inexcusable, but only too apt to dim one's view of the future. Father Lockington was altogether free from such a prejudice; he therefore refused to adapt the ideal to existing conditions, but rather made it his purpose to impress on the school in indelible characters the seal of its destined development.

Father Lockington forthwith drew up plans; being essentially a man of action, plans as such meant nothing to him unless he could see his way clear to carry them out; he was gifted besides with indomit able courage, hence it was that his bold schemes materialised.

The completed front facing south is his most valued addition to the permanent structure of the College. It is built to correspond exactly with the Refectory wing: the same architectural features carried out in carefully selected ornate stone; the whole presenting an appearance of stateliness, beauty and stability unrivalled anywhere.

Father Lockington has justified in a very signal manner the wisdom and foresight of those old pioneers who designed a college appropriate to so magnificent a site. The interior of the new wing is his own design: the open-air dormitory is the finest of its kind; the Senior Study is spacious, bright and well-aired, and the MemoriaỈ Hall on the ground floor worthy of its purpose.

Whether the additions were intended to meet the demand for increased accommodation, or new pupils were attracted by these, the fact is that during the late Rector's term the school rolls were exactly doubled. If we may be permitted to express our own opinion, we have no hesitation in saying that Father Lockington's personality was the main factor in this remarkable increase. The Chapel was found to be too small: it was extended in two directions and the interior suitably decorated,

These substantial changes, pointing as they do to the part Riverview is destined to play in the scheme of Catholic education in NSW, inspired a most generous benefactor to erect the present Community wing. Thus in a mere handful of years the original school has spread its handsome lines to its full length along the river frontage and now faces the city on the eastern side.

These are the changes that mark the period of Father Lockington's stay at Riverview; they are a lasting memorial to the indefatigable labours of one man wholly animated with zeal for the glory of God.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father William Lockington (1871-1948)

One of the best remembered of former masters at the Crescent, was a native of New Zealand and had been a trained primary teacher when he entered the Society in his twenty-seventh year. He pursued his higher studies with the French Jesuits in Jersey and later in Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1910. Father Lockington spent his regency at Sacred Heart College, 1902-07. He was an efficient and kindly master who won the affection and respect of his pupils. He fell in love with this country and wrote a widely popular book entitled “The Soul of Ireland” for which the late G K Chesterton wrote the preface. As a teacher, Father Lockington brought original ideas to his classroom - or were his ideas so really original? They could be summed up in the adage “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano”. Idlers and sleepy boys, according to Father Lockington, were not so many culprits to be dealt severely with. Rather, he considered, they were the victims of badly run-down physique. So, he was a strong believer in the parallel bars and physical jerks for stirring the dormant into awareness of their responsibilities. So, the hours after class were devotedly given to helping the backward. Shortly after his return to Australia in 1913, Father Lockington was appointed rector of St Patrick's, Melbourne. From this post he was summoned to the higher responsibility of superior of the Australian Jesuit Mission, an office he discharged with tact and efficiency from 1917 to 1923. He was afterwards rector of Riverview and until his last years held other positions of high responsibility. To these onerous duties, he found time for an enormous number of retreats and occasional sermons and until the end was esteemed one of the finest preachers in Australia.

Born: 10 May 1904, Spencer Road, Waterside, Derry City, County Derry
Entered: 31 August 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967
Died: 07 June 2002, Little Sisters of the Poor, Northcote, Melbourne, Australia

Part of the Campion College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Father was a wholesale provision merchant and the family lives at Gortfoyle Villa, Waterside, Derry City, County Derry

Youngest of one girl and three boys.

Early education was at the Waterside National School for five years, and at age 11 went to St Columb’s, Derry (1915-1921).

by 1924 at Lyon France (LUGD) studying
by 1927 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying
by 1930 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Walter Logue's father, John, was a 'provision merchant', who arranged goods such as butter, pork and cereals to retailers. Walter was educated at the National School, and St Columb’s College, Derry. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, Ireland, 31 August 1921, and completed his juniorate studies at Lyon, France, and Rathfarnham, Dublin, 1923-25. He was considered a capable student and sent to Rome to study philosophy at the Gregorian University, but had a breakdown and returned to Dublin where he completed philosophy. Theology, 1932-36, was studied at Milltown Park, Dublin, and tertianship was at St Beuno's, Wales, 1936-37.
During his regency at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1928-31, he was remembered by his nickname, “Rosebud”, and for having “no notion of discipline”, and being “a perpetual volcanic fury”. As a result of this experience he spent a year of rest at Sevenhill. He returned to St Aloysius College, 1941-44, and again, 1951-54, when he was remembered as a fearsome French teacher very liberal in the use of the strap. However, he also contributed much to the intellectual life of the college as debating master, and for systematically building up the boys' library and for introducing the students to good literature, encouraging then to read regularly.
When teaching ethics to Jesuit scholastics, first at Watsonia, 1937-38, and then at Canisius College, Pymble, 1939-40, he was famed for his views on hunger striking. Stan Kelly sparked off the issue with an article in the December 1939 issue of The Canisian, in which he contended that hunger striking as an abstinence from necessary food, was intrinsically wrong. Logue contended that it had not been proved that abstinence from necessary food was intrinsically wrong. Kelly replied, but Logue was still unconvinced by the arguments proposed. It was suggested that this dispute contributed to Logue having a breakdown, disappearing one day and coming to himself confused, at Gosford. Logue was a very sensitive, highly strung and delicate person, having suffered from tuberculosis. In 1941 he returned to teaching French at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, or religion, French and Mathematics at St Louis School, Perth.
Probably because of the stress in a school classroom, Logue spent a few years as a spiritual director and teacher of Latin at the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, 1965-67. He also gave retreats. Then he became a kind and gentle mentor and teacher to the junior boys at St Ignatius' School, Norwood, 1968-84. He worked mainly in the library helping some boys with reading problems, and encouraged others to improve the quality of their reading. Many appreciated his support, and the new school library was named after him. He also kept up his scholarly interests, especially in moral theology He taught biblical Greek to a small study circle of retired gentlemen in the Norwood parish, and led others through a reading course on Cicero's De Senectute. Logue was a great defender of the faith, with traditional Roman thought and fidelity to the Holy Father. However, he was happy with the new developments in religious education because love rather than authority was emphasised.
From 1985 onwards, Logue was chaplain to the elderly and sick, first at St Joseph's Hospital Geelong, and then at St Vincent de Paul Hostel, Box Hill. As the years passed, he became
increasingly deaf, and with a gradual deterioration in his health, he spent his last years with the Little Sisters of the Poor at Northcote.
Throughout his life, he had to struggle with poor health, with several breakdowns, with shyness, with the demands of a schoolmaster, with increasing age and deafness. In spite of this, he remained a gentle, kindly spiritual person self-effacing, and lovable ever available to others. He was always the priest in his way of teaching, dealing with boys, acting as chaplain, saying Mass and giving the spiritual exercises At the time of his death he was the oldest Jesuit ever to have lived and worked in Australia.

Born: 1614, County Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 24 February 1633, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: c 1643, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 20 August 1651
Died: 01 September 1669, Irish College, Seville, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)

1636 At León College CAST teaching Grammar Age 22 Soc 3;
1639 At Compostella teaching
1642 At Salamanca in 3rd year Theology good talent
1645 at Irish College Salamanca with Fr Sherlock
1648-1652 Rector of Seville College
1651 At Compostella College
1651 ANG Catalogue Was Procurator at Madrid and thought to be fit to be made Rector of Irish Seminaries in Spain
1655 Catalogue Ay Madrid, Procurator of Irish College and Mission
1666-1669 Rector of Seville College

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1634 and 1638 Rector of Compostella
1666-1673 A most successful Rector of Seville
(cf Dr McDonald’s “Irish Colleges” and Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1635-1643 After First Vows Sent for Regency to León and then for Philosophy at Compostella
1639-1643 Sent to Royal College Salamanca for Theology, where he was Ordained 1643
1643-1648 Teaching Controversial Theology at Royal College Salamanca
1648-1652 Rector at Irish College Santiago
1652-1666 Sent to Madrid as Procurator managing finances of Irish Mission. During this time he also was the General’s representative at the Royal Court on business affecting overseas missions. He was also entrusted on occasion with handling negotiations between the King and the Holy See. (His name does not appear in TOLE Catalogues of this period, so he must have had special permission from his own Province to do so).
1666 Rector of Irish College Seville 07 September 1666 where he died in office 01 September 1669

Born: 1583, Waterford City County Waterford
Entered: 21 January 1605, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1609/10
Final Vows: 15 September 1622, Waterford Residence
Died: 08 May 1642, Waterford Residence, Waterford City County Waterford

Had studied 2.5 years Philosophy
1617 In Ireland
1621 Catalogue Waterford, Age 40 Soc 17, on the Mission 8. Studied Theology 4 years and taught controversies at Ypres and Antwerp. Strong, talented, good judgement and prudence. Might be a Superior.
1622 Catalogue In East Munster and 1626 CAT in Ireland
1636 ROM Catalogue In Ireland, good in all and fit to teach Philosophy and Theology

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Professor of Theology at Ypres and Antwerp.
1631 Rector at Waterford
Thirty years on the Irish Mission, and esteemed a good Preacher.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of James and Anastasia née Neal. Nephew of Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh.
Had studied at Irish College Salamanca from 25 March 1602 before Ent 21 January 1605 Rome
1607-1610 After First Vows he resumed studies and was ordained 1609/10. The General had suggested that he should then go to Germany for Theology, but he remained in Italy until 1611.
1611-1613 Fr General designates him for Irish Mission at request of his uncle Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh. He was held at Ypres to teach Controversial Theology for two years. Dr Christopher Cusack made representations to have him kept in Belgium for teaching Irish students but the General decided that mission work in Ireland was more important.
1614 Arrived in Ireland and was sent to Waterford, where founded in Waterford the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, was for many years Superior of the Waterford Residence and he spent the rest of his working life, and died there 08 May 1642

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LOMBARD, JOHN, nephew to Dr. Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh. The first time that I meet him is in September, 1607. Sometime after he came to the Irish Mission, which he served until his death, about the middle of March, 1642. He is reported by his Superior to have been “eminent for the example of a religious life; and for his laborious industry during the many years he cultivated the vineyard”.

Born: 06 December 1909, Jones Road, Drumcondra, Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 17 July 1938, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1945, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 18 May 1963, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Parents were grocers at home address.

Has two sisters.

Early education at a private school in Drumcondra and then went to O’Connells School. In September 1919 he went to Belvedere College SJ for eight years.

by 1933 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1936 at Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria (ASR) studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 8th Year No 4 1933

Father T. Corcoran's labours in connection with the examinations for the Higher Diploma had scarcely concluded when he had to betake himself to Holland to preside at the second International Congress of Catholic Secondary Education. The meetings of the Congress took place at the Hague each day from 31st .July to 5th August.
Their Excellencies, the Bishops of Holland, were patrons of the Congress, which was attended by some 350 delegates representing the leading Catholic countries. Among the delegates were about 45 members of the Society from lands outside Holland. Prominent among the visitors were the Provincial of the Paris Province, with various Rectors and Prefects of Studies from our French Colleges. Père Yoes de la Brière, the Rectors of Brussels, Namur, Liege and other Belgian Colleges, Fathers Errandonea, Herrera and others from Spain,the French Oratorian Sabatier and various distinguished lay-men from Germany and Italy.
Cardinal Pacelli, in the name of the Holy Father, sent a long and cordial telegram of good wishes to the Congress , also the Nuncio Apostolic in Holland, who was prevented by serious illness from attending in person.
In the absence of the Nuncio the final allocution was delivered by the Bishop of Haarlem, after the Rector Magnificus of the University of Nijmegen and Father Corcoran, as President of the Congress had already spoken. Mr. J. O'Meara from Louvain Messrs. B. Lawler and C. Lonergan from Valkenburg acted as assistants to Father Corcoran at the Hague.
A splendid paper on “The Present Condition of Secondary Education in Ireland” was read by Dr. John McQuaid, the President of Blackrock College. All accounts agree in stating that the Congress was a brilliant success.
As the proceedings at the Hague coincided with the Biennial Conference of the World Federation of Education Associations, Father Corcoran was unable to be present at the functions in Dublin, but an important paper from his pen was read by Mrs McCarville, Lecturer in English in University College, Dublin. This paper expounded the Catholic philosophy of Education.

Irish Province News 38th Year No 3 1963

Obituary :

Fr Cornelius Lonergan SJ

On Saturday, 11th May, Father Con Lonergan was informed that he was incurably ill. He received the sober tidings with a light-heartedness and equanimity which astonished even those who had long known his solid spirituality. A year previously an operation had revealed a fatal cancer, but it had been thought right to withhold this diagnosis from him until his second visit to hospital. He died at St. Vincent's Nursing Home on 18th May. At his Requiem in Gardiner Street, and funeral in Glasnevin, an unusually large concourse of Jesuits from all the houses and colleges paid tribute to one of the Province's best-loved members.
Cornelius Lonergan was born in Dublin in December 1909, and after schooldays in O'Connell's and Belvedere, entered the Novitiate in Tullabeg on 1st September, 1927, In the opinion of his masters in Belvedere he was a boy of character and talent. Every morning he served the Mass of Father Joe McDonnell, the then Editor of The Irish Messenger, and Con's good friend. At the end of his three years in Rathfarnham, he went for philosophy to Valkenburg. There one of his professors was' Fr. Joseph de Vries, whose textbook of Critica Con himself was to expound so ably for many years in the Irish Philosophate of Tullabeg. Somewhat to Con's disappointment, he was given no period of teaching in the colleges, but went immediately to Innsbruck for theology; there he was ordained in 1938. By then Hitler's anschluss had taken place and the political outlook of central Europe was ominous. So Fr. Con and Fr. Brendan Lawler were recalled to Ireland, to finish theology in Milltown Park. One of his Milltown professors later commented on Fr. Lonergan's remarkable clarity of mind. Having successfully surmounted the Ad gradum, he went on to Rathfarnham Castle, where he was a member of the restored Irish Tertianship during its first year, 1939-40.
The Status of 1940 appointed Fr, Lonergan to Tullabeg, his home for the remaining twenty-three years of his life. His career as a professor began by a year lecturing on psychology. There followed two years of private study of psychology, diversified first by a period as Minister, and later by a spell in hospital with tuberculosis. Then two further years teaching psychology; after which he switched to “Critica”, the subject he was destined to teach with distinction until the suspension of the Tullabeg Philosophate in 1962.
Never was there a more conscientious professor than Fr. Con Lonergan, He read copiously and continuously. He was for ever revising and improving his course, subjecting his doctrine to relentless scrutiny, modifying it in the light of maturer thought, changing his presentation of it as a result of his teaching experiences. His lectures never became stereotyped. There were always new insights to be communicated, new difficulties to be examined and resolved, new efforts to achieve maximum precision and clarity. His class sometimes found it difficult to grasp the new point of view, and it was always necessary to be on the alert. But when the professor was approached in private for elucidation, he was affable and enlightening. As a examiner he was kindness itself.
On the retirement of Fr. John Casey in 1954, Fr. Lonergan became Spiritual Father of Tullabeg, and held that office until the end. His domestic exhortations were something to look forward to. It cost him more than an ordinary effort to overcome his natural reticence and modest estimate of himself, but the discourses which resulted were truly remarkable for their interest, originality and spiritual wisdom. Nobody had ever the slightest trepidation about approaching him for counsel or consolation, though it was not always easy to obtain access to him. Quite frequently the warning “flag” on his doorknob reminded callers of that indifferent health and weakness of constitution which required a daily period of rest and sometimes laid Con low for days on end. He succumbed easily to colds and flu, and having had one bout of T.B., wisely took pains to avoid a repetition of it.
This lack of robust health did not, however, materially interfere with his work as professor, spiritual Father, and holder of many minor offices as well. Every summer he gave one or two retreats to nuns and went to England for some weeks to enable a parish priest friend to have a holiday. Then he thoroughly enjoyed his own well-earned villa in Galway, where he appeared daily on the golf course, never lightly surrendering a hole to his opponent. The communities to whom he gave retreats were enthusiastic about them; the letter of Mother M. White, printed below, is typical of many testimonies, oral and written, made even during his lifetime. One can guess the qualities that made his retreats so memorable: the kindliness and sincerity of the Director in Confession and consultation, the sound and thoroughly spiritual judgments, the carefully-prepared, inspiring lectures. It is understandable that Fr. Lonergan was repeatedly appointed to give our Novices in Emo their annual short retreat; he was also extra ordinary confessor to the novices.
As a personality, Fr. Con was gentle and kindly almost to a fault, as the saying is. The fault in this case may have been a certain lack of drive and assertiveness which, in a man of his unusual ability, might have achieved quite exceptional results, say in writing, lecturing and research. But who knows? More “dynamism” (to use a word which often made Con smile) might have negatived the great good he undoubtedly achieved by gentler methods. He was a man of wide and truly humane culture interested and well-informed in literature, music, history, films and sport. One rejoiced to be near him at recreation or at dinner on talk-days. His conversation was sometimes fascinating, often witty; for he had a keen perception of the humorous in sayings, situations and characters. And he had a surprising store of excellent stories, though never one with a barb. But these gifts, as a rule, only appeared when he conversed with one or two. In a large group, he was pleasant, an interested listener, but somewhat self-effacing. Though he never obtruded himself, he was liked by all who got to know him. He was sensitive, but far too reasonable to allow his sensitivity to get the better of him. He was not the athletic type, but, as already mentioned, he played a resolute, well-studied game of golf. During the summer before he entered the Noviceship. Con and toured Ireland on a motor-bike. This mode of travel always attracted him; when about 1950 the professorial staff of Tullabeg acquired a rather powerful motor-cycle-and-sidecar, Con was one of the few people who could really master this formidable machine.
Fr. Lonergan's last year of life was not an unhappy one, though he must have suspected for months that the fatal disease was gaining. On his deathbed he expressed deep gratitude for the kindness he had received during that year, especially for the tactful, undemonstrative consideration of the Tullabeg community.
To the Father who anointed him, he smilingly remarked that the “count down” had now commenced. To one of his former colleagues he spoke jokingly about calling on the resources of Theodicy to enable him to face the end. His principal concern seemed to be the distress that his relatives felt about his approaching death. He himself was cheerful and unperturbed. All this was typical of him his wish to avoid anything that savoured of the “phoney” (his own word), but plenty of quiet courage, “joined with a lively faith and hope and love of the eternal blessings”. Whether he consciously adverted to it or not, Fr. Con Lonergan, it would seem, did in fact observe the Rule of the Summary which reads: “As in the whole of life so also and much more in death, let each of the Society make it his effort and care that God, Our Lord, be glorified in him and those around be edified....”

20 Upper Gardiner Street,
Dublin 1.
Letter of Mother M. White, Sacred Heart Convent, Mount Anville, to Fr. Provincial :
Dear Father,
Allow me to offer you the very sincere sympathy of the community on the loss of Fr. Lonergan, R.I.P. - and please count on much earnest prayer from us for the repose of his soul. The news of his death came as a shock to us as we did not know of his illness, and we realise that he must be a great loss to you.
Father gave us an outstanding retreat here in 1958 under very trying conditions (during the re-roofing of the house). Many graces were given to souls through him and since then we always considered him as one of our “special” Jesuit friends.
You have had great losses in the Province this year, but I expect the price must be paid for the wonderful apostolic work being down by the Fathers and Brothers.
With sincere sympathy and begging your blessing,
I am, dear Father, yours respectfully in Christ,
M. White, R.S.C. 22nd May, 1963.

Letter to Fr. Provincial from Fr. Geoffrey Crawfurd, parish priest of Holy Family Church, 226, Trelawney Avenue, Langley, Bucks :

Dear Father O'Connor,
I needn't tell you how shocked and sad we all were here in Langley to hear of poor Fr. Lonergan's death last Saturday. (I saw it in the Irish Press.) As you know he had come here every summer for the past four years and we were all looking forward to welcoming him here again this year. He really endeared himself to my parishioners by his kindness and obvious priestly goodness. Although we only heard the news yesterday evening I have already had a number of requests for Masses for his soul.
We shall all miss Fr. Con more than I can say. May I offer my deep sympathy to you and the Province. Please pray for me.
Yours in caritate J.C.,
Geoffrey Crawfurd

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1964

Obituary

Rev Cornelius Lonergan SJ (OB 1927)

On Saturday, 11th May, Father Con Lonergan was informed that he was incurably ill. He received the sober tidings with a light-heartedness and equanimity which astonished even those who had long known his solid spirituality. A year previously an operation had revealed a fatal cancer, but it had been thought right to withhold this diagnosis from him until his second visit to hospital. He died at St Vincent's Nursing Home on 18th May. At his Requiem in Gardiner Street, and funeral in Glasnevin, an unusually large concourse of Jesuits from all the houses and colleges paid tribute to one of the Province's best-loved members.

Cornelius Lonergan was born in Dublin in December, 1909, and after schooldays in O'Connell's and Belvedere, entered the Novitiate in Tullabeg on 1st September, 1927. In the opinion of his masters in Belvedere he was a boy of character and talent. Every morning the served the Mass of Father Joe McDonnell, the then Editor of “The Irish Messenger”, and Con's good friend. At the end of his three years in Rathfarnham, he went for philosophy to Valkenburg. There one of his professors was Father Joseph de Vries, whose textbook of Critica Con himself was to expound so ably for many years in the Irish Philosophate of Tullabeg. Somewhat to Con's disappointment, he was given no period of teaching in the colleges, but went immediately to Innsbruck for theology: there he was ordained in 1938. By then Hitler's anschluss had taken place and the political outlook of central Europe was ominous. So Father Con and Father Brendan Lawler were recalled to Ireland, to finish theology in Milltown Park, One of his Milltown professors later commented on Father Lonergan's remarkable clarity of mind. Having successfully surmounted the Ad gradum, he went on to Rathfarnham Castle, where he was a member of the restored Irish Tertianship during its first year, 1939-40.

The Status of 1940 appointed Father Lonergan to Tullabeg, his home for the remaining twenty-three years of his life. His career as a professor began by a year lecturing on psychology. There followed two years of private study of psychology, diversified first by a period as Minister, and later by a spell in hospital with tuberculosis. Then two further years teaching psychology; after which he switched to “Critica”, the subject he was destined to teach with distinction until the suspension of the Tullabeg Philosophate in 1962.

On the retirement of Father John Casey in 1954, Father Lonergan became Spiritual Father of Tullabeg, and held that office until the end. His domestic exhortations were something to look forward to. It cost him more than an ordinary effort to overcome his natural reticence and modest estimate of himself, but the discourses which resulted were truly remarkable for their interest, originality and spiritual: wisdom. Nobody had ever the slightest trepidation about approaching him for counsel or consolation.

Every summer he gave one or two retreats to nuns and went to England for some weeks to enable a parish priest friend to have a holiday. Then he thoroughly enjoyed his own well-earned villa in Galway, where he appeared daily on the golf course, never lightly surrendering a hole to his opponent. The communities to whom he gave retreats were enthusiastic about them. One can guess the qualities that made his retreats so memorable: the kindliness and sincerity of the Director in Confession and consultation, the sound and thoroughly spiritual judgments, the carefully-prepared, inspiring lectures. It is understandable that Father Lonergan was repeatedly appointed to give our Novices in Emo their annual short retreat; he was also extraordinary confessor to the novices.

Father Lonergan's last year of life was not an unhappy one, though he must have suspected for months that the fatal disease was gaining. On his deathibed he expressed deep gratitude for the kindness he had received during that year, especially for the tactful, undemonstrative consideration of the Tullabeg community.

To the Father who anointed him, he smilingly remarked that the “count down” had now commenced. His principal concern seemed to be the distress that his relatives felt about his approaching death, He himself was cheerful and unperturbed. All this was typical of him-his wish to avoid anything that savoured of the “phoney” (his own word), but plenty of quiet courage, “joined with a lively faith and hope and love of the eternal blessings”.

Born: 15 August 1835, Holycross, County Tipperary
Entered: 08 September 1854, Spring Hill, Mobile AL, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained:
Professed: 02 February 1878
Died: 16 October 1918, New Orleans, LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

Born: 07 June 1679, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 29 August 1701, Paris, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1712, Paris, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1717 Arras
Died: 26 February 1736, Irish College, Poitiers, France - Franciae Province (FRA)

1714 At College of Eu (FRA) Taught Humanities and Rhetoric
1717-1733 At Arras Collège teaching Rhetoric, Minister - good in all
1734-1735 Minister and Procurator at Poitiers
1733-1736 Rector of Irish College Poitiers succeeded on death by Bernard Routh

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had already studied Philosophy in France before Ent 29 August 1701 Paris
1703-1709 After First Vows sent on Regency at Vannes and Paris
1709-1712 Completed studies in Paris and was Ordained there 1712
1712-1715 He then taught Humanities for brief periods at Auch and Arras
1715-1716 Made Tertianship
1715 Sent as Minister to Arras and later Procurator, but mostly he was Operarius and Sodality Director for 16 years
1732 Rector of Irish College Poitiers 14 November 1732, and died in Office 26 February 1736

Born: 20 March 1616, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 May 1639, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province BELG)
Ordained: 05 April 1645, Douai, France
Final Vows: 06 December 1656
Died: 24 January 1685, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Parents Richard and Margaret Frende
Studied Grammar, Humanities and Philosophy under the Jesuits in Ireland - Fr Henry Cavell
Admitted by Provincial Robert Nugent
1642 At Lille repeating Philosophy
1645 At Douai in 3rd year Theology
1648 At Wexford
1649 Not in Catalogue but in the 1678 Archdekin edition said to be Residing at Dublin
1650 In Ireland, is a Minister and Teacher
1666 ROM Catalogue Confessor at Dublin Residence - catechising and administering sacs. On the Mission 18 years

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities and two years Philosophy before Ent. Knew Irish, English, French and Latin.
Taught Humanities for three years,
1650 Came to Irish Mission and was a Minister at Wexford (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI) A very religious and zealous man.
1659-1669 He converted many in Wexford and Dublin.
1660 In the Dublin Residence
(cf Father Morris’s “Excerpta”; Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Richard and Margaret née Frende
Had previously studied Philosophy under the Jesuits (Henry Cavell) in Dublin before Ent 1639 Tournai
1641-1645 After First Vows he resumed studies at Lille and Douai where he was Ordained 05 April 1645
1646 Sent to Ireland and Wexford until the fall of Wexford to Cromwell. During that “commonwealth” he exercised his ministry in Co. Dublin and after the Restoration he lived in the Dublin Residence where for many years he was Procurator. His preferred ministry was Catechising the poor and ignorant. he died in Dublin 24 January 1685, and was buried in St. Catherine's churchyard

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LONG,WILLIAM, was born in 1601. Pere Verdier, who visited him at Wexford in 1649, describes him as “valde religiosus”. In the sequel he obtained distinguished reputation as a Catechist. I find him actively engaged at Dublin in 1669, in the work of the ministry.

Born: 09 May 1887, Stanmore Road, Avonside, Christchurch, New Zealand
Entered: 07 November 1903, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 February 1924, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 22 January 1967, St John of God Hospital Richmond, NSW - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Older brother of Louis Loughnan - RIP 1951

Father is a barrister. Mother died in 1892 and father remarried in 1897.

Fourth of seven sons (1 deceased) and two sisters. Second marriage produced two sons, so additionally two step-brothers.

Early education at a convent school in Christchurch, he was sent then to Christ’s College (a Protestant school) for two years.Then he was st to St Ignatius College, Sydney (Riverview)

received by Fr John Ryan, Superior of Australian Mission and sent to Tullabeg.

WWII Chaplain

by 1908 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1911 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Basil Loughnan was educated at Christ's College and Riverview, and then entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 November 1903. Further Jesuit studies were in Dublin and Stonyhurst, England. His regency was at Riverview, 1910-16.
He was ordained in Dublin, 8 April 1919, and returned to Australia in 1921, teaching Latin and English, and in charge of rowing at Xavier College, 1921-26. He worked then in the Norwood parish, 1926-30.
His most significant appointment was to Newman College, Melbourne University, 1930-1937, where he distinguished himself as a philosopher. At this time the general awarded him a PhD, because his Jesuit studies were recognised by the Gregorian University.
Afterwards, he spent four years at Werribee and then he taught Hebrew, Greek and the history of philosophy to Jesuit scholastics at Pyrnble from 1939-41, and from 1942-46 was a military chaplain, going to Japan at the end of the war.
When he enlisted, he put his age back so that he might get more into the action. He did his parachute jumps, when quite elderly, and slept under canvas. As a chaplain, he had no human respect, and if ever at the officers' mess the conversation became nasty, he went for the offending officers and then left the table. He was tireless in his work for the troops, and was congratulated by the chaplain general for having made more converts than any other chaplain. He got on very well with many important military people. But he also did several quixotic things. He went through the hardest jungle training and long marches as though he were a young man, all of which contributed to his declining health. It appeared that he had no concern for his own life at all.
When the war was over, he was a cripple. Gradually he became worse, until he could not walk without two sticks, and then later, not at all. Being externally rough in conversation on occasions, he covered up the depth of his spirituality, patience, courage and kindness.
He returned to North Sydney parish as chaplain to the Mater Hospital from 1948-54, until ill health forced him to retire to Pymble in 1955. He remained in poor health, and had a sad time for the remaining twelve years of his life. He spent a long time in the military hospital at Concord. Then, as age and sickness increased, he lost his bearings. Eventually he went to St John of God Hospital Richmond, NSW) and stayed there until he died.
Loughnan was one of the best original thinkers of the Australian province, and a brilliant philosopher, but highly strung, somewhat touchy and quarrelsome. His best work seemed to have been accomplished at Newman College, despite being under a very difficult and susceptible superior He worked in the university departments of history and philosophy.
In his later years his peculiarities became rather more pronounced and for the last years of his life he was quite senile. He was reputed to be an excellent carpenter, and, if one wished to keep on good terms with him, it was necessary to visit him occasionally in his workshop and admire his handicraft.
Loughnan's magnum opus entitled “Metaphysics and Ethics”, was passed by the Jesuit censors and recommended for publication by the reader of the Oxford University Press, but never published. It was a major work on the thoughts of Bradley, Bosanquet and Alexander. Loughnan had original ideas, and few could match him intellectually or meet him in the cut and thrust of debate.
His final vows were delayed because superiors believed that he should have a more lowly opinion of his own judgement and have greater reverence for the traditional views of the Jesuit ascetical writers, and the observance of common life. Superiors could not easily cope with original thinkers. However, Loughnan did lack discretion and prudence, and did not like to be contradicted. He was a very active and athletic man, a good oarsman and an enthusiastic cyclist, but he often overtaxed himself and took little care of his health. Despite later physical infirmity, his great strength and endurance ensured a long life.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 17th Year No 3 1942
Australia :

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

Born: 06 April 1889, Stanmore Road, Avonside, Christchurch, New Zealand
Entered: 17 June 1907, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydneu, Australia
Died: 16 July 1951, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger brother of Basil Loughnan - RIP 1967

by 1912 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1913 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Louis Loughnan was the brother of Basil and educated at Christchurch and Riverview. He entered the ]esuit noviciate, 17 Lune 1907, at Tullabeg, Dublin. His philosophy studies were at Stonyhurst, England, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin.
He was ordained in 1922, and returned to Australia in 1924, teaching first at Riverview, then at Xavier, 1926-31, during which time he was prefect of studies. He was rector of Riverview, 1931-35. It was at this time that he received the Certificate of Merit from the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia for gallant efforts to rescue two youths from drowning in the surf at Avoca. He was prefect of studies at St Patrick's College, 1935, and later rector, 1943-1948. He returned to Riverview in 1948 and taught there until his death.
Loughnan was well liked by Jesuits, a thorough gentleman, and a great enthusiast, with a friendly and breezy manner. These qualities appealed especially to the young. He enjoyed their company and was the centre of fun. He was recognised as someone who would tackle any task, no matter how difficult. He was a good teacher, with his own methods of teaching Latin and drawing, as well as making relief maps. He was painstaking to a degree. He had bad luck during his term as rector of Riverview. It was the period of the Depression. He had a difficult community and had two bad accidents that severely affected his health.
However, he was experienced as a very successful rector and prefect of studies at St Patrick's College. All appreciated his thoroughness and enthusiasm, and his cheerful dealings with boys. He never spared himself with classroom teaching. He went to the Melbourne Technical School to gain sufficient knowledge to teach drawing. As rector, the senior boys found him a good guide and friend, his spirituality influencing many. During this time he never spared himself, and all the time suffered from intense headaches. In his latter days he had heart disease, and died finally in his room at Riverview prior to going to hospital.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 8th Year No 2 1933
Obituary : Father Felix Conlon

The news from Australia announcing the death of Father Felix Conlon came as a painful surprise to all in this Province who were acquainted with him, and knew his robust health. Not even when we write this - three weeks later - has any letter arrived giving an indication of illness.

Born in New South Wales on 22nd January, 1888, Father Conlon was educated at Riverview, and joined the Society at Tullabeg in 1907. Like his three years of juniorate, which were spent in Tullabeg and Milltown, his philosophy was also divided between two houses - Louvain and Gemert. On his return to Australia in 1915, he spent a little over a year at Kew, where he was able to put to advantage the knowledge of French that he had gained during philosophy. At Riverview from 1917 to 1919 to classwork and the editorship of the “Alma Mater”, he had to add the care of a division. The success of his Rugby teams and his glowing accounts of their matches in the division-prefects' journal testify to his interest and enthusiasm. After theology at Milltown and tertianship at Paray-le-Monial, Father Conlon again returned to Australia where from 1925 to last year he was stationed at Kew. Here
again he was “doc”, teaching classics and French at one time or another in nearly every class in the school.. He was also prefect in charge of the boats. In this capacity he had the satisfaction of seeing his labours crowned with success when the Xavier crew - after twenty-two years of vain. effort - was for the first time champion among the Melbourne schools. In July of last year he was appointed socius to the Master of Novices.
Father Conlon died on the 20th January, just two days before his forty-fifth birthday. Though not a student by nature, Father Conlon had passed through the long years of study and teaching with the serenity and cheerfulness that characterised him. It was these traits, too, that always gained him a welcome in a community. When he was superior of a party travelling to Australia and, later, superior of the Kew villa for five years in succession, it was again his imperturbable good humour, joined with an unaffected enthusiasm in the excursions and other forms of recreation., that made him so highly appreciated by those about him. Seculars, too, who came in contact with him, experienced from this easy natural good humor an attraction towards. him. He will be followed by the prayers of the many friends who have been won to him in this way, especially of his friends in the Society, who, often unconscious of the fact at the time, owed to him many an hour made bright and fleeting.
It was only on the last day of February that the details of Father F. Conlon's death arrived. He lost his life in a heroic effort to save a young lad who was drowning. In order to reach the poor boy Father Conlon, Mr. B. O'Brien, S.J., and a gentleman named Miller, faced a wild sea in a small boat. The boat was soon capsized. Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Miller managed to reach the shore, but Father Conlon, a poor swimmer, was never again seen alive, May he rest in peace.
Through the exertions of Father Loughnan, Rector of Riverview, assisted by a number of the Riverview Community and others, the boy was saved. They managed to get a life-line out to him, and then, in. spite of great difficulties, and only after a long struggle, they succeeded in bringing him to land.

Born: 20 September 1663, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 20 June 1691, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained:, Irish College Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1701
Died: 01 March 1739, Leghorn (Livorno), Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1693 At Fabriano College (ROM)
1696-1700 At Citta di Castello College, Spain CAST
1705 At Citta di Castello College, Spain CAST
1711-1739 at Leghorn (Livorno) aptitude for teaching and for Superior
1720 Rector at Leghorn
Luttrell, Francis Hard, Eustace, Teeling and Thaly are mentioned in ARCH Irish College Rome XXI part 2

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had previously studied Irish College Rome and was Ordained there before Ent 20 June 1691 Rome
1691-1697 Teaching Humanities at Fabriano
1697-1708 Chair of Moral Theology at Citta di Castello
1708-1716 Chair of Moral Theology at Leghorn (Livorno)
1716-1720 and 1730-1732 Rector at Leghorn (Livorno) - 2nd period was as Vice-Rector - During his time there he worked zealously amongst the English-speaking sailors and traders who visited the port while he made many converts amongst their Protestant countrymen.
He received many invitations to join the Irish Mission but his Superiors decided that his success at Leghorn was the best reason for his remaining at his post and so he died there 01 March 1739
According to his obit the entire city mourned his passing.

Born: 30 November 1628, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 06 April 1655, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: Salamanca, Spain - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1668
Died: 01 January 1694, Irish College, Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)

1658 At Santander College - remarkable talent of mature judgement; In Philosophy and Theology
1668 Has charge of Irish Seminary Compostella and lives in Spanish College
1669 In CAST
1672-1675 Has been Rector of Irish College Compostela
1690 Rector of Irish College Compostela

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1672 Rector at Santiago, between whom and Father Andrew Lincol, Rector of Salamanca, Father Patrick Lynch was arbitrator in the case of Nicholas’ Wise’s will in 1672
Father Morris’s Louvain “Excerpta” give the RIP date - perhaps he entered before 1672, even in 1654

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Luke and Joan née Kirwan
Had already studied at Salamanca where he was Ordained before Ent 06 April 1655 Villagarcía
1657-1660 Taught Humanities at Santander
1660-1668 Came back to complete his studies at Salamanca and then spent five years teaching at Burgos
1668 Rector of Irish College Santiago and died in office there 01 January 1694
He had been invited to join the Irish Mission, but his Spanish Superiors made representations, suggesting that he would work for the Irish Mission at one of the Irish Colleges. So he never went back to Ireland to work.

Born: 21 July 1818, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 29 September 1837, Drongen, Belgium (BELG)
Ordained: by 1851
Final Vows: 25 March 1859
Died: 09 May 1906, Tullabeg, Co Offaly

Younger brother of Henry Lynch - RIP 1874 and Uncle of Edmund Lynch - RIP 1890

by 1847 in Rome studying
by 1855 in Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying Theology
by 1856 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 4
by 1879 at Montauban France (TOLO) teaching
by 1881 at St Marys' Canterbury (FRA) teaching
by 1882 at Antwerp Institute Belgium (BELG) Regency
by 1891 at Pau, France (TOLO)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of Henry Lynch - RIP 1874 and Uncle of Edmund Lynch - RIP 1890
Early education was at Tullabeg, where he was brought by John Grene.
He studied Philosophy and Theology in France and was Ordained there.
He taught in various Colleges and was very proficient in French.
He taught English in Belgium for a while.
His older brother Henry was buried in the Old Cemetery at Rahan, and Charles was buried at the new College Cemetery there.

◆ The Clongownian, 1906

Father Charles Lynch SJ

We came across some notes written by Father Joseph Dalton SJ, under date of September 30, 1897. We take the following extract from them :

“Of the old Rhetoric (13) of 1836 the only survivors (as far as I know) are well within the sanctuary, viz: Dr Woodlock, Father Charles Lynch SJ, and the writer, Joseph Dalton SJ, and all are octogenarians. May we meet in heaven”. Since these words were written the three have passed away. Dr Woodlock died in 1903, Father Joseph Dalton was called away on January, 5, 1905, and Father Charles Lynch SJ, on May 9, 1906, when he touched the ripe age of 88. He was probably the oldest living Clongownian. Mr Martin J Madden,JP (Clongowes, 1835-37), and Dr Denis McVeagh (Clongowes, 1838-40) are still amongst us, hale and strong. These, to our knowledge, are now the eldest born of Clongowes.

We have mentioned three of the '36 Rhetoric. Three others were: Edward Synan, Thomas Ford, and Thomas Dwyer. Synan was Member of Parliament during many years for Limerick ; Ford finished Rhetoric at the phenomenally eariy age of thirteen; Dwyer was the poet and orator of the class. The latter 'studied for the law; but on his father's death, went out to Texas, and became a wealthy rancher.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Charles Lynch (1818-1906)

Born at Navan and educated at Clongowes, entered the Society in 1837. He was minister, master and in charge of public Masses at the Crescent in the days before the erection of the church, 1862-65. He had done a useful life's work as master, missioner or church worker, when in 1890 we find him in retirement at Tullabeg. Even after his three score and ten years, his superiors evidently thought he could be restored to his former usefulness. So, in 1891 he was sent out to Pau, in the Toulouse Province, where after two years of light church work and good air, he returned to Ireland ready for more service. He was at the Crescent once more, 1894-96 where he was able to take religious knowledge classes and do light work in the church. After another rest at Tullabeg, he was back again in 1900-03. He spent a last year at Limerick, at Mungret College, but under the weight of his years, retired once more to Tullabeg to await the final summons. Father Lynch's elder brother, also a Jesuit, predeceased him by some twenty years.

Born: 07 March 1814, Navan, County Meath
Entered: 30 November 1835, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained July 1845, Holy Trinity Church, Washington DC, USA
Professed: 15 August 1855
Died: 01 April 1884, Gonzaga College, Washington DC, USA - - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 05 August 1853, Bruges, Belgium
Entered: 23 September 1871, Milltown Park, Dublijn
Ordained: 1883
Died: 02 March 1890, Gort, County Galway

Part of the Drongen, Belgium community at the time of death
Nephew of Henry Lynch - RIP 1874 and Charles Lynch - RIP 1906

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1874 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1875 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1877 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1880 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1881 at Oña Spain (ARA) studying
by 1890 out of Residence :
One idea is that he walked out of Tullabeg and ended up in poor house in Galway

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Nephew of Henry Lynch Sr - RIP 1874 and Charles Lynch - RIP 1906
He studied Rhetoric at Roehampton, Philosophy at Laval and Theology at Oña in Spain.
Becoming mentally affected he was placed in St John of God’s, but he escaped and died at the County Home in Gort, Co Galway.

Born: 27 April 1933, Bantry, Country Cork
Raised: Bantry, Co Cork; Youghal, Co Cork; Carrick-ob-Shannon, Co Leitrim; Killarney, Co Kerry
Entered: 07 September 1955, St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 10 July 1968, Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 30 December 2022, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park Community at the time of death

Father was Postmaster in Bantry at the time of his birth. He was then promoted to Youghal, Carrick-on-Shannon and Killarney. Family then settled in Eden Terrace, North Circular Road, Limerick City, where father was Postmaster of Limerick.

Eldest of six boys and three sisters.

Educated at the Presentation Convent and Christan Brothers school in Youghal. His father was then moved to Carrick-on-Shannon. Here he passed his Intermediate Certificate and then the family moved again to Killarney (1948) as his father was promoted again there. He finished his schooling at St Brendan’s Seminary, Killarney.

He then went to Dublin in 1950 to take a job with the Post Office. In the same year he was appointed a Clerical Officer in the Civil Service, Accounts Branch of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, and then worked in the Stores Branch there. He then changed jobs to the ESB and was working at the Head Office. During this time he went to night classes at the College of Commerce in Rathmines. gaining Certs in Commerce and Accountancy, and also studied violin at the Municipal School of Music in Dublin. He then went to UCD and studied Commerce and Arts.

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

Younger brother of James Lynch - RIP 1897

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

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

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

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

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

Born: 10 July 1812, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1829, Avignon, France (GALL)
Ordained: 24 September 1836, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England
Died: 14 February1874, St Stanislaus, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Older brother of Charles Lynch - RIP 1906. Uncle of Edmund Lynch - RIP 1890

Early education was at Clongowes.

He was a most distinguished man, remarkable for his keen intellect during studies in Philosophy at Rome and Theology at Stonyhurst, where he was Ordained by Dr Briggs 24/09/1836.
He spent 23 years as a Teacher at Clongowes, Belvedere and Tullabeg. he had also been a Prefect and Prefect of Studies for a time at Clongowes, whilst teaching Logic.
1862-1863 He was at Milltown Park giving Retreats.
He was a very able Preacher. His sermons were models of style and content.
He suffered for a long time with a delicate constitution. His death came very quickly, and he had only been confined to his bed for a couple of days. Provincial Nicholas Walshe anointed him before he died 14 February 1874 at Tullabeg. His funeral was attended by a large number of secular Priests. He is buried in the old Rahan Cemetery, the last Jesuit to be so.

Born: 18 December 1852, Roebuck House, Mount Nugent, County Cavan
Entered: 07 September 1871, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1882, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Final Vows 02 February 1891, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 01 January 1897, Mungret College SJ, Limerick

Older brother of Henry M Lynch - RIP 1913

Early education at Carlow College

by 1874 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1889 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1890 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He came from a titled family of strong Catholics. Older brother of Henry M Lynch - RIP 1913. He was sent to Carlow Lay College aged 13. Five years later he entered the Ecclesiastical College there, and a year later had decided to join the Jesuits.

He made his Noviceship under the kindly eye of Aloysius Sturzo.
After First Vows he was sent to Roehampton for Rhetoric, and then for three years to Louvain for Philosophy.
1877 He was sent for Regency to Clongowes for three years as Prefect of Morals. he was greatly appreciated as one who had their real interests at heart.
1880 He was sent back to Louvain for Theology. The intensity of work there proved too much for him, so he was sent back to Clongowes, and he was Ordained there by Dr Woodlock in 1882.
1882-1889 He left Clongowes immediately after Ordination and was sent to Tullabeg, later to Clongowes again and then to Belvedere, where he was Minister.
1890 He was sent to Milltown as Minister and took his Final Vows there 02 February 1891.
1892 He was sent to Mungret as Minister
1893-1895 He was sent to Galway as Minister. Many of the men there were on the Mission giving Retreats, so much of the responsibility for their care and the care of the house devolved onto him. Meanwhile he had a duty in the Confessional himself. The whole task became too much for him and he became seriously ill. He rallied sufficiently to be able to go to Dublin in the Summer of 1895, but here he had another severe haemorrhage.
1896 He was sent to Mungret again in the Summer, in the hope that the fresh air would help him. He continued to suffer there and died 01 January 1897. His last letter, written on Christmas Day 1896 was to his brother Henry M Lynch. He wished him a “Happy Newe Year” and then added “Before this letter reaches you I shall have left this world”. It was all too true.
His upbringing was thought to be a refined and happy home, which might explain that delicacy of feeling and thoughtfulness for others which distinguished him in later life. Naturally shy and quiet, he could truly be said to have been a man after St Ignatius’ heart. He was a man of great personal control and had sublimated many of his personal characteristics and became all things to all men.
A good deal of his Ministry involved caring for and about others or the Residences, often as a Minister in one of our houses. It revealed something of the truth about his nature - an utterly unselfish and self-sacrificing man, who spared no pain in looking after the material needs of the Community and ensuring that others were made feel comfortable. Indeed perhaps his own focus on others’ welfare may have been in part what led to his own death.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1897

Obituary

Father James Lynch SJ

As the fairest flowers oft times bloom, blossom, wither and die in some quiet dell unseen by mortal eye, yet rendering the world sweeter and fairer by their fragrance and their presence, so in the spiritual life how oft do we not discover that there has been one in the midst of us whose quiet unohstrusive pre sence scarcely made itself felt, and yet who has made us and the world better by his influence?

Such a one was the subject of this brief sketch.

James Lynch, the sixth son of Joseph Lynch, JP, and of Belinda, his wife, was born at his parents residence, Roebuck, Mount Nugent, Co. Cavan, in the month of December, 1852. The family was an old and highly respected one in the county, and had clung loyally to and faithfully treasured the ancient faith through the dark ages of persecution.

His mother was daughter of J Breen, MD, Dublin. From both parents he inherited, not alone the rank which the world prizes, but something far more precious than gentle birth, a truly Catholic spirit. Up to his thirteenth year James enjoyed all the reining influence of a happy home, and to this may be traced in a great measure that delicacy of feeling and thoughtfulness for others which distinguished him in after life.

Believing his character to be now sufficiently formed to battle successfully in the little world of a public school, he was sent in 1865 to Carlow Lay College. Whatever hopes his parents may have fornied, the boy himself had not at ibis time any settled determination to become a priest, and it was only sone five years later that he entered The Ecclesiastical College. It was during the ensuing year that, the Holy Spirit speaking more intimately to his heart; he decided to consecrate himself entirely to God, and to become crucified to the world, its honours, and dignities by entering the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus.

This he did in the year 1871, when he began his religious life under the watchful guidance of that most kindly and zealous master of novices - Fr Sturzo. Now, indeed, and to the end of his days, might it be truly said of James Lynch that his life was hidden with Christ in God. Naturally shy and modest, under the influence of grace Fr Lynch became a man after St Ignatius' heart, a man in whom the superficial observer could behold nothing remarkable, but who, to the truly observant, was all the more remarkable on this account. The greatest victory is to overcome oneself, and he who has thoroughly suc. ceeded in doing this is enabled to keep under perfect control all peculiar personal characterists, and with St Paul become all things to all men.

This was ever Fr Lynch's great object, to attain which he ever devoted himself with untiring zeal and devotion to the duties entrusted to him, and by the faithful per formance of them he was ever building, stone by stone, that temple, not made by hands nor seen by men, which was destined to adorn the Holy City of God throughout all eternity.

On the completion of the two years' novitiate, the young religious was sent to Roehampton to study Rhetoric for twelve months, and from this he went directly to Louvain, devoting himself for three years to Philosophy. Returning to Ireland, on the completion of his philosophical course in 1877, we next find him in Clongowes Wood College, where for three years he fulfilled the arduous duties of Prefect of Morals. In this position he was in direct and constant contact with the boys, attending to their discipline, regulating their games, and directing and participating in their recreations. Boys are quick to recognise and appreciate one who is truly devoted to their interests, and they appreciated fully Fr J Lynch.

In 1880 Fr. Lynch commenced his theological studies, spending two years in Louvain, where the climate and work proved too severe for his delicate constitution, and he was obliged to return once more to Clongowes, where he was ordained in the year 1882 by the late Right Rev Dr. Woodlock. He left Clongowes Wood immediately after his ordination, and the next seven years of his life were devoted to prefecting or teaching in Tullabeg, Clongowes, and Belvedere.

It was on the 2nd February, 1890, he took his last vows. At that time he was minister at Miltown Park, and in July of the same year he was appointed minister of Mungret College; and in the following year we find him filling the same post in Galway, where he was stationed for the next four years.

The nature of the duties in which Fr Lynch was employed during those years brought out in strong relief another beautiful trait of his character, or, rather it was still the same shown in a different light. Utterly unselfish and self-sacrificing in looking after the material needs of the Community, be spared no pains to make others comfortable and to provide for all their wants; - it may even be said with truth that it was this forgetfulness of self that led eventually, to his death. During the summer of 1895, many of the fathers at Galway were away giving retreats, and this caused a great deal of extra work to devolve upon him. The care of the house and the duties of the confessional were beyond his strength, and he fell seriously ill. He rallied sufficiently to be able to go to Dublin in the month of September, but here his life was again endangered by a severe attack of hemorrhage. When he had recovered sufficiently to travel he expressed a wish to come to Mungret in the hope that the pure, fresh air might restore him again to health. He came to Mungret in July, 1896. It was too late, however, and despite all the efforts of medical skill, and all the delicate attention that religious charity could suggest, his strength gradually declined. It is difficult to speak at all of the last few months of Fr Lynch's lite. Whilst on the one hand each day was but a repetition of its predecessor, on the other hand, it is hard to say anything without appear ing to exaggerate his truly heroic patience.

At first, fr. James instinctively wishing to avoid giving trouble used to come to the refectory and to recreation, but his strength slowly but surely declining day by day, he was at last compelled to keep. entirely to his roon. What is to be said of these weary monthis which he spent either seated in his arm-chair, or, as was most usual, lying on the bed weak and prostrate, almost too weak to move without assistance? Who shall count the acts of patience, love and resignation practised by the sufferer, unseen, unnoticed and unknown, save by One who sees all and abundantly rewards? From the beginning to the end ot his illness not one murmur, not one word or expression of inpatience crossed the lips of Fr Lynch; nay more, his delicacy of feeling and thoughtfulness for others were every day more clearly brought out, God was cer tainly perfecting a beautiful work in the soul of Fr Lynch duriog the last few months of his life.

Once only did Fr James manifest the slightest trace of irritation during his illness. One who had known him long and intimately, was beginning to speak of the many kindnesses he had received at the hands of Fr Lynch, when he was interrupted, almost sharply, with the words, “Now that will do; enough of that”. He could not bear to hear himself praised. On Christmas day, 1890, he wrote the last letter of his life. It was addressed to his brother, Fr Henry Lynch SJ, who had gone to Australia in the autumn of that same year. In this letter, after wishing Fr Henry a “Happy New Year”, the writer adds most touchingly, “Before this reaches you I shall have left this world”. It was too true. With the close of the year came the end. On the morning of the Feast of the Circumcision he himself said confidently that he would die that day. Had our Blessed Lord made known to him the glad tidings of great joy? Was it but the expression of the joy of his heart to go to his Saviour On a day so dear to the Society of Jesus? Who shall say? This much is certain : Fr Lynch knew his release was at hand, and even the very hour.

Rev. Fr. Rector, who had anointed Fr Lynch some days before, and to whom he was wont to make his confession, gave him Holy Communion early in that morning, and at half-past eleven Fr James said to him: “You must have much to do; I will send for you when the end is coming”. To please Fr Lynch he did as requested, and went to his own room, which was nearly adjoining. About half-past one o'clock, Fr James quietly said to the brother infirmarian who was with him, “Ask Fr. Rector to come now”. The summons was immediately obeyed. Fr Rector saw the end was indeed at hand. Tle had full time to read tbe usual prayers from the Ritual, and to give the blessing in articulo mortis. He then suggested various aspirations, which the dying man, in the most child-like way, repeated word for word. Then, thoughtful of others to the last, he whispered to Fr. Rector, “Sit down”. Fr Rector sat for some moments, then, kneeling at the bedside, the aspirations were continued. Thus, with the holy names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, Fr James quietly sank to rest in the bosom of his God, like a child in its mother's arms.

With the old year the old life for him had ceased. His exile was ended; he had reached the eternal shores bright in the dawn of eternal day. The Society of Jesus had lost another child upon earth, but had gained a powerful advocate in heaven. RIP