O'Neill, John Francis, 1820-1873, Jesuit priest
Born: 26 September 1820, Roscrea, County Tipperary
Entered: 26 July 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1856
Final vows: 25 March 1865
Died: 11 January 1873, St Louis College, St Louis, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
O'Neill, Martin, 1826-1902, Jesuit brother
Born: 30 March 1826, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
Entered: 07 May 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province(MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1863
Died: 08 August 1902, Woodstock College , MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province(MARNEB)
O'Neill, Thomas, 1825-1895, Jesuit brother
Born: 21 September 1825, Rathdangan, County Wicklow
Entered: 27 November 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 10 September 1895, St Ignatius College Prep, Chicago, IL, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
O'Reilly, John, 1837-1871, Jesuit brother
Born: 04 June 1837, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 08 August 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 08 February 1871, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
O'Reilly, Patrick I, 1872-1958, Jesuit priest
Born: 05 February 1872, Kilkeel, County Down
Entered: 08 July 1893, Sacred Heart, De Smet, Coeurs D’Alène ID, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained: 31 May 1906
Final vows: 02 February 1911
Died: 26 May 1958, Jesuit Novitiate, Sheridan, OR, USA - Oregonensis Province (ORE)
Transcribed TAUR to CAL : 1909; CAL to ORE
by 1933 came to Emo (HIB) working
O'Reilly, Philip Joseph, 1719-1775, Jesuit priest
Born: 19 November 1719, Ardcath, County Meath
Entered: 26 September 1741, Mechelen, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 01 May 1750, Louvain, Belgium
Final Vows: 02 February 1766
Died: 24 January 1775, Dublin
Older brother of Myles O’Reilly - RIP 1799
Son of Patrick and Mary (O’Reilly); brother of Myles
Studied Humanities at Ghent
1743-1745 In Pholosophy at Antwerp
1745-1746 Teaching at Dunkirk
1746-1750 In Theology at Louvain
1750 At Amazon River Mission, or the Courou Mission S America, or on the Indian Mission since 1751, or 1757 in Paris Province FRA; or in the FLAN-BEL Province since 1751. “Joseph Philip O’Reilly missioned among the savages of Guiana for 14 years. This last survivor and sole representative of the Company of Jesus among the poor savages was expelled by the French in 1765” (Marshall’s Xtian Missions) Many letters he sent to in Flemish his brother Miles are at Burgundian Library. (loose Hogan note)
◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Patrick and Mary née O’Reilly. Older brother of Miles.
Studied Humanities under the Dominicans at Lierre for two years, and then for four under the Jesuits at Ghent.
1741 Received by the FLAN Provincial at Ghent and sent to Mechelen for his Noviceship.
1743-1745 At Antwerp studying Philosophy
1745-1747 Regency at Dunkirk
1747-1751 Studied Theology at Louvain for four years.
1751 Sent to West Indies, began at the Amazon, and then in the Indies went through the severest hardships, which he narrates with much joy in Flemish letters to his brother Miles - these have been edited by Father Morris with a brief sketch of his life.
1765 Sent to the Maryland Mission
1769 Sent to first to Belgium and then Ireland, dying in Dublin 24/01/1775.
1771 Catalogue Sent to Maryland again?
According to Marshall’s “Missions” Vol iii, p 74, “The French in 1763 expelled from Guiana, the venerable Father O’Reilly, the last survivor and sole representative of the Company of Jesus among the savages - with the result that - in 1766 religion was dying out among the whites as well as among the coloured races”
Carayon in his “Guyane Francaise” says Father O’Reilly was expelled in 1765.
His letters are in the Burgundian Library, Brussels MSS 6689, written in Flemish and dated Cayenne, 27 March and 25 September 1751, 19 June 1753 and 10 September 1754.
◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
Made Latin studies in Belgium and then Ent at Mechelen in 1741
1750 Having completed Theology at Louvain he left for the Mission of Cayenne in French Guyana, arriving in 1751
1751 At Courou (Kourou), French Guyana labouring among indigenous tribes for almost a dozen years
1763 At the expulsion of Jesuits from French territories, he was the last Jesuit to leave, and is said to have gone to Spanish Missions along the Orinoco
1765 Arrived at the English Maryland Mission
1769 Returned to Ireland worked in Dublin, where he died in 1775
◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick and Maria née O’Reilly. Brother of Myles RIP Antwerp 1799
Early education was in Belgium before Ent 26 September 1741 Mechelen; RIP 24 January 1775 Dublin
1743-1751 After First Vows he was sent to Antwerp and Louvain for studies and was Ordained there 1750.
1751-1763 When his formation was complete he was sent to the French Mission in Cayenne, French Guyana. There he worked with the Indian tribes for twelve years. When Jesuits were expelled from all of France and her territories, he was the last Jesuit to leave. When he left Cayenne, he is said to have gone to the Spanish Missions along the Orinoco, and from there to the ANG Mission in Maryland. The rest of his missionary life up to the Suppression is unclear. It would appear that he returned to Ireland after the Suppression and died in Dublin a year later 24 January 1775.
◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Philip O’Reilly 1719-1755
Fr Philip O’Reilly was born at Ardcath County Meath in 1719. He went to Belgium for his education where he joined the Society at Mechelen in 1741.
He left for the Mission of Cayenne in French Guyana in 1750, where he laboured for over a dozen years among the Indians at Kourou. On the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1763, he was the last Jesuit to leave his post.
He went for a short time to the Spanish Missions along the Orinoco and thence in 1765 to the English Mission of Maryland,
In 1769 he returned to Ireland and died in Dublin in 1775.
O'Reilly, William P, 1855-1938, Jesuit priest
Born: 26 July 1855, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 16 September 1890, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 19 June 1894, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1903
Died: 01 June 1938, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin
Part of the Crescent College, Limerick community at the time of death
Early education at PBC Cork and St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg
Previously joined in 1874 at Milltown and left in 1876 rejoining 1890
by 1902 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went to Louisiana Mission and LEFT without making Vows. READMITTED 16 September 1890
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 13th Year No 4 1938
Obituary :
Father William O’Reilly
1855 Born 26th July in Cork City
1890 Entd. 16th June, Tullabeg
1891 Tullabeg, Novice
1892-93 Milltown, Theol. (Ordained at Maynooth, 29 June 84)
1894-95 Clongowes, Doc
1896-97 Crescent, Doc. Oper. Praes. Cong. S.S. Heart, etc
1898-1900 Crescent, Min. Doc. Praef. Sod. B.V.M.. etc.. etc
1901 Tronchiennes Tertian
1902-03 Crescent, Min, Pries. Sod. S.S. Cordis Doc.. etc
1904 Crescent, Miss. Excurr. Oper
1905 Crescent, Min, Pries. Sod. S.S. Cordis Doc.. etc
1906-07 Galway, Miss. Excurr, Oper
1908 Tullabeg, Praef. Spir. Miss. Excurr., etc
1909-38 Crescent, During this period he was “Cons. dom” for 20 years, had charge of various Sodalities, and was “Dir Pioneers” from 1921 to the end. etc.
He died at St Vincent's, Dublin, on Wednesday, 1st June, 1938, within a few days of his 83rd year.
Father J. Gubbins, his Rector, has kindly sent us the following :
With the death of Father W. P. O'Reilly a well-known and revered figure has disappeared from the streets of Limerick. For thirty-nine years he worked at the Crescent. During five of these in addition to Church work, he taught in the College. One of his pupils, now labouring in the vineyard of the Lord, spoke to me of his kindness, his strict justice and impartiality to all, of the interest he afterwards took in their careers, of the encouragement he would give when difficulties arose. In this variety of work he laboured assiduously. His powers of organising were known and recognised throughout the country, Concerts, plays, lectures and excursions got up by him were always a success. He took great pains with his sermons and instructions. Where a helping hand could be given, a position secured, he left no stone unturned. The following extract from the “Limerick Leader” June, 1938 will illustrate his undaunted and untiring character:
It was through his good offices and influence the lives of Mr. Timothy Murphy and Mr. Edward Punch of Limerick, and Mr. John Egan of Ennis, were spared when these three were sentenced to death by the British military for their activities on behalf of Ireland during the period of the Anglo-Irish struggle. Father O'Reilly was a man of great influence, and he used it unsparingly and successfully in preventing three executions which would undoubtedly have been carried out were it not for his exertions. Father O'Reilly himself was anxious that credit for the saving of the lives in question should be given to Father Bernard Vaughan, with whom he was on terms of the closest friendship, and who was a cousin of Lord FitzAlan. the last British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
He never wished for external show or display, and so, at his own request, his fifty years jubilee as a priest was quietly held on 19th June, 1934. He was prudent in advising, and his judgment always sound. This was the experience of Ours who sought his advice, of religious and of externs. For nineteen years he was extraordinary Confessor to the Good Shepherds. All there admit that they have lost a kind father, a good friend and counsellor.
He was an exemplary Religious, and a good community man, always charitable and obliging. Though never sick himself he was always most kind to the sick, and paid frequent visits to the hospitals.
On January 8th he fell sick, and two days later was removed to Milford House. Towards the end of March the doctors suggested an operation, and Father O'Reilly himself was anxious for it. His life long friend, Dr. Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe, had the same operation, and was completely cured. On April 1st he went from Milford to St. Vincent's, Dublin. Prior to the operation he was treated for two months. On May 29th the operation took place and he died on June 1st. Throughout his long stay in the hospital he was most patient - this for, a man who had never been sick was most surprising. Though he suffered much he never complained. He spoke in praise of the attention he was getting, and was most grateful for a visit or any token of kindness. Both the Bishop of Killaloe and the Bishop of Limerick visited him at St. Vincent's and his gratitude was genuine and touching.
It is hard to realise that . such a kind man has gone from our midst , but he had laboured well for the Lord. and the Lord has called him to his reward.
The following note of sympathy from the Bishop of Killaloe expresses also the views of Father O'Reilly's Community :
“I write to offer my sincere and deepest sympathy on the loss of Father W. P. O'Reilly, my class-fellow and life long friend. He was a saintly and zealous priest, a true and loyal friend. I am offering Mass for the repose of his soul. R.I.P”
◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959
Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community
Father William Paul O’Reilly (1855-1938)
Was born in the city of Cork and had been a secular priest, having been ordained at Maynooth in 1884, when he entered the Society in 1891. He continued his studies at Milltown Park and taught for one year at Clongowes before his first arrival at the Crescent in 1896. He was a member of the teaching and church staffs for the next four years when he was sent to Belgium for his tertianship. He returned to the Crescent in 1902 and was minister of the house for the next three years. The three ensuing years were spent as member of the mission staff until he returned once more to remain at the Crescent until his last illness, 1909-38. Henceforth, Father O'Reilly's life was given up to the work of a busy church, preaching, the confessional and the direction of various sodalities. Up to the 1930's, while his physical endurance was still to be envied, he was able, besides fulfilling his duties in the church, to organise concerts, plays, lectures and Pioneer excursions. Where a helping hand could be given, he put himself out to oblige. His obituary notice in the “Limerick Leader” surely illustrates what a power in the land he was during the Black and Tan war: “It was through his good offices and influence the lives of Mr Timothy Murphy and Mr Edward Punch of Limerick and Mr John Egan of Ennis were spared when these three were sentenced to death by the British military for their activities on behalf of Ireland during the period of the Anglo-Irish struggle. Father O'Reilly was a man of influence and he used it unsparingly and successfully in preventing three executions which would undoubtedly have been carried out were it not for his exertions. Father O'Reilly himself was anxious that credit for saving the lives in question should be given to Father Bernard Vaughan with whom he was on terms of closest friendship, and who was a cousin of Lord Fitzalan, the last British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland”.
Full of years and merits, Father O'Reilly passed away, leaving a void in the hearts of many who profited by his priestly ministrations.
O'Rourke, Henry, 1812-1852, Jesuit brother
Born: 01 January 1812, St James’ Well, Muchgrange, County Louth
Entered: 08 December 1842, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Died: 15 December 1852, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
O'Rourke, Michael, 1820-1879, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 October 1820, Kilcullen, County Kildare
Entered: 08 January 1850, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 11 October 1879, St Gall's Church, Milwaukee, WI, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
O'Shanahan, John, 1837-1913, Jesuit priest
Born: 24 December 1837, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 26 April 1860, Lons-le-Saunier, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1873
Final Vows: 15 August 1977
Died: 06 July 1913, St Charles College, Grand Coteau, LA, USA
Uncle of Thomas E Stritch (NOR) - Ent 23/09/1888, RIP 05/03/1943; and John H Stritch (NOR) - Ent 25/07/1889, RIP 04/11/1941
O'Sullivan, David, 1963-2022, former Jesuit scholastic
Born: 27 March 1963, Bridge Street, Ballylongford, County Kerry
Entered: 26 September 1985, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 04h October 2022, Clonard Village, Wexford Town, County Wexford
Left Society of Jesus: 1998
Educated at Clongowes Wood College SJ
Regency at Belvedere College SJ
by 1993 at Cambridge MA, USA (NEN) studying
Address 2000: Farmhill Road, Goatstown, Dublin City
https://rip.ie/death-notice/david-osullivan-wexford-wexford-town-491641
The death has occurred of
David O'Sullivan
Clonard Village, Wexford Town, Wexford / Ballylongford, Kerry
David passed away peacefully at home, after a long illness borne with dignity and bravery in the loving care of his family and the Wexford Palliative Care Team. Beloved and devoted husband of Anne and loving father to Catherine and son-in-law to May, special brother to Tice, Mary-Rose and Paul, and beloved of brother-in-law of Steve, Niamh and Nancy, Billy, Caitriona and John. Beloved uncle to Hannah, Sarah, Evanne, Emelyn, Andrew, Cian, Tara, Barry, David, Eimer, Claire, Ciara, Henry, Hugh & Guy. Deeply regretted by his colleagues and pupils at Presentation Secondary School Wexford and his wider family circle and many friends.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Reposing at Macken's Funeral Home, Distillery Road, Wexford (Y35 T1K2), on Thursday (6th October) from 4pm leaving for the church at 6:30pm. Requiem Mass on Friday (7th October) in The Church of the Annunciation, Clonard, Wexford (Y35 YV0F) at 10am, with burial afterwards in Enniscorthy cemetery.
Date Published:
Tuesday 4th October 2022
Date of Death:
Tuesday 4th October 2022
O'Sullivan, James, 1841-1902, Jesuit brother
Born: 26 December 1841, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 23 July 1860, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1872
Died: 15 February 1902, Woodstock College, Woodstock, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB
Nephew of John O’Sullivan (MARNEB) - RIP 1884
O'Sullivan, John, 1808-1884, Jesuit brother
Born: 17 March 1808, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 07 April 1846, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 08 December 1857
Died: 15 February 1884, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Uncle of James O’Sullivan (MARNEB) - RIP 1902
O'Sullivan, Michael, 1812-1881, Jesuit brother
Born: 29 September 1812, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 09 June 1840, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1851
Died: 19 November 1881, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
O'Sullivan, Timothy, 1826-1897, Jesuit brother
Born: 24 December 1826, Kanturk, County Cork
Entered: 23 September 1859, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Finalvows: 15 August 1870
Died: 20 June 1897, Loyola College Baltimore, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Patton, John, 1820-1912, Jesuit brother
Born: 24 June 1820, Lifford, County Donegal
Entered: 04 September 1848, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 27 September 1912, St Mary’s, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Pennella, Pietro M, 1841-1908, Jesuit priest
Born: 08 December 1841, Benevento, Campania, Italy
Entered: 03 December 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1874
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 11 April 1908, Catholic Church, Conejos CO, USA - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily
Phelan, Patrick, 1821-1878, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 March 1821, Tullahought, County Kilkenny
Entered: 23 June 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 08 September 1862
Died: 11 April 1878, St Mary’s, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Pigot, Edward Francis, 1858-1929, Jesuit priest, teacher, astronomer and seismologist
Born: Dundrum House, Dundrum, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 10 June 1885, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 31 July 1898, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 March 1901
Died: 22 May 1929, Mater Hospital, Sydney, Australia
member of the St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death.
Educated at Mungret College SJ
by 1893 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1894 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1895 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1900 at St Joseph, Yang Jin Bang, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1904 in St Ignatius, Riverview, Sydney (HIB)
by 1905 at ZI-KA-WEI Seminary, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1910 in Australia
◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)
by L. A. Drake
L. A. Drake, 'Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pigot-edward-francis-8048/text14037, published first in hardcopy 1988
astronomer; Catholic priest; meteorologist; schoolteacher; seismologist
Died : 22 May 1929, North Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Edward Francis Pigot (1858-1929), Jesuit priest, astronomer and seismologist, was born on 18 September 1858 at Dundrum, near Dublin, son of David Richard Pigot, master of the Court of Exchequer, and his wife Christina, daughter of Sir James Murray, a well-known Dublin physician. Descended from eminent lawyers, Edward was educated at home by tutors and by a governess. The family was very musical and Edward became a fine pianist; he was later complimented by Liszt. He studied arts and medicine at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1879; M.B., B.Ch., 1882) and also attended lectures by the astronomer (Sir) Robert Ball. After experience at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, he set up practice in Dublin.
In June 1885 Pigot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He began to teach at University College, Dublin, but in 1888, on account of ill health, came to Australia. He taught at St Francis Xavier's College, Melbourne, and from August 1889 at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney. Returning to Europe in 1892 he studied philosophy with French Jesuits exiled in Jersey, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. He was ordained priest on 31 July 1898. In 1899 he volunteered for the China Mission and was stationed at the world-famous Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory, Shanghai. In 1903, again in poor health, he spent some months working in Melbourne and at Sydney Observatory, and taught for a year at Riverview before returning to Zi-Ka-Wei for three years. Tall and lanky, he came finally to Sydney in 1907, a frail, sick man. He had yet to begin the main work of his life.
On his way back to Australia Pigot visited the Jesuit observatory in Manila: he was beginning to plan an observatory of international standard at Riverview. He began meteorological observations there on 1 January 1908. As terrestrial magnetism could not be studied because of nearby electric trams, he decided to set up a seismological station as the start of the observatory. The Göttingen Academy of Sciences operated the only fully equipped seismological station in the southern hemisphere at Apia, Samoa: a station in eastern Australia would also be favourably situated to observe the frequent earthquakes that occur in the south-west Pacific Ocean. Assisted by the generosity of L. F. Heydon, Pigot ordered a complete set of Wiechert seismographs from Göttingen, and visited the Apia observatory. Riverview College Observatory opened as a seismological station in March 1909. Seismological observations continue to be made there.
A great traveller despite his teaching duties, Pigot visited Bruny Island, Tasmania (1910), the Tonga Islands (1911) and Goondiwindi, Queensland (1922), to observe total solar eclipses; and observatories in Europe in 1911, 1912, 1914 and 1922 and North America in 1919 and 1922. He made observations of earth tides in a mine at Cobar (1913-19), collaborated with Professor L. A. Cotton in measurements of the deflection of the earth's crust as Burrinjuck Dam filled (1914-15) and performed Foucault pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market building, Sydney (1916-17). On 1 September 1923 F. Omori, a leading Japanese seismologist, observed with Pigot a violent earthquake being recorded in the Riverview vault; it turned out to have destroyed Tokyo, with the loss of 140,000 lives.
Fr Pigot was a member of the Australian National Research Council from 1921, president of the State branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923-24 and a council-member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1921-29. On his way back from the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo (1926), he visited the observatory at Lembang, Java, where he planned a programme of study at Riverview Observatory of variable stars. Between 1925 and 1929 Pigot measured solar radiation at Riverview and Orange, particularly in relation to long-range weather forecasting. He was seeking a site of high elevation above sea-level for this work, when he contracted pneumonia at Mount Canobolas. He died at North Sydney on 22 May 1929 and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.
Sir Edgeworth David paid tribute to Pigot:
It was not only for his profound learning that scientists revered him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there never was any scientific man so well-beloved as he.
Select Bibliography
Royal Society of New South Wales, Journal, 49 (1915), p 448
Riverview College Observatory Publications, 2 (1940), p 17
S.J. Studies, June 1952, p 189, Sept-Dec 1952, p 323.
◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Paraphrase/Excerpts from an article published in the “Catholic Press” 30/05/1929
“The late Father Pigott, whose death was announced last week in the ‘Press’, was born at Dundrum Co Dublin 18/09/1858, of a family which gave three generations of judges to the Irish Bench. He himself adopted the medical profession, and having taken his degree at Trinity, he practiced for a few years in Dublin and at Croom, Co Limerick. While studying at Trinity he made his first acquaintance with astronomy, when he heard a course of lectures by the famous Sir Robert Ball, then head of the Observatory at Dunsink, and Astronomer Royal of Ireland.
In 1885 the young Doctor, already noted for his charming gentleness and self-sacrificing charity entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore. he made his first visit to Australia as a Scholastic in 1888, and he taught for four years at Xavier College Kew, and Riverview Sydney. Naturally his department was Science.
In 1892 he was sent to St Helier in Jersey to study Philosophy with the French Jesuits who had been expelled from France. It was here that he began his long battle with frailty and illness, during which he achieved so much for scientific research over his 70 years. He did his Theology at Milltown and was Ordained 1899. Two years later he volunteered to join the French Jesuits in China, and this required of him not only his scientific zeal, but also his spiritual and missionary ones. he did manage to master the Chinese language for his work, and he used to tell amusing stories of his first sermons against himself and his intonations. His health was always threatening to intervene, and so he went to work at the Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory near Shanghai. The work he did here on the Chinese Mission was to reach his fulness in the work he later did over many years in Australia, and where he went to find the climate which suited his health better. He received much training at Zi-Kai-Wei and in photography and study of sunspots at Ze-se, which had a twin 16 inch telescope.
1907 saw him back in Australia and he set about founding the Observatory at Riverview, while teaching Science. By his death, this Observatory had a range and capacity, in terms of sophisticated instruments, which rivalled the best Government-endowed observatories throughout the world. Whilst he had the best of equipment, he lacked the administrative personnel necessary to record all the data he was amassing. His great pride towards the end was in his spectroscope for the work on Solar Radiation where he believed that ‘Long-distance weather forecasts will soon be possible, though not in my time’ (Country Life, 29/04/1929). Current farmers and graziers will owe him a lot in the future.
The scientific work at Riverview has received recognition in Australia. Edward’s interests in the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments in earth tremors at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Markets of Sydney. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania, and in 1911 on the ship Encounter a similar trip to the Tongan Islands, and the Goondiwindi Expedition of 1922.
In 1914 he was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg, though war cancelled that. In 1921 he was a member of the Australian National Research Council and sent to represent them to Rome at the 1922 first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union and the International Union of Geoditics and Geophysics. He was president of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association, and a member of the Royal Society of NSW. In 1923 the Pan-Pacific Science Congress was held in Australia, and during this Professor Omori of Japan was at Riverview watching the seismometers as they were recording the earthquake of Tokyo, Dr Omori’s home city. In 1926 he went to the same event at Tokyo, and later that year was elected a member of the newly formed International Commission of Research of the Central International Bureau of Seismology.
From an early age he was a passionate lover of music, and this came from his family. he gave long hours to practising the piano when young, and in later life he could play some of the great pieces from memory. He was said to be one of the finest amateur pianists in Australia. It often served as a perfect antidote to a stressful day at the Observatory."
Many warm-hearted and generous tributes to the kindness and charm for Father Pigott’s personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his association with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, gentle associate, and of a saintly religious.”
◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Pigot's family was of Norman origin and settled in Co Cork. Ireland. The family was a famous legal family in Dublin. He was the grandson of Chief Baron Pigot, son of judge David Pigot, brother of Judge John Pigot. He was the fourth of eight children, and was educated at home by a governess and tutors. The family was very musical, Edward playing the piano.
Pigot went to Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated BA in science in 1879. His mentor at the university in astronomy was Sir Robert Ball, then Royal Astronomer for Ireland and Professor of Astronomy. Pigot then studied medicine and graduated with high distinction in 1882, and after postgraduate studies practiced in Baggot Street, Dublin.
However, Pigot gave up this practice to join the Society of Jesus, 10 June 1885, at the age of 27.
After a short teaching period at University College, Dublin, Pigot was sent to Australia in 1888 because of constant headaches, and he taught physics and physiology principally at St Ignatius College, Riverview, 1890-92. He returned to Europe for further studies, philosophy in Jersey with the French Jesuits, 1892-95, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained priest in 1898. Tertianship followed immediately at Tullabeg.
At the age of 41 and in ill health, Pigot volunteered for the Chinese Mission in 1899, and was stationed at Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, working on a world famous observatory, where
meteorology, astronomy and terrestrial magnetism were fostered. Pigot specialised in astronomy and also studied Chinese. Like other missionaries of those days, he grew a beard and a pigtail. However, his health deteriorated and he was sent to Australia in 1903 for a few years. He then returned to Shanghai, 1905-07, before returning to Riverview in 1908.
After visiting the Manila Observatory, he formulated plans for starting an observatory at Riverview, an activity that he believed would bring recognition for the excellence in research that he expected at the Riverview observatory He believed that seismology was best suited to the location. Pigot obtained the best equipment available for his work, with the gracious benefaction of the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC. He personally visited other observatories around the world to gain ideas and experience, as well as attending many international conferences over the years. One result of his visit to Samoa was the building and fittings for the instruments in the half-underground, vaulted, brick building at Riverview. Brs Forster and Girschik performed the work. Some instruments, called the Wiechert Seismographs, came from Germany.
He became a member of the Australian National Research Council at its inception in 1921, and foundation member of the Australian Committee on Astronomy, as well as that on Geodosy and Geophysics. He served on the Council of the Royal Society of NSW, and was President of the British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), 1923-24.
The upkeep of the Riverview observatory was borne by the Australian Jesuits and Riverview. Family and friends also gave funds for this work. When he died from pneumonia, he left at the Riverview observatory five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and a solar radiation station, possessing rare and costly instruments.
Pigot's work at Riverview included working on scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, and pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania. In April 1911 he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondiwindi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.
Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg in 1914. He was secretary of the seismo-
logical section of the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Sydney, 1923, and in 1926, once more represented the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, Tokyo. In 1928 he was elected a member of an International Commission of Research, which was part of the International Bureau of Seismology, centered at Strasbourg.
He was highly esteemed by his colleagues for his friendship, high scholarship, modest and unassuming demeanour, and nobility of character. Upon his death the rector of Riverview received a letter from the acting-premier of New South Wales, describing Pigot as one of the state's “most distinguished citizens”, and Sir Edgeworth David praised his magnetic personality and eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth.
Edward Pigot, tall and lanky, frail and often in weak health, was also a fine priest, always helper of the poor, and exemplary in the practice of poverty. He did pastoral work in a quiet way. On his scientific expeditions, he was always willing to help the local clergy and their scattered flocks. He was genuinely modest, humble, and courteous to all. Yet he was naturally a very sensitive and even passionate man, with a temperament that he did not find easy to control. He disagreed strongly with Dr Mannix on the issue of conscription - the Pigots were decidedly Anglo-Irish - and positively refused to entertain the idea of setting up an observatory at Newman under the archbishop's aegis.
His extremely high standards of scientific accuracy and integrity made it difficult for him to find an assistant he could work with, or who could work with him. George Downey, Robert McCarthy, and Wilfred Ryan, all failed to satisfy. However, when he met the young scholastic Daniel O'Connell he found a man after his own heart. When he found death approaching he was afraid, not of death, but because O’Connell was still only a theologian and not ready to take over the observatory. Happily, the Irish province was willing to release his other great friend, William O'Leary to fill the gap.
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927
Fr Pigot attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo as a delegate representing the Australian Commonwealth Government. He was Secretary to the Seismological Section, and read two important papers. On the journey home he spent some time in hospital in Shanghai, and later touched at Hong Kong where he met Frs. Byrne and Neary.
Irish Province News 3rd Year No 1 1927
Lavender Bay, Sydney :
Fr. Pigot's great reputation as a seismologist was much increased during the present year by his locating of the Kansu earthquake within a few hours of the first earth tremors. “Where he deserted medicine,” the Herald writes, “that profession lost a brilliant member, but science in general was the gainer. Dr Pigot is one of the world's leading authorities on seismology, and can juggle azimuths and seismometers with uncanny confidence”.
Irish Province News 4th Year No 4 1929
Obituary :
Fr Edward Pigot
Fr Pigot died at Sydney on May 21st. He caught a slight cold which in a few days developed into T. B. pneumonia. He was very frail, and had no reserve of strength left to meet the attack. The Archbishop presided at the Requiem. The Government sent a representative. The papers were all very appreciative.
Fr Pigot was born at Dundrum, Co. Dublin on the 18th September 1858, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied medicine, and took out his degrees - MB, BCh, in 1882. For the three following years he was on the staff of Baggot St Hospital, Dublin, and was Chemist with his uncle, Sir James Murray, at Murray's Magnesia works. He entered the Society at Loyola House, Dromore, Co. Down on the 10th June 1885. He spent one year at Milltown Park as junior, and then sailed for Australia. One year at Kew as prefect, and three years at Riverview teaching chemistry and physics brought his regency to an end. Fr. Pigot spent three years at Jersey doing philosophy, as many at Milltown at theology, and then went to Tullabeg for his tertianship in 1898. At the and of the year a very big event in his life took place. He applied for and obtained leave to join the Chinese Mission of the Paris province. For a year he worked in the Church of St. Joseph at Yang-King-Pang, and for two more at the Seminary at Zi-Kai-Wei, but the state of his health compelled a rest, and in 1913 we find him once more at Riverview teaching and trying to repair his shattered strength. He seems to have, in some measure, succeeded, for, at the end of the year he returned to his work at Zi-kai-wei. The success however was short lived. He struggled on bravely for three years when broken health and climatic conditions forced him to yield, and he asked to be received back into the Irish Province. We have it on the highest authority that his reasons for seeking the Chinese Mission were so a virtuous and self-denying, that he was heartily welcomed back to his own province. In 1907 he was stationed once more at Riverview, and to that house he belonged up to the time of his happy death in 1929.
It was during these 22 years that Fr. Pigot's greatest work was done - the founding and perfecting of the Riverview Observatory. The story is told by Fr. Dan. O'Connell in the Australian Jesuit Directory of 1927.
Fr. Pigot's first astronomical training was at Dunsink Observatory under the well known astronomer “Sir Robert Ball”. Then, as mentioned above, many years were passed at the Jesuit Observatory at Zi-kai-wei.
For some years previous to his return to Riverview, earthquakes had been receiving more and more attention from scientists, Excellent stations had been established in Europe and Japan, but the lack of news from the Southern Hemisphere greatly hampered the work of experts. It was the very excellent way in which Fr. Pigot supplied this want that has won him a high place amongst the worlds scientists.
Thanks to the kindness of relatives and friends, and to government help, Fr. Pigot was able to set up at Riverview quite a number of the very best and most up-to-date seismometers, some of which were constructed at government workshops under his own personal supervision. At once, as soon as things were ready, Fr Pigot entered into communication with seismological stations all the world over. When his very first bulletins were received in Europe, Riverview was gazetted as a “first-order station”, and the work done there was declared by seismologists everywhere as of first-rate importance. At the time of his death Fr Pigot had established telegraphic communication with the International Seismological Bureau at Strasbourg.
The study of earthquakes was only one of Fr. Pilot's activities, He was able, again through the generosity of his friends, to put up at Riverview, a first class astronomical observatory. It has four distinct lines of research :
Irish Province News 5th Year No 1 1929
Obituary : Fr Edward Pigot
The following items about Fr. Pigot's youth have been kindly supplied by his brother.
“He was born the 18th Sept. 1858 at Meadowbrook, Dundrum, Co. Dublin His first tuition was at the hands of governesses and private tutors, after which he attended for some years a day school kept by H. Tilney-Bassett at 67 Lower Mount St.
Concurrently, under the influence of his music Master, George Sproule, his taste for music began to develop rapidly. Sproule had a great personal liking for him, and took him on a visit to Switzerland. Many years afterwards Fr. Pigot heard that Sproule (who had taken orders in the Church of England) was in Sydney. He rang him up on the telephone, without disclosing identity, and whistled some musical passages well known to both of them. Almost at once Sproule knew and spoke his name.
Even as a schoolboy, I can recall how he impressed me by his superiority, by his even temper, command of himself under provocation, his generosity, his studiousness and his steadiness generally.
He entered Trinity about 1879. In the Medical School, he had the repute of a really serious student. He was especially interested in chemistry and experimental physics. Astronomy was outside his regular course, but I remember visits to Dunsink observatory, His studies seemed to he regulated by clockwork.
Before setting up as a doctor in Upper Baggot Street, he was resident medical attendant at Cork Street Fever Hospital, and the Rotunda Hospital, and at the City of Dublin Hospital. When in private practice at Baggot Street, he was not financially successful. I have the impression that his serious demeanour and grave appearance were against him, But I have better grounds for believing that his work amongst the poor, his unwillingness to charge fees to the needy, operated still more in the same direction. We often heard, but not from him, of his goodness to the poor. This was the time that he announced to us his desire to join the Jesuit Order. May I add that if there was one event in Ned’s life for which I have long felt joy and thankfulness, it was his desire to enter your Order.
Years after he had left Dublin, one of his prescriptions had become locally famous, and was ordered from the chemist as “a bottle of Kate Gallagher, please”, Kate having been one of his poor friends”.
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947
Australia :
Riverview :
In 1923 Fr. Pigot built a Solar Radiation Station at Riverview, and started a programme of research on the heat we receive from the sun. This work has now been finally wound up. The valuable instruments, which are the property of the Solar Radiation Committee, were offered on loan to Commonwealth Solar Observatory, Mt. Strombo, Canberra. The offer was accepted and the instruments were sent by lorry to Mt. Strombo on February 7th. The results of the work have been prepared for publication and are now being printed. This will be the first astronomical publication to be issued by the Observatory since December 1939. Shortage of staff and pressure of other work during the war were responsible for interrupting that branch of our activities. Another number of our astronomical publications is now ready and about to be sent to the printer. We have started a new series of publications: Riverview College Observatory Geophysical Papers." The first three numbers are now being printed and will be sent to all seismological Observatories and to those scientists who may be interested.
◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Edward Pigott 1859-1929
Fr Edward Pigott was born in Dundrum Dublin on September 18th 1858, of a family which gave three generations to the Irish Bench. Edward himself became a Doctor of Medicine, taking a degree at Trinity College, and practising first in Dublin, then in Croom County Limerick. In 1885, the young doctor entered the Society at Dromore, and made his first visit to Australia in 1888, where he spent four years teaching at Xavier College.
Ordained in 1899, two years later he volunteered for the Chinese Mission. He learned the Chinese language in preparation for his work, and for a while tested the hardships of active service with the French Fathers of the Society. He used recall afterwards with a wry smile his efforts to preach in Chinese, and how he hardly avoided the pitfalls on Chinese intimation. I;; health, which dogged him all his life, sent him to the less arduous work of Assistant at Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory, near Shanghai. This was the beginning of his brilliant career as an astronomer.
After six years in Shanghai, during which he mastered his science, he returned to Australia in 1907 and started the Observatory at Riverview. He started with a small telescope and a few elementary instruments for recording weather changes, and finally made of Riverview, one of the leading Observatories of the world. Honours and distinctions were showered on him. He was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at St Petersburg in 1914, in Rome in 1922, at the International Astronomical Union, and the Pan Pacific Science Congress in 1923, held in Australia.
In spite of his prominence in the scientific world, Fr Pigott remained always to his brethren a kindly and gentle associate and a saintly religious.
He died on May 22nd 1929, aged 70 years, battling with ill health all his life. A strong spirit housed in a frail body.
◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1912
Father Pigot’s Return
On April 11th, the Community and boys went down to the College Wharf to welconie Father Pigot SJ, back to Riverview, after his extended tour through Europe. He had been absent about seven months, and during that time visited most of the leading seismological observatories on the Continent and in the British Isles. He had purposed visiting also some other observatories in the United States, Canada and Japan, on his return journey to Sydney; but a severe attack of pleurisy in Italy, during the trying mid-winter season, obliged him to hasten back to the warm Australian climate, without even being able to accept the kind invitation of Prince Galitzin to spend a few days as his guest at St Petersburg. All have heard of Father Pigot's application to the Foreign Office, London (on hearing accidentally, a day or two before, of the existence of a Russian law prohibiting members of the Jesuit Order. from entering Russia) to obtain from the Russian Government the necessary permission, in view of a short visit to Prince Galitzin's Seismological Observatory at Pulkovo. The request of the Foreign Office was refused, as everyone knows, but apparently the sequel of the story is not so generally known.
It was during liis stay at Potsdam (Berlin) that Father Pigot received the unfavourable reply from Westminster. He at once acquainted Prince Galitzin with the refusal, whereupon the distinguished seismologist made a strong representation, resulting in his Government immediately withdrawing the prohibition. His kind letter to Father Pigot acquainting him with the Russian Government's concession, and a formal communication to the same effect from the British Foreign Office, arrived during Father Pigot's convalescence, but a delay in Europe of three months would have been necessary to allow the severe winter in St. Petersburg to pass before he could, without risk of relapse, have availed himself of the concession and kind invitation.
Father Pigot has asked us to record his deep feeling of appreciation of the cordial greetings of the Community and boys, when they most kindly came down to welcome him at the wharf,
We give a photograph of Father Pigot, and another of a group of distinguished seismologists assembled together from various parts of the world, at Manchester, for the International Seismological Congress (1911).
◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1922
Fr Pigot’s Visit to Europe : The InternationalAstronomical Union - First General Assembly, Rome, May 1922
The First General Assembly of the Inter national Astronomical Union commenced its deliberations in May this year, in the Academy of Science (the old Corsini Palace), at Rome. That Australia in union with the other nations, might be represented at the two main conferences (Astronomy, and Geodesy and Geophysics), the Commonwealth Government having paid the necessary subscriptions, three delegates - Dr T M Baldwin (Government Astronomer for Victoria), Mr G F Dodwell (Government Astronomer for South Australia), and Father Pigot represented the Australian National Research Council at the General Assembly.
The purpose of the Union, as set forth in this report, is - (I) “To facilitate the relations between astronomers of different countries where international co-operation is neces sary or useful; and, (2) To promote the study of astronomy in all its departments”. Each country adhering to the Union has its own National Research Council, which forms the National Committee for the promotion and co-ordination of astronomical work iul the respective countries, especially regard ing their international requirements. The countries at present adhering to the Union are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, · Itály, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
When Father Pigot left us suddenly in March, we felt that indeed there must be “something on” in the scientific world to draw him away at short notice from his beloved observatory. But the meetings of the Astronoinical Union, despite their international importance, were not his only objective. His itinerary, as we shall see, was a long one, and one of his chief aims while in Europe and America, was to inspect the principal Astronomical, Seismological and Solar Radiation observatories, and to get in personal touch with the foremost scientists. of the northern hemisphere.
Upon arrival in Europe he spent some time, successively, in the observatories of Marseilles, Nice, Geneva, and Zurich, In April he attended the Seismological Congress at Strasbourg, and then went on to Rome, taking in on his way, the Arcetri Observatory at Florence (situated, by the way, a stone's-throw from Galileo's house). While in Rome at the Conferences of the Astronomical and Geophysical Unions, he was, of course, in constant touch with Father Hagen S J, the Director of the Vatican Observatory, and though he does not say so, we may well imagine that his feelings were not untinged with sadness as he ascended the great staircase of the Government Observatory-the great Roman College of the Jesuit Order, before a Ministry more sectarian than honest usurped it.
Before the Conferences of the General Assembly were over, the delegates were in vited by His Holiness the Pope to a special audience in the Throne Room of the Vatican. It was accepted by all. Before congratu lating themselves on the splendid success of their meetings, His Holiness spent some time in chatting freely with most of those present, shook hands with them all, and be fore their departure, had a photo taken by the Papal photographer in the Court of St. Damasus.
The Roman Conferences over, Father Pigot lost no time in getting on his way. His first call was at the Geophysical Institute of Göttingen. Then on to Munich, and to Davos Platz for a private meeting on Sky and Solar Radiation with Dr Dorno (Head of Davos Observatory), Professor Maurer (Head of the Swiss Weather Bureau), and Professor Kimball (of the Solar Radiation Station of the Washington Weather Bureau).
The Paris Observatory - one of the largest in Europe - came next, and after spending some time here, he went on to the Royal Observatory at Brussels. Before leaving Beigium, he had time to run down to the Jesuit Observatory at Valkenberg, near the Dutch frontier, after which he returned to Greenwich. At a dinner of the Royal Astronomical Society, at which nine of the delegates were entertained, Father Pigot's health was proposed by Father Cortie SJ, of the Stonyhurst Observatory.
After a brief visit to Ireland, Father Pigot started out on his return journey, via America. One of his first visits on the other side was to the Jesuit Seismological Observatory at Georgetown University, Washington. While in the Capital, he spent some time at the Carnegie Observatory (Terrestrial Magnetisın), the Weather Bureau Solar Radiation Station, the Astro-physical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institute (where he renewed acquaintance with a valued friend, Dr Abbot, the President), the Bureau of Standards, and the Office of the Geodetic Survey. He was much impressed, as in 1919, with the up-to-date appliances of the Americans, and with the thoroughness of their scientific work.
Leaving Washington, he called at The Observatory of Harvard University (Boston, Mass.), and at the University of Detroit, where he found Professor Hussey, who knows Riverview well and has been in Australia more than once on scientific work. Yerkes Observatory, near Chicago, where is installed the largest Refractor in the world, claimed him next, after which he proceeded to the famous Mt Wilson Observatory at Pasadena (near Los Angeles, Col.). Here Father Pigot was in his element, for it is with Dr. Abbott, more especially than any one else, that he has discussed the details of the projected Solar Radiation Observatory at Riverview, and from him received the most valuable assistance.
Passing on to the Lick Observatory (Mt Hamilton, N Cal), he just missed Professor Campbell, who had left for Australia four days before as a member of the Wallal (WA) Eclipse Expedition. Professor Tucker, however, the locuin tenens, showed hiin every kindness.
Father Pigot's final visit before embarking for Australia was to the Canadian Government Observatory (Victoria, BC), which possesses the most powerful telescope in the British Empire (73in. Reflector). In the realm of instrumental astronomy Canada has outstripped all the other Dominions, and even the Mother Country herself.
It is superfluous to emphasise the immense value Father Pigot derived from his visits to the leading scientific men of the world, picking up hints, seeing new methods, and the most modern appliances for the subject nearest and dearest to his heart.
That the Riverview Observatory will gain by his experiences, and that the new Solat Radiation Observatory will receive a new fillip, goes without saying:
◆ Our Alma Mater Riverview 1929
Obituary
Edward F Pigot
Father Pigot was born at Dundrum, County Dublin, on September 18, 1858. He adopted the medical profession, and practised for a few years in Dublin. In 1885 he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He made his first visit to Australia as a Jesuit scholastic in 1888, and taught for four years at Xavier College, Melbourne, and St Ignatius' College, Sydney. Naturally, his department was science. He completed his theological studies in Milltown Park, Dublin, and was ordained in the summer of 1899. Two years later he volunteered for the arduous China Mission, where the French Fathers of the Society of Jesus were endeavouring to Christianise the vast pagan kingdom - an act revealing fires of missionary zeal and personal devotion probably unsuspected by those who knew only the retiring scientist and scholar of later years. His sacrifice was accepted, and recompensed in a striking manner. He did, indeed, master the Chinese language in preparation for missionary labours, and for a while tasted the hardships of active service.
He returned to Australia in 1907, and immediately set about founding an observatory at Riverview, while teaching science on the college staff. When death called him he had gathered at Riverview five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and what he most valued in his later years, a solar radiation, station, possessing rare and costly instruments, such as are possessed by only a few other, and these Government-endowed, stations throughout the world.
Fr. Pigot's in terest in the scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, in geophysics at the Cobar mines and elsewhere, his pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney, are well known. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania; in April, 1911, he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondiwindi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.
Father Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St. Petersburg in 1914. The outbreak of war prevented the Congress being held. In 1921 he was chosen as a member of the Australian National Research Council, and in 1922 went to Rome as its representative at the first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union, and of the International Union of Geodetics and Geophysics. He was elected President of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923 and 1924. For many years he was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of NSW.
At the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, held in Australia in 1923, Father Pigot was secretary of the seismological section. In 1926 Father Pigot was once more chosen by the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, held in Tokyo, in October, 1926. In December of last year he received word from the secretary of the Central International Bureau of Seismology, Strasburg, that he had been elected member of an International Commission of Research, formed a short time previously at a congress held in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia.
Many warm-hearted and generous tri butes to the kindliness and charm of Father Pigot's personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his associa tion with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, geritle associate, and of a saintly religious. RIP
-oOo-
The Solemn Office and Requiem Mass were celebrated at St Mary's North Sydney in the presence of a large congregation. His Grace the Archbishop presided, and preached the panegyric, and a very large number of the priests of the Diocese were present. Representatives of all classes were amongst the congregation, as may be seen from the list, which we cull from the “Catholic Press”.
The Government was represented by Mr J Ryan, MLC, and the Premier's Department by Messrs. F C G Tremlett and C H Hay. Other mourners included Professor Sir Edgeworth David, Professor C E Fawcitt (Dean of the Fa ulty of Science in Sydney University), Professor H G Chapman, Professor L A Cotton (president of the Royal Society of NSW), Professor T G . Osborn (chairman of the executive committee of the Australian National Research Council), Dr and Mrs Conrick, Dr P Murray, Dr Noble, Dr Murray Curtis, Dr H Daly, Dr Armit, Dr G H McElhone, Dr Wardlaw (president of the Linnean Society), Dr Robert Noble, Dr James Hughes, Messrs Cecil O'Dea, M J Mc Grath, H W and J N Lenehan, Austin Callachor (St Aloysius' Old Boys' Union), J Boylan (St Ignatius' Old Boys' Union), K Ryan, J Hayes, I Bryant, G E Bryant, K Young, R W Challinor (Sydney Technical College), James Nangle (Government Astronomer), O J Lawler, V J Evans, K E Finn, F W Brennan, J and I McDonnell, J Burfitt, and W S Gale, E Wunderlich, Dr Bradfield, Messrs L Campbell, L Bridge jun, Harold Healy, J Edmunds, E P Hollingdale, T Thyne, H Tricker (German Consul, representing the German Scientific Societies), W H Paradice, J. J. Richardson, W Poole (representing the Council of the Royal Society), K M Burgraaff (German Geographical Survey), E W Esdaile, A P Mackerras, E Gardiner, F S Manse (Under-Setretary for Mines), E C Andrews (Mines Department), W S Dun (Geological Survey), E H Matthews, F K Du Boise, Herbert Brown, R H Bulkeley, FRAS, M B Young, O S Cleary.
Letters of condolence were received from the following :The Old Boys' Union, NSW Chamber of Agriculture, The Shires Association of NSW, Dr C J Prescott (Headmaster, Newington Coll ege), Lane Cove Municipal Council, British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Chemical Society of the Sydney Technical College, the Royal Society of New South Wales, The Hon Sir Norman Kater, Kt, MLC, and many others.
The following letter was received from: the New South Wales Cabinet:
Premier's Office, Sydney, N.S.W.
22nd May, 1929.
Dear Sir,
At a meeting of the Cabinet this morning mention was made of the sad loss this State has sustained in the death of Reverend Father Pigot, one of its most distinguished citizens. I was invited by my colleagues to convey to you, as Principal of the eminent educational establishment, with which Father Pigot had the honour to be associated, an. expression of the deepest sympathy from the Members of the New South Wales Ministry.
The memory of Father Pigot, who was a personal friend of many of us, will be kept ever green by reason of his high scholastic and scientific attainments, modest and unassuming demeanour, and easy of character.
Yours faithfully,
E. A. BUTTENSHAW,
Acting Premier,
The Rev Father Lockington SJ, StIgnatius' College, Professor
H, H. Turner, of the British Association and the International Seismological Summary, speaks of “the splendid work done by Father Pigot in seismology; Riverview has been for many years our standby in the discussion of earthquakes near Australia”.
Professor Sir Edgeworth David, quoted in the “Catholic Press”, writes:
“By his death Australian science and the science of seismology have sustained a loss that is almost irreparable. He initiated what now ranks among the very best seismological observatories in the world. He was able to secure the best instruments for recording the variations in heat transmitted from the sun to the earth for his solar observatory at Riverview, and to make observations. This science in time we will rely upon to put mankind in possession of long range forecasts as to future rainfall and weather in general.
He was well known to all leading physicists and astronomers, and entirely because of his great reputation the University of Sydney was able to borrow for a period of six years some extremely valuable pendulums from Germany for measuring small displacements of the earth's crust at the great reservoir at Burrenjuck.
It was not only for his profound learning that scientists reverenced him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there. never was any scientific man so well beloved as he”.
◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930
The New Seismographs at Riverview
That Seismology, and especially Seismographs, are in the air at present, there can be no doubt. We have recently experienced in Sydney such a series of earthquake tremors, some of which have been usually large, and all coming on top of one another, as it were, that the subject was a common topic of conversation for several weeks. But the greatest interest centred not so much on the earthquakes as on the Riverview Seismograph that recorded them. When, a few weeks ago, the papers announced that a big and destructive earthquake had occurred so many thousands of miles away, "A big earthquake somewhere," one Melbourne Daily headed the re port-the safe announcement following that it was possibly in the sea somewhere, did much, we are sure, to nullify any exciting effect the tid ngs might have had on even unsceptical readers. The news two days later, however, that a severe earthquake had taken place in Sumatra, and that 250 people had been killed, made the Riverview Seismograph not only known, but famous. With Father Pigot's permission (or, shall I say, with out Father Pigot's permission?) I purpose giving a short account of the Seismographs to accompany our illustrations,
The idea, as a mere remote possibility, of starting a Seismographical Observatory at Riverview, occurred to Father Pigot a few years ago at Zi ka-wei (Shanghai), just when leaving for Australia, where he was oblijed by ill-health to return, and received a fresh impetus when he was passing through Manilla on the voyage south. The splendid seismographical work done by the Fathers for many years at these two great Jesuit Observator ies of the Far East (not to speak of all that they have achieved in their other departments, viz., Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism, and Astro nomy, above all, of the tens of thousands of lives saved by their typhoon warnings during the last thirty years), was a sufficient incentive to Fr Pigot, who had been on the staff of the former Observatory for some time, to attempt a small beginning of at least one branch of similar high class work in Australia. No doubt excellent records had been obtained for several years in Australia and New Zealand by the well-known instrument of the veteran Seismologist, Professor Milne; but it was interesting to see what results would be obtained by a more modern type of Seismograph of one or other of the recent German models. Those of Professor Wiechert, of Gottingen University, were decided upon, if funds would permit. The decision was most unexpectedly confirmed by the arrival in Sydney shortly after, on his way home to Germany, at the expiration of his term of office as Director of the Samoa Observatory, of Dr Linke, who showed his Wiechert earthquake records to Father Pigot, at Riverview. Dr Linke, who now, by the way, is Director of the Geophysical Institute in Frankfort (Germany), has since taken the kindliest interest in our embryo Observatory.
But where was all the necessary money to come from? Needless to say, a lot of expense was involved. As two of the principal instruments are now installed, we may say that nearly the whole of the expense of the larger (horizontal) Seismograph was defrayed by our kind and generous friend and neighbour, the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC - a man whose charity is equalled only by his love of learning and scientific progress ad majorem Dei gloriam. To the Hon Mr Heydon, therefore, for the great pioneer part he played in giving Seismology a foothold in Riverview, not Father Pigot's alone, but Riverview's warmest thanks are due. But though Seismology has certainly got a foothold in Riverview, it must be remembered that at present our Observatory is only in an embryonic condition. Space has been provided in the building for other Geophysical re search work, to be carried out later on, when, like the Hon. Mr. Heydon, other lovers of scientific research shall have recognised in the Riverview Observatory, a work deserving of their patronage and generosity.
In July, 1908, Father Pigot paid a visit of three weeks to Samoa, where, through the kindness and courtesy of the Director of the Observa tory, Dr. Angenheister, and his assistants, he was able to study the construction and working of the various instruments, the methods for the reduction of the records, etc. On his return, he set about erecting the building and fittings for the instruments the half-underground, vaulted, brick building (not as yet covered with its protecting mantle for tem perature), and woodwork fittings. These were admirably constructed respectively by Brother Forster SJ, and Brother Girschik SJ, with their usual indefatigable care. In the early autumn the instruments arrived from Germany, and soon afterwards they were recording tremors and earthquakes. The instruments are amongst the most modern in use at the present day, and are known as the Wiechert Seismographs or Seismometers, named from their designer, Professor Wiechert. Until quite recently they were not numerous, being confined, with the exception of the Samoa instrument, to European Observatories. Now, however, they are being installed in various regions of the globe. The extreme delicacy of the instruments is almost incredible; an unusual weight on the floor of the Observatory (a party of visitors, for example), even at some distance from the instruments, would be sufficient to cause serious derange ment of the recording pens; the ocean waves dashing on the coast six miles away on a rough day are frequently recorded. It is in this extreme delicacy that the value (and, incidentally, the trouble) of the instruments consists. As a consequence they demand the most careful handling, and almost constant attention.
There are two instruments: a Horizontal Seismograph and a Vertical Seismograph, to receive, as the names suggest, the horizontal part (or component, as the scientists call it), and the vertical part respectively of the earth-waves set up by any seismic disturbance. The Horizontal Seismograph, however, consists practically of two Seismographs in as much as it separates the waves it receives into two directions; NS and EW, giving a separate record for each, as may be seen from the two recording rolls hang ing down in front.
The horizontal is an inverted pendulum whose bob is a large iron cylindrical (or drum-shaped) mass of 1000 kilograms, or a little over a ton weight. This mass is supported on a pedestal which is poised on four springs set on a large concrete pillar built on the solid rock, and separated from the surrounding floor by an air-gap one inch wide. When an earth quake occurs in any place, that place becomes the centre from which earth waves travel in all directions, through the earth and round the earth (surface waves). These waves on reaching Riverview disturb our concrete pillar, and set the pendulum in motion. The iron mass is reduced to a "stable equilibrium” by a system of springs, so that when the base is disturbed, the large mass will not fall over, but will oscillate or swing backwards and for wards till it comes to rest again. Now, a very ingenious air-damping arrangement (the two drum-like structures over the mass) destroys the oscillation or swing set up in the mass by the first wave, so that the second and third and succeeding earth-waves will not be affected by the oscillation of the mass itself, but each wave, no matter how quickly it comes after the others, will have its own effect on the mass. Consider, for illustration sake, one of those now-antiquated punching-ball apparatus that consist of a heavy leaden circular base, into the middle of which is inserted a stout four or five-foot cane, on the top of which is fixed the punching ball. When you punch this ball it and the cane oscillate, or swing backwards and forwards (the heavy base remaining stationary). If you determine to hit out at this ball at a fixed rate, say thirty punches a minute, you cannot be certain that every blow will have its full effect on the ball-in many cases you may not hit the ball at all. But if you contrive to make the ball stationary, so that it keeps still, or moves very little, when you punch it, every punch, no matter at what rate you punch it, will catch the ball and have its full effect upon it. In somewhat the same way our large iron mass is kept as stationary as possible, by the damping cylinders, while each earth-wave has its full effect upon it. This effect is received by the arrangement of levers above the mass, and magnified enormously, which magnified effect is traced by the recording stylus or pen--a tiny platinum pin-on the smoked re cording roll of paper, Waves coming in a N or S direction are recorded on one of the rolls; those in an E or W direction are recorded on the other, while waves coming in any other direction are recorded on both.
The Vertical Wiechert Seismograph is a Lever-Pendulum, consisting of an iron mass of 160lbs. weight at the end of an arm (under the wooden temperature-insulation box), and a spiral spring (enclosed in the box) be tween the weight and the fulcrum, the weight and the spring keeping the arm of the lever in equilibrium. Hence this pendulum can move only up and down, only by the vertical part of the earth-waves. The effect, as before, is highly magnified and recorded by the stylus. The damping (drum-like) arrangement in this instrument is seen at the left-hand back corner of the table. The temperature-insulation box is simply a double-walled wooden jacket packed with carbon, to protect the spiral, as well as a zinc-steel grid iron compensation, from change of temperature. One of the greatest difficulties with these instruments is keeping the instrument room at the same temperature always. For this reason the brick building is not yet nearly completed, as it will have to be covered by a thick layer of protecting material, which will finally have to be covered by a proper roofing. Again, scientifically inclined and generously disposed friends, please note!
To lessen any disturbance from the room itself (visitors, etc.) the floor of the building is covered with sand to the depth of a few inches, and in the case of the Horizontal, an air gap to the depth of a few feet separates the instrument from the surrounding floor.
The records, which are changed every twenty-four hours, are traced on specially-prepared smoked paper, and can be fixed at once with a suitable varnish. On the instruments, the records are stretched by drums which, by a very nice clock-work device (c.f, weight and escapement) are rotated once every hour, and moved to the right at the same time. Furthermore, by an ingenious electro-magnetic contrivance connected with a Wiechert contact-clock (seen with the Vertical Seismograph), the hours and minutes are accurately recorded on the earthquake tracing itself, and not at the side. Consequently, the exact second almost at which a distur bance begins is known. The rate of tracing is about fourteen millimetres per minute for the Horizontal, and ten millimetres per minute for the Vertical Seismograph.
To the uninitiated, at least, the results in the matter of records are really marvellous. They are worth the trouble they entail, and they do en tail lots of trouble. So far, there have been records of at least four considerable earthquakes (one of which has been already identified), as well as eight or nine smaller ones. Some of these have probably been subma rine, and can be localised when reports come in from other distant Observatories. There is one more point to be treated in this rather crude explanation, and it will explain the last sentence. How is the distance of the earthquake ascertained? Well, in a large seismic disturbance, if situated at a considerable distance, preliminary earth tremors or short waves precede the long earthquake-waves. The distance of the centre of the disturbance (which usually lasts for an hour or two) can be calculated from the time elapsing between the first preliminary tremors, and the beginning of the long waves. Consequently when three Observatories sufficiently distant and suitably situated calculate the distance of a particular shock, say, in mid-ocean, the actual centre can be found by simple geometry.
I have tried to give a simple, straightforward, unscientific explanation of the instruments, without going into more detail than was absolutely necessary. In fact, it would be unwise to go into much detail, for, if I did, I should probably become helpless very soon, and should require a kind and helping hand from Father Pigot to extricate me. But the calculations involved are terrific—a fact that will appear plausible when we say (I have it on Father Pigot's word) that the pressure of the stylus on the record, equivalent to a weight of one milligram, must be allowed for in the reductions of the observations.
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902
Letters from Our Past
Father Edward Pigot SJ
China
Father Pigot SJ, whom our past students of late years will remember, writes from the Shanghai district: to somewhat the same purport :
“Oh, if we only had a few thorough-going Irish priests here, how many more poor Chinese could be received into the Church! In some parts, as in the North, and in Father Perrin's section, one priest more would nean the certain conversion of hundreds and hundreds of Pagans. But Father Superior is at the end of his tether and can not send any more men just now; for the Christian villages around here cannot be left without their missionaries”.
In another letter, dated October of present year, Father Pigott writes :
“Here in our mission, as indeed throughout nearly the whale of China, things are quiet enough : how long it will last I do not know, The Boxers have lately broken out again in the south-west. We had many deaths this past year among our missionaries, and are badly in want of men, especially in the newly opened up districts in the north and in parts of the west of our mission. I send you the lately published yearly “Resumé” of the Kiang Nan. It is, above all, in the Sin-tchcou-fou (Western) Section that the greatest movement of conversion has taken place recently among the people whole villages sometimes asking
Pinné, Christopher P, 1952-2023, Jesuit priest
Born: 27 May 1952, Easton PA, USA
Entered: 27 August 1981, St Stanislaus, Denver CO, USA, Missourianae Province (MIS)
Ordained: 12 June 1987, St Francis Xavier Church, St Louis MO, USA
Final Vows: 02 October 1994
Died: 14 April 2023, St Stanislaus, Florissant, Missouri, MO, USA, USA Central and Southern Province (UCS)
In 2000-2001 came to Gonzaga College, Dublin (HIB) on a sabbatical year studying and assisting in school
https://www.jesuitscentralsouthern.org/memoriam/pinne-christopher-p-father/
April 19, 2023 – Father Christopher P. Pinné, SJ, died April 14, 2023, in St. Louis. He was 70 years old, a Jesuit for 41 years and a priest for 35 years.
Remembered by his Jesuit brothers for his kindness and fortitude, Fr. Pinné will be remembered in a Mass of Christian Burial at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 22, in St. Francis Xavier College Church in St Louis. A visitation will be in the same location, beginning at 8:00 a.m. before the Mass. The Mass will be livestreamed on YouTube. Search for “Mass of Christian Burial for Fr. Christopher Pinné, SJ.” Download the worship aid. Burial will follow immediately after the Mass at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
Christopher Pinné was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on May 27, 1952. His parents, Frederick J. Pinne and Alice T. Pinné, preceded him in death. He is survived by his brothers and sisters-in-law: Allan (Nancy) M. Pinne; Frederick “Rick” (Wendy) Pinne, III; and Terence (Susan) G. Pinné, as well as his brothers in the Society of Jesus.
A graduate of Rockhurst University, he entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 27, 1981, in Denver, after acquiring both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in theology. He pronounced first vows on Aug. 21, 1983, and was ordained a priest on June 12, 1987, at St. Francis Xavier College Church. He pronounced final vows on Oct. 3, 1994.
He began his Jesuit ministry in 1983 at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, where he taught religion. Following his theology studies and ordination, he returned to De Smet Jesuit in 1988 as dean of students, religion teacher and counselor.
In 1993, he was assigned to Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., where he taught theology and served as superior of the Jesuit community. He served as interim president there for part of the 1999-2000 school year.
Following a sabbatical, Fr. Pinné returned to St. Louis, where for six years he was the provincial assistant for vocations, associate director of the advancement office and coordinator of the Alum Service Corps program.
Father Pinné’s life took a dramatic turn in the spring of 2007, when he was struck by a car. Some months later, his back began giving him serious trouble, resulting in the first of three painful surgeries, the last of which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Throughout the ordeal of multiple recoveries and then adjustment to life in a wheelchair, Fr. Pinné inspired many with his cheerful, hopeful and determined spirit.
During this time, from 2007 to 2011, Fr. Pinné taught theology and served as chaplain at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colo. In 2011, health needs necessitated a return to St. Louis, but always wanting to be of service, he served as chaplain of the Saint Louis University Law School.
Father Pinné returned to the classroom at St. Louis University High School in 2014 and moved to De Smet Jesuit in 2016 to serve as campus minister.
He returned to pastoral ministry at Jesuit Hall in 2017 and moved with his community to St. Ignatius Hall in St. Louis County in January 2023.
He never ceased being the compassionate, encouraging, prayerful priest that so many students and colleagues had come to know.
Father Pinné earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology at Rockhurst University, a master’s degree at Saint Louis University, and both Bachelor of Sacred Theology and a Master of Divinity at Regis College in Toronto, Ontario.
We remember with gratitude all that God has done through Fr. Pinné’s life of service to God and God’s people.
Polino, Carmelo, 1844-1888, Jesuit priest
Born: 04 July 1844, Siracusa (Syracuse), Sicily, Italy
Entered: 23 December 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1875
Professed: 15 August 1877
Died 13 September 1888, St Ignatius College, Las Vegas NM, USA - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily
Polk, Josef, 1820-1914, Jesuit priest
Born: 18 March 1820, Kitzbüehel, Tyrol, Austria
Entered: 16 August 1839, Graz, Austria - Austriacae-Gallicianae Province (AUT-GALI)
Ordained: 1847/8
Final vows: 08 December 1857
Died: 03 February 1914, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia
◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He belonged to the Austrian Province and arrived there from America 30 August 1861.
Nearly 53 years of his life were spent in South Australia, during which time he held various offices, including that of Superior.
He was very hard working and lived to a great age - 94. he died at Sevenhill 03 February 1914
Note from Franz Pölzl Entry
The writer of an interesting article entitles “The Society in Australia”, which appeared in the “Woodstock Letters”, refers to Brother Pölzl : “as being one of those, l together with Father Polk, to whom we are indebted for the details of the events which led to the founding of the Mission of the Society in South Australia. Both Father Polk and Brother Pölzl were assiduous in collecting full and correct data of what had happened in the early years and in committing to writing the events of which they were eye-witnesses”.
◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Joseph Polk entered the noviciate of the Gallician province at Graz, in Styria, 16 August 1839, ten years after the province had opened its first house on Austrian soil on 4 May. Polk worked and studied at Graz, Linz and Innsbruck until 1848, the year of the revolution, and the dispersion of the Austrian province, which had been formed only in 1846, and to which he had been transferred. He was ordained early and sent to work among the German Catholics in the Maryland province, USA, remaining there until 1860.
In 1861 Polk returned to Europe and was for a short time minister at the college in Linz, and was then sent on the South Australian Mission, arriving at Sevenhill on 6 September 1861.
He joined the staff of St Aloysius' College, Sevenhill, and worked in the church, preaching in both English and German. In 1863 he was appointed superior of the mission. While superior, he continued to teach, preach and give missions and retreats. In 1865 he was called to Melbourne to consult with the bishop as to the foundation of a college of the Society there. It was decided to ask the Irish Jesuits.
In 1870 he went to the Norwood parish, founded the year before. Then Polk went to Manoora as superior of the new residence. In 1877 he returned to Sevenhill, and back to Manoora until 1887, when he returned to Sevenhill as minister, and remained for the rest of his life.
Polk stayed on in Australia after the amalgamation of the missions. He was a man of iron constitution and strong physical build, a strict disciplinarian, full of zeal and solid piety, an
exemplary religious, and a great strength to the mission for 50 years.
Power, James, 1848-1881, Jesuit scholastic
Born: 16 April 1848, Bree, County Wexford
Entered: 12 August 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin /Clermont-Ferrand, France / Lons-le-Saunier - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Died: 04 October 1881, Woodstock College, Washington DC, USA - Neo Aurliensis Province (NOR)
Originally entered as a brother novice at Milltown park in 1874 - advised to leave for studies - provincial Fr Walsh then recommended to Fr Lonergan of nor province.
Entered and dies in the new Orleans province at Woodstock college (cf Obituary in Woodstock Letters 1882 V 11 No 1)
◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 11, Number 1
Obituary
“Mr James Power SJ”
Mr James Power died of cerebral meningitis at the scholasticate of Woodstock, on the 4th of October, 1881. Although he had been only four years in religion, he was already ripe for heaven. He was born in the parish of Bree, Co Wexford, Ireland, on the 16th of April, 1848. In the world he had led a pious life, and had made a vow of perpetual chastity, which he solemnly renewed each year; but desirous of rendering himself more pleasing to God, he determined on joining the Society of Jesus. Not having received a classical education, and having already attained his 24th year, he was admitted into the Novitiate of Milltown Park, in 1874, as a novice-coadjutor, for the Irish Province. But his master of novices, discovering his rare talent and sound judgment, advised him to leave the Novitiate and apply himself to study. It was only at the urgent request of his master of novices and with the advice of the Provincial, who told him that he could thus better procure the glory of God, that he decided on commencing to study; he had found peace and happiness in religion, and was content to pass his life as the servant of his brethren.
At the age of twenty-seven, he found himself once more on the benches as a schoolboy, beginning the Latin grammar; but his strength of will and the fertility of his mind soon enabled him to overcome all difficulties, and in two years he justified the hopes of his master of Novices, and again applied for admission into the Society. Just at that time, Rev Fr Lonergan was on a visit to Ireland for the purpose of procuring postulants for the New Orleans Mission, and having requested Rev Fr Walsh, then Provincial, to recommend him some suitable subjects, Fr Walsh told him to accept Mr Power, that he knew no one more suitable or with higher qualifications. Mr Power was accordingly accepted and sent to France for his noviceship, and reached Clermont on the 12th of August, 1877.
The usual trials presented no difficulties to the new novice; he had already learned and realised what the religious life meant. He was extremely devout to St Joseph, and all his writings were dedicated to that Saint, through whose intercession, doubtless, he obtained such a happy death. When the Novitiate was closed at Clermont, he was sent to Lons-le-Saulnier (Jura), where he took his vows on the feast of the Assumption, 1879. The September following he came to Woodstock for his philosophy. He soon showed that he was gifted with extraordinary talent for philosophical studies, and the brightest hopes were entertained for his future success; all thought that he would prove a most useful member of the Society, but, as he remarked a few days previous to his death :
“God knows best; I hoped to be able to serve the Society, but perhaps I will do more in heaven for our poor Mission than I could do if I should live”.
During vacations he went to Georgetown College for a special course of Chemistry, as he was anxious to become as perfect as possible in all branches of science. Soon after his return, he complained of pain in the ear, but being usually of a healthy constitution, he did not heed it for several days. Finding that the pain continued, he returned to Washington, on the 5th of Sept, to consult a physician, under whose treatment he remained until the 24th, when he came back to Woodstock, apparently cured. The following day, Sunday, he complained of fever and of being very tired, but his malady was not considered serious until Friday afternoon, when he suddenly became delirious; he soon, however, recovered the use of his senses, but it was easy to see that he was fast sinking. Saturday evening he asked for and received the last Sacraments; as he had been up during the day, he wished to be allowed to kneel on the floor to receive the Blessed Sacrament, but the infirmarian having told him that it would be too fatiguing, he smiled and said: “Very well, Brother, I will do whatever you tell me”. After receiving the Holy Viaticum, he remained for a long time in prayer, then turning to one of the scholastics who was with him, he said:
“Good-by, good-by, I have only a few hours more to wait. I had prayed not to die until I had received again my Saviour. I am now happy. I have obtained from the Blessed Virgin all I asked. I ask for nothing more. I die in the Society of Jesus”.
He passed the night quietly, and next morning, when told that it was the feast of the Holy Rosary, he asked for his beads, which he recited with the greatest fervor. He still lingered for two·days, edifying all who visited him by his patience and resignation to the Divine Will. On Tuesday, October 4th, he became worse; he was constantly occupied in prayer, and from time to time would repeat.:
“O my Jesus, accept the sacrifice of my life; I willingly offer it to Thee; and grant to all my brothers the grace of perseverance in their holy vocation”.
At 2pm the community assembled in his room, when he asked pardon for all the faults he had committed, and took part in the responses of the prayers for the dying. He then entered into his agony, if, indeed, it could be called an agony; it was more like a sweet sleep. At three o'clock, still breathing the words, “My Jesus, have mercy on me”, he expired. Those who had witnessed his holy death went away edified, strengthened in their vocation, and confirmed in their belief that death in the Society of Jesus is a pledge of predestination.
Power, Michael, 1813-1847, Jesuit brother
Born: 01 August 1813, Ballycannon, Kilcock, County Kildare
Entered: 12 November 1844, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Died: 16 February 1847, St Louis, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Part of the Florissant MO, USA community at the time of death
Power, William I, 1855-1934, Jesuit priest and visitor
Born: 19 April 1855, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 22 July 1873, Clermont, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1884
Final Vows: 02 February 1894
Died: 28 March 1934, St Mary's, Key West FL, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Early education at St John’s College Waterford and St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg
Came to Irish Province (HIB) as VISITOR in 11 July 1921
Came to Australia (HIB) as VISITOR in 01 November 1922
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 3 1934
RIP
The prayers of the Province are earnestly asked for Father Wm. Power, S..J (Visitor of the Jesuit Houses in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Australia) who died at St. Mary's Rectory, Key West. Florida on March 28th, less than a month before his seventy-ninth birthday. His death followed the recurrence of a February attack of pneumonia from which he had recovered, and heart complications.
Prendergast, John, 1830-1869, Jesuit priest
Born: 01 April 1830, Ballyduff, County Kilkenny
Entered: 13 August1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 1863
Died: 11 May 1869, St Mary's Church, Boston, MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Quinlan, Edmund, 1797-1846, Jesuit brother
Born: 06 June 1797, Ireland
Entered: 04 September 1833, White Marsh, MD USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1844
Died: 06 June 1846, Alexandria, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Quinn, James, 1698-1745, Jesuit priest
Born: 23 September 1698, London, England
Entered: 07 September 1717, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 10 June 1735
Died: 27 November 1745, Choptank River, Maryland, USA - Angliae Province (ANG)
◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Two Entries
DOB 15 September 1698 London of Irish parents; Ent 07 September 1717; FV 10 June 1735 Maryland; RIP 27 November 1745 aged 47
pre 1728 sent to Maryland Mission
1745 Accidentally killed getting off a ferry boat that was being dragged by his horse on Chaptawk (sic) River (MAR CAT)
◆ In Old/18
◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
QUIN, JAMES, born on the 15th of September, 1698. On the 7th of September, 1717, he entered the Novitiate : was admitted to the rank of a Professed Father, on the 16th of June, 1735, in Maryland, and died in that Mission, on the 27th of November, 1745.
Quinn, Michael Patrick, 1930-2013, former Jesuit scholastic
Born: 08 March 1930, Ballina, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 25 October 2019, Ivy Lodge, Main Street, Saugerties, NY, USA
Left Society of Jesus: 16 April 1953
Father, Michael Patrick, was a commercial traveller and business man. Mother was Anne (Daly). Family lived at Emmet Square, Birr, County Offaly.
Elder of two boys with two half brothers and three sisters. Father married twice. Half brother was a priest in France.
Early education was first at a Convent school in Birr, and then at the Presentation Brothers school also in Birr for eleven years. Finally at Mungret College SJ
Baptised at St Muredach's Cathedral, Ballina, 11/03/1930
Confirmed at St Brendan’s, Birr by Dr Fogarty of Killaloe, 12/04/1942
1948-1950: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1950-1953: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
Address 2000: Brendenwood Road, Rockford, IL, USA
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/recordonline/name/michael-quinn-obituary?id=14532405
Michael Quinn Obituary
Michael P. Quinn
March 8, 1930 - October 25, 2019
New Paltz, NY
Michael P. Quinn, 89 of New Paltz, passed away peacefully on Friday, October 25, 2019 at Ivy Lodge in Saugerties, NY. Born March 8, 1930 in Ballina, Mayo County, Ireland, he was the son of the late Michael and Anne (Daly) Quinn.
On August 13, 1956, in Cloghan, in the county of Offaly in Ireland, he married Teresa McCabe. They had 54 years together before her passing on October 3, 2009.
Michael earned his Bachelor of Art Degree from the University of Dublin and earned his Master's Degree at Loyola University in Maryland. He taught English Literature and Poetry at Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL, from 1965 until his retirement in 1997 and was chair of the English Department. Michael was a devoted parishioner of St. Joseph's Church in New Paltz.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was predeceased by his son, Paul Quinn.
He is survived by one daughter, Marian Quinn and her husband, Tommy Weir of Dublin, Ireland, and three sons: Declan Quinn and his wife, Edda, Aidan Quinn and his wife, Elizabeth and Robert Quinn; his grandchildren: Jack, Liam, Mae, Stella, Sarah, Alice, Rae, Ava, and Mia.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Monday, October 28, 2019 at Copeland-Hammerl Funeral Home, 162 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated after the visitation, at St. Joseph's Church, 34 South Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY, and beginning at 1 p.m. The Rite of Committal will follow at St. Charles Cemetery, Routes 44/55, Gardiner, NY.
Ragan, Patrick, 1812-1873, Jesuit brother
Born: 12 March 1812, County Cork
Entered: 31 December 1843, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1857
Died: 05 August 1873, Saint Charles, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ranahan, Patrick, 1825-1903, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 March 1825, County Monaghan
Entered: 11 February 1857, Sault-au-Rècollet Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 12 August 1903, St Andrew on Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Reardon, Cornelius, 1815-1891, Jesuit brother
Born: 17 March 1815, Cobh, County Cork
Entered: 12 September 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1861
Died: 26 September 1891, Woodstock College, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Reardon, Florence, 1811-1838, Jesuit novice
Born: 01 January 1811, Ireland
Entered: 24 January 1838, St Stanislaus, Florissant MO, USA
Died: 08 October 1838, St Stanislaus, Florissant MO, USA
Redmond Michael, 1819-1876, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 August 1819, Moneytucker, County Wexford
Entered: 09 October 1849, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 01 September 1876, Holy Family Church, Philadelphia, PA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Redmond, Bartholomew, 1769-1841, Jesuit brother
Born: 26 August 1769, County Wexford
Entered: 01 October 1809 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1821
Died: 22 November 1841, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Reidy, Daniel J, 1884-1967, Jesuit priest
Born: 08 August 1884, Cooraclare, Kilrush, County Clare
Entered: 07 September 1901, Tullabeg
Ordained: 28 June 1915, Woodstock College MD, USA
Final Vows:02 February 1920
Died: 16 April 1967, Seattle, WA, USA - Oregonensis Province (ORE)
Transcribed HIB to TAUR : 1902; TAUR to CAL : 1909; Cal to ORE
Father is a farmer, mother died in 1888.
Two brothers (one deceased) and four sisters.
Educated in local NS, and then a local Intermediate school and then Colaiste Iognáid SJ, Galway.
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Transferred during Noviceship to TAUR Province for Rocky Mountain Mission
Reilly, Conor S, 1930-2012, former Jesuit priest, chemist, professor
Born: 04 May 1930, Carrigfern, College Road, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 06 September 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1966, St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia
Died: 20 May 2012, Enstone, Oxfordshire, England
Left Society of Jesus: 25 February 1972
Transcribed HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969
Conor Simon Reilly was born at Stella Maris Nursing Home, Wellington Road, Cork City
Father, Joseph, was a Professor of Chemistry at UCC (lived at Woodlands, St Anne’s Hill, Cork City). Mother, Susan (O’Brien) lived at Nowlan Avenue, Dundrum, Dublin, County Dublin. Growing up Conor’s family lived at Beaumont Avenue, Dundrum, Dublin
Youngest of three boys with two sisters.
Five years were spent in various Convent and National schools in Cork - which he left in 1933 - he then went to Synge Street for nine years.
Baptised at Immaculate Conception, St Finbar’s West, The Lough, Cork City, 19/08/1940
Confirmed at St Kevin’s Harrington Street, Dublin by Dr Wall of Dublin, 19/02/1942
1947-1949: St Mary's, Emo, , Novitiate
1949-1953: Rathfarnham Castle, Junorate, UCD (BSc in Biochemistry)
1953-1956: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1956-1957: Clongowes Wood College SJ, Regency
1957-1961: Milltown Park, Theology
1961-1963: Rathfarnham Castle, studiying for a PhD in Biochemistry at UCD
1963-1964: McQuaid Jesuit High School, Clinton Avenue South, Rochester NY, USA (BUF) on a Fulbright Scholarship studying Biochemistry at University of Rochester, Wildon Boulevard, Rochester NY
1964-1965: North American Martyrs, Auriesville NY, USA (BUF) making Tertianship
1965-1971: Lusaka, Zambia, lecturing Biology an Biochemistry at University of Zambia, attached to St Ignatius community
Was at Unversität Bern, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, Switzerland, Sept 1969- January 1970
Married Anne Drew, a widow with four children and Conor’s lab assistant 17/03/1972 (having “married” her in Zambia 22/12/1971). Left Zambia in summer 1973 and began work at Oxford Polytechnic (Oxford Brookes University, Headington Road, Headington, Oxford, UK
Interfuse No 149 : Autumn 2012
CONOR REILLY
John J Moore
Another ex-Jesuit deserves a mention in Interfuse: Conor Reilly is remembered with affection and respect by those who knew him in Dublin and Zambia. He entered the Society in 1947, left in December 1971, married the following year, and died in May 2012 aged 82 at his home in Enstone, Oxford, UK. John Moore was two years ahead of him in the Jesuits, but since they studied science together at UCD, they were good friends, and John has recorded these memories of Conor.
It was when “googling” to get information about Conor that I suddenly got the death notice from the London Times on the screen. We were very good friends. Being the only scientist in Rathfarnham at that time was a rather lonely assignment. When Conor joined me in the College of Science, our friendship blossomed. His father was Professor of Biochemistry in UCC, so it was not surprising that he opted for Biochemistry as his major subject; but actually his first appointment in Zambia was as Lecturer in Botany. During Philosophy and Theology he turned his talents to the history of Jesuit scientists, and published two well-known historical works. (There certainly were a few others, but I do not have the bibliographical information.): Francis Line, SJ: An Exiled English Jesuit (1969). Vol. 29 of the Bib. Inst Hist SJ.; Athanasius Kircher S.J.: Master of a Hundred Arts. 1602-1680. (1974) Band I of Studia Kircheriana, Wiesbaden-Rome. (This is a standard reference on Kircher).
He did his Ph.D, at UCD immediately after Theology, and managed to get it in two years, the only case I know of for an experimentally based Ph.D in UCD - normally it took three years and often longer if the write-up was giving difficulties. In his fourth year in Milltown he had already worked out in detail his plan of research and ensured that the Dept of Biochemistry had all the equipment in place to start his work as soon as he finished in Milltown. He got a job as lecturer in the Biology Dept of UNZA (University of Zambia) in 1965 before they started taking students – the idea was to get courses and equipment organised in time for the arrival of the first students. I became a lecturer (later Professor) at the Botany Dept of UCD.
He left the Society in 1971, married and transferred to Food Science in Oxford Polytech, UK. He later moved to Brisbane, Australia where he became the expert in Trace Metals in Food, and I lost personal contact with him. He wrote the work on Kircher while a Jesuit scholastic before doing his Ph.D. in biochemistry. He is the author of a standard book on metal contamination of food whose third edition was published in 2002.
At an early stage he got interested in “heavy metals in plants” which became his speciality - his books on the subject are standard references in the field. He got interested in the subject when some of his medical colleagues mentioned to him that they were getting abnormally high incidence of mouth and throat cancer among Zambian males living in the rural villages. Jointly they discovered that the cancer was correlated with the use of metal barrels for making traditional beer. Those who used earthenware pots for brewing the beer were not suffering from mouth cancer. Conor found that Zinc or Lead leached from the inner surface of the metal drums proved to be carcinogenic. He then turned his attention to the Copperbelt and the mines which then (and now) were “environmentally unfriendly”. He discovered that some plants managed to grow on the copper waste, and then showed that these could be used in prospecting. The rocks beneath the places where they grew in abundance usually proved to have copper veins running through them.
Conor did not share with me the circumstances of his leaving the society and Zambia, but as soon as I got the news in Ireland I wrote to him saying I hoped our friendship would not be broken by his decision to leave. In fact it was not – when he moved to Oxford he would sometimes come to Ireland for Summer Holidays along with his wife and her four children. We used to arrange “a day in the hills” as in the old days. After our picnic with his wife and the children, we would excuse ourselves and go off for a walk together in the woods, sharing all sorts of things – except his new married life, or what exactly happened in Zambia!"
May the Lord be good to Conor and comfort his wife and step children.
Reilly, John Baptist, 1792-1847, Jesuit brother
Born: 08 June 1792, County Cork
Entered: 17 March 1835, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 08 September 1846
Died: 18 September 1847, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
René, Jean-Baptist, 1841-1916, Jesuit priest
Born: 22 August 1841, Montrevault-sur-Èvre, Maine-et-Loire, France
Entered: 28 September 1862, Angers France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1876, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales
Final vows: 02 February 1881
Died: 06 April 1916, Los Gatos CA, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Uncle of René Jeannière (FRA) - RIP 1918
by 1881 came to Mungret (HIB) as Director of Apostolic School; Rector 1885 1880-1888 and brought his nephew René Jeannière with him as a student in 1885 (he subsequently joined FRA Province in 1889 and worked on the Chinese Mission)
Rector: 1885 1880-1888
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1912
Silver Jubilee
Father Jean-Baptist René SJ
On September 28th, 1912, Father René 19 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance into the Society of Jesus. The celebration took place in Gonzaga College, Spokane, Wash, where Fr René has been living since 1904. On the morning of the jubilee day, the professors and students of the college assembled in the great hall to tender him their good wishes. Several members of the staff had formerly been Fr René's pupils in Mungret, and now the life-story of the venerable jubilarian was fittingly recounted in prose and verse. At the close of the proceedings Fr René spoke very touchingly, telling the boys that he summed up the success and happiness of his life in the one word, “sacrifice”. He then gave the boys the expected holiday. On the following day, Sunday, Fr René celebrated the solemn High Mass in the college church, and the Rector of the college paid, in his sermon, a very eloquent tribute to Fr René's life-work, especially his seven years in Mungret and his nine years in Alaska. At the banquet which was given that evening in his honour a large number of secular priests, who esteen Fr René very much, were present. A very interesting sketch of Fr René is given in the “Gonzaga College Magazine”, from which we cult the following facts :
Father John Baptist René is a descendant of those illustrious Vendeans who in the sanguinary days of the French Revolution stood so firm in the defence of their Religion. He was born August 2nd, 1841, at Montevaux in Anjou, France. After a brilliant course of classical studies at Combrée, and after having obtained a degree in the French University, he entered the Society of Jesus at Angers, September 28ıh, 1862. He did his ecclesiastical studies at Laval, France, and at St Beuno's in England where he was ordained to the priesthood, 1876. He passed the third year of his probation under the shadow of the famous shrine of the Sacred Heart at Paray-le-Monial.
In the Jubilee Number of the Mungret Annual (July,'07), we have already recounted the history of Fr René's providential call to become the first director of the Mungret Apostolic School. Fr Ronan SJ always asserted that his meeting with Fr René was an immediate answer lo his prayers at he shrine of Blessed Margaret Mary, Fr René's labours in Mungret extended over seven years (1882-88) during all of which time he was director of the, Apostolic School, and during the last three years Rector of the College. In 1888 he was recalled to France by his superiors, and two years later he followed some of his spiritual sons to the Jesuit missions in the Rocky mountains. Soon after he was appointed Rector of Gonzaga College, Spokane, Washington.
During Fr René's vigorous administration, Gonzaga College advanced rapidly. There was a general improvement in discipline, and greater proficiency in class work and studies, and in consequence, so large an increase in the number of students that Fr René had to add greatly to the College buildings.
In 1895 Fr. René went as a missionary to Juneau in Southern Alaska; and a year-and-a-half later, in March,'97 he was appointed Prefect Apostolic and Superior of the Alaska Mission. In this most difficult mission Fr René laboured with heroic fortitude and self-sacrifice till, worn out by his incessant labours and cares, he was finally relieved of his onerous duties in May, 1904. Since that time Fr René had resided at Gonzaga College, Spokane, as professor of Theology for the Jesuit Scholastics, and later on as professor of Hebrew and Spiritual Father.
Fr René is still in fairly good health; his love for Mungret and his deep interest in everything that, concerns her welfare has not diminished during the twenty years of labour and of change that he has lived since he guided her destinies when he imparted a shape and a direction to the spirit of the Apostolic School which it has never lost.
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1916
Obituary
Father Jean-Baptist René SJ
The death of Father Réné, which took place at the Sacred Heart Novitiate SJ, Los Gatos, Cal, USA, has sent to his reward of the last of the founders of the Apostolic School. With the memory of Father Ronan that of Father Réné will always be preserved. These were the two instruments which Providence selected to set on foot a work which though only yet in its infancy, has already rendered immense service to the great cause of Catholic missions. The idea of founding an Apostolic School was originated by Father Ronan, and was, in the face of great difficulties, reduced to a fact. If Father Ronan was the founder, Father Réné was the first Director. For six years the school grew under his wise care. In the work of drawing up a course of studies, of arranging a method of training and discipline, he took a leading part. . But a much more important work was that of giving a proper tone or spirit to the school : and the success of Father Réné in this respect must be judged from the work of Mungret priests in all the countries to which they have been sent.
Jean Baptiste Réné was a Vendean, and was born in 1841, at Montrevaux in Anjou. He: entered the Society of Jesus at Angers at the age of twenty-one, when he had already taken his degree with some distinction. His ecclesiastical studies he did at Laval and St Beunos (in Wales), and was ordained at this latter place in 1876. For a year after ordination he was director of the Apostolic School at Poictiers, and then passed on to Paray-le-Monial for his third year of probation. Here it was that he met Father Ronan, who, almost in despair at his repeated failure to find a suitable Director for his Apostolic School, had come to pray for assistance at this great shrine of the Sacred Heart. Father Ronan always regarded his meeting with Father Réné as a direct answer to his prayer.
From 1882-88 Father Réné was Director of the Apostolic School in Mungret, being also Rector during the years 1885-8. It was a period long enough to enable a man of strong personality such as Father Réné was, to leave his mark on the young foundation, to give it the bent and direction it would take. Changes and modification of detail there were inevitably to be; the rapid growth of the school was constantly presenting new difficulties to be met. But it is true to say that Father Réné's influence was incalculable, and that the Apostolic School has continued to move on the lines that he laid down and will continue in that direction for a long time to come. The years he spent at Mungret were among his happiest. With his old friends in the college,. who have dropped off one by one, he kept up correspondence and often spoke of the de light which the memory of those days. gave him.
Mungret Apostolic School was now firmly established, and in 1888 Father Réné was recalled to France, and two years later was sent to the Jesuit Missions of the Rockies, where he was made Rector of Gonzaga College, Spokane, Washington, which increased in numbers and prestige under his direction.
It was his fate to be a pioneer, and to see, without any bitterness, others succeed to the result of his labours; and so, in 1895, he left Spokane as a missionary for Juneau, in S Alaska. A year and a half after his arrival he was appointed Prefect Apostolic and Superior of the Alaskan Mission. In this arduous field he worked for seven years, till his growing infirmities compelled him to return to a more gracious climate. The evening of his laborious life he spent teaching. Theology and Scripture at Gonzaga College Spokane. In September, 1912, he celebrated his silver jubilee in the Society of Jesus. At his death he was seventy-five years of age, fifty-four of which had been spent in the Society.
Father Réné was a man of exceptional ability and possessed a firm and forcible personality, which made a deep impression on all who came in contact with him. His spirit of self-sacrifice and his generous zeal in every good cause were fitting qualities in one who was to train young men for the foreign missions. Many priests who are now working for the Kingdom of Christ in distant lands will acknowledge their indebtedness to his inspiring character, and will mourn the loss of a respected teacher and a dear friend.
RIP
Ribeiro, Alvaro, 1947-2013, Jesuit priest
Born: 17 September 1947, Hong Kong
Entered: 25 September 1980, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin (HIB for Hong Kong Province HK)
Ordained: 11 July 1987, Hong Kong
Final vows: 31 July 2004
Died: 14 April 2013, Stella Maris, Lutherville-Timonium, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Transcribed HK to MAR
◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Farewell to one time warden of Ricci Hall
Jesuit Father Alvaro Ribeiro, a former warden of Ricci Hall at the University of Hong Kong, died on 14 April 2013 at the Stella Maris Hospice, Timonium, Maryland, the United States of America (US). He was 66-years-old.
Father Ribeiro was born in Hong Kong on 17 September 1947. He entered the China province of the Society of Jesus on 25 September 1980 in Dublin, Ireland, and was ordained a priest in Hong Kong on 11 July 1987. He made his final vows on 31 July 2004.
Father Ribeiro was the warden of Ricci Hall from 1990 to 1991. He was transferred to the Maryland province in the US in 1996 and became a member of the province in 2004.
A memorial Mass was celebrated for him on 4 May at Ricci Hall.
May he rest in peace.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 12 May 2013
Rice, William, 1786-1864, Jesuit brother
Born: 09 November 1786, County Monaghan
Entered: 27 September 1836, Frederick, MD, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 august 1847
Died: 04 September 1864, Frederick, MD, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Riordan, Florence, 1811-1838, Jesuit novice
Born: 01 January 1811 Ireland
Entered: 24 January 1838, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Died: 08 October 1838, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Roche, Ignatius, d 1739, Jesuit priest
Born: County Wexford
Entered: c 1703, Salamanca, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained:
Died: 26 November 1739, Monterey, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1726-1729 Superior of Irish Mission
1730 Rector of Poitiers
Writes from Waterford 08 January 1734 and 25 May 1739
A Book of the old Waterford Library SJ read “Ign Roche SJ” 1739
Rochford, Richard, 1822-1909, Jesuit priest
Born: 11 August 1822, Ballysampson, Tagoat, County Wexford
Entered: 02 December 1859, Beaumont, England (ANG)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1873
Died: 15 February 1909, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
by 1877 in Maryland (MAR) working
◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent most of his life in the Society, which he entered as a Priest, as an Operarius in Limerick and Galway. He was sent to America to collect alms for the Church in Galway. He was sent to Belvedere for a short time, but returned to Galway, and died there, 15 February 1909
Paraphrase of excerpts from an Obituary Notice for Richard Rochford :
“...... Though he had reached a green old age, his death was sudden and unexpected. A man of uncommonly hale constitution, he continued until within a fortnight of his peaceful passing away to celebrate daily Mass, and to follow with edifying punctuality all the duties of community life. After saying Mass on the Feast of the Purification, he began to complain of a slight cold. He was advised by doctors to stay in bed for a few days, but up to the day before nobody suspected he was close to death. On that day before the doctor who noticed an alarming symptom, decided that the Last Rites should be administered. The following evening, having just received a final absolution he calmly passed away.
Born in Wexford in 1822. His early education was received as far apart as Washington, USA and Clongowes. He then went to Maynooth where he was Ordained for his local Diocese of Ferns. As a Priest he taught at St Peter’s College Wexford.
He then Entered the Society of Jesus 02 December 1859, and after First Vows divided his time between Crescent and Coláiste Iognáid. In both cities he was beloved by all who knew him. He was not a man of strikingly brilliant talent, but he did possess a simple faith and tender piety. He was unworldly, and utterly sincere in all his dealings, both with God and man. Whether in sermon or ordinary conversation, every word he spoke was with utter conviction. His sermons were more often very direct and about practice rather than belief.
He had a great love for his native land of Wexford. He loved a good joke, but two topics were excluded - Religion and Patriotism.
He was a man free from doubt in his faith, and he was heard declare that the was not conscious of holding the Articles of Catholic Belief with any more freedom from doubt than he was conscious of holding the principles of Irish Nationality and her right to make her own laws.
During his early life in America he seems to have been filled with a love of free institutions, and this remained with him to the end. In the 1870’s it was his privilege to visit America once more, where he collected the money that paid for the beautiful High Altar, in many-coloured marble, which adorns St Ignatius’ Church, and on which his requiem Mass was performed in front of a large congregation.”
At one time he had very strong political views.
◆ The Clongownian, 1909
Obituary
Father Richard Rochford SJ
The hand of death has been laid frequently last 2 year on that section of old Clongownians who had devoted their lives to furthering the cause of Christ in the ranks of the Society. A veteran amongst these was Father Rochford. A brief account of a his career will reveal the story of a simple life, where love of country and love of God were strongly intertwined,
Father Rochford was born in the County Wexford in the year 1822, so that on the 11`th of August, 1908, he completed his tale of 86 years. As a boy, Richard Rochford received his early education in two Jesuit colleges, so far apart geographically as Washington, in the United States of America, and Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare. His ecclesiastical studies he made at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, where, in due course, he was ordained priest for his native diocese of Ferns. As priest, he was for a time Professor at St Peter's College, Wexford.
On the 2nd of December, 1859, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate. His noviceship ended, he divided his years between Sacred Heart College, Limerick, and St Ignatius College, Galway. In both cities he was beloved of all who knew him. He was not a man of strikingly brilliant talents, but he was possessed of a simple faith and tender piety. He was utterly unworldly and sincere; sincere in all his dealings - in his dealings with God and man. Whether in ordinary conversation or in his sermons, every word he uttered had in it a ring of honest conviction. Of his sermons, we may say that were never abstruse or recondite. They had to do with practice more than with belief. In them he spoke right at his hearers, expounding their obligations to God with an earneştness that always went home. Even the shortest biographical notice should say a word about Father Rochford's love for his native land. He was ever ready to enjoy a joke, but not on every subject. Two topics he always rigidly excluded from the domain of banter, religion and patriotism. His simple faith in the truths of religion knew neither doubt nor difficulty; and not once, or twice; or thrice, but often and often he has been heard to declare that he was not conscious of holding the Articles of Catholic Belief with any more freedom from doubt than he was conscious of holding the principles of Irish nationality, and her rights to make her own laws. During his early life in America he seems to have been filled with a love of free institutions, which remained with him to the end.
In the early seventies of last century it was his privilege to visit America once more, where he collected the money that paid for the beautiful High Altar, in many coloured marble, which adorns St Ignatius' Church, and on which the Solemn Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul was offered in the presence of a large congregation.
◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959
Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community
Father Richard Rochford (1822-1909)
A native of Wexford, emigrated in his youth to New Orleans where his elder brother had acquired wealth. Some years later, feeling he had a call for the priesthood, he returned to Ireland and pursued his ecclesiastical studies for the diocese of Ferns, at Maynooth College. He entered the Society as a priest, in his thirty-eighth year. Father Rochford spent many years on the teaching staff of Crescent College - 1864-65, 1884-99 and again in the church from 1900 to 1902. His later years were spent at St Ignatius, Galway.
Ronayne, Maurice, 1828-1903, Jesuit priest
Born: 02 April 1828, The Dower House, Ashford, County Wicklow
Entered: 12 September 1853, St Acheul, Amiens Francee - Franciae province (FRA)
Ordained: 1859
Final Vows: 15 August 1869
Died: 04 March 1903, Fordham College, NY, USA - Marylandiae Ne-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Roney, Daniel, 1801-1861, Jesuit brother
Born: 1801, Ireland
Entered: 09 November 1857, Grand Coteau, LA, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Died: 22 March 1861, St Charles College, Grand Coteau, LA, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Rossi, Alfonso M, 1843-1908, Jesuit priest
Born: 22 March 1843, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Entered: 31 October 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1875
Final vows: 15 August 1877
Died: 14 June 1908, Albuquerque NM, USA - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Part of the St Ignatius College, Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA, community at the time of death
2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily
Rush, Hugo, 1834-1855, Jesuit scholastic
Born: 22 September 1834, Omagh, County Tyrone
Entered: 13 October 1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 29 August 1855, Burlington, NJ, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Part of the Frederick, MD, USA community at the time of death, which occurred in a train crash at Burlington NJ
Ryan, Denis, 1828-1846, Jesuit scholastic
Born: 02 June 1828, County Limerick
Entered: 14 August 1844, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 20 December 1846, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ryan, John J, 1843-1913, Jesuit priest
Born: 31 July 1843, Lismire, County Cork
Entered: 30 July 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 1872
Final vows: 15 August 1877
Died: 16 December 1913, St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore MD - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
part of the Loyola College, Baltimore, MD, USA community at the time of death
Ryan, Joseph, 1819-1865, Jesuit brother
Born: 20 October 1819, Kilmacduagh, County Galway
Entered: 10 September 1844, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 25 November 1865, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ryder, James A, 1800-1860, Jesuit priest
Born: 08 October 1800, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 29 July 1815 - Georgetown College, Wahington DC, USA - Maryland Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1834
Died: 21 January 1860, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - Maryland Province (MAR)
Brokers of Culture
Italian Jesuits in the American West 1848-1919
Gerald McKevitt SJ
Stanford University Press, Stanford, California USA, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0-8047-5357-9
Chapter 3: Instant Dispatch: The Ideology of Immigration
p44-45
Other Italians had emigrated in the period preceding the Risorgimento. Stefano Gabaria, a priest from Rome, arrived in r 8 3 4, along with Andrea Mazzella, a Neapolitan brother, who spent most of his career in the Midwest among the Potowatami and Kickapoo tribes. During a recruiting trip to Italy in 1845, James Ryder, a former president of Georgetown College, had net- ted three Roman and five Neapolitan volunteers. The gaggle included Angelo Paresce, who later held key jobs in the Maryland Jesuit world as
director of novices, provincial, and eo-founder of Woodstock College.H The trickle of expatriates drafted by Ryder swelled into a stream when rev- olution descended upon Italy. In 1848, the Naples Province sent a cluster of seminarians to complete their training in America, initiating a practice that persisted for decades. That same year, Roman College students and profes- sors, who had taken asylum in England, crossed the Atlantic, their way hav- ing been paved by the high-profile Jesuit astronomer Francesco De Vico. The priest, provided with transportation and letters of introduction by the U.S. Ambassador to England, George Bancroft, arrived in Washington, D.C. Warmly received by scientists and civic officials, including President James K. Polk, De Vico decided to make America his home when Georgetown College offered him the directorship of its observatory. So enthusiastic was De Vico that he wrote to his Roman College colleagues uncomfortably lodged in England, urging them to join him. He even offered to personally accompany them to the United States. Struck down with typhoid, however, the forty-three-year-old scientist died in London on I 5 November I 848. He was, a companion lamented, like Moses, who expired before he could bring his people into the promised land. And like the ancient Israelites, the Romans continued on without their leader.
Disembarking in New York, the Italian refugees were met by James Ryder, who conducted them to Washington, D.C., and to an enthusiastic reception at Georgetown College. Although accustomed to integrating displaced Europeans into their ranks, the Americans were impressed by this scholarly delegation from Rome, the hub of the nineteenth-century Catholic universe. The group was comprised of "venerable fathers" with "silvery locks" and seminarians with "the ruddy looks of youth," Bernard A. Maguire, an American Jesuit, orated with sanctimonious seriousness during welcoming ceremonies. There was Giovanni Perrone, the well-known theologian; Felice Sopranis, the former rector of the Roman College; the mathematician Francesco Provenzali; and the astronomer Angelo Secchi, heralded interna- tionally for his spectral classifications of the stars.
Chapter 4: Witnesses to Shortcomings: Reforming Jesuit America
p66
Accordingly, American Jesuits had for years sent their most promising seminarians to Rome to drink in the spirit of the Society at its Olympian spring. For this reason James Ryder, later president of Georgetown College, and other Maryland scholastics had been dispatched to Italy for training in the I82os. Similar benefits were expected to flow in reverse when the Roman College exiles of I 848 arrived in the United States. "Shaking off the dust of their feet upon the continent of Europe," an American priest said, the fac- ulty of the Collegio will "work as no other body in the church can work for converting this country to the Faith.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Ryder
James A. Ryder
James A. Ryder SJ (October 8, 1800 – January 12, 1860) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of several Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in Ireland, he immigrated with his widowed mother to the United States as a child, to settle in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. He enrolled at Georgetown College and then entered the Society of Jesus. Studying in Maryland and Rome, Ryder proved to be a talented student of theology and was made a professor. He returned to Georgetown College in 1829, where he was appointed to senior positions and founded the Philodemic Society, becoming its first president.
In 1840, Ryder became the president of Georgetown College, and oversaw the construction of the university's Astronomical Observatory, as well as Georgetown's legal incorporation by the United States Congress. He earned a reputation as a skilled orator and preacher. His term ended in 1843 with his appointment as provincial superior of the Jesuit Maryland Province. As provincial, he laid the groundwork for the transfer of ownership of the newly established College of the Holy Cross from the Diocese of Boston to the Society of Jesus. Two years later, Ryder became the second president of the College of the Holy Cross, and oversaw the construction of a new wing. He returned to Georgetown in 1848 for a second term as president, and accepted a group of local physicians to form the Georgetown School of Medicine, constructed a new home for Holy Trinity Church, and quelled a student rebellion.
In his later years, Ryder went to Philadelphia, where he assisted with the founding of Saint Joseph's College and became its second president in 1856. He became the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Philadelphia, and then transferred to St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick, Maryland, as pastor. Finally, he returned to Philadelphia, where he died in 1860.
Early life
James Ryder was born on October 8, 1800, in Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland, to a Protestant father, who died when his son was a child, and a Catholic mother. He emigrated to the United States as a young boy with his mother after the death of his father. She took up residence in Georgetown, then a city in the newly formed District of Columbia.[1] Ryder enrolled at Georgetown College on August 29, 1813,[2] and entered the Society of Jesus in 1815 as a novice, at the age of fifteen.[3] He began his novitiate in White Marsh Manor in Maryland, before being sent to Rome in the summer of 1820 by Peter Kenney,[4] the apostolic visitor to the Jesuit's Maryland mission.[5]
He was sent alongside five other American Jesuits, who would go on to become influential in the administration of the Society in the United States for several decades. Among these, Ryder and Charles Constantine Pise were identified as the most intellectually advanced.[4] They left from Alexandria, Virginia, on June 6, 1820,[6] and landed in Gibraltar to be quarantined, before traveling to Naples on July 13 and then on to Rome in late August,[7] where Ryder studied theology and philosophy.[3]
There, he was ordained a priest in 1824,[8] and proceeded to teach theology at the Roman College.[9] He then went to teach theology and sacred scripture at the University of Spoleto, where he remained for two years.[10] He became a good friend of Archbishop Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti (later Pope Pius IX),[8] who appointed him the chair of philosophy.[1] Ryder also spent part of 1828 teaching in Orvieto.[11]
Portrait of James Ryder wearing a biretta
Ryder wearing a priest's biretta
Ryder returned to the United States in 1829, where he took up a professorship in philosophy and theology at Georgetown, to teach Jesuit scholastics.[8] He was named the prefect of studies,[12] where he implemented an overhaul of the curriculum under the direction of President Thomas F. Mulledy; he was simultaneously made vice president of the school. It was during this time that Ryder founded the Philodemic Society,[13] of which he became the first president.[14]
Founded on January 17, 1830, it was the first collegiate debating society in the United States, and it was Ryder who selected the name.[1] He was also appointed by Peter Kenney as minister and admonitor to Mulledy.[15] In this role, he received a severe lecture from Kenney in 1832 for not properly welcoming six Belgian Jesuits who arrived at the college.[16] In 1834, Ryder became a professor of rhetoric at the university.[17]
In an 1835 speech to Catholics in Richmond, Virginia, he called upon Catholics to defend national unity, which included opposing the efforts of Northern abolitionists to abolish slavery in the South; he warned Catholics that they would themselves become victims of persecution if their "glorious system of national independence" were to be overthrown. The group gathered resolved that "slavery in the abstract" was evil, but that Catholic citizens were obligated to support the civil institutions of the United States. However, they also celebrated "the determination [of] our Southern brethren, in not condescending to discuss the question of slavery with those [Northern] fanatics."[18]
Georgetown College
First presidency
The appointment of Ryder as president of Georgetown College was announced on May 1, 1840.[19] His selection came despite concerns that he was more interested in giving talks and leading retreats than ensuring the institution was financially stable.[20] Although he had the support of the Jesuit leadership, the Superior General of the Jesuits, Jan Roothaan, was worried that Ryder's American attitude in support of republicanism would take priority over his obedience to the Jesuits.[21][22]
Succeeding Joseph A. Lopez,[19] he entered office while the Provincial Council of Baltimore was in progress, and the council fathers who were gathered in Baltimore took the opportunity to visit Georgetown.[23] As president, Ryder's connections with Washington's politicians were strong. He had a particularly good relationship with the President of the United States, John Tyler, who enrolled his son at Georgetown,[24] and whose sister converted to Catholicism.[25] Their relationship went so far that Ryder played a significant role in the unsuccessful attempt to have Tyler run as a Democrat in the 1844 presidential election.[26]
Georgetown University Observatory between 1843 and 1907
The Georgetown College Astronomical Observatory was constructed during Ryder's presidency.
Upon assuming the presidency, Ryder inherited a significant debt of $20,000 (equivalent to $610,000 in 2023[27]), which he liquidated by 1842, at least part of it being paid by Ryder himself from monies he earned lecturing.[26] Ryder had gained a reputation for talent in preaching, which he did without notes. This was particularly admired by Archbishop Samuel Eccleston, and Roothaan cited it as a source of many conversions to Catholicism.[28]
Word of his preaching reached President James Buchanan, who would attend his sermons and who received private instruction in Catholicism from him.[25] Eventually, Ryder was described as the most well-known Catholic preacher in antebellum America.[29] Twice during his presidency stones were thrown at him in the streets of Washington, one of these incidents occurring on April 26, 1844, as he was returning from the Capitol Building, where he had presided over the funeral of Representative Pierre Bossier.[30] Such anti-Catholic aggression was the outgrowth of the Know Nothing movement in the United States.[25]
Ryder oversaw the establishment of the Georgetown College Observatory in 1842, a project spearheaded by James Curley.[31] The opening of the observatory attracted several renowned Jesuit scientists from Europe who were fleeing the Revolutions of 1848.[32] Moreover, the College of the Holy Cross was established in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1843, and Ryder sent Jesuits from Georgetown to teach there,[31] while graduates of the new college received a degree from Georgetown until it was independently chartered by the Massachusetts General Court.[33] Through having been recognized by the United States Congress in 1815, the university, as the President and Directors of Georgetown College, was officially incorporated by an act of Congress in 1844, and Ryder was named as one of the five members of the corporation.[34] His term came to an end on January 10, 1845, when he was succeeded by Samuel A. Mulledy.[35]
Second presidency
Ryder oversaw construction of the new Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown.
In 1848, Ryder was appointed president of Georgetown for a second time, replacing Thomas Mulledy.[36] His first act was to build a new edifice for Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown neighborhood, which was then located on college property.[25] He also implemented his fervent support for temperance by prohibiting students from consuming alcohol on or off campus, and eventually applied this ban to the Jesuits as well. This unpopular policy was accompanied by a ban on smoking.[25]
In the fall of 1849,[37] Ryder was approached by four physicians who had been excluded from the Washington Infirmary and established a new medical faculty. They asked that their faculty be incorporated into Georgetown as its medical department,[38] creating the first Catholic medical school in the United States.[39] Ryder accepted the proposition within a week, giving rise to the Georgetown College School of Medicine.[40] He appointed the four petitioners as the first professors of the school on November 5, 1849,[40] and the first classes were held in May 1851.[38]
A rebellion broke out among the students in 1850. It began when members of the Philodemic Society held a meeting one day, in defiance of the prefect's order to the contrary.[41] Ryder, who frequently left the college to preach, had been away for several weeks on a preaching tour.[42] In response, the prefect suspended the society's meetings for one month. Upset at this decision, several members refused to perform their nightly reading at the refectory, and later threw stones in the dormitory. When Ryder returned, he expelled three students. One of these entered the refectory that night and incited the students to insurrection, who stormed a Jesuit's room. Forty-four of the students abandoned the college for downtown Washington and wrote Ryder that they would not return until the three were re-admitted and the prefect replaced.[41] With the students' hotel bills mounting and going unpaid, Ryder convinced them to return to the college and quit the rebellion. He later replaced the prefect with Bernard A. Maguire.[43]
Later that year, Ryder presided over the marriage of William Tecumseh Sherman and Eleanor Boyle Ewing.[44] His presidency came to an end in 1851, and Ryder was replaced by Charles H. Stonestreet.[45]
Maryland provincial
In September 1843, while president of Georgetown, Ryder was appointed the provincial superior of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, with the strong support of his predecessor, Francis Dzierozynski.[46][47] Ryder voiced support that the Jesuits should sell their parochial property, leaving this to diocesan priests, to instead focus on education in cities.[24]
At the same time, the Bishop of Boston, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, had become concerned with the cost of operating the newly established College of the Holy Cross. Therefore, he encouraged Ryder to accept ownership of the school on behalf of the Society of Jesus. The Superior General, Roothaan, delegated this decision to Ryder, who was initially hesitant to accept the college. By 1844, Ryder had privately decided to agree to the transfer,[48] but this was not communicated to Fenwick and the deal formally struck until 1845 by Ryder's successor.[49]
Ryder delegated much of his responsibility, though he remained in charge.[33] He held the post until 1845; Jan Roothaan believed the province had to be put under the control of a European to rectify the compounding scandal and mismanagement that had begun under Thomas Mulledy. To that end, he was replaced by Peter Verhaegen of Belgium.[47]
College of the Holy Cross
Oval portrait of James Ryder
Photograph of Ryder
After his first presidency at Georgetown ended in 1845, Ryder went to Rome to clear his name in light of suspicions of his relationship with a woman who had exchanged letters with him.[21] He traveled to Rome in January by way of New York City and France.[50] In Italy, he recruited eight Jesuits to join him in the United States.[22] One of these was a future president of the College of the Holy Cross, Anthony F. Ciampi.[51] Upon Ryder's return, suspicions continued, despite his defense that the correspondence involved only spiritual counseling, but they finally ceased following Roothaan's order in 1847 that the correspondence end.[21]
Upon returning to the United States, he was appointed by Bishop Fenwick as president of the College of the Holy Cross on October 9, 1845, succeeding the school's first president, Thomas F. Mulledy.[52] As president, he oversaw the construction of an east wing at the college, in accordance with the original plan for the school, which contained a dining room, chapel, study hall, and dormitory.[52] This wing was the only part of the school spared by a subsequent fire in 1852.[53] In 1846, he saw to the burial of the founder of the institution, Fenwick, in the college cemetery, pursuant to his wishes. The number of students increased during his administration.[52]
Ryder clashed with Thomas Mulledy during Mulledy's election as procurator of the Jesuits' Maryland province.[54] As a result, he praised Ignatius Brocard's decision not to send Mulledy back to the College of the Holy Cross, where Mulledy was greatly disliked.[55] The lack of discipline among the Jesuits at Holy Cross drew the commentary of both the Bishop of Boston, John Bernard Fitzpatrick, and Roothaan, who were particularly concerned with the propensity for drinking among the priests.[56] Upon the end of his standard three-year term, Ryder was succeeded by John Early on August 29, 1848, and he returned to Georgetown.[52]
Later years
Saint Joseph's College
In 1851, he moved to Philadelphia, where he assisted in the founding of Saint Joseph's College.[47] He was made the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church on September 30, 1855, when he replaced Richard Kinahan to become the first Jesuit in this position,[57] and remained until he was succeeded by John McGuigan on October 4, 1858.[58]
In the meantime, he was appointed the president of Saint Joseph's College in 1856, following its first president Felix-Joseph Barbelin. Ryder sought to relocate the college from Willings Alley to the existing school building at St. John's, which would involve the transfer in ownership of the pro-cathedral from the Diocese of Philadelphia to the Jesuits; the diocese was unwilling to entertain this offer.[25]
In light of the ongoing Know Nothing movement, Ryder was referred to for some time as "Doctor Ryder" rather than "Father Ryder". He also wore layman's clothes, such as a bow tie rather than a Roman collar, in accordance with the orders of Charles Stonestreet, the Maryland provincial, that the Jesuits should not wear their clerical attire. Ryder's tenure lasted only until 1857 before he was succeeded by James A. Ward. He was forced to resign the presidency due to his deteriorating health, though his likeness endures in the form of a gargoyle of Barbelin Hall.[25]
Pastoral work
Because of his oratorical skills, Ryder was sent to raise money for St. Joseph's College in California in 1852, where he raised $5,000 (equivalent to $180,000 in 2023[27]).[24] While there, he fell ill, and briefly went to Havana, Cuba, and then to the Southern United States, where he recuperated for several months.[59] He was then stationed at St. Joseph's until 1856, when he was made the rector of St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick, Maryland.[47]
In 1857, he was transferred to Alexandria, Virginia, to do pastoral work, and he returned to Philadelphia in 1859 as spiritual prefect at St. Joseph's College.[21] Ryder died on January 12, 1860, in the rectory of Old St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia, following a brief illness.[3][60] His body was transported back to Georgetown to be buried in the Jesuit Community Cemetery.[61]
References
Citations
McAdams 1950, p. 240
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 48
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 88
Kuzniewski 2014, pp. 1–2
Curran 1993, p. 89
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 9
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 10
Curran 1993, p. 109
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 15
McLaughlin 1860, p. 5
Devitt 1933, p. 312
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 89
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 66
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 263
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 19
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 20
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 72
"Proslavery Oration by Rev. James Ryder, SJ, August 30, 1835". Georgetown Slavery Archive. September 30, 1835. Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 75
Curran 1993, p. 117
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 33
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 35
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 76
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 34
Croce 2017, pp. 14–15
Curran 1993, p. 123
1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
Kuzniewski 2014, pp. 33–34
Curran 1993, p. 121
Easby-Smith 1907, pp. 79–80
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 78
Curran 1993, p. 139
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 79
Easby-Smith 1907, pp. 80–81
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 82
Easby-Smith 1907, p. 85
Curran 1993, p. 146
"History of Georgetown University's School of Medicine". Georgetown University School of Medicine. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
O'Neill & Williams 2003, p. 35
McFadden 1990, p. 296
Shea 1891, p. 166
Curran 2012, p. 136
Shea 1891, p. 167
Burton 1947, pp. 76–77
Shea 1891, p. 172
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 14
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 32
Kuzniewski 1999, p. 44
Kuzniewski 1999, p. 45
"Dr. Ryder, President of Georgetown College and Provincial of the Jesuits ..." Alexandria Gazette. January 16, 1845. p. 3. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
LaGumina et al. 2000, p. 116
Historical Sketch of the College of the Holy Cross 1883, p. 16
Historical Sketch of the College of the Holy Cross 1883, p. 25
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 28
Kuzniewski 2014, p. 29
Kuzniewski 1999, pp. 51–52
Griffin 1909, p. 395
Griffin 1909, p. 396
McLaughlin 1860, p. 20
McAdams 1950, p. 241
McLaughlin 1860, p. 19
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The Very Reverend
James A. Ryder
SJ
Portrait of James A. Ryder
2nd President of Saint Joseph's College
In office
1856–1857
Preceded by Felix-Joseph Barbelin
Succeeded by James A. Ward
20th & 23rd President of Georgetown College
In office
1848–1851
Preceded by Thomas F. Mulledy
Succeeded by Charles H. Stonestreet
In office
1840–1845
Preceded by Joseph A. Lopez
Succeeded by Samuel Mulledy
2nd President of the College of the Holy Cross
In office
1845–1848
Preceded by Thomas F. Mulledy
Succeeded by John Early
Personal details
Born October 8, 1800
Dublin, Ireland
Died January 12, 1860 (aged 59)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place Jesuit Community Cemetery
Alma mater Georgetown College
Orders
Ordination 1824
https://www.holycross.edu/archives-and-special-collections/rev-james-ryder-sj
Rev. James Ryder, S.J.
Rev. James Ryder, S.J.
Second President of Holy Cross
1845 - 1848
James Ryder was born in Dublin, Ireland on October 8, 1800. After the death of his father, he came to the United States with his mother and enrolled in Georgetown College in 1813. Two years later he entered the Society of Jesus at Whitemarsh, MD. He was sent with Rev. Mulledy and five other Jesuits to Rome for philosophical and theological studies. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1825.
Rev. Ryder became known as a great administrator and eloquent preacher. He served twice as President of Georgetown College from 1840 to 1845 and again from 1848 to 1851. Concurrently, he was Provincial of the Maryland Province from 1843 to 1845.
In 1845 he became President of Holy Cross and during his presidency he added the East wing to the original Fenwick building. He left Holy Cross in 1848 and served in Jesuit churches in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
He died at the Jesuit church of St. Joseph in Philadelphia on January 12, 1860.
https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/R/ryder-james-dd.html
McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia
Ryder, James, Dd
Ryder, James, D.D., a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, was born in Dublin in 1800, and emigrated to the United States in early youth. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1815, and pursued his secular studies at Georgetown College, Md., from 1815 to 1820, and his theological studies at Rome from 1820 to 1825. He then received holy orders, and occupied the chair of theology and Sacred Scriptures in the College of Spoleto, Italy, from 1825 to 1828. He returned to America in 1828, and was for several years professor of theology and vice-president of Georgetown College. Iu 1839 he was pastor of St. Mary's Church, Philadelphia, and also of St. John's Church, Frederick, Md. From 1840 to 1845, and also from 1848 to 1851, he was president of Georgetown College, and from 1845 to 1848 president of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass. He was also superior of the Order of Jesuits in the province of North America. Ryder died in 1860. He published occasional Lectures and Discourses, and was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Americana. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.
Scanlan, William J, 1840-1914, Jesuit priest
Born: 15 February 1840, Ennis, County Clare
Entered: 28 July 1859, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 02 April 1875, Woodstock College MD, USA
Final vows: 15 August 1881
Died: 24 March 1914, St Mary's, Cooper Street, Boston, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-EboracensisProvince (MARNEB)
Sears, Patrick, 1818-1913, Jesuit brother
Born: 17 March 1818, Annascaul, County Kerry
Entered: 02 August 1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1861
Died: 03 May 1913, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Shallo, Michael William, 1853-1898, Jesuit priest
Born: 13 September 1853, Clondalkin, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin (HIB for TAUR)
Ordained: 1885
Final Vows: 02 February 1891
Died: 27 January 1898, Santa Clara College, CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Transcribed HIB to TAUR: 1874
Early education at St Joseph’s Carmelite College, Clondalkin
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - For American Mission
Shanahan, Edmund, 1836-1902, Jesuit brother
Born: 03 April 1836, Moyne, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 25 May 1902, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Part of the Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA community at the time of death
Shanahan, Thomas, 1818-1906, Jesuit brother
Born: 21 November 1818, Pilltown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 09 June 1840, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1851
Died: 26 July 1906, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Shannon, David, 1831-1874, Jesuit brother
Born: 12 March 1831, Dromore, County Down (Ballykelly, County Derry)
Entered: 16 May 1856, Sault-au-Rècollet Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 16 July 1874, Fordham College, New York, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province (NEBCAN)
Shealy, Terence J, 1863-1922, Jesuit priest
Born 30 April 1863, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, County Cork
Entered: 04 September 1886, Frederick MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained 28 June 1898, Woodstock College, Maryland USA
Final vows: 15 August 1903
Died 05 September 1922, St Vincent’s Hospital, Brooklyn NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
part of the Kohlman Hall, New York NY, USA community at the time of death
by 1899 came to Milltown (HIB) studying
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1898
Our Past
Father Terence J Shealy SJ & Father Michael Mahony SJ
Rev T J Shealy SJ, and Rev M J Mahony SJ, were ordained at Woodstock, Md., on June 28th. Both were among the small band of pioneers who laid the first foundation of the Apostolic School in the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, and were afterwards in the first batch of Apostolic students sent forth from Mungret.
Born at the base of the grand old mountain, Galtee-more, near Mitchelstown, and brought up amid its scenes of wilde grandeur and beauty, Terence J Shealy entered the Apostolic School in Limerick on September 4th, 1880. When Mungret passed into the hands of the Society, he read there a very successful course in Arts, and graduated in 1885. During most of his time in Mungret he was employed in the responsible office of prefect of the seminarists and lay boys, and besides reading for his University examinations, he taught a class, for two or three hours a day during the last two years of his course. After getting his degree, he taught the Matriculation class for a year, and finally, in 1886, entered the noviceship of the New York province of the Society of Jesus.
On finishing his philosophical studies in Woodstock, he taught poetry in Fordham College, New York, and afterwards taught poetry and rhetoric in Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. It was in the latter college that Mr Shealy's rare gifts as a master became conspicuous. The literary taste which he imparted to his pupils and the magical influence which he exerted over them were alike remarkable.
We have before us copies of the “Acroama”, published in 1892, and of the “Eutropius”, published in the January of 1895, and newspaper accounts of the representation of the “Sibylla”. The Acroama was originally a class journal which Mr. Shealy, then professor in the Holy Cross College, Worcester, started in the autumn of 1892, to stimu late the literary ambition of his class. The beautiful volume before us is merely a souvenir edition, containing a short poetic extract from each contributor to the Acroama, with a portrait of each member of the class, accompanied by a racy epigram touching off some salient point in his character...
To Father Shealy belongs the credit of being the first master in the United States to attempt an original Greek play. His “Eutropius”, written in Greek, and constructed after the model of an Attic tragedy, created a sensation in the learned world of the States.
“Sibylla”, Father Shealy's next venture, is an original Latin play, in which the pagan King of Erin sends his chief bard to Rome to investigate the Sybil's prophecies about the Virgin and Child.
This play also was publicly represented bythe students of Father Shealy's class, and was highly praised at the time.
After the usual term of teaching, Mr. Sbealy went in 1895 to Woodstock, to enter upon his theological studies. There he was this year raised to the sacred dignity of the priesthood.
Father Shealy is now completing his course of theology at Milltown Park, Dublin.
Most heartily do we wish Father Shealy many a long year of holy work in the Society of his choice. May he ever remain an honour to his country and to his alma mater.
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1906
Letters from Our Past
Father Terence J Shealy SJ
Father Shealy writes from New York :
How I should like to give you a long account of my experience in the St Louis Exhibition. I assure you it was inost valuable and most varied. I had to do with all the educational systems of the world, and with many of the educators. Well, I shall not begin description, for it would take a long article, and I cannot afford the time at present. I may say, however, that I never received so much honour and courtesy and deference in my life. I had to exchange views with and co-operate with a body of eminent scholars - mostly all Protestants and nearly half European - and they were most generous in their appreciation of my services. Not, indeed, because of any personal merit of mine, but rather because of the Society I represented
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1921
Letters from Our Past
Father Terence J Shealy SJ
Through the courtesy of Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ, we publish extracts from a letter sent him concerning the wonderful work being done by one of our most distinguished past students, Fr Terence J Shealy SJ.
Overbrook, Pa. USA, 1-12-20
I have read in the “Irish Messenger” the suggestionis from friends, and also of the zealous efforts of the late. Fr Wm Doyle SJ, towards. the establishment of retreats for the laity. To me it is a great pleasure to be able to say a word in favour of such retreats, For two years I have been present at the annual week-end retreats for laymen in the arch-diocese of Philadelphia, which are held at St Charles' Seminary. I have been edified beyond words by the grand spirit shown by the devoted lay men from all walks of life.
For several years the Rev T J Shealy, of Fordham University, NY, has been conducting retreats for laymen. at Staten Island. Some years ago a large house and plot of ground was purchased for this purpose, and to-day he has a regularly established retreat centre with a week-end retreat for at least fifty inen for nine months of the year. Each week Fr Shealy, although he is Dean of the School of Law and Sociology at Fordham, finds time to conduct a retreat from Friday evening till Monday morning. From Staten Island the good work has spread, and from a tiny mustard seed it has grown to a big tree. In 1913 the late Mr J Ferrick, a prominent businessman of Philadelphia, proposed the holding of retreats in Archdiocese. With the approval of Archbishop Prendergast, and with the generous aid of Mgr Drumgoole, Rector of St Charles Seminary at Overbrook, the seminary was chosen as the place of retreat. Two retreats were held in 1913. About one hundred and fifty men made the retreats. Lawyers, doctors, 'school-teachers, politicians - in fact, men from every walk of life - made up, and still make up the list. This year Overbrook was taxed to its capacity when over five hundred men made their retreat under the guidance of Fr Shealy.
Two years ago the movement received a new impetus when the late Mr J Ferrick and Mr J Sullivan, now the President of the Retreats in Philadelphia, made a tour of the principal cities of the USA to make the movement better known. They met the Bishops and talked with them on the subject, and their response was very gratifying. To-day the result is seen when cities like Pittsburgh, Pa, Toledo, Ohio, and Albany, NY, have their own retreat houses where retreats are held throughout the entire year. We hope at no distant date that Philadelphia will also have its retreat home, provision for which has been made in the will of Mr Ferrick. Nor has Philadelphia confined its retreats to its own people. This year at Overbrook, we had men from remote Western cities, and one even from the far-off land of New Zealand, This gentleman, by the way, was a non-Catholic. Judging by what he said at its close, we feel satisfied that the right spirit is back of the movement. We have many non-Catholics at each retreat, and the result is shown in the many conversions, and even if there were not conversions at least an amount of bigotry is removed; Nor are our retreats confined to men of more mature years, we have boys of the age of sixteen making them.
Throughout our Archdiocese, too, in our boarding schools for young ladies, retreats for women are held each year during June, July, and August. In New York City there are also regularly established retreat houses for women; one such is the Cenacle of St John Francis Regis.
Every day we bave new proofs of the salutary effects among the laity. To the devoted sons of St Ignatius is due everlasting gratitude for the unselfish interest they have taken in the welfare of the people in the establishment of houses in which they can spend some time thinking over the one great truth of our holy Faith-save your immortal soul.
The above letter encloses a cutting which relates how Mr M Joyce of Oswego, NY, having made retreats at Staten Island, wished his friends to have the like advantage, Remembering the tale of Mahomet and the mountain, he resolved to bring the retreat to Oswego. The use of a hotel at Mexico Point, on Lake Ontario, being obtained, retreats were given in 1919 and 1920. The extract states that at the closing exercises the retreatants felt reflected in their souls something of the gorgeous beauty and the peace of God that surrounded them in the wilderness of Mexico Point.
◆ The Mungret Annual, 1923
Obituary
Father Terence J Shealy SJ
Last September one of the very earliest and certainly one of the most distinguished of the past pupils of the Apostolic School, Rev T J Shealy SJ, was called to his reward.
The writer of the present sketch has a very vivid recollection of Terence Shealy as a student at Mungret, just forty years ago. He was then a stalwart, athletic young fellow from the country, who immediately attracted attention by strongly-marked features, brilliant eyes and coal-black hair. He was very animated in conversation, while every feature showed expression and life. He was a man of strong convictions and none too tolerant of the views of others. Hence, although respected for his earnestness and transparent sincerity, and admired for his intellectual abilities and high ideals, he was never specially popular with his companions. Still he was acknowledged by all to be generous and unselfish, and was known to be a staunch and faithful friend. Even then he was a brilliant and forceful speaker with great persuasiveness. Altogether, young Shealy was one whose rugged strength of character, deep earnestness and brilliant parts marked him out as one fitted by nature to influence others, and make his mark in life: he did not squander his talents or allow them to lie idle.
A native of Carragane, Co. Tipperary, near Mitchelstown, T Shealy was one of the small band of pioneers that formed the first beginnings of the Apostolic School in the Sacred Heart College, Limerick, He came to Mungret with the others, when at the opening of the latter College, in 1882, the Apostolic School was transferred thither. He was afterwards, in 1886, one of the first batch of Apostolic students sent out from Mungret after the completion of their course.
T Shealy graduated in Arts in the NUI in 1885; but he was not one of the type who do brilliantly in written examinations. After getting his BA degree he taught for a year in the College. On leaving Mungret in 1886 he entered the Noviceship of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus. Already in the “Mungret Annual” a short sketch has been given of Fr Shealy's distinguished record as a teacher in Fordham College, NY, and afterwards in Holy Cross College, Worcester (Mass). These years were distinguished by the public presentation given by the students under the inspiration of Mr Shealy, at one time, of a Greek play called “Eutropius”, and later of a Latin play called “Sibylla”. After his ordination in 1897, Fr. Shealy spent a year at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he completed his Theological studies. Apparently one of the main reasons why his superiors accorded him the privilege of returning for a year to Ireland was to give him an opportunity of visting his aged mother, whom he revered and loved with an almost romantic affection. Some few months previously, on the occasion of his first Mass, Fr Shealy had written a very beautiful little poem voicing the sentiments of his mother away in Ireland and unable to see him offer the Holy Sacrifice, a privilege for which she had yearned for thirty years. This poem, which is entitled “From my Mother in Ireland for my First Mass”, was published in the American “Messenger” in 1898, and has been repeatedly reprinted in many Catholic papers in Ireland and America.
A few years after his return to America we find Fr Shealy, though still comparatively young, chosen as Educational Commissioner for the State of New York at the St Louis World Exposition. During those years, too, he be cane noted as a preacher of remarkable eloquence and power. When the Law School was commenced at the Fordham University, New York, Fr Shealy was appointed as its first Dean; and he filled the Chair of Professor of Jurisprudence for many years. The organisation of the school was due in large part to him.
Fr Shealy's great life-work, however, for which he was well know and esteemed through out the Catholic world of America, and for which his name will probably find a permanent place in the history of the Catholic Church there, was the establishment of the Spiritual Retreats for Laymen. This work he began in 1909, and the first Retreats were held at Fordham College during the summer vacations of that year. The work gained such approval from the Ecclesiastical authorities, and was so evidently aclapted to meet the needs of the time that its success was assured from the beginning. So great were the numbers of men wishing to follow the Exercises that a permanent house specially devoted to the purpose had to be requisitioned. During that year the retreats were held at Manresa Island, South Norwalk (Conn). In April, 1911, Fr Shealy was enabled by generous contributions from friends of the Retreat movement to purchase a small estate at Staten Island in the suburbs of New York City. Since that time these Retreats were given every year from April to December under Fr Shealy's direction. The house can accommodate only about sixty men at a time; but, as the retreats go on continously for nine months, more than two thousand men inake the spiritual exercises there in the course of the year.
From New York the retreat movement quickly spread to other centres in the United States. Where no buildings are yet set apart for that special purpose, colleges or diocesan seminaries are utilised during the summer vacations when the students are away; and there large numbers of men spend a few days in uninterruptect silence, prayer anal meditation, under the direction of the Fathers of the Society. At St Charles' Seminary, Overbrook (Pa), Fr Shealy limself for the past nine years gave every year two retreats, at each of which nearly two hundred retreatants made the Exercise. At other places, such as Malvern (Pa.), special houses have been built for the purpose.
It would be difficult to describe the love and enthusiastic affection which Fr Shealy inspired among the men who followed the retreats under his guidance; and it is impossible to estimate the far-reaching effects the retreats produce in the lives of the inen themselves, and the members of the whole civil community whom these mnen afterwards influence. Since Fr Shealy's death funds are being put together under the caption of the “Shealy Memorial Building Fund”, to erect at Staten Island, which has been the parent house of the American Retreat movement, larger and more commodious buildings at an estimated cost of about £40,000.
In connection with the retreats, a Laymen's League and a School for Social Studies have been founded in New York. These works, also, which are still flourishing, owe their existence and success in large part to Fr Shealy's energy.
Fr Shealy's health had been failing for some time, owing principally to the continual strain of his busy and crowded life. “Far better to wear out than to rust out”, he used to say; and he followed that principle in practice. · The end came rather rapidly, and his happy death occurred at St Vincent's Hospital, Brooklyn, NY, on September 5th, 1922, at the comparatively early age of 59 years. He had been Director of the Staten Island Retreat House for thirteen years and had finished the last retreat he conducted eight days before his death.
During these years some 386 retreats had been given there, most of which Fr Shealy himself directed. His unexpected death aroised quite an “enthusiasm” of sorrow and regret, especially among his numerous spiritual children of the Catholic laymen of New York, by whom he was loved and venerated in an extraordinary degree RIP
Sheehan, John, 1810-1879, Jesuit brother
Born: 01 February 1810, Rockmills, Kildorrery, County Cork
Entered: 25 April 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 25 March 1854
Died: 13 December 1879, Osage Mission, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Sheehy, John, 1811-1891, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 July 1811, Ballintaggart, Dingle, Co Kerry
Entered: 22 January 1842, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1860
Died: 08 September 1891, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Sheerin, James, 1829-1854, Jesuit scholastic
Born: 09 January 1829, Ardstraw, County Tyrone
Entered: 29 August 1845, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 27 July 1854, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Older brother of Thomas Sheerin (MARNEB) - RIP 1909
Sheerin, Thomas M, 1831-1909, Jesuit priest
Born: 14 January 1831, Ardstraw, Omagh, County Tyrone
Entered: 22 November 1847, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 1860
Final vows: 02 February 1869
Died: 08 September 1909, St Andrew-on-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Younger brother of James Sheerin (MAR) - RIP 1854
Shen Lai-fu, Raphael, 1937-2022, Jesuit priest
Born: 29 October 1937, China
Entered: 05 Novemnber 1958, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong HIB for Extemis Orientalis Province (ExOr)
Ordained: 30 May 1970, Toronto, Canada
Final Vows: 17 August 1978, Toronto, Canada
Died: 27 October 1922, Clarkston, MI, USA - Sinensis Province (CHN)
Transcribed HIB to HK 03 December 1966
Sherry, John J, 1870-1917, Jesuit priest
Born: 17 April 1870, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 03 October 1887, Drongen Belgium - Belgicae province (BELG)
Ordained: 27 June 1901, Woodstock College MD, USA
Final Vows: 15 August 1907
Died: 08 January 1917, Loyola College, New Orleans, LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Transcribed HIB to NOR : 1889
Slattery, John, 1808-1852, Jesuit priest
Born: 27 December 1808, Portarlington, County Laois
Entered: 16 March 1844, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 1850
Died: 02 April 1852, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Slevin, Thomas, 1858-1921, Jesuit priest
Born: 25 April 1858, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered: 05 September 1877, St Charles College, Grand Coteau, LA, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1891, St Aloysius, Jersey
Final Vows: 02 February 1897
Died: 03 December 1921, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Smith, J Walmesley, 1904-1989, Jesuit priest
Born: 02 April 1904, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 25 March 1930, Loyola Greenwich, Australia
Ordained 16 June 1939, Los Gatos, California, USA
Final vows: 15 August 1954
Died: 05 April 1989, St Raphael’s Nursing Home, Lockleys, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)
Part of the Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death
Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Walmsley Smith was a man who experienced self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, especially in his later days. This might seem hard to believe in a man who was so gifted intellectually. He was a good teacher of mathematics, and a man of wide interests, which included the garden and astronomy.
Smith was baptised, 10 April 1904, by Thomas Cahill, the first rector of Xavier College. He lived in Hawthorn, and carne to Xavier College aged eleven. After school he took out an engineering degree at Melbourne University 1930, joined the Jesuits, 25 March 1930, and completed his Jesuit studies in Sydney, Ireland and California. His regency was spent teaching mathematics to the juniors, 1932-34.
He left California on one of the last ships before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and settled down at Xavier College in 1941 to teach mathematics until he retired in 1973. For a
few years in the 1940s he was rowing master. For twenty years he was a member of the Mathematics Standing Committee for the Victorian Universities and Schools Examinations Board, 1948-68.
Testimony to his intellectual interests was his personal library, which contained subjects on mathematics, geography, astronomy, geometry and gardening.
This was followed by sixteen years of retirement, many of which gave him joy in pursuing his interests of music, gardening and reading.
His virtues were never conventional or conformist. He was not into being polite or particularly co-operative, and he certainly had very little time for suffering in silence. Greg Deming described him as a maverick who reached into the hearts of lonely and troubled boys. He also reached into the minds of clever and keen students, and he animated them to love and cherish their work. He developed a limp shortly before his 21st birthday as a result of an accident that resulted in a twisted foot. For the rest of his life he needed to use a stick, and with that stick he could give direction, gesticulate, and prod tardy scholars.
Smith, Matthew, 1825-1912, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 August 1825, Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan
Entered: 07 January 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Professed: 15 August 1859
Died: 28 March 1912, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Smyth, James, 1928-2023, Jesuit priest
Born: 13 August 1928, Lauragh, Tuosist, County Kerry
Entered: 07 September 1946, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 October 1976, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
Died: 02 August 2023, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
Part of the St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street Community Community at the time of death
Son of Thomas Smyth and Frances Lyne. Parents were farmers and business people
Second in a family of two boys and one girl.
Educated at a local National school he then went to the Apostolic School at Mungret College SJ
Born : 13th August 1928 Lauragh, Tuosist, Co Kerry
Raised : Lauragh, Tuocist, Co Kerry
Early Education at Lauragh NS, Co Kerry; Mungret College SJ, Limerick
7th September 1946 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
8th September 1948 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1948-1951 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1951-1954 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1954-1956 Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency : Studying Cantonese and Teaching Catechetics at Xavier House
1956-1957 Kowloon, Hong Kong - Regency : Teacher
1957-1961 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
28th July 1960 Ordained at Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
1961-1962 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1962-1963 Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Minister; Socius to Novice Master; Church Prefect at Xavier House
1963-1966 Kowloon, Hong Kong - Teacher at at Wah Yan College
1965 Prefect of Studies; President of Academic Alumni; President of Past Pupils Union
1966-1971 Belvedere College SJ - Teacher; Assistant Prefect of Studies; Studying H Dip in Education at UCD
1968 Newsboys Club
1970 Spiritual Father 3rd & 4th years; Assistant Career Guidance
1971-1979 Gardiner St - Assists in Church; BVM & SFX Sodalities; Newsboys Club
1976 Parish Chaplain; Chaplain in Hill St Primary School
7th October 1976 Final Vows at St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
1979-1982 Claver House - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1982-1985 Luís Espinal - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1985-1990 Gardiner St - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1988 Resides in Gardiner St Community
1990-1991 Croftwood, Cherry Orchard - Chaplain in Cherry Orchard Parish of Most Holy Sacrament; Assists in Gardiner St
1991-1992 Milltown Park - Sabbatical
1992-2000 Belvedere - Assistant Pastoral Care Co-ordinator; Ministers in Inner City; Assistant Librarian & Sacristan; College Confessor; Chaplain to Social Integration Scheme
1994 Chaplain in Junior School;
1996 Pastoral work in Gardiner St; Spiritual Director
2000-2023 Gardiner St - Assists in Church; Church Team; Spiritual Director
2015 Prays for the Church and Society at Cherryfield Lodge
https://jesuit.ie/news/featured-news/death-of-fr-james-smyth/
James Smyth SJ RIP: Friend of the poor
Fr James (Jim) Smyth, at 95 the oldest Jesuit in the Irish Province, has died in Cherryfield Nursing Home, Milltown. He passed away peacefully on the morning of Thursday, 31 August. His funeral took place on Tuesday 5 September.
He had a remarkable lifelong involvement with those on the margins in north inner city Dublin, living alongside them in a small one-bedroomed flat in Hardwicke Street. He was a friend to the travelling community, prisoners and anyone in need.
He was a member of the Gardiner Street Community for many years. Richard Dwyer SJ, Superior of that community offers the following reflection on his life.
Renowned for compassion and kindness
Fr James Smyth SJ was born on 13 August 1928 in Lauragh, Tuosist, Co Kerry. He went to Lauragh National School and received his secondary education at Mungret College SJ, Limerick.
On 7th September 1946 he entered the Society of Jesus at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois and took his first vows on 8 September 1948.
After taking an arts degree at UCD, followed by 3 years of philosophy at Tullabeg, he went to Hong Kong in 1954 to study Cantonese and teach catechetics. He returned to Dublin to study theology at Milltown Park and was ordained to the priesthood on 28 July 1960.
He returned to Hong Kong for 4 years after his tertianship (1962) working as Socius (assistant) to the Master of Novices there and later as a teacher in Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
James returned to Dublin and from 1966 to 1971, he worked in Belvedere College SJ. Through a chance encounter on a bus from Rathnew in Wicklow to Dublin, he was invited into the Newsboys Club not far from Belvedere. He attended the club for a number of weeks and was told to sit in the corner and say nothing. According to himself, he felt awkward and embarrassed and spoke to no one. He missed one session and when he returned, the boys asked him where he had been and that they had missed him. This was the beginning of a remarkable lifelong involvement that James developed with the people of north inner city of Dublin.
He went on to live in Hardwicke Street flats in small one bedroom for a 12-year period and became part of the social fabric of people there. He became close friends with the parents and grandparents and became a trusted and beloved pastor, confessor and counsellor to them. He married their sons and daughters, baptized the children of those unions, and became a priestly grandfather to the numerous children.
He visited the sick and elderly. He was a frequent visitor to Mountjoy and St. Patrick’s prison and was renowned for his compassion and kindness. He highlighted the poor condition of the flats and the lack of any play and recreational facilities. James himself lived on a basic income of £20 per week and had to go without meat to buy a shirt or a pair of shoes. All of this time he worked as a curate in Gardiner Street Church and spent long hours in the confession box. He was loved by all who came to him and he was noted for his compassion and understanding.
Over his years in Hardwicke Street and the Church in Gardiner Street, he also was involved with the Travelling Community and again presided over many weddings and baptisms. In a nutshell, James discovered and developed in his heart a tremendous love of the poor and marginalized and the people of the North inner city and the Travelling Community took Fr James to their hearts and loved and revered him.
In the late 1980s and into the 1990s a heroin epidemic was devastating the lives of young people in the North Inner City. Along with the local residents, Fr James and Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke,set up a committee to rid Hardwicke Street of drug dealers and pushers who were making a lot of money from enticing friends and neighbours to take heroin. It was a wonderful example of a community coming together with great courage and determination to eradicate the scourge of hard drugs from their area and to prevent the death and utter destruction of young lives. Fr James and Christy received death threats as a result of their actions.
Fr James continued to live and work with the poor and marginalized in Gardiner Street Church up to his 85th year when ill health saw him transferred to Cherryfield Nursing Home. He settled in well to life in Cherryfield and was cherished by the staff as one of the oldest residents. The constant stream of visitors from the inner city, the Travelling Community and fellow Jesuits bore strong testimony to the love and affection he was held in, to the very end of his long life.
May he rest in peace and receive the fitting reward of all his good deeds in long priestly ministry.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a ainm dílis.
Richard Dwyer SJ
September 2023
Stack, Daniel J, 1884-1959, Jesuit priest
Born: 07 September 1884, Ballinlonig, Dromcollogher, County Limerick
Entered: 06 September 1902, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 June 1917, Woodstock College, MD, USA
Final Vows: 02 February 1921
Died: 15 January 1959, Loyola High School, Los Angeles, CA, USA - Oregonensis Province (ORE)
Transcribed HIB to TAUR : 1904; TAUR to CAL : 1909; CAL to ORE
Parents farmers.
Seven brothers (1 deceased) and four sisters.
Educated at Broadford NS, then Drumcolleher NS and then Crescent College SJ
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 34th Year No 3 1959
Obituary :
Fr Daniel J Stack (1884-1959)
(From the Oregon- Jesuit, March 1959)
Rev. Daniel J. Stack, S.J. suffered a stroke at Loyola High School, Los Angeles, California, on 13th January, 1959 and died two days later of a cerebral haemorrhage.
Fr. Stack was widely known in the Northwest, where he served as assistant pastor at St. Leo's Parish, Tacoma, WA., 1930-2 and at St. Francis Xavier Parish, Missoula, MT., 1932-3, and where he was pastor both at St. Stanislaus, Lewiston, Idaho, 1933-6, and at St. Aloysius, Spokane, WA., 1936-40.
Fr. Stack was born at Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick, Ireland on 8th September, 1884. He attended Jesuit schools in Limerick and entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Ireland on 6th September, 1902. From there, he transferred to the Novitiate at St. Andrews-on-the-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to continue for the mission work on the Rocky Mountain Missions. He taught school at Spokane and Seattle, Wn., for a number of years and on 28th June, 1917, was ordained to the priesthood at Woodstock College MD. The ten years after his tertianship were spent in teaching at Seattle, Spokane and Santa Fe, California.
In 1943 Fr. Stack was assigned as a teacher at Loyola High School, Los Angeles, a position he filled until 1948, when he became an assistant at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Hollywood. Ill health in 1955 led to his return to Loyola High School, where he was assigned as spiritual father for the community and confessor for several neighbouring convents.
Fr. Stack has three sisters living in Ireland, Sr. M. Stanislaus, Sr. M. Aloysius and Sr. M. Celsus. A fourth sister was overtaken by death as she was about to enter the religious life. Three of his five brothers were priests and all are now deceased, the last, Fr. James Stack, C.Ss.R. having died in Ireland in 1958.
Fr. Daniel Stack was a member of that now dwindling band of pioneers from foreign shores who volunteered for apostolic labours on the old Rocky Mountain Missions. He and those hardy veterans of the past founded the missions, schools and parishes which have been handed on to the Society. We owe them a debt of great gratitude.
Staunton, Maurice, 1795-1870, Jesuit brother
Born: 22 September 1795, Ballymacoda, County Cork
Entered: 08 September 1835, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1846
Died: 23 October 1870, Boston College, Boston MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Stephens, John J, 1842-1889, Jesuit priest
Born: 13 November 1842, Drumshambo, County Leitrim
Entered: 06 August 1860, St Stanislaus, Florissant, MO, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1875
Final Vows: 15 August 1877
Died: 26 April 1889, Xavier College, Cincinnati, OH, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1906-1977, Jesuit priest
Born: 30 January 1906, Moyne Road, Rathmines, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1940, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 01 April 1977, Tuam, County Galway
Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death
Died while giving a Mission in Tuam, Co Galway
Father was a draper
Second child with an older sister.
Early education at a private school in Rathmines then he went to Synge St
by 1929 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 52nd Year No 3 1977
Obituary :
Fr Robert L Stevenson (1906-1977)
Father Robert L Stevenson was born in Dublin, June 30th 1906, and after some education privately, went to the Christian Brothers, Synge Street. He entered the Noviceship at Tullabeg on August 31st 1923. Beginning his studies for the BA at Rathfarnham in 1925, he passed through the usual course and was ordained at Milltown Park, June 24th 1937. He had gone to Valkenburg for Philosophy, 1928 1931, and his Tertianship was spent at St Beuno's, 1938-1939. The years 1939-1941 were spent in Galway as Prefect of Studies and teaching, and his work was similar at the Crescent, Limerick, 1941 1946. From 1938 to his death in 1977 he was a missioner, stationed successively at Emo, Belvedere, Tullabeg, Emo and Rathfarnham. His years at Rathfarnham (1969-1977) were brought to a close by his death “in harness” at Tuam, April 1st 1977.
Of his years immediately after the Tertianship we have a clear picture from what Father James Stephenson, The Hall writes:
Bob Steve when I knew him and lived with him in his early years in the Society was what would be called in those days, “a good Community man”. He had a ready wit and was endowed with a felicity of expression and vividness of imagery that was most entertaining and more than usually amusing.
What made him “tick over” was an intense zeal for souls or to put it in modern jargon, his motivation was the betterment of the spiritually" underprivileged". However, after his tertianship, it was some years before he was able to put his ambition into operation. During those early years as a priest he was assigned to administration, and acted for many years as Minister in the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick. It was a post he naturally disliked but he carried on his duties faithfully and effectively. Of course, what made this post tolerable was that he was Prefect of the Church and so had plenty of Church work to do, sermons, confessions, counselling and sodality direction. He was for many years Director of the Ignatian Sodality and a very popular and energetic Director at that. He went to great pains in preparing his talks and sermons, having his eye, I suppose, on the type of work he desired, namely the Mission Staff. This care in preparation of talks and sermons served him in good stead during his life as a Missioner when he had the leisure to write and publish in addition to some pamphlets, a book on the Holy Land and also a biography of a Jesuit he most admired, Father Leonard Shiel.
As a preacher and retreat giver he worked among the Irish in Great Britain. Towards the end of his life he also devoted much of his zeal and energy to mission work in the United States.
It may be of interest to mention in passing that as a scholastic teacher in Belvedere he took a great interest in the Newsboys Club, an interest he translated into practice when making his renunciation before his final vows.
Some years ago he had trouble with his heart and it was that way God took him when giving a mission in Tuam Cathedral. Death came as a thief but it did not find him unprepared. He went to his Maker full of merit and good works. May he rest in peace.
Father Kevin Laheen writes: My first contact with Fr Bob Stevenson was in Belvedere in the thirties when he taught Irish and RK. He was an excellent teacher, had a gift of keeping discipline in a pleasant sort of way, and his ability to impart his knowledge to the boys was something which we, in our youth, could appreciate, and often did publicly admire.
But he did ambition a life of specifically priestly work, as opposed to an administrative job which after all does not call for the sacrament of Holy Orders. Though as Minister in the Crescent he did is job well, his heart was in the pulpit, in the confessional and on the altar.
At length he got the job (as a missioner) for which he was suited, which he loved, and at which there was no way in which it could be said that he was anything but a complete success. An eloquent and - fluent speaker, he could hold an audience in the palm of his hand for anything up to forty minutes, and that in the days when the TV has conditioned people to accept things in capsule form. Although uncompromising in the pulpit in proclaiming the teaching of Christ and the Church (often being accused of being too far right of centre) he could be a most compassionate man when dealing with the weaknesses of those who often lapsed from the strictest following of Christ.
His kindness to women, especially to nuns, was a side of Bob that was not generally known. In the days when the lay sister was regarded as the unpaid servant of the community, Bob was her champion, and I have met many such sisters who have sounded his praises and her own gratitude to him for his understanding sympathy and kindness, to say nothing of his courage in defending these sisters, when to have done so would have risked being “blacked” in the convent where such defence was registered.
In the early forties, just after the war, or even during the last years of it, Fr Leonard Shiel and Father Bob started the mission to the Irish in Britain literally single-handed. Leonard had the ideal that if the Irish brought none of this world's wealth to the land of adoption, they certainly brought their strong Irish faith, and his aim, aided by Father Bob, was to make sure that their faith suffered no injury by the new materialistic surroundings in which they found themselves, so but in addition that these same Irish would be apostles of the faith spreading it among those with whom they lived and worked. An ideal like this took courage. Many a patronising and openly hostile comment was made about this work. But neither of these men could be turned aside from their ideal; and by degrees they were joined by Frs M Bodkin, R Maguire, B Prendergast, B Hogan, T Kilbride and many others, until the thing took on the nature of a crusade. Then the Irish bishops were approached, and nothing happened for some years, Leonard Shiel then approached the English bishops, and at last the two hierarchies got together and other orders came in to help. This work has now virtually passed out of the hands of the Society but its flourishing success, and the immense good it has done, must be ascribed to the inspiration and devotion and zeal of these two men. Without the support of Father Bob I think the scheme would have remained a one man apostolate of Father Shiel. This is a chapter of history that so many younger members of the staff, and indeed of the Province, know nothing about. It took a zeal and single-minded dedication that I have often felt would have cheered the heart of Saint Ignatius. (See, however, Father Bob's book about Fr Leonard Shiel, “Who Travels Alone”, especially Chapters four and five-Ed.).
In the last ten years, Bob was definitely low key, as they would say these days. His preaching was just as eloquent and gripping. His zeal was untiring, but he liked to get back to base a great deal more, and devote so much of his time to writing. He was a man of great linguistic gifts, and apart from having a reading knowledge (and in some cases a speaking knowledge, too) of most European languages, he had also mastered Russian.
I think he was a little worried in recent years about the direction the Society was taking. In his own mind I don't think he was convinced that the balance between the vertical and horizontal approach to the service of God has been found. I also feel that he had some idea that his life was running out, and-looking back over certain things he said to me-I feel he was preparing for the end. Sickness was a thing he never knew nor liked, though to the sick he was devoted and kind. God took him mercifully in the arms of a fellow Jesuit, anointed by another, and receiving expert first aid treatment from the fourth member of the mission team at Tuam.
In the course of his second last mission, in his own native parish of Beechwood Avenue, a lady told me that on many occasions in the course of the mission he said, “Remember, if you knock daily on the Gate of Heaven by saying your daily prayers, when you knock for the last time in death, Our Lord will keep His promise and open for you”. After his devoted life, I have a feeling that the door was always open, awaiting him.
Father Niall O'Neill writes:
Imperial Hotel, Tuam: 1st April 1977:
Supper in the Hotel was at 6 pm. The Missioners Frs Séamus MacAmhlaoibh, Noel Holden and myself - Niall O'Neill - started almost immediately. Fr Bob who had been out of sorts for a day or two came down later and sat with his book at his favourite spot Fr. Seamus MacA gave Fr Bob some notices to be announced at the out-church-Lavally (Leath Bhaile) as we left the dining-room. Bob seemed in good form and gave his usual “OK”.
We went to get ready for confessions in the Cathedral at 7.00 pm, as it was the 1st Friday. Noel went back down to discuss something with Bob at about 6.45. They were talking on the way up the stairs which were very steep, about the closing of the Mission. Noel's room was No.24 at the end of a short corridor at the top of the stairs. At Noel’s room Bob put his hand on the handle of the door and gasped and slumped. Noel caught him and shouted, “Niall, quick, quick”. Séamus and I were together round the corner about 15 feet away; as we arrived Noel was holding Bob in his arms. We brought him to the bed in No 24. Seamus and Noel looked after him spiritually - Absolution and Anointing. While they were doing this I opened collar, thumped his chest and gave artificial respiration (mouth to mouth). A lady came to the top of the stairs and we asked her to ring for a Doctor. Noel said he could feel no pulse. We prayed and gave more resuscitation and respiration. I went for some whiskey and asked at the Desk if they had rung the Doctor - he was on his way. The whiskey wasn't used. I took over the respiration again from Séamus. Noel said, “he's gone”. I went down again and asked at the desk that they would ring Fr Greally, the Administrator. He came on the phone and I told him Bob had had an “attack”. As I was on the phone the Doctor (Cunningham) arrived-it was only 7.05 pm. He confirmed our fears. He left to order the ambulance. Fr Greally arrived at 7.7. We decided that Séamus would go to Lavally. As Noel had had the brunt of the shock he would stay and ring the Provincial and Rathfarnham. 7.10 I went to the Order of Malta Ambulance Unit. As there was to be a Dinner at the Hotel at 7.30 I hurried on the Ambulance, although it was already under way. I went into the Cathedral and started the Rosary for the Mission at 7.20: “This Rosary will be offered for Father Robert Louis Stevenson our Senior Missioner who has been taken ill and has been removed to Hospital”. After the Rosary I found the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Joseph Cunnane in the Sacristy. He presided at my Mass, I preached on the Sacred Heart and after the sermon His Grace came to the Ambo and announced the death of “Fr. Robert Louis Stevenson”. He paid a tremendous tribute to Bob as priest, missioner, fellow-organizer with Father Leonard Shiel of the mission to the emigrants in England, writer and staunch up-holder of the faith.
In the meantime the Ambulance had arrived at the Hotel at 7.25, and took Bob to the “Grove” Hospital in Tuam which is run by the Bon Secours Sisters. They were marvellous. Bob was laid out in a beautiful private room; they provided a lace Alb, White Vestments (The Resurrection), and arranged the room very attractively: the table with Crucifix, lighted candles on one side of the bed, on the other a table with an exquisite vase of freshly cut Daffodils.
At Lavally Seamus announced the sad news, and Mass was said for Bob at 7.30 and 8.00 pm.
Noel had been trying to contact our Dublin Houses, by phone. When Mass and confessions were over Bob and I removed all Bob’s things from his room in the Hotel and returned the key to the desk. We then went to the Hospital, and with Frs Greally and Gleason joined two nuns (Sr. Loreto, Superioress and another), saying the Rosary, and then said another - the Glorious Mysteries - taking a decade each.
Later at the Presbytery the Priests served tea. Noel had failed to contact Fr Meade, who was absent when he rang Rathfarnham. Eglinton Road, when contacted, deferred any decisions until Fr. Meade had been consulted. At 11.10 Fr. Provincial was on the phone, and later Fr Meade rang. Arrangements were made for a funeral from Gardiner St - the remains to arrive on Saturday at 5 pm. It was now 11.30 pm, and undertakers had to be contacted to arrange for a removal from the Hospital at 10.15 next day, Saturday. Mass was arranged for 11 o'clock at the Cathedral, the departure from Tuam to Dublin to be immediately afterwards.
Near 12.00 midnight lots were drawn to choose an undertaker without favouritism. McCormicks were drawn. We went to his house and aroused him from bed. Then back to the Hotel to compose an Obituary Notice for the papers. After 1 o’clock Noel went back to the Undertaker with the Notice, and so to bed at 1.30 am.
April 2nd, Saturday: As I had to preach at the 8 am Mass, and say the 10 o'clock Mass, while Seamus was at Lavally, Noel attended the removal from the Hospital at 10.15. The Archbishop arrived during the Rosary and joined in; he recited the removal prayers, and the coffin was carried out by the Administrator Fr Greally, Fr Concannon CC, Fr Gleason, CC, and the Doctor on duty. The Archbishop, Noel and all the priests walked in the funeral through the town after the hearse. The shops closed and pulled their blinds. There was a huge crowd at the Cathedral. The coffin was placed in front of the High Altar and a concelebrated Mass followed. The Archbishop was the Principal Celebrant, and Fr Holden preached a particularly fine eulogy of 7 minutes, in which he included sincere thanks to the Archbishop, clergy and people for their sincere sympathy. The Galway community was represented by Frs McGrath and J Humphreys, and Brs Crowe and Doyle. After Mass the Archbishop recited all the prayers over the coffin and led us in the “In Paridisum”...as we walked down the aisle of the Cathedral. In his last sermon Bob had said, “I will never see you again ...” and this had made a deep impression on the men. After our unvesting the funeral moved off at about 11.50 am. The hearse was escorted to the boundary of the parish by the Galway Jesuits, and Fr Concannon CC. drove us three missioners in his car.
After early lunch in the Hotel we talked about Bob's favourite prayer which Noel had mentioned in his eulogy, “I'll talk with God”: “There is no death, though eyes grow dim. There is no fear while I'm with Him...”
It seemed fitting that the Archdiocese of Tuam should have been the last place for Bob to preach his last Mission, and begin his New Mission with our departed fellow Jesuits in the Communion of Saints: It had large Irish-speaking areas, and Ballintubber Abbey - “The Church that refused to Die”. The End-of-Mission Confessions began at 1.30 p.m. That evening Noel went to Lavally. Seamus gave a Penitential Service in the Cathedral followed by Mass and Confessions. Next day-Sunday, 3rd we spoke at all the Masses, inviting the congregation to the end-of-Mission ceremonies at 7.30 pm. At concelebrated Mass at 7.30 pm. His Grace, Noel and I were concelebrants. Noel preached. Séamus MacA closed in Lavally. Our supper ended at 10.30, and so to bed at 11.00.
April 4th: Monday. Up at 6.00: After breakfast in the Presbytery I drove the ADM to the funeral in Gardiner Street, where Fr Hanley received us and gave the ADM every hospitality. After the funeral we had dinner in SFX where Fr Greally seemed very pleased.
Introducing the requiem Mass in Gardiner Street Church on the morning of Monday, April 14th, Father Matthew Meade, Superior of Rathfarnham Castle where Father Robert Stevenson was stationed, expressed the sympathy of all present--of his brother Jesuits and all those whom Father Stevenson had helped in so many ways - with Father Stevenson’s sister who was present, having crossed over from Richmond, Surrey. Father Stevenson’s life, said Father Meade, was simply summed up in one word: He was a Missioner. A most gifted and eloquent preacher, he had spent some thirty years preaching the Word of God in many lands. He was a tireless worker. Never, Father Meade said, since he first knew him forty years ago, both as a fellow worker with him on the missions and as Director of the Mission and Retreats Apostolate, had he ever known Father Robert Stevenson to refuse any assignment given to him or to fail to answer any call made upon his services on the grounds of being tired or over-worked or unfit to undertake any work to which he was assigned. The circumstances of his death are proof of this generous spirit. While he was engaged in giving a mission in Tuam Cathedral, he died in the arms of his fellow missioners. It was a glorious ending to a life lived out to the full in god's service,
Some little glimpse of Father Stevenson's spirit is seen in something Father Meade related to the Editor : “I cannot lay my hands upon an edition of the Province News which must have come out in 1965/67 when I wrote notes on the work of the Mission. In one of these editions, I remember, I wrote about an extraordinary achievement of Bob’s, which showed his remarkable versatility. I was asked to supply a priest for a mission: I think it was in Kerry or Co. Cork. There were in this place three workers' camps on some big scheme. One camp was of Germans; another of Irish Speakers, and the third English speaking men and women of the locality. The missioner would have to preach to one section in German; to another in Irish and to the third in English. Bob took on the whole mission by himself and did the whole mission as requested. I think I published a letter from the priest there, giving an account of this remarkable achievement on Bob's part and how well he did it all”.
Father Noel Holden, in whose arms Father Stevenson died in the Hotel where the Missioners were staying while giving a mission in Tuam, said that it was clear that Father Stevenson was unwell for some time before he died. Indeed during lunch on that First Friday (April 1st) the Archbishop of Tuam (Dr. Cunnane) by phone had invited Father Stevenson to stay with the Archbishop for the rest of the Mission. His Grace could see that Father Stevenson was very unwell. At the Requiem Mass in Tuam, the chief concelebrant was His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam. At the Mass Father Holden spoke few words. He drew attention to the fact that when Father Bob died the notes were in his pocket for the sermon he was to have preached that day concerning the Sacred Heart. The concluding words of the sermon were to have been: “No stranger of God”. Father Holden reminded his hearers that these words were very true of Father Stevenson himself. His missionary work was the work of a man whose prayer kept him close to God from whom he sought continually for guidance and help in his work for souls.
Fr Holden said that Fr Stevenson had a big 'mail' from people whom he had at some time directed spiritually during his missions. Father Stevenson never preached without having with him a summary of that special sermon: each such occasion, each such congregation, was new, different. And this in spite of the fact that he had so crowded a programme. Fr Holden noted the programme of Fr Stevenson's closing months. In January he had given a mission in Corby, England; from February 6th to 20th he preached at Knock;from February 27th to March 13th his work was in Beechwood Avenue - where he had been born. He died “in harness” in Tuam on April 1st during a Mission which with three other Fathers he had begun on March 20th. He was very proficient in preaching in the three Irish dialects: that of Donegal - whose Hills he loved - of Connaught and of Munster.
Father Holden reminds us that Father Stevenson wrote a lot. He published many Messenger Office Pamphlets. In 1975 he published a book on Father Leonard Shiel entitled “Who Travels Alone”. His foreword ended with the words: “I have chosen to call his memory - WHO TRAVELS ALONE, for I think it sums up a man both restless and still reserved, a riddle to all of us, his friends”. Fr Holden said that the core of this tribute could be applied also to Father Stevenson himself, for his life was one of restless thought and work in his efforts to help souls to God.
Father Holden could also show that Fr Stevenson did not easily relinquish any project he had turned his attention to. Fr Stevenson had visited the Holy Land some years ago. He made many written notes and also took many photos with the intention that his impressions and reflections when published might help others who wished to study and visit Our Lord's “Native Land”. The following summer Father Stevenson was in Los Angeles where he prepared his book for publication; but when back in Ireland he found that the case containing his manuscript notes and diaries had got lost. But he would not allow his spiritually helpful undertaking to be frustrated. Between his missions during the next year he made use of free intervals to recall his impressions of the Holy Land and wrote-from memory therefore-his helpful and successful Book: “Where Christ Walked”.
Father Holden adds the small but significant addition which helped Fr Stevenson very much to understand and attract Christians other than Catholics: Father Stevenson's father was a Scotch Presbyterian. His mother's people were from Graiguenamanagh, which he had visited as late as last May when giving a Mission at nearby Loughlinbridge.
Strain, James, 1832-1889, Jesuit brother
Born: 01 May 1832, Banbridge, County Down
Entered: 21 August 1852, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1863
Died: 24 April 1889, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Summers, Richard, 1800-1881, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 August 1800, Coolmain, County Cork
Entered: 29 August 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1856
Died: 25 June 1881, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Sweeny, Philip, 1786-1848, Jesuit brother
Born: 15 August 1786, Ireland
Entered: 12 November 1812 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1826
Died: 02 June 1848, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Taylor, William, 1795-1865, Jesuit brother
Born: 01 November 1795, Gorteen, Co Kilkenny or Gurteen, Co Sligo
Entered: 05 April 1818, Richmond, Virginia - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1832
Died: 23 June 1865, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Thoo Fook, Lawrence, 1938-2011, Jesuit brother
Born: 26 September 1938, Penang, Malaysia
Entered: 02 December 1958, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong (HIB)
Final vows: 07 November 1971
Died: 22 February 2011, San José CA, USA - Californiae Province (CAL)
Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to CAL
by 1965 at Bombay, India (BOM) studying
Toale, Bernard, 1831-1889, Jesuit priest
Born: 17 May 1831, Pomeroy, County Tyrone
Entered: 28 May 1852, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 1863
Final vows: 15 August 1872
Died: 09 September 1889, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Toner, Eugene Augustine, 1908-1984, Jesuit priest
Born: 27 December 1908, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 21 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 07 June 1941
Final vows: 02 February 1946
Died: 13 October 1984, Duarte, CA, USA - California Province (CAL)
Transcribed HIB to CAL : 1930
Toomey, Charles, 1796-1858, Jesuit brother
Born: 04 March 1796, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1843, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 19 July 1858, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Tracy, Patrick, 1833-1885, Jesuit brother
Born: 17 March 1833, Bulgaden, Kilmallock, County Limerick
Entered: 11 April 1856, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 25 March 1867
Died: 08 January 1885, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ts'ai Chung-hsien, Francis Xavier, 1907-1997, Jesuit priest
Born: 30 October 1907, Yokohama, Japan
Entered: 07 September 1927, Zi-Ka-Wei, Shanghai, China - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 30 May 1940
Final vows: 02 February 1943
Died: 01 June 1997, Bronx NY, USA - Sinensis Province (CHN)
by 1950 came to Aberdeen, Hong Kong (HIB) working
Tucker, William John, 1888-, former Jesuit scholastic
Born: 18 October 1888, St Patrick’s Quay, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 16 January 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Left Society of Jesus: 08 October 1919 (from Milltown Park, for health reasons)
Father was a Master Mariner and was lost at sea shortly after William’s birth. Mother lives at “Tuckerville”, Copley Place, Cork City.
Younger of two boys.
Educated at PBC Cork and then St Colman’s Fermoy then after illness returned to PBC and then went to UCD.
1909-1911: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1911-1913: Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
1913-1914: Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, Regency
1914-1916: St Ignatius College Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Regency
1916-1917: St Aloysius College SJ, Sydney, Australia, Regency
1917-1919: St Joseph’s College, Philadelphia in MARNEB Province - for health reasons
1919: Milltown Park
Tuohy, David G, 1950-2020, Jesuit priest
Born: 10 February 1950, Somerville, Newcastle, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1967, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 27 June 1981, Galway Cathedral, Galway
Final Vows: 03 December 1994, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 31 January 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin community at the time of death.
Born in Dublin
Father RIP. Mother - Margaret
Educated at Coláiste Iognáid, Galway City
by 1981 at Fordham NY, USA (NYK) studying
by 1990 at St Joseph’s,Philadelphia PA, USA (MAR) teaching 1 semseter
by 1991 at Austin TX, USA (NOR) making Tertianship
Turberville, Gregory, 1617-1684, Jesuit brother
Born: 17 April 1617, Glamorgan, Wales
Entered: 01 October 1639, - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 06 February 1684, Maryland, USA - Angliae Province (ANG)
◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
1645 In Ireland as cook, brewer and baker (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TURBEVILLE, GREGORY, born in Wales : at the age 22 joined the Order, and for many years rendered valuable service as a Lay-brother. He died in Maryland, 6th February, 1684, aet. 67.
Tyrrell, Michael, 1928-2001, Jesuit priest
Born: 27 May 1928, Leix Road, Cabra, Dublin City County Dublin
Entered: 06 September 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1961, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 28 June 2001, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death
Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969; ZAM to HIB : 1978
Father was Government messenger, and parents were supported by private means.
Eldest of six boys with one sister.
Educated at a National school for five years (St Peter’s NS Phibsborough) he then went to St Vincent’s Glasnevin for a year and a half. After working for three and a half years at Guinness Brewery, Dublin, he went to Mungret College SJ
by 1956 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) Regency
by 1970 at Bristol University (ANG) working
by 1971 at Glasgow, Scotland (ANG) working
by 1972 at London University, England (ANG) working
by 1984 at Berkeley CA, USA (CAL) Sabbatical
◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Michael Tyrrell was a Dublin man and before entering the Jesuits in 1947 he worked for a short time for Guinness’ Brewery, becoming proficient at barrel rolling! After philosophy in Tullabeg, he came to Zambia, Africa, first as a scholastic in 1955 for three years and then again in 1964 when he came back as a priest. The first time, he learnt the language and taught in Canisius Secondary School. He returned to Ireland for theology and for ordination which took place in Milltown Park in 1961. Before returning to Zambia in 1964, he obtained his Master of Arts in History. When he came back he hoped to get into the newly opened university in Lusaka to lecture in history but unfortunately this was not to be. He was in Canisius again teaching the A-level course and he also got interested in sports. With Br Aungier and scholastic P Quinn, he helped train the Canisius athletic team which won the National Inter High School Sports at Matero Stadium in Lusaka (July 13 1966) at which a few records were broken. It was a proud day for the school.
He liked to walk and he liked to talk; he would laugh at jokes among the brethren even those against himself at times, with the oft repeated expletive 'James' Street'. Being a walker, he organized a walk from Chikuni to Chivuna, a journey of over 30 miles. When the walkers arrived, weary and footsore, they saw a large notice put up by the Sisters, “Blessed are the feet of those …..”
Michael was quite disappointed in not getting into the university even though he was a successful teacher at Canisius. He moved into parish ministry in the Monze diocese, at Kasiya and Civuna parishes.
His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill and not just suffering from imagination. While on home leave, a doctor friend put him straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition which had not been previously detected. A second operation was deemed necessary, the doctor warning the family that Mick might not survive the night. However he did survive and was advised not to return to Zambia.
When he recovered, he entered the university chaplaincy in the British Province. As Mick had always hankered after the academic life, the twelve years spent in London University were perhaps the most fulfilling and satisfying period in his life. His specialty seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.
In 1983 he went to Berkeley USA for a sabbatical year. On returning to Ireland he gave retreats and directed the Spiritual Exercises. In 1987 he was posted to Gardiner Street where he remained until his death in 2001. While there he was chaplain to Temple Street Hospital, assisted in Gardiner Street Church and was Province Archivist for three years.
Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17 October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem of mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with. medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28 June 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues’.
Note from Jean Indeku Entry
In 1955 he came to Northern Rhodesia with Fr. Tom O’Brien and scholastics Michael Kelly and Michael Tyrrell. They were among the first batch of missionaries to come by air and the journey from London took almost five days via Marseilles – Malta – Wadi Halfa (now under the Aswan Dam) – Mersa Matruh (north Egypt) – Nairobi – Ndola – and finally to Lusaka.
◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002
Obituary
Fr Michael Tyrrell (1928-2001)
27th May 1928: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Vincent's CBS School, Glasnevin and Mungret College.
Before entering, he worked for Guinness
6th Sept. 1947: Entered the Society at Emo Park
8th Sept. 1949: First Vows at Emo
1949 - 1952: Rathfarnham - studying Arts in UCD
1952 - 1955: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1955 - 1958: Zambia - language studies; teaching in Chikuni College
1958 - 1962: Milltown Park - studying Theology
31st July 1961: Ordained at Milltown Park
1962 - 1963: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
2nd Feb, 1964: Final Vows at Milltown Park
1963 - 1964: Milltown Park - Special studies
1964 - 1970: Zambia, Chikuni College - Teacher
1970 - 1971: Glasgow - University Chaplain
1971 - 1983: London - University Chaplain
1983 - 1984: Berkeley, USA - Sabbatical year
1984 - 1985: Austin House - Retreat Staff
1985 - 1987: University Hall - Chaplain, Pax Christi; Directs Spiritual Exercises
1987 - 2001: Gardiner Street
1987 - 1991: Chaplain Temple Street Hospital and Pax Christi
1991 - 1994: Province Archivist
1994 - 1995: Assisting in the Church; Chaplain in Temple Street Hospital
1995 - 1998: Assisting in the Church
1998 - 2001: Praying for the Church and the Society
Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17th October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem with mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28th June, 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues
Frank Keenan writes...
In November 2001, the London University Chaplaincy in Gower Street, London, organised a memorial mass for Michael Tyrrell. The students to whom he ministered there have long since moved on to take up their professions, get married, begin families. It was a tremendous tribute to Michael's work among them to see the packed chapel to which so many returned that morning to express their appreciation and gratitude for what he had been for them in their student days. From those who could not be at the mass there were written tributes, including some from well-known names such as Baroness Helena Kennedy Q.C.
Listening to his former co-chaplains at the memorial Mass, it was striking how much he had been appreciated by them, not only for the services he offered the students, but also for the companionship and wit he had contributed to the community in Gower Street. There were those present also who had been touched by the wide-ranging retreat apostolate that Michael had developed in England. The Irish Province was represented by Jack Donovan, Parish Priest of Custom House London for the past twenty years, and myself from St. Beuno's in Wales.
Michael had always hankered after the academic life. After tertianship, he asked for and was given the opportunity to do an MA in the subject that was always his first love - History. On his return to Zambia he hoped he might find a place lecturing in the University, but this was not to be. He had had a successful record as a classroom teacher in Canisius College, Chikuni, but was not enthusiastic about resuming this career, possibly as a reaction to his disappointment at not getting the University appointment. He ventured into parish ministry in Monze Diocese, which was not really his charism, and so followed some rather unfulfilling years in Kasiya and Civuna parishes.
His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill, and not just suffering from imagination. Providence came to his aid on the eve of his return to Zambia from home leave. A doctor friend was unhappy with Michael's state of health and asked him to visit his surgery the following day. As a result of this visit he put Michael straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition, which understandably had not been detected by the limited resources of the Zambian medical services. A second operation was found necessary, with a sobering warning - without this second operation Michael would die, since his digestive system had ceased to function; but, given that it would be a second operation so soon after the first, he would only have a fifty per cent chance of survival. Michael recalled lying in a coma after surgery and hearing the doctors advising members of his family to prepare for the worst, as the patient might not survive the night.
Michael was advised not to return to Zambia, where the medical facilities might not be available, should he have a recurrence of the problem. He entered the university chaplaincy service in the British Province, and there he seemed to have found his true niche. From what I observed when visiting him in London on my way to and from Zambia, he savoured at last being in the academic world. His speciality seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.
I often wondered at the wisdom of his returning to Ireland, where he did not seem to have really been able to find the sort of satisfying and effective apostolate, which he had been enjoying in London. During the years when he was chaplain to Temple Street Childrens' Hospital he made himself totally available at all hours, although he must have found dealing with children much less rewarding than his post-graduates. Eventually he found the work too draining and accepted that he had to retire. The illness, which was to be final, must have begun to effect him at this time.
The deterioration in Michael's condition, which left him, finally, barely able to speak, had been going on over a number of years. At this period he struggled to master the computer under my, at times, less than sympathetic tutelage. It was only much later that I realised that when he said he could not remember the most basic instructions, this was a symptom of the illness that was causing deterioration in his brain cells. Michael tended to make light of the symptoms, and, consequently, was somewhat misunderstood during this period even by his friends.
There was a basic simplicity and a certain innocence about Michael which he never lost till the end. In Cherryfield, he would still respond to the old jokes, and although he could not contribute to the banter, he clearly enjoyed it as always. He once recounted an example of this simplicity, which revealed a similar unsuspected spirit of simplicity in the rather forbidding figure of J R McMahon, Rector of Milltown, Provincial and distinguished legalist. J R was provincial when Michael was being interviewed for entry to the Novitiate. On impulse, Michael invited J R to tea with his family, to which the latter agreed promptly. In due course J R turned up on his antique bicycle, joined the family for tea and charmed them all. We would cite this to Michael as an example of his trying to advance his career in the Society from an early age, which never failed to amuse him, since he always retained a freedom of spirit, which was the antithesis of any tendency to curry favour with the establishment for his own advantage. For me one of Michael's most endearing characteristics was his clear interest in and love for his family. He spoke to me often of his admiration for, and gratitude to, his parents in particular,
Among several photographs on display at the Memorial Mass was one of the young Michael walking in the Wicklow Mountains in the 1940s. He continued this passion right up to the time when he no longer had the capacity, even achieving his ambition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. A walking companion has written the following poem in memory of the enjoyment Michael derived from showing others his beloved Wicklow Mountains.
In Memory (of Michael Tyrrell SJ)
Mullacor and Mullaghcleevaun,
Tonelegee and Lugnaquila,
These Wicklow Hills evoke memories of you:
I see you striding with ease across the heather,
Side-stepping the squelchy spagnum moss and feathery bog
cotton,
To disappear into the mists that swirl around their summits:
Or resting by the shores of mountain tarns,
Lough Ouler, Lough Tay, Lough Dan,
Art's Lake, where with Dunstan, we sipped cool wine
And wearied the sun with our talk:
Lough Bray, where you camped and prayed
Fighting the demon midgets with burning, smoking heather
sticks.
Your great spirit lives on in these hills
And hovers over the still, dark waters of these lakes.
There is freedom from dis-ease here.
Rest peacefully, Michael.
Elizabeth Mooney SHC), July 2001
Vallely, Patrick, 1811-1866, Jesuit brother
Born: 11 October 1811, Markethill, County Armagh
Entered: 14 August 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 12 July 1866, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Veale, Joseph, 1921-2002, Jesuit priest
Born: 07 March 1921, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 December 1977, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 11 October 2002, St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, County Dublin
Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death
Father was a Civil Servant. Family moved to live in Ranelagh, Dublin City
Only boy with one sister.
Early education at St Pat’s BNS, Drumcondra and then at Synge Street CBS
by 1963 at Fordham NY, USA (NEB) studying
◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’)
by Bobby McDonagh
Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’) (1921–2002), Jesuit priest and teacher, was born 7 March 1921 in Dublin, younger of two children and only son of William J. Veale, civil servant, and Mary Veale (née Mullholland), both of Dublin. After primary education at St Patrick's national school, Drumcondra, Dublin, and secondary education at CBS Synge St., Dublin, he entered the Society of Jesus 7 September 1938. He studied arts at UCD (1940–43), philosophy at Tullabeg (1943–6), and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin (1949–53), where he was ordained as a Jesuit priest on 31 July 1952, spending his tertianship at Rathfarnham (1953–4).
Veale taught at Belvedere College, Dublin (1946–9), and at Gonzaga College, Dublin (1954–72). As a teacher of English and religion, he was central to the conception and development of Gonzaga College as a school with exceptional academic standards, in which the emphasis, in practice as well as theory, was on education and expression rather than on examinations. He was the founder and inspiration of the school debating society, An Comhdháil. While working as a teacher, Joe Veale wrote several influential articles about education which were published in Studies, as well as a number of articles in the Irish Monthly including a number on literary criticism. His article ‘Men speechless’ (Studies, xlvi (autumn 1957)), which set out his philosophy and vision of education, was widely influential. During his years as a teacher he also made an important contribution to the recasting of the national English curriculum for secondary schools. However, his principal contribution as a teacher, and probably his most enduring significance, was where he would have wished it to be – in the classroom itself. A teacher of exceptional insight, ability, and dedication, he inspired in a generation of pupils a capacity for independent thought. His rare understanding of language, and his skill in using it, equipped a great many of his pupils with a greater ability than they could otherwise have had to analyse the spoken and written word, to evaluate ideas, and to express their thoughts effectively.
From 1972 to 2002 he was based at Milltown Park, where his activities included study, research, lecturing, and spiritual direction. He became an authority on the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius, which he directed in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. He lectured on spirituality at the Milltown Institute, gave retreats and conferences in many countries, and was widely regarded as an exceptional spiritual director. From 1976 to 1985, and again from 1986 to 1988, he was director of Jesuits in their tertianship. He spent extensive periods every year at Boston College in the United States.
While based at Milltown Park, he wrote extensively about Ignatian spirituality, including Saint Ignatius speaks about ‘Ignatian prayer’ (St Louis, 1996; published as part of Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits); contributions to three books on the subject; and numerous articles in The Way, Studies, Milltown Studies, Religious Life Review, and The Furrow. In an article (Catholic Herald, 24 Jan. 2003) Anthony Symondson wrote that Joe Veale ‘had a profound understanding of the exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology.’
Joe Veale also wrote several articles for Interfuse, including ‘Eros’ (no. 102, summer/autumn 1999), and the penetrating and timely article ‘Meditations on abuse . . . ’ (Doctrine and Life (May/June 2000)). He died at Loughlinstown hospital, Co. Dublin, 11 October 2002. Joe Veale's integrity and commitment to seeking the truth in all its paradox and complexity obliged him to have an open mind and encouraged a similar aspiration in very many of those who knew him.
Sunday Independent, 10 Nov. 2002; information from Fr Noel Barber, SJ, rector of Milltown Park, Dublin; personal knowledge
◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003
Obituary
Fr Joseph (Joe) Veale (1921-2002)
7th March 1921: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Patrick's, Drumcondra. and CBS Synge Street, Dublin
7th Sept. 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham -Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1946 - 1949: Belvedere - Teacher (Regency)
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park -Studied Theology
31" July 1952: Ordained at Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1962: Gonzaga College - Teacher
1962 - 1963: Sabbatical year
1963 - 1972: Gonzaga - Teacher
1972 - 2002: Milltown Park
1972 - 1973: Assistant Director of Retreat House
1973 - 1976: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown Institute
1976 - 1985: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; giving Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown; Tertian Instructor
1985 - 1986: Sabbatical - work in US and Africa
1986 - 1988: Tertianship Director
1988 - 2002: Writer; Visiting Lecturer in Milltown; Directed Spiritual Exercises in Ireland, Britain and the USA
11th October 2002: Died at St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin
Whilst visiting a friend in Brittas, Co. Wicklow on 27th August, Fr. Joe developed severe abdominal pains. He was brought to hospital, where he underwent an operation to remove adhesions.
He made slow progress after the operation. A week before his death, he suffered a stroke from which he did not recover.
Two reflections on the life of Joe have already appeared in Interfuse (Christmas 2002 and Easter 2003). The following is the homily preached at his Funeral Mass by Noel Barber.
Joe was born in Dublin 81 years ago. He was the younger of two children with a sister who predeceased him. He was brought up in Drumcondra and then in Ranelagh - prophetically, just outside the back gate of what was to become Gonzaga College. He had a lovely memory of his parents: of never seeming to have wanted anything for themselves, of never being elsewhere.
The family were devout, daily Mass-goers and attended the Lenten Sermons in this Church every year. He went to the Christian Brothers' School, Synge Street. He was happy there, performed well, made life long friends, and left with a high regard for the Brothers and for their teaching.
He entered the Jesuit novitiate in September 1938. When he spoke of his years as a Jesuit student, it was clear that they were not particularly happy. He was an introvert, shy, extremely sensitive and did not relish the rough and tumble of community life. He was never the easiest person to live or work with in the community. Be that as it may, throughout his life he obtained his social sustenance not from unselected colleagues but from his chosen friends. Academically, he was excellent. While some may have been superior in intellectual sharpness, in high seriousness he was without equal.
He taught in Belvedere from 1946 to 1949 and was a magnificent teacher. Even eleven year olds sensed something special about him. Those of us whom he then taught can now see that he was not just a teacher doing his task competently and diligently. It was important for him that we should write well, enjoy poetry, grapple with the demands of English grammar: for him these were not mere tasks for 11 year olds, they were the foundations of a humane life. The impact he made on us in those distant days is shown by the number that still kept contact with him. We all carry something of him with us. I still am unable to use the word “very” without a tremor of guilt and without hearing him say, “Very does not strengthen, it weakens the proposition”.
After his Ordination, he was sent to Gonzaga in 1954 where he taught for 18 years. The school was then considered by many, but not by Gonzaga itself, as Belvedere on the south side. It was young, small, perhaps, a little precious. It was a pioneering venture in Irish education, being relatively free from the exam system. As teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator. In those years he won many life-long admirers and friends. In the interest of honesty it must be said that his style alienated a few, and he left a casualty or two on the sideline. I had the good fortune to teach under him for three years. I deeply appreciate what he taught me, and have been ever grateful for his encouragement.
He founded and was in charge of the Gonzaga debating Society. The standard of debating was remarkably high. Participation in the society was an education in itself. On one occasion, I attended a debate against Belvedere on the right to join or not to join a trade union. The Gonzaga team was superb; the Belvedere team, unfortunately, did not approach the debate with Veale-like seriousness and was poor. However from the house there rose a young man who made a witty, irreverent and debunking speech that dragged the debate down to a Belvederian level and swung it in Belvedere's favour. Next morning I asked the great man himself what he thought of the debate. A pained look conveyed that my question was inappropriate. Then he said that the brat who had ruined the debate was going to become a Jesuit. The brat, Bruce Bradley, is concelebrating this Mass.
He exercised a national influence on the teaching of English and was largely responsible for reshaping the English curriculum in Secondary Schools. His widely influential article in Studies in 1957, Men Speechless was a masterpiece in which he made the moral case for Rhetoric and distilled his philosophy and vision of education.
In 1972 he left teaching to study Spirituality, seemingly trading agnostic-leaning adolescents for devout religious. He applied his ability, commitment and seriousness to spirituality as he applied them to his teaching. He became an authority on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Igantius, on the Constitutions of the Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality. He was a highly successful director of Jesuits in their Tertianship, gave conferences and retreats all over the world, was a treasured spiritual director and all the while producing learned articles, all beautifully written. He was a master wordsmith. On Friday, a French review landed on my desk containing a translation of one of his articles.
As a director and counsellor he so cultivated his talent for listening that, it became, with his teaching, his defining characteristic. Many found that listening enormously helpful. I received this letter from a Religious on the day of his death. “Fr. Veale's contribution to the Apostolate of the Spiritual Exercises within my own congregation was immense. His many articles and presentations to audiences around the world bear witness to his wisdom and insight. I am more than grateful than I can state for his friendship, perception, wisdom and encouragement over many years. His interest in the development of my own work in spirituality and theology was a great support. His belief in the work of the Spirit of God within was always life giving". I could quote similar tributes for a long time.
At 81 he was robust and active in writing and directing. I can think of at least two significant recent articles. His room bears witness to work in progress. A small thing, he was making out a new address book. The care that he took with this book was an indication of how much his friends meant to him; I always knew that he meant much to them but in the last weeks the manifestation of this has been overwhelming. The sense of loss expressed by so many underlines the depth of his friendships.
Six weeks ago he walked the strand at Brittas Bay on a beautiful morning with a friend from his Belvedere days, Gerry Donnelly. There is a photo of him taken about an hour before he collapsed. He looks splendid, so young for his years, no sign of the approaching attack. After his operation, there were times when a recovery seemed possible. On several occasions when I visited him, he assured me that he was completely at peace and asked for my blessing. Then came the stroke that swept him away in two days but not without a furious struggle. This was most distressing to observe on that final evening, but how much more distressing it must have been to experience. As so often, the end of life was not splendid, not at all consoling to contemplate. There was the enfeebled body, the confused agitation. These are brute facts but we have to place these facts in the light of Christ's death and resurrection. We believe that when Christ was weakest, most helpless and humiliated, he was at the point of entry into glory. So with Joe Veale; he has moved from his broken state into that place of peace and happiness that was prepared for him from before the foundation of the world. May the good Lord, whom he served so well and at some cost, bless him abundantly.
Interfuse No 114 : Summer 2002
REMEMBERING JOE VEALE
Ross Geoghegan
Ross Geoghegan is Professor of Mathematics at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Author's Note:
I knew Joe Veale and had regular contact with him from the time I was eleven, when he first walked into my classroom in 1954, until shortly before his death in 2002. I also knew his parents slightly as neighbours. In the latter years he would visit my home in Upstate New York - each year for a long weekend. The 2002 visit was to have begun on October 18. I wrote these impressions on the day he died, 11 October 2002. A much shorter version appeared as an appreciation in the Irish Times on November 4, 2002.
In a sense Joe Veale only arrived in the world at the age of 33. Son of a quiet civil servant and a strong mother, he had finished school at Synge Street, and had entered the Jesuits at seventeen. His degree at UCD was in English - he was a contemporary of Benedict Kiely - but as a clerical student in those days his contact with such young literati must have been limited. He taught for three years in the junior school at Belvedere and followed the usual Jesuit studies.
Joe's first assignment was to teach English and Religious Knowledge at Gonzaga, then a new school where the oldest boys were fourteen (a class was being added each year at the bottom as these "big boys" grew up.) Gonzaga was being touted as an experiment in education. It was to follow a modern version of the old Jesuit ratio studiorum. The school would emphasize Latin and Greek over science, and the boys would take the UCD matriculation in their Fifth Year, thus freeing them for more liberal studies in their Sixth. They would not sit for the Leaving Certificate. These were the general ideas of its very little in the way of an educational philosophy behind the plan. It fell largely to him to fill the vacuum.
In his view the main purpose of education was to make people think and ask questions, even dangerous questions, about why things are as they are, how things might be made better, who benefits from the present set-up and who does not. And along with this was the need to be articulate, so that education was also about learning to speak well and write well. Gonzaga was a relatively expensive school and many of the boys came from well-to-do families. While he did not usually challenge the culture and complacency of upper middle class Dublin explicitly, his encouragement of formal and informal debate challenged the boys to think about their own privileged place in society, He was in fact trying to instil broader ambitions than successful entry into professional clubby Dublin life. He wanted these boys to make a difference, to become leaders who would create a better and more just society. Thus he was seen by critics as a slightly subversive teacher. Not all parents liked what he was doing, especially when a few impressionable boys took his ideas overboard. And indeed not all boys liked it. But in that period Joe acquired a cadre of friends among the boys who would remain his friends for life.
Joe always claimed that he saw little difference between English class and Religious Knowledge class. The latter was interpreted broadly: besides the entirely orthodox official curriculum, he introduced sociology and philosophy at a level which was a challenge to teenagers. Since there were no textbooks for this he wrote his own on densely typed foolscap handouts. In English, he was stern, sometimes almost harsh, in his criticisms of the boys' school essays. He supplemented the official curriculum with authors he admired. In the late fifties he was introducing the older boys to Chaucer, Hopkins and T S Eliot, had them read Cardinal Newman on education, V S Pritchett and F R Leavis on style. At the onset of the Lemass period he believed that economics was THE subject to study. J. period he believed that economics was THE subject to study, J. K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society, had just come out and Joe was recommending it to any boys with the stamina to read it.
This had lasting effect in certain cases.
In those formative years Joe made only one foray into public life. An article entitled "Men Speechless" which he published in Studies in 1957 was influential in educational circles. Later he became a leading figure in the Association of English Teachers and he played a role in the reform of the Department of Education's English curriculum, but that was near the end of his teaching career.
By the early seventies he had burned out, and wanted to leave teaching. The system of university entrance was being changed and there would be no room for the liberal Sixth Year at Gonzaga any more. He moved to Milltown Park and found a new kind of work within the Jesuits as a serious student, eventually a scholar, of Ignatian spirituality. His admiration for what was called the caritas discreta of Ignatius was boundless. I remember him using that phrase in a conversation in 1964; it was clear his serious study of Ignatius had already begun by then. Within the specialized world of people - mostly clerics – willing and able to follow the Spiritual Exercises in their full thirty-day form Joe became a famous director. His articles on Ignatian thought were widely read in those circles, and he was in demand for direction, retreat-giving and panel participation in Britain, Africa and North America. For the rest of his life he was abroad for about half of each year. Indeed, in his last ten years Boston College became his second home and the place where he seemed happiest.
Many of those whose spiritual lives he directed were nuns, and he developed an acute sympathy, even anger, for the way these women had been treated by the Church. Eventually, this anger extended to the treatment of male religious as well. In the awful scandals of child-abusing priests Joe saw one silver lining: he hoped for the collapse of what he called the "Cardinal Cullen Church" (though he did not wish the collapse to be confined to Ireland). He longed for a different kind of Church - communities of faith rooted in the gospels, caring and alive, respectful of all. He wrote a passionate article in Doctrine and Life two years ago about what the experience of religious life was often like: bleak and loveless. He felt this might explain things which could not be excused, but he blamed the hierarchical, narrow-minded and philistine culture of the Church's leadership, both in Ireland and worldwide, for creating this religious hell. He wrote about “private pain ... loneliness ... isolation ... the desert in the heart ... self-hatred ... rage ... having no say in the disposition of one's own life ... the longing for human contact ... touch ... the ache for tenderness and gentleness”. It puzzled him that this article was received in near total silence - even by most of his fellow Jesuits.
At the core of Joe's later thinking was the importance of reflecting on one's own experience. To a layman this seems obvious but in a different time Joe had to find his way there. He often said that the spiritual training he received as a young man was focused on dogma and method; drawing lessons from one's own experience was considered spiritually dangerous and inadmissible in a man of prayer.
Joe's Catholicism appears to have been wholly centered on Christ and the Mass. Whatever his private prayer life may have been, I cannot remember his ever admitting to any "devotion" - not to a saint, not to the Virgin Mary. (His admiration for Ignatius was not a devotion in that pious sense.) Indeed, as Joe got older he became interested in meditation and spirituality, wherever they were to be found, outside as well as inside Christianity. He held Islam in high regard, especially admiring its public prayer. At a conference in America on the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditation he argued the (unpopular?) view that the gulf between the West and the East was such that “we do not know whether what they are doing and what we are doing are the same or different”. But to Joe the fundamental divide in the world was between those who pray and those who do not. He gleefully described meeting an African Moslem at a party in New Delhi who somehow recognized Joe as another member of that tiny minority who pray - perhaps the only other one in the room.
In his later years Joe enjoyed the little luxuries of food and wine. He invented two cocktails - the Westminster Cathedral and the Westminster Abbey, the second a watered down version of the first. He once told this to Cardinal Hume who appeared either bemused or not amused. For Joe this reaction added to the fun of telling the story.
Joe Veale died at 81, but he never seemed old to his friends. There was always a new idea, a new discovery, a new journey, a new experience. There was so much more he wanted to do.
POSTSCRIPT:
This was not in the original article but, since I am writing for Joe's fellow Irish Jesuits, I have decided to include it. It's an extract from a letter I wrote to another of Joe's close friends - a contemporary of mine - in September 2000. I'll quote my letter precisely as I wrote it then:
An interesting and enjoyable weekend visit from Joe Veale. He's in great form and excellent health for a man who will be EIGHTY in early March. He was a little more forthcoming, though not much, about a memoir he is writing on what it was like to be a celibate cleric in Ireland :in the thirties and the forties and the fifties and the sixties and the sixties and the sixties and the seventies and the eighties and the nineties” (stet - that's exactly how he put it). Whether the world will get to see this memoir I don't know. He says he'll leave a copy with his Provincial when he dies. The P. can do with it what he likes. I think certain others may get a copy - perhaps one other... Last year I asked him if he would show it to me and was told most certainly not. This year he showed me a two-page extract. Everything with Joe is a bit breathless, and as you can imagine the extract wasn't as shocking as the billing had led me to expect. It was an interesting few paragraphs, not on celibacy itself but on the feeling of self-worthlessness that he experienced as a young man as a result of receiving no praise from his superiors for his efforts as a teacher. I'm talking about his Belvedere days. He admits he developed self-confidence during the years we were taught by him. His written description of what this was like is dignified but rather sad for what it said about the monstrously unloving male institutions of the time. It starts, “I have been asked what could be meant by ‘By the year 1954 when I was assigned to teach in Gonzaga College my feeling of unworth was almost complete’”.
Interfuse No 115 : Easter 2003
A MAN WHO EMBODIED THE SPIRIT OF ST IGNATIUS : Joe Veale
Anthony Symnondson
Anthony is a member of the British Province. He wrote this article originally for the Catholic Herald, January 24, 2003. It is reprinted here with permission.
Four of the happiest years of my life were spent in Dublin in 1991-5. I was sent to study at the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Ranelagh and lived in the Jesuit community. Ireland was an entirely new and captivating experience. I regarded myself as a foreigner living overseas in a strange, unfamiliar land and made a resolution never to discuss politics, or jump to simplistic conclusions, and see as much of Ireland as possible.
This is a solipsistic start to a tribute to a valued friend, but Fr Joseph Veale SJ, would have appreciated a context and he did much to make me feel welcome. We occupied rooms on the same corridor and although he was shy and retiring and was rarely to be found sparkling at a haustus, we quickly came to know each other. He was insecure in large groups and sometimes found community life trying. Joe's hallmarks were an attractive and unforced holiness, discipline, humanity, and wide culture. He embodied the spirit of St Ignatius at its best and most authentic.
Joe came from a generation that usually entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus through Jesuit schools. He was born in Dublin in 1921 and was educated at the Christian Brothers' School in Synge Street. He joined the Society at the age of seventeen in 1938. When he taught as a scholastic at Belvedere College his pupils noticed how much kinder and more approachable he was than some others who had come through the system. This was a characteristic that never left him resulted in vocations.
Joe was an inspired schoolmaster and spent eighteen years teaching at Gonzaga College on the South Side of Dublin. He believed that expression was more important than exams, and approached his pupils with high seriousness ameliorated by an interest in the individual. Fr Noel Barber, the Rector of Milltown, who had himself been taught by him at Belvedere, said at his funeral: “As a teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision, and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, , and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator”.
Joe believed that the demands of English grammar were not mere tasks but the foundation of a humane life. He contributed to the reform of the Irish Department of Education's English curriculum. I owe him an unexpected debt. Although I had written for years, I was never much good at it. I had composed a dense article for the Irish Arts Review and, after it had been censored by Fr Fergus O'Donoghue, he suggested I showed it to Joe. When it was returned it was transformed, covered in corrections in red ink with helpful notes in the margin, and two pages of analysis showing where I had gone wrong and how it could be improved. It was turned from a tedious slab of detail into prose. I don't know how the spell worked, but from then onwards I realised that I had been taught to write.
In 1972 Joe moved to research and writing in the Spiritual Exercises and the Jesuit Constitutions and he lectured in spirituality at the Milltown Institute. This was not merely an academic exercise but came to embody some of the most valuable work of his life. Joe was a realist and would not undertake tasks that were beyond his powers. If he discovered that he had done so, his professionalism led him to put them aside. He had a profound understanding of the Exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology. It is planned to found a lectureship in spirituality in the Institute and publish two volumes of selected works in spirituality and culture. They deserve a wide circulation.
Joe was much sought as a friend, confessor, spiritual director and retreat conductor, and he gave the Exercises all over the world. He was an encourager and had the rare gift of investing others with a sense of personal value. But he had few illusions, and wrote and directed with unusual honesty. In a penetrating article published in Doctrine and Life at the height of the abuse scandals in the Irish Church, he controversially lifted the curtain on some diminishing characteristics of the religious life that he had perceived and experienced in his own life and that of others. “Can we imagine, just imagine, what private pain may have been rooted in a complex of loneliness, of isolation, of having no human being to relate to, the desert in the heart, the language of self-denial that twisted into self abasement, the self-hatred, the conviction of worthlessness, the unattended guilt, the rage at being done to, the having no say in the disposition of one's own life, the indignities of impersonal rule, the comfort of dependency that could suddenly reverse into angry rebellion, the living environment that was Spartan, the lack of amenity, the walls denuded of beauty, the 'spiritual' assumptions that dehumanised? And the longing for human contact for touch, for talk, for being listened to, the unavailability of spiritual direction, the ache for tenderness or gentleness?” Only a man open to God could make such admissions. Joe's holiness was forged by the cross. It gave him empathy with others similarly afflicted, and offered hope.
None of this struggle showed outwardly. He enjoyed the theatre and the cinema and could draw metaphysical themes from the unlikeliest sources. He was a delightful companion on expeditions. He looked forward to his annual visits to Boston College where he was eagerly expected. At the end of his life he discovered Africa and India, and was, hopefully, inspired by their vigorous Catholic life. Joe did not grow old. Christ shone through him, and his influence is lasting.
Walsh, James, 1824-1881, Jesuit priest
Born: 10 August 1824, Inistioge, County Kilkenny
Entered: 28 August 1854, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1864
Final vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 14 October 1881, Chicago IL, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Part of the St Gall's Church, Sycamore Street, Milwaukee WI, USA community at the time of death
Walshe, James Gerald, 1841-1913, Jesuit priest
Born: 11 November 1841, Ballinakill, County Laois
Entered: 15 October 1862, Roehampton, London (Anglia Province for Misouriana Province (ANG for MIS))
Ordained: 1873, Woodstock, Maryland, USA
Final Vows: 15 August 1876
Died: 22 April 1913, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin - Misouriana Province (MIS)
by 1886 came to Milltown (HIB) as Minister, Procurator and in charge of Church
◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Carlow College and he went from there to Roehampton.
He went to work in the Missouri Province where he taught successfully in the Colleges and he was Ordained at Woodstock.
After Ordination he continued teaching in the Colleges, and was then appointed Rector of Detroit College.
1883 He visited Father General, and a year or two later came to Ireland.
He was first appointed as Minister for a year at Milltown.
He was finally sent to Gardiner St, where he remained until his death there 22 April 1913. His death came with great sadness. he had been actively engaged in his duties until 18/04, when symptoms of pneumonia developed, and he died very peacefully on 22 April.
He was a most assiduous and earnest worker. He was devoted to the Confessional and the Men’s Sodality. He also had charge of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, and was beloved by all classes, especially the working men. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was his dearest work. He also took charge of the Apostleship of Prayer and faithfully preached to its members every First Friday.
During twenty-eight years at Gardiner St he constantly urged daily Communion, and as the people declared, he was ahead of the Pope in promoting this. I addition to all this work he was a great worker for charity, and was largely responsible for instituting the famous “Penny Dinners”. Week after week he went round the houses looking after any absent members of his Sodality.
Some 500 men gave up half a day of pay to attend his funeral, at which they marched four deep. When the grave was closed the choir of the Men’s Confraternity and the Benedictus. Indeed one of the chief singers in that group caught a chill there and died the following week.
The following telegram was received from Patrick Brady MP at the House of Commons, who was one of his Penitents :
“Heartfelt sympathy with you and your community on the death of my loved friend Father Walshe. - Patrick Brady.”
Note from James Fottrell Entry :
He also succeeded James Walshe as Manager of the Penny Dinners.
◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father James G Walshe SJ 1841-1913
Fr James G Walshe was born in County Laois on November 11th 1841. He received his early education at Carlow College, whence he passed to Roehampton in 1862. He joined the Missouri Province of the Society where he ultimately became Rector of Detroit College.
He visited Fr General in 1883, and a year or so later, he came to the Irish Province. His life in Ireland was spent in Gardiner Street. There, his great work was the propagation of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, directing the Apostleship of Prayer and giving the Holy Hour on the 1st Fridays. During 28 years he spent in Gardiner Street he constantly urged daily Communion, long before the practice was promulgated by St Pius X.
Besides all these works, he was an ardent worker for charity, and was largely responsible for the establishment of that admirable institution “The Penny Dinners”. Week after week he went the round of the houses looking for absent members of his great Sodality.
He fell sick on April 18th, developed pneumonia and died peacefully on April 22nd 1913. Some 500 men gave up their half-day’s pay to attend his funeral, at which they marched four deep.
Walshe, John D, 1847-1930, Jesuit priest
Born: 18 March 1847, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
Entered: 13 April 1873, Milltown Park, Dublin (HIB for TAUR) - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained 28 August 1886, Woodstock College MD, USA
Final vows: 02 February 1891
Died: 21 October 1930, San José, CA USA - Californiae Province (CAL)
Transcribed HIB to TAUR: 1874; TAUR to CAL: 1909
Ward, Eugene Aloysius, 1906-1976, Jesuit priest
Born: 15 November 1906, St Brigid’s Road Upper, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 November 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1976, Our Lady of Victories, Floral Park, New York NY, USA
Unlce of Séamus - RIP 2011
Father was a retired publican who died in 1914. Family residing at Richmond Road, Drumcondra, Dublin
Second youngest of seven boys with four sisters.
Early education at a National School, he went to O’Connell’s School, Dublin (1918-1924). he got a City of Dublin University Scholarship and completed 1st Arts and Commerce at UCD before entry
by 1933 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1973 at Hoylake MA, USA (NEN) working
by 1976 at Floral Park NY, USA (NEB) working
◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Eugene Ward, S.J.
R.I.P.
Who taught in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, in the early 1930s, died recently in the U.S.A., aged 69. Even after four decades, some elderly gentlemen will remember the energy and personal interest with which he overwhelmed them long ago.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 13 February 1976
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 51st Year No 2 1976
Obituary :
Fr Eugene Ward (1906-1976)
Eugene Ward will always be remembered by his contemporaries and friends as a man of tremendous energy and of boundless zeal for souls. He was a born organiser. He was one of the group of scholastics who were the last to study Philosophy in Milltown Park before the transfer of the Philosophate to Tullabeg in 1930. During that year in Milltown Eugene was treasurer of the Ricci Mission Unit founded a year or so before by Frs C Daly, N Roche and Dick Harris. Needless to say the Unit proved a marvellous springboard for Eugene's organising activities. When our coming departure for Tullabeg was officially announced, the problem of transposing the Ricci Mission Unit and its effects arose. Eugene, of course, had a master plan. I, the secretary, was sent into Gardiner Street to see Fr Provincial to ask leave to go by car (a most unusual and unheard of thing in those days), in two stages, first to Roscrea monastery on Saturday; stop the night there and proceed to Tullabeg on Sunday, I remember well Fr Fahy’s beetling eyebrows moving up and down as he said to me, “You may go, but only on one condition - that you do not stop there”.
Then followed two happy years in the Bog (Tullabeg). Grim according to modern standards but happy, with our sketches on Feast Days and plays at Christmas; great villa days on Thursdays, out in the boats on the canal and rivers, to Pollagh, Three Rivers, Shannon Harbour and further.
At the conclusion of the Philosophical Course, Eugene put his zeal into practice and departed to our foreign mission in Hong Kong, where he had full outlet for his missionary spirit but for reasons of health (he was plagued all his life with stomach trouble though physically of great vigour), he never returned to the mission after his tertianship in Rathfarnham, For the rest of his hard-working life he was assigned to pastoral work, Retreats and Missions. His spell in Rathfarnham as Director of Retreats easily compared with that of Fr Barrett, the founder. He built up into a very effective organisation the Knights of Loyola, a lay group dedicated to help the Retreat House.
For five years he was operarius in St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, where he lived up to his reputation for work and drive as preacher, confessor and director of Sodalities. His talents as Retreat House Director were again called upon in Manresa Retreat House, where he refurbished the old stables and made them into rooms, and thereby increased the accommodation for Retreatants. After Manresa he spent the rest of his life on the Retreat Staff, with special attention to the Apostleship of Prayer, Our Lady's Sodality and the Blessed Sacrament Crusade, the latter which he worked up very effectively in colleges, schools and institutions throughout the country. During these years of ceaseless work, he had at various times serious illnesses sometimes involving surgery, but they never seemed to sap his energy, though in appearance he grew rather gaunt and emaciated. Finally, in 1971 he went to the United States to fill a need of the diocese of Springfield, Mass. He served at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, Long Island, and also teaching Philosophy at the College of Our Lady of the Elms, Holyoke, Mass. Before Christmas he grew mortally ill and died on January 20th, 1976. He was 50 years in the Society and 37 years a priest.
Eugene was first, last and foremost an apostolic priest who spent his life working for souls. It is no mere pious cliché to say of him that he passed to his Maker, a Jesuit full of merit leaving behind him in Ireland, England, Hong Kong and the States very very many who thank God for his help and ministrations.
“Euge, euge, serve bone et fidelis, intra in gaudium Domini tui”.
Ward, Patrick, 1830-1901, Jesuit priest
Born: 31 July 1830, County Donegal
Entered: 21 October 1859, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1868
Final vows: 15 August 1875
Died: 17 December 1901, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ward, Séamus, 1935-2011, Jesuit priest
Born: 31 May 1935, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1953, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 10 July 1968, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1975, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street
Died: 22 February 2011, St Mary Star of the Sea, Key West, Florida, USA
Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death
Nephew of Eugene - RIP 1976
Father was a businessman.
Second of six boys with two sisters.
Educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square for six years and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ for six years.
by 1971 at USF San Francisco, USA (CAL) studying
by 1972 at St Michael’s Bronx NY, USA (NEB) studying
◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/seamus-ward-rip/
Seamus Ward RIP
Seamus Ward SJ passed away in Florida yesterday, 22 February. He was staying at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. Earlier, he had had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broken his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O’Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and Eoghan, a nephew of Seamus, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Criost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in Christ’s Peace!
https://www.jesuit.ie/news/burying-seamie-2/
Burying Seamie
There was something astonishing about the obsequies of Fr Seamus Ward, whose death was reported in the last AMDG Express. Within the Irish Province he had a low profile,
partly because of his wretched health. He had taught in Bolton Street DIT, and served the Jesuit Refugee Service in Africa. Fr Tom Layden wrote of his “pioneering spirit, inquiring mind and independence of outlook”: a kind man, with an attitude of welcome and encouragement for those around him. He worked out of weakness, a real pastoral asset with which people could identify. His two funerals, one in Florida where he served a parish, the other in Gonzaga chapel, were memorable events, crowded with his kith and kin and friends who loved him and grieved deeply. In death as in life Seamus could spring a surprise.
◆ Interfuse No 145 : Summer 2011 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2011
Obituary
Fr Séamus (Seamie) Ward (1935-2011)
31st May 1935: Born in Dublin
Early education at Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1953: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1955: First Vows at Emo
1955 - 1958: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1958 - 1961: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1961 - 1964: Belvedere College - Teacher
1964 - 1968: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
10th July 1968: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1968 - 1969: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1969 - 1970: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1970 - 1972: Fordham, USA-Studied Sociology; Assisted in Holy Family Parish, NY
1972 - 1974: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1974 - 1978: John Austin House - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
2nd February 1975: Final Vows
1978 - 1979: Campion House - Chaplain in DIT
1979 - 1982: Rathfarnham - Curate in Wicklow parish
1982 - 1985: Dolphin's Barn - Parish Curate
1985 - 1986: Clongowes - Sabbatical year
1986 - 1988: Clongowes - Assistant Librarian
1988 - 1989: Ethiopia - Jesuit Refugee Service
1989 - 1991: Belvedere College - Refugee work: Cairo, JRS Rome and Ethiopia
1991 - 1992: Working with refugees in Sierra Leone and Somalila
1992 - 1994: Working with refugees in Mali
1994 - 2005: Belvedere College - Pastoral care of refugees.
2005 - 2011: Milltown Park - Parish Chaplaincy, USA
22nd February 2011: Died in Florida USA
Fr Seamus was at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. He had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broke his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and a nephew of Seamus’, Eoghan, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Críost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.
Obituary by Brendan Duddy and Noel Barber
Seamie Ward was one of 8 children. He had 5 brothers and 2 sisters who were at the heart of his life. He had a marvellous relationship with his siblings and with their children. I got to know him during our time in UCD. When I arrived in Rathfarnham, he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. The regime was tight and he found the rules of the house somewhat oppressive but he did not take them too seriously. We all felt that we did not have enough time for study; most of us accepted this state of affairs but he did not. He would put his umbrella over his bedside lamp and read through Troilus and Cressida into the night. Serious would have been his fate had he been caught. While others dutifully made off on bikes on special free days, he usually had other ideas, bringing me on one occasion to the Shelbourne Hotel where his father awaited us and ordered toast in a magnificent silver bowl and coffee laced with brandy.
In days when it was presumed that one had to avoid any reading of material that was not 'wholesome', he had the nerve to borrow Joyce's Ulysses in the ritual brown paper bag which the kind librarian passed surreptitiously under the counter, On more regular lines he introduced me to O'Casey's plays and to Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. He took a good degree in English, enjoyed the literary delights that were on offer and ignored what was not to his taste. There was an iconoclastic side to him which to some looked as if he saw all authority as authoritarian. There was a shyness which he concealed with a brusqueness that could be disconcerting but he was true gold as a friend. Philosophy in Tullabeg followed where the isolated life did not entirely suit him and literature rather than philosophy captured his interest but doing what was necessary he got through without much effort albeit with little joy but used his time to indulge his literary tastes and to make many excursions, licit and illicit. I then went to Zambia and he to Belvedere where an observer noted that he showed remarkable administrative talents as an assistant to the Prefect of Studies, the formidable Jack Leonard, whose approval and fulsome praise he won. He proved to be a severe disciplinarian and an exacting task master who exercised his authority with a firm hand. However, he won the admiration of the pupils if not their lasting affection. It was noticeable that a number of middle aged men turned up to his funeral – his former pupils from his Belvedere days; they remembered him with something approaching reverence.
His years in Theology were not entirely happy and a contemporary of his considered that his attitude towards authority hardened and he ended up asking to have his ordination postponed to the end of his fourth year. Following his Tertianship in 1968-69 he spent one year in the Dublin Institute of Theology, Bolton Street, before going to Fordham where he took an MA in Sociology. He then returned to Bolton Street where he remained until 1979. I worked with him there and once again he was my mentor and guide. He introduced me to all sorts of people: porters, sweepers, electricians, cooks, his friends in Sean Mc Dermot Street where I became life-long friends with his friends. With these people he was Newman's Perfect Gentleman at ease with all and generous with his time and energy to a fault. He took particular care of foreign students helping them to find their feet. He then spent 3 years (1979-82) as a curate in Wicklow. There he was wonderful with the children, the old folks and with pre-marriage couples. For recreation he took to the joys of sailing, most often with his brother. He moved to Dolphin's Barn in 1982 where he had three not very happy years. He became somewhat restless and spent a few years in Clongowes during which he was unfocused and dispirited.
Then he opened up a new life for himself with the Jesuit Refugee Service from 1988 to 1994. He served in Cairo, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Mali. A person who knew him well in his JRS days commented on his remarkable ability to live in the most austere circumstances, and to accept the hardship and isolation of his assignments without complaint, his great love and devotion to the poor and the weak and the excessive physical demands he made on himself. On the other hand it was noted that for one of his ability and sterling work he lacked self-confidence to a surprising degree and showed that below the surface there could be strong anger which would occasionally flare.
In 1994 he returned to live in Belvedere as a sick man in the grip of severe emphysema but he found a modus vivendi. To avoid the wet, cold Irish winter he began to do supply parish work in California and then Florida where he flourished as he did in Wicklow years before. He devoted himself to the poor and the weak; he gave of his time and people took the chance to pour out their hearts to him and he listened, gave sound advice and became the wise old man.
In the midst of his successful apostolate, he had a fall, went into hospital where, because of his underlying condition, an operation was out of the question. Inevitably he took a bad turn and died quietly and peacefully. As a Jesuit, he was not prominent and was never well known in the Province but despite his difficult middle years and the poor health of his later years he achieved a great deal at the frontiers.
Welsh, John J, 1816-1885, Jesuit brother
Born: 31 December 1816, Thomastown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 23 November 1849, St John’s College, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 11 February 1860
Died: 06 June 1885, St Vincent’s Hospital, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Part of the St Mary’s, Boston MA, USA community at the time of death
White, William, 1912-1988, Jesuit priest, teacher and counsellor
Born: 02 December 1912, Kickham Street, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 13 July 1988, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin
Part of the Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin community at the time of death
Parents were shopkeepers and farmers.
Oldest of three boys with three sisters.
Early education at the Mercy Convent, Carrick-on-Suir he then went to Christian Brothers School also in Carrick-on-Suir (1921-1928). In September 1928 he went to Mungret College SJ
by 1972 at Manhassett NY, USA (NEB) studying marriage
Prefect of Studies at Gonzaga, College SJ, Dublin: 1950 -1965
Rector of Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin: 1965 - 1971
Director of Marriage Encounter: 1974 - 1982
Superior of Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin: 1985 - 1988
Whyte, Richard, 1824-1891, Jesuit priest
Born: 17 November 1824, Dunbell, County Kilkenny
Entered: 25 January 1855, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained: 1862
Final Vows:15 August 1875
Died: 14 July 1891, Xavier College, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Came to HIB in 1869 to 1871 at Milltown Park and Clongowes
Wolfe, Maurice, 1840-1905, Jesuit priest
Born: 27 December 1840, Finuge, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 24 July 1861, Lyon, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1873
Final Vows: 15 August 1882
Died: 24 September 1905, Grand Coteau, Louisiana, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Came to Clongowes 1879-1884
Request for transfer from the Lyons Province to the Irish Province (1878 - 1882).