Born: 11 July 1884, Ballivor, County Meath
Entered: 09 October 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 17 July 1965, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 40th Year No 4 1965

Obituary :

Br James Priest SJ

Brother James Priest died on 17th July, 1965, in his 82nd year, having spent over fifty-eight years as Sacristan in the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick. Such a long unbroken service in the same house must surely be almost unique in the Irish Province. He came to the Crescent in the year 1906, three years before the Jubilee Year, and survived the Centenary Year (1959) by six years.
Brother Priest was a man of remarkably strong physique. In his younger days, in addition to his duties in the sacristy, and his occupations in the house - for in the early and lean years he also personally superintended the buying for the community needs he energetically and profitably tended a garden (known locally as Br. Priest's garden) to provide a constant supply of flowers for the altar; and then by way of recreation he played handball and cycled the countryside with his “collectors” and the boys of the College. And when in his declining years he suffered constantly and patiently from a multiplicity of severe and trying ailments, his great physical strength pulled him through; and though regarded for many years as a critical “heart case”, he nevertheless baffled the physicians, and lingered on for a considerable time after medical opinion had predicted the end..
Brother Priest was a man wholly dedicated to his job. To keep the Church spotlessly clean, to care for and renew and replace the vestments and altar linen, to decorate with great taste the altar for the ordinary and solemn occasions, to promote the various Church services and provide for their smooth and efficient running, he cheerfully gave his wholehearted and unflagging attention for over half a century.
In his hey-day he was immensely popular with the boys of the College, especially those who were Mass Servers, who loved him for his friendliness, his interest, his good humour, and no less for his pranks and eccentricities. This affection on the part of the boys continued through the years long after they had left school, and no social gathering of the Past was complete without the honoured presence of Brother Priest. Past pupils from distant and foreign parts regularly corresponded with him or came to visit him, and in many letters from the Past to other members of the Community over all those years, almost without exception, there was an interested and affectionate inquiry for “Priesty”.
But even to a still wider circle of friends - the patrons of the Sacred Heart Church - the name of Brother Priest was a house hold word, and he was held in affectionate esteem both by the dwellers in the more pretentious quarters of the city, and by the humble folk in the lanes and alleys. They came to him on their joyful occasions and they came to him with their troubles, their needs and their gifts - gifts of flowers, candles, Church ornaments, material for vestments, altar wine, oil for the sanctuary lamps, money and many other things. And curiously too, among these many benefactors there could be found quite a few non-Catholics, for long before the recent ecumenical movement had broken down a cautious reserve, Brother Priest extended his friendship and his charity to all classes and creeds.
Any account of Brother Priest would not be complete without reference to the curious admixture of opposing elements in his make-up which made him somewhat of a “character”. Side by side with very obvious shrewdness, astuteness, common sense and knowledge of the world, there was to be found a homely simplicity, naivety and unction which one might rather be inclined to associate with a sheltered and cloistered way of life. Again, an almost obsequious declaration of submission to authority went hand in hand, with the disposing of events according to a very definite preconceived plan. As was said of him in public on one occasion by one of his great admirers : “We all know that Brother Priest is a rogue, but what a lovable one!”
At bottom, however, Brother Priest was a solidly pious and obedient man, who laboured unceasingly and devotedly for his Master. He had a one-track mind in the best sense of that expression, and associated himself completely with anything connected with Devotion to the Sacred Heart in the first Church in Ireland to be dedicated under that title. During his life he won the acclaim and esteem of his numerous friends and they mourned his passing in no uncertain manner. The great pile of Mass Cards, the large numbers who attended his obsequies, were a moving tribute to the regard in which he was held. May he rest in peace

Born: 31 July 1823, Ballivor, County Meath
Entered: 15 October 1840, Turnoi, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 21 May 1853, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1860
Died: 17 December 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1851 at Laval France (FRA) studying theology

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Born to an old Catholic family.

After his Noviceship at St Acheul, he studied Philosophy and Theology at Laval.
He was Ordained 21 May 1853 by Dr Paul Cullen Archbishop of Dublin
1860-1870 He was appointed for a long reign as Rector of Clongowes. (August 1860 to 21 July 1870), having already spent years there as a Teacher and Minister.
1872 He became Minister at Tullabeg.
He was then sent to teach at Belvedere and he suffered from some health issues.
1880 From 1880 he lived at Milltown until his death there.
1883 He was appointed Procurator of the Province, a post he held until within a few years of his death, and he was succeeded by Thomas Wheeler.
1884-1889 He was Rector of Milltown.
He was also Socius to the Provincial for some years, and acted as Vice-Provincial when the then Provincial John Conmee went as Visitor to Australia.
The last years of his life were spent as a Hospital Chaplain at the Hospital for the Incurables.
He died at Milltown 17 December 1916, aged 93.
He was often referred to as the “Patriarch of the Province”. he was a remarkably pious man, and daily Mass was everything for him.
Father Browne is “Father Kincaird” of “Schoolboys Three” (by William Patrick Kelly, published 1895 and set in Clongowes).

Note from Joseph O’Malley Entry :
He made his Noviceship in France with William Kelly, and then remained there for studies with Eugene Browne and Edmund Hogan

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Eugene Browne 1823-1916
Fr Eugene Browne had the distinction of being Rector of Clongowes for 10 years, from 1860-1870. Born in Ballivor County Meath, he entered the Society in 1840, and he made his noviceship and sacred studies at Laval in France.

He became Procurator of the Province and Rector of Milltown from 1884-1889. He afterwards acted as Socius to the Provincial, as as Vice Provincial during the absence of Fr Conmee in Australia. He had a useful life of administration which had the hallmark of success in his popularity with all members of the Province.

During the last years of his life, he was very faithful in his attendance on the sick in the Incurables.

He died on December 17th 1916.