Born: 23 February 1805, Borrisokane, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1836, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Professed: 02 February 1851
Died: 09 October 1884, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 27 July 1894, Terryglass, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1927, Redemptorist Monastery, Pennant Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died: 27 December 1933, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia - Australiae Province

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Father was a constable in the RIC and died in 1908. Mother died in 1903.

He is fourth of five boys and there are two girls.

Educated at Terryglass NS for 8 years and then he went to Mungret College SJ

by 1923 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He Entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg in 1912.

1914-1918 He was a Junior at Rathfarnham Castle
1918-1920 He was sent teaching to Mungret College Limerick for Regency
1920-1921 He was sent to teach Philosophy at Milltown Park
1921-1924 He was sent to Australia due to ill health with TB and he was sent to Xavier College Kew as Prefect of Discipline and a Teacher
1924-1925 He spent a little time caring for his health at a hospital in the Blue Mountains
1925-1931 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview. The Rector there at the time was William Lockington and he tried to take him in hand endeavouring to effect a cure, and not entirely in vain. At first he was engaged in trying to get enough Theology to be Ordained, which did take place at the Redemptorist Monastery, Pennant Hills on 15 August 1927. He undertook various activities in Prefecting, and in 1930 it was hoped that he might be appointed First Prefect, but this was too much for him. His students appreciated him for his interest in them and his gentleness and kindness. In 1931 he suffered a relapse and was sent to Sevenhill.

He bore his physical sufferings with much resignation

He had a fine mind and showed himself to be a strong and balanced character, with a shrewd and kindly discernment, a wide sympathy and genuine spirituality. He was a quiet and sensitive man, urbane, affectionate and selfless, compassionate and warm and one of nature’s gentlemen.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 2 1934
Obituary :
Father James Farrell

Mr. G. Ffrench, who knew Father Farrell intimately, has kindly sent us the following :
Father Farrell was born 27th July, 1894. He came first into touch with our people when, in 1908, he went to Mungret from his home in Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary.
School friends remember him as taking a full part in the life of the School, prominent at work, in games in the plays. Here as everywhere, he was liked by everyone. He was a Sodalist and became Prefect of the junior Apostolics. In 1912 he began his noviceship in Tullabeg, and in 1914 passed on to Rathfarnham, where he did a year's rhetoric previous to attending the University for three years. He took a classical degree, won prizes, and was the first to preach at the Castle the Latin sermon on St. john Chrysostom. He returned to Mungret in 1918, taught there for two years, and in 1920 was on the status for Philosophy at Milltown. However, the lung trouble, which eventually carried him off, had appeared, so a period of rest at Petworth and private study were decided on.
The hoped for improvement was not shown, and in 1921 he went to Australia. He never came home, but during his long absence never lost touch with his contemporaries. He wrote long, bright letters, full of humour, even in the last weeks of his life.
During his thirteen years in Australia he managed, despite some relapses, not only to complete his priestly studies, but to do valued work in the Colleges. In 1924, 1926 and 1931 were more periods in hospital or the Blue Mountains. His active service consisted in being II Div. Prefect in Xavier in 1922 and 1923, Prefect in Studley Hall for a time in 1925, III Div. Prefect in Riverview for the second half of 1928, I Div. Prefect there for the two years 1929, 1930. For the rest of the time he was mostly in Riverview studying privately and doing some light work in the school.
He was ordained on August 15th, 1947, by the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cattaneo, at Pennant Hills, the Redemptorist theologate, near Sydney. A serious relapse at the end of 1930 sent him again to the Blue Mountains, whence after a year, he went to Sevenhills. But the last decline had set in, and after lingering for two years, unable to say Mass in the last months, he died on December 27th, 1933. Such was his life.
Given health and the opportunities normal in the Society, Father Farrell, with his fine mind, his strong and balanced character, his discernment shrewd and kindly, his wide sympathy, his genuine spirituality would have done rare work for God. One is apt to estimate him, like all men whose gifts are largely frustrated, by what he would have done in other circumstances. There is no need to do so. Merely to have borne his physical sufferings with resignation would have been a life not lived in vain. To have made one's way through philosophy and theology to the priesthood without the usual helps and in infirmity to have, furthermore, lent an ever willing always capable hand where help was needed, would have been a stewardship many would have been glad to account for. To have done all this with a disregard of self that was utter, with no suggestion of the extraordinary, still less of the heroic or of the tragic with an exquisite simplicity, with the cheerfulness of a boy, with the courage of a man - that is what Jimmy Farrell did. That is why his brethren gave him their affection, his superiors their trust, his boys their reverence.
And they did revere him. The seniors were old enough to suspect how much all he did for them was costing him. He was popular and had good order. Even the younger boys felt “he was too decent a man to muck-up on”. One of his boys wrote of “his gentleness and kindliness.........He was always the same........approachable.......made us feel he was interested in us personally, the muff felt he was someone after all whenever he had a talk with Father Farrell.”
The last words of one of his letters will best enshrine his memory for us. “I have not said Mass since July - God help me - but D.V., I hope to gather my energies together again soon and say a few more Masses of thanksgiving for God’s Goodness”.
His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Killian, Coadjutor Archbishop of Adelaide, presided at Father Farrell's obsequies, and at the conclusion of the Mass addressed the congregation. He referred to the fact that Father Farrell, like himself, was educated at Mungret College, as well as some priests present and many more in the far flung Diocese, who were not there because the distance made it impossible. He stressed the admirable patience of Father Farrell, his zeal, which even in his sickness, urged him constantly to be doing any little thing he could to help on the spread of the Kingdom of Christ on earth. Especially noted, too, by him was the constant cheerfulness of Father Farrell, how always he was not merely one of an assembly of gathered friends, but the like of that gathering with his wit, banter, interesting conversation and deep sympathy, his grasp of the important aspects of any question under discussion, and the edification he carried about with him, a kind of spiritual aroma shed round him, coming from his soul filled with sanctifying grace.
“Everywhere he went”, said His Grace, “he came like a ray of sunshine fit to pierce the deepest fogs or clouds of depression. He was a model priest, and though cut off in the years when men reach their prime, God surely knows that he had served Him as a faithful servant, and in the short span allotted him, had fulfilled the works of a long life, and though now we pray for him, we cannot but feel that he personally has little need of our prayers, but that, if God so willed, the graces that such prayers win for him will be there as a reservoir of grace for Father Farrell to dispense, through God's hands, to those objects and persons which were his special care on earth and will still remain so to him in heaven.”
After his affecting discourse, His Grace gave the Final Absolution, and the remains of Father Farrell were placed beside those of the great pioneers, Fathers Tappeiner, Pallhuber and Rogalski. The comrade we loved so well lies awaiting his Resurrection in one of the holiest spots in Australia.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1934

Obituary

Father James Farrell SJ

It is with sincere sorrow that all his contemporaries will read of the death of one, they all knew as a genuinely holy and lovable character, Father Jimmie Farrell.

He was born at Terryglass, Co. Tipperary, in 1894, and came to Mungret in 1909.. Having matriculated there, he passed on to the Jesuit noviceship at Tullabeg in 1912. After the usual two years of noviceship, he passed on to Rathfarnham Castle, where he spent three years, taking out his BA degree in 1918. Instead of going on to Philosophy, as is the usual course, he was sent down to Mungret to teach. This, evidently, was owing to some weakness of health or tiredness of head following on the sustained years of intense study. In September 1921, he was sent to Australia with the idea that the warmer climate would be more beneficial to his health. Superiors there allocated him to Xavier College, Melbourne, where, besides teaching, he filled the exacting post of Prefect of Discipline and succeeded in combining strict fulfilment of his duties with the winning of the affections of the boys a rare accomplishment and an eloquent testimony of his character.

In 1925 he was transferred to Sydney. Having concluded his Theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood by His Excellency, Dr Cattaneo, Apostolic Delegate, at the Redemptorist House of Studies, Pennant Hills, on August 15th, 1927. He was appointed First Prefect at Riverview College, Sydney, in 1929. Here he laboured until 1932, when he was advised by his doctor to take a good rest. His zealous fulfilment of his duties had not been calculated to give his delicate constitution that care and attention it needed. At St Aloysius', Sevenhills, he improved somewhat, for a time, owing to the change of air and his healthy surroundings. But it was only for a time. God had found him ripe for his reward, and he passed away, rather suddenly, in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday, 27th December, 1933.

It is no polite conventionalism to say that Father Jimmie was a holy and a lovable soul. Any one who lived with him will say that and mean it. His was a life of steady, unobtrusive, cheery, self-sacrificing lab our. That the sincere and solid nature of his service was not unnoticed or unappreciated is testified by the numerous and representative gathering that assembled for his Obsequies. His Grace, the Most Rev Dr Killian, Coadjutor Archbishop of Adelaide, presided in person and preached his Panegyric before giving the Final Absolution.

“Everywhere he went”, said His Grace, “Father Farrell came like a ray of sunshine to pierce the deepest fogs or clouds of depression. He was a model priest, and, though cut off in the years when men reach their prime, God surely knows that he had served Him as a faithful servant”.

Father Farrell lies buried in the vault beside those Jesuit pioneers of Australia, Fathers Tappeiner, Pallhauber and Rogalski. May he rise with them, in the end, to enter on his glorious reward!

Born: 24 June 1889, Annagh House, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 31 August 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 October 1926, Fourvière, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 06 February 1949, St Francis Xavier, Lavender Bay, North Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Father was a farmer and died in 1907. Mother now resides at Darrinsalla House, Birr supported by private means.

Youngest of secen sons with two sisters.

At 13 he went to Knockbeg College, Carlow until 1907. Then went to UCD to study medicine, qualifying in 1913. He then took medical postgraduate studies.

He then worked as Medical Officer at Silvermines Dispensary in Nenagh (1913-1914); House Surgeon at Royal Hospital Wolverhampton and North Ormesby Hospital in Middlesbrough (1914-1915); Lietenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (1915-1916); Ships Surgeon, Cunard Company (1916-1917); GP in Nenagh (1917-1918)

In 1918-1919 he studied 1 year of Theology at Dalgan Park, County Meath with the Columban Fathers and was destined for Chinese Mission

Medical Officer at Terryglass Dispensary, Borrisokane, County Tipperary.1920-1922

by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) studying
by 1929 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1930 third wave Hong Kong Missioners
by 1934 at Gonzaga College, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1938 at Wah Yan, Hong Kong - working

Served as Medical Doctor in RAMC during the First World War.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Gerald Kennedy served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW1 in Flanders and on a ship on the Atlantic. He entered the Society 31 August 1919 (1921 in fact) at Tullabeg with a medical degree, and after Philosophy at Milltown Park, 1923-25, and Theology at Ore Place, Hastings and Fourvières, 1925-28, completed Tertianship at St Beuno’s, 1928-29.
He was then sent to the Hong Kong Mission 1929-1945, and spent these years at Ricci Hall, the university residence, the seminary (at Aberdeen) or Wah Yan College, lecturing and teaching as well as doing pastoral work, but he never learned the Chinese language. He was popular with the students in the seminary, entertaining them with his charm. He gave the Jesuits their hints on how to be successful classroom teachers, and wrote a textbook in Chemistry and Physics whilst at Wah Yan.
He spent 1934 with the Jesuits and Shanghai, in Gonzaga College. From 1938 he worked with refugees in a hospital in Canton. Medical supplies were scarce, but he discovered a partial cure for cholera. He worked as rice-forager, money collector and spiritual guide to the sisters who ran the hospital. During 1941 he was at St Theresa’s hospital Kowloon, but he was worn out. He had fought the good fight.
As a result, he was recalled to Ireland, where he recovered his former vigour sufficiently to give Retreats in Galway, 1945-46, and did pastoral work in Tullabeg. He was sent to Australia and the Lavender Bay parish 1948-49, where he worked for six months in the chapel of the Star of the Sea, at Milsons Point. He was remembered for having a dry, searching humour, and a mixture of kindly trust and breeziness.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Doctor before Entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Arrivals :

Our three repatriated missioners from Hong Kong: Frs. T. Fitzgerald, Gallagher and G. Kennedy, arrived in Dublin in November and are rapidly regaining weight and old form. Fr. Gallagher has been assigned to the mission staff and will be residing at St. Mary's, Emo.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949

Death of Fr. Gerald Kennedy :
Fr. G. Kennedy died in Australia on February 6th. He had been in failing health for a considerable time, and it was hoped that the Australian climate might restore his former vigour. But in China, before and during the war, he had been prodigal of his energy in the service of others. He did wonders during the cholera outbreak at Canton he accomplished wonders, not only by his devoted attention to the sufferers, but by his medical knowledge. Out of the very limited resources available he compounded a remedy which saved many lives and achieved better results than the Americans were able to obtain with their vastly superior equipment.
To know Fr. Kennedy was to love him. He has left to the Province a fragrant memory.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 3 1949

Obituary

Fr. Gerald Kennedy (1889-1921-1949)

When Gerald Kennedy became a Jesuit, he was already a mature man of thirty-two. Born in 1889, he took his medical degree at the National University in Dublin, went through World War I in the R.A.M.C., and then settled down to a dozen years of country practice in Nenagh and Birr. Having spent a few months at Dalgan Park, he entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1921. His noviceship over, two year's philosophy at Milltown Park were followed immediately by theology at Hastings and Fourvière, where he was ordained on December 18th, 1926. After making his tertianship at St. Beuno's (1928-1929), he sailed for Hong Kong. He remained on the Mission until his return to Ireland in November, 1945. He then spent a year on the retreat staff. The 1946 Status found him once more back in Tullabeg as Prefect of the Church, in which office he continued until June, 1948. That same summer he made his last trip - to Australia, which he reached in August. He was assigned to parish work in Melbourne, and there he died on February 6th, 1949.
In his twenty-eight years as a Jesuit, Gerald Kennedy won the esteem and affection of all who lived with him. The measure of that warm respect may be found in the name by which he was universally known : “Doc”. It was a term that did more than merely remind us that he had lost none of the shrewd skill and observation of the country practitioner. It held a far richer connotation. “Doc” was, in the best sense of the world, a character. There was nothing dark about his dry, searching humour-a mixture of kindly thrust and breeziness (no one who heard it will forget his cheery salute to the company : “God save all here - not barring the cat!”). In spontaneous mood he was inimitable for his humorous description of situations and personalities. His account of a Chinese banquet will be remembered as a masterpiece of gastronomic analysis. For all his sense of fun, however, “Doc” had a deep and steady seriousness of mind - his very gait was purposeful. A constant reader, his main interests were biography and history with a particular leaning towards French culture. Both as a doctor and as a Jesuit, he was for years keenly preoccupied with the psychological problems of the religious life and of spiritual experience. One of his many obiter dicta was to the effect that no Jesuit should be allowed on the road as a retreat-giver or spiritual director, who through ignorance or prejudice was incapable of helping souls in the higher forms of prayer. His own spiritual life was simple, direct and matter of fact. A strong yet gentle character, his unobtrusive simplicity went hand in hand with a certain blunt forcefulness of purpose. Outstanding among his virtues were a remarkable sense of duty and an unfailing charity.
Of his life as a Jesuit, Fr. Kennedy spent more than half on the Hong Kong mission. Over forty when he arrived in China, be never acquired a grip of the language. This did not prevent him, however, from quietly poking fun at the advanced students and old hands, to gravely correcting their tones or shamelessly manufacturing new phrases for their puzzlement and exasperation. Nor did his ignorance of Chinese materially lessen his usefulness. During his early years on the mission, he was in turn Minister in the Seminary and on the teaching staff of Wah Yan, His Ministership coincided with the period of the building and organisation of the Seminary - a harassing time. His cheerfulness was well equal to it. As an extract from a contemporary letter puts it : “In spite of many inconveniences of pioneering (e.g. the absence of a kitchen and a water supply) the Minister's sense of humour remained unshaken”. While at Wah Yan, he found time and energy (and, considering the steam-laundry quality of the climate for many months of the year, that says much) to compose a small text-book of Chemistry and a further one of Physics for his class. He was always on the job.
It was from 1938 onwards, however, that “Doc” really came into his own. In the November of that year a food ship was sent from Hong Kong to the relief of the refugees in Japanese occupied Canton. Fr. Kennedy travelled up as one of the organising committee, On account of his medical experience he was soon attached to the Fong Pin hospital, run by the French Canadian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. Here he found full scope for his doctor's knowledge and for his untiring charity. There was work for a dozen doctors and for as many administrators. Fr. Kennedy was alone. He had to deal with a hospital overcrowded beyond all reasonable capacity, to refuse patients was to let them die on the streets and to incur the censure of the Japanese. The nursing staff was pitiably inadequate and could not be made good even by the heroic devotion of the Sisters. Sufferers were two and three in a bed, and on the floor of the wards, the dead, awaiting removal and burial, lay cheek by jowl with the dying. All medical supplies were scarce - some were unobtainable. It was in such conditions that “Doc” had to treat his patients. Yet, amazing as it may seem, it was in the midst of such killing and stupefying work that Fr. Kennedy discovered a partial cure for cholera. He did some thing more amazing still - with his work as doctor he managed to combine the offices of rice-forager, money-collector and spiritual director to the Sisters. Both in Canton and in Hong Kong he went the rounds raising supplies and funds for the hospital, and gave the Sisters regular conferences and an eight-day retreat-in French. He kept up this pace for over two years.
He was back in Hong Kong for the outbreak of war in December, 1941. During the hostilities and for the most of the subsequent Japanese occupation of the Colony, he was in St. Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon. His work there was much the same as he had had in Canton, although the conditions were slightly better. He was doctor, administrator and again, spiritual guide and consoler to the French Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres. With his fellow Jesuits he underwent all the strain, mental and physical, of those three and a half years. More than others, perhaps, he suffered from the almost starvation diet. Yet, his cheerfulness never failed nor his unremitting devotion to his work. The same cannot be said for his health. When the peace came, he was a tired man, worn out in mind and body.
Fr. Kennedy was always a fighter. Back in Ireland, he recovered some of his old vigour - sufficient, at all events, to urge him to volunteer for Australia. He must have suspected that he had not very long to live, for shortly before sailing he expressed the hope that he might be given two or three years of work in which to justify the expense of his passage out. He need not have worried. Six months was all he had in Australia, it is true. But by his whole life in the Society, by his fund of good humour, by his charity, by his immense labours on the mission, by his deep, simple spirituality, “before God and men”, “Doc” more than paid his way.

Born: 31 July 1865, Borrisokane, County Tipperary
Entered: 26 October 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 02 August 1896, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 September 1902
Died: 03 July 1915, St Ignatius College, Manresa, Norwood, Adelaide, Australia

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1893 at Cannes France (FRA) for health
by 1898 in Collège Sainte Famille, Cairo, Egypt (LUGD) working
by 1900 at Castres France (TOLO) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1900

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Tullabeg.

1897 After Ordination he was in delicate health and so he was sent to Cairo for some years.
He later did Tertianship at Castres.
1901 He was in Australia and stationed at Riverview.
He spent most of his time at the Parish in Norwood, where he was Superior in 1905 for five years, and again in 1913. He died in Office somewhat suddenly 03 July 1915.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Daniel O'Brien entered the Society at Milltown Park, 26 October 1882, was a junior and philosopher there, and then did regency at Clongowes, 1888-92. Ill health, presumably consumption, caused him to spent time in Cairo and Cannes, and he completed theology at Milltown Park, 1893-97. Tertianship was at Castres, Toulouse province, 1899-1900.
He was sent to Australia in 1900, and after a few years living at Riverview, went to the parish of Norwood where he lived for the rest of his life. He was superior and parish priest twice, 1905-10 and 1913-15. He was still superior when he died.

◆ The Clongownian, 1916

Obituary

Father Daniel O’Brien SJ

The news of the death of the Very Rev D E O'Brien SJ, Superior of the Jesuits at Norwood, early on Saturday morning, July 3rd, 1915, came as a great shock not only to the people of that extensive parish, but to the Catholic community generally. Few priests were better known or more be loved than Fr Dan O'Brien of Norwood, and the crowded congregation at the Requiem Office and Mass at Norwood on Monday morning and the large attendance at the funeral, were evidence of the sincere sorrow felt at his too early demise. It had been known to his friends for a long time that Fr O'Brien suffered from heart disease and asthma, and that his death might occur suddenly, though he was usually active and able to attend to his duties. He took to his bed only on the Thursday. On Friday night the symptoms became alarming, and he expired in the early hours of Saturday morning, at “Manresa”, the Jesuit house at Norwood.

The late Fr. O'Brien was born in Tipperary in 1865. He studied at Tullabeg College, Ireland, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1882. He taught in Clongowes College, and spent some time in the South of France. After finishing his philosophy and theology studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, he was ordained in 1897, and was for some years chaplain to troops in Cairo. He afterwards came to Australia and, with the exception of a short time he spent in the eastern States, he spent all his time in Norwood, where he laboured for upwards of 14 years. During that time he held the position of Superior, with the exception of the term during which Fr Roney SJ acted in that capacity. He was practically the priest in charge at Norwood during the whole of that time. His kindly, genial, and charitable disposition endeared him to all, and his death is very keenly felt.

“Southern Cross” (Adelaide), July gtb, 1915.

Born: 10 April 1898, Castle D’Arcy, Lahinch, County Clare
Entered: 31 August 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1930, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 23 September 1974, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Brother of Bishop Dermot R O'Flanagan who Entered the Irish Province in 1917 and LEFT as a priest in 1932. He then went to Alaska in 1933 and was appointed first Bishop of Juneau, Alsaka 9th July 1951

Father was manager of Morgan Mooney’s Chemical Works. When he retired he went to live at Old Court, Borrisokane, County Tipperary, where he was a gentleman farmer, and now his parents live at 10, Effra Road, Rathgar, Dublin.

Fourth of six sons and he has three sisters.

Educated at Belvedere College SJ (1907-1915)

by 1922 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency
by 1933 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Already with a BSc, Paul O'Flannagan arrived in Australia as a regent at Riverview, 1923, teaching, organising cadets and directing debating. In 1926-27 he was first division prefect, and looked after rowing before returning to Ireland for theology He later returned to Australia, working with Victor Turner, 1949-50, in the Australian Mission team.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 49th Year No 4 1974

Obituary :
Fr Paul O'Flanagan (1898-1974)
The recollection evoked by the sad, sudden demise of Fr Paul O'Flanagan on September 23rd, of the severe heart seizure and consequent sickliness he had been visited by eight or nine years since, and before his advent to Gardiner Street, reconciled some what for his loss - his death might have been anticipated by years and yet during the years in Gardiner Street he undertook and fulfilled the chores thrust upon him with admirable regularity and efficiency. A comment, attributed to Fr P O'Mara in his latter days when age compelled him to seek Fr O’Flanagan's aid in running his Ladies' Sodality : “Don’t deprive me of my friends” was not totally whimsical ... Fr Paul did make a notable success of the succession
He was approachable, punctual, unassuming; popular with the house staff (competent critics), and among the Community and with externs a counsellor confidently consulted.
The obsequies took place on Wednesday, September 25th. Fr David Murtagh, CC, a nephew of Fr Paul’s was principal celebrant assisted by Fr Provincial and upwards of twenty others, Ours and externs, familiar friends. Fr Murtagh again later officiated at the graveside.
We offer sympathy to Mr Frank O'Flanagan and Mrs Murtagh, the surviving members of Fr Paul’s family....and their families.

We offer an appreciation by one long associate with the deceased :
I first met Fr Paul O'Flanagan a few months after his ordination; and I spoke to him for the last time about a day and a half before he died. We chatted for over an hour.
In the intervening years, time had lined his face and flecked his hair with grey. In my view, however, though greatly matured by the experiences of a very active life and a good deal of suffering in his latter years, I found him the very same Paul I had known in the far-off days. His conversation was refreshingly youthful, and he was as mentally alert as ever-optimistic, full of humour and boyish mischief. The idea that he was so soon to die never crossed my mind; I wonder, if it did his?
Paul was born in Lahinch in 1898, went to school in Belvedere College and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg in 1915. Having gained his BSc degree in University College, Dublin, and studied philosophy with the German Jesuits in Valkenburg, Holland, he was sent to Riverview College, Sydney, to teach. Returning to Milltown Park for theology, he was ordained in 1930.
Most of his life as a priest was spent on the mission-staff, and it was there I came to know him, both as a colleague and as a friend. In the work we did together, he appeared to me to have preserved his boyhood ideal of what a Jesuit should be, and I never detected any trace of - as it is now the fashion to call it! - “crisis of identity”! He was possessed of all the natural qualities that go to the making of a good Jesuit, holding the Society in high esteem and regarding it with affection. He was interested in its welfare and in that of our Province; as also in the success of his Jesuit friends. As a community man, he was unrivalled. He brought joy to all his work, and shared it with the members of the house to which he happened to be attached. His pleasures were simple a game of bridge, which he took seriously; a day's golf or a session of story-swopping. When in the mood, he was a delicious raconteur, notably about his adventures under the Southern Cross, about Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne or Archbishop Kelly of Sydney. His warmth of character won him many friends, both inside and outside the Society. Amongst the laity, he was the special friend of the men. On missions they would call him on the telephone, wishing to enjoy again his warm, human companionship. Some were past pupils, some school friends, and others, men to whom he had lent a helping, priestly hand.
Paul was an outstandingly good, even exemplary priest, and he distinguished himself over many years as an excellent missioner and retreat-master. All through his life he preserved his youthful, high ideal of the priesthood, and in his last years he edified us all by his incredible bravery, as he fought for health and life. I cannot speak for others, but I never heard a word of complaint or self pity escape his lips. Practising what he had preached so often, he took his suffering tanquam de manu Dei, as indeed he took every thing in life.
From glimpses I had of him on missions, I guess he must have helped thousands yearly, both by his advice and by example: But he never spoke of this work, his cases or of those who had come to him. In this he showed no sign of self-glorification or self seeking; certainly no trace of worldly ambition. He was always ready with prompt obedience, whatever the task or office assigned him. And, as already mentioned, in the allotted work he made himself happy, and by so doing, contributed greatly to the happiness of all concerned.
It would be an incomplete and phoney picture of Paul, if I did not refer - I hope, gently and with kindly intent?....to his likeable foible! He was pre-possessed about his BSc degree, and sometimes referred to himself as a “scientist”! However, he was open to a bit of leg-pulling on the subject, provided it came from the right quarter! He was proud of Bishop Dermot, his brother, and one might sometimes lead him on, to discourse on Dermot's successes. He was most vulnerable, however, on the subject of Australia. This was a favourite theme of his conversation, for, besides his years teaching in Riverview, he had done a two-year stint as a missioner there. Right to the end, he never lost his interest in the Aussies, more especially in their cricket. When a Test Match was in progress, he would listen assiduously to the ball-by-ball account on the radio, and was ever ready to explain the intricacies of the game and the prospects of an Australian victory to any interested party. Some of the boys who had been introduced to cricket by him, later won places on Test teams, and he could often be drawn on this subject. If I remember rightly, one of their number was the well-known and very successful player, Fingleton. It has been suggested to me that Sir Don Bradman was another; but there, I am open to correction!
Paul was ever one of Belvedere's most loyal past pupils. Even to the last days of his life, he was proud of the college and took keen interest in its successes in studies or at games; in Old Belvederians, the Newsboys' Club, as it formerly was, but more especially in the Old Belvedere Rugby Football Club. . If an acquaintance were to judge merely by Paul’s manner, he might conclude, that he never faced a crisis in his life. I am sure such a conclusion would be incorrect, since most of us do. But he never lost his cool in any circumstance that I saw, and appeared calm and unperturbed at all times - the completely unflappable man!
He showed little of his real self, either to the outside world or to his fellow Jesuits. I have, however, reason to believe, that underneath, he was possessed of a very strong, deep faith, and a great reverence for the things of God, Reserved and silent regarding his interior life with God, I strongly suspect him to have been as truly a pious man as he was a sincere and staunch friend.
As one who worked side by side with him on many occasions, I am happy to be able to bear witness, and pay tribute to his gracious charity, his kindness and thoughtfulness. He was generous in praising and encouraging others, and his memories of any mission concerned either its success, or the amusing incidents which cropped up from time to time. As we sat together thirty-six hours before his death, a smile often played about his lips, as he recounted the pleasant happenings of a mission in Mullingar Cathedral, in which he and I were engaged, just over thirty years back. That is my last memory and picture of him,
It is sometimes said, that every human life is like an Unfinished Symphony; to this statement, I am afraid, I cannot subscribe. Colleagues of mine who worked for God all the days of their lives, and aspired to union with Christ through his grace, seemed in their latter years, to be anything but the Unfinished Symphony. If I may say so, each life-work appeared perfectly rounded off, ending in a rising crescendo of faith, trust, joy, hope and expectation of life eternal. For these men we have prayed, that that crescendo would end in a paean of glory with the Risen Christ. In their number we, Paul’s friends and colleagues, would wish to include him by heartfelt and earnest prayer. I should like to think, that no one who ever met him would wish otherwise, and that without exception they would gladly join us as we pray: Solus na Soillse agus radharc na Tríonóide dá anam!

Born: 02 April 1897, Mall House, The Mall, Roscrea, County Tipperary
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 22 December 1980, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Parents now live at The Terrace, Borrisokane, County Tipperary. Father is a doctor in Bossirokane.

Eldest of four brothers and three sisters.

Early education at the Convent of Mercy Borrisokane and then Cloughjordan National School. In 1910 he went to Mungret College SJ (1910-1914)

by 1923 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney, Xavier College, Kew and Studley Hall, Kew

by 1923 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney, Xavier College, Kew and Studley Hall, Kew

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Mark Quigley entered the Society in 1914 at Tullamore, and in 1921 arrived at Riverview for regency, teaching and assisting the prefect of discipline. In late 1923 he moved to Xavier College where he was hall prefect, and as he had a brilliant singing voice, he looked after the choir. After a year he was sent to Burke Hall again teaching as well as assistant prefect of discipline. During his priestly life he worked mainly at Gardiner Street, engaged in pastoral ministry.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 56th Year No 1 1981

Gardiner Street
A week after Dermot Durnin’s death, we are still stunned by the fact. He and his quick wit will be missed very much, not only by his brethren here but also, grievously, by his “ladies” in St Monica’s. He had built up such a cheery relationship with every one of them and used to give them so much of his time that the news was really shattering and has left them still bewildered. At least they must have been comforted by the send-off we gave him: 65 priests concelebrated the Mass in a crowded church. One of the congregation remarked that the ceremony was “heavenly”. (One of the community was overheard wondering aloud if Dermot was digging his friend Pearse O’Higgins in the ribs and begging him to “tell that one again”.) His totally Christian attitude towards death, an attitude of joyful anticipation, prevents us from grudging him his reward, though this doesn't diminish our sense of loss.

On 22nd December, Fr Mark Quigley slipped away from us to make his way to Heaven: requiescat in pace! It was typical of him that his departure was so quiet and peaceful as to be almost unnoticed. When he did not get up that morning, it was found that he was only half-conscious and had the appearance of approaching death. The doctor confirmed that he had only a few hours to live. Many of the community visited him during the morning and prayed with him and for him. Though he could not speak clearly, when asked if he would like the prayers for the dying to be said, by nodding his head he acknowledged his awareness of imminent death. Just about half an hour before he died, he succeeded in pulling his crucifix up to his lips and kissing it. Three of us were with him when he breathed his last gentle breath, without the slightest sound or struggle.
Go ndéanaí Dia trócaire ar a anam mín mánla.

Irish Province News 56th Year No 2 1981

Obituary

Fr Mark Quigley (1897-1914-1980)

Fr Mark Quigley died at St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin, on 22nd December 1980, in his 84th year, His death was neither sudden nor unexpected. For over a week before he took to his bed he was feeling sick, very confused in mind, and looking poorly, He was well prepared for death. The Superior, Fr Dan Dargan, along with some of the community was reciting the Prayers for the Dying, and Fr Mark had kissed his vow-crucifix when he quietly yielded up his soul to his Saviour, whom he had served for 66 years in the Society of Jesus.
Fr Mark was a Tipperaryman and was always ready to make friends with people of Tipperary extraction. He was born in Roscrea (11th April 1897) but spent most of his childhood in Cloughjordan and Borrisokane. He was educated at Mungret College and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on 31st August 1914, one of a group of twelve novices who came to be known as the Twelve Apostles. Along with him from Mungret College came Joseph McCullough, Fred Paye and Charles Devine. World War I was only a month old, and his vow-day (1st September 1916) came in an exciting year, an era of resurgence, when the Twelve made their commitment to the King of kings.
After the noviceship there followed a year of Home Juniorate as was then the custom, a year which Fr Bodkin used to describe as one of much high thinking and plain living. The season, Christmas 1916 to Easter 1917, was bitterly cold. The Grand Canal was frozen over for a long period and deep snow covered ground for several months. The only available fuel was turf, and rather damp turf at that. The 1914-18 war entailed sacrifices; hence the regime was spartan. On a visit to Tullabeg Fr T V Nolan, then Provincial, arranged that the novices and Juniors - “big growing men” - should as far as possible be exempt from the food restrictions published in the newspapers. On the intellectual side of life the Juniors were fortunate in having the splendid services of Mr Harry Johnston, SJ, who taught Greek, Latin and English.
After his Home Juniorate Mark moved to Rathfarnham Castle to do First Arts. In 1918 came a threat of conscription being extended to Ireland, so to make sure that as clerics they would be exempt from military service, all who had taken their vows received minor Orders. After his year in Rathfarnham, Mark spent three years at philosophy. A section of the buildings at Milltown Park was assigned as the philosophate, and with the Irish philosophers recalled from abroad, his community numbered 22 philosophers and 21 theologians. In 1921 (the Anglo-Irish truce just having been agreed) the Status brought something of a surprise, if not consternation, for Mark when he found himself among the scholastics assigned to sail for the Australian missions. The five-week sea journey was particularly trying for Mark, He was so reserved and retiring nature that he kept very much to himself or at least to the company of the Jesuits aboard the ship. Although he was a good athlete and had a splendid tenor voice, he refrained from mixing with the hundreds of passengers in their social entertainments. At the first port in Australia, a letter which had been sent by the Superior of the Mission, Fr W. Lockington, allotted the scholastics of the group to various colleges. Mark was to go to Riverview College, Sydney, as teacher, with charge of the junior cadets. This was a new trial for him. The Australian boys were difficult to control, and he discovered that - “take one consideration with another - a prefect’s lot is not a happy one!”
In 1923 Mark was moved to Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne - one of the public schools. He was appointed teacher and hall prefect. Into this great hall, at class break, there would flow a sea of boys - some hundreds of them. Mark had friends among the boys, and they admired his gentle tolerance. Perhaps the happiest time of his regency was his fourth year when, still in Melbourne, he was assigned to the preparatory school. He had a fellow-Tipperaryman, Fr James O'Dwyer, in the community, and they had much in common to talk about. In 1925 the Irish Provincial recalled Mark for theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained (31st July 1928). For tertianship he was sent to St Beuno's, north Wales.
It was very appropriate that Fr Mark and should die at St Francis Xavier's,Dublin, where he had worked for nearly 45 years. Except for three years in the Crescent, Limerick, two in Clongowes and one in Mungret, as a priest all his activity was associated with Gardiner street. Over the years he directed different Sodalities of our Lady and Conferences of St Vincent de Paul, including one for Irish-speakers. Fr Mark was a competent speaker of Irish and for many years celebrated Sunday Mass in Irish. For a number of years he was Minister, But his church choir, composed of men and boys, which he conducted for 26 years (1935-61), was perhaps his most successful achievement. To support him Fr Mark had the distinguished organist Mr Joseph O’Brien: they became close the friends. The choir became an undoubted attraction at the Sunday Mass. On Christmas mornings the faithful, coming to hear the choir's rendering of Christmas carols, used to flock in, so that the church was already thronged by 6.30. During Holy Week the choir created an atmosphere of reverence and suspense, especially during the Seven Words from the Cross on Good Friday, when the congregation remained for the three hours. Perhaps the climax of the choral year came on Easter mornings when the window-curtains were withdrawn, revealing the light, the illuminated canvas of the risen Christ over the high altar was unveiled, the organ thundered, and the choir sang Resurrexit, sicut dixit. To maintain this choir over the years Fr Quigley had to recruit new members, visit the homes of prospective candidates, train new voices and hold frequent practices.
To these labours must be added his work in the church as preacher and confessor. He took his turn on call (domi, ie, the twenty-four-hour tour of duty 2.30 pm to 2.30 pm - ready for all comers). He visited the sick members of the sodalities. In the neighbourhood he was a respected and familiar figure. To the secular priests he was well-known, and in his own quiet way he made many friends amongst them.
It is true to say that Fr Mark's health began to fail in the last five years of his life. With his weakening eyesight he could not read with any comfort, and as for walking, even with the aid of a stick, he felt insecure if he ventured out on the streets. His memory, which in former times was most remarkable and reliable, showed signs of failure. Gradually he had to withdraw from many of the church activities. At times he had periods of depression and a feeling of loneliness. He was by nature a shy and most sensitive man,
His requiem Mass took place on Christmas eve, a very busy day for professional and businessmen and secular priests. The attendance was impressive but not what it would have been had it occurred on a less busy day. Even relatives and priests from Tipperary were unable to be present and had to be content with sending telegrams of sympathy and regret at not being able to travel.
To those in the Society and outside it he will always be remembered as the quiet man with a marvellous memory for faces and facts: a mine of information about people he had met. In community recreation, if he heard someone assert something which he knew was incorrect, he remained silent, or if asked might reveal the truth with amazing details. In death he made no protest, but quietly, as became the man, yielded up his gentle soul to his Creator.