Born: 11 June 1861, Toomebridge, Creagh, County Antrim
Entered: 23 September 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 19 June 1887
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 02 July 1950, Crescent College, Limerick

Early education at St Patrick’s College Armagh and St Patrick’s College Maynooth

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 4 1950

Obituary

Fr. Patrick McWilliams (1861-1891-1950)

Father Patrick McWilliams was born on the 11th of June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. The third youngest of eight children, be went to his father's school for his primary education before proceeding to the seminary at Armagh. After a short period in the seminary he went to Maynooth in 1883 and, in 1887, was ordained there for the Archdiocese of Armagh. He entered the Society on the 23rd of September, 1891. He was sent to the Crescent in 1895, where, with the exception of one year (1901-02), when he was stationed in Tullabeg, he remained until his death.
In his early years at the Crescent he was a member of the Mission Staff. For a few years his name figured on the roll of the College Staff. From 1912-48 he was the Spiritual Director of the Ladies Sodality of the Children of Mary. From the beginning of his stay in the Crescent he was an operarius, and he carried out that role in full, without fail and to the end. His career in the Crescent was characterised not by spasmodic incident but by rigorous attention. to duty. For generations of Limerick people he was the model priest : serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls. Many people came long distances to consult him on some intricate problem. And yet, he who was the gifted confidant of so many adults, had also the unusual and well-remembered talent for hearing the confessions of little children. It has been said often since his death that “all Limerick must have made their first confession to Father McWilliams”.
Until the end he was unfailingly exact in his attention to his duties as confessor and preacher as well as to all the duties of community life. Until the end his well prepared sermons were delivered with a verve and resonance that made them heard even by the men standing at the back of the church. He grew old gracefully : he ever retained his handsome mien and upright carriage. He grew old gracefully, without angularity of character, without laying the burden of his duties on the shoulders of others, without complaint. And he died as he had lived - serene and without fuss.

Appreciation :
Nearly all his priestly life, was spent in the rather obscure work of preacher and confessor in a provincial town. But what a life! He became one of the landmarks of Limerick, known and revered and referenced by man, woman and child in the city. Thousands sought his solace in the confessional and parlours. He was a tower of strength to the weak. He poured consolation into the hearts of the depressed. He was ever ready to help the poor and the needy and to restore peace to the harassed soul. It is no exaggeration to say that there was hardly ever a priest in Limerick who wielded such influence and always for the greater glory of God. His thoroughness, his sincerity, his all embracing charity quarried for him a way to the hearts of all.
His sermons were models of lucidity and phraseology, always carefully prepared and always delivered with grace and dignity. He never preached a bad sermon in his life and of the thousands of sermons he preached one of the most eloquent was the one he preached a few weeks before his last illness - to be exact 25th March - a sermon that excited the admiration of many of his audience and - let us say - the envy of some members of the community who heard it. He did not, however, strive after effect. He had a message to deliver - the Master's Message - and he delivered it to his hearers in a way that pleased as well as instructed. The words of the poet may very well be applied to him:
“His preaching much but more his practice wrought
A burning sermon of the truths he taught
In manner simple, grave, sincere,
In doctrine incorrupt; in language plain
As well becomes a messenger of grace to sinful man”.
He united doctrine with exhortation and thus appealed to mind and heart. He strove to make his hearers not merely wise, but good. Conscious of his mission he was anxious that his audience should feel conscious, too, that life was no sluggard's paradise into which they had wandered by chance, but a battlefield from which there is no escape.
He was a very good moral theologian - of sound and ripe judgment and quick to grasp all sides of the question. When he had charge of the Cases of Conscience his summing up at the end was often a master piece of clarity and erudition.
His knowledge of people was phenomenal. He seemed to have contacts in the most remote villages of the country. Enquiries respecting him came from the most remote places. Priests and religious had the greatest confidence in him.. And no wonder! He was a true shepherd and no mercenary. He drew all towards Heaven by gentleness and good example,
Always kind and gentle when gentleness and kindness were demanded, he could be very severe on occasions and it must be said he did not suffer fools gladly. If he had to speak he spoke fearlessly and boldly. He didn't believe in doing things by halves. He was forthright in word and action. He had ever the calm and coolness of the truly courageous man. He did not shun the hives because the bees had stings. His devotion to duty was beyond all praise. Wherever he was supposed to be, whether in the pulpit or Box or at the Altar there he was to be found. He did not choose, Beau Brummell fashion, to be always late and therefore he never deserved the sharp admonition from an Abercorn. His work was perhaps of the humdrum type, but what more beautiful, what more satisfying than the calm and resolute determination of the priest to feed the flock entrusted to his care. No wonder his passing called forth such profound grief and sorrow in the city. The Church was packed with mourners for the Requiem Mass. His Lordship the Bishop presided and about fifty priests attended in the Choir. He has bequeathed to us all his example as a legacy. The consciousness of duty well-performed and the public voice of praise that honours virtue: all that was his
The virtues of those whose faces we shall see no more appear greater and more sacred when viewed through the medium of the grave. Irving it is who says the grave buries every error, covers every defect, extinguishes every resentment. It may be truly said of Fr. McWilliams that, "taken all in all, we shall not see his like again," Full of years and merit, mourned by all who knew him, he has passed on. God rest his soul.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick McWilliams SJ 1861-1950
The name of Fr Patrick McWilliams wil ever be associated with Limerick and the Crescent.

Born at Toomebridge in 1861, he entered the Society as a priest in 1891, For the whole of his long life, one year excepted, he worked as Operarius in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick. He was known as a confessor and guide far and wide to both priests and layfolk. At the same time he was alo a favourite for children’s confessions. When he died on March 29th 1850, it was said of him “that all Limerick must have made their first Confession to Fr McWilliams”.

Shrewd, kindly, a keen and accurate judge of character, the Province lost in him one of its model priests and rare spiritual guides.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Patrick McWilliams (1861-1950)

Was born on the 11th June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. He received his early education at his father's school and in St Patrick's College, Armagh. He was ordained, for the archdiocese of Armagh, in 1887 at Maynooth where he had done his higher studies. Four years later, on 23 September, he entered the Society. He joined the Crescent community in 1895 and, with the exception of one year, 1901-02, when he was stationed at Tullabeg, he remained in Limerick until his death. From the beginning of his assignment to Limerick up to the end, he laboured as confessor and preacher in the Sacred Heart Church. In his early years, however, at the Crescent, he was engaged also as a master in the school. Within the Society, Father McWilliams was one of the most revered Jesuits of his time. Throughout his long life he enjoyed the absolute trust of his superiors and the respect and affection of those privileged to live with him. He never became a superior in the Irish Province, not that he lacked the qualities necessary for government, but simply because he felt that in the position assigned him from the beginning he could labour most for the glory of God. It was an open secret some decades before his death that he had been appointed rector of one of the Society's houses in Ireland, but the letters patent of the General from Rome were never promulgated.

For generations of Limerick people, he was the model priest: serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls.