Born: 25 December 1585, Delvin, County Westmeath
Entered: 17/05/1609, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: c 1614, Évora, Portugal
Final Vows: 18 September 1625
Died: 16 November 1656, Porto, Portugal

Had studied Philosophy before Entry
1614 At Évora LUS studying Theology
1617/1618 In Ireland
1621 Talent judgement, prudence and health good. Melancholic.
1622 Catalogue In Dublin; 1646 in Galway
1654 At Oporto Age 70 Soc 45 Mission 29 (as Coninator)
1655 in Oporto, good for everyday duty only he is stricken or worn out with old age
Fine and detention ordered by the Lords Justice against Earl Nugent for retaining Nicholas in contravention of a proclamation against Jesuits

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A Writer, good Preacher and linguist, and a man of most innocent life.
While imprisoned for a while in Dublin Castle he composed Irish Hymns that were sung throughout Ireland
Superior in Porto where he died in the odour of sanctity.
Called a “nonagerian” in Franco’s Annales (cf Foley’s Collectanea for detailed sketches of Nicholas and Robert - his brother)
1615 Sent to Irish Mission, knew Latin, Irish and English, with some ability in Spanish and Italian. A Preacher, Confessor and Catechist for many years as well as Director of the Sodality of BVM (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
RIP 22 November 1656 Porto
He belonged to a distinguished family and was trained in piety from his youth. He was struck when a child by a conversation with his elder brother on the enormity of mortal sin, he is said never to have offended God by a grievous fault during the whole of his long life. He made his Higher Studies at Antwerp, graduating MA, admissted to the Society in Rome and sent to Évora in Portugal for Theology.
He was sent to Dublin about 1615, where his apostolic zeal obtained for him an imprisonment of four years, and on discharge, he resumed his labours with great fervour.
In 1649 he appears in Galway, and in the following year at Oporto, where he died 02 November 1656
(Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS, where he cites Franco “Lusitania” p 315; Drew’s “Fasti” where he fixes his death as 22 November 1656.
As his near relatibe, Nugent, Baron of Delvin. who died in the Tower of London 1580 composed an exquisite Irish song on the loss of liberty, so Nicholas beguiled the weary honours of his four years confinement in the Castle of Dublin writing songs or hymns - in Irish no doubt - which were sung all through the island “pios quosdam ac passim postea cantatos ibi (in carcere) perscite composuit” (cf Nadasi and Franco.
Father Goswin Nickel, General, in a beautiful letter to the Provincial of Portugal, 01/06/1652, bears witness to Father Nugent’s successful missionary labours of thirty-three years (”Spicilegium Ossoriense” Vol i p 384)
Franco gives the RIP date as 02/11/1656 and the place - Nadasi and after him Drew gave 22 November 1656

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Oliver and Catherine née Plunket. Brother of Robert
He had already studied at Antwerp and Douai graduating MA before Ent 17 May 1609 Rome
1611-1614 After First Vows at St Andrea Rome he was sent to Évora for Theology and Ordained there 1614
1616-1619 Sent to Ireland. Shortly after his arrival in Dublin he was arrested and held in prison for the next three years. During his captivity he exercised his ministry amongst his fellow-prisoners and was visited by both the prison's Governor (Lord Deputy) and his wife who tried to shake his constancy. Like his brother he was a musician, and so he spent much of his time in his cell composing the hymns which he would later teach the people during his missionary tours.
1619-1641 On release sent to Dublin, but because of his fluency in Irish was often on the mission far from Dublin.
1641 After the fall of Dublin to the Puritans he went to Galway and was Superior of the Residence there before the arrival of the Visitor Mercure Verdier. Although he was of Anglo- Irish stock he kept clear of the Ormondist opposition to Rinuccini.
1651 He seems to have left Galway at the same time or in the company of John Young.
1652 He was in Rome and received from the General a letter of introduction to the LUS Provincial
In the dispersal of so many of the Jesuits at the triumph of Cromwell, Nicholas Nugent found refuge in Portugal and proved himself an able Operarius, as Preacher, Catechist and Confessor at Porto where he died 16 November 1656

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Nicholas Nugent 1585-1656
Nicholas Nugent, a brother of Fr Robert Nugent was born in Meath on December 25th 1585. It is said of him, that as a child, hearing his elder brother, Fr Robert, discoursing on the malice of mortal sin, he conceived such a horror of it, that during his whole life, he never offended God by any grievous sin.

He entered the Society in 1609 and came to Ireland in 1615. He worked with great success in Dublin and its environs. He is reported in one letter to Rome as “being now resident near Baggotstown County Dublin”. At last he was captured by priest-hunters in the house of his uncle, Lord Inchiquin, and confined to Dublin Castle. Here he spent four years until released on payment of a large fine by his uncle.

He was in Galway in 1649, but the following year he sailed for Oporto, where he continued to work for souls. Many miraculous cures were attributed to him, and after his death on November 2nd 1656, objects that belonged to him were eagerly sought as relics by the people and the nobility of Oporto.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
NUGENT, NICHOLAS. I meet with two Members of this name.
The first was of a distinguished family, and trained to piety from his cradle. It is said of him when a child, that hearing his elder brother discoursing once on the hideousness and the enormity of a mortal sin, he conceived such an horror and detestation of it, that during the subsequent course of a long life, he never offended his God in a grievous matter. Going to Antwerp, he there studied the Belles Lettres and Philosophy, and took the degree of Master of Arts. Proceeding thence to Rome, he was a Postulant for admission into the Society. After two years probation, he was sent to Evora to study Theology. When qualified for the Mission in his native country, he was placed by Superiors about the year 1615 in Dublin, where he displayed the zeal of an Apostle. An imprisonment for the space of four years was the reward of his services; but he was no sooner discharged, than he resumed his missionary functions with greater fervour. I find him in Galway in 1649. In the following year he sailed for Oporto, where he continued to promote the interests of Religion by his talents, and to edify all that approached him by his humility and sanctity. He died at Oporto on the 2nd of November, 1656, aet. 77.
See p. 315, Synopsis Annalium, S. J. in Lusitania, Auctore P. Ant. Franco, S. J. Fol. Aug. Vindelic, 1726, pp. 466. Drews fixes his death on the 22nd of November.

Born: 04 August 1641, Dysart, County Westmeath
Entered: 14 October 1661, Mainz, Germany - Upper Rhenish Province (RH SUP)
Ordained: 1671, Mainz, Germany
Final Vows: 1681
Died: 22 June 1725, Dysart, County Westmeath

Was part of Upper Rhenish Province (RH SUP).

Studied 3 years Philosophy and 3 Theology in Society
1665 At Molsheim RH SUP teaching Humanities
1672 Tertianship at Ettlingen, Baden-Württemberg
1708 Catalogue Preacher
1714 Catalogue Taught Grammar and Music, Spiritual Coadjutor
1717 Catalogue Taught Grammar and served on Mission many years. Humble, a lover of Religious poverty. Of great candour an sincerity. Now worn with labour and old age is now confined to his bed.
In Register of Popish priests of 1704 is Dominic Nugent, PP of Dysart, Ordained at Mainz 1674 by Archbishop Gabriel

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
In a letter dated 25 November 1694 he appears then as a PP working with great zeal and success in a poor and wretched district, and still doing this in 1714. A good Preacher (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
He is mentioned in “A List of Popish Parish Priests as they are registered at the General Sessions of the Peace held for Westmeath at Mullingar 13 July 1704 :
Dominick Nugent; Place of abode - Dysart; Age 64; Parishes of which he pretends to be Popish Parish Priest - Dysart and Churchtown; Places where he received Orders - Mentz, in Germany; From whome he received Orders - Gabriel, Suffragen of the Elector of Mentz; Sureties names that entered into recognizance for such Priest according to the Act of Parliament - Henry Mather, of Bryanstown, Gent £50 and John Nugent, of Ballynude, Gent £50;
He is mentioned in the HIB Catalogues 1708 & 1717 as a Nugent of Dysart. He had taught Grammar and Music in one of our German Colleges, and published a book of songs (music and words) called “Die Nachtigal”, thus showing that he had the hereditary love of the Nugent’s for “Music and Song”, which was possessed also by Nicholas and Robert, and their near kinsmen the Barons of Delvin and Scrine.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied in Belgium, as he was accepted for the Society at Antwerp before Ent 14 October 1661 Mainz and claimed to have Flemish
After First Vows he was sent to Mosheim, France for Philosophy and then spent two years Regency at Colleges in RH SUP. He then returned to Mainz for Theology and was Ordained there c 1671. He then seems to have made Tertianship, and it is a little unclear what he did next.
1675-1677 Operarius at Luxembourg
1677-1680 Member of the community at Irish College Poitiers
1680 Sent to Ireland and for the next 37 years was active mostly in Meath
1704 He was registered as PP of Dysart ad Churchtown 13 July 1704, with sureties from John Nugent of Ballynude and Henry Mather of Bryanstown. He died at Dysart c 22 June 1725
Dominic Nugent was an accomplished linguist. It is significant of the time in which he lived that in the list of languages he supplied to the compilers of the Catalogues of 1665 and 1669, he mentions Irish before English and after English Scots.
Before he left the Rhenish province he composed and set to music songs in German which were published in 1675 (Somervogel)
His own greatest claim was his devotion to his Priestly ministry in the darkest Penal times.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
NUGENT, DOMINIC. The only notice I find of him is in a letter, dated Waterford, 25th November, 1694. He was doing the duty of a Parish Priest, in a poor and miserable district, and labouring with great zeal and success.

Born: 03 June 1877, Elphin, County Roscommon
Entered: 03 June 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 01 February 1942, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Merchant before entry
◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 17th Year No 2 1942
Obituary :
Brother Patrick Murray

Brother Murray died at Clongowes on February 1st. He had only left the College infirmary three days previously in the best of form after a fortnight's rest treatment, and was to resume work on the following Tuesday. Passing the chapel on the way to lunch at 12 o’clock, he entered to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. There while saying his prayers, he got a sudden heart attack. Fr. Rector administered Extreme Unction, and within five minutes, Brother Murray had passed peacefully away.
Though his sudden death caused such a shock to the Community the boys, and great numbers of people around the College, with whom he was a very popular figure, it was eminently the kind of death that he himself would have desired. For many years, he had been intricately associated with the chapels at Clongowes as sacristan. fact, it was almost impossible to go to any of the chapels without meeting Brother Murray there, and seeing him- and indeed hearing him - praying. His fervent ejaculations - often aloud when he thought no one was present - were an almost continual feature of his life. Whether he was working in the magazine where the boys keep their clothes, or in the sacristy, or driving the car, prayer was very seldom absent from his lips. He was indeed a men of prayer, and it was a fitting end that he should have died while praying before Our Lord in the Tabernacle.
Brother Murray in early life adopted the drapery business as his vocation. Having spent some years in Messrs. Pim & Co., Dublin he carried on a successful business of his own in Delvin, Co. Westmeath. After seven years of happy married life, his wife died. From that moment, he made up his mind to dispose of his business, and devote his life to the service of God. This resolution he put into effect a few years later when he entered Tullabeg on June 3rd, 1917 on his 40th birthday. He presented one of his motor cars to Tullabeg and a second - the Krit - to Clongowes. After five years, spent in Tullabeg and. Milltown, Brother Murray came to Clongowes where he remained for the last 17 years.
Three qualities endeared Brother Murray to all who knew him. His genial good humour, his readiness to do anything for everyone and his transparent piety. We shall miss him very much in Clongowes. His familiar figure, in the People's Church serving Mass after Mass, as he loved to do when occasion arose, doing a hundred and one jobs for the boys, rushing out to the laundry, or the garage, driving the car in his own inimitable and somewhat nerve-racking way, his hearty and utterly spontaneous laugh, his anxiety to give clothes and
boots to the poor, even his reading in the refectory - all seemed part and parcel of Clongowes life. But he has gone to the Master, Whom before all and above all, he loved and served, R.I.P.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, after Requiem Mass in the Boys chapel, in the presence of his three brothers, the Community, boys, and many people from the neighbourhood, the funeral procession led by the Community, followed by the whole school, and the public took place to the College Cemetery. The choir sang the Benedictus and Fr. Provincial said the last prayers. Very Rev. Frs. Fergal McGrath and P. Kenny were also present.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Patrick Murray SJ 1877-1942
As he passed the chapel in Clongowes on his way to lunch on February 1st 1942, Br Patrick Murray dropped in for a short visit to Our Lord, and there in the presence of the Master he had loved and served so well, he died.

It was a fitting and beautiful end to a holy and cheerful life. Having been a successful draper in Delvin County Westmeath, Patrick Murray, on the death of his wife, sold all his goods and gave the proceeds to the poor. His two cars he gave to the Society, one to Tullabeg, and the other, known as the “Krit”, to Clongowes. He was truly liked by all, the boys, the people, the Community. He was ever easy to do all kinds of odd jobs, to drive the car, or best of all to him, serve at Mass. Many Jesuits will remember him for his reading in the refectory, a task he loved and in which he was inimitable.

Truly happy both naturally and supernaturally in his life, he is to be envied in the manner of his death.