Item 15 - Diary of Fr William A Sutton SJ

Diary includes entry which states “It seems to me that this Diary would be worth printing after my death. Not all, most of it I think. Readers would profit by it, & ought to be much interested as well as I can judge. In the first place it is no ordinary record of spiritual struggle in one who had much to contend with…but in much has been blessed. This latter part, beginning about last October is a kind of consummation or crowning record in which I have tried to compress results of life struggle. In many ways I seem like one who has safely come into port after long sailing on stormy, dangerous seas in quest of some ‘golden harbour’…In the second place there is a great deal throughout Diary of matter, which is as good & valuable from a literary point of view as anything I ever wrote, & I have been much & sincerely praised by competent critics for much that I have written. All my writings except this Diary have consisted of contributions to magazines, 'Irish Monthly', 'Month', 'New Ireland Review', far the most, but there were good things too from this pen to other Catholic periodicals, 'Lamp', 'Irish Ecc(lesiastica)l Record' (not much; I got £4 at end of one year fr(om) Editor for two or three short articles), 'Ave Maria', dont remember more. To 'Baconiana' I contributed several articles, all very favourably received.”