Item 1038 - Fr Michael Cawood SJ

Born: 23 June 1707, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 28 January 1726, Seville, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)
Ordained: 1737, Granada, Spain
Final Vows: 17 March 1742
Died: 04 June 1772, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Rector at Salamanca
1738 Sent to Ireland from Seville
1786 He is found in a list of Dublin Priests by Battersby.
He was stationed in Dublin for the rest of his life.
(Curiously all his dates are the same as those of Simon Shee in the HIB Catalogues of 1752 and 1755).
His name is found in many old Spanish books.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of a Protestant father who converted later
After First Vows he made all his studies at Granada and was Ordained by 1737
1738 Sent to Ireland and to the Dublin Residence, serving as a Curate at St Mary’s Lane Chapel.
1755 Superior of Dublin Residence and remained there till his death 04 June 1772
From time to time he ministered to the Graham family Ballycooge House, near Arklow. He died in Dublin 04 June 1772, and was buried in the Old Abbey cemetery, Arklow, in the tomb of the Graham family.

◆ Clongowes Wood College SJ HIB Archive Collection - SC/CLON/142
Michael Cawood 1707-1787
Michael Cawood, son of a Protestant father who was later received into the Church, was born in Dublin 23 June 1707 and received into the Society at Seville, 28 January 1726. He made all his ecclesiastical studies at Granada and was ordained priest by 1737. Recalled to Dublin in 1738 he was assigned to the Dublin Residence and served as curate at Mary's Lane, He was superior of the Residence for some time after 1760. From time to time he exercised his ministry at Ballycooge House, Arklow, seat of the Graham family. He died at Dublin 4 June 1772 and was buried at the Old Abbey cemetery, Arklow in the tomb of the Graham family.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CAWOOD, MICHAEL, of Leinster, was born in 1708; joined the Order at Seville on the 28th of January, 1726, and came to the Irish Mission twelve years later. He took his solemn Vows on St. Patrick s Day Day, 1742. For several years he assisted a Parish Priest in Dublin; but further information I have been unable to procure.

◆ Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ Past and Present Notes :
16th February 1811 At the advance ages of 73, Father Betagh, PP of the St Michael Rosemary Lane Parish Dublin, Vicar General of the Dublin Archdiocese died. His death was looked upon as almost a national calamity. Shops and businesses were closed on the day of his funeral. His name and qualities were on the lips of everyone. He was an ex-Jesuit, the link between the Old and New Society in Ireland.

Among his many works was the foundation of two schools for boys : one a Classical school in Sall’s Court, the other a Night School in Skinner’s Row. One pupil received particular care - Peter Kenney - as he believed there might be great things to come from him in the future. “I have not long to be with you, but never fear, I’m rearing up a cock that will crow louder and sweeter for yopu than I ever did” he told his parishioners. Peter Kenney was to be “founder” of the restored Society in Ireland.

There were seventeen Jesuits in Ireland at the Suppression : John Ward, Clement Kelly, Edward Keating, John St Leger, Nicholas Barron, John Austin, Peter Berrill, James Moroney, Michael Cawood, Michael Fitzgerald, John Fullam, Paul Power, John Barron, Joseph O’Halloran, James Mulcaile, Richard O’Callaghan and Thomas Betagh. These men believed in the future restoration, and they husbanded their resources and succeeded in handing down to their successors a considerable sum of money, which had been saved by them.

A letter from the Acting General Father Thaddeus Brezozowski, dated St Petersburg 14/06/1806 was addressed to the only two survivors, Betagh and O’Callaghan. He thanked them for their work and their union with those in Russia, and suggested that the restoration was close at hand.

A letter from Nicholas Sewell, dated Stonyhurst 07/07/1809 to Betagh gives details of Irishmen being sent to Sicily for studies : Bartholomew Esmonde, Paul Ferley, Charles Aylmer, Robert St Leger, Edmund Cogan and James Butler. Peter Kenney and Matthew Gahan had preceded them. These were the foundation stones of the Restored Society.

Returning to Ireland, Kenney, Gahan and John Ryan took residence at No3 George’s Hill. Two years later, with the monies saved for them, Kenney bought Clongowes as a College for boys and a House of Studies for Jesuits. From a diary fragment of Aylmer, we learn that Kenney was Superior of the Irish Mission and Prefect of Studies, Aylmer was Minister, Claude Jautard, a survivor of the old Society in France was Spiritual Father, Butler was Professor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology, Ferley was professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Esmonde was Superior of Scholastics and they were joined by St Leger and William Dinan. Gahan was described as a Missioner at Francis St Dublin and Confessor to the Poor Clares and irish Sisters of Charity at Harold’s Cross and Summerhill. Ryan was a Missioner in St Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin. Among the Scholastics, Brothers and Masters were : Brothers Fraser, Levins, Connor, Bracken, Sherlock, Moran, Mullen and McGlade.

Trouble was not long coming. Protestants were upset that the Jesuits were in Ireland and sent a petition was sent to Parliament, suggesting that the Vow of Obedience to the Pope meant they could not have an Oath of Allegiance to the King. In addition, the expulsion of Jesuits from all of Europe had been a good thing. Kenney’s influence and diplomatic skills resulted in gaining support from Protestants in the locality of Clongowes, and a counter petition was presented by the Duke of Leinster on behalf of the Jesuits. This moment passed, but anto Jesuit feelings were mounting, such as in the Orange faction, and they managed to get an enquiry into the Jesuits and Peter Kenney and they appeared before the Irish Chief Secretary and Provy Council. Peter Kenney’s persuasive and oratorical skills won the day and the enquiry group said they were satisfied and impressed.

Over the years the Mission grew into a Province with Joseph Lentaigne as first Provincial in 1860. In 1885 the first outward undertaking was the setting up of an Irish Mission to Australia by Lentaigne and William Kelly, and this Mission grew exponentially from very humble beginnings.

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.from the Government.