File 285 - Fr William McElligott SJ

Born: 24 October 1901, Crayford, Kent, England
Entered: 29 June 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 11 December 1952, Mungret College, County Limerick

Father was a Warrant Officer in the Royal Navy, and drowned in the Great War. Mother died at his birth.

Educated at firstly at a Convent boarding school in East Grinstead, Sussex, and then went to a private boarding school in Bruges for four years, and left there because of the war. He then went to a College of the Xaverian Brothers in Mayfield, Sussex. He then became a clerk in the Civil Service, being appointed in 1917. In October 1922 he was transferred to the Office of the Irish Land Commission. In 1928 he went to Mungret College SJ with a view to joining the Society.

by 1936 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Civil Servant before entry
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 28th Year No 2 1953
Obituary :
Father William (Liam) McElligott
Father William McElligott was born in Crayford, Kent, in 1901. At an early age he went to Bruges, to a school run by the American Xaverian Brothers. In later years he used often recall his bewilderment when he awoke on his first morning there, a lonely little boy, surrounded by French speakers who buttoned their shirts up the back. Later on, probably owing to the 1914 war, he was at the Xaverian Brothers' school at Mayfield, Sussex.
He entered the British Civil Service in 1917. Between then and the Treaty of 1921, he seems to have taken some active part in the Anglo Irish war, for which he was later decorated with the Cogadh na Saoirse Medal. It was probably during these years that he learned to speak, as he could fluently, his Kerry Irish. After the ratification of the Treaty, he was transferred to the newly created Irish Civil Service, and worked with the Land Commission until his retirement on entering the Society.
So it was, at the age of 27, he first came to Mungret to learn Latin preparatory to his noviceship. He had always an interest in, and a flair for languages, and his fellow-novices, with their years of Latin studies behind them, were amazed at the fluency and accuracy with which he could speak and write Latin, after a single year of study.
Leaving Mungret in June, 1929, he entered the noviceship at Tullabeg at the end of the same month. Tho' he was a grown man of settled habits, who had seen the world and in such of its harsher side, he was always quite at his ease with his school-boy colleagues. And on their part, his fellow-novices looked forward to having him for recreation or for a walk--for he was good company, ever and always. Even so early in his religious life, he was wont to say that he neither expected nor wanted to live much beyond the age of fifty. Whether he was joking or serious, he had his wish.
After his First Vows, in September 1931, Fr. Liam went to Tullabeg for his Philosophy. At the end of his second year there, his state of nerves demanded a change and he was sent to Mungret for two years, 1933-35, where he was Second Prefect. In 1935 he had improved sufficiently to go to Heythrop and complete his Philosophy course. The next year he returned to Mungret as First Prefect. In all he was a Prefect in Mungret for four years the three mentioned above and for another year after his Tertianship. That friendly companionship, which his fellow-novices had noticed, found its development in his interest in his lads, both youngsters and seniors, and in the affection with which he inspired them. As a disciplinarian, he was on the strict side, with memories perhaps of his own continental up-bringing, and yet he had the gift of retaining the friendship even of those towards whom he had had to show severity.
The 1937 Status sent him to Theology at Milltown, and the struggle with nerves and insomnia and their consequences became more tense. However, with almost heroic efforts he pulled through, and was ordained in 1940. After his Fourth year and his Tertianship at Rathfarnham he returned to Mungret, where he was to end his life some ten years later.
After a year's spell as Prefect and another as “Doc. Praef. Od.” in 1944 Fr. McElligott took up the duties of “Adj Proc. Dom.” Therein and in his French classes, he found an outlet for the last two of the many talents he possessed-all chance of exploiting the rest of them in the Lord's service had vanished with the slow decline of his previous condition. His books were a model of accuracy and neatness,; his skill in solving the many crises of supply of essentials and near-essentials in the extremely difficult post-war years was remarkable. At times he seems to have regretted that a Jesuit house is not run on the tidy lines of a Civil Service Department. He certainly worried over what to another man would have been trifles, but this worry was a contributory cause to his untimely death. But “Fidelis servus et prudens” sums up his life during these harrowing years. As Fr. Rector said in a tribute he paid to Fr. Liam's memory at Break-Up in Dec. 1952 : “All the improvements we see around us in Mungret are due principally to Fr. Liam's careful husbanding of our resources in those difficult times”. He can, in no slight way, be numbered among those “Men who made Mungret”.
Fr. McElligott took a keen interest in the methods of teaching modern languages. As far as he himself was concerned, he had acquired no small skill in some of the most difficult-Magyar, Polish and Russian. Nor was it merely an academic interest that led him to study these unusual tongues, but rather a very practical and unassuming charity towards a number of refugee boys who found their way to Mungret, owing to the movement of Nations during and consequent to the recent war. One of his regrets was his failure to inspire in his classes an interest comparable to his own. His pupils had a much more limited objective to pass their exam. They did indeed attain their object, often with distinction, but their teacher's enthusiasm for the language met with small response.
During these hidden years of his life, he carried on a quiet apostolate amongst his old boys, advising, helping and cheering them on their way. Many were the letters that came to Mungret after his death, paying tribute to all that he had done in most cases quite unbeknownst to his colleagues.
For some eight months before his death, he was disimproving in health, with however, not a few brilliant flashes of the “old Mac” whom we had known. During the Spring and early Summer he was away for treatment for bad blood pressure. When term re-opened in September he was obviously far from well. The doctors were so disturbed by his condition that they had confined him to bed for a fortnight before his fatal attack. He fretted more at the prospect of a life of inactivity than at the possibility of a sudden call. He died on December 11th, fortified by the Rites of Holy Church and is buried in Mungret where he had spent all of his religious life apart from his years of study. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1953

Obituary

Father William McElligott SJ

Fr McElligott dead. Could it be possible? Yet, the sad news that came to us on the afternoon of December with was only too true.

Born in Creyford, Kent, in 1901 Liam McElligott went at an early age to Bruges in Beigium to be educated. At the outbreak of the 1914 War he was brought back to the Xaverian Brothers School at Mayfield, Sussex. In 1917, he entered the British Civil Service. Between then and 1921, he seems to have taken part in the Anglo-Irish War for he was decorated later with the Cogadh na Saoirse Medal. It was probably during those years, that he learned to speak fluently his Kerry Irish.

After the ratification of the Treaty, he was transferred to the newly created Irish Civil Service. He worked in the Land Commission until his entrance into the Society of Jesus. Among the staff of the Land Commission he made many friends; to these the news of his death came as a great shock.

In 1928 he came to Mungret to study Latin, and in the following year entered the Society. The years 1933-35 saw him back in Mungret as Second Club Prefect. After Philosophy he spent a year here as First Prefect 1936-37. In 1942, two two years after his Ordination, he was Prefect for another year. He showed an absorbing interest as a Prefect, in those who came under his charge. Strict in inatters of discipline, he retained the friendship of boys long after they had left Mungret.

His love of music led him to help many boys who were studying it. He had a critical appreciation of music in its various forms, and was himself an acc omplished pianist. Those who were intimate with him will remember his half humourous pretence of being a mere amateur.

In 1944 he was appointed assistant procurator of the college, and he fulfilled the onerous duties of his office until his death. The war years brought him many difficulties, but his skill and patience brought us through with the minimum of inconvenience. Fr Rector's tribute to his work, at the close of the term in December may well be quoted:

All, the improvements we see around us in Mungret are due principally to Fr. Liam's careful husbanding of our resources in those difficult times. He can in no slight way be numbered among those “Men who made Mungret”.

Methods of teaching were of keen interest of him. Those who were taught by him in Mungret have a vivid recoll ection of his energy, vitality, and earnestness. French. was a favourite subject of his, but he cheerfully admitted that his efforts to teach French pronun ciation were not a complete success. He had a paternal interest in the boys who came to the College from foreign lands after the war. He made a study of Magyar, Polish and Russian languages to tide these newcomers over the lingustic difficulties they experienced. During all the years he was in Mungret, he lived for the College. He was a familiar figure among the boys helping, encour aging, and cheering them with that humourous playfulness that still remains a precious memory.

It is perhaps for his charming sense of humour, and spirit of innocent fun that he will be especially remembered,

During his life in the Society, it might be said that he was never free from ill health. Nervous strain and insomnia were his constant Cross. To these in the last years of his life, was added the blood pressure, which was destined to prove fatal. Some time before his condition became critical, the doctors ordered him complete rest. In those last weeks, though he could not see much hope of recovering his former health. he retained his old spirit of cheerfulness, and talked lightheartedly of the future. On December 11th the end came suddenly, and he passed peacefully away fortified by the rites of Holy Church.