Born: 26 December 1862, Rathmore, County Kerry
Entered: 06 September 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1894
Died: 29 April 1934, Dublin City, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 1900

Educated at Meentogues, County Kerry and Crescent College SJ and London University

1880-1882: Milltown Park, Dublin, Novitiate
1882-1883: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, studying and teaching Maths
1883-1884: St Mary’s, Emo, Novitiate
1884-1889: University College, Dublin, studying and teaching
1889-1890: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Regency
1890-1891: Mungret College SJ, Regency
1891-1895: Milltown Park, studying Theology
1895-1897: Mungret College SJ, teaching
1897-1898: Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
1898-1899: Clongowes Wood College SJ, teaching

https://www.dib.ie/biography/dinneen-patrick-stephen-a2627

DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY

Dinneen, Patrick Stephen
by Eoin Mac Cárthaigh

Dinneen, Patrick Stephen (Ó Duinnín, Pádraig Stiabhna) (1860–1934), Irish language lexicographer, was born 25 December 1860 on a smallholding in Carn townland near Rathmore in the Sliabh Luachra district of Co. Kerry, fifth of ten children of Maitiú Ó Duinnín, farmer and livestock trader, and Máire Ní Dhonnchadha (d. 1917). His parents, who had been evicted from a more substantial farm a few years previously, were native Irish-speakers. Although Pádraig was brought up largely through English, Irish was still very much in evidence during his childhood, and he first heard many of the poems of local poet Aogán Ó Rathaille (qv) from his mother. He received his earliest formal education in the local national school and later (at the age of 10) in the national school at Na Míteoga, from his uncle. His ability was obvious from an early age and he became a monitor in that school in 1874. He left aged 17 and stayed at home for three years, taking Latin lessons from the parish priest of Rathmore, presumably with a view to entering the priesthood. His mother's excessive piety must have been a factor in his choice of calling. Under the influence of Denis Murphy (qv), SJ, he joined the Jesuits in September 1880. He was ordained in 1894, but his training lasted until summer 1898. He completed his years in formation (1880–82) and as a scholastic (1891–5) at Milltown Park, Dublin, and his tertianship in Tronchiennes, Belgium (1897–8). In 1883–5 he studied mathematics and modern literature in UCD – under Gerard Manley Hopkins (qv) and Seán Ó Cathasaigh among others – graduating with an honours BA. His forte was mathematics, in which he received an MA (1889). All other years of his training were spent teaching – three of them as an assistant in mathematics in UCD (1885–8), and the rest in Jesuit novitiates and schools. After completing his training, he taught in Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare, for two years. Although much folklore surrounds his (regular and fairly amicable) parting of ways with the Jesuits (1900), it would seem that he left because his superiors thought him unsuitable for life in the society – toisc é a bheith beagainín corr ann féin (‘because he was a little bit eccentric’), as one Jesuit put it. He wore clerical garb until his death, and was allowed to continue presenting himself as a priest, but not to administer the sacraments without first being licensed to do so by a bishop. He was later offered such permission by the archbishop of Dublin, but failed to take it up because this would involve showing private documentation to prove that he could support himself independently – and he was always intensely private about his personal affairs. This did not, however, stop him from accepting offerings to hear mass for people's intentions. There is little evidence that he showed any interest in Irish before 1899, when he began teaching it in Clongowes and also made a submission in support of the language to a government commission on education. His conversion may have come about under the influence of his friend and fellow Jesuit, the Irish scholar Fr John MacErlean (qv). He soon plunged headlong into Irish scholarship and quickly established himself as a leading authority on Irish literature. By 1906, he had produced fairly reliable editions of the poetry of many of the most important Munster poets: Aogán Ó Rathaille, Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (qv), Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill (qv), Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna (qv), Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin (qv), Piaras Feiritéar (qv), and the Maigue poets. He also edited Faoistin Naomh-Phádraig, the eighteenth-century prose text Me Guidhir Fhearmanach, and three of the four volumes of the highly valuable Foras feasa ar Éirinn by Seathrún Céitinn (qv). He published these through Conradh na Gaeilge's publications' committee and through the London-based Irish Texts Society (ITS). The latter also printed his pioneering Irish–English dictionary, which was widely welcomed when it came out in 1904. Although he later claimed that most of this dictionary was compiled from material ‘stored up in my childhood's memory’, in fact it drew heavily on published literature, on unpublished lexicons, and on manuscript sources, as well as on word lists submitted from the various Gaeltacht areas. When the plates for this publication were destroyed during the 1916 rising, he embarked with the assistance of Liam S. Gógan (qv) on a second, much expanded edition, which appeared in 1927 and was the standard Irish–English dictionary until 1977 (when it was largely replaced by Niall Ó Dónaill's (qv) Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla). The 1927 edition and its predecessor made a significant contribution to the standardisation of Irish orthography. It has been widely consulted since 1977 – particularly by readers of material published before the advent of today's official standard Irish and by those wishing to access its considerable body of proverbs and idiomatic expressions. This is the dictionary that ‘Myles na Gopaleen’ (Flann O'Brien (qv)), poked fun at for years in his ‘Cruiskeen Lawn’ column in the Irish Times, christening Ó Duinnín ‘our great comic lexicographer’.

In contrast to his lexicographical work, Ó Duinnín's literary attempts (including a novel, some plays, and several poems) are less than memorable. However, his novel Cormac Ó Conaill (1901) is of no small historical importance: it was the first novel of the literary renaissance. As well as being a member of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language, and of the ITS, Ó Duinnín was an active member (1900–09) of Conradh na Gaeilge: he sat on many of its most influential committees, including its Coiste Gnó – where, according to Piaras Béaslaí (qv), he was usually in a ‘magnificent minority of one’. His main platform within the Conradh was the Munster-leaning and pro-catholic Craobh an Chéitinnigh, of which he was made president (1904). This branch operated as an independent republic within the Conradh, and was more often than not at loggerheads with the leadership. From there, he played an active part in the virtual civil war that bedevilled the language movement in the early years of the twentieth century. He came under the influence of his friend D. P. Moran (qv), and wrote a column in the latter's Leader (1906–29), using this and the letter columns of other newspapers to assail the Conradh's leaders, particularly Douglas Hyde (qv) and P. H. Pearse (qv). He thought the latter pretentious, and often referred to him with mock seriousness as ‘Pee Haitch’ and ‘BABL’. In 1906, in a celebrated letter purporting to be from a person by the name of Snag Breac (‘Magpie’) to the Irish People newspaper, he criticised a novel that Pearse had recently published under the pseudonym ‘Colm Ó Conaire’ (supposedly a western writer), saying it ‘smacks more like the margarine of the slums than pure mountain butter’. He also poked fun at the innocent Pearse's choice of title, Poll an phíobaire (‘The piper's hole’), expressing the hope that ‘the Píobaire will continue to draw from the stores of his capacious and well-filled arsenal’! From 1909 until his death Ó Duinnín devoted himself exclusively to his studies. Although he was awarded (1920) an honorary D.Litt. in absentia by the NUI, he never had much contact with the academic establishment. For many years, he was a permanent fixture in the National Library (where he receives mention in Joyce's (qv) Ulysses) and in the RIA library, where he spent the winters. He was a well known and well liked character around Dublin in the early decades of the century. He cut a rather colourful figure in his tall hat and shabby coat (which he once borrowed from a friend but neglected to return), and was remembered by many not because of his great dictionary but because of his mild eccentricity: his habit of talking to himself and chewing dulse in the library, his awful puns (‘O'Neill-Lane? Ó, níl aon mhaith ann’), or his legendary miserliness (which once led him to enter a children's writing competition and pocket the prize). He died Saturday 29 September 1934 and, after funeral Mass in the Jesuits' Gardiner St. church, was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.

An Seabhac [P. Ó Siochfhradha], obituary, Capuchin Annual 1935, 118–20; P. Ó Conluain and D. Ó Céileachair, An Duinníneach: An tAthair Pádraig Ó Duinnín, a shaol, a shaothar agus an ré inar mhair sé (1958); M. Bruck, ‘Fear an fhoclóra’ [review of An Duinníneach], Ríocht na Midhe, ii, no. 1 (1959), 72–3; C. Ó H., [review of An Duinníneach], IER, 5th ser., xc, no. 1 (Jan. 1961), 69–70; C. Ó Háinle, Promhadh pinn (1978); Beathaisnéis: 1882–1982, iii (1992), 96–8; iv (1994), 183

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_S._Dinneen

Patrick Stephen Dinneen (Irish: Pádraig Ua Duinnín; 25 December 1860 – 29 September 1934) was an Irish lexicographer and historian, and a leading figure in the Gaelic revival.

Life
Dinneen was born near Rathmore, County Kerry.[1] He was educated at Shrone and Meentogues National Schools and at St. Brendan's College in Killarney.[2] He earned second class honours bachelor's and master's degrees from the Royal University of Ireland. The BA (1885) was in classics and mathematical science, the MA (1889) was in mathematical science. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1880 and was ordained a priest in 1894, but left the order in 1900 to devote his life to the study of the Irish language[3] while still remaining a priest. After his ordination, he taught Irish, English, classics, and mathematics in three different Jesuit colleges, including Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare.

P. S. Dinneen's dictionary Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, 1904
He was a leading figure in the Irish Texts Society, publishing editions of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, poems by Aogán Ó Rathaille, Piaras Feiritéar, Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin, and other poets. He also wrote a novel and a play in Irish, and translated such works as Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol into Irish. His best known work, however, is his Irish–English dictionary, Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, which was first published in 1904.[4] The stock and plates of the dictionary were destroyed during the Easter Rising of 1916, so Dinneen took the opportunity to expand the dictionary. A much larger second edition, compiled with the assistance of Liam S. Gógan, was published in 1927.[5] Dinneen's request to the Irish Texts Society to include Gogan's name on the title page was refused.[6] Gogan continued to work on the collection of words up to his death in 1979. This complementary dictionary was published online in 2011.[7]

Fr. Dinneen died in Dublin at the age of 73 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.[8]

Born: 05 February 1932, Merrion View Avenue, Merrion, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1953, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1965, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 18 November 2022,

Left Society of Jesus: 21 April 1974

Transcribed HIB to ZAM, 18 November 1965

Father, Daniel, was a commercial traveller and died in 1953. Mother was Anne (Nancy) (Rathbourne).

Youngest of three boys with one sister.

Educated at a preparatory school, then at St Vincent’s CBS, Glasnevin and then at Belvedere College SJ for five years. He then worked for a year at a wholesale drapery, whilst studying Quantity Surveying

Baptised at St Kevin’s, Harrington Street, 07/02/1932
Conformed at St Columba’s, ionar Road by Dr McQuaid of Dublin, 26/03/1942

1953-1955: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1955-1957: at Laval France (FRA) studying
1957- 1959: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1959-1962: at Chivuna, Monze, N Rhodesia - studying language Regency
1962-1963: Jesuitenkollg, Innsbruck Austria (ASR) Theology
1963-1966: Milltown Park, Theology
1966-1967: Rathfarnham Castle, Tertianship
1967-1969: St Ignatius, Tottenham London (ANG) studying Tonga at University of London School of Oriental Studies
1969-1970: Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia, teaching Chitonga and spiritual work at Chivuna
1970-1972: Charles Lwanga TTC, Chikuni, Zambia, teaching Chitonga and spiritual work at Chivuna
1972: The Presbytery, Linton Road, Barking, Essex, England preparing for a PhD in Tonga at School of Oriental and African Studies, Gower Street, London
1973: Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, London, England

Applied for laicisation in early January 1973 but withdrew this in late January 1973, seeking a “leave of absence” instead. Later in the year he reverted to the request for laicisation (August 1973) - then living at London House, Mecklenburgh Square, London.

Married Carolyn Ayling at St John the Evangelist, Islington, London, 17/07/1974

Address 2000: St Aloysius College, Upper Pitt Street, Milson’s Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Born: 07 August 1906, Waterford, County Waterford
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: June 1978, South Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 13 December 1968

Father (Thomas) was in police and later a clerk. Family lived at St Teresa’s Road, Glasnevin. Mother was Katherine (Carey).

Early education at O’Connells School, Dublin

Confirmed at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow, 12/11/1916

1924-1926: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1926-1930: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD
1930-1933: Mungret College SJ, Regency
1933-1934: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1935-1936: Mungret Colklege SJ, Regency
1936-1937: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Philosophy
1937-1940: Milltown Park, Theology
1941-1942: Rathfarnham Castle, Tertianship
1942-1945: Mungret College SJ, teaching
1945-1962: Belvedere College SJ, Teaching
1962-1967: Sacred Heart College Crescent SJ, Teaching
1967-1968: Sir William Collins Secondary School, Edgeware London (ANG) working for Westminster Diocese project in County Schools at the invitation of Cardinal Heenan. Address Hartland Drive, Broadfields, Edgeware, London. Attached to the Stamford Hill Jesuit community, London

New address on leaving, Thornton Drive, Chislehurst, Kent, England.

Information saying that he had married Christmas 1968, and was teaching at Centro Linguistico Italo-Americano, Via Stoppani, Bergamo, Italy, but that their address was still st Thornton Drive, Chislehurst.

Later address (1971) Rebmatt, Oberwiel, Zug, Switzerland.
(1975), South Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1978

Obituary

Father Tom O’Callaghan

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. Tom was rarely still in life. He rarely spoke sotto voce. Pacing, pacing, up and down outside the rail in Donnybrook, chain-smoking cigarettes and matches; intense and often very individual instructions to the team at half time... Did Tom ever sit behind the wheel of a car? Little things like traffic jams and speed limits must have sent up his blood pressure if he did. An unbroken Arab horse and a wilderness would have suited him better.

Apart from being a trainer of distinction, Tom was thought to be an outstanding mathematician when we were boys. Whether the latter is true it is impossible to discover now. Boys like to invest their teachers with what they take to be Einsteinian qualities. He was certainly a very intelligent man but he was unable to take his degree. At different stages during his university studies, usually around examination time, he had to sit near the door of the refectory in Rathfarnham Castle. This was because he would suddenly, through nervousness, find himself unable to swallow, and have to run choking from the room. He could talk very interestingly on any subject, even though he might naturally gravitate to discussing rugby. He liked to consult encyclopaedias in the middle of an argument to show he was correct on a point of historical or literary fact.

Fr Tom had very many devoted friends among the Past, but, almost certainly, some who bore a grudge as well. He seemed to work off his frustrations in sarcasm against “enemies”, and, whom he took to be fools, he did not suffer gladly. The result was that those who were on the outside could not see how the devotion of the others arose. Happily the mystery of life is deep and complicated enough to encompass different types. Tom was either a stone in your shoe or a stone in your oyster; he could not be ignored.

For almost twenty years, 1946-1962, Fr Tom O'Callaghan SJ, was teacher, trainer, sometime assistant disciplinarian in Belvedere. He was moved by the Canonical Visitor to Crescent College Limerick. From what we hear, things were not the same there. He was approaching sixty years of age and his once dominant personality was losing its force. He did not have a reputation he could call on, as the pupils of Crescent had not heard of him before. In a few years he was teaching in a school in London and while there he met his future wife. At what stage he decided to leave the priesthood it is impossible to say.

When they returned to Dublin he took up teaching for a while in St. Conleth's. This did not last very long as his health was disintegrating. During a long and sporadic illness his wife took devoted care of him. He died in June of this year aged 72 years. RIP.

Every Christian life is a sad life. Every Christian life is a failure. A web of disappointments and of goals unachieved. We cannot say, and it is futile to guess, whether some things might have been better if some other things had been otherwise ... We do not know. That is all we can say. We offer our sympathy to his wife, Barbara, May the Lord look mercifully on all of us, and on the soul of Fr. Tom O'Callaghan, one-time Jesuit, sacerdos in aeter num.

BK, SJ

Born: 17 March 1930, Iona Crescent, Glasnevin, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 08 October 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1961, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1965, Rome, Italy
Died: 11 November 2020, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Left Society of Jesus: 10 December 1976

Father, Cornelius, was a Land Commission Inspector. Mother was Agnes (Monks). Family lived at Seatown Place, Dundalk, County Louth for a period until Conn was aged 5.

Third of four boys with two sisters.

Early education was at St Pat’s, Drumcondra, he then went to Cistercian College Roscrea for one year. Then he went to Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square, Dublin. In his Leaving Cert he got a Dublin Corporation scholarship and a new Government scholarship for University at UCG.

1947-1949: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1949-1953: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD (BA)
1953-1956: Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying Philosophy
1956-1958: Belvedere College SJ, Regency
1958-1962: Milltown Park, Theology
1962-1963: Sentmaringer Münster, Germany (GER I) making Tertianship
1963-1965: Collegio Bellarmino, Rome, Philosophy at the Gregorian University
1965-1966: St Louis MO, USA (MAR) teaching Philosophy
1966-1976: Milltown Park, Lecturing in Philosophy
1973-1974 at Regis Toronto, Canada (CAN S) sabbatical and Berchmanskolleg, Kauylbachstr, Munich & Copenhagen, Denmark

In April 1976 asked for a short “leave of absence” with a view to asking to be laicised and dispensed from Vows. Granted 10/12/1976

Address on leaving, Sandymount Green, Dublin, then Clifton House, Monkstown Road, County Dublin and then Ennafort Park, Raheny, then St Mary’s Road, Ballsbridge, and then Clifton House, Monkstown again. In 1977 he was working with Gaeltarra Eireann and living at Dangan Lower, Galway. Married Pat (Paddy) Stokes, an Australian, in December 1977. They emigrated to Australia in 1979, and worked at St Aloysius College, Sydney. Taught in Belvedere Junior School, 1999-2000 and then returned to Australia where he worked at St Ignaius College, Riverview, Sydney.

Address 2000 & 1991: Carabella Street, Kirribilli, New South Wales, Australia

https://lonergan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Shane-Hogan-Conn-ODonovan-Eulogy.pdf

A eulogy for Cornelius Patrick O’Donovan (17 March 1930 - 11 November 2020)
Shane Hogan, former Headmaster, St.Ignatius College, Riverview
21 November 2020

We are here to celebrate the precious life of Cornelius Patrick O’Donovan’s, or ‘Conn’ as he was more affectionally known.

Conn was an immensely special person to a great number of people from vast walks of life. From a young Irish lad in a big catholic family to a dynamic Jesuit, his adventurous and influential life in Australia is one worth remembering and celebrating. I pray these words are befitting of Conn and the extraordinary legacy that lives on in his family and friends.

In 2003 I was given a book by Daven Day SJ when he was Provincial. Its title was Heroic Leadership. It was an attempt by the author, an ex-Jesuit, to explain why the Jesuits had survived for the past 450 years while empires and successful corporations have fallen by the way side in that time. He put it down to 4 characteristics that he believes have served the Jesuits over that time: self-awareness, heroic deeds, ingenuity, and love.

Does each of these principals not sum up and epitomise this beautiful man’s character and personality and explain how he had such an impact on each person’s life that he touched.

Conn was born on 17 March 1930 in Dublin. The keen-eyed among you will have noticed the significance of this date – it is surprising he was not called Patrick Cornelius! As the second born male, Irish tradition states that he would be named after his paternal
grandfather and father.

His father was the Land Commissioner Inspector at this time but was famously behind the barricades at the Dublin General Post Office, shoulder to shoulder with Collins, Clarke, Connelly and McDermott, in the Easter Rising of 1916. Conn was very proud of this fact.

Conn had his Secondary education at Roscrea College, Tipperary for one year, and spent the remainder at Colaiste Mhuire, Dublin – an Irish-speaking Christian Brothers School. He entered the Society of Jesus on 8 October 1947, joining the Jesuit Novitiate at Emo, near Portarlington, where he spent two years of spiritual formation. In the Novitiate he was encouraged to read widely and to develop an interest in music and the arts, a passion he maintained throughout his life.

Following his time in the Jesuit Novitiate he travelled to Rathfarnham Castle where he studied for four years at the University College Dublin. An exemplary student, Conn pursued a demanding course, taking four subjects in Science and Mathematics. While he certainly could have obtained an impressive degree in Science, Conn’s heart remained in the realm of the humanities, and at the end of his first year, he switched to a degree in Latin and Irish. He would, of course, obtain First Class Honours. From here, Conn travelled to Germany to study Philosophy and upon commencement, greatly impressed the demanding German Jesuit professors, who promptly marked him as someone set to become a specialist in Philosophy.

Conn spent the next two years teaching and perfecting his craft at Belvedere College, Dublin, where his interest and ability in sports came to the fore. He was an excellent teacher, popular with the students and possessed an effortless and kindly control in the classroom and on the playing field. He then moved to Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy for four years of Theological Studies. It was Milltown that had a decisive impact on Conn, in large part due to his association with Philip McShane, with whom he forged a personal and intellectual friendship, one that would influence not only the other, but a whole generation of students of Philosophy at the Milltown Institute. His interest in philosophy deepened and matured over these years and the expectations of his German philosophy professors were further realised. After his final year of formation - his tertianship - Conn attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he obtained a Doctorate in Philosophy which he promptly put to use at the Jesuit St. Louis University in Missouri.

Conn returned home to Ireland where he taught Philosophy for 10 years. As ever, he was popular with colleagues and students, being urbane and gracious as he was. With his Milltown friend, Philip McShane, the pair established a philosophy course grounded in the teachings of the Canadian Jesuit Philosopher, Bernard Lonergan. This decision, however, was not without controversy and painful conflict. The modernisation of religious life was under heavy scrutiny at the time of the change, following the second Vatican Council. Although unknown, many believe that this series of conflicts in the 1960s were what caused Conn to leave the Priesthood and the Jesuits. Conn and the Jesuits remained passionately and eternally in a “benign and mutually appreciative relationship”.

Conn met the love of his life, Paddy, sometime after leaving the Jesuits. Paddy was an Australian nurse whom Conn met while she was travelling through Ireland. Conn was besotted with Paddy. Anything that she wanted, Conn was prepared to deliver. The two
become inseparable and shared many crazy adventures. His immense love for Paddy endured until her passing in 2003. A beautiful send-off was held for Paddy at St Canisius in Potts Point, arranged by Conn’s dear friend, Steve Sinn.

Conn arrived on the doorsteps of St Aloysius College in January 1980. He was looking for a job, as were a number of others who have been part of Jesuit education in Australia for the past 40 years. The first time I met him, Conn was sitting outside Father Bruce’s office waiting to go in and get our classes for the year. At Aloysius, Conn was an immediately hit with staff and students (and Jesuits). He played staff football on a Friday afternoon for many years. I did not realise how old he was at this time, probably 50 or close to it, he was easily one of the best players on the field – a great goalkeeper. Off the field, Conn could also hold his own with a drink.

Conn was an exceptional Latin teacher, Latin being one of eight languages Conn had been taught or taught himself to speak. He was also an exceptional Year Coordinator, earning the love of his students whom he loved in return. One of the reasons for this mutual respect was due to the fact that Conn could not bring himself to use the strap as punishment. He opted instead for a slower, arguably more cruel method, to talk them to death! If this did not work, he would refer them to his assistant, Neil Mushan, to sort out matters more… directly.This discipline method did not work when Helen Ephrums became his new assistant, as she also loved the boys to death.

Conn’s time at Aloysius is wonderfully remembered in comedian Ahn Do’s popular novel, The Happiest Refugee, where Conn’s passion and commitment to fair play saw him rest Ahn late in a Basketball game when Ahn was desperately trying to get to 30 points to win a new pair of basketball boots. When Conn was informed of his accidental actions, he was reported to have said, “Jaysus! Why didn’t you tell me earlier you daft eediot! Ahn, next time out, you’re on!” I can hear him saying it! With his right hand on his forehead.

When I first knew Conn, he was living at St Ignatius’ College in the old Infirmary. After that, he resided at Pearl Beach and travelled each day to St Aloysius is his green Morris Minor. He also for a time lived in a plush flat in Bellevue Hill, however the only piece of property he owned in his life, was an old church in the country which he used as a holiday house. Finally, Conn moved to Riverview and lived in a cottage by First Field for many years, a very happy place with classical music always drifting in the air as you approached.

On his departure from St Aloysius in the mid ‘90s, Conn travelled home to Ireland for a number of years. Paddy had convinced him she wanted to go home to Ireland to live and do a cooking course in France. Ever supportive of her dreams and true to his enduring love, whatever Paddy wanted, Conn was always prepared to deliver. While in Ireland, Conn taught at the Jesuit Belvedere College, Dublin, but both he and Paddy soon realised that with the Celtic Tiger enveloping the nation, Ireland was not the place and home they thought it to be.

Conn returned to Australia, commencing at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, where he would join a number of us who had left Aloysius to start anew. After Paddy died, I asked Conn to come and live at Riverview. With this, a new amazing stage in his life began: that of a Jesuit, mystic and gypsy. Conn did possibly his best and most influential work while at Riverview. As mentor and confidante to the Headmaster, as well as Latin teacher, Conn spent many an afternoon wasting his time on Jennie Hickey and I - who never completed her homework and was inattentive at times - as he tried to get us through the Year 7 syllabus … year after year.

Conn’s impact on the formation of young Ignatian men and on those he worked with can be summed up by the outpouring of emotional responses on social media on hearing the news of his passing. Among the many moving tributes, here are two such examples of the widespread and lasting influence of Conn’s character.

A wonderful person and a great and enthusiastic 4th XI soccer coach! Profound intellect, humility, insight, depth of faith, simplicity of life, ease of finding joy… Conn’s gift for critical, honest thinking and seeking after truth made a big impact on me and many. I am moved to gratitude for his life. May Conn rest in peace. – James O’Brien
A dear friend and teacher who helped educate the whole person - a wonderful teacher of Ancient Greek who, in the course of teaching the subject, taught you also a good deal of literature - particularly the Irish poets - Latin, Gaelic, German, Philosophy and Theology. A great football coach who insisted on character and fair, firm play. But more, just a caring shepherd of people on their way into broader life. My favourite lessons in Greek were when he would turn up with a poem of Seamus Heaney’s,

because the story of the Trojan wars was also the story of all human struggles. Requiescat in pace, Conn. – Dominic Kelly

At this point, can I especially thank, from all of Conn’s friends and family, the care and love shared by the dozen or so girlfriends who spoilt him and gave him a graceful entry to heaven over the past months and were true friends to the end, especially you Christine, you have been an angel by his side.

In the Book of Isiah there is the story of the passing of a close friend of Cicero and when his wife asks him why do you weep so?

“The earth is poorer” said Cicero. “It has lost a good man, and we cannot afford it”

The earth will be a poorer place without Conn, at a time when good men are hard to find. Conn touched each and every one of us and has left us with memories we will cherish forever. Conn loved his Irish heritage, and in particular Irish poets. Conn and Paddy attached this poem to a birthday card they sent me in 2002. When you read it, hear Conn’s words in your head and heart.

https://lonergan.org.au/conn-odonovan-2/

27 November 2020

In Memory of Cornelius Patrick O’Donovan (17 March 1930 – 11 November 2020)

Our colleague and friend, Conn O’Donovan, was a regular attendee, participant and presenter at our biennial Australian Lonergan Workshop. He had a particular expertise and interest in the philosophy of learning.

He will remembered as a passionate and compassionate man, a lover of his wife Paddy, a scholar and a teacher,. He will also be remembered for this love of music and Lindt 85% dark chocolate.

His funeral service can be viewed (until 20th May 2021) at: https://www.FuneralVideo.com.au/CorneliusODonovan. A hard copy of the eulogy by Shane Hogan, former headmaster at St.Ignatius College, Riverview is available to download here. This includes a little of life-story.

In Lonergan circles, he will be remembered an educator, a reformer of philosophy and theology courses and a translator and interpreter of one of Lonergan’s important contributions to theology.

Educator

Throughout his life, Conn was an educator at various institutions – Belvedere College, Dublin; St.Louis University, Missouri; and Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy.

Over the past 40 years, Conn taught at St.Aloysius College, Milson’s Point and St.Ignatius College, Riverview (in Sydney, Australia). He is particularly noted for his course on “Wonder about Wonder: an introduction to philosophy” which aimed to have students grasp their own native wonder.

Reformer

In the early 1960s, Conn worked closely with Phil McShane and others in reforming philosophy and theology courses at the Jesuit Milltown Institute, Dublin. In a 2003 article in the Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis reflecting on the first forty years of Phil McShane, Conn recalled the challenge and the difficulties they faced:

There was considerable discontent, and even cynicism, among those Jesuit students, whether Lonergan inspired or not, who looked on theology as something more than just a canonical prerequisite for ordination, or who had already achieved considerable success in some other field. Many of them simply went along with the system, mastering the matter presented and producing it, on request, at examination time; others registered a kind of protest by pursuing private interests as much as possible; those inspired by Lonergan tended increasingly to raise questions in class in a manner that challenged their professors’ authority, at times, unfortunately, with a crude appeal to the authority of Lonergan. We did not know then that we were living through the final years of a system that Lonergan later described as hopelessly antiquated but not yet demolished, that what was happening at Milltown was happening all over the world, and that the upheaval that was soon to come would affect much more than the traditional seminary courses in philosophy and theology.

Translator and interpreter

In the early 1970s, Conn undertook the long and arduous task of translating, from Latin into English, the first part of the first volume of Bernard Lonergan’s De Deo Trino. It was published in 1976 by Darton Longman & Todd as The Way to Nicea: The Dialectical Development of Trinitarian Theology and examined the dialectical process by which the dogma of the Trinity developed in the first four centuries. The Way to Nicea was the first translation of Lonergan’s Latin writings to be published.

Lonergan was always reluctant to have any of his Latin texts translated because he wrote them in Latin for a very specific audience, I.e., the students from 17 nations at the Gregorian, as well the Holy Office who had to approve all texts used at pontifical universities. He said that he would have written it “differently” in English or French.
Having read Conn’s translation of the first part of de Deo Trino he thought it excellent and agreed to have it published as The Way to Nicea.The book includes an important introduction by Conn in which he sets out to:

survey the content and indicate the structure of the whole two-volume work [De Deo Trino] of which the part translated constitutes one sixth,
Give an account of Lonergan’s academic courses on the Trinity, from 1945 to 1964, with some references to other work in progress at the time of these courses,
Give a brief history of Lonergan’s writings on the Trinity during his years in Rome culminating in the 1964 De Deo Trino,
Discuss the importance for Lonergan of trinitarian theology as the area in which (mainly) he worked out his method in theology
Comment on Lonergan’s enduring involvement with and contribution to trinitarian theology as a topic of the greatest importance within theology
Suggest some reasons why Lonergan has been so far unwilling to release for publication in translation any more than this one part of De Deo Trino and why he has released even as much as he has
Make a few comments on the tasks of translation itself.