Item 370 - Note written by Fr Morgan O'Brien SJ concerning his taking of his last vows

Born: 11 June 1849, Youghal, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1900
Died: 25 July 1901, Loyola College Greenwich, Sydney

Part of the St Patrick’s College, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had entered Royal College Maynooth for the Cloyne Diocese, and after Ordination he worked in Belfast for some years.

He made his Noviceship at Dromore under John Colgan.
He was then sent to Louvain for one year of Theology.
1889 In the Autumn of 1889 he accompanied Timothy Kenny and Thomas Browne and some others to Australia. Landing in Melbourne, he was sent to St Patrick’s College, where he spent some years teaching.
He was later sent to the Hawthorn Mission, and later still some time in Sydney, and finally back to Melbourne.
He had been in delicate health for some time, and so was sent from St Patrick’s Melbourne to Sydney, and he died happily at Loyola College there 25/07/1901 aged 52

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Morgan O'Brien joined the Society as a secular priest, having studied at Maynooth and working in Belfast before entering. He was 38 years of age when he joined the Jesuit noviciate at Dromore 7 September 1887, where he spent one year. He had another year of theology at Louvain before being sent to Australia and St Patrick's College, in 1889. He taught and was hall prefect and prefect of the Sodality of the Holy Angels. He spent two years in pastoral work in the parish of Hawthorn, 1894-95, and then taught at Riverview, 1895-96, at St Aloysius' College, Bourke Street, Sydney, 1896-98, and later at St Patrick's College, 1898-1901, where he was spiritual father and assistant editor of the Messenger. He was in weak health when sent to Australia, presumably because he suffered from consumption, but he did valuable work giving retreats and missions as well as teaching. He was a man of religious simplicity, earnestness and zeal.