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Adams, James, 1737-1802, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/867
  • Person
  • 03 November 1737-07 December 1802

Born: 03 November 1737, Bury St Edmunds, East Anglia, England
Entered: 07 September 1756, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: c1767
Died: 07 December 1802, Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Hacon; Alias Spencer

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Author of some works.

◆ The English Jesuits 1650-1829 Geoffrey Holt SJ : Catholic Record Society 1984
Son of William and Anne or Sarah Spencer
Educated St Omer 1746-1755
1755-1756 Douai
Entered 07/09/1756 Watten
1761Bruges College
1763/4-1767 Liège, Theology
Ordained c 17671767-1768 Ghent, Tertianship
1768 St Aloysius College (Southworth, Croft, Leigh)
1769-1774 St Chad’s College, Aston
1774-1798 London
1798-1802 Dublin

◆ Catholic Record Society, Volume 70, 1981

The English Jesuits, 1650-1829: A Biographical Dictionary

by Geoffrey Holt

Adams, James alias Hacon and Spencer. Priest.
b. November 3rd, 1737, East Anglia,
s. of William and Anne or Sarah (Spencer).
e. St Omers College 1746-55. S.C. Douay 1755-6.
S.J. September 7th, 1756.
Watten (nov) 1756-8.
St Omers College 1761.
Bruges College 1763-4.
Liège (theol) 1767.
Ordained priest c.1767.
Ghent (tert) 1767-8.
College of St Aloysius 1768 (Southworth, Croft, Leigh).
College of St Chad 1769-74-? (Aston).
London 1798, 1800.
Dublin 1802.
d. December 6th, 1802, Dublin.

(Fo.7; CRS. 12/85; CRS.69; 113; 114; SCH.3/5; Gil. 1/6; 13 ff.95, 99; 21; 41 n. 115; 49; 54 ff.5v, 16v; 29 f.324; 65; 68 pp. 78, 133; 25; 80; 137 ff. 86-7; DNB; RSC.89; 111; 119 ff.40, 42. For writings see Sut. Som.).

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
ADAMS, JAMES, began his Noviceship at Watten, 7th September, 1756. In the sequel he taught a course of Humanities with distinguished credit at St Omer. After pursuing the quiet tenor of his way as a Missionary for many years, he retired to Dublin in the early part of August, 1802, and died there on the 7th of December, the same year, aged 65. He was the author of the following works :

  1. Early Rules for taking a Likeness. With plates, (from the French of Bonamici), 1 Vol. 8vo. pp. 59, London, 1792.
  2. Oratio Acadcmica, Anglice et Latins conscripta. Octavo, pp. 21, London, 1793.
  3. Euphonologia Linguae Anglicance, Latine et Gallice Scripta. (Inscribed to the Royal Societies of Berlin and London). 1 Vol. Svo. pp. 190, London, 1794. The author was honored with the thanks of the Royal Society, London.
  4. Rule Britannia, or the Flattery of Free Subjects paraphrased and expounded. To which is added, An Academical Discourse in English and Latin, 8vo. pp. 60, London, 1798.
  5. A Sermon preached at the Catholic Chapel of St. Patrick, Sutton Street, Soho Square, on Wednesday, the 7th of March, the Day of Public Fast. 8vo. pp. 34, London, 1798.
  6. The Pronunciation of the English Language Vindicated. 1 vol. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1799.

Q. Was F. Adams the author of the following works mentioned in the catalogue of the British Museum :

  1. The Elements of Reading, 12mo. London, 1791.
  2. The Elements of Useful Knowledge. 12mo. London, 1793.
  3. A View of Universal History. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1795.
    From a letter of his friend John Moir, dated Edinburgh, 11th Nov. 1801, as well as its answer, it is obvious that the Father had it in contemplation to publish his Tour through the Hebrides. He had been much disgusted with the Tour of that “ungrateful deprecating cynic, Dr. Johnson”.

◆ Henry Foley - Records of the English province of The Society of Jesus Vol VII

ADAMS, JAMES, Father, born in England 1737; entered the Society at Watten, September 7, 1756. Taught humanities at St. Omer's College with great success. In 1773 he was missioner at Aston, county Stafford, and died in Dublin, December 6, 1802, æt. 65. Dr Oliver, in his Colledanea S.J., enumerates several literary productions of this Father, not noticed in Father De Backer's Biblioth. des Ecrivains S.J.

I. Early Rules for taking a Likeness. With plates. From the French of Bonamici. 8vo. London, 1792.-II. Oratio Aca demica, Anglice et Latine Conscripta. 8vo. London, 1793. III. Euphonologia lingua Anglicana, Latine et Gallice Scripta. 8vo. London, 1794. Inscribed to the Royal Societies of Berlin and London. The author was honoured with the thanks of the Royal Society, London.-IV. Rule Britannia; or, the flattery of free subjects paraphrased and expounded. To which is added an academical discourse in English and Latin. 8vo. London, 1768.--V. A Sermon preached at St. Patrick's Chapel, Soho Square, March 7, 1798, the day of public fast. 8vo. London.-VI. The Pronunciation of the English Language Vindicated. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1799. Dr. Oliver asks if he was not the author of The Elements of Reading, ramo, London, 1791; The Elements of Useful Knowledge, 12mo, London, 1793; and A View of Unilersal History, 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1795. From a letter of his friend, John Moir, dated Edinburgh, November 11, 1801, as well as from the reply to it, it is obvious that Father Adams contemplated publishing his "Tour through the Hebrides."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Adams_(Jesuit)

James Adams (Jesuit)

James Adams (1737 – 7 December 1802) was an English Jesuit and philologist.

Life
Adams joined the English Jesuits in exile at their novitiate of Watten (France), on 7 September 1756. Afterwards Adams taught belles-lettres at the English College of St. Omer. Having exercised his functions as a missionary for many years, he retired to Dublin, August, 1802, and died there in the following month of December.

Works
Adams was the author of the following works.

Early Rules for Taking a Likeness. with plates, London, 1792; translated from Bonamici.
Oratio Academica Anglice et Latine. London, 1793.
Euphonologia Linguae Anglicanae, Latine et Gallice, London, 1794; for which he received the thanks of the Royal Society.
Rule Britannia, or the Flattery of Free Subjects Expounded; to which is added an Academical Discourse. London, 1798.
A Sermon preached at the Catholic Chapel of St. Patrick, Sutton-street, on Wednesday, March 7, the Day of Public Fast. London, 1798.
The Pronunciation of the English Language Vindicated. Edinburgh 1799.

References
Rose, Hugh James (1857). "Adams, James". A New General Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1 AA–ANS. London: B. Fellowes et al. p. 95.

https://digital.nls.uk/learning/scottish-enlightenment/key-people/james-adams-1737-1802/

James Adams (1737-1802)
James Adams was a Jesuit and philologist from Bury St Edmunds. Philology is the historical and comparative science of language, tracing the origin of words, exploring grammar, studying texts and through these texts the culture of the people who wrote them.

Adams published a number of works on English pronunciation, and had a particular interest in the pronunciation of English in Scotland. His principal work on language was published in Latin and French as ‘Euphonologia Linguae Anglicanae’ (1794). He revised and republished it as ‘The pronunciation of the English language’ in 1799. Adams argued that there is a correct standard pronunciation of English.

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01135d.htm

James Adams

Professor of humanities at St. Omers, born in England in 1737; died at Dublin, 6 December, 1802. He became a Jesuit at Watten, 7 September, 1756, and worked on the mission in England. He wrote a translation from the French of "Early Rules for Taking a Likeness", by Bonomaci; and was honored with the thanks of the Royal Society of London, for a treatise on "English Pronunciation, with appendices on various dialects, and an analytical discussion and vindication of Scotch". He composed also a volume of Roman History, and projected a book on a "Tour through the Hebrides", which was never printed.

(Foley, Records of the English Province: Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la c. de J., I, 50.)

Barry, Joseph, 1880-1922, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/905
  • Person
  • 01 May 1880-04 October 1922

Born: 01 May 1880, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1899, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1913
Final vows: 02 February 1916
Died: 04 October 1922, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Part of the Mount St Mary's, Derbyshire Community at the time of death

by 1915 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Brigham, Henry, 1796-1881, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1538
  • Person
  • 23 June 1796-26 May 1881

Born: 23 June 1796, Manchester, England
Entered: 07 September 1813, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 01 June 1822, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1837
Died: 26 May 1881, St Stanislaus College, Beaumont, Berkshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

in Clongowes 1818/9 - Theol 2

Felix Henry Brigham
Ordained at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, on a Saturday within the octave of Pentecost 1822, having studied Theology at Clongowes

Comerfort, Gerard, 1632-1688, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1079
  • Person
  • 18 July 1632-19 March 1688

Born: 18 July 1632, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 01 November 1651, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 March 1657, Liège, Belgium
FinalVows: 15 August 1675, Waterford Residence, Waterford City, County Waterford
Died: 19 March 1688, Irish College, Poitiers, France

1655 Catalogue at Liège in 2 years Theology
1680-1688 Irish College, Poitiers, first as Infirmarian, then as Procurator and Minister
also : Germanus recte Gerard Comerford”; RIP 19 March 1687

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1655 In second year of Theology at Liège - had great talents and made great progress in his studies
1658 Taught Mathematics at Liège
1664 A missioner at St George’s Residence, Worcester district
1667 At College of Holy Apostles, Suffolk district

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had already begun Priestly studies before Entry 01 November 1651 ANG
1653-1657 After First Vows he was sent for studies, graduating MA, to Liège for Theology and was Ordained there 31 March 1657
1657-1660 After he made Tertianship, for a time he was Prefect of Studies and taught Mathematics at the Juniorate in Liège. He was considered to be a man of more than ordinary ability, but dogged by ill health.
1660-1667 On the Mission in England, at Northampton, Lincoln and Worcester
1667-1675 His whereabouts from 1667 are unclear, except that he had become a member of the Irish Mission by 1672, and strong evidence that he was already in Ireland by December 1669 and at the Waterford Residence (probably for health reasons) and made Final Vows there 15 August 1675. There is little or no account of his work thereafter on the Irish Mission. Because his earlier associations with England were known to the promoters of the Titus Oates Plot, he escaped to France and served as Minister and Procurator of the Irish College Poitiers until his death there 19 March 1688

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
QUEMERFORD, GERARD, a native of Ireland, joined the English Province of the Society in 1651, aet 19. and was studying his second year of Divinity at Liege in 1655. What relation was he to F. James Quemerford?

Coppinger, Henry, 1570-1652, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2306
  • Person
  • 1580-13 January 1652

Born: 1580, Bury St Edmunds, Lancashire, England
Entered: 1614 - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 28 March 1613
Final Vows: 22 February 1628
Died: 13 January 1652, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆In Old/15 (1) and CATSJ A-H

Darlington, Joseph, 1850-1939, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/43
  • Person
  • 05 November 1850-18 July 1939

Born: 05 November 1850, Wigan, Lancashire, England
Entered: 10 July 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1889
Final vows: 15 August 1897
Died: 18 July 1939, Linden Convalescent Home Blackrock, Dublin

Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin community at the time of death

Early education was at Wigan Grammar School, then Rossall School, Fleetwood, then Brasenose College, Oxford, then Protestant Theological College, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire.

He was ordained as a Protestant clergyman and after a while was appointed Rector at Thorndon, Eye, Suffolk. He caused some disturbance because of his Catholic teachings and was encouraged to take a leave of absence by the Bishop of Norwich. After a year abroad he retuened to England and declared himself Catholic, being baptised at the London Oratory 06/09/1879. He then offered himself to the Jesuits of ANG and was told to wait one year. He then went to Henry Donovan’s family in Tralee - who would tutor him - after a short time at home in Wigan. He was confirmed at the Spa Church in Tralee by the Bishop of Kerry in July1879

by 1888 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1896 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Darlington, Joseph
by Bridget Hourican

Darlington, Joseph (1850–1939), Jesuit and academic, was born 5 November 1850 in Wigan, Lancashire, second son of Ralph Darlington (occupation unknown). He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford (2 December 1869) and graduated BA (1874) and MA (1876), after which he took orders in the Church of England. At Oxford he had been profoundly influenced by the leaders of the anglo-catholic movement, and, because of his advocacy of certain catholic doctrines, had to resign his parish. After a summer spent wrestling his conscience in the Rhineland, he was received into the catholic church in 1878, and came to Ireland as tutor to a catholic family in Tralee, Co. Kerry, where he met and was influenced by the Jesuit Isaac Moore. In 1880 he entered the Irish Jesuit noviciate and in 1885 was on the staff of UCD, teaching Latin and Greek and acting as assistant prefect of studies. He spent the rest of his career in UCD.

Appointed dean of studies and university examiner in English literature in 1890, he was for the next nineteen years (until the absorption of the old college into the new UCD) ‘the linchpin of what was at times a somewhat ramshackle conveyance’ (Gwynn, 36). He was professor of English until 1901, when he transferred to the chair of metaphysics (1901–9). Idiosyncratic, energetic, and a talented organiser, he was famous for his involvement with every phase of college life, and his concern for students’ welfare. His mannerisms – staccato speech, brisk rubbing of hands – became legendary, as did his perpetual refrain ‘Capital! Capital! Just my idea!’, which signalled his propensity to agreement. His eccentricity, pliancy, and good nature are illustrated by two stories that found their way into a number of memoirs: when a student informed him he was to be married, Darlington allegedly replied: ‘Just the very thing, just the very thing, I was about to do the same myself’; and when John Marcus O'Sullivan (qv) applied for a chair in philosophy, Darlington asked if he had any other subject, and on hearing that he had studied history in first year, said ‘Capital! Capital! You apply for history.’ O'Sullivan did, gained the professorship, and proved a great success. Darlington's students set traps to get him to agree indiscriminately and so contradict himself – possibly he played along, as he had a droll sense of humour. Most appreciated his interest in their welfare and his ‘almost miraculous power of radiating his own cheerful optimism’ (Howley, 504), but this view was not shared by his most famous student, James Joyce (qv), who immortalised him as the dean of studies in Portrait of the artist as a young man (1916). Joyce's dean is indeed brisk, chatty, interested, and courteous, but he is also unsaintly, with pale, loveless eyes, a hard, jingling voice, and a face like an unlit lamp. In one of the book's most famous scenes, his querying of a peculiarly Irish word makes Stephen Dedalus reflect bitterly on Ireland's subordination to Britain. Other students, however, thought Darlington the best assimilated of the English Jesuits in UCD – ‘though he had English eyes, he wore Irish spectacles. He could see our point of view and agree with it’ (Howley, 501–2). Later in life he was a strong supporter of Sinn Féin.

Darlington published little – most notable was probably The dilemma of John Haughton Steele (1933), a biography of the convert son of the Rev. William Steele (qv). An exponent of the theory that Shakespeare was catholic, he wrote between 1897 and 1899 a number of articles on this subject in the Irish Ecclesiastical Review, the Irish Monthly, and the New Ireland Review. His contribution to the history of the college, A page of Irish history (1930) was droll and lively, exhibiting his excellent memory for detail and grasp of the absurd. It was with characteristic humour that he suggested the volume be called ‘Whigs on the Green’, after the political tendency of UCD president William Delany (qv), SJ. Outside the college he played an important role as director of the Archconfraternity of St Joseph in Ireland and as editor of its newsletter, St Joseph's Sheaf. This confraternity, founded in France, focused on educating young priests. A Galway woman, Olivia Mary Taafe (qv), set up the Irish branch and persuaded Darlington to become involved. Shortly after the first issue of St Joseph's Sheaf (1 April 1895), Darlington was transferred to England for his tertianship (the year's course required before the taking of the final Jesuit vows) and his colleague, Fr Henry Browne (qv) took over the editorship, but Darlington remained involved with the society until 1923 and contributed regularly to the newsletter.

On the establishment of the NUI (1909) Darlington stepped down as dean and professor but was put in charge of Winton House and later University Hall, students' halls of residence, where he continued to work until a few years before his death in Dublin on 18 July 1939, aged 88.

Arthur Clery, Dublin essays (1919), 54–6; Society of Jesus, A page of Irish history: the story of University College Dublin 1883–1909 (1930); IER, xlii (July 1933), 109–10; Ir. Independent, 19 July 1939; John Howley, ‘Fr Joseph Darlington, S.J., 1850–1939: an appreciation’, Studies, xxviii (1939), 501–4; Alumni Oxonienses; J. F. Byrne, The silent years (1953), 33–5; Aubrey Gwynn, ‘The Jesuit fathers and University College’, Michael Tierney (ed.), Struggle with fortune: a miscellany for the centenary of the Catholic University of Ireland, 1854–1954 (1954); Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (1982); Thomas J. Morrissey, Towards a national university: William Delany S.J. 1835–1924 (1983); J. Anthony Gaughan, Olivia Mary Taafe, 1832–1918 (1995)

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 1 1934

Leeson St :
Monday, November 20th, was a red-letter day in the history of Leeson street, for it witnessed the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the House's foundation. In November, 1833. the Community came into being at 86 St Stephen's Green, where it remained until 1909, when the building was handed over to the newly constituted National University. The Community, however, survived intact and migrated to a nearby house in Lesson Street, where it renewed its youth in intimate relationship with the Dublin College of the University.
Its history falls this into two almost equal periods, different, indeed, in many ways, yet essentially one, since the energies of the Community during each period have been devoted to the same purpose, the furtherance of Catholic University Education in Ireland.
A precious link between the two eras is Father Tom Finlay, who was a member of the Community in 1883, and ever since has maintained his connection with it. His presence on Monday evening, restored to his old health after a severe illness was a source of particular pleasure to the whole gathering. It was also gratifying to see among the visitors Father Henry Browne, who had crossed from England at much personal inconvenience to take part in the celebration. Not only was Father Browne a valued member of the Community for over thirty years, but he acquired additional merit by putting on record, in collaboration with Father McKenna, in that bulky volume with the modest title " A Page of Irish History," the work achieved by the House during the first heroic age of its existence. It was a pleasure, too, to see hale and well among those present Father Joseph Darlington, guide, philosopher and friend to so many students during the two periods. Father George O'Neill, who for many years was a distinguished member of the Community, could not, alas. be expected to make the long journey from his newer field of fruitful labor in Werribee, Australia.
Father Superior, in an exceptionally happy speech, described the part played by the Community, especially in its earlier days of struggle, in the intellectual life of the country. The venerable Fathers who toiled so unselfishly in the old house in St. Stephens Green had exalted the prestige of the Society throughout Ireland. Father Finlay, in reply, recalled the names of the giants of those early days, Father Delany, Father Gerald Hopkins, Mr. Curtis and others. Father Darlington stressed the abiding influence of Newman, felt not merely in the schools of art and science, but in the famous Cecilia Street Medial School. Father Henry Browne spoke movingly of the faith, courage and vision displayed by the leaders of the Province in 1883, when they took on their shoulders such a heavy burden. It was a far cry from that day in 1883, when the Province had next to no resources, to our own day, when some sixty of our juniors are to be found, as a matter of course preparing for degrees in a National University. The progress of the Province during these fifty years excited feelings of
admiration and of profound gratitude , and much of that progress was perhaps due to the decision, valiantly taken in 1883 1883, which had raised the work of the Province to a higher plane.

Irish Province News 14th Year No 4 1939

Obituary

Father Joseph Darlington

Father Joseph Darlington died at Linden Convalescent Home Blackrock, on the 18th July. His health and his memory had been failing for some years-he was almost 89 when he died - but his sunny and unselfish cheerfulness remained to the very end undimmed, and made everyone who had to do with him his friend.

He was born in Wigan in 1850, and educated at Rossall School, and at Brasenose College, Oxford. When at Oxford he came in touch with the leaders of the Anglo-Catholic movement, and was profoundly influenced by their ideas. He decided to take Orders in the Church of England, but before doing so he spent a year or more at the seminary which the Anglo-Catholics had established at Cuddesdon, in order that clerics might have some more instruction and training in their duties than were required for a University Degree. He always retained a strong and affectionate regard for his colleagues and teachers of this period. I remember someone saying in his presence that these “Ritualists were only interested
in externals. vestments and incense and candles and so on is not so," said he (it must have been almost the only instance in which he was ever known to contradict anyone) “I knew these men well, I was one of them, We wondered why it was that when we preached Catholic doctrines, the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Real Presence, the power of the Sacraments, and so on, nobody listened to us, while the Catholic churches. in which these same doctrines were preached, were crowded, We went to see, and we saw that everything in the Catholic Church, the vestments, the lights, the altar decorations, the pictures and statues, all spoke to the people of the supernatural and divine meaning of the doctrines. So we went and did the same.
His father, a well-to-do lawyer, secured for him a prosperous living, and his prospects in the Church of England were rosy. But his advocacy of Catholic doctrines brought him into conflict with his flock, who reported him to his Bishop. The young parson defended his beliefs, and the Bishop replied with much kindness : “I will not argue with you about the truth of your ideas. But I will put this to you - you are being paid a salary to teach the doctrines of the Church of England as set forth in the Thirty-nine Articles. And the doctrines you are teaching, whether true or not, do not seem to answer to that description.” Whereupon the young divine promptly resigned his benefice, and prepared to face the world penniless.
Not long after this he was received into the Church, and obtained a position as tutor in an Irish Catholic family. He had already, at the time of his reception, offered himself to the Society, but he was then too recent a convert to be received at once. It was largely the impression made upon him by Father Isaac Moore, S.J., that decided him to enter the Irish Province, which he did in 1880, two years after his reception into the Church.
Not very long before, while he was still in the Ministry of the Church of England, a colleague had said to him : “I can't go on as I am. I must be either a Jesuit or a Cowley Father.” Darlington had answered, horrified at the danger his friend was running : “Put the idea of being a Jesuit out of your head. That is a temptation straight from the devil! ” So the friend became a Cowley Father, and remained one to his death, having in the meantime written one of the best books in English on the Spiritual Exercises.
After his novitiate he did three years Philosophy at Milltown Park, and was assigned in 1885 to University College, which Father W. Delany was struggling valiantly and with success to put on its feet. He helped in the teaching and studied for a degree in Philosophy. He was already M.A. of Oxford, but he took his B.A. in the old Royal University in 1886 and his M.A. in 1887, the latter with First-Class Honours and a special Gold Medal. Then he went to Louvain for Theology, and after his ordination returned to University College. Here he remained, with the exception of his Tertianship at Chieri, until the Royal University ceased to exist, in 1909. He was, one may say, the mainspring of the College, and its wonderful success during those twenty years was more due to him, probably, than to any other one man. He was Professor of English first and of Philosophy afterwards, and Prefect of Studies the whole time. His energy was unremitting, and he had a wonderful power of taking a real personal interest in every person and thing he had to deal with. He was not a great organiser, but every teacher and every student knew that he had in Father Darlington a personal friend to whom he could turn in any difficulty or trouble, and who would spare no trouble to help him. His kindness was unbounded. Apart from his duties at the College, every student in Dublin who had got into trouble with his parents or with his scholastic superiors, or even with the police, turned to him as a matter of course, and never in vain. Not only was he helped, but he was made to feel that by appealing for help he had conferred a great favour on Father Darlington.
During these years, too, and indeed until in the last days his feebleness made it impossible, he helped numbers of non-Catholics to find their way into the Church. They came to him, sure of a sympathetic and understanding listener. His habit of agreeing with practically everything one said was a source of amusement to his friends, but it had a solid basis, and it served him well when dealing with the difficulties of others. His principle was that, just as there is an element of good in everyone, so there is an element of truth in almost every statement; and his plan was to seize on that and build upon it. A Protestant said to him once: “If I knew what is in the Blessed Sacrament, I think I could become a Catholic”. He replied: “You don't know, and neither do I. But Our Lord said, 'This is My Body,' and I believe Him. And if He says anything to me about it on the Last Day, I shall say, I didn't know what was there, but You told me it was Your Body, and I believed You.” That difficulty was settled. Another time an Anglican, engaged to a Catholic girl, explained that in his view the Church had three branches, the Romani, the Eastern, and the Anglican. "And now," said Father Darlington, “ suppose a bird is sitting on a branch of a tree, and he sees his mate sitting on another branch, what does he do? “Hop over beside his mate, of course”. This principle of fastening on what is good and true in any person or statement, and working on that, is of course entirely accord ing to the mind and practice of St. Ignatius. But what above all else gave Father Darlington the remarkable power he had over souls in trouble or difficulty was his absolute self-forgetfulness and self-devotion ; that he was, in fact, so completely a man of God.
When the National University was founded in 1909, he did not apply for a chair. So it fell out that of all the Professors of the old University College (not due for superannuation), he, who had done more than any of the rest to make the new College possible, was the only one not to figure in its Faculty-list. He devoted himself to the students at Winton House and afterwards at University Hall, with the same generous energy that he had shown at Stephen's Green for so many years.
He was Spiritual Father to the Community for something like thirty years. His exhortations were often a delight to listen to for their freshness of outlook and presentation. I remember the first one he gave, in Stephen's Green, He was the most genuinely humble of men, and really felt for the Community, condemned to listen to such a person as himself. He did not say this in so many words, but he told us that the Spiritual Father was appointed for the humiliation of the Community. “Among the Fathers of the Desert”, he read out of his manuscript, “it was the custom, for the humiliation of the Community, to appoint its most stupid member as Spiritual Father - and we have only to look around us to see that the same heroic practice still obtains in all its pristine vigor”.
His whole life was generously given to God and his neighbour and he has left a fragrant memory to his many friends. May he rest in peace (M Egan SJ)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Joseph Darlington 1850-1939
According to Fr William Delaney, Fr Joseph Darlington was the mainspring of the old Royal University and its success during those years 1889-1909, and indeed this was due in no small way to him. His energy was unremitting and he had a special gift of a personal interest in every person and thing he had to deal with, from his duties at the College, every student in Dublin who had got into trouble with his parents or scholastic superiors, or even police turned to him in a matter of course, and never in vain.

On retiring from the Royal University he became Spiritual Father in Leeson Street, an office he held for thirty years, giving exhortations that were a delight to the community.

He was born a Protestant at Wigan England in 1850, and while in Oxford came under the influence of the Oxford Movement. He took Orders in the Anglican Church, but entered the Catholic Church in 1878, becoming a Jesuit two years later.

He died at the ripe age of 89 on July 18th 1939.

Dean, Michael, 1696-1760, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1171
  • Person
  • 29 September 1696-08 July 1760

Born: 29 September 1696, St Germain-en-Laye, Paris, France
Entered: 07 September 1714, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1724
Final Vows: 15 August 1727
Died: 08 July 1760, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

1723 Catalogue and 1737 Catalogue “M Dane Hibernus”
1743 Catalogue Michael Dean
Hogan note : I trace him in the years 1737-49, an Irishman born at Paris, son of John Deane and Francis Plowden. Father was Comptroller of the Household of James II who followed James II to Paris

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
For many years a Missioner of the Holy Apostles, Suffolk, and the Residence of St Thomas of Canterbury, Hampshire.
Among the adherents of James II were Stephen Deane, Mayor of Galway in 1690, and Lieutenant Dean of Lord Bophin’s infantry (”King James Army List” by D’Alton). Dominic Dean of Cong, County Mayo was attained in 1691 (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
(I think the above refers to Thomas Deane RIP 1719, though perhaps they were brothers with Thomas the elder?)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DEAN, MICHAEL, born on Michaelmas day, 1696 , joined the Society at the age of 18, was long employed in the Hampshire mission : died at Watten, 8th July, 1760.

Eustace, Oliver, 1605-1671, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1259
  • Person
  • 24 February 1605-12 November 1671

Born: 24 February 1605, Wexford Town, County Wexford
Entered: 24 November 1627, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1634, Liège, Belgium
Final Vows: 31 May 1654
Died: 12 November 1671, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

1633 In 3rd year Theology at Liège
1650 CAT ROM Went to Mission 1635, Prof 4 Vows; Superior at Waterford for 8 years and New Ross 1 year. Preacher, Confessor and Director of Sodalities

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A relative of Dr Walsh Archbishop of Cashel; possible a relative of Oliver Eustace MP for Carlow in 1639;
Studied Humanities and two years Philosophy before Entry, and three years Theology afterwards. He knew Irish, English and Latin. (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
A good Preacher; Superior at Wexford for nine years (pre 1649) and of great influence there as Preacher and Confessor; a good religious and “vir vere optimus”
1634/5 Came to Ireland
1651 Deported to France/Spain, but returned on the restoration of Charles II
1661 In Ireland again
1663 Named in ANG Catalogue as in Third year Theology at Liège
1665 At College of the Holy Apostles in Suffolk, aged c 60, infirm (Foley’s Collectanea, where by a misprint he says that he was alive in 1684)
1671 Died in Dublin “well deserving of the Society, whether as missioner or otherwise” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied at Douai before Ent 24 November 1627 Rome
After First Vows he was sent back to Belgium at Liège for Philosophy (1) and Theology (4) studies and was Ordained there c 1634
1634 Sent to Ireland and to Wexford. He worked there until the fall of Wexford to Cromwell 1651/1652 and was Superior of the Wexford Residence before 1649
1651/52-1660 Deported to France, first to Paris and then to Quimper where he conducted Missions among the Irish diaspora at western French and even into Spanish ports
1660 For a while he was stationed with a small Irish community in Brittany but eventually crossed to England and was well received by the ANG Provincial. He spent some time in London district and later in Suffolk.
1666 In poor health he was sent to Ireland living at the Dublin Residence where he eventually died 12 November 1671

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
EUSTACE, OLIVER, was Superior of his Brethren at Wexford in 1649, and is reported then to be “vir vere optimus”. Shortly after he went to Spain; but just before the restoration of Charles the II he returned to his native Country : bad health however, induced him to pass some time in England. I find from the Annual Letters that he died at Dublin in the course of the year 1671, “in Missione et alibi de Societate bene meritus”.

Grene, Christopher, 1629-1697, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1387
  • Person
  • 29 August 1629-13 November 1697

Born: 29 August 1629, Co Kilkenny
Entered: 07 September 1658, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 07 September 1653, Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1669
Died: 13 November 1697, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1665 In English College in Rome, Minister and Procurator
1675 ANG Catalogue Was in Rome
There was a “Chris Grene” Penitentiary of the Holy House, Loreto 1674-1686 and 01 November 1686 to July 1692

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of George and Jane née Tempest - who had retired to Kilkenny from their native land (England?) due to persecution. Younger brother of Martin
Early education was in Ireland, then Humanities at St Omer. Went to English College Rome for higher studies 20 October 1647, and Ordained there 07 September 1653 , and sent to England to work 08 April 1654
After First Vows he was English Penitentiary at Loreto and St Peter’s, Rome, living mostly in Rome.
1692 Appointed Confessor at English College Rome, where he died 11 November 1697
He rendered great service in the cause of the English Martyrs by collecting and handing down the scattered record of their sufferings, as the Stonyhurst MSS testifies.
He also carefully investigated and confirmed the truth of the tradition regarding the tender love entertained by Philip Neri towards the students of the English College Rome (cf his biography “Records SJ” Vol iii pp 499 seq, and Vol vi p 369)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
GRENE, CHRISTOPHER, a very intelligent Father, and brother to F. Martin Grene, of whom more hereafter. For some time Christopher was Penitentiary at Loretto; where I think he was admitted to the Profession of the Four Vows, on the 2nd of February, 1669; but he chiefly resided at Rome, where he was Penitentiary at St. Peter’s. There he died in 1697.

Harrison, James, 1673-1699, Jesuit scholastic

  • IE IJA J/2333
  • Person
  • 01 June 1673-11 September 1699

Born: 01 June 1673, Suffolk, England
Entered: 07 September 1695, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 11 September 1699, Liège, France - Angliae Province (ANG)

alias Stockwood

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities at St Omer, and left it with five other students for Watten on 07 September 1695

◆ CATSJ A-H has
a “John Harrison” RIP at Liège 11 September 1699 and ref “James”

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
HARRISON JAMES, certainly entered the Novitiate at Watten, the 7th of September, 1695, at. 22. I believe he was consigned to an early tomb.

Holywood, Christopher, 1562-1626, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1459
  • Person
  • 1562-04 September 1626

Born: 1562, Artane, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 1584, Verdun, France - Campaniae province (CAMP)
Ordained: 1593, Pont-á-Mousson, France
Final Vows: 04/10/1598, Padua, Italy
Died: 04 September 1626, Dublin City, County Dublin

Alias Bushlock
Superior Irish Mission 16 March 1604-04 September 1626

Studied Humanities at Paris and Ent June or January 1584
1584-1590 At Pont-á-Mousson (CAMP) Studying Metaphysics, Philosophy
1590 Studying Theology at Pont-á-Mousson
1593 Not in Campaniae Catalogue but at Dôle College
1596 Teaching Moral Theology at Venice College (Paul Valle and Anthony Maria Venù were teaching Scholastic Theology)
1597 At Padua College teaching Theology
1617 CAT Superior of Irish Mission, with 37 members in Ireland, 28 in Spain, 9 in Portugal, 7 in Belgium, 2 in Bavaria, 2 in Austria, 2 in Italy, 1 each in France, Mexico and Paraguay. 25 October 1617 proclamation against anyone harbouring Jesuits (1622 Catalogue)
He knew Bellarmine at Ferrara and Padua

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
Professor of Philosophy at Theology at Padua; Prisoner in Tower of London, Wisbech Castle and Framlingham Castle; Superior of Irish Mission for 23 years; Writer on Controversy and Physical Science; Especially denounced by James I;
Alias : Sacrobosco; Jo. Bus; Thomas Laundry (not the only one who took the alias “Bosco” - John Halifax of Yorkshire author of De Sphoera Mundi” in 13th century was also called “de Sacro Bosco)
He was heir to Artane Castle
He was appointed Superior of the Irish Mission, he travelled from Dieppe, January 1599, disguised as a merchant, was seized at Dover, carried to London and strictly examined by Lord Cobham and Secretary Cecil. First at Gatehouse Prison, Westminster then on the accession of James I moved to Framlingham Castle, and then deported 1603. He eventually reached Ireland from St Malo 1604.
(For his literary productions cf Southwell’s “Biblio Script SJ”, and De Backer’s “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ:
Son of Nicholas, Lord of Artane
After First Vows he was sent for studies to Pont-à-Mousson where he was Ordained 1692/3
1593-1958 Taught Theology successively at Dôle and Padua
1598 Appointed Superior of Irish Mission 26/09/1598 which had been undertaken by the Society at the request of Pope Clement VIII
1599 Set out for Ireland but was arrested on his journey at Dover, England, and imprisoned for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy
1603 He was released from prison May 1603, but only to be deported
1604-1626 Arrived in Ireland 16/03/1604. For the next twenty-two years he organised the mission with such success that the number of Jesuits in Ireland increased from seven to forty-four while Residences were established in ten cities and towns. His influence with Catholics was so great that the Protestants called “Teacher of the Papists of Ireland”. He died in Office 04 September 1626, leaving behind a great reputation for holiness, prudence and love of the poor
He published two controversial works and a treatise on meteorology.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Holywood, Christopher
by Judy Barry

Holywood, Christopher (1559–1626), Jesuit priest, was son of Nicholas Holywood of Artane castle, Dublin, lord of manors in Co. Dublin, Co. Meath, and Co. Wexford. His mother was a niece of Christopher Nugent, Baron Delvin. He was educated at the University of Padua and entered the Society of Jesus at Verdun (1584). He was subsequently professor of divinity and philosophy at Dole and Pont-à-Mousson, and of scripture at Padua. He was ordained a priest in 1593 and took his final vows in 1597.

In 1598, when a third Jesuit mission was sent to Ireland at the request of Pope Clement VIII, Holywood was appointed superior. He sailed for England disguised as a merchant, but was arrested at Dover. On refusing to swear the oath of supremacy, he was taken to London and examined by the secretary of state, Sir Robert Cecil, who told him that he would not suffer for his religion so long as he did not meddle in political matters. However, when Holywood persisted in defending his order, Cecil had him imprisoned at Wisbech castle and later at Framlingham castle, Suffolk, where he devoted his time to scholarly work. He was released in May 1603 and banished to the Continent, where he completed two books for publication in the following year: Defensio decreti Tridentini et sententiae Roberti Bellarmini, S.R.E. cardinalis, de authoritate Vulgatae editionis Latinae (‘Defence of the decree of the council of Trent and of the opinion of Cardinal Bellarmine concerning the authority of the Latin Vulgate’) and De investiganda vera ac visibili Christi ecclesia libellus (‘A treatise on the true and visible church of Christ’).

He arrived in Dublin (16 March 1604) to take up his original appointment and was sheltered by Sir Christopher Plunkett (qv). The mission under his direction numbered six Jesuits and was at first centred on Dublin and the Pale. This was partly because he and his companions came mainly from gentry families in the city and county of Dublin and did not speak Irish, and partly because of a new government policy insisting on the declared loyalty of the patrician leaders of the city. Up to this point the evidence of open catholic practice had not been regarded as sufficient reason to doubt the political loyalty of the municipality, and indeed the Dublin merchants had been active in raising money in support of the war against O'Neill. In 1600 Patrick Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, had written to Robert Cecil advising that Holywood be released, since the priests in the English Pale were ‘firm in dutiful allegiance’ and quite different from ‘Tyrone's priests’.

Under Sir Arthur Chichester (qv), however, anxiety about security led the government to demand that leaders of the civic community take the oath of supremacy and attend protestant service on Sundays and holydays. Those aldermen who refused were imprisoned and proceedings were taken against them in the court of castle chamber. Holywood and his fellow Jesuits were active in encouraging a defiant attitude among the catholic patriciate, and assisted in preparing the defence of those who were brought to court. Their affirmation that they could give political allegiance to James I, but could not acknowledge that he had jurisdiction over spiritual matters, formed the basis of the campaign for legal redress led by Patrick Barnewall (qv).

Although the Jesuits were few at first, their familiarity with Dublin city and county, and the tightly knit network of blood and matrimonial ties to which they had access, ensured them protection and hospitality, and their letters indicate the range of pastoral services to which they attended. As the mission expanded, it extended its operations. In 1610 Holywood organised a system of separate ‘residences’, each responsible for a particular area and each with a spiritual father. By 1619 he had established these in Dublin, east Munster, west Munster, and Connacht. Expansion prompted greater discretion and Holywood successfully opposed the return of James Archer (qv) and Henry Fitzsimon (qv) to the Irish mission. In 1617 and 1619 he received papal permission to set up sodalities, including those with female members, in Carrick, Cashel, Clonmel, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford. A sodality introduced to Drogheda without papal authorisation (1619) led to a protracted conflict with the Franciscans and Dominicans, in the course of which Holywood disregarded instructions from the Jesuit general in Rome that were designed to bring the dispute to an end.

Although he often expressed a desire to retire, he died in office on 4 September 1626. By that time there were 43 Jesuits in Ireland and many more Irish Jesuits abroad. In 1619 Holywood had published a new edition of De investiganda and written an unpublished treatise ‘Opusculum de virtutibus’ (‘Little work on the virtues’). Shortly before his death he wrote another book, which the Jesuit censors rejected. Until 1618 he used the pseudonym ‘John Bus’ (or ‘Bushlocks’): later, he called himself ‘Thomas Lawndrie’. Occasionally, he used the Latin equivalent of his name, ‘a sacro bosco’.

CSPI, 1599–25; DNB; Edmund Hogan, SJ, Distinguished Irishmen of the sixteenth century (1894), 393–499; James Corboy, SJ, ‘Father Christopher Holywood, S.J., 1559–1626’, Studies, xxxiii (1944), 541–9; Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin, SJ, The Jesuit missions to Ireland in the sixteenth century (c.1970; privately published), 76; John Kingston, ‘The Holywoods of Artane’, Reportorium Novum, i (1956), 342–3; Fergus O'Donoghue, SJ, ‘The Jesuit mission in Ireland’ (Ph.D. thesis, The Catholic University of America, 1982); Colm Lennon, The lords of Dublin in the age of reformation (1989), 174–85, 209–12

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926
On the 4th September the Irish Province will celebrate the tercentenary of the death of one of its most distinguished members.
Fr Christopher Holywood entered the Society in 1582, and in course of time became Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Padua,
On his arrival in England he was arrested and kept in prison until I 603, when he was exiled, and ordered not to return, However, the following year he succeeded in reaching Ireland.
Two other Missions of Jesuits had been sent to Ireland by the Popes: the first comprised Frs. Salmeron and Brouet, 1541 ; the second under Fr David Wolfe, 1560.
The first lasted a very brief time; the second held on until 1986. Some of the members were exiled ; others were martyred or died in prison. When Fr. Holywood arrived he found just five Jesuits in the country. His first care was to provide for the future by having candidates for the Irish Mission accepted in Spain, Italy, and other Provinces. The effects of his work ih this respect are traceable for more than half a century, The Irish Catalogue, 1910, gives the state of our Province in I609: (Holywood became Superior in 1604), 18 priests in Ireland, 20 priests, 82 scholastics, and I brother scattered through Europe, I priest *in Paraguay. He remained Superior to the end of his life. When he died the Irish Mission had been thoroughly organized. There were 42 Jesuits in the country, with reserves in various places in Europe. There were residences in Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford, Clonmel, Cashel, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and in Ulster. Fr. Holywood had permanently established the Society in Ireland. To him, too, must be given the credit of keeping the faith alive amongst the Anglo-Irish Catholics.
All this great work was carried on in the midst of constant danger. He tells the story himself in a letter written in 1617. “Our brethren” he writes, “are so hotly pursued that, in order to keep at large and perform the functions or their ministry, they have to travel by out of-the-way paths, and pass over walls and hedges, and through woods, and even to sleep on straw, in cornfields and old ruins at which times they always sleep in their clothes in order to be ready to escape”
However, God abundantly blessed their strenuous work. Fr. Holywood again writes in 1622 : “Your Paternity has every reason to thank God for the great success of the Irish Mission SJ, the fragrance of which is the fragrance of a full field which the Lord hath blessed. People never cease admiring and extolling the charity and humility of our Fathers, who shrink from no labour or trouble in working for the salvation of Souls.”
Fr. Holywood is the author of two theological works, and a Latin treatise, De Metearis. The man, whom we may fairly call the founder of the Irish Province, died in Dublin, his native city, the 4th September 1626.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
Christopher Holywood (1598-1626)

Christopher Holywood, son of Nicholas Holywood, lord of Artane, was born in 1562, and entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Verdun, in France, in the month of June, 1584. Having completed his studies at the University of Pont-à-Mousson, he lectured on theology at Dôle in France, and at Padua and Milan in Italy, On 26th September, 1598, he was appointed Superior of the Mission to Ireland undertaken by the Society at the request of Pope Clement VIII. Having made his solemn profession of four vows at Padua on 4th October, 1598, he set out on his journey, but was arrested on landing at Dover in January, 1599, and imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of supremacy. Released and banished in May, 1603, he made his way back to Ireland, arriving there on 16th March, 1604. During the next twenty-two years he organised the Mission with such success that the number of Irish Jesuits increased from seven to forty-four, and Residences were established in ten towns : Dublin, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Cashel, Cork, Limerick, and Galway. His influence with Catholics was so great that the heretics called him the Teacher of the Papists of Ireland. He published two controversial works and a treatise on meteorology, He died on 4th September, 1626, leaving behind him a great reputation for holiness, prudence, and love of the poor

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1I 1962

FATHER CHRISTOPHER HOLYWOOD SJ 1559-1626
Fr Christopher Holywood was the first Superior of the first permanent mission of the Society of Jesus in Ireland. In previous articles I have sketched the lives of Fr Henry Fitzsimon and Fr James Archer. These two pioneer Jesuit missionaries were eminent men of their day in Ireland, It was they who established the mission which was ruled and organised for twenty-three years by Fr Holywood, the subject of the present biography. The task of preparing the way for an organised mission had been a long one. It was not set up, finally, until the last years of the sixteenth century. Before giving an account of Fr Holywood's life, it is opportune to review briefly the activities of the Irish Jesuits from their arrival in Ireland until that time.

The first mission to arrive in Ireland and actually the first Jesuit mission outside the continent of Europe was that of Frs Alphonsus Salmeron and Paschase Brouet. They were the Pope's nuncios apostolic. Three Irish princes - Conn O'Neill, of Tryone, Manus O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, Morogh O'Brien of Thomond - had begged Paul III to send envoys to Ireland. They arrived in this country on the 23 February 1542. Their work was carried out under the greatest difficulties. The Irish Chieftains who had already surrendered, in word at least, to Henry VIII were afraid that the presence of Papal Legates might compronise their position in the eyes of the king, During their short stay of thirty-four days the two Jesuits succeeded in visiting many of these chieftains. Thus on their return to Rome they were able to give a first-hand account of the state of affairs in Ireland. Possibly, too, they helped to bind the people in greater union with Rome, a union which later became so outstanding a characteristic of the Irish Catholics.

The next Jesuit mission was not inaugurated until 1561, some sixteen years later. Laynez, General of the Society of Jesus, was requested by the Pope to send a holy and prudent man to Ireland to confirm the people, both cleric and lay, in obedience to the Holy See, Fr David Wolfe, a Limerick man, was chosen; for not only did he possess the stipulated qualifications of prudence and sanctity of life, but he was also an experienced missionary. On the 20 January 1561 Wolfe landed at Cork, Having declined the episcopal honour offered by the Pope, he was appointed Apostolic Commissary and was given the fullest faculties, including power to open schools, reform monasteries and report on the dispositions of the Irish Bishops.

Fr Wolfe seems to have made a very favourable impression on the Irish. Barefoot, the people travelled miles to meet him and made their confessions, and it is recorded that they returned to their homes filled with a great esteem for the Church of Christ and the Holy See. In a few months he rectified over a thousand marriages which had not been validly contracted. With the help of two other Jesuits, Fr William Good, an Englishman, and Edmond O'Donnell, an Irishman, he opened a small school at Limerick, which owing to the persecution then rife had shortly to be transferred to Kilmallock, later to Clonmel and finally to Youghal, where it continued to exist for about fifteen years. After its suppression, the Jesuits could not dare to make any other foundation until the reign of James I. David Wolfe was one of the most remarkable Irishmen of the century and possibly had more influence in ecclesiastical affairs in Ireland than anyone else of his time. He was arrested at least twice, but managed to escape. He died in Lisbon in 1579. His companion, Edmond O'Donnell, was captured by the English, given a mock-trial and, having been tortured several times, was condemned to death for the faith. On the 25 October 1572 he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Cork - the first of a long line of Jesuits to die for the Faith in Europe.

Dr Tanner, Bishop of Cork, writes of two other Jesuits, Frs Charles Lea and Robert Rochford, who arrived in Ireland about this time: “They are spreading the best of their institute in Youghal, where they teach school and, with great industry, train their scholars in the knowledge of the Christian doctrine, in the frequentation of the sacraments, and in the practice of solid virtue, In spite of the hardships they endure, their efforts are attended with the greatest success”. Lea was arrested soon after his arrival in Ireland, but was later released and laboured in the country until his death in 1586. Rochford, more famous than his companion, is frequently mentioned in contemporary official documents. For many years he was well known as a zealous missioner, rousing the suspicions of the English who offered a reward for his capture, dead or alive, In 1501 he had to leave Ireland and, after his escape, at least four persons were hanged for affording him shelter, Seven years later in 1588, another Irishman, a novice of the Society of Jesus named Maurice Eustace, was hanged, drawn and quartered in Dublin.

Thus almost all the Jesuit missionaries who came to Ireland in the sixteenth century was either executed or banished from the country, From 1586 to 1596 there was no Jesuit in Ireland; but several attempts were made by Irish bishops and Princes to induce the Pope or the General of the Society of Jesus to send Irish Jesuit Fathers to Ireland. This would not have happened had not the names of their predecessors been held in high veneration among the Irish. Perhaps one might wonder why the Irish Jesuit mission was not opened again until so late at 1596? Why did Fr Aquaviva, General of the Jesuits, hesitate so long before sending his men to Ireland?

Possibly he was influenced by the sad state of affairs in England. There he would have heard in 1595 of the martyrdom of Frs Walpole and Southwell, the imprisonment of Frs Jones and Baldwin, and the banishment of Fr Jasper Haywood. Already Frs Campion, Cottam and McMahon, an Irishman, had died on the gallows at Tyburn, and Fr Persons was in exile on the continent. The fate of the Jesuits who had come to Ireland was little better, as we have seen. No wonder then that Aquaviva hesitated. But finally, yielded to numerous appeals, he agreed to reopen the mission to Ireland.

The history of the first five Jesuits to be sent to Ireland at that time can be told briefly. Fr Henry Fitzsimon was imprisoned in Dublin Castle two years after his arrival. · A few years later, his companion Fr James Archer was forced to go into exile, barely escaping with his life, while Fr Christopher Holywood did not even reach Ireland, being captured in England and lodged in the Tower of London. In 1602 Dominic Collins, a lay-brother, was captured in Cork and hanged. Only one of these men, Fr Richard de la Field, temporary Superior in the place of Fr Holywood, was able to work in comparative peace and elude the hands of the English. It was in these circumstances that Fr Holywood undertook to establish a permanent Jesuit mission in Ireland. With what success we shall see later.

Christopher Holywood was born at Artane, near Dublin, in the year 1559, one year after Elizabeth's coronation in England, Belonging to a very old Anglo-Irish family, his father, Nicholas Holywood, was Lord of the manors of Artane, Great Holywood in Santry, and of several other estates in the counties of Dublin, Meath, and Wexford. His mother was the niece of Baron Devlin and heiress-general of the fifth Earon Dunsany.. Holywood could count as relations such prominent families as those of Dunsany, Fingal, Westmeath, Inchiquin and Netterville. This factor was of the utmost importance later, when these houses came under the influence of the reform movement.

Holywood was sent to the University of Padua when he was twenty years of age. Here he came into contact with the Jesuit Fathers of the city, and in 1584 he entered the Society of Jesus. Having made his noviceship at Dôle in France, he afterwards distinguished himself in his philosophical and theological studies. In 1593 we find him at the University of Pont-à-Mousson. The Chancellor of the University at the time was another Irishman, the renowned Fr Richard Fleming, who had succeeded the even more famous Fr Maldonatus in the chair of theology. For a short period Holywood was engaged in teaching philosophy in the University, after which he professed theology at Dôle and later at Pont-à-Mousson again. Finally he was sent to Pauda to teach Sacred Scripture. Here he took his final vows in 1597, at the same time making the acquaintance of Robert Bellarmine. In 1598 he was in Milan. On the 10 June of the same year he wrote to the General of the Jesuits asking for special faculties for the fathers who had gone to the Irish mission. Unfortunately we do not know the circumstances of Holywood's own mission to Ireland, and when we next hear of him he is a prisoner in the Tower of London.

On the 1 May 1599, writing in the third person under the pseudonym of John Bushlock, he gave an account of his journey to England and his capture. From Rome he travelled to Switzerland, then into Spires, finally to Brussels, where the Superior of the house warned him that it was dangerous for a Jesuit to travel through Holland. Leaving Brussels, he went to Arras and then to Abbeyville, where, although disguised as a merchant, he was recognised as a Jesuit. Whereupon he left hastily for Dieppe and, “finding an obscure inn, told its owner that he was an Irishman and a subject of the Queen of England. He was returning home, but feared that English on account of the war which some of the Irish were waging against the Queen”. The inn-keeper stood the test valiantly and at once gave Holywood a secret room. Unable to procure a ship for Ireland, he was compelled to board an English vessel. Very soon he was suspected of being a traitor, but the inn-keeper informed the hesitant captain that “he was a merchant and no traitor”. Taking no risks, Holywood abandoned the ship and travelled on another, whose captain was a French Huguenot. Having arrived at Dover, he was tendered the oath of supremacy and, of course, refused to take it. Instantly he was cast into prison and later placed in the Tower of London. As yet the English did not know that their captive was a priest, much less a Jesuit. After several futile attempts to secure his liberation, he was brought before Lord Cobham, to whom he made known his identity. He declared that he was returning to Ireland solely for the salvation of souls, To Cecil he gave the same information, but only succeeded in rousing his anger - for, according to Holywood, Cecil feared and hated the Jesuits. He issued an order that the priest be placed in close custody.

After some time Holywood was offered his release, if he would take an oath to persuade the Irish that it was unlawful to resist the royal power in Ireland, He refused the offer and was transferred from the Gatehouse prison to Wisbeck Castle. The Superior of the English mission, Fr Henry Garnet, who in a few years was to die a martyr for the faith, reported in May 1600 that Holywood helped to comfort the other Jesuits at Wisbeck and edified all while he was in the Gatehouse. Like his comrade, Fr Fitzsimon, who at this time was closely confined in Dublin, he must occasionally have endured the greatest privations, for we know that the prisoners were not even provided with beds to sleep on. Like Fitzsimon, too, while a prisoner, he held many disputations with the Protestant ministers.

On the death of Elizabeth in April, 1603, Holywood was removed from Wisbeck to Framlington prison in Suffolk. Very soon after this time - the date is uncertain - he was sent into perpetual banishment. He proceeded to Belgium, whence he wrote to his General begging either to be permitted to return to Ireland or to be sent back to his own province at Dôle. The General granted the former request, and on the 16 March 1604. Holywood landed in Ireland. He was again appointed Superior of the mission, and for the next twenty-three years filled that office with remarkable success. The uncertainty of the times did not favour the fostering of a new mission; but, thanks to the prudence and courage of Fr Holywood, rapid strides were made and successful reports poured in from every side. Holywood himself was in constant danger of capture and had to change his abode frequently. Writing to the General of the Jesuits, he says: “I have not been able to write since Easter, as I was obliged to go to remote parts, in order to keep clear of the more than usually troublesome presence of our adversaries. In this retreat I devoted myself to help a very extensive diocese, and I did so at the invitation of its ruler. With our assistance he has set his province in very good order and has given regulations adapted to the tines”. In a letter written about the same time, Fr Wise, a Jesuit living in Waterford, says: “Our pilor, Sacrobosco (Holywood), was fiercely pursued, but escaped; he is accustomed to these storms ...”

All through the first half of the reign of James I. the Irish priests and especially the Jesuits were continually harassed by the government. Thus it was almost impossible for Holywood to set up an organised mission of even the most flexible nature. He had not yet founded a single fixed abode for his men. For almost twenty years after the arrival of Fr Archer in 1596, the Jesuits lived in private houses, or stayed with a bishop or priest in the remote part of the country, and were of course, always disguised as laymen. In spite of these hardships I think it is not untrue to say that their success in Ireland was hardly excelled by that of even the most famous Jesuit missions of the day. For all that they are scarcely mentioned in the ordinary school text-books, and in the histories of the counter-reformation they find no place.

The story of the Irish Jesuit mission between 1604 and 1626, that is during Holywood's period of leadership, is one of intermittent persecution and of constant insecurity. Externally the mission had no organisation. It is true that the letters of the times frequently make reference to residences; but the name if residence was loosely applied to a large district in which a number of Jesuits worked under one superior, but did not necessarily live in the same or in any fixed abode. Thus the residence of Galway comprised all the Jesuits who were working in Connaught, living from hand to mouth in private houses, but under the supervision of the same superior who usually resided in Galway. The Irish Jesuits did not establish their first college in the modern sense until 1619 at Kilkenny - and they had no noviceship for almost another thirty years.

Internally, however, the mission was remarkably well organised, and to this factor more than anything else its success can be attributed. All the year round, the Jesuits travelled through the country ministering and preaching to the people, hurrying from place to place as their identity and place of residence became known to the authorities - at one time preaching in the open air to a group. of. poverty-stricken people, at another uniting chieftains and their ladies: who were at daggers drawn, encouraging all alike to remain steadfast in the practice of their Faith. Everywhere they went the people received them with a never failing welcome. Often they made their confessions on the roadside as the Jesuits passed through the district. Not once do we hear of a betrayal or an act or disloyalty, at a time when treachery meant money and fidelity meant hardship and penury.

In 1619, Fr Holywood wrote a long letter to his General describing the missionary activities of his men. By this time he had established residences in Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford, Cashel, Clonmel, Cork, Limerick, and one house in Connaught. The first school of the mission was founded in Kilkenny in 1619, After speaking of the work of the Jesuits in the country, he goes on to say: “There are so few priests in the Kingdom that one priest has often charge of four or five parishes. To help them, our fathers go from village to village by day and by night, according to the necessities of the faithful, hearing confessions, giving communion, baptizing, attending the dying, preaching, teaching the catechism, and promoting the interests of peace”. Down in Cork and Kerry we hear of a “successful mission, which they reached by difficult ways, through robbers and Protestant foes, over bogs and mountains, often being without food or drink or a bed. They approached in disguise, converted, and prepared for death nearly all the forty seven pirates captured on the southern coast ...” Fr Galway, a Cork Jesuit, visited the islands. north of Scotland and ministered to the faithful there, many of whom had not seen a preist for years. In the north of Ireland, Fr Robert Nugent gave a running mission over a sixty-mile area. These few examples are typical of the work that was being done all over the country. At this time there were about forty Jesuits in Ireland and all were engaged in active missionary work.

Before I conclude this short sketch of the life of Fr Holywood, I shall refer briefly to his literary work; for besides being an outstanding organiser, he was also an author of no small merit. After his release fron prison in 1603 he went to the continent and in the following year published at Brussels two works entitled “Defenso Concilii Tridentini et sententiae Bellarmini de actoritate Vulgatae Editionis” (a book of four hundred and sixteen pages), and “Libellus de investiganda vera et visibili Christi Ecclesia”, a much smaller treatise. It is interesting to note that James Ussher, in theological lectures which he delivered in Dublin in 1609, quoted Holywood's “Defensio Concilii Tridentini” thirty times. His second work he wrote while in prison in England to help the Protestant ministers and learned men who came to him for advice. In 1604 also he wrote another work entitled “Magna supplicia a persecutionibus aliquot Catholicorum in Hibernia sumpta”, which remained unpublished until Fr Edmund Hogan edited it in the “Irish Ecclesiastical Record” of 1873. In it he gives an account of the fate that befell many of the religious persecutors in Ireland between the years 1577 and 1604, and ends with a eulogy of the Irish Catholics who, despite every persecution, could not be induced to give up the Faith. After his return to Ireland in 1601, Holywood had no further opportunity for literary work.

In February 1622, Holywood was reported to be in bad health and unable to write. Two years later he founded the first Jesuit residence in the north of Ireland. When next we hear of him in 1626, he is still Superior of the mission; but, worn out by the labours and hardships of twenty-three years of missionary activity, he died at the end of the year. It was to his prudence and zeal, in a time fraught with the greatest difficulties, that the General Fr Vitelleschi attributed the success of the mission. On his arrival in Ireland there were only five Jesuits in the country; at his death they numbered forty-two and had nine residences. Until late in the second decade of the seventeenth century, the Jesuits were usually attached to the houses of the gentry, whence they made frequent incursions into the country to give missions and administer the sacraments, After that, through the enterprise of Fr Holywood, they obtained residences of their own, some of which had a community
to eight members, while none had less than three. Thus during his period of office as Superior, the Irish Jesuit mission was stabilised and, became a province of the Order in every respect save in name.

James Corboy SJ

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Christopher Holywood 1562-1626
Christopher Holywood was born in 1562 at Artane Castle, which may still be seen in the grounds of Artane Industrial School. He entered the Society at Verdun in France in 1584.

He is the founder of the Irish Province of the Society as we know it today. He was a brilliant Professor, occupying chairs at Pont-á-Mousson, Dôle and Padua. He was personally acquainted with St Robert Bellarmine, whom he defended against his enemies in a book he published entitled “Defensio Decreti Tridentini”.

In 1596 he was chosen to head the Mission to Ireland, but was captured en route and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Ultimately he was released on the accession of James I of England. He took up duty in Ireland in 1604.

For 22 years he organised the Mission with such success, that on his death on 4th September 1626, he left 42 Jesuits where he found seven, and established Residences in ten towns, one of these in the North.

In his voluminous correspondence, he was force to use many soubriquets, Thomas Lawndrie, Jophn Bushlock, John Bus Jobus, but his favourite one was John de Sacro Bosco, the name of an ancestor, who was a famous mathematician and lectured in Oxford and Paris in the 13th century.

He published two controversial works and a treatise on Meteorology.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
HOLIWOOD, CHRISTOPHER, (often called a Sacro Bosco) was born in Dublin, in the year 1562. At the age of 22, as it appears by one of his letters, he embraced the Institute of St. Ignatius, at Dol, in France, and in the sequel distinguished himself as a Professor of Philosophy and Divinity at Padua. Ordered to Ireland to preside over his brethren, he took shipping as a merchant in January, 1599, at Dieppe, but was apprehended on reaching Dover, and committed to prison for refusing the Oath of Supremacy. Escorted to London he underwent an examination by Lord Cobham, Governor of the Cinque Ports, and was then forwarded to Secretary Sir Robert Cecyll. The Father told Sir Robert at once, that he was a Priest and a Member of the Society of Jesus. (He was induced to do so, as he was aware many persons then in the kingdom were well acquainted with him at Padua.) The Secretary inquired the motives of his coming hither. He answered for the Salvation of souls. But what need have we of your assistance? said the Secretary. Are not we Christians? That is not at all sufficient, said the Father, unless you be Catholics. Well, replied the Secretary, as no one can help your believing what you think right, until God enlightens your mind, you shall not suffer anything for your Faith; but if you are found guilty of meddling with changes and state affairs, 1 promise you, you shall not escape with impunity. The Father rejoined. Long since I have renounced the world : I no longer mix myself up with secular concerns, and I am unable to do so : for they are foreign to my Institute. The Secretary then began to inveigh against the Society of Jesus, on which the Father boldly undertook its defence, and plainly told him, that the Society proposed nothing to its members which was not praiseworthy; on which the Secretary ordered him to be removed, and kept in close custody in which state he continued for three months, until his relation, Lord Dunsany obtained for him the liberty of the prison, which consists in this, that he is not denied the liberty of receiving his friends. The above particulars I collect from a letter, dated Dublin, 11th of May, 1599.
F. Henry Garnett, in a letter of the 19th of April, 1599, announces the apprehension of F. Holiwood as a recent event : and in his letter of the 22nd of May, 1600, says of him, “he doth much comfort our friends at Wisbich, and was of exceeding edification in the Gatehouse. There is hope of getting him at liberty, and sending him into his Country”. Change of prison, however, was the only relief that this Irish Father could procure, while the tyrannical Elizabeth swayed the sceptre : his friends at length obtained his removal to Framlingham Castle, which he quitted for perpetual banishment, in virtue of the Proclamation of James I. at his accession to the throne of England. I find the Father writing from Lisle, 30th of June, 1603, and from Douay, 16th, of July, 1603. In the last dated letter, he states, that a short time before the queen’s death, the Catholics in Dublin had experienced the storm of persecution. The instigators were Terrell, the Mayor of the City, and Rider, the dean of St. Patrick s, and polemical antagonist of F. Henry Fitzsimon. Many Catholics quitted the town, and the leading citizens were committed to gaol. Baron Mountjoy was then absent in Connaught; at his return the citizens presented a memorial of their grievances. Turning to the Mayor, his Excellency said, “I am putting an end to warfare abroad, and you, Sir, are sowing the seeds of wars at Home”. It was thought that his Excellency had received information of the Queen’s dangerous illness, with instruction to pacify and conciliate the public mind. The letter adds, that on the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death reaching Ireland, in the cities of Waterford, Kilkenny, and Cork, and in various ether places the churches were seized on and restored to Catholic worship. Lord Mountjoy began to apprehend lest the greater part of the island would join in the insurrection. He had come to a composition fortunately with O’Neil, and having collected all his forces from the North he hurried down to the South to arrest the progress of discontent : and having succeeded in his object, sailed from Dublin to England. F. Holiwood embarked from St. Malo, and reached Ireland the 16th March, 1604, the Eve of St. Patrick, “Omen uti spero felix”, as he expresses it. Towards the end of Lent he met FF. Nicholas Lynch, Richard Field, Walter Wale, and Barnaby Kearney, brother to the Archbishop of Cashell, and Andrew Morony. At this time the Catholics of Ireland enjoyed a certain negative freedom of their religion. But this was of short duration. As soon as James thought himself sufficiently secure on his throne, he basely recalled all his promises of toleration.
His subsequent conduct shewed how dangerous it is for the civil and religious rights of subjects to depend on the will of any man, and especially on the caprice of a drunken and voluptuous sovereign, as James unquestionably was. His Proclamamation, dated Westminster, 4th July, 1605, was published with great solemnity in Dublin, on the 28th September, in which his Majesty desires that no one should hope for his tolerating the exericse of any other worship, but that of the church established by law; he commanded all his subjects to attend the Protestant Churches on Sundays and festivals - requires all Priests to withdraw from the realm before the 10th of December; forbids any of his subjects to harbour any Priest; and renews the penal statutes of the late Queen against Popish Recusants and Popish Priests and Jesuits.
From an interesting letter of F. Holiwood, dated 10th of December, 1605, I discover, that to strike terror amongst the Catholic population of Dublin, who nobly refused to sacrifice their religion to Mammon the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, had sent to prison on the 22nd and 27th of November, several members of the Corporation, and some of the principal citizens. A deputation of gentlemen from the Counties of Kildare, Meath, and Louth, upon this, waited on his Excellency, and petitioned for a suspension of the system of coercion, until they could be allowed to visit his Majesty s Court, and represent their case. After a delay of fifteen days, his Excellency, in the exercise of despotic power, threw some of the deputation into gaol, and ordered others to confine themselves to their houses, and neither to write to any one, nor speak to any person who was not part of the family, under the penalty of a thousand pounds English money. A large body of troops was assembled at Dublin, and detachments were drafted off for the apprehension of Priests all over the kingdom. F. Holiwood incloses the lists of some of the Prisoners :
The following are citizens of Dublin : “Mr. Walter Seagrove, John Shelton, James Beelowe, Thomas Penket, Kennedy, Stephens, Tornor, Kearroll, &c.
These and others were first commanded to go to church by proclamation; again by special commandment; last by commandment upon the duty of allegiance, under the broad seal, and therefore indicted after, in the Star Chamber, fined, and committed for contempt. Noblemen and gentlemen committed for putting in of a petition.
‘My Lord Viscount of Gormanston, My Lord of Lowth (as I heare), Sir Patrick Barnwall, close Prisoner, Sir James Dillon. John Finglass, Richard Netirvil and Henry Burnell, committed to their howses only by reason of their adge’.
But the heart is sickened with these abominable reprisals on conscience with these impious attempts of a government to force its novel opinions on a nation, and rob a people of its religious freedom. The history of the Irish Reformation is indeed a compound of absurdity and barbarity, unprecedented in the Annals of mankind.
To return to F. Holiwood. He continued in very difficult times to render essential services to his county and to religion, by his zeal, wisdom, charity and fortitude, until his pious death on the 4th of September, 1616. His pedantic and blgotted sovereign had expressly denounced him in his speech to the Parliament, 1st of May, 1614, and the Royal Commissioners reported in 1615, that “Hollywood, a Jesuit, was kept and harboured by Sir Christopher Plunkett”.

From the pen of this Father we have :

  1. “Defensio Concilii Tridentini et Sententice Bellarmini de auctoritate VuLgatae Editionis”, with an appendix.
  2. “Libellus de investiganda vera et visibili Christi Ecclesiae”. This is a 4to. volume printed at Antwerp, 1604. It was re-printed with additions at Antwerp, in an 8vo form, 1619, under the name of John Geraldini.
  3. A Latin Treatise “De Meteoris”.
  • He sometimes signs himself Johannes Bushlock
  • This hollow and rotten hearted prince had been a pensioner of the Pope, and the king of Spain. F. William Creitton, in a letter to F. Thomas Owen, dated Billom, 4th of June, 1605, says also. “Our Kyng had so great fear of ye nombre of Catholikes, ye pui-saunce of Pope and Spaine, yet he offered Libertie of Conscience and send me to Rome to deal for the Pope’s favor and making of an Scottish Cardinal, as I did shaw the Kyng s letter to F. Parsons”. In the sequel this contemptible tyrant considered a petition presented for Liberty of Conscience as an indignity, and committed the petitioners to gaol for their presumption!

LAWNDY, THOMAS, was the acting Superior of the Irish Mission in 1623,4,5, as his letters demonstrate, and appears to have had habits of business.

Pippard, Luke, 1716-1761, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1986
  • Person
  • 29 September 1716-05 January 1761

Born: 29 September 1716, London, England / Ireland
Entered: 07 September 1733, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1742
Final Vows: 02 February 1744
Died: 05 January 1761, Crondon Park, Essex, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet as Stanfield

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
STANFIELD, LUKE (alias Pippard) born in London 29th Sept. 1716, made a Spiritual Coadjutor 1748, fifteen years after his admission into the Society ; died In England on the 5th of January, 1761.

Porter, Nicholas, 1724-1802, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/1996
  • Person
  • 10 December 1724-25 August 1802

Born: 10 September 1724, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain
Entered: 07 September 1741, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1748
Final Vows: 02 February 1759
Died: 25 August 1802, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1772 ROM Catalogue At English College Rome Spiritual Father of Church, Repetitor, Consultor

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Born El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain of Irish parents
Probably a kinsman of Nicholas Porter, merchant and Mayor of Waterford in 1689.
1754 Missioner at the College of the Holy Apostles, Suffolk
1763 Spiritual Father at English College Rome briefly and then Valladolid (ANG Catalogue 1763)
1767 Banished with his brethren from Spain 14/ April 1767
1771 At English College Rome as Spiritual Father
Minister at Ghent; Prefect at St Omer

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
PORTER, NICHOLAS, born at Porto S. Maria, near Cadix, the 10th of September, 1724. His Father was English : his Mother was Spanish. In 1741, he entered the Novitiate, and 18 years later became a Professed Father. For a short time he lived in the English College at Rome; thence departing for Spain, was involved in the storm that burst on his brethren, the 4th of April, 1767, and was banished from that kingdom. Previous to the general suppression of the Order, this good-natured little man settled himself in Rome, and for a short time was Spiritual Father in the English College there, but subsequently accepted the situation of Tutor to the sons of Mr. Denham, the Banker in Strada Rosella. When that Banker failed, F. Porter retired to St Carlo : and strange to say, got himself initiated in the Third Order of St. Francis. Soon after this, he quitted Rome for Naples, and attached himself to the Family of Palomba, wealthy Merchants in that City. In 1797, he returned to Rome, and was admitted into the Giesu, where he was a fixture until his pious death, on the 25th of August, 1802, set. 78.

Potter, Henry, 1866-1932, Jesuit priest and chaplain

  • IE IJA J/1998
  • Person
  • 19 April 1866-18 November 1932

Born: 19 April 1866, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny
Entered: 01 June 1885, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 1901
Final vows: 15 August 1903
Died: 18 November 1932, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare community at the time of death.

Older brother of Laurence Potter - RIP 1934

First World War Chaplain.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Medical student before entry

by 1893 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1898 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1902 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 7th Yorkshire Regiment, France
by 1918 Military Chaplain : 37 London Road Chelmsford
by 1919 Military Chaplain : 21 Wellington Esplanade, Lowestoft

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 8th Year No 1 1933
Obituary :
Fr Henry Potter
Father H. Potter died in Dublin, Friday, I8th November, 1932.
He was born in Kilkenny 19th April, 1866, educated at Christian schools, Diocesan College, and Castleknock, and began his noviceship at Dromore, Is June, 1885. Two years juniorate followed, the first in Milltown Park, the second in Tullabeg (the noviceship was changed from Dromore to Tullabeg in 1888).
At the end of the two years Father Potter was sent to Clongowes, where he remained for three years as master or prefect, and then to Enghien for philosophy. His course was
interrupted when he had done two years, and in 1894 we find him in Mungret when he put in three more years as prefect before resuming philosophy at Stonyhurst. Theology at Milltown immediately followed, and then tertianship at Tronchiennes.
When the tertianship was over in 1902 he began his long career as Minister - Clongowes, Belvedere, Gardiner St., Crescent - until in 1911 he was back in Belvedere as master. He spent three years in the classroom, when once more the ministership claimed him, by way of variety, at Leeson St. This brought him to the memorable year 1914, when Father Potter donned the uniform as Military Chaplain. He saw service both in France and England, and in 1919 was back in Gardiner St. as Oper. A year in Milltown, Director of Retreats, stood between him and his special vocation, in 1923 he was minister in Galway. He held the position until 1928, and was thus minister for fifteen years, and in six different homes. For the next three years he had charge of the small study in Clongowes, a year's quiet teaching followed, and then came the end.
On the evening of Monday 14th November he was brought to Dublin in great pain. All the ordinary remedies for lumbago were tried without result, and a growth of some kind, pressing on a nerve centre, was suspected Next day he was very much distressed, and a minor operation was performed to try and give him relief, His heart was in a very bad state, and the doctors advised the Last Sacraments, which were immediately administered. That night he had two very severe haemorrhages, which left him very weak. On Thursday blood transfusion was tried, but did no good, and on Friday morning he collapsed. When asked if there was much pain his only answer was that he was “offering it all up.” He was quite conscious to the very end, and got absolution several times. He joined in the prayers for the dying, and his last act immediately before expiring was to kiss the crucifix, and whisper the Holy Name.
This very happy death was the crown of a holy life. Father Potter did not belong to the class of men whose goodness attracts attention and is freely spoken about, but the goodness was there. And, now that he is gone, stories are being told of his visits to the Blessed Sacrament, especially when few people were about, of his devout prayers, and, especially, of his devotion to the Stations of the Cross, He was charitable, the character of the neighbour was safe in his hands. And he was charitable when charity was difficult, when something was said that invited a sharp retort, that retort was never forthcoming, He was an excellent community man, and will be sadly missed. It can be said of him with truth that he was the life and soul of recreation, was full of fun, and had as keen an eye as most people for what was comical or ludicrous in his surroundings. He was very approachable, and with boys a prime favourite. As soon as he appeared a knot of them quickly gathered round him, and soon fun of some kind or other was in progress. And this was true of all classes of boys, our own College boys or the little lads that come to serve Mass in our Church. May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Henry Potter 1866-1932
Henry Potter died in Dublin on November 18th 1932, He was a native of Kilkenny, being born there on April 19th 1866. Having been educated at Castleknock College he entered the Society at Dromore in 1885.

He spent most of his life as Minister in our houses. In 1914 he became a Chaplain in the Great War, and he served all through it until 1919.

He was a man of deep piety practised in secret. After his death, people spoke of his quiet nocturnal visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and his great devotion to0 the Stations of the Cross.

In his last agony, he remained conscious to the end, joining in the prayers for the dying. His last act was to kiss the crucifix and murmur the Holy Name.

◆ The Clongownian, 1933

Obituary

Father Henry Potter SJ

Though Clongowes cannot lay claim to Father Potter as one of her own Past, some of us can well remember him when he came as far back as to take over the Third Line. He had just finished his Rhetoric as a young Jesuit. So that it was in Clongowes that he began and ended his working life. In the middle of this long span he was Minister here.

He always felt very much at home here, for he was at his best with the boys: one is almost tempted to say: with the little lads. So that there was a strange fittingness in the fact that the Third Line Prefect of 1891 was the Small Study Prefect of 1931. The comic touch of incongruity, apparent only, would often make one smile when one caught sight of him in the centre of a group of Elementarians as they gathered for class at 9.30. He, seemingly grave but thoroughly enjoying the way in which they would solemnly discuss the amazing theories he would propound just to draw them out. In him a cloak of gravity covered a puckish fancy, a fact which explains his general popularity.

Though he was suffering a good deal, it was only on Monday morning, 14th November, that he failed to go down to his small boys. He left that day for a Dublin Nursing Home and died on the following Friday.

We inay be sure that he was sustained in the pains and sufferings of the last year of his life by his devotion to the Stationis of the Cross, a characteristic of his personal life. He is much missed in Clongowes. In the Community recreations his passing away has left a great blank. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Henry Potter (1866-1932)

Was born in Kilkenny and received his early education at St Kieran's and Castleknock College. He entered the Society in 1885 and pursued his higher studies at Enghien and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1901. Father Potter spent two years at the Crescent 1909-11 when he held the position of minister of the house and prefect of the church. At the beginning of the first world war, he volunteered as chaplain and served in England and France. In the years following the war he was sometime director of retreats at Milltown Park and served some seven years as minister at Clongowes. His remaining years were spent in Clongowes.

Robson, Christopher, 1619-1685, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2384
  • Person
  • 23 June 1619-03 June 1685,

Born: 23 June 1619, Park Grove, Ballyragget, County Kilkenny
Entered: 21 June 1647 Wilna (Vilnius), Lithuania - (GER SUP)
Ordained: 31 March 1657
Final Vows: 09 February 1959
Died: 03 June 1685, St Thomas of Canterbury, Hampshire, England

◆ The English Jesuits 1650-1829 Geoffrey Holt SJ : Catholic Record Society 1984
Born 23/06/1619 Kilkenny
Son of Thomas and Mary (Fines)
Educated St Omers College 1645-1646; English College Rome 16/10/1646-21/06/1647
Novitiate and Philosophy in another Province
1656 Liège Theology
Ordained 1657
1657 Ghent Tertianship
1658 St Omer
1659 Residence of St Michael
LEFT 20/08/1661 - READMITTED 19/06/1669
1672-1682 College of the Holy Apostles
1682 College of St Thomas of Canterbury

Catalogus Defuncti 1641-1670 has Robson (al Fines) RIP 03/06/1685 (ingr 1647, et reingr 1669) (HS49 43v et Foley, Angl)

◆ Henry Foley - Records of the English province of The Society of Jesus Vol VII
FINE, CHRISTOPHER, Father. See Robson, or Robinson, Christopher, Father.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
Robson, (CHRISTOPHER), Father, alias Robinson, and Fines, CHRISTOPHER, was the only son of Thomas Robson, Esq., a Yorkshire gentleman, and his wife Mary Fines, who was of a Sussex family of position. (1) Born about 1619, at Park Grove, county Kilkenny. Ireland, where his father had probably retired on account of the persecution at home; made his humanity studies in Ireland and at St. Omer's College; and entered the English College, Rome, for his higher course October 16, 1646. He was admitted to the Society in Rome, by the Father General in person, June 21, 1647, was sent to Wilna for his noviceship, and was made a Spiritual Coadjutor, February 9, 1659, being then it missioner in the Residence of St. Michael (Yorkshire District). He was dismissed the Society in Belgium, August 20, 1661. He appears to have then assumed his mother's name, and passed as Christopher Fines, succeeding Father John Penketh, alias Rivers, then a Secular Priest, as Confessor to the English Benedictine Nuns at Brussels, in April, 1672, Father Rivers having retired from that duty for the purpose of entering the Society. Father Christopher continued as Confessor for three years, retiring in 1665, for the purpose of seeking a re-admission to the Society. He was succeeded at the convent by Father Alexander Keynes, then a Secular Priest, who also retired in 1668, to enter the Society, (From the notes of the late Dame Mary English, O.S.B., St. Scholastica's Abbey, Teignmouth.) Father Christopher's re-admittance was delayed until June 19, 1669, when it took place at Watten. After his noviceship he was again sent to the Residence of St. Michael, and renewed his vows of a Spiritual Coadjutor in 1679. About 168, he was sent to the College of St. Thomas of Canterbury, the Hants District, and died in the same mission, June 3, 1685, et. about 66. (Catalogue of Deceased S.J., Louvain University Library; Records S.J. vol. vi. p. 366.)

(1) The family of Rostisan seem to have suffered severely for their faith. The names of William ind Colfrey Rolson appear in a list of upwards of sixty-five gentlemen of Northumberland in prison for refusing to take the condemned all of allegiance and supremacy (Canon Raine's “York Castle Depositions”, &c.. p. 2381)

Scott, John, 1793-1854, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2098
  • Person
  • 25 February 1793-17 December 1854

Born: 25 February 1793, Shevington, Wigan, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1815, Hodder, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: September 1822, Dublin
Died: 17 December 1854, Boston, Lincolnshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Tasburgh, Thomas, 1673-1727, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2176
  • Person
  • 29 September 1673-05 July 1727

Born: 29 September 1673, Bodney, Norfolk, England
Entered: 07 September 1691, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1700
Final Vows: 21 March 1704
Died: 05 July 1727, Dublin City, County Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Son of John and Elizabeth (Darell)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of John and his second wife Elizabeth
Early education at St Omer’s College France
1701 At College of the Holy Apostles, Suffolk
1704 St Ignatius College London, until near the time of his death
He died in Dublin 05 July 1727 in the odour of sanctity and was buried, it is believed, at St Michan’s. Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS states “In a letter of the Rv Dean Meyler, 08 June 1832, from 79, Marlborough St, Dublin, that worthy gentleman says ‘Many miracles were performed at the tomb of this Father, and his remains were, in consequence, almost carried away by the people. There is at present, in the possession of one of the Priests of Dublin, a finger belonging to this very holy man, the applications of which has been followed by many extraordinary and rapid cures, some of them even to my knowledge”.
Father R O’Callaghan’s sister was cured by an application of the above relic (Hogan)
Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS also says :
In connection with this family and Father Thomas Tasburgh’s relic, so famous for the miraculous cures effected by its application, Father Edmund Hogan has sent us the following communication
“In the abbey of Ross Co Galway, over the vault of the Lynches of Ballycurrin, is a slab with the inscription : ‘The arms of ye Ancient Family of Tasburg, of Tasburgh, afterwards of St Peter’s Hall, in ye Manor of Southelman, in Suffolok, now of Felzton in said County (Flixton or Feixtown) ....... This Monument was erected by Ellen Lynch, of Lydican, and wife of Peregrine Tasburgh, who died the 5th February, 1710”.
The late Bishop Blake of Dromore, who preached Father Betagh’s panegyric, collected a great number of cases of cures by Father Tasburgh’s relics, and had an intention of publishing a tract on the subject. The celebrated Dr Cahill was to have his leg cut off by Surgeon O’Reilly, he applied Father Tasburgh’s finger to his leg and disappointed the surgeons.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John and Elizabeth née Darrell
Early education was under the Jesuits at St Omer, France.
After First Vows he followed the usual course of studies in Europe, was Ordained and then returned to work as a priest in England
The circumstances of his arrival in Ireland are simply not known. It may be suggested that he came to for reasons of health or as Chaplain to some Anglo-Irish Catholic household. All that is known with certainty is that he was only a short time in Dublin when he died 05 July 1727
He died with the repute of high sanctity. Nearly a century after his death it was reported that many wonders had taken place at his tomb and that one of his fingers was treasured as a relic by a Dublin priest

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Thomas Tasburh 1673-1727
Fr Tasburg was probably an Englishman, as we find two other Jesuits of the same name listed in the English Catalogues. He is honoured in an Irish Menology, because he was for years attached to the parish of St Michan Dublin, where he died in 1727 on the 6th July, and was buried in the vaults.

Bu the concurrent testimony of many, though not juridically proved, miraculous cures were often effected by the application of his relics. One witness states that Fr Richard O’Callaghan SJ, then living with the family in Church Street, where one of his sisters was for years incurably affected by a spinal disease, he procured a finger of the deceased Fr Tasburg, and with the prescribed prayers applied it to the diseased parts which were immediately cured. The famous Dean Meyler, Parish Priest of St Andrew’s testifies :
“Many miracles were performed at the tomb of this Father, and all his remains were in consequence carried away by the people. There is at present in the possession of one of the priests of Dublin a finger belonging to this very holy man, the application of which has been followed by many extraordinary and rapid cures, some of them to my own knowledge”.

Fr Tasburg was born in 1673 and laboured for some time on the Mission in London before coming to Dublin.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TASBURGH, THOMAS, joined the Society on the 7th of September, 1691; made a Spiritual Coadjutor on the 21st of March, 1704 : was stationed in London during the early part of the last Century; but for some time before his death resided in Dublin, in great repute for Sanctity. He died in that city on the 5th of July, N.S. 1727, aet. 54. and I think was buried at St. Michan’s. In a letter of the Rev. Mr. Meylor, dated 8th of June, 1832, from 79, Marlborough street, Dublin, that worthy gentleman says, “Many miracles were performed at the tomb of this Father; and its remains were in consequence almost carried away by the people. There is at present, in the possession of one of the Priests in Dublin, a finger belonging to this very holy man, the application of which has been followed by many extraordinary and rapid cures; some of them to my own knowledge.

Wright, Joseph, 1698-1760, Jesuit priest

  • IE IJA J/2270
  • Person
  • 31 December 1698-14 March 1760

Born: 31 December 1698, Portugal
Entered: 31 March 1720, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 1731
Died: 14 March 1760, Ghent, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

Son of Edmund

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Two Entries
DOB 30 December 1698 of Irish parents Portugal; Ent 31 March 1720; FV 1731; RIP 14 March 1762 Ghent aged 62 (Necrology)
1720-1730 On the Mission at Wardour Castle, Wiltshire - also was on Mission at Southend
1741 At Liège preparing for the Mission (presumably ANG)
1753 At Norwich

◆ CATSJ I-Y has
DOB 10th or 30 March 1698 Portugal of Irish parents; Ent 30 March 1720; (all CAT 1723)
Peter Wright 30 March 1720 (loose Hogan note)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WRIGHT, JOSEPH, was admitted on the 31st of March, 1720 : eleven years later was ranked amongst the Spiritual Coadjutors. I find that he was a Missionary at Wardour and Southend, for some time. He died in England on the 14th of March, 1760, aet. 61.