Born: 09 August 1865, Derry House, Rosenallis, County Laois
Entered: 03 November 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin/Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 30 July 1899, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1902
Died: 05 September 1934, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

Chaplain in the First World War.

by 1894 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1901 at Sartirana, Merate, Como, Italy (VEN) making Tertianship
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers, France
by 1918 Military Chaplain : 7th Leinster Regiment, BEF France
by 1919 Military Chaplain : Chaplain to the Forces, Schveningen, Netherlands

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from Nicholas Walsh Entry :
He died in the end room of Bannon’s corridor, and the Provincial William Delaney and Minister Joseph Wrafter were with him at the end.”

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/a-sparrow-to-fall/

A sparrow to fall
Damien Burke
A BBC Northern Ireland documentary, Voices 16 – Somme (BBC 1 NI on Wednesday 29th June,
9pm) explores the events of 1916 through the testimony of the people who witnessed it and their families. Documentary makers and relatives of Jesuit chaplain Willie Doyle were shown his letters, postcards and personal possessions kept here at the Irish Jesuit Archives. In the 1920s, Alfred O’Rahilly used some of these letters in his biography of Fr Willie Doyle SJ. Afterwards they were given to Willie’s brother, Charles, and were stored for safekeeping in the basement of St Francis Xavier’s church, Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin in 1949. In 2011, they were accessioned into the archives.
Fr Willie Doyle SJ was one of ten Irish Jesuits who served as chaplains at the battle of the Somme (1 July- 18 November 1916): seven with the British forces; three with the Australian. Their letters, diaries and photographs witness their presence to the horror of war.

Fr Joseph Wrafter SJ, 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers (06 July 1916):
It is a very terrible thing where a show is on & no one I know wants any more of it than he has seen if he has been in it at all. But of course all have to see it through & the men are really splendid...Between killed & wounded we lost in that period quite a fourth of our Battalions & the Leinsters nearly as many. But they did good work & the enemy got a good deal more than they gave. It is dreadful to see the way the poor fellows are broken & mangled sometimes out of all recognition.

https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/jesuits-and-the-influenza-1918-19/

Jesuits and the influenza, 1918-19
Damien Burke
The influenza pandemic that raged worldwide in 1918-19 (misnamed the Spanish flu, as during the First World War, neutral Spain reported on the influenza) killed approximately 100 million people.

The influenza was widely referenced by Irish Jesuit chaplains in the First World War. And Fr Joseph Wrafter SJ writing in December 1918: “the influenza is raging here and all over Holland as everywhere”.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 4 1934
Obituary :
Father Joseph Wrafter

Father Wrafter died at St. Vincent's Hospital on Wednesday 5th September, 1934. For a considerable time he had been in very poor health, even before he left Clongowes in 1932, he had suffered a good deal. He was an invalid for nearly the two years he spent in Gardiner St., yet, with his usual courage, he did very fully all the work he was allowed to do. At last he was compelled to go to St. Vincent’s, where for some three weeks before his death he was very often quite unconscious.
In next number, we shall give a short sketch of his life in the Society.

Irish Province News 10th Year No 1 1935
Father Joseph Wrafter Continued
Father Wrafter was born near Rosenallis in Leix on the 9th August, 1865. He went with his two elder brothers, William and Thomas, to Tullabeg in 1877, where he remained until

1885. On November 3rd of that year he entered the Novitiate which was then at Milltown Park, but was transferred the following year to Dromore, Co. Down. He next spent a year
      as a Junior in Milltown, and had just begun his Philosophy there, when in November, 1886, the year of the amalgamation (Tullabeg and Clongowes) he was sent to Clongowes. He was Third Line and Gallery Prefect there for three years, and from 1889 to 1891 had charge of the Large Study. In the former of these years he utilised his great histrionic powers in getting up “The Tempest” which was an unqualified success. In 1891 he was appointed Higher Line Prefect although he had not yet done his Philosophy, and was the youngest man on the prefectorial staff. But his strength of character and sense of justice made up for these drawbacks. In 1893, after seven years' work as a scholastic in Clongowes, he went to Louvain for Philosophy, and in 1896 to Milltown Park for Theology, joining the Long Course.
      In the early summer of 1899 he went down to Clongowes to stay for about a month, in order to take the place of Father Fegan who had left to undergo a serious operation. However Father Wrafter remained in Clongowes the following year as Prefect of the Small Study, and next year saw him a Tertian in the Province of Venice.
      From 1900 to 1903 he was stationed in University College St, Stephen's Green, as Minister. After a year on the Mission Staff, with headquarters at the Crescent, Limerick, he renewed
      his connection With Clongowes, this time as Minister, remaining there until 1908, when he went to Gardiner St. and, in addition to the ordinary work, got charge of the Police Sodality. The next year he was appointed Minister and held that position until 1942, with the exception of a break of three years (1916-1919), when he was Military Chaplain in France and Holland. While at the front he distinguished himself by his great coolness and bravery. He was awarded the MC, but an officer who himself won the V.C., said that “every day, Father Wrafter did things that deserved the VC”.
      In 1924 he became Minister in Leeson St., and had charge of University Hall. Next year he again took up work in Clongowes as Minister and held the position for ten years. It was during these years that the new building was erected in Clongowes, in which Father Wrafter took a very great interest. 1934 saw him once more in Gardiner St, but incapable of much active work. However, as long as he possibly could, he said Mass and attended to his Confessional to which he had always been most devoted.
      He celebrated his Golden jubilee in the Society in November 1933, but did not long survive the event. The malady to which he had long been subject - phlebitis - had poisoned his system and after some weeks in hospital he died on 5th September 1934.
      The most remarkable thing about Father Wrafter's life in the Society was his long term of office as Minister in all twenty six years, thirteen in Clongowes, ten in Gardiner Stand ten in the University. He possessed in a high degree the qualities required for that office. He was a fine organiser quickly saw what was wanted, and then had the power to descend to details. He was extremely just and patient and was moreover the very soul of generosity, loving to see and to make others happy. To the poor also he was very kind. Many of the beggars and tramps who came to Clongowes made it a point to ask for Father Wrafter, they almost seemed to be personal friends of his so familiarly did he chat with them.
      What struck one most in Father Wrafter was his strong will and his great sense of duty Whatever he took in hand he saw through, and whatever was his duty would be done thoroughly. During his last few years as Minister in Clongowes he suffered from phlebitis which caused his legs to become very much swollen and painful, but unless absolutely forbidden by the doctor, he was sure to go down to the refectory to preside at the boys' meals. He was indefatigable in his care of and kindness to the sick, frequently visiting them in the infirmary during the night. This did not prevent him from being the first to rise in the morning. He always said the 6 o'clock Mass. Indeed it was wonderful how he contrived to do with so little sleep. In his last illness this strength of character was most noticeable, for though he suffered very much he never complained, but always made as little as possible of his sufferings. The nurses who attended him marvelled, and were much edified at his patience and resignation.
      How much his kindness and help to so many were appreciated was shown by the number of people, many of them in humble circumstances who called at the hospital to enquire for him during his last illness. R.I.P

◆ The Clongownian, 1935

Obituary
Father Joseph Wrafter SJ

There is something of the lacrimae rerum in the ending of the notice in last year's “Clongownian” of Father Wrafter's Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit, The words were, ad multos annos. That was in June, and the 5th of September brought the sad news that he was dead, So the words must now change to ad annos aeternos.

Fifty years, of which twenty were in and for Clongowes. How true it is to say for : Clongowes. Though he never forgot his old school Tullabeg, yet it had for his practical mind been merged in the sister College.

Loyalty seems, to one who knew him well, to have been the note of his character. Of the three loyalties, Loyalty to the Jesuit Order, Loyalty to Clongowes, Loyalty to his friends, the first two naturally became one, fused into one, the second becoming the practical expression of the former.

There is hardly a corner in the House where one who knows will fail to find traces of his watchful care. Under him the Infirmary became the highly efficient department it is. The great Well was a matter of real need, not merely of convenience. The College Grounds and the Garden were a concern of his, run with an eye to efficiency as well as to beauty, as if they had been his only care. As to the New Building : it had been a thought of his for thirty years in plan, and one need not say that the interest never flagged. Perhaps a practically minded Old Clongownian would say that the 'Boys' Refectory is the spot most associated with his genial presence and ceaseless care. One such, not of the immediate Past, said to me the other day: “The two men who resumed Clongowes life for us fellows were Father Wrafter and Father John Sullivan”. It sounds strange at first hearing, but on reflection one is more and more convinced of its truth. They were very unlike in what was obvious, but very like in what most caught the House : they both loved the boys.

His friends were legion and they were very true, for they knew by experience how unfalteringly they could rely on his interest and honest advice, One felt, said one of them, that you could tell him anything and be sure of his sympathy. This was strikingly true during the last year of his life, when he was a constant sufferer. He would drag himself to the parlour to see a friend, they never suspecting at what cost.

The elements were so mixed in him that he remained human and strong. It is easy to find a man in which one or the other predominates. The result is poor. In Father Wrafter they worked to a unity that won love in the best sense of the word.

To his sister, Mrs. Murray, we offer our sincerest sympathy. We use the words in the strictest sense, knowing how united the brother and sister were. On her yearly visit to him one saw renewed the finale of George Eliot's great novel Now many of us will join with her in murmuring :

But for the touch of a vanish'd hand
And the sound of a voice that is stilled.

-oOo-

Father “Joey” Wrafter : A Memory

It must be well over half a century ago that I, a small boy, first met “Joey” Wrafter, when I found myself a Third Liner at Clongowes. After such a long time it is not perhaps, surprising that the order in which events occurred has become rather mixed, and I must confess that I don't remember what exact position he held when first found myself an inmate of the school. I rather think that Father (then Mr) Gleeson was Third Line Prefect. My memories of Mr Wrafter are very clear, indeed, as they should be, for no small boy had ever a better kinder friend than I found in him. He indeed kind to all boys. It was part and parcel of his make-up, and as a result was liked and trusted by them.

Looking back over the fifty odd years, I recognise that this was the salient point of his character; kindness, understanding and sympathy with all boys, and in particular, with small boys. I never knew him to be hard or ungenerous to one of them, not was he prone to punish where punishment could be avoided,

Naturally, some of us knew him better than others, and were looked on by him as special friends. I am very proud to think that I could count myself as one of this group. Amongst others of this group I remember Geoff Esmond, Jim Clarke and Dominic Kelly, to mention only a few. Those who remember Father Wrafter in after years will, I am sure, wish to get some idea what he was like as a young man. Well, he was very slim and upright, handsome of face in an aquiline way, with the cheeriest of smiles. He was always very trim and neat, had small and well-made hands and feet, and was very graceful in all his movements. He was a delightfully light and fast runner, and kept himself extremely fit. He, at that time, could not have weighed more than about 10 stone.

Can you think of a fencer standing slim, butt muscular, head up, with a keen, clear cut face ready for a bout with the foils? Well, that is exactly the picture I get when I look back and remember Joey Wrafter in the late 80's and early 90's of last century.

Though not posing as a great book man, he was keen-witted, a good talker, and in some things exceptionally clever.

Though he played football and cricket, he did not seem to be very interested in games, but during my time at Clongowes he proved himself a master of the art of producing plays. This was his hobby, and he took the keenest delight in staging all sort of shows from farces and pantomime to Shakespeare.

I took part in most of the plays produced by him during my time, and remember amongst many others a farce called “Bombastes Furioso”, also a pantomime, “Alladin”, in which I starred as the Widow Twanky, and Shakespeare's “Tempest”, in which I took the part of Trinculo.

Well the years move on and we with there. Father Wrafter has left us, but I for one can say with truth that the memory of him and his great goodness and kindness to one small boy lives on and will not be forgotten till I also go the way we all must go, and not even then I hope.

When I was a boy at Clongowes “Joey” Wrafter was one of the very best. RIP

JGG

-oOo-

Father Wrafter as Army Chaplain

In November of 1915, the 8th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, with the other units of the 6th (Irish) Division, after a year's training at Kilworth, were awaiting orders at Blackburn for the move to France. A few days before the unit entrained, an orderly informed me that the Colonel, known amongst his friends as “Mike”, wanted to see me urgently in the mess.

“Read this wire”, said he, as I entered. Mike was one of the hard-living, hard swearing type of old soldiers. “They are sending us a priest. What the blazes shall I do with him? Should I offer him a drink when he comes?”

When I came again to the mess, a few hours later, I found the Colonel and priest swopping yarns over the fire and a whiskey and soda. And so began a strange friendship which lasted without end between “Mike”, a Protestant, if he had any religion at all, with no control over his language even before a priest-and Father Wrafter, a devout Jesuit with much knowledge of the world and great understanding. Years after, when Mike knew his end was coming and the Protestant clergyman was announced, - his only words were : “Tell him to go to the devil, the only person I want near me is Father Wrafter”.

Practically all the men in the regiment were Catholics, and when the unit arrived at the front, Father Wrafter's worth was soon recognised. His influence amongst them was on a par with the Colonel's, and more than once Mike asked the Padre to give the men a good talk at Mass about something that they should have done or something they should not have done and did. The effect was excellent.

For the four battalions in the Brigade there were two Catholic chaplains, and Father Wrafter looked after the welfare of the 7th Leinsters as well as the 8th Munsters. Of the two battalions, one was usually in the front line and one in reserve trenches, or in billets behind. In this way it often fell to the Padre to do three or four tours : in succession with the regiments in the front line, where his splendid help was most needed. On one occasion he spent a month on end in the front trenches. Yet, during these days of static warfare, I never knew him to miss saying daily Mass, sometimes in an open trench with a box as his altar, sometimes in a little dugout, where there was room only for himself and his servant, one Thunder, known in the regiment as “Lightning”, on account of his extreme slowness of movement.

For two years Father Wrafter served with the 8th Munsters in France. He was a well-known figure in the Irish Division ; there were few officers from the General downwards who did not know him personally. In the line he worked day and night attending the sick and wounded and burying the dead. Woe betide the Colonel if the Padre was not informed immediately any casualties occurred; and it was wonderful what confidence he gave the men, who knew he could be there as soon as anything happened. When it came to going over the top, Father Wrafter was always somewhere near the front line, even when the Colonel cursed him for leaving battalion headquarters. He was then a man fifty and portly, leading what was for him a strange life, yet he took the knocks and the kicks with a smile which was good see and did no end of good in the regiment.

On one occasion, in 1916, when the Brigade was in reserve at Les Mines, the Germans sent over gas at night and the masks of the men in the front. trenches proved ineffective against it. The casualties were heavy the Germans had followed up the gas by a night attack-and next night the Munsters were sent up to the front line on relief, The trenches were a veritable shambles. Corpses, with their bodies and faces distorted in their death agony, were piled in the trenches and littered the ground near them. For four nights, from dusk to dawn (the MS has from dawn to dusk) the Padre worked with his men, burying the dead as best he could. More often than not, shell holes formed the ready-made graves. A mournful sight it was this burial gang working under fire by the pale light of the moon.

Yet, nothing daunted the chaplain's spirits, and he was ready to crack a joke with all and sundry. Just before this gas attack, the General came to inspect the 8th Munsters, He stepped out of his car opposite the quarter-guard and questioned the sentry about his duties. The sentry, well coached, repeated them all, ending with the usual, “in the event of any unusual occurrence report to the guard commander”. “And what would you call an unusual occurrence, my man?” asked the General. “Well, sur, if I saw the sintry box markin' time”. A cloud collected on the General's brow; then he looked at the Padre and moved on quickly.

In 1917, Father Wrafter won the Military Cross, a reward he richly deserved, though he himself was the last to acknowledge this, His rectitude was such that the things he did seemed to him to be nothing but his ordinary duty. His real reward was the way that the men of his regiment maintained and practised their religion--the number of men who approached the altar rails, when the battalion had an opportunity of attending Mass behind the lines, surprised the local inhabitants.

In late 1917, the 6th Irish Division was reorganised and the 8th Munsters, or what was left of them after two years' fighting, were drafted to another battalion of the regiment. Father Wrafter was then offered an appointment as Senior Chaplain at one of the bases in France - a “soft job”, - with two assistants. This offer he stoutly refused to accept and continued to serve as regimental Chaplain to the Munsters until the end of the War. Later he went to Holland, as Chaplain to a prisoners of war camp. In November of 1917 I sailed for India and temporarily lost touch with him.

Next time I met him was in 1924 as his guest at Clongowes, where he was then Minister. The Jesuit robe had taken the place of the military uniform, which was the only garb the men of the 8th Munsters had seen him in, but the man was unchanged. He was the same strong, genial Padre, whose courage and cheerfulness had been an inspiration to all who had met him during the terrible years of the War.

JO'B.

-oOo-
1929-32 - “The Minister”

It was not till Father Wrafter had left us for Gardiner Street that we fully realised what a place he had won for himself in the life of the boys here. It is not an easy thing to win that place and it is harder still to keep it, but of him both were true. When you were well, you felt how much you depended on him for the creature comforts of the Refectory. When you were ill, his genial visits in the Infirmary were things to look forward to.

He was in truth a hard man to replace, so that his visit of a few days on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee had a quality unlike that of the coming of anyone else, The boys loved to gather round him and one could notice how newcomers to whom he was a stranger looked with envy at such gay gatherings.

One could notice too, how the older trades men about the College seemed as glad to meet him as we did.

The writer of these notes well remembers his first official contact with Father Wrafter. It was my first night at Clongowes and having got from my Line Prefect to “follow the crowd”, I found myself in the Refectory for tea, an extremely subdued unit in an extremely boisterous throng. Suddenly a bell went and in the midst of a profound silence a massive figure rose with infinite dignity to say Grace. This said, he sank down again slowly and gazed with the broadest of smiles all round the Refectory. After a few moments he came down from the box and began a triumphal procession through the Refectory, pausing at each table to shake hands with the “old boys” and to discover among the “new” the son or nephew or young brother of old friends,

Afterwards when the days had grown to weeks and weeks to months, an extremely insignificant member of Rudiments decided to go for his first sleep (having, I am afraid, very little the matter with him). I well recall the mingled hope and fear with which I awaited my turn. At last it came and the climb up the three steps seemed endless, to be confronted with the huge figure of the Minister. One quick glance to assure himself that it was nothing very serious and then he learnt back good-humouredly to listen to my plea of a headache. A few seconds of doubt and uncertainty and then my name went down in the notebook and I go off with the world a much brighter place. One of the most characteristic things about him was the tolerance with which he would listen to the malingerers at the foot of the steps as they arranged their complaints and yet would hear them afterwards in the best humoured manner possible. Suddenly he would come down from the box and make his way to the Infirmary with the Third Liners whom he had refused clinging to the wings of his gown and clustering round him - looking for all the world like some great liner surrounded by her tugs. But there was one thing about him that lays bare his character better than twenty pages of “The Clongownian” : if ever he had occasion to send anyone “up” for any misdeed in the Refectory or outside it, the offender had only to ask for a sleep that night and he was sure to get it.

Kindliness was, to my mind, the outstanding trait that made him universally beloved here among us.

P Meenan

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Joseph Wrafter (1865-1934)

Born at Rosenalis, Leix, and educated at Tullabeg College, entered the Society in 1883. He pursued his higher studies at Louvain and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1899. His association with the Crescent was short, 1903-04 when he was a member of the mission staff. With the exception of the period of the first world war. Father Wrafter's life was spent between Dublin and Clongowes. He was a member of the church staff, Gardiner St at the time of his death.

Born: 03 October 1924, Newry, County Down
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 28 May 2014, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Parents were Bernard and MariaWoods. and were in the grocery business. Family lived at Market Street, Keady, County Armagh

Eldest of five boys with one sister.

Early education was at the De La Salle Brothers in Keady, and then at the Christian Brothers Secondary School in Armagh., and St. Patrick's College, Armagh

by 1973 at New York NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Interfuse No 157 : Autumn 2014 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2015

Obituary

Fr Brendan Woods (1924-2014)

3 October 1924: Born in Keady, Co. Armagh.
Early education in CBS, Armagh and St. Patrick's College, Armagh
7 September 1942: Entered the Society at Emo
8 September 1944: First Vows at Emo
1944 - 1947: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1950 - 1952: Clongowes – Teacher
1952 - 1953: Mungret College - Teacher
1953 - 1957: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1956: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1957 - 1958: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1958 - 1972: Clongowes – Teacher
1972 - 1973: New York - Pastoral Studies
1973 - 1989: Milltown Park; Promoting “Marriage Encounter”; Teaching at Gonzaga; Teaching at Belvedere
5 November 1977: Final Vows
1985 - 1989: Director SpExx; Assistant Librarian
1989 - 1995: Campion House - Director SpExx; Assistant Librarian Milltown Park and Manresa
1995 - 1996: Leeson Street - Librarian, Assistant Librarian at Milltown Park; Director SpExx
1996 - 2002: Milltown Park - Assistant Librarian Milltown Park & Manresa
2002 - 2010: Manresa House - Assistant Librarian Milltown Park and Assistant Comm.
2011 - 2014: Milltown Park - Assistant Comm. Librarian; Director SpExx
2011: Resident in Cherryfield Lodge. Praying for the Church and the Society

Brendan settled well into Cherryfield and appeared happy and content. His condition has been deteriorating for some time. He died peacefully on 28th May 2014. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.

Brendan Woods was an Ulsterman, who spent his Jesuit life in the South; he was a man attracted to solitude, but he entered an apostolic religious order, and thereby guaranteed himself the constant presence of others for nearly seventy-two years. Brendan's Northern accent was not strong, but his upbringing in Northern Ireland, under triumphant and intolerant Unionism, left a deep impression. Very occasionally, Brendan spoke about “What we had to put up with” and he had no sympathy with some Jesuits when, towards the end of the Troubles, they empathised with the fears of Unionists, of whom Brendan said: “They had it all their own way for a long time; they won't anymore; they'll have to get used to it”.

Brendan did not talk about his family, and it was almost by accident that some of us discovered that his sister is a Carmelite nun. He had three brothers, one of whom died the day before Brendan's own death. His friendships were many, including one with a laicised priest working in Dublin as the caretaker of a block of flats. Brendan offered friendship and moral support to a number of 'lost souls', but he never spoke about them; he really did 'do good by stealth.

Community life was never easy for Brendan, and he could seem remote, but in reality, he was warm, witty and quietly supportive. Being so intensely private, he was comfortable expressing his feelings through humour, rather than directly. He could be very perceptive. When Brendan said, of a particular Jesuit, that “He goes around giving retreats to well bred nuns”, he spoke in the light of a major shift in his own life, one that took place after he left teaching at Clongowes in 1972; he had lost interest in any apostolate to the privileged and preferred to work with those who had less money and less security.

Brendan gave many guided retreats at Manresa House, but his greatest satisfaction came from the weeks of guided prayer, usually given as part of a team in many outlying parishes in Dublin. Brendan never learned to drive, so those guided prayer weeks meant long bus journeys, and waits for buses, in all weathers. The effort meant little to him in the light of the reaction of so many ordinary people, as they had their first experience of praying with Scripture and asked “Why did nobody tell us about this before now?” This invigorated and encouraged him, but Brendan, not always a patient man, had no patience at all with one aspect of post-Conciliar religious life: the emphasis on self-improvement. He was impatient with techniques, had no time for the Myers-Briggs Table and regarded the Enneagram as pernicious, being convinced that it was Sufism diluted for Western consumption.

Brendan set very high standards for himself, and never felt that he had met them. He was an excellent teacher at Clongowes and a hardworking assistant librarian at Milltown Park. In neither job did he accept praise, nor feel that he had done well. In even the coldest weather, with only a small radiator for comfort, Brendan worked on the top floor of the Milltown Jesuit Library, cataloguing the collection of books about Ireland, discovering rare pamphlets and taking a special interest in Irish Catholic printers. Being over-cautious, he kept duplicate and even triplicate copies of books, which packed the shelves.

Having had some experiences of book theft, Brendan was a bit paranoid about library security. His love of books, however, meant that even the most tedious library work never seemed to be a chore. When a Jesuit house closed and its library was being cleared, Brendan had a remarkable ability to notice precisely what was lacking in Milltown.

With his a deep appreciation of what it meant to be both Irish and Catholic, Brendan concentrated on the essentials. He had no interest in the disputes about clothes that were so common in Irish Jesuit life in the 1960s and 1970s. Brendan was quick to abandon clerical clothing, and it is doubtful if, latterly, he even owned a Roman collar, but, somehow, there was an indefinable quality about him, so he always looked priestly. Being blessed with a fine head of white hair, Brendan cut a striking figure.

Brendan was quick to appreciate other countries and cultures. He read a vast number of travel books and had a balanced, even sardonic, appreciation of the United States. American crime fiction (to which Americans themselves give the more euphemistic title 'Mystery') was his secret passion and he read many authors long before their fame spread west across the Atlantic.

Marriage Encounter gave him, for thirteen years, a strong link with the United States and had him working closely with Bill White SJ, who was as committed to the work, but was utterly unlike him. Brendan was the organizer, Bill was the inspirer; as in many unexpected pairings, they were a very successful team. Some years before the onset of his own prolonged final illness. Brendan gave up attending Jesuit funerals, because the homily had been replaced by a eulogy, so he had difficulty reconciling what was being said with the reality of the man he had known. His feelings, whether positive or negative, about everything and everybody were strong, but his shyness often made him seem remote or indifferent and was a barrier for many who might have become closer to him. Those who persevered, or who worked with him regularly, discovered his warmth and his compassion.

Brendan's stories were many. Some were based on experience in retreat direction: “If a person on a retreat says that they'd like to meet you after the retreat, for further spiritual direction, you can be assured that you'll never hear from them again!”, in parish supply work, such as the Italian-American parish in New York, where terrified black teenagers returned the chalices stolen on the previous day, because their fence told them that the silverware bore the names of local Mafia families. But was there really an English Jesuit who, in his own retreat talks, used to refer, in his examples for edification, to “a humble Irish lay sister”?

Brendan rose early and prayed often. One year, his entire annual retreat was centered on the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”). Any hints about his own prayer were revealed inadvertently.

As Brendan's memory began to weaken, his brow settled into a permanent frown, which was very distressing for his friends. Everything seemed to worry him, but he was able to sustain a conversation by focusing on the person speaking to him, never on himself. He was not aware that he had celebrated yet another Jubilee in the Society, which was just as well, because he would have striven, with all his might, to avoid it!

Brendan has earned his rest.

Born: 28 February 1926 in Mokrzyska, Poland
Entered: 4 February 1950 in Santuaria di Galloro, Arricia, Rome, Italy (Pol Mi)
Ordained: 29 July 1965 in Milltown Park, Dublin, Ireland
Final Vows: 5 November 1977 in Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 19 December 2016 at John Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia

Apostolic Life
1956-1957, Katondwe, Kasisi, teaching, regency
1960-1962, Dublin, Belvedere, teaching
1966-1967, Karenda/Mumbwa, pastoral work
1967- Chelston, pastoral work
1968-1974, Kabwe, Mpima Minor Seminary, teaching sciences
1974-2001, Chikuni, Canisius, teaching sciences
1988-2000, school bursar
2002-2004, Choma, Mukasa, teaching, translating archive documents
2004-2005, Dublin, Poland, recovering health.
2005-2009. Choma, Mukasa, teaching science
2009-2010, Dublin, taking care of health, sabbatical
2010-2013, Chikuni, Canisius, teaching science
2013-2014, Dublin, Gardiner St., taking care of health, sabbatical
2014-2016, Lusaka, Chula House, assisting in archives, praying for Church and Society

by 1958 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) studying 1957-1961
by 1962 came to Belvedere (HIB) for Regency 1961-1963
by 1964 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1963-1966

Father Francis Woda (Lesser Polish Province) was born on February 28th. 1926, in Mokrzyska, Krakow, Poland. He is a son of Mr and Mrs Francis Woda. In 1950 he entered the Society and after noviceship and philosophy he spent two years on the Polish Mission in Zambia. Later he came to Ireland where he graduated in Science in UCD. Before coming to Milltown Park for his theology he taught for two years at Belvedere College.

Born: 29 March 1931, Park Drive, Cowper Gardens, Rathmines, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1949, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 23 May 2003, Saint Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh, County Kildare

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

Father, Percy was in the Insurance business with the Scottish Insurance Corporation. He was not a Catholic.He died in 1950. Mother was Josephine (Kavanagh)

Third of four boys.

Early education was at Muckross Convent, CBS Westland Row and then he went to Belvedere College SJ

by 1985 at Rome, Italy (DIR) Sabbatical Biblical Inst
by 1991 at Frankley Beeches, Birmingham, England (BRI) working
by 1994 at Worcester England (BRI) working

Father was in the Insurance business with the Scottish Insurance Corporation.

Third of four boys.

Early education was at Muckross Convent, CBS Westland Row and then he went to Belvedere College SJ

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Fr Perrcy Winder (1931-2003)

29th March 1931: Born in Dublin
Early education at Muckross Convent, CBS Westland Row and Belvedere College
7th Sept. 1949: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1951: First Vows at Emo
1951 - 1954: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1954 - 1957: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1957 - 1960: Mungret College - Regency (Teacher)
1960 - 1964: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1963: Ordained at Milltown Park
1964 - 1965: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1965 - 1990: Clongowes -
1965 - 1976: Teacher; Spiritual Father
1976 - 1984: Teacher; Prefect
1984 - 1985: Sabbatical Year
1985 - 1990: Teacher;Prefect; Spiritual Father
1990 - 1993: Birmingham - Parish Curate.
1993 - 1998: Besford Court, Worcs. - Hospital & School Chaplain; Ministry to elderly, bereaved, mentally ill and housebound people
1998 - 2000: Birmingham - Parish Curate
2000 - 2003: Clongowes - Minister; Guestmaster; Ministered in People's Church
23rd May 2003: Died at St. Brigid's Hospice Unit, Curragh, Co Kildare.

Percy was in remission from prostate cancer for the past seven years, in early January his condition deteriorated. He accepted news of his terminal illness with great faith and kept saying that he wanted to “fly like a butterfly as he was tired of walking like a caterpillar”. His condition deteriorated seriously after Easter, culminating in his transfer to St. Brigid's, where he received 24 hour care for his last two weeks and died peacefully on the evening of Friday 23rd May 2003

Frank Doyle writes:
That Rhetoric 1 (6th Year) class of 1949 in Belvedere was probably unusual even for those days. Out of it came five Jesuits, two Opus Dei priests and a candidate for Clonliffe. The Clonliffe seminarian opted for the married life and the responsibilities of the family business. He was Peter Dunn, younger brother of the later to be famous Fr Joe. Of the Opus Dei priests, one has left us and the other is a nephew of the late Gen. Richard Mulcahy. Of the five Jesuits, four entered together on the same day – Harry Brennan, Frank Doyle, Denis Flannery and Percy Winder. The fifth – Donal Doyle – stayed in Belvedere for the Seventh Year and then, if I am not mistaken, did a year of pre-med before going to Emo. In the course of time, Harry also felt called to be a different kind of father.

I had known Percy, however, all during my secondary school days in Belvedere. I would not say we were very close in those days. Outside of class, our extracurricular interests were somewhat different. Percy, like his older brother Frank before him, was a great supporter of the school's Field Club. I, together with Denis, gravitated to Fr Charlie Scantlebury's Camera Club. I ended up in the school opera; Percy never made any claims to any musical talent.

Percy, Denis, Harry and myself all arrived in Emo on 7th September, 1949. As fellow-novices, Percy and I were thrown more together and got to know each other better. When Percy was made the last Beadle of our second year, I was his Sub beadle. Our term of office coincided with Major Villa, and, with the Novice Master away, there were some (perfectly harmless, I hasten to add) high jinks which Fr Donal was not pleased with when they were brought to his notice on his return. We thought they were great fun - and they were. (If only Denis Flannery were still around to remind us of the details!)

It would have been difficult not to have some fun when Percy was around. His conversation was peppered with a never ending chuckle. I never saw him depressed but that is not to say life always went smoothly. He was afflicted with a particularly distressing migraine, which came on at regular intervals. Then he would have to retire to his room and remain in darkness until it eased off. But he never complained or felt sorry for himself.

After Emo, we were in Rathfarnham together for three years though not doing the same subjects. That was the time when I was probably closest to him. Many is the time we walked together around the “track” in deep conversation. Along one side of the track there was a wire fence. Behind this was a row of evergreen trees and behind them part of the golf course. Percy regularly kept an eye out for golf balls that had been driven into the trees where it was difficult for the player to retrieve them. These Percy picked up and passed on to Fr Dick Ingram, who was a keen golfer, and who, as a result, never had to buy a golf ball.

Both in Rathfarnham and Tullabeg, Percy kept up his interest in nature, particularly in birds and butterflies. There were a lot more butterflies to be seen in those days.) At the end of philosophy, our ways parted and we seldom met during the ensuing years. He went to regency and I went to Hong Kong. We were together for one more year in Milltown for theology, and then I left to continue in the Philippines.

It must be for others to describe Percy's long and fruitful time in Clongowes. During that time he was Lower Line Prefect for 8 years before taking a sabbatical in the Holy Land. After many years as chaplain to the students, he felt it was time for a career change. I understand he had been going to Birmingham for many years to do a summer supply. It was obvious that a more permanent form of service would have been more than welcomed by the bishop, whom he knew well. Obviously, it was a great way to spend his “troisieme age”.

On one of my furloughs back from Asia (in 1990), I went to St. Beuno's in North Wales to do the “3M” course as part of a sabbatical. During the three months, there was a break when we could get away for about a week. Percy invited me to join him in Birmingham, where I was able to see first hand some of the work he was doing. He was mainly acting as chaplain to a number of institutions for the sick and elderly and also helping out in the local parish. In fact, due to the tragic death of the parish priest about that time, Percy was acting pastor. One could see how marvellously he related with the parishioners, especially the ladies, and how much they loved him. It was not surprising; he was an extremely lovable person. I suppose because he gave out so much enthusiastic love himself.

I believe that it was while in Birmingham that he got the first warnings of cancer. This eventually led him to return to his beloved Clongowes and the less strenuous responsibility of the People's Church. Here again his gift of winning friends and influencing people shone out and made a wonderful conclusion to a life of bringing hope and cheer into people's lives. He was also minister to the community.

Perhaps this very inadequate memoir is best concluded by some words from the homily given by his superior, Michael Sheil, at the funeral Mass. Michael had accompanied Percy on his final journey and was with him when he finally slipped away. Percy had written his own eulogy in touching letters he wrote to friends when he learnt that his condition was terminal and Michael quoted from these.

"Strangely”, Percy wrote, “the news didn't upset me at all. There comes a time - especially when God has given us the gift of deep and strong faith – when it is easy and exciting to accept the Good News that our destined life journey from God to God is coming to a close and that soon we'll be home. At Mass every day before Communion we ask God to keep us in peace “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. Why ever should we dread the destiny for which God so lovingly created us? I feel so happy as I look back on such a happy life walking with friends and trying my best to be helpful - happy to be close at last to even greater and more unimaginable love. God is Love - and I value His embrace. As journey's end appears over the horizon, I'm happy and excited to be going home. I've no fears and no regrets - just hoping to have the strength, to using my remaining time, sharing my happiness with those I love. For the moment, I'm content to take and enjoy each day as it comes.

God does not make mistakes – nor does He make junk. We are NOT mistakes - God is moulding us into His masterpiece, delighting in His creation. So, no tears for me please -- only a song of thanksgiving that at last God is putting the final touches to that masterpiece. As St Paul says: 'We are God's work of art!

If you choose to pray for me, ask that I may have a reasonably comfortable dying and that I won't be too much of a burden. Of course, I've no more idea than you as to what heavenly life might be like. I'm content to wait and see. For me, what St Paul says is good enough: “What eye has not seen nor ear heard - these are the things that God has prepared for those who love Him”. So this is not a final Good-bye - far from it!”

Au revoir, Percy. It is not easy to say Good-bye to Percy. Two days ago someone asked me for some information and I was about to say: Well, I'll ask Percy about that! He was so much part of our lives for the past three years – he was the Homemaker of the Community -- that my reflexes had not yet attuned to the fact that he was no longer of this world. His metaphor of the caterpillar and the butterfly is well known by now - and I think that he would approve of St Paul's image that “when the tent that we live in on earth is folded up, there is a house built by God for us .... in the heavens”.

When we received Percy's Remains back home here in Clongowes on Saturday evening, I shared with you the – still fresh - memory of one of the very privileged moments of my life, as I sat at his bedside the previous evening at exactly 18.18. I was the intimate witness of two realities – one, the loss of a dear Companion in the Lord and the other, the fulfilment of Percy's dream-in-faith that God would be faithful to His promise that where I am, you also may be.

I summed up the past 5 months as Percy's living the dream - when his failing health seemed only to serve to strengthen his faith. On Friday evening as I sat beside his sick, frail, stricken and diseased body, I could only reflect on and marvel at the spirit enclosed therein, as he sank slowly and without resistance towards the destiny of us all. No struggle, no stress, simply low regular breathing......, until I had occasionally to check to ensure that he was still alive - before that unforgettable moment when I realized that, without a sound, just like his butterfly taking off, his spirit slipped away from the prison of corruptible mortality to enter into the glory of an everlasting home not made by human hands, in the heavens.

It is not easy to try to do justice to the person Percy was in the few short lines of a homily. But I am fortunate in having in my possession two letters of his from some months ago - when he was informed that his illness was terminal – letters in which he wrote to his friends of how he felt. This, surely, is Percy's act of faith - his legacy as he speaks to us this morning - the proclamation to all the world that God is faithful and near to him. So this is not a final Good-bye - far from it! For Percy's heart was not troubled – for he believed in Jesus' promise: I am going to prepare a place for you -- and I shall return to take you with Me so that where I am you may be too.....

Percy was a very active, apostolic Jesuit and priest, who, while in good health, brought God's love into the lives of many. And in the lengthening twilight of his terminal illness, God continued to use him to bring about yet another miracle of His love, as He drew from those who looked after him in the Hospice service a quite extraordinary concern for someone in need of so much medical care. Their lives have been graced by the generosity of their giving - and on behalf of us all I want to say how much their loving care for him meant to us, to whom Percy meant so much himself.

How we would have liked him to be cured and remain on with us. We made a novena in honour of Fr John Sullivan. Percy was too ill to start it off for us – but he came down on the last morning to thank us for our efforts on his behalf. At that time he said he was willing to hang around for a while longer (If it will give Fr John a leg-up!, he said) - but he had just received good news and would be quite happy to go. Perhaps to-day, he is in a better position to give the most distinguished of his predecessors, as Spiritual Father and Minister of the People's Church, that leg-up towards canonization!

Our thanks to Percy, too, for the legacy of his life of love – and of his written testament of faith. We thank God for His gifts to him - and for the gift of him to us. In his own words - This is not a final Good-bye ....... far from it. So often in life we say Good-bye ........... it comes from the ancient wish or prayer: May God be with you [Dominus vobiscum) ........... and to-day we say it to Percy at this, his last Mass.

And so we pray:
May Christ enfold you in His love - and bring you to eternal life. May God and Mary be with you. We will pray for you, Percy - may you also pray for us.

◆ The Clongownian, 2003

Obituary

Father Percy Winder SJ

Fr Percy Winder, who died at St Brigid's Hospice Unit, Curragh, Co Kildare on 23rd May 2003, was in remission from prostate cancer for the past seven years. In early January his condition deteriorated. He accepted the news of his terminal illness with great faith and kept saying that he wanted to “fly like a butterfly as he was tired of walking like a caterpillar”. His condition deteriorated seriously after Easter, culminating in his transfer to St Brigid's, where he died.

The Rhetoric class of 1949 in Belvedere was probably unusual even for those days. Out of it came five Jesuits, two Opus Dei priests and a candidate for Clonliffe. Of the five Jesuits, four entered together on the same day - Harry Brennan, Frank Doyle, Denis Flannery and Percy Winder. The fifth, Donal Doyle stayed in Belvedere for the Seventh Year before going to Emo. Percy, Denis, Harry and myself all arrived in Emo on 7th September 1949. As fellow-novices, Percy and I were thrown more together and got to know each other better. When Percy was made the last Beadle of our second year, I was his Sub-beadle. Our term of office coincided with Major Villa, and, with the Novice Master away, there were some high jinks, which Fr Donal was not pleased with when they were brought to his notice on his return.

It would have been difficult not to have some fun when Percy was around. His conversation was peppered with a never-ending chuckle. I never saw him depressed but that is not to say life always went smoothly. He was afflicted with a particularly distressing migraine, which came on at regular intervals. Then he would have to retire to his room and remain in darkness until it eased off. But he never complained or felt sorry for himself.

After Emo, we were in Rathfarnham together for three years though not doing the same subjects, That was the time when I was probably closest to him. Many is the time we walked together around the track in deep conversation. Along one side of the track there was a wire fence. Behind this was a row of evergreen trees and behind them part of the golf course. Percy regularly kept an eye out for golf balls that had been driven into the trees where it was difficult for the player to retrieve them. These Percy picked up and passed on to Fr Dick Ingram, who was a keen golfer, and who, as a result, never had to buy a golf ball.

Both in Rathfarnham and Tullabeg, Percy kept up his interest in nature, particularly in birds and butterflies. (There were a lot more butterflies to be seen in those days.) At the end of philosophy, our ways patted and we seldom met during the ensuing years. He went to regency and I went to Hong Kong. We were together for one more year in Milltown for theology, and then I left to continue in the Philippines. Percy spent a long and fruitful time in Clongowes during which time he was Lower Line Prefect for eight years before taking a sabbatical in The Holy Land.

After many years as chaplain to the students, he felt it was time for a career change. He had been going to Birmingham for many years to do a summer supply. It was obvious that the bishop, whom he knew well, would have more than welcomed a more permanent form of service. It was a great way to spend his “troisieme age”. On one of my furloughs back from Asia (in 1990), I went to St. Beuno's in North Wales to do the '3M' course as part of a sabbatical. During the three months, there was a break when we could get away for about a week. Percy invited me to join him in Birmingham, where I was able to see first hand some of the work he was doing. He was mainly acting as chaplain to a number of institutions for the sick and elderly and also helping out in the local parish. In fact, due to the tragic death of the parish priest about that time, Percy was acting pastor. One could see how marvelously he related with the parishioners, especially the ladies, and how much they loved him. It was not surprising; he was an extremely lovable person. I suppose because he gave out so much enthusiastic love himself.

It seems that it was while in Birmingham he got the first warnings of cancer. This eventually led him to return to his beloved Clongowes and the less strenuous responsibility of the People's Church. Here again his gift of winning friends and influencing people shone out and made a wonderful conclusion to a life of bringing hope and cheer into people's lives. He was also minister to the community.

Born: 17 January 1848, Carrick, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 07 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1883, Tortosa, Spain
Final Vows: 02 February 1888
Died: 28 October 1913, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Early education at St Mary’s College, Mullingar and St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1869 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1872 at Toulouse College (TOLO) health
by 1877 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1880 at Aix-en-Provence, France (LUGD) studying
by 1881 at Dertusanum College Spain (ARA) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Account from Freeman’s Journal of 29 October 1913 "
“The hand of death has been severely felt of late within the ranks of the Society of Jesus in Dublin. During a period of slightly over twelve months a number of the best known and most distinguished members of that body have passed to their reward after long service in the sacred cause of religion and Christian charity. The list includes such revered names as Matt Russell, Nicholas Walsh, James Walshe, and more recently John Bannon and Henry Lynch. It is now our duty to record the death of another well-known member of the Order in the person of Rev Thomas Wheeler SJ, who died after a long and tedious illness at Gardiner St.
He was born in Mullingar 17 January 1848. His elder brother, Rev James Wheeler, was PP of Stamullen. His younger brother was the lamented Dominican Joseph Wheeler, who predeceased him some years. His uncle was the Most Rev Dr James Carbery OP, at one time Bishop of Hamilton, Canada. His cousin Most Rev Dr James Murray OSA, is the present Bishop of Cookstown, Australia.
Educated at Mullingar and Tullabeg, he entered the Society at a young age. his higher studies were carried on in France - Philosophy at Louvain, and Theology at Tortosa in Spain. he completed his studies in Belgium. On returning to Ireland he was put to the field of education, and taught the higher classes at Clongowes, Tullabeg, Belvedere and Crescent. During these years he was rector of Belvedere, and Vice-President of UCD. In addition to his marked qualities as an educator, he had a facile pen, and gave many valuable contributions to the literature of his day. When Matt Russell died, he was chosen to succeed him as Editor of the “Irish Monthly” - a publication dear to the heart of its founder and to a circle of close personal friends and literary admirers. Under Thomas’ guidance it continued to fulfill worthily the aims and ideas for the propagation of which it was started, and continued to be in the fullest sense a high-class, well-written periodical full of information on subjects of deep interest to Irish Catholic readers.
Latterly, however, Father Wheeler’s health had begun to give way, and during the last few months he had been suffering from a rather severe breakdown.”

Note from Charles O’Connell Sr Entry
William E Kelly, Superior at Hawthorn, says in a letter 09 April 1912 to Thomas Wheeler “Poor Father Charlie was on his way from his room to say the 8 o’clock Mass, when a few yards from his room he felt faint and had a chair brought to him. Thomas Claffey, who had just returned from saying Mass at the Convent gave him Extreme Unction. Thomas Gartlan and I arrived, and within twenty minutes he had died without a struggle. The evening before he had been seeing some sick people, and we have since learned complained of some heart pain. Up to the last he did his usual work, taking everything in his turn, two Masses on Sundays, sermons etc, as the rest of us. We shall miss him very much as he was a charming community man.

Note from Henry M Lynch Entry
Note his obituary of Henry M Lynch in that Entry. Henry Lynch accompanied Thomas Wheeler when the latter was going for a severe operation to Leeds. When he returned before Thomas, he became unwell himself.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Thomas Wheeler SJ 1848-1913
Fr Thomas Wheeler was born near Mullingar on 17th January 1848.

He came of a very distinguished ecclesiastical family. His older brother was a Parish priest in Stamullen, a younger brother was a Dominican, an uncle was Dr Carbery, Bishop of Hamilton, Canada, while his cousin was Dr Murphy, Bishop of Cookstown Australia.

Fr Thomas entered the Society at an early age and taught the higher classes in Clongowes, Tullabeg, Belvedere and Limerick. He was rector of Belvedere and Vice-President of University College, St Stephen’s Green.

Having done some of his early studies in Spain, he was a good Spanish scholar, and was appointed Spanish examiner in the Royal University. He succeeded Fr Matt Russell as editor of “The Irish Monthly”. Under his guidance it continued to fulfil the aims and ideas for which it was founded.

He died after a long and tedious illness, cheerfully borne, on October 29th 1913.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1914

Obituary

Father Thomas Wheeler SJ

It is our painful duty to record the death of the Rev Thomas Wlieeler, which took place at the Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street, some time ago.

The deceased was born near Mullingar in 1848, and joined the Society of Jesus at an early age. His course of studies was a long one, during which he travelled much in France, Belgium, and Spain. A man of marked ability, a distinguished scholar, an able linguist, he taught the higher classes in Clongowes, Tullabeg and Limerick. He was at one time Rector of Belvedere, and for many years Vice-President of University College, St. Stephen's Green. Notwithstanding his poor health during the last twelve months of his life, he continued to devote himself to his confessional, and was always eager to help and befriend others. A convincing preacher, he also had a facile pen, and succeeded Fr Father Russell as editor of The Irish Monthly. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1914

Obituary

Father Thomas Wheeler SJ

It is our painful duty to record the death of another well-known member of the Society Jesus in the person of the Rev Thoma Wheeler, who died yesterday (October 28th) after a long and tedious illness, at the Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street. Father Wheeler was born near Mullingar, Co Westmeath, the 17th January, 1848. His elder broth Very Rev James Wheeler, was PP of Stamullen; his younger brother was the lamented Father Joseph Wheeler, of the Order of Preachers, who predeceased him some years ago. His uncle was the Most Rev Dr Carbery OP, at one time Bishop of Hamilton, Canada. His cousin, Most Rev Dr Murray OSA, is the present Bishop of Cooktown, Australia.

Educated at Mullingar and at Tullabeg College, he entered the Society of Jesus at an early age. His higher studies were carried on in France - his Philosophy course being studied at Louvain, and his course in Theology at Tortosa, in Spain. He completed his training in the House of the Order in Belgium, at the close of a brilliant scholastic career. On his return to his native land he was, by direction his Superiors, almost at once placed in close touch with the educational interests which the members of the Society of Jesus are known to have so much at heart in Ireland, as in the other countries where their Missions flourish. In pursuance of his duties in his new sphere of activity Father Wheeler taught for any years the higher classes in Clongowes, in Tullabeg, in Belvedere, and in Limerick Colleges, filling during that period of his career many important offices--amongst them, those of Rector of Belvedere College, and Vice-President of University College, St Stephen's Green. In addition to his marked qualities as an educationalist he had a facile pen, and gave many valuable contributions to the literature of his day.

When Father : Matt Russell died, Father Wheeler was chosen to succeed him in the editorship of the “Irish Monthly” - a publication which was dear to the heart of its sainted founder and long time editor, as it was also to the hearts of a wide circle of close personal friends and literary admirers. Under the guidance of Father Wheeler the “Irish Monthly” continued to fulfil worthily the aims and ideas for the propagation of what it was started, and continued to be in the fullest sense a high-class, well-written periodical full of informative matter on subjects of deep interest to Irish Catholic readers.

Latterly, however, Father Wheeler's health had begun to give way, and during the last few months he had been suffering from a rather severe breakdown.

“Freeman's Journal”, Oct. 29th, 1913.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Thomas Wheeler (1848-1913)

A native of Mullingar, was educated at Tullabeg College and entered the Society in 1866. He pursued all his higher studies abroad: in France, Belgium and Spain, in which latter country he was ordained. Father Wheeler was one of the Irish Province's most gifted masters of the last century, but his association with the Crescent was limited to the years 1887-88 and 1894-95. He was sometime rector of Belvedere College and vice-rector of UCD. He was also widely known in literary circles and succeeded Father Matthew Russell in the editorship of the “Irish Monthly”.

Born: 31 May 1935, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1953, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 10 July 1968, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1975, St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street
Died: 22 February 2011, St Mary Star of the Sea, Key West, Florida, USA

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

Nephew of Eugene - RIP 1976

Father was a businessman.

Second of six boys with two sisters.

Educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square for six years and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ for six years.

by 1971 at USF San Francisco, USA (CAL) studying
by 1972 at St Michael’s Bronx NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/seamus-ward-rip/

Seamus Ward RIP
Seamus Ward SJ passed away in Florida yesterday, 22 February. He was staying at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. Earlier, he had had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broken his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O’Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and Eoghan, a nephew of Seamus, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Criost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in Christ’s Peace!

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/burying-seamie-2/

Burying Seamie
There was something astonishing about the obsequies of Fr Seamus Ward, whose death was reported in the last AMDG Express. Within the Irish Province he had a low profile,
partly because of his wretched health. He had taught in Bolton Street DIT, and served the Jesuit Refugee Service in Africa. Fr Tom Layden wrote of his “pioneering spirit, inquiring mind and independence of outlook”: a kind man, with an attitude of welcome and encouragement for those around him. He worked out of weakness, a real pastoral asset with which people could identify. His two funerals, one in Florida where he served a parish, the other in Gonzaga chapel, were memorable events, crowded with his kith and kin and friends who loved him and grieved deeply. In death as in life Seamus could spring a surprise.

◆ Interfuse No 145 : Summer 2011 & ◆ The Clongownian, 2011

Obituary

Fr Séamus (Seamie) Ward (1935-2011)

31st May 1935: Born in Dublin
Early education at Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1953: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1955: First Vows at Emo
1955 - 1958: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1958 - 1961: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1961 - 1964: Belvedere College - Teacher
1964 - 1968: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
10th July 1968: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1968 - 1969: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1969 - 1970: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1970 - 1972: Fordham, USA-Studied Sociology; Assisted in Holy Family Parish, NY
1972 - 1974: Rathfarnham - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
1974 - 1978: John Austin House - Chaplain in DIT Bolton Street
2nd February 1975: Final Vows
1978 - 1979: Campion House - Chaplain in DIT
1979 - 1982: Rathfarnham - Curate in Wicklow parish
1982 - 1985: Dolphin's Barn - Parish Curate
1985 - 1986: Clongowes - Sabbatical year
1986 - 1988: Clongowes - Assistant Librarian
1988 - 1989: Ethiopia - Jesuit Refugee Service
1989 - 1991: Belvedere College - Refugee work: Cairo, JRS Rome and Ethiopia
1991 - 1992: Working with refugees in Sierra Leone and Somalila
1992 - 1994: Working with refugees in Mali
1994 - 2005: Belvedere College - Pastoral care of refugees.
2005 - 2011: Milltown Park - Parish Chaplaincy, USA
22nd February 2011: Died in Florida USA

Fr Seamus was at St. Mary, Star of The Sea Church, Florida. He had a fall away from the house on 18th February and broke his femur. He was badly shaken and was hospitalised. The doctors advised that he was unlikely to recover. He needed a breathing machine. Fr Conall O Cuinn, Rector of Milltown Park, and a nephew of Seamus’, Eoghan, travelled to the USA on Tuesday 22nd and were met at the airport and taken straight to the hospital. They were waiting for them before removing the breathing machine. There was time for prayers and singing Ag Críost an Siol and Soul of My Saviour. Seamus died very quietly and peacefully about 15 minutes later. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.

Obituary by Brendan Duddy and Noel Barber
Seamie Ward was one of 8 children. He had 5 brothers and 2 sisters who were at the heart of his life. He had a marvellous relationship with his siblings and with their children. I got to know him during our time in UCD. When I arrived in Rathfarnham, he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. The regime was tight and he found the rules of the house somewhat oppressive but he did not take them too seriously. We all felt that we did not have enough time for study; most of us accepted this state of affairs but he did not. He would put his umbrella over his bedside lamp and read through Troilus and Cressida into the night. Serious would have been his fate had he been caught. While others dutifully made off on bikes on special free days, he usually had other ideas, bringing me on one occasion to the Shelbourne Hotel where his father awaited us and ordered toast in a magnificent silver bowl and coffee laced with brandy.

In days when it was presumed that one had to avoid any reading of material that was not 'wholesome', he had the nerve to borrow Joyce's Ulysses in the ritual brown paper bag which the kind librarian passed surreptitiously under the counter, On more regular lines he introduced me to O'Casey's plays and to Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. He took a good degree in English, enjoyed the literary delights that were on offer and ignored what was not to his taste. There was an iconoclastic side to him which to some looked as if he saw all authority as authoritarian. There was a shyness which he concealed with a brusqueness that could be disconcerting but he was true gold as a friend. Philosophy in Tullabeg followed where the isolated life did not entirely suit him and literature rather than philosophy captured his interest but doing what was necessary he got through without much effort albeit with little joy but used his time to indulge his literary tastes and to make many excursions, licit and illicit. I then went to Zambia and he to Belvedere where an observer noted that he showed remarkable administrative talents as an assistant to the Prefect of Studies, the formidable Jack Leonard, whose approval and fulsome praise he won. He proved to be a severe disciplinarian and an exacting task master who exercised his authority with a firm hand. However, he won the admiration of the pupils if not their lasting affection. It was noticeable that a number of middle aged men turned up to his funeral – his former pupils from his Belvedere days; they remembered him with something approaching reverence.

His years in Theology were not entirely happy and a contemporary of his considered that his attitude towards authority hardened and he ended up asking to have his ordination postponed to the end of his fourth year. Following his Tertianship in 1968-69 he spent one year in the Dublin Institute of Theology, Bolton Street, before going to Fordham where he took an MA in Sociology. He then returned to Bolton Street where he remained until 1979. I worked with him there and once again he was my mentor and guide. He introduced me to all sorts of people: porters, sweepers, electricians, cooks, his friends in Sean Mc Dermot Street where I became life-long friends with his friends. With these people he was Newman's Perfect Gentleman at ease with all and generous with his time and energy to a fault. He took particular care of foreign students helping them to find their feet. He then spent 3 years (1979-82) as a curate in Wicklow. There he was wonderful with the children, the old folks and with pre-marriage couples. For recreation he took to the joys of sailing, most often with his brother. He moved to Dolphin's Barn in 1982 where he had three not very happy years. He became somewhat restless and spent a few years in Clongowes during which he was unfocused and dispirited.

Then he opened up a new life for himself with the Jesuit Refugee Service from 1988 to 1994. He served in Cairo, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Mali. A person who knew him well in his JRS days commented on his remarkable ability to live in the most austere circumstances, and to accept the hardship and isolation of his assignments without complaint, his great love and devotion to the poor and the weak and the excessive physical demands he made on himself. On the other hand it was noted that for one of his ability and sterling work he lacked self-confidence to a surprising degree and showed that below the surface there could be strong anger which would occasionally flare.

In 1994 he returned to live in Belvedere as a sick man in the grip of severe emphysema but he found a modus vivendi. To avoid the wet, cold Irish winter he began to do supply parish work in California and then Florida where he flourished as he did in Wicklow years before. He devoted himself to the poor and the weak; he gave of his time and people took the chance to pour out their hearts to him and he listened, gave sound advice and became the wise old man.

In the midst of his successful apostolate, he had a fall, went into hospital where, because of his underlying condition, an operation was out of the question. Inevitably he took a bad turn and died quietly and peacefully. As a Jesuit, he was not prominent and was never well known in the Province but despite his difficult middle years and the poor health of his later years he achieved a great deal at the frontiers.

Born: 15 November 1906, St Brigid’s Road Upper, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 November 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1976, Our Lady of Victories, Floral Park, New York NY, USA

Unlce of Séamus - RIP 2011

Father was a retired publican who died in 1914. Family residing at Richmond Road, Drumcondra, Dublin

Second youngest of seven boys with four sisters.

Early education at a National School, he went to O’Connell’s School, Dublin (1918-1924). he got a City of Dublin University Scholarship and completed 1st Arts and Commerce at UCD before entry

by 1933 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1973 at Hoylake MA, USA (NEN) working
by 1976 at Floral Park NY, USA (NEB) working

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Eugene Ward, S.J.
R.I.P.

Who taught in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, in the early 1930s, died recently in the U.S.A., aged 69. Even after four decades, some elderly gentlemen will remember the energy and personal interest with which he overwhelmed them long ago.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 13 February 1976

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 2 1976

Obituary :

Fr Eugene Ward (1906-1976)

Eugene Ward will always be remembered by his contemporaries and friends as a man of tremendous energy and of boundless zeal for souls. He was a born organiser. He was one of the group of scholastics who were the last to study Philosophy in Milltown Park before the transfer of the Philosophate to Tullabeg in 1930. During that year in Milltown Eugene was treasurer of the Ricci Mission Unit founded a year or so before by Frs C Daly, N Roche and Dick Harris. Needless to say the Unit proved a marvellous springboard for Eugene's organising activities. When our coming departure for Tullabeg was officially announced, the problem of transposing the Ricci Mission Unit and its effects arose. Eugene, of course, had a master plan. I, the secretary, was sent into Gardiner Street to see Fr Provincial to ask leave to go by car (a most unusual and unheard of thing in those days), in two stages, first to Roscrea monastery on Saturday; stop the night there and proceed to Tullabeg on Sunday, I remember well Fr Fahy’s beetling eyebrows moving up and down as he said to me, “You may go, but only on one condition - that you do not stop there”.
Then followed two happy years in the Bog (Tullabeg). Grim according to modern standards but happy, with our sketches on Feast Days and plays at Christmas; great villa days on Thursdays, out in the boats on the canal and rivers, to Pollagh, Three Rivers, Shannon Harbour and further.
At the conclusion of the Philosophical Course, Eugene put his zeal into practice and departed to our foreign mission in Hong Kong, where he had full outlet for his missionary spirit but for reasons of health (he was plagued all his life with stomach trouble though physically of great vigour), he never returned to the mission after his tertianship in Rathfarnham, For the rest of his hard-working life he was assigned to pastoral work, Retreats and Missions. His spell in Rathfarnham as Director of Retreats easily compared with that of Fr Barrett, the founder. He built up into a very effective organisation the Knights of Loyola, a lay group dedicated to help the Retreat House.
For five years he was operarius in St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, where he lived up to his reputation for work and drive as preacher, confessor and director of Sodalities. His talents as Retreat House Director were again called upon in Manresa Retreat House, where he refurbished the old stables and made them into rooms, and thereby increased the accommodation for Retreatants. After Manresa he spent the rest of his life on the Retreat Staff, with special attention to the Apostleship of Prayer, Our Lady's Sodality and the Blessed Sacrament Crusade, the latter which he worked up very effectively in colleges, schools and institutions throughout the country. During these years of ceaseless work, he had at various times serious illnesses sometimes involving surgery, but they never seemed to sap his energy, though in appearance he grew rather gaunt and emaciated. Finally, in 1971 he went to the United States to fill a need of the diocese of Springfield, Mass. He served at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, Long Island, and also teaching Philosophy at the College of Our Lady of the Elms, Holyoke, Mass. Before Christmas he grew mortally ill and died on January 20th, 1976. He was 50 years in the Society and 37 years a priest.
Eugene was first, last and foremost an apostolic priest who spent his life working for souls. It is no mere pious cliché to say of him that he passed to his Maker, a Jesuit full of merit leaving behind him in Ireland, England, Hong Kong and the States very very many who thank God for his help and ministrations.
“Euge, euge, serve bone et fidelis, intra in gaudium Domini tui”.

Born: 17 February 1911, Rosmuc, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1946, Broken Hill, Southern Rhodesia
Died: 02 May 1975, Vatican Embassy, Pretoria, South Africa - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

Eldest of two boys with one sister.

Early education at Rosmuc National School he then went to Mungret College SJ.

Tertianship at Rathfarnham

by 1937 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency
by 1939 at St Aloysius, Sydney, Australia - health
by 1940 in Hong Kong - Regency
by 1946 at Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - First Zambian Missioners with Patrick JT O’Brien
by 1947 at Brokenhill, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working
by 1962 at Loyola, Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) Sec to Bishop of Lusaka

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
In 1926 and 1927, a team of three boys from Mungret College at Feis Luimnighe (Limerick Festival) swept away the first prizes for Irish conversation and debate. The three boys were native Irish speakers. They were Seamus Thornton from Spiddal who became a Jesuit in California and later suffered imprisonment at the hands of the Chinese communists, Tadhg Manning who became Archbishop of Los Angeles and Paddy Walsh from Rosmuc who joined the Irish Province Jesuits in 1928.

Fr Paddy was born in the heart of Connemara, an Irish speaking part of Ireland and grew up in that Irish traditional way of life, a nationalist, whose house often welcomed Padraic Pearse, the Irish nationalist who gave his life in the final struggle for Irish independence. Fr Paddy came to Northern Rhodesia in 1946 and felt an immediate sympathy with the aspirations of the younger and more educated African nationalists.

For regency, he went to Hong Kong, China, but a spot on his lung sent him to Australia where he recovered in the good climate of the Blue Mountains. Back in Ireland for theology and ordination in 1943, he once again volunteered for the missions, this time to Northern Rhodesia where he came in 1946.

His first assignment was Kabwe as superior and education secretary. Chikuni saw him for two years, 1950 and 1951, and then he went north to Kabwata, Lusaka as parish priest where he constructed its first church. From 1958 to 1969 he was parish priest at Kabwata, secretary to Archbishop Adam, chaplain to the African hospital and part-time secretary to the Papal Nuncio. He became involved in the problems of race relations, an obvious source of prejudice, and he had a hand in setting up an inter-racial club in Lusaka where the rising generation of both Africans and Whites could meet on an equal footing. His own nationalist background led him to participate in their struggle which he embraced with enthusiasm. When many of the leaders were arrested and sent to prison, Fr Paddy was a constant source of strength and encouragement, especially for their bereft families. He administered funds for their support which in large part came from the Labour Party in England. He was a friend of Kenneth Kaunda and looked after his family and drove his wife to Salisbury to visit Kaunda in prison. Within six weeks of Independence, Fr Paddy had his Zambian citizenship and at the first annual awards and decorations, the new President Kaunda conferred on him Officer of the Companion Order of Freedom.

In 1969 Fr Paddy had a heart attack and it was decided that he return to Ireland. As a mark of respect and appreciation, the President and some of the ministers carried the stretcher onto the plane.

Fr Paddy recovered somewhat and returned to Roma parish in 1970 but his health did not improve and it was felt that a lower altitude might improve things, so he went back to Ireland and Gibraltar to work there. The Papal Nuncio in South Africa, Archbishop Polodrini who had been in Lusaka, invited Fr Paddy to be his secretary in Pretoria. He accepted the offer in 1973. 0n 2 May 1975 Fr Paddy died in Pretoria of a heart attack and was buried there, a far cry from Rosmuc.

Fr Paddy was completely dedicated to whatever he did, especially in the African hospital where he ministered and he bitterly complained to the colonial powers about the conditions there. He had a great sense of loyalty to people, to a cause, to the Lusaka mission, to the Archbishop himself and to the welfare of the Zambian people and the country.

At the funeral Mass in Lusaka, attended by President Kaunda and his wife, the Secretary General, the Prime Minister and some Cabinet Ministers, Kaunda spoke movingly of his friend Fr Paddy. He said that he had had a long letter from Fr Paddy saying ‘he was disappointed with me, the Party, Government and people of Zambia because we were allowing classes to spring up within our society. Please, Fr Walsh, trust me as you know me, I will not allow the rich to grow richer and the strong to grow stronger’.

Archbishop Adam wrote about Fr Paddy who had worked as his secretary for eleven years: ‘It was not very easy to know and to understand Fr Walsh well. Only gradually I think I succeeded – sometimes in quite a painful way. But the more I knew him the greater was my affection for him, and the respect for his character and qualities. Apart from his total dedication, I admired his total disregard for himself, his feeling for the underprivileged and his deep feeling for justice’.

Note from Maurice Dowling Entry
After the war, when the Jesuits in Northern Rhodesia were looking for men, two Irish Jesuits volunteered in 1946 (Fr Paddy Walsh and Fr Paddy O'Brien) to be followed by two more in 1947, Maurice and Fr Joe Gill. They came to Chikuni.

Note from Bob Thompson Entry
With Fr Paddy Walsh he became friends with Dr Kenneth Kaunda and other leaders at the Interracial Club. This was all during Federation days.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland :

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-truth-without-fear-or-favour/

A hundred years ago, Paddy Walsh was born in Rosmuc to an Irish-speaking family that frequently welcomed Padraic Pearse as a visitor. Paddy was the first Irish Jesuit missionary to “Northern Rhodesia”. He felt a natural sympathy with the leaders of the struggle for independence. When Kenneth Kaunda (pictured here) was imprisoned by the Colonials, Paddy drove his wife and family 300 miles to visit him in Salisbury gaol. As a citizen of the new Zambia, Paddy was trusted by Kaunda. He upbraided the President for permitting abortion, and for doing too little for the poor. Kaunda revered him, insisted on personally carrying the stretcher when Paddy had to fly to Dublin for a heart operation, and wept as he eulogised Paddy after his death: “This was the one man who would always tell me the truth without fear or favour.”

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. O'Brien and Walsh left Dublin on January 4th on their long journey to North Rhodesia (Brokenhill Mission of the Polish Province Minor). They hope to leave by the "Empress of Scotland" for Durban very soon.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 2 1946

From Rhodesia.
Frs. O'Brien and Walsh reached Rhodesia on February 21st. They were given a great welcome by Mgr. Wolnik. He has his residence at Lusaka and is alone except for one priest, Fr. Stefaniszyn who did his theology at Milltown Park. Lusaka is the capital of Northern Rhodesia and is a small town of the size of Roundwood or Enniskerry.
Fr. O'Brien goes to Chikuni, which is a mission station with a training school for native teachers. Fr. Walsh is appointed to Broken Hill. where he will work with another father. ADDRESSES : Fr. Walsh, P.O. Box 87, Broken Hill, N. Rhodesia; Fr. O'Brien, Chikuni P.O., Chisekesi Siding. N. Rhodesia

Fr. Walsh, Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia, 16-2-46 :
Fr. O'Brien and I arrived in Durban on February 6th, having come via Port Said and the Suez Canal. The voyage was a tiresome one, as the ship was overcrowded - in our cabin, a two-berth one in normal times, we had thirteen, so you can imagine what it was like coming down through the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. We had a large contingent of British soldiers as far as Port Said. They got off there to go to Palestine. We had also about six hundred civilians, demobilised service-men, their wives and children. We had ten Christian Brothers, two Salesian priests, two military chaplains (both White Fathers), six Franciscan Missionary Sisters going to a leper colony quite near Bioken Hill, four Assumption Sisters, and two Holy Family Sisters, so we had quite a big Religious community.
Our first stop was Port Said where we got ashore for a few hours. We moved on from there to Suez and anchored in the Bitter Lakes for a day and a half. There we took on three thousand African (native) troops, most of them Basutos. The Basuto soldiers were most edifying. There were several hundred of them at Mass every morning, very many of whom came to Holy Comnunion. They took a very active part in the Mass too - recited the Creed and many other prayers in common, and sang hymns in their native language, and all this on their own initiative. They are certainly a credit to whatever Missionaries brought them the Faith.
Our next stop was Mombasa, Kenya, then on to Durban. The rainy season was in and it rained all the time we were there. We arrived in Joannesburg on Saturday night, February 9th. We broke our journey there, because we were very tired, I had a heavy cold, and there was no chance of saying Mass on the train on Sunday. We were very hospitably received by the Oblate Fathers, as we had been also in Durban. I could not praise their hospitality and kindness to us too highly. Many of them are Irish, some American and South African. We remained in Jo'burg until Monday evening and went on from there to Bulawayo. We had a few hours delay there and went to the Dominican Convent where we were again most kindly received - the Mother Prioress was a Claddagh woman. We were unable to see any of the English Province Jesuits. Salisbury, where Fr. Beisly resides, would have been three hundred miles out of our way. Here at Livingstone we visited the Irish Capuchians. We were both very tired, so we decided to have a few days' rest. We have visited Victoria Falls - they are truly wonderful. The Capuchians have been most kind to us and have brought us around to see all the sights. It is wonderful to see giraffes, zebras and monkeys roaming around. Recently one of the Brothers in our mission was taken off by a lion. We expect to come to Broken Hill on Wednesday night. Most of our luggage has gone on before us in bond. We were able to say Mass nearly every day on the boat, except for a few days when I was laid up with flu. I think we are destined for the ‘Bush’ and not for the towns on the railway. It is very hot here, but a different heat from Hong Kong, very dry and not so oppressive. On the way up here we could have been travelling anywhere in Ireland, but they all say ‘wait till the rainy season is over’.”

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

Rhodesia :
Fr. P. Walsh, P.O. Box 87, Broken Hill, N. Rhodesia, 15-8-46 :
“On the day of my final vows I ought to try to find time to send you a few lines. My heart missed a few boats while I glanced down the Status to see if there was anyone for Rhodesia. Fr. O'Brien and I are very well and both very happy. I met Fr. O'Brien twice since I came out, once when he came to Broken Hill, and again last month when I went to Chikuni to give a retreat to the Notre Dame Sisters who are attached to our mission there. Chikuni is a beautiful mission. The school buildings there are a monument to the hard work done by our lay brothers. The brothers whom I have met out here have struck me immensely. They can do anything, and are ready to do any work. Yet they are wonderfully humble men and all deeply religious. I am well settled in to my work now, You may have heard that I have been appointed Superior of Broken Hill. I am blessed in the small number of my subjects. My main work continues to be parish work among the white population. As well as that I am Principal of a boarding school situated about eight miles outside Broken Hill. We follow the ordinary school curriculum for African schools, and we also have a training-school for vernacular teachers. Most of the work is done by native teachers. I go there about three times a week and teach Religion, English and History One lay-brother lives permanently at the school. He is seventy two years of age but still works on the farm all day. The farm is supposed to produce enough food to support the boys in the school (and sometimes their wives), The hot season is just starting now. It has been very cold for the last month. L. have worn as much clothes here in July and August as ever I wore in the depth of winter at home. Although we do not get any rain during the cold season, still the cold is very penetrating. It will be hot from now till November or December, when the rains come. We were to have Fr. Brown of the English Province here as a Visitor. (He was formerly Mgr. Brown of S. Rhodesia). He had visited a few of our missions and was on his way to Broken Hill when he got a stroke of some kind. He is at present in hospital. One leg is paralysed completely and the other partially. He is 69 years of age, so he will hardly make much of a recovery. It is difficult to find time for letter writing. I seem to be kept going all day, and when night-time comes there is not much energy left”.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 50th Year No 2 1975

Obituary :

Fr Patrick Walsh (1911-1975)

In 1926 and 1927 a team of three boys representing Mungret at Feis Luimnighe swept away first prizes for Irish conversation and debate. Small wonder, since they were all native speakers. All three of them became missionary priests. Séamus Thornton, SJ suffered imprisonment at the hands of Chinese communists; Tadhg Manning is now Archbishop of Los Angeles, and Paddy Walsh was one of the six boys three “lay” and three “apostolic” - who joined the Irish Province from Mungret on the 1st of September, 1928.
The transfer of the novitiate from Tullabeg to Emo took place about a month before his first vows, Juniorate at Rathfarnham and UCD, and Philosophy in Tullabeg followed the normal pattern, but for regency Paddy went to Hong Kong. Before long, a spot was discovered on his lung and he was sent to the Blue Mountains in Australia, where he felt his isolation from the Society, but where he was cured. Ordination in Milltown (1943) and Tertianship in Rathfarnham completed his course and then, in 1945, an urgent cry for help came from the Polish Province Mission to Northern Rhodesia. Paddy O'Brien and Paddy Walsh were the first two Irish Jesuits to answer. There are about seventy three languages and dialects in that country, so they had to learn the one used by the Tonga people who inhabit the southerly region in which Canisius College, Chikuni, is situated. It was, however, after his transfer to the capital, Lusaka, that the main work of his life began. It entailed learning another language, Nyanja, and plunged him into pastoral work. As Parish Priest of Regiment Church, so called because it lay near a military barracks, and Chaplain to the hospital, he laboured untiringly for the spiritual and temporal well-being of his flock, with whom he identified himself. They were poor, sick and sometimes leprous. Father Paddy’s letters to the Press, exposing their misery and calling for action, made him unpopular with some of the Colonial administrators, but enthroned him in the hearts of his African people.
Their aspiration to political freedom found a ready sympathiser in one whose boyhood home in Rosmuc had frequently received Padraic Pearse as a welcome visitor: Leaders of the Nationalist movement, Harry Nkumbula, Simon Kapapwe and Kenneth Kaunda, were emerging: They trusted Paddy and he stood by them in face of opposition from Colonials. When they were imprisoned, Paddy administered the fund - largely subscribed by the British Labour Party - for the support of their wives and children. It was Paddy who drove Kenneth Kaunda’s wife and family the three hundred miles to visit him in Salisbury gaol.
When independence was won in 1964, Paddy took citizenship in the new Republic of Zambia (named after the Zambezi River) and its first President Kenneth Kaunda conferred the highest civil honour upon him, Commander of the Order of Companions of Freedom. With the destiny of their country in their own hands now, the new rulers of Zambia faced the enormous problems of mass illiteracy, malnutrition and poverty. Using their wealth of copper to enlist aid from abroad and finance huge development plans, they have made gigantic progress.
Paddy continued his priestly work in Lusaka until a heart attack struck him down in 1969. Though the air-journey would be risky, it was necessary to send him home for surgery. President Kaunda and Cabinet Ministers carried the stretcher that bore him to the aeroplane. BOAC had heart specialists ready at Heathrow Airport, who authorised the last stage of the journey to Dublin, Paddy FitzGerald inserted a plastic valve in the heart, with such success that Father Paddy's recovery seemed almost miraculous.
He returned to Zambia, but felt that more could be done for his beloved poor. He was very disappointed, too, by the passing of a law permitting abortion. Maybe, he had a dream of a Zambian utopia, and could not bear to think that it had not been realised. He returned to Ireland; worked for a very short time in Gibraltar, and, finally, went to Pretoria as Secretary to the Papal Nuncio in 1973. There he died suddenly on the 2nd of May, 1975.
It was as impossible for Paddy to dissemble or compromise as it was to spare himself in the pursuit of his ideal. The driving force of his life and of his work for Zambia was his love of Christ. In the retreat that Fr John Sullivan gave us before our first vows in Emo, he said: “Any friend of the poor is a friend of Christ. It is the nature of the case”. Paddy both learned and lived that lesson. An dheis Dé go raibh a anam

Irish Province News 51st Year No 3 1976

Obituary :

Fr Patrick Walsh (1928-1975)

“Fr Paddy Walsh was amazingly and touchingly honoured by the nation when President Kaunda preached a eulogy of him at a funeral Mass on 13th May 1975. The huge Christian love that ‘KK’ displayed in his talk was wonderful to hear. There were few dry eyes in the Church”. (So runs a letter from Fr Lou Haven, S.J., Zambia.)
A Zambian newspaper article (by Times reporter') featuring the event says:
President Kaunda has vowed that he would fight tooth and nail to ensure that the rich did not grow richer and the strong stronger in Zambia. Dr Kaunda broke down and wept when he made the pledge before more than 400 people who packed Lusaka’s Roma cathedral to pay their last respects to missionary Fr Patrick Walsh who died in South Africa. He revealed that Fr Walsh, an old friend of his, had decided to leave Zambia because “we had failed in our efforts to build a classless society”. In an emotion-charged voice, Dr Kaunda told the hushed congregation: “Fr Walsh revealed to me in a long letter that he was disappointed with me, the Party, Government and people of Zambia. He had gone in protest because we were allowing classes to spring up in our society”.
The President, who several times lapsed into long silences, said: “Please, Fr Walsh, trust me as you know me. I will not allow the rich to grow richer and the strong to grow stronger”.
To the Kaundas, Fr Walsh meant “something”. He came to help when the President was in trouble because of his political beliefs. “Fr Walsh looked after my family when I was away from home for long periods due to the nature of my work ... What can I say about such a man? He drove Mrs Kaunda to Salisbury to see mę while I was in prison ... What can I say about such a man?” ... he asked, In 1966, Dr Kaunda decorated him with the rank of Officer of the Companion Order of Freedom. He was a Zambian citizen.
Fr Lou Haven adds: “Paddy had been the support of the President's family when many of his friends deserted him during the struggle for independence. Dr Kaunda often had to be away from his family for long stretches during that time, rousing the people hundreds of miles away to a desire for independence, and sitting in jail, Fr Walsh was father to his whole family for years.'

Fr Walsh arrived in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1946, as one of the first two Irish Jesuits sent out here, the second being Fr PJT O'Brien.
An ardent Irishman, deeply steeped in Irish history and culture, he nevertheless wholeheartedly answered the Lord's call to leave his beloved Ireland and to go to the ends of the earth’ to serve his less fortunate brethren. First, as a scholastic, he was sent to China, but because of his poor health there seemed to be little hope of him every becoming a missionary. He was sent to Australia to recuperate his health, then back to Ireland. There he heard the appeal for help in Zambia, where the mission confided to the Polish Jesuits was in great difficulties as a result of the war and then of the post-war situation in Poland. He offered himself immediately, and was accepted. Arriving here in February, 1946, he gave his all to his newly-found mission, firstly in what was the apostolic prefecture, then the vicariate, and finally the archdiocese of Lusaka. He was appointed superior, first in Kabwe (then Broken Hill), then, after four years, in Chikuni. Finally, he was transferred to Lusaka as parish priest in St Francis Xavier's (“Regiment”, today St Charles Lwanga) church, where he re-roofed the old church and built the first parish-house. In 1958 he became my secretary, acting at the same time as chaplain to what was then called the African hospital, and as parish priest in Kabwata, where he built the first church.
It was not very easy to know and to understand Fr Walsh well. Only gradually I think that I succeeded sometimes in quite a painful way. But the more I knew him, the greater was my affection for him, and the respect for his character and qualities. Apart from his total dedication and the efficiency with which he applied himself to whatever duties were imposed on him, I admired his total disregard for himself. This became so evident to me when I had to supply for him in the hospital during his absence. Only when trying to do what he was doing day after day, week after week, did I realise what a hard task he took on himself as a “part time” occupation. For years he used to get up shortly after 4 a.m. to bring our Lord to the sick and to comfort the suffering. Every evening, once again he used to go to the hospital, to find out new cases and to hear confessions. He took particular care in baptising every child in danger of death.
The second quality which I admired so much in him was his feeling for the underprivileged. On seeing one who was poor or downtrodden, he automatically stood by him, and would not only show his sympathy openly, but would do everything in his power to assist him. It was not just sentiment that made him take such a stand, but a deep feeling for justice, on which he was absolutely uncompromising. I know of one case when, in spite of his sympathy towards the “liberation movements”, he completely broke off relations with one of them: he was convinced that they had committed an act of grave injustice against those whom they were fighting
I think that St Ignatius, who had such a great sense of loyalty, found a worthy son in Fr Walsh. Once he had given his loyalty to people or to a cause, he remained 100 per cent loyal. He gave his loyalty to Zambia and her people: he was absolutely, 100 per cent, loyal to them: some might have reason to say 105 per cent. I think this was typically Irish, in the best sense of the word. He gave his loyalty to the Lusaka mission - he remained absolutely loyal to it. On a more personal level, he gave his loyalty to me as his archbishop, and he was 100 per cent loyal - probably 105 per cent. I must mention yet another of his loyalties: he came here to help the Polish Jesuits in their need, and he was and remained absolutely loyal to them. Being a Polish Jesuit, I can never forget this.
I came to bid farewell to him before his departure from Zambia in 1973. I could not stay until his actual departure from the airport, because it was a Saturday, and I had to be back to say Mass in Mumbwa. He accompanied me to my car, then suddenly took me by the hand. All he could say was a whisper: “Pray for me"...and he nearly ran back to his room.
God called him since to Himself, I lost a loyal friend, and Zambia lost a very loyal son,

• Adam Kozlowiecki, SJ, Chingombe, written on the first anniversary of Paddy's death

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1951

A Letter from Northern Rhodesia

Father Paddy Walsh SJ

My Dear Boys,

As I write these lines, my thoughts go back to my last year in Mungret when I first thought of devoting my life to the work of the African Missions. That was in 1928. But my wish to become a missionary in Africa was not fulfilled for many years afterwards and it was only in February, 1946, that I finally arrived in N Rhodesia. Eighteen years was a long time to have to wait, but I found on my arrival that there was plenty of work still to be done, and that even if God spared me for twenty or thirty years of missionary work, there would still be a lot to be done by those who came after me.

Northern Rhodesia is very much part of the “Dark Continent”. Comparatively few of its one and a half million people are Christians. Our mission covers an area of 65,000 square miles, or twice the size of Ireland. It extends from the great Zambesi river in the south to the borders of the Belgian Congo in the North. The African population numbers about 400,000 souls, and of these scarcely 6 per cent. have neen washed by the cleansing waters of Baptism.

The people of Northern Rhodesia are of the Bantu race, but while they may be classified as one race, they are divided into many distinct tribes, and each tribe has a distinct language of its own. There is, for example, the great Bemba tribe in the North; the language of the Bemba is Ci-Bemba. Then in the south there in the Tonga tribe who speak Ci-Tonga. The diversity of tribes and consequently of languages adds to the Northern Rhodesian Missionaries' difficulties. When he arrives on the mission for the first time he may find himself posted to a mission station among the Bemba, and so he sets himself to learn to the Bemba language. After a few years he may find him self transferred to another district - perhaps among the Tonga people, so once again he has to start to acquire another language,

The Tonga are a large tribe in the Southern Province of N Rhodesia, and it is among them that I am at present working. They are an agricultural people, racy of the soil, attached to their homes, and, unlike many other tribes, they like to remain in their villages, cultivate a littie plot of maize, and rear their cattle. The Ba-Tonga number about 125,000 and of these there are about 12,000 catholics. To preach the Gospel to this number of people, to attend to our 12,000 Christians, to travel over this large extent of country, we have only twelve priests! True it is that here as in most mission fields; “the harvest is great but the labourers are few”.

A large part of our missionary work is done through our village schools. These are staffed by African teachers who are trained at our own Teacher Training School. They teach the children the catechism and prepare them for baptism. When the missionary finds a group of children whom he considers sufficiently instructed, he brings them in to his mission-station and there gives them a few weeks final preparation for the sacrament of baptism. Then comes the inevitable examination, and each child has to be examined separately. We wish to baptise only those who show good promise of persevering as good solid Christians and who will be the foundation of the Catholic Church in N Rhodesia. So there are bound to be some who fail to pass the test, and it requires a hard heart to turn them away and tell them they must come again in a year's time. Many of these boys and girls may have walked a distance of forty miles to come to the mission for instruction and baptism. But I am glad to say that the numbers we have to send away unbaptised are few; the great majority are well instructed by their teachers, and to them we owe a great debt of gratitude for the part they play in helping us to do our missionary work.

The last group we had in here for baptims numbered about three hundred and the majority of them returned to their distant villages as children of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven. When those children return to their villages they have to try to live a Christian life in the midst of pagan surroundings, live in the same house with fathers and mothers who are pagans, play with children who are pagans, and they are deprived of many of the helps and graces that are the heritage of every Irish boy and girl. For the greater part, in spite of such difficulties they persevere and remain true to their faith, The hope of the future Church of N. Rhodesia lies with them.

Next week I expect a group of boys and girls to come in for instruction and Baptism. They will come from the Zambesi valley, and will be the first group for Baptism from this area . . ... and so the work goes on-founding little Christian groups throughout the part of God's mission field entrusted to us.

Dear Boys, pray that these little groups will grow and flourish, so that before long the whole of this Pagan country may become part of the great Kingdom of Christ.

My special regards to all old Mungret men, and especially to those of the years 1924 1928.

I remain

Yours sincerely in Our Lord,

P J WALSH SJ

Born: 09 April 1934, Dalkey, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1951, St Mary’s Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1965, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, St Ignatius, Stamford Hill, London, England
Died: 17 September 2021, Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - Southern Africa Province (SAP)

Part of the Chula House, Lusaka community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM, 03 December 1969

Father was an auditor and died in April 1934. Family lived at Corrig Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin.

Eldest of three boys with one sister.

Early education was at a Convent school and then at Christian Brothers school, Dub Laoghaire for six years.

1951-1953 St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1953-195 Rathfarnham Castle - Studying
1956-1959 St Stanislaus College Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1959-1962 Chivuna, Moinze - Regency studying language, then teaching at Canisius College, Chikuni
1962-1963 Innsbruck, Austria - studying Theology
1963-1966 Milltown Park - studying Theology
1966-1967 Rathfarnham Castle - Tertianship
1967-1971 St Ignatius College London - studying Education, then studying Music
1971-1980 Charles Lwanga, Monze, Zambia - teaching Music
1980-1991 Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze, Zambia
1991-2017 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
2017-201 Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia

https://www.iji.ie/2021/08/24/maembo-the-one-who-sings/

Padraig Swan, Director of Faith and Service Programmes in Belvedere College, reflects on the life of Frank Wafer SJ, who worked with the Tonga people in Zambia to preserve their language and music.

This year, Frank Wafer SJ marks his 70th anniversary in the Society of Jesus, an incredible achievement and celebration of a lifelong vocation.

Frank was born in 1934 in Dublin and attended Christian Brothers’ schools in Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown. He joined the Jesuits in 1951 when he was just 17. He completed his Bachelors’ Degree in UCD before going to Tullybeg for Philosophy. He first went to Zambia in 1959 for his Regency, and spent the next two years in Chivuna and Chikuni. In 1961 he went to study theology in Innsbruck, Austria and he completed this part of his Jesuit education in Milltown, Dublin, where he was ordained in 1965.

He completed his Tertianship in 1966, obtaining an MA from the London University School of Oriental and African Studies. That year he also went back to Zambia as a missionary, following in the footsteps of many Irish Jesuits. It was the beginning of many years living and working in rural Chikuni in the diocese of Monze in Southern Zambia.

Preservation of Tonga Culture

Andrew Lesniara SJ, who worked with him in Chikuni spoke of his love of music and of the Tonga culture and described his work to preserve the heritage of the people who lived there.

“At the very beginning of his work in Zambia Fr Frank Wafer recognised the importance of music and dance in the life of the Tonga people. He was one of the first missionaries of inculturation that was not being talked about or addressed. He drove on his motorbike and recorded traditional music. Based on these tunes, he worked with a team of people who composed Catholic hymns in native Tonga for use at Mass and other occasions.

These became very popular and from them sprang activities of local composers who were given the green light to break tradition of singing Latin hymns and translating lyrics into Tonga. The music was recorded on reel-to-reel tape recorders and these recordings were used to teach hymns and songs to others in their native language. The collection is currently being digitised to preserve them, otherwise the unique and large collection will be lost. These audio archives will eventually be available online for researchers and cultural enthusiasts.”

In addition to writing and recording liturgical music – which is still in use today – Frank spent much of his priestly life writing dictionaries. He created the only Tonga-English dictionary available in the world. He also established the Mukanzubo Institute and Museum in Chikuni for the promotion of Tonga culture, music and dance for the next generation.

The One Who Sings

Frank is known as maembo in the Tonga language, meaning ‘the one who sings’. He recognised the importance of holding on to the traditions for the younger generations, and in particular the music. In June 2019, I travelled with a radio producer and professional photographer to Chikuni to start the work of preserving the many recordings made by Frank. In all there are 343 ‘reel to reel’ tapes and 201 cassette tapes of recordings. I had been visiting Chikuni and Mukanzubo for many years and responded to an ongoing request to help preserve the recordings that were stored in a metal filing cabinet and in danger of deteriorating giving a sense of urgency to the project.

The process of preserving the recordings was to first create a catalogue of what recordings were there and to index them with details such as numbering each tape, describing the box, writing a note of the description on the box, the condition of the tape, the size etc. Each tape and associated notes were also photographed. This process took several days and was facilitated by Yvonne Ndala and Mabel Chombe from the Mukanzubo Institute. The final result is most likely the only comprehensive record of all the recordings made by Frank.

Retirement in Lusaka

Since his retirement from Mukanzubo and Chikuni Frank has spent his time in John Chula House in Lusaka where he is cared for by the Jesuits and a medical team. We were delighted to see him look so well and to be able to share with him the news that work had begun on preserving the large archives of recordings he made, when we visited him in 2019. The news that his recordings would be kept for posterity brought him great joy.
As he marks his 70th anniversary in the Jesuits it is without doubt that he has already left a great legacy – to the Zambia Jesuit Province, to his own personal vocation as a missionary, and to the Tonga people. He has indeed served his mission for the Greater Glory of God. AMDG.

https://jesuitssouthern.africa/2021/09/17/fr-francis-wafer-sj-rip/
The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) mourns the loss of Fr Francis Wafer SJ.

After several years of declining health he passed away peacefully this afternoon, Friday 17 September 2021, the Feast of St Robert Bellarmine, at the Coptic Hospital in Lusaka. Fr Wafer will be remembered for his deep care for the Tonga people in Chikuni Mission, where he founded and directed the Mukanzubo Kalinda Institute.

We commend Fr Wafer to the Lord, knowing that he is now at peace.

https://www.mukanzubo.org

Fr Francis Wafer was born on 9 April 1934 in Dalkey, Ireland to William and Kathleen Wafer. After completing his schooling with the Christian Brothers in Monkstown, he entered the Novitiate of the Society on 14 September 1951 in Emo Park. He completed his Juniorate at Rathfarnham from 1953-1956 and then went on to do his Philosophy studies at Tullabeg (1956-1959). In 1960-1961 he was missioned to complete his Regency at Canisius Secondary School in Chikuni, Zambia. He did his Theology at Innsbruck and Milltown between 1962-1966, and was ordained 29 July 1965 in Dublin. He was soon sent on Tertianship at Rathfarnham between 1966-1967 and took Final Vows on 2 February 1968. He read for an MA at the University of London' School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), graduating in 1969, before moving to Zambia where he became a Lecturer at St Charles Lwanga College in Chikuni from 1970-1978. Some stints of pastoral work followed, in Kasiya in 1979, and Nakambala in 1980. He then returned to Chikuni and was Parish Priest at St Mary’s, Monze from 1981-1989 but fell ill. Between 1989-1990 he returned to Dublin to recover. He then returned to Chiknui and started the Mukanzubo Kalinda Institute from 1990-2007 where he worked as Director. He stepped down as Director but remained working there from 2007-2014, and from 2014-2015, with his failing health, he took a step back, only assisting when he could, but finally retired to Chula House in Lusaka in 2015 where he stayed until his death on the Feast of St Robert Bellarmine, 17 September 2021. He will be remembered for his formidable contributions in learning and conserving Tonga Culture and for his deep respect for and love of the local people.

Born: 07 March 1921, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 December 1977, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 11 October 2002, St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, County Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

Father was a Civil Servant. Family moved to live in Ranelagh, Dublin City

Only boy with one sister.

Early education at St Pat’s BNS, Drumcondra and then at Synge Street CBS

by 1963 at Fordham NY, USA (NEB) studying

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’)
by Bobby McDonagh

Veale, Joseph (‘Joe’) (1921–2002), Jesuit priest and teacher, was born 7 March 1921 in Dublin, younger of two children and only son of William J. Veale, civil servant, and Mary Veale (née Mullholland), both of Dublin. After primary education at St Patrick's national school, Drumcondra, Dublin, and secondary education at CBS Synge St., Dublin, he entered the Society of Jesus 7 September 1938. He studied arts at UCD (1940–43), philosophy at Tullabeg (1943–6), and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin (1949–53), where he was ordained as a Jesuit priest on 31 July 1952, spending his tertianship at Rathfarnham (1953–4).

Veale taught at Belvedere College, Dublin (1946–9), and at Gonzaga College, Dublin (1954–72). As a teacher of English and religion, he was central to the conception and development of Gonzaga College as a school with exceptional academic standards, in which the emphasis, in practice as well as theory, was on education and expression rather than on examinations. He was the founder and inspiration of the school debating society, An Comhdháil. While working as a teacher, Joe Veale wrote several influential articles about education which were published in Studies, as well as a number of articles in the Irish Monthly including a number on literary criticism. His article ‘Men speechless’ (Studies, xlvi (autumn 1957)), which set out his philosophy and vision of education, was widely influential. During his years as a teacher he also made an important contribution to the recasting of the national English curriculum for secondary schools. However, his principal contribution as a teacher, and probably his most enduring significance, was where he would have wished it to be – in the classroom itself. A teacher of exceptional insight, ability, and dedication, he inspired in a generation of pupils a capacity for independent thought. His rare understanding of language, and his skill in using it, equipped a great many of his pupils with a greater ability than they could otherwise have had to analyse the spoken and written word, to evaluate ideas, and to express their thoughts effectively.

From 1972 to 2002 he was based at Milltown Park, where his activities included study, research, lecturing, and spiritual direction. He became an authority on the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius, which he directed in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. He lectured on spirituality at the Milltown Institute, gave retreats and conferences in many countries, and was widely regarded as an exceptional spiritual director. From 1976 to 1985, and again from 1986 to 1988, he was director of Jesuits in their tertianship. He spent extensive periods every year at Boston College in the United States.

While based at Milltown Park, he wrote extensively about Ignatian spirituality, including Saint Ignatius speaks about ‘Ignatian prayer’ (St Louis, 1996; published as part of Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits); contributions to three books on the subject; and numerous articles in The Way, Studies, Milltown Studies, Religious Life Review, and The Furrow. In an article (Catholic Herald, 24 Jan. 2003) Anthony Symondson wrote that Joe Veale ‘had a profound understanding of the exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology.’

Joe Veale also wrote several articles for Interfuse, including ‘Eros’ (no. 102, summer/autumn 1999), and the penetrating and timely article ‘Meditations on abuse . . . ’ (Doctrine and Life (May/June 2000)). He died at Loughlinstown hospital, Co. Dublin, 11 October 2002. Joe Veale's integrity and commitment to seeking the truth in all its paradox and complexity obliged him to have an open mind and encouraged a similar aspiration in very many of those who knew him.

Sunday Independent, 10 Nov. 2002; information from Fr Noel Barber, SJ, rector of Milltown Park, Dublin; personal knowledge

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Fr Joseph (Joe) Veale (1921-2002)

7th March 1921: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Patrick's, Drumcondra. and CBS Synge Street, Dublin
7th Sept. 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham -Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1946 - 1949: Belvedere - Teacher (Regency)
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park -Studied Theology
31" July 1952: Ordained at Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1954 - 1962: Gonzaga College - Teacher
1962 - 1963: Sabbatical year
1963 - 1972: Gonzaga - Teacher
1972 - 2002: Milltown Park
1972 - 1973: Assistant Director of Retreat House
1973 - 1976: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown Institute
1976 - 1985: Study / Research on Spiritual Exercises; giving Spiritual Exercises; Lecturer at Milltown; Tertian Instructor
1985 - 1986: Sabbatical - work in US and Africa
1986 - 1988: Tertianship Director
1988 - 2002: Writer; Visiting Lecturer in Milltown; Directed Spiritual Exercises in Ireland, Britain and the USA
11th October 2002: Died at St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin

Whilst visiting a friend in Brittas, Co. Wicklow on 27th August, Fr. Joe developed severe abdominal pains. He was brought to hospital, where he underwent an operation to remove adhesions.

He made slow progress after the operation. A week before his death, he suffered a stroke from which he did not recover.

Two reflections on the life of Joe have already appeared in Interfuse (Christmas 2002 and Easter 2003). The following is the homily preached at his Funeral Mass by Noel Barber.

Joe was born in Dublin 81 years ago. He was the younger of two children with a sister who predeceased him. He was brought up in Drumcondra and then in Ranelagh - prophetically, just outside the back gate of what was to become Gonzaga College. He had a lovely memory of his parents: of never seeming to have wanted anything for themselves, of never being elsewhere.

The family were devout, daily Mass-goers and attended the Lenten Sermons in this Church every year. He went to the Christian Brothers' School, Synge Street. He was happy there, performed well, made life long friends, and left with a high regard for the Brothers and for their teaching.

He entered the Jesuit novitiate in September 1938. When he spoke of his years as a Jesuit student, it was clear that they were not particularly happy. He was an introvert, shy, extremely sensitive and did not relish the rough and tumble of community life. He was never the easiest person to live or work with in the community. Be that as it may, throughout his life he obtained his social sustenance not from unselected colleagues but from his chosen friends. Academically, he was excellent. While some may have been superior in intellectual sharpness, in high seriousness he was without equal.

He taught in Belvedere from 1946 to 1949 and was a magnificent teacher. Even eleven year olds sensed something special about him. Those of us whom he then taught can now see that he was not just a teacher doing his task competently and diligently. It was important for him that we should write well, enjoy poetry, grapple with the demands of English grammar: for him these were not mere tasks for 11 year olds, they were the foundations of a humane life. The impact he made on us in those distant days is shown by the number that still kept contact with him. We all carry something of him with us. I still am unable to use the word “very” without a tremor of guilt and without hearing him say, “Very does not strengthen, it weakens the proposition”.

After his Ordination, he was sent to Gonzaga in 1954 where he taught for 18 years. The school was then considered by many, but not by Gonzaga itself, as Belvedere on the south side. It was young, small, perhaps, a little precious. It was a pioneering venture in Irish education, being relatively free from the exam system. As teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator. In those years he won many life-long admirers and friends. In the interest of honesty it must be said that his style alienated a few, and he left a casualty or two on the sideline. I had the good fortune to teach under him for three years. I deeply appreciate what he taught me, and have been ever grateful for his encouragement.

He founded and was in charge of the Gonzaga debating Society. The standard of debating was remarkably high. Participation in the society was an education in itself. On one occasion, I attended a debate against Belvedere on the right to join or not to join a trade union. The Gonzaga team was superb; the Belvedere team, unfortunately, did not approach the debate with Veale-like seriousness and was poor. However from the house there rose a young man who made a witty, irreverent and debunking speech that dragged the debate down to a Belvederian level and swung it in Belvedere's favour. Next morning I asked the great man himself what he thought of the debate. A pained look conveyed that my question was inappropriate. Then he said that the brat who had ruined the debate was going to become a Jesuit. The brat, Bruce Bradley, is concelebrating this Mass.

He exercised a national influence on the teaching of English and was largely responsible for reshaping the English curriculum in Secondary Schools. His widely influential article in Studies in 1957, Men Speechless was a masterpiece in which he made the moral case for Rhetoric and distilled his philosophy and vision of education.

In 1972 he left teaching to study Spirituality, seemingly trading agnostic-leaning adolescents for devout religious. He applied his ability, commitment and seriousness to spirituality as he applied them to his teaching. He became an authority on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Igantius, on the Constitutions of the Jesuits and Ignatian spirituality. He was a highly successful director of Jesuits in their Tertianship, gave conferences and retreats all over the world, was a treasured spiritual director and all the while producing learned articles, all beautifully written. He was a master wordsmith. On Friday, a French review landed on my desk containing a translation of one of his articles.

As a director and counsellor he so cultivated his talent for listening that, it became, with his teaching, his defining characteristic. Many found that listening enormously helpful. I received this letter from a Religious on the day of his death. “Fr. Veale's contribution to the Apostolate of the Spiritual Exercises within my own congregation was immense. His many articles and presentations to audiences around the world bear witness to his wisdom and insight. I am more than grateful than I can state for his friendship, perception, wisdom and encouragement over many years. His interest in the development of my own work in spirituality and theology was a great support. His belief in the work of the Spirit of God within was always life giving". I could quote similar tributes for a long time.

At 81 he was robust and active in writing and directing. I can think of at least two significant recent articles. His room bears witness to work in progress. A small thing, he was making out a new address book. The care that he took with this book was an indication of how much his friends meant to him; I always knew that he meant much to them but in the last weeks the manifestation of this has been overwhelming. The sense of loss expressed by so many underlines the depth of his friendships.

Six weeks ago he walked the strand at Brittas Bay on a beautiful morning with a friend from his Belvedere days, Gerry Donnelly. There is a photo of him taken about an hour before he collapsed. He looks splendid, so young for his years, no sign of the approaching attack. After his operation, there were times when a recovery seemed possible. On several occasions when I visited him, he assured me that he was completely at peace and asked for my blessing. Then came the stroke that swept him away in two days but not without a furious struggle. This was most distressing to observe on that final evening, but how much more distressing it must have been to experience. As so often, the end of life was not splendid, not at all consoling to contemplate. There was the enfeebled body, the confused agitation. These are brute facts but we have to place these facts in the light of Christ's death and resurrection. We believe that when Christ was weakest, most helpless and humiliated, he was at the point of entry into glory. So with Joe Veale; he has moved from his broken state into that place of peace and happiness that was prepared for him from before the foundation of the world. May the good Lord, whom he served so well and at some cost, bless him abundantly.

Interfuse No 114 : Summer 2002

REMEMBERING JOE VEALE

Ross Geoghegan

Ross Geoghegan is Professor of Mathematics at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Author's Note:
I knew Joe Veale and had regular contact with him from the time I was eleven, when he first walked into my classroom in 1954, until shortly before his death in 2002. I also knew his parents slightly as neighbours. In the latter years he would visit my home in Upstate New York - each year for a long weekend. The 2002 visit was to have begun on October 18. I wrote these impressions on the day he died, 11 October 2002. A much shorter version appeared as an appreciation in the Irish Times on November 4, 2002.

In a sense Joe Veale only arrived in the world at the age of 33. Son of a quiet civil servant and a strong mother, he had finished school at Synge Street, and had entered the Jesuits at seventeen. His degree at UCD was in English - he was a contemporary of Benedict Kiely - but as a clerical student in those days his contact with such young literati must have been limited. He taught for three years in the junior school at Belvedere and followed the usual Jesuit studies.

Joe's first assignment was to teach English and Religious Knowledge at Gonzaga, then a new school where the oldest boys were fourteen (a class was being added each year at the bottom as these "big boys" grew up.) Gonzaga was being touted as an experiment in education. It was to follow a modern version of the old Jesuit ratio studiorum. The school would emphasize Latin and Greek over science, and the boys would take the UCD matriculation in their Fifth Year, thus freeing them for more liberal studies in their Sixth. They would not sit for the Leaving Certificate. These were the general ideas of its very little in the way of an educational philosophy behind the plan. It fell largely to him to fill the vacuum.

In his view the main purpose of education was to make people think and ask questions, even dangerous questions, about why things are as they are, how things might be made better, who benefits from the present set-up and who does not. And along with this was the need to be articulate, so that education was also about learning to speak well and write well. Gonzaga was a relatively expensive school and many of the boys came from well-to-do families. While he did not usually challenge the culture and complacency of upper middle class Dublin explicitly, his encouragement of formal and informal debate challenged the boys to think about their own privileged place in society, He was in fact trying to instil broader ambitions than successful entry into professional clubby Dublin life. He wanted these boys to make a difference, to become leaders who would create a better and more just society. Thus he was seen by critics as a slightly subversive teacher. Not all parents liked what he was doing, especially when a few impressionable boys took his ideas overboard. And indeed not all boys liked it. But in that period Joe acquired a cadre of friends among the boys who would remain his friends for life.

Joe always claimed that he saw little difference between English class and Religious Knowledge class. The latter was interpreted broadly: besides the entirely orthodox official curriculum, he introduced sociology and philosophy at a level which was a challenge to teenagers. Since there were no textbooks for this he wrote his own on densely typed foolscap handouts. In English, he was stern, sometimes almost harsh, in his criticisms of the boys' school essays. He supplemented the official curriculum with authors he admired. In the late fifties he was introducing the older boys to Chaucer, Hopkins and T S Eliot, had them read Cardinal Newman on education, V S Pritchett and F R Leavis on style. At the onset of the Lemass period he believed that economics was THE subject to study. J. period he believed that economics was THE subject to study, J. K. Galbraith's The Affluent Society, had just come out and Joe was recommending it to any boys with the stamina to read it.

This had lasting effect in certain cases.

In those formative years Joe made only one foray into public life. An article entitled "Men Speechless" which he published in Studies in 1957 was influential in educational circles. Later he became a leading figure in the Association of English Teachers and he played a role in the reform of the Department of Education's English curriculum, but that was near the end of his teaching career.

By the early seventies he had burned out, and wanted to leave teaching. The system of university entrance was being changed and there would be no room for the liberal Sixth Year at Gonzaga any more. He moved to Milltown Park and found a new kind of work within the Jesuits as a serious student, eventually a scholar, of Ignatian spirituality. His admiration for what was called the caritas discreta of Ignatius was boundless. I remember him using that phrase in a conversation in 1964; it was clear his serious study of Ignatius had already begun by then. Within the specialized world of people - mostly clerics – willing and able to follow the Spiritual Exercises in their full thirty-day form Joe became a famous director. His articles on Ignatian thought were widely read in those circles, and he was in demand for direction, retreat-giving and panel participation in Britain, Africa and North America. For the rest of his life he was abroad for about half of each year. Indeed, in his last ten years Boston College became his second home and the place where he seemed happiest.

Many of those whose spiritual lives he directed were nuns, and he developed an acute sympathy, even anger, for the way these women had been treated by the Church. Eventually, this anger extended to the treatment of male religious as well. In the awful scandals of child-abusing priests Joe saw one silver lining: he hoped for the collapse of what he called the "Cardinal Cullen Church" (though he did not wish the collapse to be confined to Ireland). He longed for a different kind of Church - communities of faith rooted in the gospels, caring and alive, respectful of all. He wrote a passionate article in Doctrine and Life two years ago about what the experience of religious life was often like: bleak and loveless. He felt this might explain things which could not be excused, but he blamed the hierarchical, narrow-minded and philistine culture of the Church's leadership, both in Ireland and worldwide, for creating this religious hell. He wrote about “private pain ... loneliness ... isolation ... the desert in the heart ... self-hatred ... rage ... having no say in the disposition of one's own life ... the longing for human contact ... touch ... the ache for tenderness and gentleness”. It puzzled him that this article was received in near total silence - even by most of his fellow Jesuits.

At the core of Joe's later thinking was the importance of reflecting on one's own experience. To a layman this seems obvious but in a different time Joe had to find his way there. He often said that the spiritual training he received as a young man was focused on dogma and method; drawing lessons from one's own experience was considered spiritually dangerous and inadmissible in a man of prayer.

Joe's Catholicism appears to have been wholly centered on Christ and the Mass. Whatever his private prayer life may have been, I cannot remember his ever admitting to any "devotion" - not to a saint, not to the Virgin Mary. (His admiration for Ignatius was not a devotion in that pious sense.) Indeed, as Joe got older he became interested in meditation and spirituality, wherever they were to be found, outside as well as inside Christianity. He held Islam in high regard, especially admiring its public prayer. At a conference in America on the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditation he argued the (unpopular?) view that the gulf between the West and the East was such that “we do not know whether what they are doing and what we are doing are the same or different”. But to Joe the fundamental divide in the world was between those who pray and those who do not. He gleefully described meeting an African Moslem at a party in New Delhi who somehow recognized Joe as another member of that tiny minority who pray - perhaps the only other one in the room.

In his later years Joe enjoyed the little luxuries of food and wine. He invented two cocktails - the Westminster Cathedral and the Westminster Abbey, the second a watered down version of the first. He once told this to Cardinal Hume who appeared either bemused or not amused. For Joe this reaction added to the fun of telling the story.

Joe Veale died at 81, but he never seemed old to his friends. There was always a new idea, a new discovery, a new journey, a new experience. There was so much more he wanted to do.

POSTSCRIPT:
This was not in the original article but, since I am writing for Joe's fellow Irish Jesuits, I have decided to include it. It's an extract from a letter I wrote to another of Joe's close friends - a contemporary of mine - in September 2000. I'll quote my letter precisely as I wrote it then:

An interesting and enjoyable weekend visit from Joe Veale. He's in great form and excellent health for a man who will be EIGHTY in early March. He was a little more forthcoming, though not much, about a memoir he is writing on what it was like to be a celibate cleric in Ireland :in the thirties and the forties and the fifties and the sixties and the sixties and the sixties and the seventies and the eighties and the nineties” (stet - that's exactly how he put it). Whether the world will get to see this memoir I don't know. He says he'll leave a copy with his Provincial when he dies. The P. can do with it what he likes. I think certain others may get a copy - perhaps one other... Last year I asked him if he would show it to me and was told most certainly not. This year he showed me a two-page extract. Everything with Joe is a bit breathless, and as you can imagine the extract wasn't as shocking as the billing had led me to expect. It was an interesting few paragraphs, not on celibacy itself but on the feeling of self-worthlessness that he experienced as a young man as a result of receiving no praise from his superiors for his efforts as a teacher. I'm talking about his Belvedere days. He admits he developed self-confidence during the years we were taught by him. His written description of what this was like is dignified but rather sad for what it said about the monstrously unloving male institutions of the time. It starts, “I have been asked what could be meant by ‘By the year 1954 when I was assigned to teach in Gonzaga College my feeling of unworth was almost complete’”.

Interfuse No 115 : Easter 2003

A MAN WHO EMBODIED THE SPIRIT OF ST IGNATIUS : Joe Veale

Anthony Symnondson

Anthony is a member of the British Province. He wrote this article originally for the Catholic Herald, January 24, 2003. It is reprinted here with permission.

Four of the happiest years of my life were spent in Dublin in 1991-5. I was sent to study at the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Ranelagh and lived in the Jesuit community. Ireland was an entirely new and captivating experience. I regarded myself as a foreigner living overseas in a strange, unfamiliar land and made a resolution never to discuss politics, or jump to simplistic conclusions, and see as much of Ireland as possible.

This is a solipsistic start to a tribute to a valued friend, but Fr Joseph Veale SJ, would have appreciated a context and he did much to make me feel welcome. We occupied rooms on the same corridor and although he was shy and retiring and was rarely to be found sparkling at a haustus, we quickly came to know each other. He was insecure in large groups and sometimes found community life trying. Joe's hallmarks were an attractive and unforced holiness, discipline, humanity, and wide culture. He embodied the spirit of St Ignatius at its best and most authentic.

Joe came from a generation that usually entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus through Jesuit schools. He was born in Dublin in 1921 and was educated at the Christian Brothers' School in Synge Street. He joined the Society at the age of seventeen in 1938. When he taught as a scholastic at Belvedere College his pupils noticed how much kinder and more approachable he was than some others who had come through the system. This was a characteristic that never left him resulted in vocations.

Joe was an inspired schoolmaster and spent eighteen years teaching at Gonzaga College on the South Side of Dublin. He believed that expression was more important than exams, and approached his pupils with high seriousness ameliorated by an interest in the individual. Fr Noel Barber, the Rector of Milltown, who had himself been taught by him at Belvedere, said at his funeral: “As a teacher of English and Religion, he honed his pedagogical skills, sharpened his vision, and developed his philosophy of education. His commitment to excellence in thought and expression, his insistence on the highest standards, , and the breadth and depth of his intellectual interests made him more than a memorable teacher; he was a profound educator”.

Joe believed that the demands of English grammar were not mere tasks but the foundation of a humane life. He contributed to the reform of the Irish Department of Education's English curriculum. I owe him an unexpected debt. Although I had written for years, I was never much good at it. I had composed a dense article for the Irish Arts Review and, after it had been censored by Fr Fergus O'Donoghue, he suggested I showed it to Joe. When it was returned it was transformed, covered in corrections in red ink with helpful notes in the margin, and two pages of analysis showing where I had gone wrong and how it could be improved. It was turned from a tedious slab of detail into prose. I don't know how the spell worked, but from then onwards I realised that I had been taught to write.

In 1972 Joe moved to research and writing in the Spiritual Exercises and the Jesuit Constitutions and he lectured in spirituality at the Milltown Institute. This was not merely an academic exercise but came to embody some of the most valuable work of his life. Joe was a realist and would not undertake tasks that were beyond his powers. If he discovered that he had done so, his professionalism led him to put them aside. He had a profound understanding of the Exercises, went below the surface, and extracted the spirituality from a specific historical interpretation. He emancipated it from an encrusted tradition buried in the nineteenth century and allowed St Ignatius to re-emerge. He strongly resisted the tyranny of ideology. It is planned to found a lectureship in spirituality in the Institute and publish two volumes of selected works in spirituality and culture. They deserve a wide circulation.

Joe was much sought as a friend, confessor, spiritual director and retreat conductor, and he gave the Exercises all over the world. He was an encourager and had the rare gift of investing others with a sense of personal value. But he had few illusions, and wrote and directed with unusual honesty. In a penetrating article published in Doctrine and Life at the height of the abuse scandals in the Irish Church, he controversially lifted the curtain on some diminishing characteristics of the religious life that he had perceived and experienced in his own life and that of others. “Can we imagine, just imagine, what private pain may have been rooted in a complex of loneliness, of isolation, of having no human being to relate to, the desert in the heart, the language of self-denial that twisted into self abasement, the self-hatred, the conviction of worthlessness, the unattended guilt, the rage at being done to, the having no say in the disposition of one's own life, the indignities of impersonal rule, the comfort of dependency that could suddenly reverse into angry rebellion, the living environment that was Spartan, the lack of amenity, the walls denuded of beauty, the 'spiritual' assumptions that dehumanised? And the longing for human contact for touch, for talk, for being listened to, the unavailability of spiritual direction, the ache for tenderness or gentleness?” Only a man open to God could make such admissions. Joe's holiness was forged by the cross. It gave him empathy with others similarly afflicted, and offered hope.

None of this struggle showed outwardly. He enjoyed the theatre and the cinema and could draw metaphysical themes from the unlikeliest sources. He was a delightful companion on expeditions. He looked forward to his annual visits to Boston College where he was eagerly expected. At the end of his life he discovered Africa and India, and was, hopefully, inspired by their vigorous Catholic life. Joe did not grow old. Christ shone through him, and his influence is lasting.

Born: 05 March 1905, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 17 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 24 August 1939, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 02 February 1924
Died: 08 May 1955, Mount Saint Evin’s Hospital, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death
Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931
by 1930 in Vals France (TOLO) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Van Prooyen was educated at St Ignatius', Richmond, and CBC Parade, Melbourne, before he entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 17 March 1924. He was a junior at Rathfarnham, gaining a BA, 1926-29, and then studying philosophy at Vals, 1929-32. He was a regent and second prefect at Xavier College, 1932-36, and studied theology at Louvain, and Milltown Park, 1936-40. Tertianship was at Rathfarnham, 1940-41.
He returned to Australia and Xavier College, 1942-46, and was first prefect, 1943-45. Then he taught at St Patrick's College, 1947-52, and was also prefect of discipline, sports master, and an officer of cadets. He is remembered for his boundless energy and unflagging interest in the welfare of the boys, his loud booming voice and at times severe looking and aggressive mien. His final appointment was at Riverview, 1952-55, teaching Latin and history, and coaching athletics, rugby and cricket, as well as being involved in cadets.
Van Prooyen was actually a very pleasant person to be with, but some imagined him a somewhat bearish person in his younger years. He was a very hard worker, full of life and energy, and he had good success as second division prefect, even though he was thought of as over-severe in first division at Xavier College. He died from a very painful cancer that lasted some years. He gave much edification by his patience and courageous good humor. He went to Melbourne for his final illness, dying at St Evin's, and was buried from Xavier College.

Born: 27 May 1928, Leix Road, Cabra, Dublin City County Dublin
Entered: 06 September 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1961, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 28 June 2001, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969; ZAM to HIB : 1978

Father was Government messenger, and parents were supported by private means.

Eldest of six boys with one sister.

Educated at a National school for five years (St Peter’s NS Phibsborough) he then went to St Vincent’s Glasnevin for a year and a half. After working for three and a half years at Guinness Brewery, Dublin, he went to Mungret College SJ

by 1956 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) Regency
by 1970 at Bristol University (ANG) working
by 1971 at Glasgow, Scotland (ANG) working
by 1972 at London University, England (ANG) working
by 1984 at Berkeley CA, USA (CAL) Sabbatical

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Michael Tyrrell was a Dublin man and before entering the Jesuits in 1947 he worked for a short time for Guinness’ Brewery, becoming proficient at barrel rolling! After philosophy in Tullabeg, he came to Zambia, Africa, first as a scholastic in 1955 for three years and then again in 1964 when he came back as a priest. The first time, he learnt the language and taught in Canisius Secondary School. He returned to Ireland for theology and for ordination which took place in Milltown Park in 1961. Before returning to Zambia in 1964, he obtained his Master of Arts in History. When he came back he hoped to get into the newly opened university in Lusaka to lecture in history but unfortunately this was not to be. He was in Canisius again teaching the A-level course and he also got interested in sports. With Br Aungier and scholastic P Quinn, he helped train the Canisius athletic team which won the National Inter High School Sports at Matero Stadium in Lusaka (July 13 1966) at which a few records were broken. It was a proud day for the school.

He liked to walk and he liked to talk; he would laugh at jokes among the brethren even those against himself at times, with the oft repeated expletive 'James' Street'. Being a walker, he organized a walk from Chikuni to Chivuna, a journey of over 30 miles. When the walkers arrived, weary and footsore, they saw a large notice put up by the Sisters, “Blessed are the feet of those …..”

Michael was quite disappointed in not getting into the university even though he was a successful teacher at Canisius. He moved into parish ministry in the Monze diocese, at Kasiya and Civuna parishes.

His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill and not just suffering from imagination. While on home leave, a doctor friend put him straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition which had not been previously detected. A second operation was deemed necessary, the doctor warning the family that Mick might not survive the night. However he did survive and was advised not to return to Zambia.

When he recovered, he entered the university chaplaincy in the British Province. As Mick had always hankered after the academic life, the twelve years spent in London University were perhaps the most fulfilling and satisfying period in his life. His specialty seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.

In 1983 he went to Berkeley USA for a sabbatical year. On returning to Ireland he gave retreats and directed the Spiritual Exercises. In 1987 he was posted to Gardiner Street where he remained until his death in 2001. While there he was chaplain to Temple Street Hospital, assisted in Gardiner Street Church and was Province Archivist for three years.

Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17 October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem of mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with. medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28 June 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues’.

Note from Jean Indeku Entry
In 1955 he came to Northern Rhodesia with Fr. Tom O’Brien and scholastics Michael Kelly and Michael Tyrrell. They were among the first batch of missionaries to come by air and the journey from London took almost five days via Marseilles – Malta – Wadi Halfa (now under the Aswan Dam) – Mersa Matruh (north Egypt) – Nairobi – Ndola – and finally to Lusaka.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002

Obituary
Fr Michael Tyrrell (1928-2001)

27th May 1928: Born in Dublin
Early education in St. Vincent's CBS School, Glasnevin and Mungret College.
Before entering, he worked for Guinness
6th Sept. 1947: Entered the Society at Emo Park
8th Sept. 1949: First Vows at Emo
1949 - 1952: Rathfarnham - studying Arts in UCD
1952 - 1955: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1955 - 1958: Zambia - language studies; teaching in Chikuni College
1958 - 1962: Milltown Park - studying Theology
31st July 1961: Ordained at Milltown Park
1962 - 1963: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
2nd Feb, 1964: Final Vows at Milltown Park
1963 - 1964: Milltown Park - Special studies
1964 - 1970: Zambia, Chikuni College - Teacher
1970 - 1971: Glasgow - University Chaplain
1971 - 1983: London - University Chaplain
1983 - 1984: Berkeley, USA - Sabbatical year
1984 - 1985: Austin House - Retreat Staff
1985 - 1987: University Hall - Chaplain, Pax Christi; Directs Spiritual Exercises
1987 - 2001: Gardiner Street
1987 - 1991: Chaplain Temple Street Hospital and Pax Christi
1991 - 1994: Province Archivist
1994 - 1995: Assisting in the Church; Chaplain in Temple Street Hospital
1995 - 1998: Assisting in the Church
1998 - 2001: Praying for the Church and the Society

Michael was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on 17th October 1998 with an unusual degenerative condition of the brain. He had a problem with mobility and in the last six months or so he was confined to a wheelchair. His condition was treated with medication. In the last few weeks his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully at 9.30 a.m. on 28th June, 2001, surrounded by his family and Jesuit colleagues

Frank Keenan writes...
In November 2001, the London University Chaplaincy in Gower Street, London, organised a memorial mass for Michael Tyrrell. The students to whom he ministered there have long since moved on to take up their professions, get married, begin families. It was a tremendous tribute to Michael's work among them to see the packed chapel to which so many returned that morning to express their appreciation and gratitude for what he had been for them in their student days. From those who could not be at the mass there were written tributes, including some from well-known names such as Baroness Helena Kennedy Q.C.

Listening to his former co-chaplains at the memorial Mass, it was striking how much he had been appreciated by them, not only for the services he offered the students, but also for the companionship and wit he had contributed to the community in Gower Street. There were those present also who had been touched by the wide-ranging retreat apostolate that Michael had developed in England. The Irish Province was represented by Jack Donovan, Parish Priest of Custom House London for the past twenty years, and myself from St. Beuno's in Wales.

Michael had always hankered after the academic life. After tertianship, he asked for and was given the opportunity to do an MA in the subject that was always his first love - History. On his return to Zambia he hoped he might find a place lecturing in the University, but this was not to be. He had had a successful record as a classroom teacher in Canisius College, Chikuni, but was not enthusiastic about resuming this career, possibly as a reaction to his disappointment at not getting the University appointment. He ventured into parish ministry in Monze Diocese, which was not really his charism, and so followed some rather unfulfilling years in Kasiya and Civuna parishes.

His health deteriorated, a condition which was not helped by a failure by others to appreciate that he was genuinely ill, and not just suffering from imagination. Providence came to his aid on the eve of his return to Zambia from home leave. A doctor friend was unhappy with Michael's state of health and asked him to visit his surgery the following day. As a result of this visit he put Michael straight into hospital for surgery for a rather rare stomach condition, which understandably had not been detected by the limited resources of the Zambian medical services. A second operation was found necessary, with a sobering warning - without this second operation Michael would die, since his digestive system had ceased to function; but, given that it would be a second operation so soon after the first, he would only have a fifty per cent chance of survival. Michael recalled lying in a coma after surgery and hearing the doctors advising members of his family to prepare for the worst, as the patient might not survive the night.

Michael was advised not to return to Zambia, where the medical facilities might not be available, should he have a recurrence of the problem. He entered the university chaplaincy service in the British Province, and there he seemed to have found his true niche. From what I observed when visiting him in London on my way to and from Zambia, he savoured at last being in the academic world. His speciality seems to have been working with post-graduate students, with whom he relished hours of discussion and stimulating conversation for which he was amply qualified.

I often wondered at the wisdom of his returning to Ireland, where he did not seem to have really been able to find the sort of satisfying and effective apostolate, which he had been enjoying in London. During the years when he was chaplain to Temple Street Childrens' Hospital he made himself totally available at all hours, although he must have found dealing with children much less rewarding than his post-graduates. Eventually he found the work too draining and accepted that he had to retire. The illness, which was to be final, must have begun to effect him at this time.

The deterioration in Michael's condition, which left him, finally, barely able to speak, had been going on over a number of years. At this period he struggled to master the computer under my, at times, less than sympathetic tutelage. It was only much later that I realised that when he said he could not remember the most basic instructions, this was a symptom of the illness that was causing deterioration in his brain cells. Michael tended to make light of the symptoms, and, consequently, was somewhat misunderstood during this period even by his friends.

There was a basic simplicity and a certain innocence about Michael which he never lost till the end. In Cherryfield, he would still respond to the old jokes, and although he could not contribute to the banter, he clearly enjoyed it as always. He once recounted an example of this simplicity, which revealed a similar unsuspected spirit of simplicity in the rather forbidding figure of J R McMahon, Rector of Milltown, Provincial and distinguished legalist. J R was provincial when Michael was being interviewed for entry to the Novitiate. On impulse, Michael invited J R to tea with his family, to which the latter agreed promptly. In due course J R turned up on his antique bicycle, joined the family for tea and charmed them all. We would cite this to Michael as an example of his trying to advance his career in the Society from an early age, which never failed to amuse him, since he always retained a freedom of spirit, which was the antithesis of any tendency to curry favour with the establishment for his own advantage. For me one of Michael's most endearing characteristics was his clear interest in and love for his family. He spoke to me often of his admiration for, and gratitude to, his parents in particular,

Among several photographs on display at the Memorial Mass was one of the young Michael walking in the Wicklow Mountains in the 1940s. He continued this passion right up to the time when he no longer had the capacity, even achieving his ambition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya. A walking companion has written the following poem in memory of the enjoyment Michael derived from showing others his beloved Wicklow Mountains.

In Memory (of Michael Tyrrell SJ)

Mullacor and Mullaghcleevaun,
Tonelegee and Lugnaquila,
These Wicklow Hills evoke memories of you:
I see you striding with ease across the heather,
Side-stepping the squelchy spagnum moss and feathery bog
cotton,
To disappear into the mists that swirl around their summits:
Or resting by the shores of mountain tarns,
Lough Ouler, Lough Tay, Lough Dan,
Art's Lake, where with Dunstan, we sipped cool wine
And wearied the sun with our talk:
Lough Bray, where you camped and prayed
Fighting the demon midgets with burning, smoking heather
sticks.
Your great spirit lives on in these hills
And hovers over the still, dark waters of these lakes.
There is freedom from dis-ease here.
Rest peacefully, Michael.

Elizabeth Mooney SHC), July 2001

Born: 17 May 1909, Blackrock, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1945, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 21 December 1971, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Hong Kong Province (HK)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Father was a Civil Servant. Family lived in Glasnevin.

Early education at Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin, and then at 11 years of age he went to Belvedere College SJ

by 1936 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency
by 1958 at Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency studying language

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Turner
R.I.P.

Father John Turner, S.J., scholar and poet, died suddenly on Tuesday, 21 December 1971, at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, aged 62.

Father Turner first came to Hong Kong in 1935, already a ripe classical scholar. From the time of his arrival here he took the study of Chinese language and literature as his main task in life. Apart from two periods in Ireland, a couple of years as professor of English at Chung San University, Canton, and about a year in Taiwan, the last thirty-six years of his life were spent in Hong Kong. In recent years, bad health, crippling arthritis, and, most of all, ever-increasing immersion in Chinese studies cut him off from easy contact with the general public. Outside his own community, he was known chiefly to fellow poets and fellow Sinologues.

He will, nevertheless, be grievously missed by many who are neither Sinologues nor poets, including the editor of this paper.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 December 1971

Note from Alan Birmingham Entry
After returning to Hong Kong in February 1948, he was sent for some months to Canton (Guangzhou) where a Jesuit colleague, Father John Turner, was lecturing at Chung Shan University.

Note from Joe Shields Entry
How he had assisted in sorting Father Turner’s manuscript on Tang Dynasty poetry

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814

Note from Joseph Howatson Entry
He came to Hong Kong as Regent with Seán Turner who was a different personality and whose whole world was words and ideas. Travelling with them was Fr Cooney who was bringing the Markee telescope

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 47th Year No 1 1972

Obituary :

Fr Seán Turner SJ (1909-1971)

We are largely indebted to Fr. Alan Birmingham for the following appreciation:
“Your only chance of being remembered in a hundred years is that you may be mentioned in a footnote of Seán Turner”. That remark was made some years ago by a perceptive European Jesuit to a startled Superior of what was then the Mission of Hong Kong.
When Father John Turner - “Seán” to everyone - died suddenly on 21 December he had achieved no fame outside a small circle of students of Chinese; but he left a vast disarray of paper. Many expect that it will be possible to extract from these disordered literary remains at least one volume that will be treasured a century from now. For about two decades he had been translating Chinese poetry into English poetry. Only a few of his translations have appeared in print, but many of his friends have read large numbers of them in manuscript. Those who could judge them only as English poetry have been uniformly enthusiastic about them as English poetry; but a Chinese savant has told me that to him they are remarkable chiefly on account of their wonderful accuracy as translations. Every character, he said, is translated with scrupulous fidelity; the Chinese original has never been sacrificed to the exigencies of English prosody.
Seán was born in Dublin on 17 May, 1909. My own memories of him go back to Belvedere in the mid-1920s. He was a couple of years ahead of me and I did not know him, but there was an air of vitality about him that caught attention, and no one could ignore his mop of black curls with a startling white plume in the middle of them. Scholastic eminence was no way to fame in those days, but even his juniors knew that Seán Turner and his close friend Denis Devlin had won what glory there was to be won, including, I think, the first and second places in French and English in the Leaving Certificate.
While still young he enjoyed the friendship of Jack Yeats, probably the best painter in Ireland. Yeats recognised Seán's talent and stimulated his artistic energies. To the end of his life Seán regarded and spoke of this friendship as a cherished memory. His decision to offer himself for the Society probably bemused some of his teachers and still more his school friends, most of whom would have considered that his enthusiasms could hardly abide the disciplines of the religious life for long; they did abide it and at no time could it be asserted that he felt restless “under the yoke”; a delicate sense of humour, ever at hand, enabled him to triumph over the most trying contretemps.
He left the noviciate for Rathfarnham as I entered Tullabeg as a novice; during the next two years the tradition of Seán's passages formed part of the themes of the lighter side of life; streams he had fallen into, places he had been when he should have been elsewhere, his efforts to have riding breeches accepted as conventional noviceship wear; they seem trivial but indicate the humorous independence that accompanied him through life.
In Rathfarnham he devoted himself to his studies - no difficulty for him - with a like bonhomie; his cartoons in Broken Delf under the editorship of Terry Sheridan, illustrated critical situations with point. We suppose Fr Rector, Fr John Keane, had an occasional peep, though without external reaction.
He merited an extra year in the Castle which concluded with an honours MA degree in Classics.
The pattern of life at Rathfarnham was repeated at Philosophy; he did not always work to schedule.
Study went on perpetually, though there were changes of subject. For his first two and a half years of Philosophy, Irish was his passion, Then a few months before his De Universa Philosophia examination, he became a violent Suarezian and made a valiant but unsuccessful effort to convert Father E Coyne, professor of cosmology, to his new enthusiasm.
In 1935 he went to Hong Kong and his remaining 36 years were given to Chinese studies - the language itself, written and spoken, Chinese literature, a brief flirtation with Mandarin followed by dexterous advocacy of Cantonese as a fully developed medium for thought and expression, work on the preparation of a dictionary of Cantonese, and above all translation of major Chinese poems into English.
Constant application of his great gifts made him a savant, much admired by many of his fellow savants. He was for some years a member of a government examination board on Chinese studies. For several years he was in communication with the Oxford University Press about the publication of a representative anthology of his translations; but he could never be persuaded to hand in a complete manuscript; there was always some fine point to be added, always something to be polished. In the end the publisher broke off negotiations. With all his work, he had published little. Those who knew him best decided years ago that posthumous publication was all that could be hoped for. He himself would have been quite content: he valued the good opinion of the few whose judgment he respected, but he had little interest in public fame and seemed to believe that all that really mattered was to do first-class work and communicate it to the few that could appreciate it. To superiors who wanted to see him put his great talent to good use, this scholar's detachment was at times frustrating, though they usually showed understanding or resignation when faced with a man whom they themselves, or at least others whose judgement they could not ignore, recognised as a genius.
People did apply the word “genius” to Seán. I have never known it applied seriously to any other man I have met, Jesuit or non Jesuit. Genius does not always make life easy for the man who possesses it, or for those he lives with. It did not always make life easy for Seán. He seemed capable of attaining everything, except mediocracy. He could succeed gloriously or fail hideously, Mediocrity was out of his reach, yet a great deal of the ordinary enjoyment of life demands mediocrity. Seán could be the most brilliant and most entertaining of talkers; in his pedantic moods, he could be a crashing bore. Desultory conversation about nothing in particular makes up the greater part of most human talk, and often the most enjoyable part: Sean was incapable of it. He seemed conscious of this lack, and occasionally tried to overcome it. These attempts were embarrassing failures and would end in an outburst of strained dialectics or a lecture on some obscure point of esoteric learning, or a baffled departure for his room.
A few days after his death an unprejudiced questioner asked me if Seán had had any close friends. The answer was a decided Yes. Perhaps because of his knowledge that there were many who could not offer him easy friendship, he treasured those who could. He could exude pleasure on seeing one of them, and without a word of welcome make them conscious of being welcome. His friends were a motley group, including every variety of intelligence, social position, education and interests.
Though primarily a man of study, he carried on a direct apostolate that, like everything else about him, was highly characteristic. He had very little power of dealing with the ordinary men and women to whom any priest could minister, and his habit of forgetting all about time made him unsuitable for ordinary supplies and sermons. But with those with whom the ordinary priest was completely ineffective - the self-centred eccentric, the self-conscious intellectual, the drunken failed artist, the man with an obscure grievance, and the like - he had the touch that was needed. Both in Ireland and in Hong Kong, he brought the vision of the faith to many such people who would have laughed off more humdrum approaches.
In recent years, poor health and in particular the agonies of rheumatoid arthritis had hampered his contact with the outside world and even his most trivial movements; but he never allowed such inconveniences to damp his zest for knowledge and for life. Not long before his death I visited him in hospital. He was partly drugged and his talk was lethargic till he began to speak about the nurses and wardsmaids. He promptly threw off the effects of the drugs and was all animation as he explained that he was at least learning true Cantonese. Till then it had all been either scholar's Cantonese or labourer's Cantonese: at last he was learning how ordinary people spoke.
He died suddenly one night, without any preliminary period of exceptionally bad health. The striking diversity of the mourners at his funeral was a tribute to the scope of his friendship. The most noticeable figure was a rather leftish intellectual in Hong Kong - piously kneeling for perhaps the first time in his life. Seán would have been glad to know that this man would attend, but he would probably have cared more for the presence of some of the utterly undistinguished old ladies whose grief would have touched him deeply.
It may be that posthumous fame will come to him. It may be that in a mood of perfectionism he destroyed all his papers and was preparing to begin again. Time will tell. Meanwhile, there are many whose lament for his passing forms a tribute that he would have valued above anything that fame could have offered. RIP

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1939

The Past

Lastly, we have decided to fulfil a promise made last year and enable our readers to see for themselves how Seán Turner SJ, has evolved what appears to be a new aspect of a very old art. The four pictures we print will be unfamiliar, but grow upon the taste. They require, however, some study and knowledge to grasp, and we have no hesitation in printing the explanations of the scrolls which he vouchsafed to: send us in reply to a request for enlightenment

Dear Father Editor,

In the February of last year I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Lo Chan Waan, a distinguished artist from Canton, These four scrolls are the best of a series of studies which I did under his direction during the few months before I left China. The style of painting I learnt from him is that of the virile northern school under the Sung dynasty.

They are not entirely original. One, which show & boat being carried down-stream in a misty gorge at morning, is almost a copy of a scroll by Mr Lo. The others are, like musical exercises, elaborations of a slight theme. The picture of two litterati seated under willow trees is almost altogether my own, the theme being just a pair of willow-trees, and, unlike the rest, was uncorrected by Mr Lo.

To some these pictures may not seem characteristically Chineso. Yet my chief aim was to ape the Chinese manner, though how far I achieved it I cannot say. Incidentally, I wished to test by experiment my suspicion that “East is East, etc” is untrue in art as in other matters. Having examined the conventions of Chinese painting and wearied my teachers with questions on its underlying principles, I found that the latter are indeed not different from those of Western art, that often what I had taken for conventions were not such at all, but true representation of local phenomena, and that the most of the real conventions were determined by materials used. The tops of mountains clearer than their bases, dark specks for foliage on the summits, are strange until one begins to observe that mountains in China actually do look so. Lines more or less conventionalised, and shapes rather hinted at than portrayed, suggest affectation or indolence on the part of the painter, until by experience he learns that the very method of painting - with lamp-black ink on silk or porous paper spread flat - makes quick work imperative, ordinarily precludes painting from nature, and so compels one to draw from memory and to seize on what is essential. Other peculiarities, such as the zig-zag shading for mountain hollows and patterned opalescent rocks, are instances of a selection (of forms indeed discernible in nature) which is prompted by the aesthetic exigencies of Chinese brush-work,

This brush-work proves a stumbling block to strangers. For in China painting is a sister - or rather a daughter - art to calligraphy. The same materials, the same brush and ink handled in the same manner, are employed in each. It would be impossible to describe in brief the graces of Chinese writing. But the Chinese people appraise them keenly. Hence the inter-play of curving, angular, knobbed and rounded strokes is integral to their painting: and colouring, though long tradition has furnished an array of most harmonious pigments, tends to be subsidiary. For my part, if I had not already dabbled in Chinese brush-writing I would never have attempted painting.

Skill in brush-work and much more, the vivid expression of idea, or inspiration, or intelligence, by whatever name one may call that indefinable which the Chinese denoted by the phrase “spirit-rhythm-life movement”, these are the excellencies chiefly sought for. Because memory and speedy execution count for so much, the Chinese artists will be disposed to grapple with the soul or spirit (as they will tell you) of a subject. Therefore, apart from the calligraphic bias, I would say that they differ from the European, if at all, in their being more artistic, more spiritual. They discard the irrelevant and accidental and are intolerant of the yoke of actuality, and so will regard attention to such things as linear perspective as a pedantic foible, So, too, odd dispositions of light and shadow are infrequent in their work (they will hardly paint a reflexion in water unless to illustrate a story).

And yet by their well-worn traditional methods, provided that the demon inspiration is not too far away, they will often bring about a suggestion of reality more vivid than accurate imitation could create.

There is another quality, especially in the older tradition, a certain noble hardness or ruggedness in design, which the Chinese designate by the one word “strength”. There is nothing like it, I believe, in European painting, except in that of Spain, although Cubism might be called a travesty of it. It corresponds to the objectivity (stark and cynical, some would say) of Chinese classical poetry.

Springing from a Wordsworthian recollection and spurning what is material, being normally suffused with that light that never was on sea or land, naturally Chinese painting is poetical, or pointed with fine emotion. This is the sense of the old saying that a painter must travel ten thousand miles and read ten thousand books - not as though he should be of encyclopædic knowledge, but for the sake of range of choice and refinement of feeling. So usually a painter is also a poet and every scroll is capped by a line or two of verse.

I am ashamed to return now to my poor daubs. As you see, I have balked at the poetic lines Even if I could find some appropriate tag, I should fear to mar an indifferent picture with execrable brush character. Even in the simpler art of painting, easy control of the brush would be too much to expect. I think, however, that the subjects are in the right Chinese spirit. The gentleman swaying on the bridge might be a poet returning from a tavern. I was thinking of Lei Paak, the Shakespeare of China, who was drowned, so they say, as he tried to embrace the moon's reflection, his mind being “thunder-struck with wine”. Chinese love of contrast and of unity resulting from opposing stresses I tried to embody in the two men gossiping, the squat dogmatic and the thin supercilious, both alike complacent and pedantic, with the trees and mountains not minding at all. The picture of the old man and boy with the tall gnarled tree and the low green one, although ornamental, also shows a contrast and if it were well done, should make one reflect wistfully that beauty fades; it would improved if the boy were glancing at a kingfisher hurrying by.

Some obvious errors have been corrected by Mr Lo. Thus the picture of the jolly poet is touched up considerably. My pine tree on the left-hand side was much too geometrical, and was parallel to a tree on the other side. So both were blotted into respectability with rocks and foliage, which made the ravine look less perilous. The water swirling in the picture of the high-walled pass was too informal, so part of it was obscured and a new pattern completed with brushes. And of course there are other quite evident mistakes.

Seán Turner SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1972

Obituary

Father Seán Turner SJ (’26)

After leaving Belvedere in 1926, Fr Turner entered the Society and went through the ordinary training until 1935 when he was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission. From then on most of his life was spent in the Far East. There was an interlude when he returned to Ireland for theology and had to prolong his stay until World War II came to an end.

Highly gifted intellectually and artistically Fr Seán was fascinated by the language, literature and culture of China and became proficient in Chinese calligraphy and painting. When editor of the Belvederian he reproduced in the magazine some very attractive examples of his art. But his main interest was the Chinese language on which he was an acknowledged expert. His circle of intellectual and literary friends was almost entirely Chinese and with them the constant subject of discussion was the translation and interpretation of the language.

Unfortunately he was mentally undisciplined and left behind him little written work. He blamed this on the Oxford University Press for whom he was for a long time engaged in producing a book of translations of Chinese poems which in the end they rejected.

Things were never dull in a community when Fr Seán was about. He loved to take up an impossible position and defend it against all comers, witness his translation of the word Gaedhealachas as boorishness to the intense indignation of Irish scholars.

For many years before his death he suffered from crippling arthritis which he bore in silence. The end came unexpectedly during his sleep on the morning of December 21st 1971. May he rest in peace.

Born: 10 February 1950, Somerville, Newcastle, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1967, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 27 June 1981, Galway Cathedral, Galway
Final Vows: 03 December 1994, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 31 January 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Born in Dublin

Father RIP. Mother - Margaret

Educated at Coláiste Iognáid, Galway City

by 1981 at Fordham NY, USA (NYK) studying
by 1990 at St Joseph’s,Philadelphia PA, USA (MAR) teaching 1 semseter
by 1991 at Austin TX, USA (NOR) making Tertianship

Born: 26 May 1831, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 29 September 1849, Amiens, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 22 September 1861, St Beuno's, St Asaph, Wales
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 30 November 1891, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, 31 July 1880-6 May 1883

by 1853 at St Marie, Toulouse (TOLO) for Regency
by 1861 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying Theology
by 1867 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Provincial 31 July 1880

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Studied for some years at Toulouse.
1854 Sent to Tullabeg for Regency.
1855-1859 Further Regency as a teacher in Clongowes.
1859 he was sent to Paderborn for Theology, but in failing health he came to England and did his studies at St Beuno’s, where he was Ordained by Dr Brown 22 September 1861.
After Ordination he was sent to Clongowes, and later to Limerick.
1866 He was sent to Drongen for Tertianship.
1867 He was appointed Vice-Rector at Galway.
He was then sent to Clongowes as Minister for two years, and then the same for two years at Limerick.
1873-1876 He was at Milltown.
1876-1877 He was Superior at UCD.
1878-1887 he was appointed Rector at Milltown January 1878, and continued living there when he came out of office in 1883.
1887 he was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius and lived there until he died after a very short illness 30 November 1891
He was a man of great literary culture, a good classical scholar and of a very retiring disposition.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father James Tuite (1831-1891)

Born at Mullingar and educated at Clongowes, was admitted into the Society in 1849. He pursued his higher studies at Toulouse, Paderborn and St Beuno's, Wales and was ordained in 1861. Father Tuite was master at the Crescent in the first decade of its foundation, 1864-66, and returned to the teaching staff in 1870. During the last year of his association with the Crescent he devoted himself entirely to church work, 1872-73. He was later rector of Milltown Park and appointed Provincial in 1880. His later years were spent in church work at Gardiner St, Dublin.

Born: 23 May 1916, Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 19 October 1947, Clonliffe College, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1951, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 27 November 1982, University Hall, Hatch Street Lower, Dublin

Older Brother of Billy Trodden - RIP 1984

Father was a Civil Servant who died in 1933 and mother was a Teacher.

Eldest of five boys with one sister.

Early education was at a private school and then at Synge Street CBS. At age 13 he went to Belvedere College SJ (1929-1933)

by 1939 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ Irish Province News 58th Year No 2 1983 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1984

Obituary

Fr Peter M Troddyn (1916-1933-1982)

Peter was born in Dublin on 23rd May. 1916. He was the eldest of six children, five boys and one girl. His father, a civil servant, was a native of Maghera in Derry; his mother, née Walsh, was from near Ballina in Mayo. All Peter's uncles, his mother's brothers, were boys at Clongowes in the early years of this century. His initial schooling was under the direction of a Miss Haynes, a devout Church of Ireland teacher, and her two Catholic assistants. This little school was about one hundred yards from Peter's home in Rathgar. There he met, for the first time, one who was to be a fellow-Jesuit and life long friend, the late Fr Dick Ingram.
For a few years after leaving Miss Haynes's Academy Peter continued his education under the Irish Christian Brothers in their schools in Synge street, then a penny tram-ride from his home. In the autumn of 1929 his parents made a decision which was to affect his whole life. Peter and his two brothers, Billy and Gerald, entered Belvedere College.
Athair Diarmuid Ó Laoghaire writes of Peter as a boy at Belvedere:
“While he did not play games, he was a faithful member of the Cycling Club and an enthusiastic, talented photographer. He was active, too, in the Debating Society and in An Cumann Gaelach, of which he was a founding member. One memory of him is abiding: from his arrival in the school, he was an inveterate “asker of questions”. In this the child was father of the man; to the end Peter's keen intellectual curiosity was a noted characteristic: Over the years I myself have frequently witnessed his struggles with abstruse mathematical, Theological and even historical problems. He was all his life a seeker and searcher for truth.
In February 1933, Peter's father died. This proved to be a turning point in Peter's life. It was decided that he should sit for the Civil Service Examinations for Junior Executive Grade and at the same time complete his Leaving Certificate Course at Belvedere. Shortly after his , 17th birthday he passed both examinations with honours. However, during the Summer months which followed, he made up his mind to become a Jesuit and he entered our Novitiate at St Mary's, Emo, on 30th September 1933. He was one of seven Belvederians to do so in that year.
His noviceship came to an end on 1st October, 1935, when he made his first vows. He spent the three following years in the Juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle. He graduated from the National University, receiving his BA (Hons) in Maths/Maths Physics. He was one of three to do so in 1938; the late Fr Dick Ingram and Fr Ted Collins of Hong Kong made up that distinguished trio.
While in the judgement of his contemporaries he would have benefited from further studies at the University, it was decided that he should start his philosophy course at the French House in Jersey. Here he spent one golden year, a year he often spoke of with affectionate appreciation. Everything appealed to him, the stimulating lectures of the Professors, the congenial company of the French scholastics, the climate, the diet and the all-round liberating régime. Here too, was kindled his love for France and things French. In later years he would return to France to carry on, for over twenty years, a hidden apostolate in a Paris suburb.
The outbreak of the Second World War on 3rd September, 1939, brought about the recall of Peter and his four fellow Irish Scholastics to Tullabeg. Philosophy as an academic discipline appealed to him and he excelled in it. And, as in the he played a full and useful part in all the activities of his fellow philosophers', games apart.
For two years, from 1941, he taught mathematics in Belvedere, edited the Belvederian and presided over the Senior Debating Society. He also obtained his Higher Diploma in Education. Then he spent one year at the Crescent teaching and prefecting and refereeing rugby matches for the very young boys! In addition, he was in charge of the new school hall, where his practical knowledge of electricity was a decided asset! In both Colleges he won the hearts of many a youth by his patience and his kindly interest in their boyish affairs.
He arrived in Milltown Park in Autumn of 1944 to commence his studies. Here his health began to deteriorate. He was rushed to hospital and underwent major surgery on 29th July, the eve of the Ordination Day 1947. He recovered slowly and was ordained privately at Clonliffe College by the late Archbishop John C. McQuaid on 19th October, 1947. He offered his first Mass in the Convent Chapel attached to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross.
But illness dogged him. He was unable to complete his Theology and retired to do light work in 35, Lower Leeson Street, and to Clongowes in the summer term of 1949. In the autumn of . that year he began his Tertianship. This final year of formation proved a trial for him, but he persevered until ill health forced him to retire once more, this time to Milltown Park where he took his final examinations successfully just before Christmas 1950.
Fr Peter arrived as a member of the Community attached to St Francis Xavier's church, Gardiner Street, in January 1951. On 15th August of that year Peter, he made his final profession. During the next eleven years Peter held posts of varying importance. He was for a time Assistant to the Province Treasurer, he preached frequently in the Church and during the Novena of Grace and always to appreciative audiences. Fr Daniel Shields takes up the story: “I was in the St Francis Xavier Community during the years when Fr Peter was in charge of the building of the present St Francis Xavier Hall. He was faced with many problems, not least, the financial problem, How was he to raise the large sums required to meet not only the building costs, but also the cost of installing modern theatre and stage equipment, seating, etc. Fr Peter with the expertise of a Rothschild banker came to the rescue. He devised a system of weekly “draws” which were so attractive and so widely supported, that the money so raised financed the entire undertaking. When the Hall was completed, Fr Peter recruited a group of voluntary helpers. These included skilled carpenters, painters, engineers, light and or sound experts and even a tailor! Fr Peter became the friend and Father of each. They came to him with all their problems, not least their religious problems. It is unbelievable the trouble he took in finding real solutions to a wide variety of such problems.
Fr Peter then turned is attention to providing accommodation for the members of the Pioneer Club, who had formerly been housed in the original Fr Cullen's Pioneer Hall in Sherrard street. He purchased a fine Georgian house on the East side of Mountjoy Square and had the entire building renovated, decorated and equipped to a high standard, The proceeds of his Weekly Draws' helped to finance this project also. The St Francis Xavier Hall and the Pioneer Club - Fr Cullen House - stand today }s monuments to Peter's financial genius, to his foresight and above all to his loyalty to his fellow co-operators and friends.
An tAthair Proinsias 0 Fionnagáin re- calls another activity of Peter's which, as has been mentioned, started in 1951: 'He undertook annually pastoral work at Gonesse, a parish north of Paris. There he won the trust and the approval of the Curé who invited him back year after year down to 1969. For two years he continued his summer pilgrimage, first at Milly-la-Forêt and then in Brittany, whither the Curé, for reasons of health, had retired. For the next three years, Fr Peter was too occupied with editorial problems to undertake any trips abroad. During his own time in France, Fr Frank met some of Peter's former fellow philosophers from his Jersey days. They all spoke of his gifts of mind and heart.
On the Status, 1962, Fr Peter found himself transferred to Clongowes as a teacher of Maths. He was then in his forty-seventh year, had been out of the classroom for seventeen years and was in very indifferent health. It proved to be a mistake. After two years it was my pleasure to welcome him as a member of the Jesuit team then manning the young College of Industrial Relations. He stayed with us until the Spring of 1966 when at the request of his old friend, Fr R Burke-Savage, he joined the Leeson Street Community as “Collaborator in Studies”. Incidentally, his religious Superior was none other than his erst- while companion at Miss Haynes's Academy forty years before - the late Fr Dick Ingram.
An tAthair Proinsias resumes: On his appointment in 1967 to the editorship of Studies - it might have been thought that he had neither sufficient experience nor. qualifications for that important position. His Provincial, Fr Brendan Barry, how ever, judged him to be eminently qualified and how splendidly justified was Fr Barry's judgement!
Peter proved to be an editor to the manor born. His was a fastidious sense of good English. The Autumn issue of Studies, 1968, left no doubt as to the accuracy of his judgement concerning the changes taking place in Ireland in the euphoria of the prosperous 'sixties. “Post-Primary education, now and in the future - A Symposium” - proved a brilliant success. Over 5,000 copies of this issue were sold. On this occasion Fr Peter showed himself to be a peritus among the periti.
For six more years, Studies under Peter's editorship maintained the highest standards of readable scholarship. In deed, the very excellence of succeeding issues concealed the nagging financial problems and worries and the wretched health that continued to affect the conscientious Editor. He continued the unequal struggle until the Spring of 1974, when he felt obliged to lay down his pen and vacate the Editor's chair.
His association with University Hall and with its students, which had begun in the Spring of 1966, now continued, Fr Jack Brennan writes: ‘Peter was happy in the Hall ... Surprisingly, perhaps, in such a private person, he enjoyed time spent with the students. He was extremely patient in listening to them. His advice was sure and often took pragmatic turns that sprang from his wide knowledge of fields in which they were concerned. His tolerance was of a high degree, and, occasionally he would inter cede in a caring way on behalf of a student who was in 'hot water'. For him the faults or failings of another were never the whole story. His sense of loyalty - often involving a considerable amount of work on his part - towards the students as well as towards his family being able to share some of his good and friends was striking. Confidentiality was also a key quality of his.
One very close to him all his life writes: “A thing that always struck me about Peter was his kindness to the domestic staff in the Houses in which he lived. I used to notice this whenever I came to visit him. They would speak of him very appreciatively and tell me about the many good turns he did them”. Fr Shields concurs with this: “The staff of St Francis Xavier's Hall looked on Peter as their friend. And when he left the Hall, they were lonely and upset, Meeting me, they would say, ‘Father, when is Fr Troddyn coming back?’" Such touching appreciation needs no comment. Nor did this characteristic escape Fr Jack Brennan's observation; “The domestic staff at the Hall held Fr Peter in high regard; they were glad to be able to attend to his simple wants with real affection”
There is one virtue which this very private person could not conceal from those few who knew him intimately. Peter was a genuinely humble man - a man who, with St Paul “in labours, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth", showed himself a true Minister of God'. He had to carry the cross of poor health for most of his working life with the humiliations, misunderstandings and frustrations attached to it. His judgements and opinions did not always receive the consideration they deserved. Apart from St Francis Xavier's Hall and Fr Cullen House, his plans and dreams were seldom actualised. These apparent “failures' provided him with opportunities for the practice of humility and consequent self effacement. He was always more ready to blame himself than to question the wisdom of others.
Some final thoughts occur to me. Personal friendships meant a great deal to him, not for what he himself could get abut for the joy he felt at being able to share some of his good his advice or practical knowledge with someone, however lowly, in need. This must have helped him to a more correct appreciation of God's gifts to him self and of his duty as a Christian to help other members of the Body of Christ.
From his many serious illnesses, Peter grew in self knowledge and also in awareness of the care which the sick and convalescent needed. He demanded high standards of care for anyone ill and showed his concern and displeasure if he thought that those who were sick were neglected in even the smallest way. His genuine concern was shown clearly in daily visits, in all weathers, for three and a-half years until her death, to an aged aunt in Our Lady's Hospice. The staff and other patients admired his faithful kindness and concern for her welfare.
If I or other contributors to this obituary have said very little about Peter the Jesuit, it is because we have no reason to stress what was obvious to us all. As has been well said: “Peter was a Jesuit in the authentic lgnatian mould”. Ever an avid reader, he kept in touch with “Jesuitica” and like so many of his generation found it difficult to accept some manifestations of the new “pluralism”.
May the good Lord, who is gentle and lowly in heart, welcome Peter into the new home prepared with exquisite care for all who love and serve his heavenly Father.
Edmond Kent SJ

Born: 13 June 1903, Mullagh, County Cavan
Entered: 04 October 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 16 January 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

Father was a National School Teacher and died in 1922. Family had by then moved to Ashfield Road, Ranelagh, Dublin.

Fourth of seven boys with two sisters.

Early education was at Mullagh NS, and he took up a Monitoring course, which he completed on the family moving to Dublin at SS Michael & John’s NS, Lower Exchange Street, Dublin. He then went to St Patrick’s Training College in Drumcondra and qualified in 1924. He then completed a BA at NUI. He taught in schools for eight years before entry.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - National Teacher before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947
Holland :
Fr. J. Tormey sends us the following news of Fr. C. Kock, who did his Theology at Milltown Park from 1938 to 1942 and his Tertianship in Rathfarnham from 1942-1943 :
“Fr. Kock is now finishing his first term at St. Ignatius College, 51 Hobbemakade, Amsterdam, a large school with about 1,000 boys. The country is recovering slowly from the effects of the war. Many things are still very scarce, and one hardly notices improvement, but it is there all the same..... Fr. Kock concludes his letter by asking for Irish stamps of the last two or three years, for which there is great demand in Holland”

Irish Province News 56th Year No 2 1981
Obituary
Fr James Tormey (1903-1932-1981)

He was born on 13th June 1903 in Mullagh, Co Cavan, and went to National School. Apparently the family moved to Dublin early in his life. He was the youngest of the Tormey Brothers, Auctioneers. In the Society he was known as Jim or James, but to his family he was Gerard. After training in St Patrick's, Drumcondra, he got a BA and taught in Milltown NS. It would seem that he was influenced by Fr Conal Murphy, and went to the novitiate in Emo on 4th October 1932. From there he went straight to Tullabeg for philosophy (1934-37) followed by a single year of regency in Belvedere, where he gained a HDip in Ed, theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1941, and tertianship in Rathfarnham (1942-43). In eleven years he had completed his formation. No doubt it was his degree and teaching experience before entry, together with his age (29 at the outset) which made this period up to five years shorter than that of his contemporaries.
After formation, the theatre of his activity for nearly thirty years (1943-72) was the junior school in the Crescent, Limerick, where as a qualified primary teacher he continued teaching young boys. For most of the time he was in charge of the junior school. When teachers questioned him about marking boys' examination papers, he would always say “Do your best for them”. That was what he himself did - his best. In 1972, when the junior school was nearly phased out (the senior school had already migrated to Dooradoyle and metamorphosed into Crescent Comprehensive) James moved to Manresa, where he did a five-year stint in the bursar's office. Failing health forced him to go easy: he gradually weakened, and finally departed this life on 15th January 1981.

Born: 17 September 1910, Moyola Street, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 08 January 1944, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 21 January 1983, Lisheen House, Rathcoole, County Dublin - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death.

Parents is a publican based at Lower Baggot Street where the family lived.

Second eldest of a family of six, having an older sister and three younger brothers.

Leaving Befast in 1922 at a time of political unrest for Catholics, the family came to Dublin and he went to CBS Westland Row, and the in 1927 went to Blackrock College. While at school he was also involved in business.

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966
by 1938 at Loyola, Hong Kong - studying
by 1941 at Pymble NSW, Australia - studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Patrick Toner, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Patrick Toner, SJ, former Rector of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, died in Ireland on 21 January 1983, aged 72.

Father Toner was born in Belfast on 3 September 1910. His family was driven out of Belfast by the “pogroms” of the early 1920s and settled in Dublin, but in many ways he himself remained a Belfast-man, tenacious of any opinion or course of action that he had taken up.

In 1930 he interrupted his university studies to enter the Irish Jesuit novitiate, and he adhered firmly throughout his life to the lessons he learned as a novice. His closet friends used say that he arrived in the novitiate with a slight Belfast accent, but as the years passed this accent became stronger and stronger - more tenacity!

He arrived in Hong Kong as a Jesuit scholastic in 1937. In addition to regulation language study and teaching, he did a considerable amount of work for the refugees who poured into Hong Kong after the fall of Canton to the Japanese in later 1938, even spending a short period in much-troubled Canton.

In 1940 he went to start his theological studies in Australia, and was ordained there in 1943. Having finished his theological studies, he returned to Ireland to do his last year of Jesuit training, and to visit his family, to whom he was deeply devoted.

He returned to Hong Kong in 1946 and took up teaching in the Wah Yan Branch College under the headmastership of Mr. Lim Hoy Lam in Nelson Street, Kowloon.

In 1947, Mr. Lim retired from the administration of the school and Father Toner became headmaster. In 1951 the school moved to its new premises in Waterloo Road, dropping “Branch” from its title and becoming Wah Yan College, Kowloon. Father Toner as Rector and headmaster directed the move, and the great expansion of the school and the formation of its new traditions.

In 1964, having completed his period of rectorship, he transferred to Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, and taught there until 1976, taking charge also for some time of the Night School and of the Poor Boys Club.

This career of education, administration and pastoral work taught him much about meeting the problems that life presents, but it did not change his character. He arrived in the Jesuit novitiate 51 years ago as a cheerful, uncomplicated, deeply devoted young man. He died last month as a cheerful, uncomplicated, deeply devoted old man. May there be many like him!

As might have been expected, Father Toner did not take kindly to the changes that multiplied in the Church during and after Vatican Council II. This never caused any breach between him and those who eagerly followed new ways; it did lend a special flavour to his confabulation with those who thought like himself. He and his dear friend Father Carmel Orlando, PIME, came closer than ever together as they pondered in company the wisdom of The Wanderer and sighed energetically over the antics of extremists.

In 1976 Father Toner left for Ireland. Soon after his arrival his health began to decline. He retained his mental powers and his cheerful spirit unimpaired, but his bodily strength faded gradually, but inexorably under the strain of arteriosclerosis.

He suffered a stroke on 20 January and died early the following morning.

Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated this evening, 4 February, at 6 o’clock in the chapel of Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 4 February 1983

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 20th Year No 2 1945

Frs. J. Collins, D. Lawler and P. Toner, of the Hong Kong Mission, who finished theology at Pymble last January, were able to leave for Ireland some time ago, and are expected in Dublin after Easter.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 58th Year No 2 1983

Obituary

Fr Patrick Toner (1910-1930-1983) (Macau-Hong Kong)

Fr Paddy Toner was born in Belfast, 7th September 1910. The family was forced to leave Belfast during the 1922 pogroms in Northern Ireland. The Toners were publicans. Paddy remembered those times and one incident in particular: One evening on returning from school, he entered their premises to find his father being held at gun-point. There were two men holding revolvers to his head, one each side. Paddy, twelve years old, dashed for the counter and flung a heavy bottle-opener at the raiders. The gunmen tried to get him, but his father managed to escape. This incident gave Paddy, the eldest of four boys, a special place in his father's affection. It also shows the stuff that Paddy Toner, most gentle and lovable of men, was made of.
As a boy at Blackrock College, when the late Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid was President, Paddy made known to his mother his intention to go for the priesthood. We can understand his father being upset and totally opposed to this idea. No, Paddy would never leave him. He discussed the matter with the President of the College and on his advice, on leaving College, Paddy went to UCD - This would enable him to come to a more mature decision. His father hoped he would change his mind.
In one way he did change his mind: having finished First Arts, he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus and went to St Mary's, Emo, to begin his noviciate in 1930. In floods of tears, his brother told me, his father said goodbye to him just saying: “If this is what you want, my boy, you must have it”.
There were fifty of us in the novice ship that year, and I would say that to a man we would all agree that Paddy Toner was the life and soul of this large novitiate during those two years in the wilderness. He was heart and soul in everything we did - works, walks, recreations and, above all, football. When Pat donned his “shooters”, as he called the boots, one might look about for a pair of shin-guards.
He gained a year in Rathfarnham by going into Second Arts. We were together again for two years in “The Bog” and again he was always the bright ray of sunshine in the “L-o-n-el-y Life” that was ours - to use Fr B Byrne's description of it.
Then came the big break: In 1937 Paddy with three others set out for the Hong Kong Mission. For Paddy and for his family this was a traumatic sacrifice, but to China he went and he never looked back. To add to this, World War II broke out, and in 1940, instead of returning to Milltown Park for theology and ordination, he found himself bound for Australia. In 1945 he returned for tertianship in Rathfarnham. By this time Paddy Toner was Hong Kong to the core. Nothing would have held him back from the Mission. His work in Hong Kong will find space in this issue of Province News. His heart was there and remained there even after his retirement in 1977 through ill-health to join our Community at Rathfarnham Castle.
His last six years were a great blessing for us and for his family, but for Paddy they were years of gradual decline and patient suffering. He did not like Rathfarnham. In his failing health, it was too much for him. The small dining room especially was a trial on account of the noise, particularly on occasions when there was an invasion of visitors and people raised their voices - “Ear-bashers” he called them. He spoke little, but when, with a chuckle, he did mutter those few words, audible only to those very close to him, he said more than all the rest with all their shouting. Both in writing and in speaking, he had a most remarkable gift of brevity and crystal clarity.
Fortunately, during this time, he was well enough to be able to divide his time between Rathfarnham and Blackrock where his sister Maud lived. His brother Joe would call for him on Sunday afternoon and deliver him back on Thursday afternoon.. The only attraction Rathfarnham had for him was that he could say Mass there four days of the week.
His final year was spent in hospital, first at Elm Park and then for nine months at Lisheen Nursing Home, Rathcoole. His death occurred on Friday, 21st January. To the last he was peaceful and genuinely most grateful for every kindness. The Matron and staff at Lisheen House really loved him. His funeral Mass at Gardiner street with so many priests concelebrating was a fitting tribute and a source of great consolation to his family.
Paddy hears again from his heavenly Father welcoming him into his true home, the same words which his father said as he gave him to God. “If this is what you want, my son, you must have it”.

When Pat went in 1934 to philosophy, the Ricci Mission Unit was flourishing in Tullabeg and filling bags with used stamps turned Pat's thoughts to Hong Kong. He had not thought earlier of going to China.
He arrived in Hong Kong just after one of the severest typhoons to hit the place. That was in September 1937. A new language school had been opened at Loyola, Taai Lam Chung, in the New Territories and there he started his two years of language study. At that time Canton was taken by the Japanese and Fr Pat spent about a week there at relief work, working with Fr Sandy Cairns, MM, who was afterwards killed by the Japanese. He also visited the refugee centres opened at Fanling to receive the many thousands who fled from occupied China. In 1939 Fr Toner went to Wah Yan. Hong Kong, where in addition to his duties as a teacher, he became an air raid warden. The outbreak of World War Il prevented his return to Ireland, so in 1940 he went to Australia for theology.
He reached Australia in September 1940 and taught until the Theologate opened in January 1941. After three years he was ordained by Archbishop Gilroy of Sydney and during his fourth year of theology he did some parish work and helped in Fr Dunlea's Boys' Town, In February 1945 he left Australia and after a three months' voyage, under war conditions, he arrived in Ireland which he had left nine years earlier. After four months helping in St Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner street, he went to tertianship in Rathfarnham under the old veteran of the Hong Kong Mission, Fr John Neary.
In August 1946 once more he went East. With seven others he embarked on an aircraft carrier, the “SS Patroller” and arrived in Hong Kong on 13th September to begin work in Wah Yan, Kowloon. On 31st July 1947 he became Superior of the College which at that time had 531 students.
Fr Pat’s tasks in Hong Kong besides teaching included being for a time Minister, Rector, Spiritual Father. After completing his time as Rector in Wah Yan, Kowloon, he was changed to Wah Yan, Hong Kong, where in addition to his work as a teacher he was for a time director of the Night School.
Fr Toner was changed from Kowloon Wah Yan to Hong Kong Wah Yan in 1964, where he taught until he returned to Ireland in June 1976.
Fr Toner was always a very exemplary religious, prayerful, charitable, ear nest and very hard-working. He was Superior of Wah Yan, Kowloon, first in Nelson Street and during these early years the small community lived in a private house, 151 Waterloo road, close under Lion Rock. When the new Wah Yan building was opened in 1951, Fr Toner was its first Rector and continued in this position until 1957. In 1964 he was transferred to Wah Yan, Hong Kong, where in addition to his duties as a teacher he took charge for a time of the Boys' Club from 1966 and of the Night School from 1968.

Born: 18 February 1859, Rathmines, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 31 July 1892, St Francis Xavier Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 15 November 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin

Cousin of Nicholas A Tomkin - RIP 1923; James Tomkin - RIP 1950; Joseph Tomkin (ORE) - RIP 1942

by 1897 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Cousin of Nicholas J Tomkin - RIP 1942 and James Tomkin - RIP 1950

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 18th Year No 1 1943
Obituary :
Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ
Fr Tomkin died at Milltown Park, at 8.30 on Sunday morning, the 15th November. He had been very poorly for some weeks previous to his death, and had been anointed again before the end came.
Born at Rathmines, on 18th February, 1859, he was educated at Belvedere College, and entered the Novitiate, on 7th September, 1877, at Milltown Park, where, alter a year's Juniorate, he pursued his philosophical studies. Before beginning theology he spent six years teaching mathematics and physics at Belvedere, Clongowes and Tullabeg, and was also mathematical tutor at University College one of those years. He was ordained priest on St. Ignatius Day 1892, at Gardiner Street Church, by the late Archbishop Walsh. On the completion of his fourth year of theology he became Minister at Milltowvn, a post he held till 1896, when, in company with Frs. G. O'Neill, and Gleeson, and the late Frs. James O’Dwyer and T Murphy, he made his third year's probation at Tronchiennes. The Next three years of his life he spent at Belvedere as Minister, then in 1900 he became Rector of that College, a post he held for eight years of very fruitful activity. Belveclerians of that period will recall with affection his genial and attractive personality. Widening the scope of school life, he encouraged College societies, debates, music theatricals and athletics, brought about a closer association of the boys parents with the life, both religious and social, of the College, and was instrumental in founding the Belvedere Union of past students of which he remained a life-long friend and adviser. For the next twelve years he was Rector at Mungret (1908-1912) and Clongowes (1912-1919), and organised and carried through with great distinction the Centenary Celebrations of the latter College in June, 1914, promoting also, with outstanding success, its financial status during the difficult years of the World War.
In the summer of 1919 his long and uninterrupted. tenure of office as Rector for nineteen years in the three largest Colleges of the Province came to a close. For the next five years he was Minister and Procurator of Milltown Park, till in May, 1924, he was appointed to the office of Socius to the Provincial, Fr. John Fahy. Though then a man of sixty-five, Fr. Tomkin brought to his new responsibilities his customary buoyancy of manner, good humour and capacity for hard sustained work. In addition to the usual routine of a Socius' life he had to cope with a large volume of business as revisor of the temporal administration of the Province and the Houses, and was in this capacity of great assistance to the Provincials under whom he served, especially during the period of visitation of the Province. For some time, too he had charge of retreats, and appears to have given every satisfaction in that most delicate of tasks.
Towards the close of 1934 Fr. Tomkin's health broke down, and for the eight years of life that still remained, and which he spent at Milltown Park, he retained the varied interests of his earlier days. He even explored new avenues of activity in the domain of carpet-making and book-binding, whose intricacies he found a boyish enthusiasm in mastering. Graced with a delightful charm of manner he leaves behind him the memory of a life of unremitting toil and selfless dedication in the cause of God.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Nicholas Tomkin 1859-1942
Fr Nicholas Tomkin was born in Rathmines Dublin on February 18th 1859. He was educated at Belvedere College and in 1877 he entered the novitiate at Milltown Park. After the usual course of studies, he was ordained in Gardiner Street Church by Archbishop Walsh.

In 1900 he became Rector of Belvedere for eight years, and his reign there will be long remembered as the Golden Age of Belvedere, when through his administrative ability and charming personality, he expanded the school in all its branches, both academic, cultural and social, and founded at this time the Union of Old Belvederians.

For the next 12 years he was successively Rector of Mungret and Clongowes. In n1924 he was appointed Socius to the Provincial Fr Fahy, though a man of 65 years of age.

He had a childlike cherubic countenance which did not reflect the keeness of mind behind it. But his childlike quality did display itself in a delight in striking a good bargain. Many jokes were told of this side of his character – for example, it was said that he offered to buy coffins on a large scale at a reduced price for quantity profit. However, such stories merely exaggerated a simple fondness for a bargain, which some folks took too seriously.

He died on May 15th 1942.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ
Belvedere (1873-77); Entered Society of Jesus (1877); Ordained Priest 1892; Minister, Belvedere (1897-1900;: Rector (1900-1908); Died, Milltown Park, 15th Nov., 1942.

I esteem it an honour to be allowed to pay a tribute to the memory of the late Father Nicholas Tomkin, a distinguished Rector of Belvedere, and, I believe, one of the greatest headmasters of any school of his day, I shall always remember his fine physical presence, his dominant personality, his dignity and power of command, and his rigid justice and discipline, with which his kindliness, humanity, and sense of humour were in no way incompatible.

Becoming Rector, as he did, at the turn of the century and when the world was only just emerging from the narrowness, tyranny, and stuffiness of the Victorian era, he was in many ways a quarter of a century ahead of his time. He at once envisaged clearly and put into operation principles of moral and material reform which even to-day are still being blindly sought after as the expression of a new age. Looking back, it would seem that he achieved the ideal, because he took from the past stern rules of discipline and a tendency to aspire for all standards of conduct, and on this he superimposed a conception of humanity and justice which had been lacking in that past.

His cardinal principle was that there is good in every boy and that if he is instructed with sympathy and understanding his own sense of propriety will prove a better taskmaster than any exterior rule. He did away with corporal punishment, taught that to play was legitimate but that to work was manly and honourable and not the mark of a milksop or a toady. He inculcated the idea that “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” could cover our games, our relaxations, and every activity of our lives, as well as a Latin exercise. He made Belvedere pre-eminent in gymnastics, introduced it to the Rugby Schools' Cup and Cricket competitions, made it the nursery of Irish Swimming, brought Theatrical productions to a pitch of intrinsic merit which has never been excelled, and even encouraged Dancing, Elocution and Manual Instruction. In study he deplored cramming or prize-hunting and aimed at encouraging the mediocre and backward, so that no boy of his time who was not a hopeless recalcitrant ever failed to realise the full potentialities that were in him. He restored and enhanced the historic beauties of Belvedere House, and into the School Buildings he introduced every modern amenity of sanitation and hygiene.. When the Old Boys' Union was. formed through the efforts of distinguished members of the Past, it was his dynamic personality and intense love of the School which made it not merely an Association of Old Boys, but a corporate union of the Past, taking a live interest in the Present, and the boys, sharing with pride in the notable achievements of the Past.

Truly there was nothing that he did not touch; there was nothing he touched that he did not adorn.

In his official capacity of Rector he could preserve a dignity and aloofness which made his authority most impressive, but outside school hours he remained a friend and charming companion, always easy of approach, always full of interesting information on a host of subjects dear to the heart of boys. He made Belvedere such an epitome of what life ought to be that, I think, most boys experienced, for years after they left, a kind of nostalgia which led them to revisit the school at frequent intervals, and in particular to seek to renew contact with Father Tomkin.

He has passed from our physical sight, but as long as boys of his time remain, his memory will linger and his spirit will continue to direct them in every problem of life.

V J O'HARE.

◆ The Clongownian, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ

Rector of Clongowes (1911-1919)

Though Fr Tomkin was not at school either here or in Tullabeg, he was associated with both places. He came here from Tullabeg, where he had been on the teaching staff, at the amalgamation, and taught mathematics and physics for three years before going to Milltown Park for his theological studies. In 1911 he came here as Rector in succession to Fr T V Nolan who had been appointed Provincial. It was during the period of his Rectorship, in 1914, that Clongowes celebrated the century of its existence as a school, and very much of the success of the three days of those celebrations was due to the energy and organising powers of the Rector. Almost immediately after these celebrations came the European war which called for qualities of another order: Again Fr Tomkin rose to the occasion, and, mainly as a result of more intensive farming, the conclusion of the war and of Fr Tomkin's Rectorship found the College practically self-supporting.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1943

Obituary

Father Nicholas J Tomkin SJ

We regret we announce the death of Father Tomkin who was our Rector here from 1908-1912 and to whose energy the house owes much. He was in his prime during his period of office here and was active in every part of the life of the house - class-work, debates, plays, games, all were of interest to him and he attended and followed all appearances of the boys with great keenness. To him we owe the Communion rail in the chapel and the final decoration of the chapel. He equipped and opened the infirmary and appointed the first resident matron. As one might expect from his enquiring and scientific turn his day saw the end of oil lamps and gas plant here with his introduction of electric lighting. Old boys will remember him with affection and even very young old boys will recall his annual visit here as socius to Father Provincial.

All will pray for the happy repose of the soul of Father Tomkin.

Father Tomkin was born at Rathmines in 1859. Educated at Belvedere College, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1877, and a before pursuing his higher studies at Milltown Park, was mathematical tutor at University College, and taught physics and mathematics at Belvedere, Clongowes and Tullabeg. He was ordained priest in 1892 by the late Most Rev Dr Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin.

Father Tomkin's exceptional gifts of administration were fully tested by the posts of trust and responsibility he held for about forty years in the various Houses of the Order in Ireland, and notably at Milltown Park, and as Rector for twenty years of Belvedere, Mungret and Clongowes Wood. He was Assistant Provincial during the years 1925- 35.

Graced with a delightful charm of manner, he retained to the end the various interests of his earlier days amid the deepening affection of the many whom he helped or influenced during a long life of laborious service.

Born: 01 May 1927, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1963, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Died: 13 February 2013, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Peter Faber, Brookvale Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim community at the time of death.

Son of John Timoney and Katharina Molony. Father was a Staff Officer in the Customs & Excise department.

Third in a family of five, with four sisters.

Early education was in a National School in Galway and then seven years at Coláiste Iognáid.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-senan-timoney-rip/

Fr Senan Timoney RIP
Fr Senan Timoney died unexpectedly and quietly on Ash Wednesday. At the age of 85 he could look back on a life in four provinces, having quartered his years neatly between Galway, Limerick, Dublin and the North.
As he had covered Ireland in his residences, he covered many of the Province’s houses and ministries with distinction: formation (Minister of Juniors, Director of Tertians), teaching (of Irish, Maths, French, sociology, religion, rowing), headmastering in Mungret, administering (Rector, Socius to Provincial), spiritual direction, pastoral and retreat work, keeping the accounts for Brian Lennon’s chip shop in Portadown, and accompanying the brethren through it all, a good companion and sought after in every house.
He was a formidable golfer, neat and accurate, with a trim figure which in the last years was wasted to the point of emaciation. On Ash Wednesday five years ago they diagnosed the blood condition which required regular transfusions. He moved from Belfast to Cherryfield, where the staff remember his engagement with life, always interested, ready to talk about the TV programmes he had watched, alert to the sick and the suffering, welcoming his countless friends.
He consciously kept death – and any talk of death – at bay. In the end his family and several Jesuits were round him He was given the ashes, and was alert practically up to the moment when the Lord took him. May God be good to him.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 151 : Spring 2013

Obituary

Fr Senan Timoney (1927-2013)

1 May 1927: Born in Galway.
Early education in National School and St. Ignatius, Galway
7 September 1945: Entered Society at Emo
8 September 1947: First Vows at Emo
1947 - 1950: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: St. Ignatius College, Galway - Regency
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31 July 1959: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1960 - 1961: Rathfarnham: Tertianship
1961 - 1962: St. Ignatius College, Galway - Teacher; H. Dip. In Ed,
1962 - 1963: Emo - Socius to Novice Director; Minister
2 February 1963: Final Vows
1963 - 1967: Rathfarnham - Minister of Juniors
1967 - 1974: Mungret College
1967 - 1968: Prefect of Studies
1968 - 1969: Rector; Prefect of Studies
1969 - 1971: Rector
1971 - 1974: Headmaster
1974 - 1983: Crescent College, Dooradoyle – Vice-Superior; Teacher
1981 - 1987: Province Consultor
1983 - 1988: Loyola House:
1983 - 1987: Executive Socius; Superior
1987 - 1988: Sabbatical
1988 - 1992: Portadown - Superior
1992 - 1994: Manresa:
1992 - 1993: Directs Spiritual Exercises; Assistant to Director
1993 - 1994: Rector

1994-2013: Belfast
1994 - 1998: Superior: Tertian Director (1995: 1997-1998); Directed Spiritual Exercises; Spiritual Director; Pastoral Facilitator; Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
1998 - 2000: Superior; Chair JINI; Directed Spiritual Exercises; Spiritual Director; Pastoral Facilitator, Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
1999 - 2007: Province Consultor
2000 - 2003: Minister; Superior's Admonitor; Spiritual Director (SJ); Treasurer
2003 - 2007: Directed Spiritual Exercises; Pastoral Facilitator; Assistant Vicar for Religious in Diocese
2008 - 2011: Spiritual Director
2011 - 2013: Resident in Cherryfield Lodge

Senan died on Ash Wednesday morning. Around him were Caitriona, his niece, Mary Rickard, the Province Health Delegate and Liam O'Connell, Socius to the Provincial. Liam had said in succession prayers for the sick, for the dying and for the dead. Before he did that, Liam took the ashes and marked Senan's forehead with the sign of the cross. So ended Senan's earthly life; nearly 86 years since his birth in Galway and nearly 68 years since his joining the Society of Jesus in Emo, in September 1945.

Senan could look back on a life in four provinces, having quartered his years neatly between Galway, Limerick, Dublin and the North, As he had covered Ireland in his residences, he had covered many of the Province's houses and ministries with distinction: formation (Minister of Juniors, Director of Tertians), teaching (of Irish, Maths, French, sociology, religion, rowing), headmastering, administering (Rector, Socius to Provincial), spiritual direction and retreat work, keeping the accounts for Brian Lennon's chip shop in Portadown, and accompanying the brethren through it all, a good companion and sought after in every house, including his final assignment in Cherryfield. As a friend remarked: There wasn't a mean bone in his body.

Always trim, he was a formidable golfer, neat and accurate. Back in the forties such an omni-competent scholastic would have been marked out for the missions, especially Hong Kong. But in Senan's first year of noviciate the Lord sent him an unexplained fever, had him isolated briefly in Cork Street, and planted in Fr Tommy Byrne, the Novice-Master (Senan belonged to the year of Whole-Byrne novices), the illusion that here was a delicate young man who would not be able for the missions. This was Ireland's gain: Senan was never sick again until a heart attack in 1999 and red-corpuscle trouble ten years later, which necessitated the infusion of two units of blood every fortnight.

What, you may wonder, could raise the temperature of a man as equable and calm as Senan? He had known the Jesuits as a boy, had learned Mass-serving from Fr John Hyde, had seen the mainly Jesuit staff of Coláiste lognáid at close quarters, so he did not expect to be surprised when he joined up and went to Emo. But surprised he was, you might almost say appalled, by one feature of noviciate life. What was that? The discipline and chain? No. The isolation? No. The long hours of prayer? No. It was the silence that bugged him. People were not allowed to talk. “I could not get over it. It was unreal and made no sense to me”.

Senan had this gift of articulating what should have been obvious but was accepted as traditional. As Minister of Juniors in 1963 ("an awful job, like a ganger") he was baffled to find the fathers in Rathfarnham Castle herded into the large parlour at 1.45 after lunch, and tied there in stiff conversation till a nod from the Rector at 2.15. Senan made a move: “Let us go free at two oclock." The benign Fergal McGrath was appalled at the suggestion of such a break from tradition.

Freedom was an important value for a man so often burdened with administrative jobs. When he took over from Paddy Doyle as co instructor of tertians with Ron Darwen, Senan would not accept candidates who were assigned unwillingly to tertianship; they must want to come. His cordial relations with lay teachers were clouded by their union's (ASTI) refusal to admit Religious on the grounds that they would all vote the same way as their superior dictated. “We are not like that”, insisted Senan. “We can and do differ from one another while remaining friends”. And it was a feature of the Crescent Comprehensive where Senan taught for nine years, that Jesuits would, in good, amicable spirit, take opposing sides on issues of policy, to the astonishment of new teachers. He was active in staff meetings which would be held without the presence of the Headmaster, and would brief delegates to convey their motions to the Headmaster or the Board of Management.

One revealing episode showed the difficulty of maintaining this freedom. When Senan was secretary of the Catholic Headmasters' Association, ASTI were threatening to strike over a promise that the Government had made and reneged on. A meeting of the CHA voted to come out in sympathy with ASTI, and Senan passed this reassuring news back to his lay colleagues in Mungret. But no statement emerged from CHA, and Senan smelt a rat. He gathered the requisite ten signatures for calling an extraordinary general meeting, and demanded from the Chairman, his friend Sean Hughes, why no statement had been published. Sean admitted that after the CHA meeting and vote, he had consulted John Charles McQuaid, then Archbishop of Dublin, on the matter and was persuaded by JC to back off from a public pronouncement. The whole business smelled of the secretive and coercive character of the Irish church at its worst.

It would be wrong to picture Senan as a flag-waving revolutionary. Rather he used the existing structures intelligently to make his point without stirring up animosity. In Tullabeg, while enjoying the community life, he valued the stage shows as a way of voicing the frustrations of the brethren. In Crescent he supported the meetings of the staff to improve the school in dialogue with the Headmaster and the Board. In the CHA he used the mechanism of an extraordinary meeting to drag secretive machinations into daylight.

One of the most stressful periods of his life came from being vowed to secrecy. In November 1971, Senan and Paddy Cusack, then Headmaster and Rector of Mungret, were asked to meet in Nenagh for Sunday lunch with the Provincial, Cecil McGarry. Cecil came straight to the point: he was going to close Mungret. Then he stood the pair a good lunch (appropriate for people condemned to execution), and vowed them to secrecy about the plan. For four months Senan woke heavy-hearted to face this cloud, unable to discuss it with anyone. He had to make irrational decisions about the future: he watched the installation of new showers, knowing that in two years' time there would be nobody to use them. He cancelled the entrance exam for the following year for some invented reason. One day in March 1972, the Provincial summoned the staff at 2 p.m., and the school at 2.15, with the news of the planned closure. Despite the heavy hearts, the last two years of Mungret were good years, and those who graduated from the school then have remained exceptionally loyal to their friends and their old teachers. One striking example of this: among the crowds at Senan's funeral was a man whom he had expelled from Mungret. “Best thing ever happened to me. I preferred horses to Homer and was at the races when I should have been in class. Senan and my parents saw that schooling did not suit me. I've done fine without it”.

Senan remembered his next nine years, teaching in Crescent Comprehensive, with particular happiness. With four other teachers (of English, history, geography and science) he experimented in team teaching of first year classes. The team would focus on Lough Gur for three months, then on Ancient Limerick, then on the Burren and Aran Islands, taking the pupils through the history, geography, folklore, music and attractions of each topic. They were delighted to find pupils in turn taking their own families on guided tours of the places they had been immersed in.

After those productive years in education, it was a revelation to move north, first to Portadown, then to Belfast, though he had some of the North in his blood - his father was from Fermanagh. They were troubled years, the Good Friday Agreement still a long way off. When Senan went to Portadown, he found an open house, with neighbours popping in at all times of the day and night, chuffed that the Jesuits considered Churchill Park worth investing in. There were informal visits from staff of the Dublin Department of Foreign Affairs, anxious to suss out from the Jesuits how things were moving. He was appalled at the mistaken policy of sending in British army troops to police the North - they were trained to fight, not to keep the peace. He was impressed by the impact made there by Wee Paddy (Doyle), uhwhom he followed later to Belfast and as Instructor of Tertians.

That tertianship is still an unwritten piece of Province history, Senan was happy with the location of the tertians in small communities, in Derry, Coleraine, Belfast, and a meeting point in Maghera. A large tertianship house, with its own cook and institutional character, can foster dependence. But these tertians, living with two or three others, managing their own budget and diet, working things out for themselves, had a more realistic preparation for the probable shape of their future life as Jesuits.

So much for where Senan lived and what he did. A harder question: what made him the remarkable man he was? Here is Alan McGuckian's reflection:
I did the Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life with Senan a few years ago. I remember when we came to the meditation on the incarnation he said with great seriousness; this changes everything. Our faith that the eternal word of God became flesh in Jesus makes everything different, makes everything new.

Those who have known him over the years remember a certain quality of inner freshness and dynamism. Part of that was a gift of nature. Much of it, I maintain, came from his fascination and engagement with Jesus.

Senan's capacity to form relationships was extraordinary. They could be lifelong friendships that were transformative for people – or very short term encounters. In recent years he spent a lot of time around hospitals. He wouldn't be five minutes on a ward when he knew the names of all the nurses and the porters and the cleaners, where they were from and how many children they had and that their brother's mother in law was the sister of the Bishop of Elphin. (I made that up, but you know what I mean.) He loved to get the news about people because he was genuinely interested in them.
Caitriona said to me that one thing she remembered most vividly was that Senan was open and welcoming to everybody. He didn't distinguish between high and low, rich and poor, virtuous and unvirtuous. He took people as he found them. I think that is a gift of grace more than nature. Though it should be said that there were certain kinds of mean-spirited behaviour that he would describe as “lousy behaviour”. Individuals, specified or unspecified, who were guilty of such behaviour, would be termed “lousers”. To be designated as a “louser” was definitely not a good thing!

Senan clung to life with incredible tenacity - but, let it be said, with great patience and dignity. As I watched this I often asked “why?” What was it, I wondered, that he still had to do? What did he still have to learn? What did Senan still have to do? There is one thing that he did in these final months of suffering that means a lot to me personally and I will share it with you.

Over the past 20 years Senan had become a Belfast man. He was the son of an Ulsterman, so returning to the North was really a coming home to his roots. In Belfast he was utterly committed to the life of the community, and worked closely with people in all the churches. He was very committed to the life of the diocese of Down and Connor. There is now a new initiative of pastoral renewal in Down and Connor called The Living Church project, which I myself have the privilege to be involved in. Senan became so excited about the Living Church that he told me very solemnly one day more than a year ago that he had decided that he would offer up whatever he had to suffer for the Living Church. He announced this at a mass he celebrated when he came back for a one-day visit to Belfast.

Those of us who have watched him slowly decline in recent months know that the gradual, irreversible loss of control which was always fought so resolutely had to be a great suffering. One day a few weeks ago when I visited him in St Vincent's, Senan as always wanted to know the news. “How is everyone in Belfast? What about the work?” I told him that the Living Church project was moving forward slowly but surely. "Ah", he said, "I have had a fair bit of pain lately. When I was experiencing a lot of pain, I said to myself, “I know what that is for?” The only time he ever mentioned pain - and that without a trace of self-pity – was to say that he was offering it up, turning it to good use. That goes some way towards answering my question, “what did he still have to do?”

Perhaps that is why he shied away from any talk of death even in the last months, when his body was wasted to the point of emaciation. He came back from death's door so often that the devoted staff in Cherryfield called him Lazarus. He did not know the ground plan of the heavenly mansions, so he did not want to waste energy speculating about them. Instead he remained engaged in life, in his friends, in all the news, to the very end. He would have been delighted to go to the Lord with the ashes still fresh on his forehead. And happy that his prayer was answered: May I be alive when I die. His fellow-Jesuits feel a huge sense of loss for a man who was so central to our corporate life, and such a dearly loved companion.

Interfuse No 152 : Summer 2013

HOW TO FACE DEATH

Dr John Holien

3.3.2013: letter from Dr John Holien and the team in St Vincent's Hospital who looked after Senan Timoney during his last weeks of life; it was addressed to Senan's niece Mrs Hussey

Dear Mrs Hussey,
Firstly let me apologise for the long delay in writing to you to express my sincerest condolences to you and all the family and the Jesuit community on Senan's death. The team and I had become extremely fond of Fr Senan during his time with us, and the dignity, fortitude and patience he displayed right to the end was amazing - he was remarkably brave, determined and single-minded as he battled away, and these no doubt were traits he'd displayed all his life.

The team and I were aware just how hard the last few months had been for you and the members of his community as you all tried to come to terms with what had happened to Fr Senan. Having not had the pleasure of knowing him before he fell ill, I can only imagine what sort of man he was- the glimpses we had in Vincents made us realise we were caring for a person of enormous intellect, a man who'd dedicated his life to the betterment of others, a selfless man who was much loved by all who knew him. We were always struck by how determined he was even when the odds were against him, how hard he worked and never questioned or complained about what happened to him. He seemed to have this amazing gracefulness to just accept it, offer it up and get on with it, like a true Jesuit in every sense.

I can't tell you how sad we are to lose him - people come and go in Vincent's all the time, but Fr Senan was very special to us and we were devastated we could not make him better. The last few weeks in particular were so difficult as the amazing progress he'd made initially began to fade. I'm so sorry his final few days were not spent where we wanted them to be – at home amongst family and friends, reading the Irish Times and talking rugby.

I hope in the weeks and months ahead you can remember him as the man he was before his illness. It was an enormous privilege for us to have looked after him, I'm just so sorry we couldn't do more. I really mean it when I say Fr Senan made a lasting impression on us all, and I'm sure you have many wonderful memories of a very wonderful man to look back on.

With sincerest sympathies,

John Holien and team

Born: 02 August 1866, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1891, St Stanisalus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1903, Naples, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 05 April 1920, St Mary’s, Miller St, Sydney, Australia

Early Education Christian Brothers Nth Richmond Street and Carmelite Academy, Dominic Street, then Royal University Dublin

First World War chaplain

by 1895 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1901 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1905 at St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1913
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 15th Battalion, France

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After Ordination he was appointed Master of Novices for a short period, then he was transferred to Gardiner St.
Later he was appointed Rector of Mungret, but only stayed in this job for a short while due to health reasons.
He was then sent to Australia where he worked in one of the North Sydney Parishes.
He volunteered to be a Chaplain and came to Europe with Australian troops.
When he returned to Australia his health broke down and he had an operation for a malignant tumour. He died shortly after the operation 05 April 1920. He was much loved.
(there is also a long homily preached by Father Tighe at St Mary’s, Sydney, on the topic of Revolution and War)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Tighe was educated at Belvedere College, and graduated with a BA from the Royal University, Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1891, was a junior
preparing for public examinations at Milltown Park, 1893-94, and studied philosophy at Enghien, Champagne. He taught for a few years, 1896-1900, at Mungret, studied theology at Posillipo, Naples, 1900-04, and did tertianship at Mold, Wales, the following year.
He was a rural missioner, and involved in parish work in Limerick, 1905-10, except for a time as socius to the master of novices at Tullabeg, 1906-07. He gave retreats, stationed at Gardiner Street, Dublin, 1910-12, and for a short time was rector of Mungret, 1912-13. Because of ill health was sent to Australia.
He worked first at Lavender Bay, 1913-15, and then, 1915-17, was military chaplain at the No. 1 General Hospital, Heliopolis, and latter served with the 15th Battalion AIP in France and Belgium. He returned to Australia and to the parish of North Sydney after the war.
Tighe was a remarkable speaker, preacher and retreat-giver, but had a weak chest. The latter raised speculation as to how he was accepted into the military He had been suggested as master of novices in Australia, and probably performed the duties for the first few months in 1914, but because of ill health another Jesuit was chosen.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick Tighe 1866-1920
Fr Patrick Tighe was born in Dublin of an old Catholic family. He received his early education at Belvedere and entered the Society in 1891.
His course complete, he was made Rector of Mungret, but he held this office only for a short period, owing to ill health. For the same reason he went to Australia where he worked in one of the Sydney parishes. On the outbreak of the First World War he came to Europe as a Chaplain to the Australian Forces. After his return to Australia, his health broke down completely, and he was operated on for a malignant tumour. `He died shortly after the operation on April 5th 1920. He had been Master of Novices in Australia for some time. He was a man who showed in all his exterior actions a spirit of deep recollection.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Patrick Tighe (1866-1920)

A native of Dublin, entered the Society in 1891. He made his higher studies at Enghien and Naples where he was ordained in 1903. He was appointed a member of the mission staff at the Crescent in 1905 and remained here until 1910. Father Tighe was later rector of Mungret for a brief period and served as chaplain with the Australian army in the first world war. His later years were spent on the Australian mission.

Born: 25 April 1918, Bank Place, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1952, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 09 September 1995, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Father was a motor agent and family lived at Shortcastle, Mallow, County Cork

Fifth of six boys with three sisters.

Early education Patrician Monastery in Mallow he then went at age 13 to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1931-1936)

by 1952 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fourth wave of Zambian Missioners
by 1962 at Loyola, Lusaka, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
‘He was radical, he had vision and he made things happen. He was single-minded and, not least, he was stubborn as a donkey’. These words were spoken by Mr P J Kirby, chairman of Clane Community Council at the graveside of Fr Thompson on 12 September 1995.

Fr Bob was born in Mallow, Co Cork in 1918, went to school with the Patrician Brothers and then on to Clongowes Wood College. He entered the Society at Emo Park in 1936 and after studies and ordination in 1949 and then tertianship, he straightaway went to Northern Rhodesia where he stayed for 12 years. While there at Chikuni, he was involved in general teaching, in teacher training, scouting and teaching of religion. He moved to Lusaka and was editor of a newspaper "The Leader" which advocated independence, was very pro-UNIP and was critical of the colonial government. With Fr Paddy Walsh he became friends with Dr Kenneth Kaunda and other leaders at the Interracial Club. This was all during Federation days. In fact, the then Federal Prime Minister Roy Welensky wrote to Fr Bob's brother who was a doctor in Rhodesia, ‘Tell that Jesuit brother of yours he is causing me a lot of trouble’. At Independence in 1964, Kaunda brought Fr Bob back from Ireland for the occasion.

Fr Bob was very intelligent, had plenty of ideas in a very active mind and would 'take up the cudgels' as it were, for worthy causes. Many did not see eye to eye with him and often it was mutual, yet he got things done and was never shy of speaking out.

When he returned to Ireland in 1963, he was on the Mission circuits for five years, traveling throughout Ireland and then stayed on retreat work at Rathfarnham and Tullabeg for seven years. In 1977, he was transferred to Clongowes Wood College and became assistant curate in the parish of Clane, a nearby village. For ten years he took part in the life of the parish and the local community: primary schools, the restoration of the old Abbey, renovation of Mainham cemetery, projects for tidy towns, negotiation for a site for a new business enterprise centre and a memorial to Fr John Sullivan S.J. ‘He made things happen’. After leaving Clane for Moycullen in Co Galway, he was called back for the unveiling of a plaque at the restored Abbey which read: “This plaque is erected to the tremendous contribution of life in the locality by Rev R Thompson S.J. during the years 1977 to 1987”.

Bob's remark about this tribute was that he was the first Irishman to have a plaque erected to him before he died. A business centre was built and opened in 1996 after Bob's death and is called the Thompson Business and Enterprise Centre.

In 1987 he retired to Moycullen, Co Galway, for the quiet life as assistant curate and a bit of fishing. The word 'retire' does not really apply to him as his active mind soon saw him involved with concern for the environment, the collapse of the sea trout stocks and the rod license dispute, being on the side of the fishermen. He helped in the Church and stayed there for four years up to 1991. He returned to Clongowes and Clane and four years later he died in Dublin on 9 of September 1995.

He was a man of big ideas he had ‘a remarkable ability of having a new idea every day’ yet he never praised himself for his achievements. He was a devoted confessor. There was nothing artificial in his dealings with parishioners and he was always so sympathetic to those going through hard times. He looked after poor people in a sensitive and low key way that protected their dignity. He had an abiding interest in encouraging young people to use their talents and had total confidence in their ability to improve on what the last generation had done. He motivated those around him, especially the young people. Nobody got preferential treatment, least of all those who believed they deserved it!

‘He was single-minded and tireless’.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary

Fr Robert (Bob) Thompson (1918-1995)

25th April 1918: Born at Mallow, Co. Cork
Education; Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1936: Entered Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1938: First Vows at Emo
1938 - 1941: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD
1941 - 1944: Tullabeg, Philosophy
1944 - 1946: Clongowes Wood College, Regency
1946 - 1950; Milltown Park, Theology
31st July 1949; Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1950 - 1951: Tertianship, Rathfarnham
1951 - 1963: Zambia: Learning the language, Teaching in Chikuni Boarding School, Secretary to Bishops Conference, Teacher of Religion, Scouts Trainer, Minor Seminary teacher, Editor, “The Leader” magazine
2nd Feb. 1952: Final Vows, Chikuni College
1964 - 1969: Crescent College, Limerick, Teacher
1969 - 1970; Tullabeg - Missioner Rathfarnham - Assistant Director, Retreat House
1970 - 1976: Tullabeg - Director of Retreat House
1976 - 1977; Tullabeg - Superior
1977 - 1987: Clongowes - Assistant Curate, Clane Parish
1987 - 1991: Galway - Assistant Curate, Moycullen
1991 - 1995: Clongowes - Coordinator EC Leader Programme, Clane Community Council
9th Sept. 1995: Died unexpectedly at St. Vincent's Private Nursing Home

When leaving Clongowes in his last year Bob Thompson proved himself a very good all rounder, academically as well. Seldom if ever did he praise himself, for example, as a member of the Irish Mission staff doing the length and breadth of Ireland. He was never heard to criticise others on a mission or quietly hint that he was really the number one on the team.

In many ways he was lucky in having Fr. Donal O'Sullivan as Rector of Scholastics in Tullabeg. Bob had little time for piffling matters and could take a hard knock when it was just and due. As a Junior at UCD and Philosopher he had a good sense of humour and greatly benefited from a full house of scholastics. Having six men about the home in Mallow had its own advantage in growth points which no doubt was a definite help in his life.

His years as a young priest in Africa gave him a good deal of experience which he used with amazing courage and which sometimes might have benefited with just that touch of a little prudence and patience. He was always proud of Kenneth Kaunda, especially when Zambia came of age. On the occasion when the country was officially opened, Bob received an invitation here in Ireland to the real opening ceremony out in Zambia, so many miles away. It showed an appreciation and gratitude on the part of the New President of the time when Kaunda, his wife and eight children needed and received practical assistance while he waited in the wings in gaol for many a long day.

When Bob was sent to Tullabeg for a few years, he proved to be a man with big ideas, when finances were a serious matter for the running of retreats. He initiated an annual "Field Day" for Co. Offaly on such a gigantic scale, one wonders now at those vast undertakings. He had a huge army of backers, reminding us of things to come in Clane that was beyond ordinary Jesuit reckoning.

The ten years when Bob acted as assistant curate in Clane parish were blessed for him by having local priests who encouraged him and gave him his head. The seeds that started to grow in Africa now came into fruition due to his intellectual capacity. The next three qualities he had, are seldom seen in the one person, he was radical, he had vision and he made things happen. Not everyone grasped the deep compassion in his make up for those in trouble. They certainly saw how he motivated those around him and especially young people. We were all made aware at some stage that nobody got preferential treatment, least of all those who believed they deserved it! He was single-minded and tireless.

Today we see for ourselves the results of his achievements: the modern primary schools with their lovely run in to the village; the restored Abbey; a work of genuine artistic beauty obviously influenced by expert professional advice; the renovation of Mainham Cemetery, the various tidy town and amenity projects, the memorial to Fr. John Sullivan and finally the site for the new Enterprise Centre.

His health deteriorated for a year or so, prior to his sudden death. This was shown in his step slowing down and the energy slackening. He himself very wisely prepared to hand over to others what needed to be continued and often completed. This is a sign of a real leader who can pass on jobs to others that he would normally do himself. We Jesuits who lived with him admired the way the Lord blessed him with a magnificent base speaking voice, clear diction, so natural in delivery. He was a devoted confessor, nothing artificial in his dealings with parishioners and so sympathetic to those going through hard times. He had a big heart.

His sudden death came as a shock to his family, the Jesuits in Clongowes and to the people of Clane and neighbourhood. Seldom have we seen such a fitting farewell to any Jesuit. The last line was said at his graveside by Mr PJ Kirby in a truly wonderful oration. “The best tribute we can pay Fr. Bob is to try to emulate his example and continue the strong tradition of community and voluntary work. I know the people of Clane will not disappoint him!”

Kieran Hanley SJ

Oration at the graveside of Fr. Bob Thompson S.J. Delivered by Mr. P.J. Kirby, Chairman of Clane Community Council 12th September 1995.

Friends and neighbours,

May I thank Fr. Bob's family and the Jesuit community for providing this opportunity to the people of Clane to honour someone we loved.

I know that some of Fr. Bob's friends from Moycullen are also here today and I hope that what we want to say also reflects how the people of Galway felt about Fr Bob.

Today we are celebrating the life of someone who made an immense contribution to Clane as a priest and a community worker. This happened because Fr. Bob had a number of outstanding personal qualities:

• He had an intellectual capacity second to none
• He was radical
• He had vision
• He made things happen
• He was compassionate
• He motivated those around him
• He was even-handed; nobody got preferential treatment least of all those who believed they deserved it
• He was single-minded and tireless and, not least,
• He was stubborn as a donkey!

These qualities enabled Fr. Bob to achieve things that we can see with our own eyes in Clane today:

• The modern primary schools
• The restored Abbey
• The renovation of Mainham Cemetery
• Various tidy town and amenity projects
• The memorial to Fr. John Sullivan; (I will refer again to this later)
• The site for the new Enterprise Centre

These are all tangible examples of the practical contribution Fr. Bob made to Clane. However, he also made other contributions that were less obvious but are probably of more value than we realise:

1. He looked after poor people (this was done in a sensitive, low-key way that protected the dignity of the people concerned)

2. He had an abiding interest in encouraging young people to use their talents and he had total confidence in their ability to improve on what the last generation had done.

3. He left a legacy of committed community workers to carry on the work; the anticipation of his own departure is always the mark of a great leader.

Each of us will have our own special memories of Fr. Bob. On a personal note, he had a profound influence on my continuing adult education - you could not get this type of learning at any school or university. Some of the community projects I mentioned earlier were concocted late at night in Fr. Bob's house here in Clongowes, very often with spiritual help of the liquid kind.

He had particular insights into the creative and positive use of alcohol. For example, he did not agree with people giving up drink for Lent. I discovered this to my cost one day years ago when he took an abrupt turn in his Fiesta into Manzor's pub car park. The fact that I also came from the Blackwater valley in North Cork did not spare me from a stern lecture on the opportunity for doing good through buying a drink for a friend, a neighbour or a stranger.

I mentioned the memorial to Fr. John Sullivan earlier. Many people in Clane genuinely believe that history has repeated itself. It is remarkable, in the space of two generations, two people of the calibre of Fr. John Sullivan and Fr. Bob Thompson should emerge from the Jesuit order and contribute so much to the welfare of the people of Clane and the surrounding districts. It is a class double act that will be very hard to follow.

Now it's time to say farewell. Someone remarked at the week-end that the last time the people of Clane bid farewell to Fr, Bob he came back! Nothing should be ruled out and I'm sure that he is not gone far away.

The best tribute we can pay Fr. Bob is to try to emulate his example and continue the strong tradition of community and voluntary work. I know the people of Clane will not disappoint him.

◆ The Clongownian, 1996

Obituary

Father Robert Thompson SJ

Bob Thompson was born in Mallow in 1918. After school, he entered the Jesuits at Emo. Having completed his noviceship in 1938, he followed the conventional course of studies - a degree in Arts at UCD, philosophy in Tullabeg and theology in Milltown Park. Bob - spent two years as a scholastic between philosophy and theology - the period known as “regency” - in Clongowes. He was ordained on 31 July 1949 and when he had finished tertianship, back in Rathfarnham Castle, where he had studied for the BA, he was among the first Jesuits to go to what was then Northern Rhodesia in 1951.

Over the next twelve years he studied the language, taught in the boarding school at Chikuni, served as secretary to the Bishops' Conference, taught Religion, trained scouts, taught in the Minor Seminary and edited “The Leader”, a magazine advocating independent statehood for the country. He taught Kenneth Kaunda, later the first president of Zambia, and his influence was something President Kaunda never forgot. Although Bob was by then back in Ireland, the President invited him to attend the celebrations marking Zambian independence.

In 1963, a thorn in the side of the colonial authorities, Bob returned home. After a year in the Crescent as a teacher, he joined the mission staff based at Tullabeg and was responsible for giving parish missions and retreats around the country. He did this for five years.

Then it was back to Rathfarnham Castle once more as Assistant Director of the Retreat House. The following year he returned to Tullabeg to direct the Retreat House there. After six years in this role, and one further memorable year as Superior of the commu nity, he came to Clongowes in 1977.

This marked the beginning of ten very fruitful years, acting as Assistant Curate - and much more! - in Clane Parish. Bob had an enormous impact on the locality, blessed, as Fr Kieran Hanley has written, “by having local priests who encouraged him and gave him his head”. His pressure on the Department of Education to get the new primary schools built is now a matter of legend.

A fuller sense of what Bob achieved in Clane is conveyed by the tribute from Mr P.J. Kirby, printed below.

He took a four year “sabbatical” from Clane and Clongowes from 1987-91, during which he worked in Moycullen, Co. Galway, again as Assistant Curate. A friend, who shared his passion for fishing, wrote of how Bob's enjoyment of this pastime never allowed him to disregard the environment. He worried about the collapse of seatrout stocks in Connemara; “Anyone knowing Fr Bob can be certain that he has already made approaches to St Peter on these serious matters and he would want to know whạt St Peter proposed to do about the situation! Playing the harp would not be his idea of heavenly bliss....”

He returned to Clongowes and resumed his work with the local community, this time promoting the Clane Community Council and coordinating a European Union funded pro gramme in the local area. His death on 9 September 1995 in St Vincent's Hospital, where he had gone for a check-up, came as a complete shock and his dynamic, creative presence is missed by all who knew him.

The boys in Clongowes hardly knew Bob, although they would occasionally have heard his uncompromising sermons at Mass in the People's Church. They were probably surprised at the large numbers who turned out for his funeral and would have been deeply struck - as we all were, not least his Jesuit brethren - by the remarkable tribute paid to him by P.J. Kirby, chairman of the Clane Community.

Born: 06 November 1923, Clonfert Avenue, Portumna, County Galway
Entered: 06 September 1941, Emo
Ordained: 28 July 1955, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 09 January 1982, Hong Kong
Died: 10 October 2006, Wahroonga, NSW, Australia - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Part of the Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to CHN : 1992

Parents were framers and father fad an auctioneering business.

Youngest of three boys with two sisters.

Early education was at Convent and National schools in Portumna, and he then went to St Joseph’s College, Roscrea for five years.

by 1950 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He was a Jesuit for 65 years, joining the Society in Ireland and coming first to Hong Kong in 1957.

His life in Hong Kong was divided into two phases, firstly working at the retreat House in Cheung Chau for seven years, and then as an English teacher for 25 years at Wah Yan College Kowloon. he published many textbooks on English teaching, composition, writing and colloquial English. He showed great interest in drama and stage production for stage plays, and he was very influential in the Hong Kong Speech Festivals. During his teaching years at Wah Yan College Kowloon, he was active every Sunday in parishes as well as leading Catholic students at Wah Yan to develop in Catholic leadership.

He decided to work in Australia as a pastoral priest when he left Wah Yan Kowloon in 1983 as he reached the retiring age of 60. he continued his missionary work in Australia, being actively involved in the parish at Lavender Bay in Sydney and also at Neutral Bay. he also had outreach work with prostitutes' and drug addicts.

His personal life was simple and ordinary. It was said with a smile, that he was very Irish (with a Galway accent), loyal to his country and its customs, always asserting that he was “not British”! He admired the balance and beauty of Chinese culture and its skills in resolving conflicts, and he made every effort to adapt to Chinese ways.

He wrote a Sonnet about himself :
When I am dead think only this of me,
He was a man, take him for all in all,
Awkward and shy, timid in company
Who never thought of himself as ten feet tall.
Dry wit and puckish slant on life he saved
For those foibles lingered o’er his trail
Oft saw the funny side of fold and misbehaved
In what he said, sometimes beyond the pale.
Of years a scorned and chalk-facing in Hong Kong
The classroom’s daily grind long his chore.
Retired in Austral shores, time seemed for long,
had no regrets, his home for evermore.
At the end of the day let this be said
Tough his sins were as scarlet, what he wrote was red.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Donal Taylor, one of five children, desired to become a priest from an early age, and after an earlier education at the Cistercian College, Roscrea, he entered the Society of Jesus at Emo Park, Ireland, 6 September 1941. He graduated in 1946 with a BA from University College, Dublin. Three years of philosophy studies followed at St Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. He was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission for regency, 1949-52, during which he learned Chinese for two years and taught in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, for a year. In 1950 the communists detained him and two other Jesuit scholastics for two weeks after they accidentally entered Chinese territory from Macau, and were suspected of being spies as they had a camera. He returned to Ireland for theology 1952-56, and tertianship at Rathfarnham before returning to Hong Kong.
He started his teaching career at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, 1957-58, but believing that he needed to improve his Chinese he went back to Xavier House, Cheung Chou, where he not only studied Chinese, but was also given charge of the Retreat House as director and minister. During this time he established a successful parish network of retreat promoters.
Taylor's next assignment for nearly twenty years was teaching in Wah Yan College, Kowloon, from 1963, where he was also spiritual father to the junior boys. During this time he had two short breaks, 1967-68, studying “Teaching of English as a Second Language”, and, 1980-81, studying pastoral ministry.
He was a good teacher, serious in class, demanding attention and a high commitment from himself and his students. This often led to frustration and impatience. As spiritual father he
arranged an exhibition on Jesuits and their vocation for the Diocesan Vocation Exhibition organised by the Serra Club. He obtained material from all over the world, with the result that the Jesuit exhibition was the largest and most attractive.
Taylor loved teaching and his students won prizes each year for recitation, poetry reading and drama in the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival. He produced “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and directed “Pygmalion”, which was well acclaimed. To help his students he produced a series of books called “Living English” for the middle school years. He read widely, loved music and was an interesting companion in conversation. He was good at the Chinese language that made him welcome in Chinese company and especially with past students whom he had taught.
He suffered one setback in 1978 when he found it difficult to keep his balance when walking. He underwent an operation in America for inner ear balance malfunction, but afterward had to learn to walk again. As a result of this, and because he had grown tried of teaching, his heart not being in it, he thought it best to change his career, and went to England for a course in pastoral ministry before applying to the Australian province to work in a parish. He was aged 60. During his time in Hong Kong he was experienced as a faithful and committed Jesuit who served others with great generosity and responsibility.
He arrived in Australia and the Lavender Bay parish in November 1983, and found the contrast with his former life startling. No bells or order of time, his time was largely his own. He soon found that he received better feedback in the parish than in the school, and he enjoyed celebrating the sacraments other than the Mass. He had only celebrated two weddings during his time in Hong Kong, and now he had many more, learning that instruction of adults was different from children. People enjoyed his liturgies, and he prepared his Sunday homily with great care believing that it insulted people to preach without preparation. He tried to make his Mass as devotional and sacred as possible. He drew inner strength and fulfilment from his engagement with the people he met, admiring their faith, unselfishness, holiness and forbearance. A special ministry he undertook was to write to priests in prison convicted of sexual abuse. He believed that they needed to be befriended.
Taylor moved to the parish of St Canice's, Elizabeth Bay, 1990-96, as superior, and then St Joseph's, Neutral Bay, 1997-2001, and finally St Mary's, North Sydney, 2002-06.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 133 : Special Issue September 2007

Obituary

Fr Donal Taylor (1923-2006) : China Province

26th November 1923: Born at Portumna, Co. Galway.
6th September 1941: Entered the Society at Emo Park.
8th September 1943: First Vows at Emo
1943 - 1946: Rathfarnham - Studies Arts at UCD.
1946 - 1949: Tullabeg - studied philosophy.
1949 - 1951: Chinese Language Studies in Hong Kong.
1951 - 1952: Regency, teaching in Wah Yan, Hong Kong.
1952 - 1956: Milltown Park – studied theology
28th July, 1955: Ordained at Milltown Park
1956 - 1957: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1957 - 1958: Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - teaching.
1958 - 1962: Cheung Chau, H.K., Language Studies, Retreats.
1962 - 1978: Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - teaching
1979 - 1980: Teaching at Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
1980 - 1981: Studies in London, England
1981 - 1983: Teaching in Wah Yan College, Kowloon
1984 - 2006: Australia - Parish ministry
1984 - 1989: St. Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, Sydney.
1990 - 1996: St. Canice's, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney.
1997 - 2001: St. Joseph's Neutral Bay, Sydney
2002 - 2006: St. Mary's, North Sydney
September 2006: Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney
October 10th, 2006: Died at Wahroonga, New South Wales

Homily preached October 16", 2006 by Richard Leonard, S.J. at Requiem Mass, St Mary's Church, North Sydney.

For those of us who knew and loved Fr Donal Taylor, it comes as no surprise to discover that he planned his funeral. Donal liked good order, especially good liturgical order, and he was very clear about what he DIDN'T want.

Donal always thought the postmortem double-guessing about readings, hymns and ministers was to be avoided. Preparing this liturgy was one of the ways he wrestled with his own mortality, and one of the ways he wanted to care for us. Some months ago he asked me to preach. My riding instructions were clear: “Eulogize me, don't canonize me”.

The readings he chose revolve around two themes: love and empathy. In the First Letter of John we are reminded that our love of each other is a response to God's initiative in loving us first. The Gospel, like our processional hymn, applies this idea still more clearly. Jesus tells us that the only law worth worrying about is the law of love, from which should flow at home-ness, joy, friendship and a passion for inission - to go out and bear the fruit of what we have been privileged to receive from Christ. And I know that Donal liked the Letter to the Hebrews not just because it focuses on Christ as priest, but because of the nature of the priesthood described therein: empathetic, tested, hospitable and sacrificial. And in the midst of hearing these words, Donal asks us, who grieve his passing, to sing WITH him, “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord”.

Donal's life fell into three uneven chapters, each of them bestowing on him a rich legacy. For most of the first thirty years he was in Ireland. Donal's fierce loyalty for those he loved, his wicked and self-deprecating humour, the tendency to see the world as black or white, his deep love of literature and music, and his culinary palate for meat and potatoes, never left him.

Apart from the gentle lilt of his Galway accent, Donal's Irishness came into its own during the Australian republican debate. He was all for it. When I suggested that he should become an Australian citizen so he could vote in the referendum, he told me that he would first have to swear allegiance to the Queen. By whatever title the House of Windsor went in this country, the monarchy was British, and he was Irish, and that was that until an Australian was elected President.

For over twenty years Donal lived and worked in Hong Kong. It was a demanding mission, and apart from the obvious ways in which he was a foreigner, he never settled as easily nor as well as he had hoped. Still, he loved his students, and appreciated the way some of them stayed in contact with him over the years. He admired the balance and beauty of the best of Chinese culture, and also thought that the saving of face was a generous way to resolve conflict. When I visited him last week in hospital, it was no surprise to see that he been listening to a book in Mandarin.

Then, in 1984, he came to Australia. Moving out of teaching into pastoral ministry, for the next 18 years Donal was on “bay watch”, ministering at Lavender Bay, Elizabeth Bay and Neutral Bay, until coming here to North Sydney in 2002.

I first met Donal when, as a novice, I was sent to Lavender Bay. He seemed crotchety to me, and I was far too confident. So it was with mutual trepidation that we came together again at the end of 1992 at St Canice's.

I was a lot little less sure of myself at Kings Cross, and I noticed that Donal had changed too. With Elizabeth Clarke as the pastoral associate and in community with Frank Brennan and Peter Hosking for all of his time there, Donal was more vulnerable. He could be a difficult man to get to know, but, boy, was it worth it!

I was the luckiest pastoral assistant in Sydney because Donal never said “No” to any of my ideas. He would simply say, “I'd be slow on that one”. One Friday before Trinity Sunday I told Donal that I was going to preach that while Father, Son and Holy Spirit were privileged names for God, they did not exhaust the possibilities, and that God could helpfully be styled as our mother. Doubling-over in the chair he said, “I'd be slow on that one”.

At the Vigil Mass, Con, the most famous homeless person in Kings Cross, was in the front pew. During my advocacy for the maternity of God, Con jumped up and expressed what was probably a majority position in the church, “God's not our mother, Mary's our mother, God's our father”. Turning to Donal, he said, “Father Donal, this young bloke hasn't got a clue”. And marched out of the church. I looked at Donal, and then the congregation and said, “In the Name of the Father...” and sat down. And as I did Donal turned to his unteachable deacon and laughed, “I told you to be slow on that one”. Later, over dinner, he told me to give the same homily at the other Masses, “Because, while it's not my cup of tea, there are people who need to hear that Father is not the only name for God”. What a pastor! What a friend!

As we come to commend our dear brother into the arms of God, we will miss so many things: the limericks and the prose that marked our special days. He thus introduced the last verse he wrote:

“An attempt at a sonnet about myself that ends on a wobbly note”

When I am dead, think only this of me,
He was a man, take him for all in all,
Awkward and shy, timid in company,
Who never thought of self as ten feet tall.
Dry wit and puckish slant on life he saved
For those whose foibles lingered o'er his trail.
Oft saw the funny side of folk and misbehaved
In what he said, sometimes beyond the pale.
Of years a score and more chalk-facing in Hong Kong,
The classroom's daily grind for long his chore.
Retired to Austral shores, time seemed not long,
Had no regrets, his home for evermore.
At the end of the day let this be said
Though his sins were as scarlet, what he wrote was read.

We will also miss the elegant turn of phrase and sharp wit in the Province's Fortnightly Report; and the unfussy friendship, but constant encouragement and care, he lavished upon us. Like the Lord he so faithfully served, Donal was loving and empathetic.

Last Tuesday, on the vigil of the feast of St Canice, he heard the Lord speak into his ear, “Do not be afraid I am with you. I have called you by your name, you are mine. I have called you by your name. You are mine”. And with that Donal went rejoicing to the house of Lord. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen."

Donal's niece, Mairead, visited him at Easter, 2006. She and her husband, Fintan, came to pay their final respects to him on behalf of his Irish family. Richard extracted a promise from her that she would write something about her uncle. The following, read at the funeral, is taken from her tribute:

Donal was a gentle mannered child and from a young age always wanted to be a priest. well, maybe not always, he thought that he should be a bishop first and was known in the family and by his circle of friends as “the Bishop”, The Taylor's were renowned for the funerals of the family pets, of which there were a number. Donal would not attend these services unless he could be “The Bishop”. These occasions were always a great source of amusement for the neighbours - The Sisters of Mercy! Being a diplomatic individual, Donal would often try to break up a disagreement between his brothers but would invariably come out worse. This was the version that Donal himself would tell but his brother Brendan may tell a different story!! During the month of May Donal would have an altar with candles and it would be his pride and joy, until his older brother John would always blow out the candles and then the prayers were very quickly forgotten,

After 27 years of living and teaching in Hong Kong, Donal decided to retire from teaching and moved to Australia. When asked why he didn't move back to Ireland he simply stated that it was too cold. When his niece was getting married in March of 1996 Donal came home to officiate at the ceremony, but only after he gave his opinion that she should get married in August as it would be warmer!!!

Donal made regular trips to Ireland and England to see his family. He was chief celebrant at his brother John's funeral in 1996 and came home to christen his grandniece Alison in 2001. His most recent trip was in 2005 to celebrate the golden anniversary of his ordination which he celebrated in Milltown with a number of other priests that he had studied with.

Donal was a quiet gentle-spoken man with a good sense of humour and a very loyal friend and relative. He spoke openly about various matters of the church. When he was asked once about the subject of the marital debate for priests his opinion was that it really was not for him as he was very happy to reside at the parochial house but a number of women would not share the same kitchen!!!

Donal was a priest for 51 years, an extremely happy union. He had a very strong faith, which he had grown up with, and, although he never made Bishop, he had a much fulfilled life. He was as happy saying Mass in a crowded church as he was saying it in the dining room of his family home. He was a kind and gentle individual who remembered Birthdays and Christmas and when he came home to Ireland he was great at travelling around and seeing everyone. Donal was a gentle man. It was wonderful to see him at Easter, to see his churches, his home and the chalice that his parents gave him on his ordination. It is truly a beautiful piece with a little bit of Ireland engraved into it. He brought it with him wherever he was based and he told me that it would remain in this church.

He really loved this parish. And let me tell you, why wouldn't he, everyone was so kind to him. But the icing on the cake was that his brother Brendan lived close, although I'm not sure who was looking out for whom. When you remember Donal, remember him with a smile and his gentle voice. For us in Ireland, we will remember him as a brother, brother-in-law, uncle and grand-uncle. Donal is survived by his brother, Brendan, sisters Mary and Eleanor, sister-in-law Eilish, brother-in-law John, niece Mairead, nephew-in law Fintan, grand-niece Alison, and grand-nephews John and Karl.

Born: 05 May 1924, The Square, Kilkelly, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1957, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1960, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 21 March 2001, Mater Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was in business.

Youner of two boys with seven sisters.

Educated at the National School in Kilkelly for nine years he then went to Mungret College SJ for five years.

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to HIB : 1976

by 1952 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1980 at Richmond Fellowship London (BRI) studying

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 108 : Special Edition 2001

Obituary

Fr James (Jim) Tarpey (1924-2001)

5th May 1924: Born in Kilkelly, Co. Mayo
Early Education at Mungret College
7th Sept 1942: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1944: First Vows at Emo
1944 - 1948: Rathfarnham - studying Arts at UCD
1948 - 1951: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1951 - 1954: Hong Kong- 2 years language School / 1 year Wah Yan College
1954 - 1958: Milltown Park - studying Theology
31st July 1957: Ordained at Milltown
1958 - 1959: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1959 - 1969: Hong Kong (Wah Yan, Queen's Road; Wah Yan, Waterloo Road; Cheung Chau) - various capacities: Rector, Minister Prefect of the Church, Teaching English
2nd Feb. 1960: Final Vows in Hong Kong
1969 - 1973: Tullabeg - 1 year Mission staff, 3 years Retreat House staff
1973 - 1976: Rathfarnham - Retreat House staff
1976 - 1978: Betagh House, 9 Temple Villas - Superior
1978 - 1979: Rathfarnham - Director Spiritual Exercises
1979 - 1980: London - Studying practical psychology
1980 - 1981: Rathfarnham - Director Spiritual Exercises
1981 - 1984: Tullabeg - Director Spiritual Exercises
1984 - 1986: Manresa - Director Spiritual Exercises
1986 - 1988: Milltown Park - Director Spiritual Exercises; Lay Retreat Association
1988 - 1991: Arrupe, Ballymun - Parish Curate
1991 - 1996: Manresa - Director Spiritual Exercises
1996 - 1997: Milltown Park - Co-ordinator, Cherryfield Lodge; Director Spiritual Exercises
1997 - 1998: Sandford Lodge - Co-ordinator, Cherryfield Lodge; Director Spiritual Exercises
1998 - 2001: Milltown Park - Co-ordinator, Cherryfield Lodge; Director Spiritual Exercises
21st March 2001: Died in Dublin

Some ten years ago, Jim was very seriously ill with a heart condition. He made a remarkable recovery and continued to live a very energetic life, giving retreats and novenas, besides his main job as Co-ordinator of Cherryfield Lodge. He was greatly appreciated for his apostolates, as retreat-giver and homilist. The suddenness of his passing took us all by surprise, since only the day before he died he had said the prayers at the removal of the remains of Fr. Tony Baggot. He was attending a meeting when he collapsed. He was taken to the Mater Hospital, having had a massive heart attack, from which he passed away.

Noel Barber writes....

Jim Tarpey died suddenly at an AA meeting on Wednesday, March 21st. The sudden death left his family and Jesuit community stunned, but it must have been a delightful surprise for Jim. One moment he was attending a meeting on a dank cold March day and then in a blink of an eyelid he was facing the Lord he loved so well and served so faithfully.

He was born 77 years ago in Kilkelly, Co Mayo, He was one of 8 children. All but his sister, Sr. Simeon, survive him. He was educated at Mungret College, Limerick where he performed well in studies and games. He excelled at rugby and won a Munster Senior School's Rugby medal. On leaving school he entered the Society and followed the usual course of studies, After seven years the possibility of going on the missions arose. He opted for Zambia, then known as Northern Rhodesia, but was sent to Hong Kong, where he spent two years learning the language and one year teaching in a secondary school. He returned to Ireland in 1954 to study theology and was ordained in 1957 at Milltown Park.

During the years as a student his colleagues appreciated his wisdom, balance, good humour and good judgement. His piety was unobtrusive and dutiful. On the side, he acquired a formidable reputation as quite an outstanding Bridge player. He returned to Hong Kong in 1959 for 10 years. It was there that he developed his talent as a preacher.

On coming back to Ireland in 1969 he devoted the rest of his life to pastoral ministry of all shades and types with an interlude of two years when he was Superior of a Scholasticate. He was an outstanding preacher to priests, nuns, laity, to the young and the old. Father Donal Neary tells that Jim was in constant demand to return to wherever he gave the Novena of Grace. One could multiply such accounts in all sorts of areas.

He was greatly beloved by patients and staff in Cherryfield Lodge, similarly in the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook, where he spent an afternoon every week, having heard that the hospital required volunteers to visit patients. He had a large apostolate within the AA. He travelled the length and breadth of the country giving retreats and missions. He had exceptional gifts as a confessor and spiritual director, as many can testify, not least his Jesuit brothers.

The ingredients that made him so successful in pastoral ministry were many. The card player was dealt a good hand. And like the good Bridge player he was, he exploited that hand to the full, capitalising on his long suits and maximising his short ones. He was a fine speaker and a gifted storyteller. He was amiable, unpretentious, and simple, of sound judgement and eminent common sense. He had the precious ability to learn from experience and convey what he learned to others.

He might well be embarrassed to hear himself described as a theologian. He was, however, a very good one. His theology was not speculative or philosophical. He thought about the Christian message in stories, created or drawn from experience, and he conveyed the message in the same way, simply, concretely and vividly. He was in good company in communicating the message in this way. He shared this style of communication with people we know as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These were important elements in his make-up.

But above all he was a man of prayer. He loved prayer: to love prayer is to love the one to whom one prays and with whom one journeys. One would find him regularly in the early hours of the morning in the little community oratory.

As a card player, he could maximise his short suit, so too in life. He discovered painfully that he suffered from alcoholism. In some ways that was the defining experience in his life. He battled the sickness, at times with little success, but ultimately conquered it. His own family, his Jesuit brothers and his friends are all proud of the way he accepted the sickness, spoke about it, overcame it, and helped so generously so many who suffered in the same way. That illness impressed on him a sense of his own fragility and from that sense so many of his qualities came. It gave him an enormous capacity to help others, to feel for them in their weakness and to accept them as he accepted himself.

Through his sickness he became humble in the true sense of the term. It did not blind him to his strengths, nor did he use it to protest that he was not up to this, that or the other. In fact he was always ready to take on whatever he was asked to do and to volunteer for any pastoral work, quietly confident that he could do successfully whatever he was called to do.

In his account of the last Supper, St. John leaves out the institution of the Eucharist, and where the other evangelists recount that scene, John puts in the washing of the feet. This is, of course, John's commentary on the Eucharist. And, Tarpey like, the evangelist makes his point in a story. He is saying that the Eucharist is pointless unless it leads us to serve others in humble tasks. Someone has said that the sign of a good Christian community would be if after lining up for communion, the congregation then lined up to serve others. Jim Tarpey was always in line, ready to serve others.

Born: 20 March 1914, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1945, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 April 1983, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 23 October 1996, Glengara Nursing, Glenageary, County Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was a barrister and then retired with mother to farming, living at Derrybawn, Glendalough.

Fourth of five boys with six sisters.

Early education at Mount St Benedicts, Gorey, Wexford for one year he then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

https://www.dib.ie/biography/sweetman-michael-a8409

Born: 16 April 1906, Upper Tyrone Street, North Wall, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 11 April 1979, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin

Part of the University Hall, Hatch Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Father was a funeral director and accidentally killed in the Rising of 1916. Mother and family reside at Aughrim Street, Dublin, supported by her family.

Third of four boys with four sisters.

Early education at the Convent of the Sisters of Charity in Dublin he then went to O’Connell’s School, Dublin; He won a University scholarship from Dublin Corporation. he then went to Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin and did 1st year Arts at UCD and 1 yeat Philosophy before entry

by 1936 at Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria (ASR) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Holy Cross College Clonliffe before entry

Born: 01 November 1919, San Bernard, Lindsay Road, Glasnevin, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1956, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 26 May 2000, Mater Hospital Dublin

Part of the Belvedere College SJ, Dublin community at the time of death.

Youngest of three boys.

Early education was at a National School, and in 1931 he went to O’Connells school for six years. He then did a year of Engineering at UCD

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Studied 1st year Engineering at UCD before entry

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 105 : Special Edition 2000

Obituary
Fr Gerard (Gerry) Spillane (1919-2000)
1st. Nov. 1919: Born in Dublin
1931 - 1938 Christian Brothers' O' Connell Schools, Dublin - Leaving and Matric.
1938 - 1939: UCD for a half-year, studying Engineering.
7th Sept. 1939: Entered the Society at Emo.
8th Sept. 1941: First Vows at Emo.
1941 - 1944: Rathfarnham-studying Arts at UCD.
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg- studying Philosophy.
1947 - 1950: Clongowes- Teacher; Prefect; Clongowes Certificate in Education.
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park- Theology
31st July 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park.
1954 - 1955: Tertianship at Rathfarnham.
1955 - 1962: Clongowes- Teacher, Higher Line Prefect
1962 - 2000: Belvedere- Teacher; Games; Vice-Rector. Since 1988 he has served as Health Prefect; Chaplain St. Monica's Nursing Home; Sacristan; Guestmaster.

From March 1999, Fr. Spillane's health was in decline. He was admitted to the Mater Hospital and was diagnosed to be suffering from cancer in July of that year. Since then, he spent several periods receiving special nursing care in Cherryfield Lodge, after which he would be well enough to return to Belvedere. He was again admitted to Cherryfield Lodge in March, but was not confined to bed and until shortly before his death he was able to go for walks around the grounds. He died peacefully on 26th May 2000 at the age of 80.

Joe Dargan writes ...
Behind the simple facts of the Curriculum Vitae given above there was a life of faithful commitment and service which was the heart and soul of Gerry. He touched the lives of many people who valued his support and judgement and recognised that his influence on their lives was deep and personal. Fr Gerry was above all else a Religious and Priest. His life was centred on the Eucharist. Through it he became an act of worship of God. The witness of his life spoke volumes. The quiet impact he made on people was shown by the numbers and variety of people who attended his funeral.

As a teacher in Clongowes and Belvedere he dedicated himself to the hidden, constant and grinding work of the classroom as well as forming boys according to the values of Jesus Christ. When his close friend, Fr. Tom Scully, died in 1968 at the age of 46 Gerry became chaplain and mentor of the Catholic Housing Aid Society which provides accommodation for the aged poor as well as newly weds. At the time of his death another flat complex was near completion.

In 1988 Gerry retired from teaching. He became Chaplain to St. Monica's Nursing Home. His care of the sick and dying was unstinting. He would sit for hours with a dying patient, just being present offering support and prayer. At his death the patients of St. Monica's asked that the funeral from Gardiner Street to Glasnevin cemetery would pass and stop at St. Monica's.

Gerry is greatly missed by the members of the Belvedere Community. His was a constant presence and made everyone feel welcome. One of his late colleagues wrote this letter to the community at the time of his death.

"I regret that I cannot attend the funeral of Fr. Gerry Spillane this morning. Gerry is in my prayers. I send my sincere condolences to his family and the community. Gerry was already an established and hugely respected member of the staff of Belvedere when I arrived in 1965. I well remember that he made me feel very welcome and was kind and helpful to me as I settled in to life in Belvedere. We struck up a nice bond of friendship as we chatted on the corridor. I was struck from our first meeting by his transparent decency. I never heard him raise his voice to any boy - nor did I ever hear him speak badly of any boy. He had a great respect for our students and they had huge respect for him.

I was always aware of his love for all sports. He seemed to believe that the real value of sport was in contributing to the good of the team, rather than seeking personal glory. I feel that Gerry was very much at home in Belvedere. He knew Belvedere and its community very well and was most generous in giving his time and energy for their good.

I believe that Gerry lived his vocation fully every day of his life. I feel privileged to have known him as friend and colleague over 30 years. Please convey my deepest sympathies to his family and members of the community.

Sincerely,
John Brown."

May he rest in the Peace of Christ,

Joseph Dargan SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2000
Obituary
Father Gerry Spillane SJ
Gerry Spillane was born on 1 November 1919, one of three brothers, a north Dubliner, from the district around Drumcondra and Glasnevin which - as he liked to point out - produced so many Jesuits around those years, mostly, like himself, pupils of the Christian Brothers at O'Connell's (for whom he always retained great regard). He had in a high degree the virtues typical of his background: straightforwardness, conscientiousness, great human decency and loyalty to the traditional values he had inherited at home and in school.

Having started an engineering degree at UCD, he soon abandoned it to follow what he had come to recognize as his true vocation and he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Emo, Co Laois, in September 1939, in lean times just as the Second World War was breaking out. He was a few months short of his 20th birthday.

He followed an entirely traditional course of Jesuit formation, mostly during the war-years and their aftermath; after Emo, juniorate in Rathfarnham Castle, while studying for the BA at UCD, philosophy in Tullabeg, Co Offaly, three years as a teacher and prefect in Clongowes and then theology in Milltown Park. Following ordination on 31 July 1953 by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, there was a fourth year of theology, and finally tertianship back in Rathfarnham.

He had hoped to go on the newly-opened Irish Jesuit mission to Zambia (known in those pre-independence days as Northern Rhodesia) but was sent instead to teach in Clongowes. It was not a posting which greatly appealed to him. Quite apart from the thwarting of his missionary desires, boarding school life in the early fifties was austere and relations between pupils and staff were formal and relatively remote.

Within a year, Gerry was appointed Higher Line Prefect, which meant that, in place of teaching, he was responsible for the discipline and good order of the school as a whole and of the most senior pupils - the Higher Line - in particular. His sense of duty and his scrupulous anxiety to ensure the highest standards of behaviour in the school probably had the effect of concealing his enormous humanity from those in his charge (his formation had partly concealed it even from himself) and only the more perceptive among them descried it.

1962 marked a watershed in his life: it was the year he was transferred to Belvedere, in the wide-ranging “reshuffle” of Jesuit assignments made at that time by the American Jesuit plenipotentiary sent by Father General to visit the Irish Province. This change brought him back to his north Dublin roots and set him to tasks which were more congenial than the role of Higher Line Prefect, faithfully though he had discharged that office. He was to spend his remaining thirty-eight years in the college - until 1988 as a member of the staff, thereafter, until his health failed, as chaplain to a nearby nursing home.

Gerry taught mathematics and his specialty was the “matric” class at the top of the school. His teaching had all the hallmarks of the man himself: solid, faithful, meticulously and painstakingly prepared. In the first years, he also taught religion. But 1962 was another, deeper watershed, not only for him but for priests of his generation and the church they served. In October of that year the Second Vatican Council began. It was to transform the landscape and seemed to render the theological studies Gerry had undertaken with such careful fidelity suddenly irrelevant. Like others, he lost confidence and found it difficult to master the new insights so prodigally unleashed in those years. After a short time, he stopped teaching religion and never gave a retreat again.

He had come to Belvedere as replacement for Tom O'Callaghan, sent to Limerick the year Gerry arrived. He inherited not only Tom's classes but also his teams and, for the next nineteen years, his name became synonymous with Junior Cup rugby in the college. Tom - regarded by Tony O'Reilly as the best coach he ever had anywhere - had ended a long sequence of semi-final near-misses through the fifties by winning in 1960 and 1961 and had failed only narrowly to make it three-in-a-row with a talented team the following year. Gerry Spillane, with less natural flair, was to maintain Belvedere's high standards at this level throughout his long term in charge.

But he was dogged by every kind of misfortune in the Cup itself and, despite reaching five finals, he never succeeded in winning the trophy. One year, there was the loss of key players through freak injuries between a drawn match and a delayed replay against Blackrock (delayed, as he would explain to you, against his will); defeat through a last-minute try and touchline conversion at the hands of Pres Bray another year; a comeback from 3-14 down to 13-14 against Blackrock finally thwarted in the closing minutes, with 'Rock on the ropes, by the referee's failure to play advantage, a third year. “What do you have to do?” he wondered aloud on the night of his last final in 1979, when Conor Hickey's team had lost by only a single score - once again to Blackrock. It was hard to find an answer.

Gerry's own tension and nervousness on big match days was apt to communicate itself to his young teams and may have played a part in their undoing. But there is no doubt that he made a huge contribution to the welfare of the game in Belvedere and he did much to develop the school's rugby talent in his time. What he lacked in flair he made up for by dogged, methodical study of the game, which helped to make him the perceptive coach he was.

It was typical of him that he looked after equipment - balls, pumps and the rest - with scrupulous care, preferring to keep them in his own room rather than entrust them to anyone else. There was no waste, no needless damage or loss, no lavish expenditure of any kind. That was how he conducted his entire life. (Instances of venality among the clergy and the abuse of the Mass-card system by some of them was one of his well known conversational whipping-boys). His whole approach was somehow epitomized in the vision of him on so many winter afternoons setting off on his bicycle at the end of a full day's class (he didn't drive), already middle-aged, three or four rugby balls laced together and hung from the handle-bars, for another carefully prepared practice in Jones's Road.

He expected of his players the same high standards of application and attention to detail he set for himself and he helped to pass on these standards to his successors.

His preparatory work in the earlier years must surely be given some of the credit for the memorable Senior Cup successes of 1968, 1971 and 1972, under Gerry Brangan, Paddy Lavery and Jim Moran. Needless to say, he would never claim such credit for himself - he shunned the limelight and took a dim view of coaches who were less self-effacing, whether colleagues at schools level or those on the national stage. There were certain bêtes noires in particular, but they cannot be named here!

After his retirement from coaching in 1981 - he was by then 62 and had been fit enough to referee until shortly before - he retained a close interest in the school's fortunes. Whatever rueful reflections it may have inspired in him, he greatly rejoiced at the ending of the long drought in 1994 and the two further Junior Cup successes of the nineties. He may be forgiven if he found the victories over Blackrock, at whose hands he had so often tasted bitter disappointment, especially sweet.

He had much better fortune as a coach on the athletics track and his sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams won several Leinster and All-Ireland championships over the years. Even here, there were, of course, occasional disasters', as he would have said himself - his sprinters misplaced by a negligent judge on the tape, recalcitrant parents, long meetings in the parlour, to little avail, and so on. Gerry had a certain expectation that reality would disappoint him and, although he loved to win, he probably found losing fitted better into his view of the world.

He also had success coaching cricket in Belvedere, somewhat to the surprise of those who had known his apparent disapproval of it in Clongowes. One of his junior teams famously ran up such a big score (a currently very prominent Jesuit playing a starring role) that his opponents refused to bat and conceded the game in high dudgeon. Gerry's hyper-caution in this instance was punished by - horror of horrors - having the incident reported in the newspapers. This he would certainly have regarded as “Disastrous in the extreme”! He had been a gifted tennis player in his youth, but he didn't talk about that. He was somewhat less private about his support for Manchester United, whom he followed loyally, if at times a little despairingly, until the good times came at last - happily he lived long enough to see them reach their present heights, even though he would have found adjustment to such a flood of good fortune quite hard to cope with.

When he retired from teaching in 1988 - by then he was beginning to find classes harder to control (and the milder sobriquet “sausage” for troublesome boys was giving way with growing frequency to somewhat harsher terms) - he suffered a minor crisis. For someone so unstintingly devoted to duty and so averse to relaxation or self indulgence of any kind, not working seemed close to not being. He was a life-long Pioneer and he didn't smoke. He wasn't a reader and he lacked cultural interests. Well-intentioned (or occasionally mildly mischievous) efforts by colleagues in the community to remedy such defects by luring him to a concert or a play were apt to founder on Gerry's imperviousness to the delights of coloratura cadenzas or what he regarded as the unintelligible, unfunny fantasies of the stage and screen. He found holidays a penance and was glad of an excuse not to take them. An invitation to join some of the community on a picnic outing to the Dublin mountains one St Stephen's Day was met by the puzzled - and, of course, unanswerable - enquiry, “What's the purpose?” Loyalty made him accept occasional invitations to class reunions of former pupils of both Clongowes and Belvedere - so many of whom had, at worst, sneaking respect for him, while many more felt genuine affection - but it was against the grain and, having made a brief appearance, he would be gone.

With such a temperament, reinforced by the rigidities of his training in the thirties and forties, retirement from the work he had been doing all his life was very difficult. But with time and care the crisis passed. In due course, and with real success, he undertook chaplaincy to the nursing home run by the Irish Sisters of Charity, St Monica's, across Mountjoy Square in Belvedere Place. Although he had spent so much of his life in the classroom, Gerry had always been very much a priest. His pastoral instincts expressed themselves in his care for his family, in his work with Fr Scully Flats (Tom Scully had been his colleague in the Belvedere community), and in many other ways, most of them known only to himself and those for whom he worked. His recent, harrowing experience of personal weakness helped to bring some of his deep humanity more visibly to the surface. He greatly admired the dedication of the Sisters and his gentleness and compassion and zeal as a priest found a new outlet in his ministry to the sick and dying old ladies in his care in St Monica's.

His significance in the Jesuit community grew steadily over the last fifteen or twenty years of his life. He had lived through the changes in community brought about by the Council and survived them. His official role for much of the last period of his life was that of guestmaster (or, as he half-jokingly preferred to insist, eschewing the appearance of self-importance through use of the official title, “distributor of rooms”) and he was a warmly welcoming presence for the many visiting Jesuits, from Ireland and abroad, who came each year to stay in Belvedere.

But his profile in the house far transcended any formal function - he was also, at different times, vice-rector, prefect of health, and sacristan. His warmth and capacity for humour, his lack of self-regard, the simplicity of his personal life, his courtesy and graciousness, his obvious rectitude and integrity, all these and something else, a certain enduring youthfulness of spirit, despite being old-fashioned in so many ways, something irreducible which was just “Spillane”, gave him unique stature and he became, for far more reasons than the length of time he had spent there, 'father of the house, loved and respected, the very heart of his community.

Cautious and conservative by instinct and training as he was (he never, for example, wore anything but clerical black), he genuinely enjoyed being teased and taken for what he emphatically was not. The sheer absurdity of having it suggested to him that he was a crypto-charismatic, a “banner man” who, beneath the sober surface, was really into “raising and praising”, greatly tickled his fancy and no one saw the ludicrousness of it more keenly than himself. Some of the things that made us - and him - laugh most were stories he told about himself, usually with a hint of the absurd lurking not far away, Thus, he took pleasure in recounting how he had responded to an earnest American lady who, on learning that he was in Belvedere, asked him expectantly how the Jesuits now viewed their famous past pupil, James Joyce (of whom Gerry would, on principle as well as by disinclination, almost certainly have read not a single line): “As a bowsy!”

He enjoyed telling us, too, of the times when he had been mistaken for the then Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Henry McAdoo, to whom he bore more than a passing resemblance. One lady, who had insisted that, despite his denials, he must be Dr McAdoo, had forced him to walk away from the bus-stop where he was standing and seek alternative means of transport. Someone else had taken him for 'the Abbot of Mellifont and he had had to flee then too! Another topic we liked to draw him out on was the terse one - or two - line letters he had written in his time in response to parents whom he regarded as unduly interfering or presuming to tell him how to train - or, much worse, pick - his rugby teams. Such Spillane rebuttals would have invited no further dialogue on the recipient's part and he richly enjoyed our detailed analysis of the merits of his literary style!

In July 1999, when he was nearly 80, after being in obvious decline for some months, he was admitted to the Mater Hospital and diagnosed as having cancer. The progress of the disease was quite slow and, after periods of convalescence in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit nursing home beside Milltown Park, he was able to return to Belvedere. His lack of energy distressed him and - consistent with the gentle pessimism which was part of his make-up - he could always find some reason for a measure of frustration, some minor “disaster” to lament. But the prevailing note was of patient resignation in the face of illness and the mystery of life and death, great gratitude for what the nursing staff in the Mater or Cherryfield Lodge were doing for him, and deep, characteristically undemonstrative faith.

In March of the present year, Gerry returned to Cherryfield, where he died on 26 May, halfway through his 81st year, predeceased by his brothers. May that slightly taut smile, worn so often in life, relax now in joy and surprise as he beholds the unclouded glory of God.

◆ The Clongownian, 2000
Obituary
Father Gerard Spillane SJ

Fr Spillane was teacher and Third Line Prefect for three years 1947-50, while preparing for the priesthood. Later, he returned to teach and then become Higher Line Prefect in 1955,
remaining until 1962. He was to spend the rest of his life in Belvedere College and died, aged 80, on 26 May 200. The following is a slightly edited extract from the obituary which recently appeared in “The Belvederian”.

Following ordination, Fr Gerry Spillane had hoped to go on the newly-opened Irish Jesuit mission to Zambia (known in those pre-independence days as Northern Rhodesia) but was sent instead to teach in Clongowes. It was not a posting which greatly appealed to him. Quite apart from the thwarting of his missionary desires, boarding school life in the early fifties was austere and relations between pupils and staff were formal and relatively remote.

Within a year, he was appointed Higher Line Prefect, which meant that, in place of teaching, he was responsible for the discipline and good order of the school as a whole and of the most senior pupils - the Higher Line - in particular. His sense of duty and his scrupulous anxiety to ensure the highest standards of behaviour in the school probably had the effect of concealing his enormous humanity from those in his charge (his formation had partly concealed it even from himself) and only the more perceptive among them descried it.

1962 marked a watershed in his life: it was the year he was transferred to Belvedere, in the wide-ranging reshuffle of Jesuit assignments made at that time by the American Jesuit plenipotentiary sent by Father General to visit the Irish Province. This change brought him back to his north Dublin roots and set him to tasks which were more congenial than the role of Higher Line Prefect, faithfully though he had discharged that office. He was to spend his remaining thirty-eight years in the college - until 1988 as a member of the staff, thereafter, until his health failed, as chaplain to a nearby nursing home.

Born: 13 August 1928, Lauragh, Tuosist, County Kerry
Entered: 07 September 1946, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 October 1976, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
Died: 02 August 2023, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street Community Community at the time of death

Son of Thomas Smyth and Frances Lyne. Parents were farmers and business people

Second in a family of two boys and one girl.

Educated at a local National school he then went to the Apostolic School at Mungret College SJ

Born : 13th August 1928 Lauragh, Tuosist, Co Kerry
Raised : Lauragh, Tuocist, Co Kerry
Early Education at Lauragh NS, Co Kerry; Mungret College SJ, Limerick
7th September 1946 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
8th September 1948 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1948-1951 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1951-1954 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1954-1956 Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency : Studying Cantonese and Teaching Catechetics at Xavier House
1956-1957 Kowloon, Hong Kong - Regency : Teacher
1957-1961 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
28th July 1960 Ordained at Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
1961-1962 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1962-1963 Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Minister; Socius to Novice Master; Church Prefect at Xavier House
1963-1966 Kowloon, Hong Kong - Teacher at at Wah Yan College
1965 Prefect of Studies; President of Academic Alumni; President of Past Pupils Union
1966-1971 Belvedere College SJ - Teacher; Assistant Prefect of Studies; Studying H Dip in Education at UCD
1968 Newsboys Club
1970 Spiritual Father 3rd & 4th years; Assistant Career Guidance
1971-1979 Gardiner St - Assists in Church; BVM & SFX Sodalities; Newsboys Club
1976 Parish Chaplain; Chaplain in Hill St Primary School
7th October 1976 Final Vows at St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin
1979-1982 Claver House - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1982-1985 Luís Espinal - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1985-1990 Gardiner St - Curate in Gardiner St; living in Hardwicke St., Dublin; Spiritual Director Belvedere Youth Club
1988 Resides in Gardiner St Community
1990-1991 Croftwood, Cherry Orchard - Chaplain in Cherry Orchard Parish of Most Holy Sacrament; Assists in Gardiner St
1991-1992 Milltown Park - Sabbatical
1992-2000 Belvedere - Assistant Pastoral Care Co-ordinator; Ministers in Inner City; Assistant Librarian & Sacristan; College Confessor; Chaplain to Social Integration Scheme
1994 Chaplain in Junior School;
1996 Pastoral work in Gardiner St; Spiritual Director
2000-2023 Gardiner St - Assists in Church; Church Team; Spiritual Director
2015 Prays for the Church and Society at Cherryfield Lodge

https://jesuit.ie/news/featured-news/death-of-fr-james-smyth/

James Smyth SJ RIP: Friend of the poor

Fr James (Jim) Smyth, at 95 the oldest Jesuit in the Irish Province, has died in Cherryfield Nursing Home, Milltown. He passed away peacefully on the morning of Thursday, 31 August. His funeral took place on Tuesday 5 September.

He had a remarkable lifelong involvement with those on the margins in north inner city Dublin, living alongside them in a small one-bedroomed flat in Hardwicke Street. He was a friend to the travelling community, prisoners and anyone in need.

He was a member of the Gardiner Street Community for many years. Richard Dwyer SJ, Superior of that community offers the following reflection on his life.

Renowned for compassion and kindness

Fr James Smyth SJ was born on 13 August 1928 in Lauragh, Tuosist, Co Kerry. He went to Lauragh National School and received his secondary education at Mungret College SJ, Limerick.

On 7th September 1946 he entered the Society of Jesus at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois and took his first vows on 8 September 1948.

After taking an arts degree at UCD, followed by 3 years of philosophy at Tullabeg, he went to Hong Kong in 1954 to study Cantonese and teach catechetics. He returned to Dublin to study theology at Milltown Park and was ordained to the priesthood on 28 July 1960.

He returned to Hong Kong for 4 years after his tertianship (1962) working as Socius (assistant) to the Master of Novices there and later as a teacher in Wah Yan College, Kowloon.

James returned to Dublin and from 1966 to 1971, he worked in Belvedere College SJ. Through a chance encounter on a bus from Rathnew in Wicklow to Dublin, he was invited into the Newsboys Club not far from Belvedere. He attended the club for a number of weeks and was told to sit in the corner and say nothing. According to himself, he felt awkward and embarrassed and spoke to no one. He missed one session and when he returned, the boys asked him where he had been and that they had missed him. This was the beginning of a remarkable lifelong involvement that James developed with the people of north inner city of Dublin.

He went on to live in Hardwicke Street flats in small one bedroom for a 12-year period and became part of the social fabric of people there. He became close friends with the parents and grandparents and became a trusted and beloved pastor, confessor and counsellor to them. He married their sons and daughters, baptized the children of those unions, and became a priestly grandfather to the numerous children.

He visited the sick and elderly. He was a frequent visitor to Mountjoy and St. Patrick’s prison and was renowned for his compassion and kindness. He highlighted the poor condition of the flats and the lack of any play and recreational facilities. James himself lived on a basic income of £20 per week and had to go without meat to buy a shirt or a pair of shoes. All of this time he worked as a curate in Gardiner Street Church and spent long hours in the confession box. He was loved by all who came to him and he was noted for his compassion and understanding.

Over his years in Hardwicke Street and the Church in Gardiner Street, he also was involved with the Travelling Community and again presided over many weddings and baptisms. In a nutshell, James discovered and developed in his heart a tremendous love of the poor and marginalized and the people of the North inner city and the Travelling Community took Fr James to their hearts and loved and revered him.

In the late 1980s and into the 1990s a heroin epidemic was devastating the lives of young people in the North Inner City. Along with the local residents, Fr James and Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke,set up a committee to rid Hardwicke Street of drug dealers and pushers who were making a lot of money from enticing friends and neighbours to take heroin. It was a wonderful example of a community coming together with great courage and determination to eradicate the scourge of hard drugs from their area and to prevent the death and utter destruction of young lives. Fr James and Christy received death threats as a result of their actions.

Fr James continued to live and work with the poor and marginalized in Gardiner Street Church up to his 85th year when ill health saw him transferred to Cherryfield Nursing Home. He settled in well to life in Cherryfield and was cherished by the staff as one of the oldest residents. The constant stream of visitors from the inner city, the Travelling Community and fellow Jesuits bore strong testimony to the love and affection he was held in, to the very end of his long life.

May he rest in peace and receive the fitting reward of all his good deeds in long priestly ministry.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a ainm dílis.

Richard Dwyer SJ

September 2023

Born: 10 April 1914, Broadwater Lodge, Lake Road, Wimbledon, Surrey, England
Entered: 07 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1950, Chiesa de Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 08 August 1988, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

Father was a stockbroker in London and died in 1919. Mother then moved family to Galluny House, Strabane, County Derry.

Older of two boys.

Early education at Dominican Convent, Wicklow he then at age 13 went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1939 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1947 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying
by 1948 at Rome Italy (ROM) - studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946

England :
On September 26th Fr. Simpson went to Heythrop to do special studies in Sacred Scripture.

Irish Province News 63rd Year No 4 1988 (Final Edition)

Obituary

Fr Patrick Simpson (1914-1932-1988)

10th April 1914: born in Wimbledon, England. Schooled at Dominican convent-school, Wicklow, and 1927-32 in Clongowes, his home then being in Derry.
7th September 1932: entered SJ. 1932 4 Emo, noviciate. 1934-38 Rathfarnham, juniorate (at UCD, Latin and Greek to MA). 1938-41 philosophy: 1938-39 at Vals, France; 1939-41 at Tullabeg. 1941-45 Milltown, theology (31st July 1944: ordained a priest). 1945-46 Rathfarnham, tertianship. 1946-47 Heythrop College, Oxfordshire, England: private study of Scripture. 1947-50 Biblical Institute, Rome: study.
1950-88 Milltown, professor of Scripture (1950-60: Parat se ad exam. laur.). 1983-88 Ecclesiastical Assistant to Christian Life Communities (CLC). 8th August 1988: died in St Vincent's hospital, Dublin

It is difficult to write competently or fairly of anyone, even of those with whom we have lived for a long time in close contact. Our perceptions, even of ourselves can be so superficial. Only God can write our biography or autobiography (!). So we are shy to write of Paddy Simpson, but we must do what we can.
We can speak confidently of his wide and deep knowledge and of his willingness to share that knowledge. From his earliest days in the Society we have a picture of him holding forth endlessly, whether to one or to many, on a variety of topics, all the while standing tirelessly on the corridor. Coming into the refectory of a morning you would hear his voice. For Paddy there was no such thing as being off colour before breakfast. He could speak, naturally, of his own speciality, scripture, but also of so many subjects, sacred and profane. Again, he could talk of many practical things with technical knowledge, not least the subject of motor bikes.
In his piety he was not demonstrative. The rosary as a method of prayer did not appeal to him. Yet he surprised many by his enthusiasm for the charismatic movement, and he was much in demand among charismatics in Dublin, and attended Jesuit international charismatic conferences on the continent. He also took an active part in the Christian Life Community.
Although essentially an intellectual, he did not suffer from intellectual snobbery, and he took great pleasure, with no trace of condescension, in talking to and also helping ordinary people and admiring their views and insights. He was a ready learner. He appreciated intellectual honesty and could be blunt in speaking of what he regarded as humbug or pretentiousness.
Looking back over his life I cannot recall any pettiness. He accepted "leg pulling" cheerfully. I never saw him in a huff, or even angry. He may have suppressed hard feelings, but one never got the impression of such suppression or any resultant tension. He was patently honest and sincere, and freely acknowledged the worth of others, even when otherwise they did not appeal to him.
I am sure he had his disappointments, one of which, surely, must have been that he never finished his doctoral work in Rome. Despite his brilliance and capacity and quick understanding, he had great difficulty in protracted study, and apparently took no great joy in writing. A retentive memory and an analytical mind helped him greatly in his reading, An undoubtedly disorderly room, but a very orderly mind. It was always noted in community meetings or Milltown Institute meetings that his remarks were always worth heeding, and the result of clear and unprejudiced thought. He bore no ill-will if his views were not accepted. Many will recall too his cogent views on Six-County affairs.
It is well said that Paddy is remembered with affection - the expression used by the members of the Half-Moon swimming club at Ringsend by whom he was always accepted as one of themselves, and whom he greatly helped. He himself was a man of loyalty and affection, not least towards his own family as we saw in his great concern for his brother who suffered long before dying of cancer about five years ago.
Another aspect of him that always amused and caused gentle chaff was his joy in preparing his itineraries, whether at home or abroad - how to avail of all possible short routes, at the least possible cost. It was said, true or not, that he got more joy out of planning a journey than out of the journey itself.
We cannot speak of his spiritual life, but it was noted that he seemed to have not a few who sought his aid and advice, and we may be sure that he was generous in his sharing with others.
It was hard for him to admit that he had had a small stroke, although for a year or two he had been talking of getting old, and indeed he showed signs of it. In the end when speech had failed, one could not be sure of contact, except for one occasion when he gave his beautiful smile. We miss him in Milltown, but thank God for His eternity where all who are missed will be found.

Born: 18 July 1898, Altmore, Pomeroy, County Tyrone
Entered: 15 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1930, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 07 February 1986, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

by 1933 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

Parents were farmers.

Eldest of two - sister and brothers.

Education at St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon (1911-1913) and then at Blackrock College CSSp in Dublin. He then went to the National University for three years obtaining a BA.

Chaplain in the Second World War.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

General :
Seven more chaplains to the forces in England were appointed in July : Frs Burden, Donnelly, J Hayes, Lennon and C Murphy, who left on 1st September to report in Northern Ireland, and Fr Guinane who left on 9th September.
Fr. M. Dowling owing to the serious accident he unfortunately met when travelling by bus from Limerick to Dublin in August will not be able to report for active duty for some weeks to come. He is, as reported by Fr. Lennon of the Scottish Command in Midlothian expected in that area.
Of the chaplains who left us on 26th May last, at least three have been back already on leave. Fr. Hayes reports from Redcar Yorkshire that he is completely at home and experiences no sense of strangeness. Fr. Murphy is working' with the Second Lancashire Fusiliers and reports having met Fr. Shields when passing through Salisbury - the latter is very satisfied and is doing well. Fr. Burden reports from Catterick Camp, Yorks, that he is living with Fr. Burrows, S.J., and has a Church of his own, “so I am a sort of PP”.
Fr. Lennon was impressed very much by the kindness already shown him on all hands at Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and in his Parish. He has found the officers in the different camps very kind and pleased that he had come. This brigade has been without a R.C. Chaplain for many months and has never yet had any R.C. Chaplain for any decent length of time. I am a brigade-chaplain like Fr Kennedy and Fr. Naughton down south. He says Mass on weekdays in a local Church served by our Fathers from Dalkeith but only open on Sundays. This is the first time the Catholics have had Mass in week-days

Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942

Chaplains :
Our twelve chaplains are widely scattered, as appears from the following (incomplete) addresses : Frs. Burden, Catterick Camp, Yorks; Donnelly, Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk; Dowling, Peebles Scotland; Guinane, Aylesbury, Bucks; Hayes, Newark, Notts; Lennon, Clackmannanshire, Scotland; Morrison, Weymouth, Dorset; Murphy, Aldershot, Hants; Naughton, Chichester, Sussex; Perrott, Palmer's Green, London; Shields, Larkhill, Hants.
Fr. Maurice Dowling left Dublin for-Lisburn and active service on 29 December fully recovered from the effects of his accident 18 August.

Irish Province News 61st Year No 2 1986

Obituary

Fr Daniel Shields (1898-1919-1986)

18th July 1898: born. 15th September 1919: entered SJ. 1919-21 Tullabeg, noviciate. 1921-24 Milltown, philosophy. 1924-27 Clongowes, regency. 1927-31 Milltown, theology (31st July 1930: ordained a priest). 1931-32 Clongowes, teaching. 1932-33 St Beuno's, tertianship.
1933-37 Mungret, teaching, 1937-41 Clongowes, ditto. 1941-46 chaplain to British army. 1946-47 Clongowes, teaching. 1947-52 Galway, retreat-giving. 1952-55 Leeson St, teaching in Kevin street technical school. 1955-57 Gardiner St, church work and director of “Penny Dinners” (the direction of which he retained till the end). 1957-60 Loyola, Superior, 1961-86 Gardiner St, church work: besides the “Penny dinners” he was associated with “Catholic Stage Guild”. 7th February 1986: died.
On his army chaplaincy see his article “Fading memories” in Interfuse no. 41 (February 1986), pp. 35-38.

◆ Interfuse

Obituary

Fr Daniel Shields (1898-1919-1986)

18th July 1898: born. 15th September 1919: entered SJ. 1919-21 Tullabeg, noviciate. 1921-24 Milltown, philosophy. 1924-27 Clongowes, regency. 1927-31 Milltown, theology (31st July 1930: ordained a priest). 1931-32 Clongowes, teaching. 1932-33 St Beuno's, tertianship.
1933-37 Mungret, teaching, 1937-41 Clongowes, ditto. 1941-46 chaplain to British army. 1946-47 Clongowes, teaching. 1947-52 Galway, retreat-giving. 1952-55 Leeson St, teaching in Kevin street technical school. 1955-57 Gardiner St, church work and director of “Penny Dinners” (the direction of which he retained till the end). 1957-60 Loyola, Superior, 1961-86 Gardiner St, church work: besides the “Penny dinners” he was associated with “Catholic Stage Guild”. 7th February 1986: died.
On his army chaplaincy see his article “Fading memories” in Interfuse no. 41 (February 1986), pp. 35-38.

Born: 25 March 1931, Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1962, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February1966, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 03 April 2005, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to CHN : 1992

Father was a Professor at UCD and this parents had business interests.

Only boy with three sisters.

Early education was at St Michael’s CBS, Eblana Avenue, Dun Laoghaire., and in 1943 he went to Belvedere College SJ for five years.

by 1957 at Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency studying language
by 1965 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Bernard Joseph Shields S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Joseph Shields of the Society of Jesus, died in his sleep on 3 April 2005, he was 74.

Father Shields was born on 25 March 1931 in Dublin, Ireland and was a much-loved volunteer staff member of the Sunday Examiner. He will be sorely missed. He was ordained a priest on 31 July 1962 in Dublin.

There will be a Requiem Mass to be celebrated by Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun at Christ the King Chapel, Causeway Bay, on 16 April at 10am with vigil prayers on the previous evening at the Hong Kong Funeral parlor, North Point. The Jesuit community will welcome visitors from 5:30pm. He will be buried at St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 10 April 2005

Mourning a quiet Jesuit

“I first met ‘Father Joe’, as we fondly called him, in the early 1980s at Holy Spirit College,” reminisced Chan Sui-jeung. “I was looking for research materials on Judaism and he directed me to Matteo Ricci’s dairy, a copy of which was in the college library.” Chan said that their common interest in classics and Chinese history led them into the first of many long conversations.

Chan related that he next came into contact with the Irish-born Jesuit, Father Bernard J. Shields, about 10 years later at the office of the Sunday Examiner. Father Joe did the proofreading and I came as a volunteer,” said Chan. “Office space was at a premium. At times we even shared the same desk!” He said that the always thorough and meticulous “gentle priest with the unusual turn of phrase” was a great asset to the editorial staff, especially when the chase was on for the “right turn of phrase.”

Chan said their quiet moments together produced stories about Father Joe’s student days under the late Father Edward Collins SJ, how he had assisted in sorting Father Turner’s manuscript on Tang Dynasty poetry and his three or so years in Taiwan at the Fu Jen University, where he had met distinguished Jesuit scholars like Father Fang Chi Yung and Father Simon Chin. Chan also noted that he learned to complement his Cantonese language skills with a “quite acceptable Putonghua.”

His long-time friend pointed out a little known fact about Father Joe. “He was a considerable authority on history and the works of Giuseppe Castiglione. When one of the animal heads of the Yang Ming Garden in Beijing went on sale in Hong Kong, it was Father Shields who informed the auctioneer that their historical write up was inaccurate.”

Born on 25 March 1931, he attended Christian Brothers and Jesuit schools in Ireland and joined the society in 1948, taking first vows in 1950. Three years at University College Dublin gave him a first class honours degree in Latin, Greek and ancient history. He came to Hong Kong in 1956 and returned home for theology studies and later ordination in Milltown, Dublin, on the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, 31 July 1962. He then studied Sacred Scripture in Rome and returned to Hong Kong in 1973. He taught at the diocesan seminary in Aberdeen, the Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Anglican Theological Seminary.

He was also a mentor in Hebrew at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and took students to visit the synagogue in the Mid-Levels on more than one occasion. Chan said,

“I had plans to introduce him to the well-stocked library at the Jewish Community Centre.”

He recalls him as humble, soft-spoken with a gentle smile, popular and loved. Shy and retiring by nature, Father Shields nevertheless stood up and spoke boldly when interviewed on television while participating in a street rally in Hong Kong, on 11 April last year, in defence of his much loved brother and sister Catholics on the mainland.

Chan has fond memories of wine, beers and cheese in the newspaper office at the end of a hard day, when the then editor, Maryknoll Father John Casey, would jokingly accuse Father Shields of being “un-Irish” for taking “water only” during the sacred office ritual.

Father Bernard Joseph Shields died in his sleep on Sunday, 3 April. His three sisters came from Ireland to attend his funeral, celebrated by Bishops Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and John Tong Hon with some 35 priests, at Christ the King Chapel, Causeway Bay, on 16 April. Approximately 400 people came to celebrate his life and mourn his passing. Fellow Jesuits, Fathers Robert Ng and John Russell paid tribute to him at the Mass. He was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Happy Valley.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 April 2005

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He was born in Dublin in 1931 and educated at Belvedere College SJ. His father was Professor of Economics at University College Dublin, bequeathing to his son a love of scholarship and books.

He joined the Society in 1948 and followed the usual course of studies, including a Degree in Classical Latin and Greek, and he was sent to Hong Kong for Regency in 1956.

He wanted to master Cantonese spending two years at Cheung Chau and was then sent to Wah Yan College Hong Kong, teaching for a year before returning to Ireland for Theology at Milltown Park, and he was Ordained by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in 1962. He then made Tertianship, and after that was sent to Rome for a Doctorate in Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

The intention was that he would remain in Rome to teach, but then he was invited by the Chinese Provincial Frank Borkhardt to teach instead at the Theology Faculty of Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan. To prepare for this he undertook Mandarin studies at the Jesuit language school of Hsinchu for 18 months.

1973 He returned to Hong Kong teaching Scripture at the Regional Seminary at Aberdeen, and he also became its librarian for many years. On return he was also briefly Master of Novices in Cheung Chau.
1977 He was invited to teach Theology at Chung Chi College where he taught New Testament Greek and Studies.

Over his time in Hong Kong he also taught at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Shatin, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, SKH Ming Hua Anglican Theological College.

He also served as Socius to the Regional Secretary for Macau-Hong Kong, William Lo (1991-1996).

Light-hearted and willing to help in any way he could, he also proof-read the Sunday Examiner, as well as normal priestly ministries, such as the Adam Shcall residence once a month.

He was scholarly and keen on accurate information. He was also modest and well mannered, eschewing argument or controversy, preferring to be a conciliator, seeking understanding and peace.

He was especially dedicated to the Church’s Mission in China and its people.

Born: 26 March 1907, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park. Dublin
Final Vows: 24 December 1945, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 23 December 1970, St Vincent's Nursing Home, Leeson Street, Dublin

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

by 1932 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - LEFT for a period and returned. Took First Vows 21 November 1926

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Shaw, Francis
by Patrick Maume

Shaw, Francis (1907–70), Jesuit priest, Celtic scholar and historical polemicist, was born 26 March 1907 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, the fourth child among four sons and two daughters of Patrick Walter Shaw (1872–1940), merchant, and his wife Mary 'Minnie' (née Galligan). The Shaws were a leading Mullingar business dynasty; Patrick Walter Shaw owned several premises in the town (and a number of racehorses) and sat on a number of public bodies, including Mullingar town commissioners and Westmeath county council; he chaired Westmeath county board of health. In local politics, the Shaw family formed a distinctive faction independent of both the local Redmondite organisation and the radical dissident group led by Laurence Ginnell (qv). P. W. Shaw, however, endorsed the support expressed by John Redmond (qv) for the allies in the first world war and addressed several recruiting meetings. He was a Cumann na nGaedheal TD for Longford–Westmeath (1923–33).

From an early age Francis Shaw took a strong interest in the Irish language, and was awarded fifteen prizes and medals at local and national feiseanna. He was educated at Mullingar Christian Brothers' School and Terenure College, Dublin. The latter school was chosen because its Carmelite proprietors were willing to make allowances for his frail health by letting him sleep in a single room rather than a dormitory. Shaw's health problems were chronic; late in life he stated he had hardly ever had a pain-free day.

On 1 September 1924 Shaw entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, Rahan, Co. Offaly, and after his first profession (21 November 1926) undertook his juniorate studies at the Jesuit residence in Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, where Fr Lambert McKenna (qv) encouraged him to pursue a career in Celtic studies. In 1929 Shaw graduated from UCD with first-class honours in Celtic studies, winning a postgraduate scholarship and a Mansion House Fund scholarship in Irish language and literature; at UCD he wrote for the college magazine, the National Student. In 1930 he won a travelling scholarship in Celtic studies, and in 1931 graduated MA with first-class honours (his principal areas of study being Irish history and the Welsh language). He studied philosophy at the Ignatius Kolleg (the German Jesuit house of studies) at Valkenburg (near Limburg) in the Netherlands (1930–32). His scholarly mentors included Osborn Bergin (qv); Eoin MacNeill (qv), whose lectures Shaw recalled as 'unorthodox and unpredictable … they taught in action the way of research' (Martin and Byrne (1973), 303); Rudolf Thurneysen (qv), under whom he also studied at the University of Bonn (1932–3; he returned to Ireland prematurely because of ill health); and T. F. O'Rahilly (qv).

Shaw's presence in Germany during the Nazi seizure of power contributed to his abiding distaste for that movement. In 1935 he sparked public controversy by suggesting at a meeting in UCD that advocates of Irish-medium education for English-speaking children displayed a narrow nationalism comparable to Nazism; in April 1936 he published an article in the National Student denouncing Nazi persecution of catholicism, the regime's general lawlessness, and the writings of Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946): 'this farrago of impiety, stupidity and ludicrous ignorance of history … a religion of race and racial hatreds, founded on pseudo-scientific theories which are discredited by all serious historians and ethnologists'.

Shaw undertook further study at UCD (1933–6); in 1934 he produced a highly praised edition of the Old Irish text Aisling Oengusso. During his studies at UCD he regularly presented papers to the Irish-language student society Cumann Liteardha na Gaeilge and taught at the Irish-language summer college in Ballingeary, Co. Cork. He studied theology at the Jesuit faculty in Milltown Park, Dublin (1936–40), where he was ordained priest on 31 July 1939. He was allowed to substitute a long retreat for tertianship studies because of his ill health, and became a professed Jesuit on 24 December 1945. From autumn 1940 until his death Shaw lived in the Jesuit community at 35 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, of which he was superior (1945–51); he annually constructed the Christmas crib in its chapel. He was also a consultor of the Irish Jesuit province (1947–53).

Shaw initially expected to spend some years on research after ordination. In March 1941, however, he was appointed professor of early and mediaeval Irish at UCD in succession to Bergin through the influence of D. A. Binchy (qv), and held this post for the remainder of his life. Later in 1941 he was appointed to the board of the Institute for Advanced Studies, and in 1942 was elected MRIA. Shaw was a painstaking teacher, and assisted foreign students with evening tuition, often in their own languages. His sense of humour and combative argumentation brightened his lectures and survives in such published remarks as his dismissal of the wilder theories of the archaeologist R. A. S. Macalister (qv) regarding cross-cultural parallels: 'The swastika in Dublin is associated with laundrying [a reference to the well-known Swastika Laundry]. Therefore the Nazi movement is the cult of hygiene and Hitler is a soap-and-water god!' (Studies (June 1935), 320).

Shaw's devotion to teaching, combined with his poor health, meant that his research interests (mediaeval Irish medical tracts, whose significance in pioneering a simplified Irish free from the inflated rhetoric of the bardic schools he held to be greatly undervalued; ancient Irish clothing, houses and social life generally; the history of Celtic scholarship) found expression only in occasional publications, including articles and book reviews, in the Jesuit journal Studies and similar outlets. Shaw remarked that whenever he set about reducing his collection of typewritten transcripts of medieval medical texts to coherence he had to go to hospital.

Shaw was an outspoken opponent of T. F. O'Rahilly's thesis on the existence of two St Patricks, both on scholarly and devotional grounds: he held that mediaeval miracle tales and scholarly positivism alike hindered recognition of the deep interior spirituality found in the 'Confession' and 'Letter to Coroticus'. He was scathing about scholars who (unlike his hero MacNeill) relied on printed editions (often outdated) rather than reading manuscripts. A recurring theme is that vague and ignorant romanticisation hinders the Irish nation from recognising authentic heroes such as George Petrie (qv), Eugene O'Curry (qv) and Johann Kaspar Zeuss (qv).

Shaw held the view, common among social historians, that history paid too much attention to the powerful and articulate and should explore the experience of the common people. He was encouraged in this by love of country sports and the fields and rivers of his native lake country; he praised his fellow Westmeath man Fr Paul Walsh (qv) for supporting his topographical studies by walking the land, and claimed that MacNeill, as an Antrim 'countryman', understood Ireland better than did the urban Patrick Pearse (qv) and James Connolly (qv). As he grew older, he felt his own lifetime had witnessed the end of an immemorial rural Irish way of life, whose traces, he hoped, would at least be preserved in the records of the Folklore Commission. He thought that popular commercial culture, particularly from America, was debasing public taste, and lamented that the authentic romance and heroism found in lives of saints and missionaries were being eclipsed by the synthetic Hollywood varieties. In 1942 he published a pamphlet criticising the novel and film Gone with the wind for excessive 'realism' in their depictions of sexuality and childbirth and for superficiality in their depictions of catholicism. This rousing defence of literary censorship against 'long-haired intellectuals' appealed to readers to keep the faith even if the European war subjected Ireland to the same devastation as that suffered by the defeated states of the American south.

Shaw attributed the totalitarian movements of the twentieth century to the efforts of ideologues to force common humanity into utopian projects. His scepticism of state power was influenced by contemporary catholic social thought, and he saw Irish identity as essentially catholic; but, though this forms a subtext in his 1963 article on the essentially Roman nature of early Irish spirituality and his analysis of the 'Celtic twilight' of W. B. Yeats (qv) as owing more to Macpherson's Ossian (mediated through Arnold and Renan), the rhetorical inflation of Standish James O'Grady (qv), and 'the charlatan Blavatsky and Brahman philosophers' than to the authentic past as revealed by Celtic scholarship, Shaw was not a bigot. Throughout his career he lauded protestant scholars such as Edmund Curtis (qv), Edward John Gwynn (qv), and Douglas Hyde (qv); he admired Pope John XXIII and welcomed his attempt to open the catholic church to the world.

Shaw took a strong interest in radio for religious purposes and popular education; he gave several 'retreats for the sick' on Radio Éireann, encouraging listeners to mentally re-enact, in Ignatian style, the life of Jesus, and he contributed to the Thomas Davis lecture series on early Ireland. He also wrote on spiritual and other matters for the Jesuit devotional magazine, the Sacred Heart Messenger, and was active in An Rioghacht (the League of the Kingship of Christ) and the Sodality of the Sacred Heart. His illness gave him a particular interest in ministry to the sick; he was a frequent hospital visitor, and directed the sodality of the nursing staff at St Vincent's Hospital (1944–59). He was popular as a confessor and spiritual adviser, and frequently mediated family disputes in local households.

Dean of the faculty of Celtic studies in UCD (1964–70), he served in the NUI senate (1963–70), and was spoken of as a possible successor to Michael Tierney (qv) as president of UCD; he served as interim president after Tierney's resignation in 1964, but did not seek the post. During the 'gentle revolution' protests of the late 1960s, Shaw supported the 'establishment' group around President J. J. Hogan (qv), and his defeat in UCD governing body elections in December 1969 strengthened advocates of greater student participation in university governance. After a year's illness, Shaw died in a Dublin nursing home on 23 December 1970, and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery.

Shaw's posthumous fame rests on an article published two years after his death. He had been invited to contribute an essay to the spring 1966 issue of Studies (commemorating the 1916 rising), but his 10,000-word article, 'Cast a cold eye … prelude to a commemoration of 1916', was turned down by the journal's editor (Fr Burke Savage) and the Jesuit provincial as over-long and inopportune. Shaw acquiesced, but prepared a 20,000-word version which circulated in typescript. In 1971 a copy was acquired by the New Ulster Movement (precursor of the Alliance Party), which saw the piece as directly relevant to the developing Northern Ireland troubles, and gave it further informal circulation. Under these circumstances, Fr Troddyn (editor of Studies) and the provincial decided that official publication would reassert their copyright and assist understanding of Irish current affairs; the article appeared in the summer 1972 issue of Studies (vol. lxi, no. 242, pp 113–53) under the title (chosen by Troddyn) 'The canon of Irish history: a challenge'.

In 'The canon of Irish history', Shaw attacks the four last pamphlets produced by Patrick Pearse in 1915–16 to justify the forthcoming Easter rising. The pamphlets, Shaw contends, equate the Gaelic tradition with physical-force separatism as the 'gospel of Irish nationality', with Wolfe Tone (qv), Thomas Davis (qv), James Fintan Lalor (qv), and John Mitchel (qv) as its 'four evangelists'; claim that John Redmond and his political allies committed national apostasy in accepting home rule rather than full independence as a final settlement; and equate the rebels, precipitating war and their own deaths to redeem a corrupted Ireland, with Jesus crucified to redeem sinful humanity. Shaw argues that Pearse projected Standish James O'Grady's essentially pagan concept of heroism and a modern republican ideology essentially alien to Irish society onto the Gaelic past; that Pearse and his allies denied and betrayed the concrete achievements and genuine patriotism of others, particularly Redmond and MacNeill; that Pearse, and by extension the whole physical-force republican tradition, engaged in blasphemous self-deification to justify imposing their will on the majority in a manner reminiscent of twentieth-century fascism and communism; and that the independent Irish state owes more to an older and broader popular sense of Irish nationality, which Redmond and MacNeill represented, than the irreligious and destructive mindset of Tone and Pearse.

'The canon' sums up the concerns of Shaw's lifetime. Its critique of Pearse resembles his 1930s critique of Yeats; its invocation of the horrors of twentieth-century European history reflects his longstanding sensitivity to those horrors; its vaguely defined but essentially catholic and rural-populist version of Irish identity reflects Shaw's lifelong self-presentation as spokesman and servant of the plain people of Ireland; and Redmond and MacNeill are cast, like Zeuss and Petrie, as heroes unjustly forgotten by those enjoying the fruits of their labours.

In 1966 Shaw had concluded his essay by hoping that recent moves towards north-south reconciliation indicated that both parts of Ireland, north and south, as well as Ireland and Britain, might recognise their commonalities and join in preserving the best in their cultures from American commercial cosmopolitanism. The essay's publication six years later, at the height of the Northern Ireland troubles, coincided with intensive debate (associated with such figures as Conor Cruise O'Brien (1917–2008)) about whether traditional Irish nationalist self-images had contributed to the conflict in Northern Ireland and threatened to unleash similar conflict in the Republic; this context gave the essay an explosive impact. An Irish Times editorial (11 September 1972) noted that Shaw's view of Pearse as a destructive ideologue comparable to Rosenberg raised awkward questions about numerous eulogies of Pearse as a model Christian patriot: 'Has every other cleric been wrong and only Father Shaw been right?' The Jesuits were accused by Cruise O'Brien of opportunism in suppressing Shaw's piece until it became convenient to distance the catholic church from militant nationalism (New York Review of Books, 25 January 1973), and by an Irish Press editorialist (1 September 1972) of re-enacting previous clericalist betrayals of Irish nationalism: 'The name of Pearse will easily survive this modern Shavian broadside.'

Shaw's essay has been subjected to extensive critique (Lyons, Lee, Ó Snodaigh) over its failures to place Pearse in context and to address the place of Irish protestants and unionists in Irish nationality; its dismissive attitude to republicanism and socialism; and its over-simplistic view that pre-1916 Ireland was a democracy. (Shaw also unduly minimises the political differences between Redmond and MacNeill.) It is still, however, regularly cited in debates about the relationship between nationalism and Irish historiography; when Studies marked its centenary by publishing a selection of essays from past issues, Shaw's essay was singled out by former Taoiseach John Bruton as 'the most startling essay in the volume'. Some who praised Shaw's critique of Pearse's sacrificial politics were advocates of a secularist liberalism which would have horrified Shaw, and the essay survived, when the man behind it was virtually forgotten, into an Ireland whose social and political attitudes he would have found unrecognisable.

Shaw's papers are held at the Irish Jesuit Archives, 35 Lower Leeson Street (reference J451), which also has files concerning the 1972 publication of 'The canon of Irish history' (CM/LEES/359, 383). A miniature plaster side-portrait by the sculptor Gary Trimble is held in the same building.

Westmeath Examiner, 24 Oct., 8 Nov. 1931; 28 July 1934; 16 Mar., 21 Sept. 1940; 15 Mar. 1941; Ir. Times, 10 Sept., 2 Oct. 1964; 11 Dec. 1969; 11 Sept. 1972 (includes F. S. L. Lyons, 'The shadow of the past', p. 12, on Shaw's 'The canon'); Marian Keaney, Westmeath authors: a bibliographical and biographical study (1969), 174–6; Ir. Independent, 25–8 Dec. 1970; obituary, by Fr Francis Finnegan, Irish Province News (1971), 76–8; M. Proinséas Ní Catháin, 'The academic and other writings of Rev. Professor Francis Shaw, SJ', Studies, lx, no. 238 (summer 1971), 203–07 [list is incomplete]; Studia Celtica, vii (1972), 177; Francis Shaw, 'MacNeill the person' in F. X. Martin and F. J. Byrne (ed.), The scholar revolutionary: Eoin MacNeill, 1867–1945, and the making of the new Ireland (1973), 299–311 (includes note on contributor, p. 300); Lochlann, vi (1974) [supplement to Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, xi], 180–81; Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, Two godfathers of revisionism: 1916 in the revisionist canon (1991); Diarmuid Breathnach and Máire Ní Mhurchú, 1882–1982: Beathaisnéis, iii (1992), 152–3; J. J. Lee, '“The canon of Irish history: a challenge” reconsidered' in Toner Quinn (ed.) Desmond Fennell: his life and work (2001), 57–82; Philip O'Leary, Gaelic prose in the Irish Free State 1922–1939 (2004), 52; Michael Wheatley, Nationalism and the Irish party: provincial Ireland 1910–1916 (2005); Bryan Fanning (ed.), An Irish century: Studies 1912–2012 (2012); John Bruton, remarks at launch of Bryan Fanning (ed.), An Irish century, 21 Mar. 2012, www.johnbruton.com/2012/03/irish-century-studies-1912-2012.html (accessed 27 June 2012)

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 46th Year No 2 1971

Obituary :

Fr Frank Shaw SJ

The death of Father Shaw which took place at “96” on 23rd December, 1970 was not altogether unexpected. The news of his condition throughout the spring and summer was none too reassuring. He left us for the James Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, in March and during his stay there met with some minor accidents because of physical weakness. Later, while convalescing, he broke a leg and had to be transferred to the hospital at Navan. It seemed little less than a miracle that he should have returned to UCD. to lecture in the autumn. He paid us what proved to be a farewell visit in October. After some weeks of class-work at Belfield he had once more to go into hospital, at St. Vincent's, Elm Park, whence he was transferred to “96”, Father Frank had made many a recovery from serious illnesses over the years but this time it seemed presumptuous to expect a further prolongation of his life. The end came peacefully and painlessly just on the eve of Christmas Eve. His last thoughts may well have been that the coming Christmas Eve should be the first in so many years that he did not spend the day just outside our domestic chapel putting together the Christmas Crib.
Frank Shaw was born in Mullingar on 26th March, 1907 and was educated at the Christian Brothers' school in that town and afterwards at the Carmelite College, Terenure. He entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on 1st September 1924. After his first religious profession two years later he began his juniorate studies at Ratharnham. He had the good fortunate to meet at Rathfarnham Father Lambert McKenna who discerned in the young scholastic the desire and ability to engage in Irish studies. In after-life, Father Frank never failed to acknowledge the wholesome advice of Father Lambert whom he affectionately referred to as “The Bard'.
His success in the First Arts examination was such that he was advised to study for his degree in Celtic Studies. He graduated B.A. with First Class Honours in 1929 and at the end of the following year won the much coveted Travelling Studentship. But immediately after this success he set off for Valkenburg for his philosophy course. He completed this latter branch of studies in two years, 1930-32, and half-way through graduated M.A.
In the autumn of 1932 he set out for Bonn to enter on his higher studies. Here he had the good fortune to have Professor Rudolf Thurneysen to guide him. Professor Thurneysen, who had reached the age-limit, no longer held the chair but continued to lecture at the University. Frank, however, was not fated to complete his Travelling Studentship course under the celebrated professor. The following year he had to return to Dublin as the regime of life in Germany did not suit his delicate health. For the next two years, 1933-35, he was a member of the Leeson Street community and then spent a further year in private study at Rathfarnham before he went for theology to Milltown Park in the summer of 1936. Three years later he was ordained priest on the Feast of St. Ignatius. On the completion of his theology he once more joined the Leeson Street community where he was to spend the rest of his life. Because of his very frail health, he was excused from making the usual tertianship but did the Long Retreat at Rathfarnham.
When Father Frank returned to Leeson Street in 1940 it would seem that for the next ten or fifteen years he would be a research worker while gradually moving up the ranks of teaching responsibility. But early in 1941 the chair of Early and Medieval Irish was vacated by his former professor, Dr Osborn Bergin. So far as Father Frank or the rest of the community was concerned his elevation to the vacant post was not seriously considered. It was only when Professor Daniel Binchy suggested that he should present himself for the chair that Frank put his name forward. Thanks to so eminent a supporter as Professor Binchy, together with other admirers of the young Jesuit's ability, he was nominated Professor at a meeting of the Senate of the National University held in March, Thereafter he had to abandon any further extensive researches as his little energy had to be carefully husbanded to enable him to do justice to his students in the Celtic faculty.
His major published works were his critical edition of the early Irish text, Aislig Oenguso', which appeared in 1934 and his Medieval Medico-Philosophical Treatises in the Irish Language, an essay contribute to the Féil-Sgribhinn Eoin Mhic Néill (1940). Yet, making due allowance for the ill-health which never ceased to try him and the scrupulous care with which he imparted know ledge to his students, it is remarkable how much writing of lasting value he was able to achieve during all his professional career. His writing is to be found in many essays and reviews he contributed, chiefly to Studies. Some of his most searching reviews were written in his early student days but already he was giving advance notice of the interests in Celtic Studies that particularly attracted him. In 1930 appeared his pamphlet The Real St. Patrick, a best-seller ever since. Later critical essays were The Linguistic Argument for Two Patricks (1943), The Myth of the Second Patrick (1961), Post mortem on the Second Patrick (1962) and Early Irish Spirituality (1963). These are but a selection of the ably-presented essays from the pen of a scholar who at the end of his life could scarcely ever remember a day free from some pain or ache.
On 17th April, 1945 he was appointed Superior at Leeson Street and held office for the next six years. It was as Superior he made his final profession in the Society on Christmas Eve 1945. For the last ten years of his life he was spiritual father to the community who will long remember the devotion and high intelligence he brought to bear in presenting the word of God.
From his earliest years in the Society his superiors were aware that his health would always be cause for concern. Even in his days at Terenure College he had to be excused the usual dormitory regime of the other boarders and have a room to himself like the members of the community. It was the provision of this facility that determined Frank's parents to send him to school with the Carmelite Fathers rather than to Castleknock, where other members of his family had been educated. Yet, it should be said at once that Frank himself was never selfishly concerned about his health. Indeed, he had to be reminded frequently by superiors to spare himself. The preparation of lectures and the holding of classes cannot but have made heavy demands upon his fragile resources of strength but this sickly scholar was made of heroic stuff.
The boredom of being obliged to pass weeks on end at convalescent homes made him early in life aware of the misery of his fellow-patients. So it is not matter for surprise that throughout his priestly life of thirty years he became something of a legend in the Dublin hospitals for his devotion to the sick. Not a few Jesuits he helped in his time to face up to an unfavourable medical diagnosis and meet the supreme hour with gentle resignation to God's will. Scarce a day ever passed that inquiries did not reach Leeson Street, asking whether Frank could call at one or other of the city hospitals to solace the sick and their afflicted dependents. It was known also that he was frequently called upon to settle family disputes and restore harmony.
Inevitably the newspapers carried reports of his attendance at this funeral or that wedding or the baptism of the children of friends he had made in the academic world and the professional classes generally. What did not appear in the papers, however, was his attendance at the wedding of some poor artisan's daughter or the christening of his child, or his visits to the poor in their bereavements. He knew for instance that the newsboy's little son was about to make his First Holy Communion and not once or twice from his sick bed he would commission a member of the community when down town to buy some little memento appreciated on these occasions. His entering a sick-room gave one the feeling of something sacramental. The 'Retreats for the Sick which he broadcast in Holy Week are still spoken of by those whom they helped. Even when he himself was in hospital he was more concerned with the spiritual and physical health of his fellow-patients than he was with his own troubles.
His piety was simple. Like his own patron saint, Francis of Assisi, Father Frank had a great devotion to the mysteries of Christmas. Patients in St. Vincent's Hospital in the Green and in Blanchardstown Hospital will remember the loving care that he spent on building the magnificent cribs there. They were the out ward sign of his desire that others should share in that devotion, If they have a Christmas Crib in heaven, then Frank was busy his first Christmas there.
His devotion to the dead was remarkable. In all weathers when ho could manage to be out of bed he was off to a funeral to bring solace to the desolate. Like the Divine Master, he went about doing good.
There was a very human side to Frank. He was an intelligent man and could not fail to realise the fact. He was also a born dialectician and enthusiastically defended the weaker case in an argument. When he was up and about his presence at community recreation radiated sheer delight. In debate he was unyielding. One instance made history at Leeson Street. He was defending a patently weak case with his customary bravura when his contestant vigorously rejoined “Can't you keep to facts”. To this Frank replied “Can't we leave facts aside and keep to the argument?” He was also generous to a fault. If he felt that someone took hurt in an argument he spared no pains to explain matters and see to it that charity did not suffer.
For many years he was spiritual director to the Nurses' Sodality at St. Vincent's Hospital. One might well wonder whence came the energy to sustain him in keeping up to a routine of sermons or lectures ... a wearing experience even for those blessed with good health. But Frank was of that unselfish stuff that did not reckon the cost. The miracle of his life is that he accomplished so much in spite of so much ill-health.
A little-known side of his apostolate was his instruction of those intending to enter the Church. Only the recording angel will ever . be able to say how many wearying hours he spent in the parlour
in this very rewarding but exacting form of the ministry. His advice was frequently sought by those intending to enter the religious life. He was a much sought-after confessor and spiritual adviser. To the last he was extrovert, helping others to bear the daily cross in the following of a crucified Master. It is almost needless to be labour the point that in leaving us he has gone up with full hands to the judgement seat of that Master whom he so generously served.
FJF

Born: 20 September 1894, Roches Row, Cobh, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 23 May 1972, Loyola House, Eglinton Road, Dublin

Father works in HM Customs..

he is the youngest of three boys and has four sisters.

Educated at a convent school in Cobh until aged 8 and then went to Presentation Brothers NS in Cobh. At 12 he spent two years in Presentation Brothers Cobh. In 1909 he went to the Apostolic School at Mungret College SJ

Editor of An Timire, 1928-29; 1936-49.

Studied for BA at UCD

by 1924 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1930 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 3 1972

Loyola House
Father Scantlebury's sudden death on 23rd May came as a major shock to the community. Father Charlie was a “founder” member of Loyola House. The first entries in the Minister's journal are his and he tells how he (the first Minister') joined Father McCarron there on 19th November, 1956 - “for a week Father McCarron cooked all the meals most efficiently”.
Particularly since his retirement from the Messenger Office, Father Charlie was rarely absent in his fifteen years and his sudden disappearance from the Community has left a notable void - and many chores, kindnesses, daily routine jobs, willingly undertaken now to be left undone or taken on by others.

Obituary :

Fr Charles Scantlebury SJ (1894-1972)

Had he lived a few more months, Fr Charlie Scantlebury would have celebrated his diamond jubilee as a member of the Society on September 7th of this year. He was born on September 20th, 1894, in the Cove of Cork, Cobh to us and Queenstown to our fathers. It was the chief transatlantic port of call in the Ireland of those days, a bustling, busy place of rare beauty. He was, and not with out reason, proud of his native place. Having begun his schooling with the Presentation Brothers in their College at Cobh, he came to Mungret at the age of fifteen in 1909. He entered the noviceship at Tullabeg, direct from Mungret, in September 1912. Fr, Martin Maher was his Master of Novices, and for his first year Fr. William Lockington (author of “Bodily Health and Spiritual Vigour”) was Socius. From the first day of his religious life, he was a model of orderly living, up with the lark and “busy as a bee” all day long, most exact in all practices and absolutely indefatigable.
Having taken his first vows on September 8th, 1914, he went to the new Juniorate at Rathfarnham where he spent four years, the first year in what, at that time, was called “the home juniorate”, and the last three at University College. He was awarded his B.A. degree in the summer of 1918. It was during his Rathfarnham years - years that witnessed so many manifestations of patriotic endeavour - that what was to be one of the abiding interests of his life began, the revival of Irish as the spoken language of the people. Facilities for developing a blas' in those days were few enough but later, when improvements came, Fr Charles was to use them to the full. He spent many holidays in the Gaeltacht and became a fluent speaker, After Philosophy at Milltown Park, 1918-21, he wsa assigned to Belvedere. Here another side of his character became evident, his apostolic zeal, then manifested by unremitting interest in and concern for the boys under his care. In the extra curricular activities, particularly the Cycling Club and the Camera Club, he found an ideal method of meeting and influencing boys from various classes in the school. Some of the pupils whom he helped in those days love to recall his name with reverence. After Theology in Milltown Park, 1925-29, where he was ordained in July 1928 by Archbishop Edward Byrne, and the Tertianship, 1929-30, at St, Beuno's, he returned to Belvedere, to be Editor of the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart. Thus began what was to be the great work of his life. For the next thirty-two years he was Editor of the Messenger and National Director of the Apostleship of Prayer. For a dozen or so of these years he was Editor of An Timthire as well. Under his editorship, the circulation of the Irish Messenger continued to grow until in the early nineteen-fifties it reached a record height. In his later years he had, like other Editors and publishers of religious magazines, to face new and wearisome difficulties, That he found all this work easy or particularly to his taste would be a false assumption but the strain did not diminish in any way the vigour with which he applied himself to it. He had, of course, the consolation of knowing that he was, in all this, working not only for the holy Catholic faith but for the motherland also. From every point of view his work at the Irish Messenger Office was a real success.
If there is any mystery in Fr. Scantlebury's life it lies in the amount and the variety of his extra-editorial activities. He was a popular giver of the Spiritual Exercises, A member of the Old Dublin Society since the early forties, he was Council member in 1949-50, Vice-President from 1951 to 1955 and again on the Council 1961-62. He was a regular contributor to the Society's proceedings: papers read by him included “Lambay”, “Belvedere College”, “Lusk”, “A Tale of Two Islands” and “Tallaght’. He was the second recipient of the President's Medal (now known as The Society Medal) which he was awarded for his paper on Lambay”, read to the Society on February 26th, 1945. Fr Scantlebury was granted Life Membership of the Society in 1971. He illustrated his lectures by slides made by himself. Of such slides he had a large collection, Patriotism for him consisted largely in helping to conserve what was best in the things of the spirit. He wished to preserve to his generation something of the glories of his country's past, Four of his talks appeared in booklets, published by the Messenger Office. These were entitled : Ireland's Island Monasteries; Saints and Shrines of Aran Mór; Treasures of the Past; Ireland's Ancient Monuments. He was never flamboyant, nor was he ever a bore.
To himself he remained true to the end. He continued to be a model religious, given selflessly to Christ Our Lord, intent only on the expansion of His Kingdom, Had the Rules of the Summary and the Common Rules been lost, they could almost be reconstructed from a study of his daily conduct. One could not imagine a situation in which he would hesitate to obey the known will of his Superior. At all periods of his priestly life, he was most active as a Confessor, The number of those who came to him for spiritual direction was remarkable. In the last decade of his life when, as a member of the community at Eglinton Road, he took his turn as Chaplain to the nuns at the New St. Vincent's Hospital, he was held in the highest esteem by all. As a neighbour said on the day of his funeral: “he knew everybody and was every one's friend”. He died on May 23rd. RIP

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2002

Farewell Companions : Dermot S Harte

Fr Charles Scantlebury SJ

Fr Charles Scantlebury SJ was from Cork and he was born in the town that was host to much drama. Queenstown (now Cobh) was the last port-of-call for the ill-fated 'Titanic'. It was also a silent witness to the mass emigration of thousands of our fellow Irish men and women who sailed from the port to create a better life for themselves in the New World.

Charlie was the editor of the Irish Messenger for many years and lived a large part of his working life within the College. He was our guide in the Touring Club, and with him we visited such places as Jacob's Biscuit Factory, the Guinness Brewery, Harry Clark's Stained Glass Studios - Harry, that Irish Master of the Art of Stained Glass Creations - the various Newspaper Offices, the Urney Chocolate Factory in Tallaght (that visit went down extremely well!), the Irish Glass Bottle Company, the Hammond Lane Foundry and numerous other centres of interest. He was also a popular confessor who was noted for the leniency of the penances that he dished out in very small doses!

But I remember him best for the introduction that he gave me to the elegance of Georgian Dublin on which subject he was an expert. But he did not spare us from the sight of Dublin's Georgian slums (many located within the shadow of the College) where we were appalled to see the beauty of the architecture so wantonly decayed. He instilled in me, and in many others, a sense of value, and I like to think that he made us better people and better citizens.

He died many years ago. Those who knew him will remember him with deep affection.

Born: 22 June 1914, Leamy School, Hartsonge Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949
Died: 01 February 1997, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was at National Teacher and Principal of Leamy’s School in Limerick.

Youngest of four boys with four sisters.

Early education was5 years at Leamy’s School and then five years at St Munchin’s Collge, Limerick. He then spent a year at CBS Limerick.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

During the summer Frs. Jas. FitzGerald, Kearns and Scallan helped in the campaign organised by Dr. Heenan, Superior of the Mission House, Hampstead, to contact neglected or lapsed Catholics in Oxfordshire. Writing Fr. Provincial in August, the Superior pays a warm tribute to the zeal and devotion of our three missionaries :
“I hope”, he adds, “that the Fathers will have gained some useful experience in return for the great benefit which their apostolic labours conferred on the isolated Catholics of Oxfordshire. It made a great impression on the non-Catholic public that priests came from Ireland and even from America, looking for lost sheep. That fact was more eloquent than any sermon. The Catholic Church is the only hope for this country. Protestantism is dead...?”

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 92 : August 1996

Obituary

Fr Brian Scallan (1914-1997)

22nd June 1914: Born in Limerick.
Early education: St. Munchin's, Limerick
7th Sept. 1933: Entered the Society at Emo
1935 - 1938: Rathfarnham - Arts at UCD
1938 - 1941: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1941 - 1943: Clongowes - Regency
1943 - 1947: Milltown Park - Studying Theology
31st July 1946: Ordained at Milltown Park
1947 - 1948: Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1948 - 1952: Mungret College, Teaching
1952 - 1954: Clongowes, Teaching
1954 - 1957: Crescent College, Limerick, Teaching
1957 - 1982: Rathfarnham: Chaplain-Colleges of Technology Bolton St. and Rathmines
1972 - 1979: Parish Curate - Edenmore Parish
1979 - 1982: Parish Curate - Marino Parish
1982 - 1992: Manresa - Marino Parish Curate
1993- - 1997: Retired.
1st Feb 1997: Died at Cherryfield Lodge

Brian Scallan was born in Limerick on June 22nd, 1914. He retained a life-long interest in the people and events of that city. The Limerick Anthology was the last book he was reading, and he continued to have a keen interest in Young Munster, with whom he had played rugby prior to joining the Society. He was a good rugby player and was capped for Munster Schools when he was a student at St. Munchin's. He joined the Society in 1933, doing his novitiate at Emo. He was described by his contemporaries as out-going, a good companion, and a friendly person. He was interested in wildflowers, nature, and a very good musician, playing both the piano and organ.

After the Novitiate he did an Arts degree at UCD, and then did his philosophy in Tullabeg. His regency was done at Clongowes, his theology at Milltown. He was ordained on July 31, 1946, and did his Tertianship at Rathfarnham 1947-48. Following this he taught in Mungret for four years, Clongowes for two years and in the Crescent for one year.

After this, in 1957 he moved to Rathfarnham, becoming a Chaplain in colleges of Technology, a ministry he continued for fifteen years at Bolton Street and Rathmines. In that work, his work in providing books for poorer students was noted. He gave them a love for reading and was concerned for their welfare. For part of this time he also helped with chaplaincy work with the new Mercy school in Ballyroan; he used to teach catechism and organise plays and operettas, being very successful at it. It was during those years of chaplaincy in the colleges of Technology that he began to organise pilgrimages to Lourdes, a work of love that went on for more than thirty years. He gave retreats regularly in the summers when he was teaching and when he was chaplain.

From 1972 until 1992 he worked in parishes, first in Edenmore for eight years and then for twelve in Marino. He was a very pastoral priest, who was dedicated to the Church in serving the people. He was compassionate and a good listener, being readily available to help people. Many parishioners from those parishes came to his funeral and could recall many deeds of kindness. His devotion to Our Lady; his many trips to Lourdes; his booklet on Lourdes left a deep impression on many.

Ill-health led to an amputation and forced his retirement from the pastoral work he loved. Moving into Manresa was a big change for him, but he adapted well and was very much at home there. His fear of being isolated and forgotten did not materialise as he had a regular flow of visitors. He continued to have interests in sport, music and reading. His health deteriorated before Christmas. He went to hospital shortly after Christmas and was faced with the possibility of a second amputation, which he did not want. His condition deteriorated further and he was moved to Cherryfield; he wanted to die among his own. Brian died peacefully on February 1st, surrounded by members of his family, community, and some friends, His sister, Elsie, died a little more than two weeks before Brian, leaving one sister, Sr. Rita FCJ, as the only surviving member of the family. May he rest in peace.

Mike Drennan, SJ

◆ The Clongownian, 1997

Obituary
Father Brian Scallan SJ

Fr Scallan, a native of Limerick, came to Clongowes for his years of regency as a scholastic, before ordination, 1941-43, and returned as a priest for a further two years, 1952-54. Apart from three years teaching in the Crescent immediately afterwards, he spent the rest of his long life divided between chaplaincy to the Colleges of Technology in Dublin (Bolton St and Rathmines), 1957-72, and parish work in Edenmore and Marino. He died in Cherryfield on 1 February 1997.

Born: 18 October 1910, Brookfield Road, Kilmainham, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 01 August 1976, St Joseph. Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

Father worked for Guinness and was retired.

Youngest of five boys with four sisters.

Early education at a Convent school in Dublin and then at CBS Synge Street, Dublin

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Saul was educated at the Christian Brothers school, Synge St, Dublin, 1920-28, and entered the Society at St Stanislaus', Tullabeg, 1 September 1928. Philosophy studies were at Tullabeg, 1932-34, and his juniorate studies in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and Irish, were at the National University Dublin, 1930-31. Regency was at Mungret College, Limerick, 1935, and Clongowes Wood, 1936-37. His theology was at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1938-41, and tertianship at Rathfarnham, 1942.
Before arriving in Australia in 1948, he taught at the Crescent, Limerick, and at Clongowes. From 1955-61 Saul taught mathematics and music, as well as directing the military band at Xavier College, Kew. Then he taught religion, mathematics and music at Riverview, 1962-71. After a year at Canisius College, Pyrnble, 1972, he spent the last years of his life at the provincial residence, Hawthorn.
Saul was a highly talented musician and could play any instrument in the orchestra. He created an arrangement of “Galway Lullaby” from which he received royalties. He was not an easy man to know, and was considered irascible. In his latter years, he did not appreciate superiors, whom he considered were not friendly towards him. He did not always appear to be the happiest of men.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 51st Year No 4 1976

Obituary :

Fr William (Bill) Saul (1928-1976)

Fr. J. A. Mac Seumas writes:
It was with a heavy heart that I heard last July of the death of poor Willie Saul. I call him Willie as that is how we knew him long ago in Synge Street, in the 1920s. In those days we walked to and from school, only travelling by tram when the weather was too bad. And so we usually walked, especially home, with the same people. In my case I walked back with Willie Saul, During those years we came out to Rathfarnham Castle on a three-day retreat once a year. I was on retreat with Willie Saul four times, in the years 1924 to 1928. One cannot emphasise sufficiently what good these retreats did in helping young lads to go on for the priesthood, not only in the Society, but also to other religious orders and the diocesan clergy.
In due course Willie and I, and some others, having applied to the Society to be admitted, left Dublin on the afternoon train on September 1st for Tullamore. We were met by the socius to Fr Martin Maher, Fr Henry King and made the uninspiring trip out to Rahan College, otherwise known as St. Stanislaus College. After the period of first probation, we began the two years of the novitiate and, looking back on it now, I can say that we enjoyed that period of our lives a little more than we might admit.
The two years passed quickly enough, and the Vow Day came along. We then entered the Society as scholastics, bound by yow to spend our lives in the same Society until God would call us to Himself.
When Willie reached the colleges, in Mungret in fact, the pattern of ill health in his life began to show itself. He suffered from severe stomach pains which often left him very weak. This persisted, and a year in Clongowes when he was Study Prefect showed no improvement, in fact he never recovered from this malady of the intestines.
Whilst he was in the study he had a very quiet systematic method of dealing with any disturbance. He kept an exact record of any breach of the study rules. For these offences he did not punish. Later if any concerted breach of discipline occurred, he would read out the list of minor infringements, which he had kept, and remark that the offenders would receive their due punishment unless quiet was restored. This usually had the desired effect.
He was very loyal to his family. His brother, Paddy, died at an early age. Fr James was an SMA. Myles was a founder of the Photographic Section of the Garda Siochana. Willie himself was blessed with a very quick mind, and was very good at mathematics. He taught Leaving Certificate in this subject. He was also talented in a high degree in music, and more about this later.
But above all else he was solidly spiritual. It was only a solid spirituality that sustained him in Milltown. He suffered severely from pains in his stomach. The house physician was not ideal for religious. He was known to have told his students in UCD that religious were prone to be hypochondriacs. It would seem that he had put Fr Willie into that category, because all the comfort given him on his first visit was “You are suffering from flatulence”, and on a second visit months afterwards he told Bill Saul, “Take plenty of exercise”. Needless to say the medical report was accepted and acted on by his religious superiors, and Fr Willie soldiered on. It took peritonitis and an ambulance in the early hours of the morning and an emergency operation to prove that Fr Willie was a genuinely sick man.
A second major operation followed, both of which, coupled with some time convalescing, meant that Fr Saul missed a sizeable share of the scholastic year. He was now told that he could not be ordained because the requirements of Canon Law had not been met.
With only weeks to go before ordination day Fr Willie was able to show the fallacy of the so-called canonical obstacle, and was then presented with the final hurdle : his exam, and if you make it you are acceptable. He rose to it like Eddie Macken on Boomerang.
Willie had loyalty to his friends in a high order. With a serious turn of mind he was dependable and true. This seriousness showed itself in his reading, his taste was intellectual and heavy, rather than frivolous. He loved a good problem, be it in maths, chess, bridge or anything. Incidentally, he played a good hand at bridge, sized up the situation in a brief time, and then played without any further hesitation, and always got full value from a hand.
He enjoyed more than anything a good musical evening, and he put much work into organising both the instrumental and the singing side of such a get-together. He himself was very talented in violin, flute and piano.
He had a quick mind and was a clear thinker. He had, moreover, the gift of making clear to us slower ones in philosophy and theology what his alert mind had grasped in a flash. And most important of all he was most generous in using this gift.
In these days of comfort and carpets one small point deserves mention. Many a theologian in those days studied in less discomfort because of his skill as a carpenter. Fr Saul’s speciality was an armchair of his special design. The music-stands in the Crescent, still in use, if I mistake not, are his handiwork. The revival of the Caecilians was in no small part due to his inspiration and hard work.
We lost touch with Willie when he left us for Australia in 1948. May he rest in peace.

Fr Hugh O'Neill adds the following details concerning Fr Bill Saul’s life as a Jesuit:
From 1943 (after his tertianship) till 1947 he taught in the Crescent; then, after another year or so in Clongowes, he went to Australia around 1948. After he left Ireland, Fr Saul worked in the following places: 1948 56: St. Louis School, Claremount, Perth; 1956-62: Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne; 1962-72: St. Ignatius College, Riverview; 1972-74: Canisius College, Pymble; 1974-76: Director of Jesuit Seminary Association.

Born: 01 January 1884, Drumconrath, County Meath
Entered: 09 October 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 21 June 1932, Sacred Heart College, Canton, China

Editor of An Timire, 1922-28.

Parents were farmers.

Eldest of five sons and four daughters

Early education at Drumconrath National School he went at 15 to the farm at home. At 20 years of age he went to and spent 5 and a half years there (1903-1909) Mungret College SJ;

by 1912 at St Luigi, Birkirkara, Malta (SIC) Regency
by 1914 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1915 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1931 fourth wave Hong Kong Missioners

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926

The Irish Sodality : This Sodality is directed by Fr Michael McGrath. It grew out of the first week-end retreat in Irish at Milltown Park in 1916. After the retreat, steps were taken with a view to the formation of an Irish-speaking Sodality for men. Success attended the effort, and the first meeting was held in Gardiner Street on Friday in Passion Week. The Sodality soon numbered 400 members. In 1917 a second Irish-speaking Sodality, exclusively for women, was established. In a short time it was found advisable to amalgamate the two branches. The Sodality is now in a flourishing condition, and has every prospect of a bright future before it. In addition to the Sodality, there is an annual “open” retreat given in Gardiner Street to Irish speakers. The first of these retreats was given in 1923 by Fr Coghlan, he also gave the second the following year. The third was given by Father Saul.

Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932

Obituary :

Our mission in China has suffered grave loss by the deaths of two of its most zealous missioners, Our hope is that the willing sacrifice of their lives will bring down the blessing of God on the mission, and help in the gathering of a rich harvest of souls for Christ.

Fr Michael Saul

Father Saul was born at Drumconrath. Co Meath, on the 1st January, 1884, educated at Mungret College and began his novitiate at Tullabeg, 9th October, 1908. Immediately after the novitiate he was sent to Malta and spent two years teaching in the College S. Luigi. Philosophy followed, the first year at Valkenburg, the second and third at Stonyhurst then one year teaching at Mungret, and in 1916 be commenced theology at Milltown. At the end of the four years he went to the Crescent for another year, and then to Tertianship at Tullabeg.
In 1922 he was appointed Assistant Director of the Irish Messenger, and held the position for five years when he went to Gardiner St, as Miss. excurr. In 1930 the ardent wish of Father Saul’s heart was gratified, and he sailed for China. In less than two years' hard work the end came, and the Almighty called him to his reward.
The following appreciation comes from Father T. Counihan :
“It is a great tribute to any man that hardly has the news of his death been broadcast than requests arise in many quarters for a memorial to him. Only a few days after his death I met
a member of the Gaelic League who informed me that a move rent was on foot in that organisation to collect subscriptions for a suitable memorial. Father Saul had thrown himself heart and soul into the work of that organisation for the Irish language.
But there was a movement dearer to his heart, a language he hankered after even as ardently. That movement was the Foreign Missions, and that language was Chinese. That was the dream of Michael Saul all through his novitiate. Death for souls in China was his wish, and God gave it to him. But he must have found it hard to have been snatched away just
when his work was beginning.
I remember him well in the old days in Tullabeg under what we like to call-and quite cheerfully and thankfully “the stern times”. Brother Saul was heavy and patriarchal and more ancient than the rest of us. With extraordinary persistence he sought out the hard things, and never spared himself in the performance of public or private penances. His zeal for all these things, and his acceptance of knocks and humiliations with a quaint chuckle are still fresh in my mind. He put himself in the forefront whenever a nasty job had to be done. I suppose he considered that, as he was ancient in years, he should lead the way.
He once took two of us younger ones on a long walk, so long that we had to come home at a pace not modest, and all the way home he kept us at the Rosary.
I never saw him despondent - serious, yes, but never sad, never ill-humoured, He was ready to face any situation, grapple with any difficulty, and always encouraged and cheered up
others in their difficulties.
This spirit Michael Saul carried with him through life in the Society. It caused some to criticise him a little too much I have heard it said that he was too zealous, too insistent, but he was loved by those for whom he worked, and was sincerity itself”.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael Saul 1884-1932
Fr Michael was one of the pioneers of our Mission in Hong Kong.

He was born at Drumconrath County Meath on January 1 1884 and received his early education in Mungret. He did not enter the Society until he was 22 years of age.

He was an ardent lover of the Irish language, and a keen worker in the Gaelic League in his early days and as a young priest. But, he had a greater love, to convert souls in China.

His zeal for souls was intense, and when he died of cholera in Canton June 21st 1932 is twas said of him “They will get no peace in Heaven, until they do what Fr Saul wants for China”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1933

Obituary

Father Michael Saul SJ

Mungret has had the honour and the grief to give, to the Irish Jesuit Mission in China, its first martyrs of charity. Within a week, two of our past, in the prime of life and at the height of their powers, were taken from earth by the dreadful scourge of the East, cholera. The harvest of souls in the Chinese field was not to be theirs, rather was their part to water the ground with their life's blood, that the harvest might be white for others. There was a peculiar fitness in the Divine dispensation that the great sacrifice was demanded from the generous, zealous heart of Father Saul.

Michael Saul was born at Drumconrath, Co Meath, on the1st January, 1884, and came to the Apostolic School when lie was almost twenty years of age. He remained at Mungret from 1904 until 1908 and studied here for his BA degree at the Royal University. While here he played a large part in every domestic activity. He was an ardent Irish Irelander and studied the history, lariguage and archeology of his country with enthusiasm. His zeal found expression in concerts, papers read to his fellow-students, and expeditions to places of interest. “The Annual” of those days bears tribute to his industry in numerous articles and photographs, with his name, subscribed.

In 1908 he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg, where he made his vows in October, 1910. He then spent two years teaching at the College S Luigi in Malta, returning thence to philosophy, first at Valkenburg and later at Stonyhurst. The year 1915-16 he spent teaching at his Alma Mater. In 1918 he was ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin, and from thence he was engaged in a variety of works, teacher, Editor of the Messenger, and, finally, Missioner.

In all the anxieties of different occupations Father Saul never lost his early love and zeal for Irish. He worked unceasingly by teaching and by example to spread enthusiasm for it and to revive it as a National language. He was a member of “an Fáinne”, and a member of the “Coiste Gnóta” of the Gaelic League, in which circles he was loved by all. Few men have done more and laboured more for our language without notoriety or self-advertisement.

Dearly though he loved his country, the spirit of Christ urged him to sacrifice its service for the greater service of souls, living in the darkness. He had always hoped for the Foreign Missions and volunteered immediately on the foundation by the Irish Province SJ, of a mission in Canton. In 1932 there came the appointment, so long prayed for, and with a small band of fellow religious he sailed for China,

Only a short two years of the apostolate were granted to him, but in the short time he achieved much. He laboured heroically at the language, doubly difficult in middle life and in spite of this handicap he did great work for souls. Among the Chinese boys, as among Irish boys, he was a great favourite; they came to him easily, and he influenced them greatly. Had God spared him, there would have been consolation for all in his work among the young. But the wise Providence took him after three days illness from cholera, still courageous and still very generous - “I am offering my life for the mission. Isn't it grand to think that to-morrow morning I may be in heaven”.. His gallant soul went home to heaven on the Feast of St Aloysius, 1932.

Solus na bhlathas go raibh a anam.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Michael Saul (1884-1932)

Was born at Drumconrath, Co Meath, educated at Mungret College and received into the Society in 1908. He pursued his higher studies at Valkenburg, Stonyhurst and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1919. Father Saul spent one year, 1920-21 at Crescent College and was later Assistant Director of the “Irish Messenger”. He was sent to the newly founded Irish Jesuit mission at Hong Kong in 1930 and had within the next two years given splendid promise of a fruitful apostolate when he died in the cholera epidemic of 1932.

Born: 30 December 1889, Cleve Hill, Ballintemple, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1907, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1926, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 04 February 1971, Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong - Hong Kong Province (HK)

Part of the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Mission Superior of the Irish Mission to Hong Kong 1947-1950

Father was a draper and died in 1892. Mother lives at Lower Janemount, Sunday’s Well, Cork City and is supported by her brothers and private means.

Youngest of two sons and no sisters.

Educated at PBC Cork (1895-1907)

by 1912 at Cividale del Friuli, Udine Italy (VEN) studying
by 1925 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship
by 1934 at Catholic Mission, Ngau-Pei-Lan, Shiuhing (Zhaoqing), Guandong, China (LUS) Regency
by 1935 at Wah Yan, Hong Kong - working

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father T.F. Ryan, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Thomas Ryan, SJ of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, died at Canossa Hospital on 4 February 1971, aged 81.

He was born in Cork, Ireland, on 30 December 1889. On the completion of his secondary education, he joined the Jesuits and was ordained priest in 1922, after the usual Jesuit course of studies.

SOCIAL WORK IN IRELAND
After his ordination he became editor, first of the Madonna, and later of the Irish messenger of the Sacred Heart. With his editorial work he combined a vigorous social apostolate and soon became the refuge of all Dublin parents whose children were getting into trouble. He was always businesslike and never soft, yet he won the confidence of the young delinquents as well as that of the children’s court: before he left Ireland in 1933, he visited every prison in Ireland to say goodbye to old friends who had graduated into adult delinquents without losing their trust in Father Ryan. The army of slum-dwellers who came to see him when he was leaving for Hong Kong has entered into the folk memory of Dublin.

SOCIAL WORK IN HONG KONG
When he reached Hong Kong, Father Ryan was 43. His effort to learn Cantonese met with little success, so to his lasting regret, he found himself cut off from the direct social work that he had practiced in Ireland. He turned instead to social organisation, then much needed in a community that was dominated by almost unadulterated laissez faire - no Welfare Department in those days and very few voluntary agencies or associations. Despite the fact that he was senior teacher of English in Wah Yan College and editor of the Rock, a lively monthly of general interest, he threw himself into whole-heartedly into committee work and into seeing to it that the decisions of the committees were carried out. The development of a social conscience in Hong Kong was due in large measure to the work of Bishop Hall, then at the head of the Anglican diocese of Hong Kong and Macau, and Father Ryan. The Hong Kong Housing Society - the pioneer of organised low-cost housing in Hong Kong -was on fruit of their labours.

When Canton fell to the Japanese in 1938 and refugees began to pour into Hong Kong, the task of providing for the refugees who poured into Hong Kong fell largely upon a committee of which Bishop Hall and Father Ryan were the leading spirits, and the executive work, providing food and shelter, fell chiefly to Father Ryan.

MUSIC AND THE ARTS
With all this Father Ryan had already begun his career as a broadcaster on music and the arts generally. In time he became music critic to the South China Morning Post. By some he was thought of quite wrongly, as chiefly an aesthete. Soon after the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in 1941, he went first to Kweilin, Kwangsi, and later to Chungking, where he did relief work and continued his broadcasting.

FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE
After the war came perhaps the oddest period of his varied life. There was a grave shortage of the administrators needed to restart the shattered life of Hong Kong. The then Colonial Secretary, who had seem Father Ryan at work in Chungking, asked him to take over the directorship of Botany and Forestry and to help in setting up a Department of Agriculture. Father Ryan, city-born and city-bred, knew nothing about botany, forestry or agriculture, but he did know how to get reliable information and advice and how to get things done. He welded his co-workers into a team and was soon busy introducing a New South Wales method of planting seedlings, planting roadsides, experimenting with oil production and looking for boars to raise the standard of Hong Kong pig-breeding. Having discovered that middlemen were exploiting the New Territories vegetable growers, he went into vigorous action, founding the Wholesale Vegetable Marketing Organisation. The middlemen put up a fight but the WVMO won.

JESUIT SUPERIOR
In 1947 regular administrators were available. Father Ryan laid down his official responsibilities, only to find a new responsibility as superior of the Hong Kong Jesuits. A man of striking initiative, he showed himself ready as superior to welcome initiative in others. “It has never been done before” always made him eager to reply “Let us do it now”. The plan for new buildings for Wah Yan Colleges in Hong Kong and Kowloon came from him, though the execution of the plan fell to his successor, Father R. Harris.

On ceasing to be superior in 1950, Father Ryan continued his writing, broadcasting and teaching - only his teaching had been interrupted. His books include China through Catholic Eyes, Jesuits Under Fire (siege of Hong Kong), The Story of a Hundred Years (history of the P.I.M.E. in Hong Kong), Jesuits in China and Catholic Guide to Hong Kong.

COUNSELLOR AND FRIEND
By this time father Ryan knew an enormous number of people in Hong Kong. His forthright and at times brusque manner did appeal to everyone; he had stood on many a corn in his time. But a very large number of people treasured his friendship and his advice, and a constant stream of callers was part of his life in his later active years. The advice was giving vigorously and uncompromisingly, and was all the more valued for that.

In 1964 the University of Hong Kong conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate of Letters. At the conferring, Father Ryan was the spokesman who expressed the thanks of the five who received honorary degrees that day. This was his last important public appearance, for by then his health had begun to fail. There was no loss of intellectual clarity of interest in current affairs - at his funeral - one of his visitors in his last few days in hospital reported that Father Ryan had submitted him to the usual searching examination into everything that was happening in Hong Kong. Physically, however, he had become weak, and he suffered much pain.

A period of comparative seclusion now began. All his life he had slept only about four hours daily and had worked for the rest of the time. When he found himself unable to do what he regarded as serious work, he became impatient to die. He suffered greatly and several times seemed on the verge of death. His partial recoveries from these bad spells caused him nothing but annoyance. The much longed - for end came at 9am on 4 February.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 12 February 1971

◆ Jesuits under Fire - In the siege of Hong Kong 1941, by Thomas F. Ryan, S.J., London and Dublin Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1945.
◆ The Story of a Hundred Years, by Thomas F. Ryan, S.J., Catholic Truth Society Hong Kong, 1959.
◆ Catholic Guide to Hong Kong, by Thomas F. Ryan, S.J., Catholic Truth Society Hong Kong, 1962.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He entered the Society in Ireland having won a gold medal in national public examinations. As a young Jesuit he spent many years in Europe developing his lifelong knowledge and love for art, music and literature, which made him a man of culture and refinement. He did a Masters at UCD, and taught for six years of Regency before being Ordained a priest in1922. He taught at Belvedere College SJ and was also on the editorial staff of the Messenger of the Sacred Heart. He had a great interest in many welfare projects with the plight of Dublin’s poorest people, slum dwellers, and in particular their children. He founded the Belvedere Newsboys Club for street kids and also the Housing Association to provide cheap flats for their parents. He was on the bench of the Juvenile Courts, and during his time visited every remand home, reformatory and institute of detention in Ireland. He was a member of the Playground Association and on the Committee of the Industrial Development Association.
He was sent to Hong Kong in 1933. He first went to Siu Hing (Canton) to learn Cantonese and then returned to teach at Wah Yan Hong Kong. He became editor of the “Rock” monthly magazine from 1935-1941. Here his vigorous personality expressed strong convictions on social problems and abuses in Hong Kong.He championed the Franco cause for which he received a decoration from the Spanish government. at the same time he was giving interesting and stimulating talks on English novelists, poets and dramatists, along with talks on art, music and painting. he preached regularly over “ZBW” - the predecessor of RTHK. Every aspect of Hong Kong life interested him. He worked for the underprivileged. He encouraged the “Shoe Shiners Club”, which later blossomed into the “Boys and Girls Clubs Association” under Joseph Howatson. With the Anglican Bishop, Ronald Otto Hall, he founded the HK Housing Society in 1938. It was refounded in 1950 to build low cost housing on land given by the Hong Kong government at favourable rates. The rents received were used to repay loans from the government within 40 years. In 1981, the “Ryan Building” (Lak Yan Lau), a 22 storey building in the Western District was named after him. It had a ground floor for shops, offices and a children’s playground on the second floor. The other floors contained 100 flats. He was a founding member of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, a member of the Board of Education, Religious advisory Committee on Broadcasting and the City Hall Committee, and belonged to many other civic groups.
During the Japanese occupation he was not sought out by the authorities - even tough he had castigated that Japanese Military for their inhuman conduct in China. He got each Jesuit to write up their experience of the 19 days of siege under the Japanese, and this collection was later published as “Jesuits under Fire”.
In 1942 with Fr Harold Craig - who had come with him in 1933 - he went to Kwelin (Yunan) in mainland China, staying with Mgr Romaniello. He made analyses for the British Consulate and French Newspapers in Hanoi, and he worked at night with translators to make out trends of opinions in the Chinese press. With the Japanese advances in 1944, he went to Chungking where he was active in refugee work. He had good relations with the Allied Armies and their diplomatic missions, and was widely known through his radio broadcasts, which were heard far and wise, on music and literature. He was asked by Mr McDoal - a high ranking official in the Hong Kong government - to help rehabilitate Hong Kong with his drive and efficiency. He was appointed “Acting Superintendent of Agriculture, and so he set about reforesting eh hills which had been laid bare by people looking for fuel during the occupation. He had trees planted along the circular road of the New territories. Many of the trees in the Botanical Gardens were planned by him, with seeds brought from Australia. Seeing the plight of vegetable growers fall into the hands of middlemen, in 1946 he started the Wholesale Vegetable Marketing Organisation. There was retaliation from the middlemen, but they ultimately lost. With the return of permanent Government staff to Hong Kong, he returned to Ireland for a rest, and he returned as Mission Superior in 1947. With his customary energy, he set about buying land to start building Wah Yan Canton. He sent young Jesuits to work on social activities there - Patrick McGovern and Kevin O’Dwyer. He also negotiated the land and finance for the new Wah Yan Hong Kong and one in Kowloon.
He was active in setting up the new City Hall on Hong Kong Island in 1960. He was very active on radio work, in Western music and English poetry. His part in the Housing Society in some way was the cause for the government’s resettlement scheme. He was the most famous Jesuit in Hong Kong in those days, and probably one of the most dynamic Jesuits ever.
After completing his term as Mission Superior in 1850, he returned to teaching at Wah Yan Hong Kong, a work he considered to be the highest form of Jesuit activity. Here he was most successful. Most of his closest Chinese friends were his past students. He was also a close friend of Governor Alexander Grantham, a regular music critic for the South China Morning Post, and frequently wrote the programme notes for concerts and recitals by visiting musicians and orchestras.
In 1941 he published “Jesuits under Fire”. He edited “Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island”, the work of Daniel Finn. He also edited “China through Catholic Eyes”, “One Hundred Years” - a celebration of the HK diocese, “Jesuits in China” and “Catholic Guide to Hong Kong” - a history of the parishes up to 1960.
At the age of 60 he decided to retire and he withdrew from committees. His last public appearance was to receive an Honorary D Litt from the University of Hong Kong in recognition of his social, musical and literary contribution.
With dynamic character and strong convictions, he was impatient with inefficient or bureaucracy in dealing with human problems. Behind his serious appearance was shyness, deep humility and a kindness which endeared him to all. A man of great moral courage and high principles, he had a highly cultivated mind, with particular affection for the poor and needy. He looked forward to young people breaking new ground for the greater glory of God.
Social Work in Hong Kong
The development of a social conscience in Hong Kong was due in large measure to the work of Bishop Hall, the Anglican Bishop of Hong Kong and Macau, and Thomas Ryan. The Hong Kong Housing Association - a pioneer of organised low cost housing in Hong Kong - was the work of these too men as well. When Canton fell to the Japanese in 1938, and refugees began to pour into Hong Kong, the task of housing these people fell largely to a Committee of which Bishop Hall and Thomas were the leading spirits, and their executive work in providing food and shelter fell chiefly to Thomas. After the War there was a serious shortage of administrators needed to restart the shattered life of Hong Kong. The Colonial Secretary asked him to take over responsibility for Botany and Forestry and to help setting up a Department of Agriculture.
According to Alfred Deignan : “Thomas Ryan came to Hong Kong in 1933. At that time there was no Welfare Department and very few voluntary agencies of associations.... He was instrumental in setting up the HK Council of Social Service. In 1938 refugees poured into Hong Kong and he and Bishop Hall were the two priest leading the organisation of provision of food and shelter for the refugees.

Note from Paddy Joy Entry
According to Fr Thomas Ryan, Fr Joy’s outstanding qualities were “devotion to his task and solid common sense........ He probably was the Irish Province’s greatest gift to the Hong Kong Mission.”

Note from Tommy Martin Entry
He first arrived as a Scholastic for Regency in Hong Kong in 1933. He was accompanied by Frs Jack O’Meara and Thomas Ryan, and by two other Scholastics, John Foley and Dick Kennedy.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 8th Year No 4 1933
Belvedere College -
All those bound for Hong Kong and Australia left Ireland early in August. Father T. Ryan, who had been working for a considerable time among the poor of Dublin, had a big send-
off. The following account is taken from the Independent :
Rev. Thomas Ryan, S.J., who was the friend of Dublin newsboys and all tenement dwellers in Dublin, left the city last night for the China Mission. His departure was made the occasion for a remarkable demonstration of regret by the people amongst whom he had ministered for many years. For more than an hour before Father Ryan left Belvedere College, crowds assembled in the vicinity of that famous scholastic institution, hoping to get a last glimpse of the priest whom they had known and loved so long. A procession was formed, headed by St. Mary's Catholic Pipers' Band, and passed through Waterford St., Corporation St., and Lr. Gardiner St, to the North Wall. Catholic Boy Scouts (55 Dublin Troop), under Scoutmaster James O'Toole and District Secretary James Cassin, formed a Guard of Honour at the quayside and saluted Father Ryan as he stepped out of the motor car which followed the procession and went aboard the S.S. Lady Leinster. The scene at the quayside was one of the most remarkable witnessed for many years. Crowds surged around the gangway - many women with children in their arms -and, as the popular missionary made his way aboard, cried “God bless you, Father Ryan”. Father Ryan had to shake hands with scores of people before he was permitted to ascend the gangway, and hundreds of others lined the docks as far as Alexandra Basin to wave him farewell and cheer him on his departure. Among those who bade farewell to Father Ryan at the quayside were many of the priests from Belvedere College and members of the College Union.

Irish Province News 19th Year No 3 1944

“Jesuits Under Fire in the Siege of Hong Kong”, by Fr. Thomas Ryan, appeared from the Publisher, Burns Oates & Washbourne (London and Dublin, 10/6), in the last week of April. The book has received very favourable comment and is selling well. A review of it was broadcast from Radio Eireann on 29th May, by A. de Blacam. After a touching reference to the author, the reviewer went on as follows :
“These soldiers of the spirit (the Jesuit acquaintances of A. de Blacam posted in the midst of the conflict) were at their place of service. We could not regret that it was theirs to stand in momentary peril of death, ministering to the sufferers, Christians and pagans, men and women of many races and of both sides in the battle, and cannot regret that Fr. Tom was there, to compile the heroic story, as he has done so well in - Jesuits Under Fire. This must be one of the very best books that the war has brought forth, It concerns one of the most fierce and, in a way, most critical of the war's events; and it gains in interest, pathos, vividness and value by its detached authorship. A combatant hardly could write impartially. The non-combatant, by nationality a neutral, he can tell the story with the historic spirit, and as a priest with sacred compassion. To this, little need be added. Read the book; it cannot be summarised, and it calls for no criticism. Read of the physical horror of bombardment, and of the anguish of souls; the violence that spares not, because it cannot spare, age, sex or calling, in the havoc. Read of the priests’ work of healing and comfort, under fire of Fr. Gallagher moving a few yards by chance, or by divine Providence, from a spot in the building which immediately after received a direct hit-of the family Rosary that we had known long ago in our homes in Ireland, said in the shattered library, between the shellings, and Fr. Bourke sitting in the ruins to note down the marriages and baptisms of the day.”
The book should do valuable propaganda work for our Mission and awaken vocations to the Society. Presentation copies were sent to the relatives of all of Ours present in Hong Kong during the siege. Cardinal MacRory and the Bishops of the dioceses in Ireland where we have houses were sent copies of a limited edition de luxe. A few dates connected with the MS and its publication may be of interest. Rev. Fr. Provincial received the typescript from Free China on 15th January, 1943. Extra copies of the work had first to be typed, so that, in these the original perished for any reason, copies might be available. When the work of censoring had been completed, it remained to find a publisher. This was effected in August, 1943, when Burns Oates & Washbourne agreed to publish it, and the contract was signed by Fr. Provincial and Christopher Hollis (on behalf of the Company), on 20th September, 1943. Owing to unavoidable delays in the work of printing, it did not appear till 28th April, 1944. One benefit accruing from the delays attending the printing was that in the meantime much better paper was available than had originally been chosen.

Irish Province News 46th Year No 2 1971
Obituary :
Fr Thomas F Ryan SJ
Father Tommy Ryan died at Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong, on the evening of 4th February, aged 81. Early in January he had scalded a foot in a simple accident in his room, and went to hospital for treatment. He returned to Wah Yan for a few days in the middle of the month, and then (very untypical of him) asked to be brought back to hospital. After a heart complication towards the end of the month his condition gradually weakened and he entered a coma in which he finally died peacefully. He was laid to rest in the Happy Valley cemetery after a funeral Mass in St. Margaret's church on Saturday morning, 6th February. He had outlived many of his numerous friends and admirers in Hong Kong, and his long retirement had taken him out of public prominence, although to the end he had maintained contact with a wide circle of friends who appreciated his kind and courteous thoughtfulness. His advice too was gratefully sought by a number of people, for he retained an amazingly wide knowledge of Hong Kong affairs. Such was his reputation in government circles and among retired British civil servants and administrators that the current British Common Market negotiator, Mr. Geoffrey Rippon, called on “T.F.” during an official visit to Hong Kong last year. But the warmest letters of sympathy and remembrance which followed his death came from very ordinary people, notably from men who'd known him in his work in Dublin and in the early days of the Belvedere News boys' Club,
Fr Ryan was born in Cork, Ireland, on 30th December 1889, and entered the Society after completing his secondary education at Presentation College. During his studies he spent many years on the continent of Europe, and travelled widely as he had also done before entering, developing a life-long knowledge and love of art, music and literature which made him a man of culture and refinement. He obtained an M.A. degree from the National University of Ireland, taught the then usual 6 years of regency in Ireland, and was ordained in Dublin in 1922. After a further year in Italy, he was assigned to Belvedere College and the editorial staff of the Messenger of the Sacred Heart.
In addition to his teaching and writing, Fr Ryan immediately took a great interest in many welfare projects; he interested him self in the plight of Dublin's poorest people, slum dwellers, down and-outs and in particular their children. He helped found the Belvedere Newsboys Club for the street kids, and the Housing Society to provide decent cheap flats for their parents. For five years he sat on the bench of the Juvenile Court and during his time visited every Remand Home, Reformatory and institute or detention in Ireland; he was also a member of the Playground Association, and of the committee of the Industrial Development Association.
Fr Ryan had asked to be sent to Hong Kong as soon as the Mission was first mooted, but was not sent until 1933 after a T.D.'s quotation of him in Dail Eireann had raised some episcopal eyebrows. His departure from Dublin was an occasion in the city, a Royal send-off in which the newsboys of the city and their parents accompanied him to the boat, crowded the dockside and shouted themselves hoarse as his boat pulled away; “a demonstration of regret at the loss of the friends of Dublin newsboys and all tenement dwellers in Dublin”. After arriving in Hong Kong that autumn, Fr. Ryan went to Shiu Hing near Canton to study Chinese for a year, and then returned to teach at Wah Yan College in Robinson Road. He became editor of the Rock, a monthly periodical which made a mark in its time and is still remembered today. Fr Ryan's vigorous personality was apparent from the first issue he produced, and he continued as editor until the outbreak of war in 1941 and the occupation of Hong Kong ended its publication. The Rock was a vehicle for Fr Ryan's strongly-felt convictions on the social problems of Hong Kong and the abuses which he felt existed in the colony; he also, alone in Hong Kong, championed the Franco cause in the Spanish civil war, and later received a decoration from the Spanish government in recognition of his writings in those years. At the same time he was also becoming known as a radio personality, giving regular series of interesting and stimulating talks on English novelists, poets, dramatists, essayists, and on art and music, painters and composers. And he preached regularly on the air, over ZBW the predecessor of modern Radio Hong Kong.
Every facet of life in Hong Kong always interested him, and besides writing and talking he devoted much of his time to working for the under-privileged and people in need. At Wah Yan, he encouraged the founding of a Shoeshiners Club (on the pattern of the Belvedere Newsboys Club) which later blossomed into the present Boys and Girls' Clubs' Association; with the Anglican Bishop of Hong Kong and Macao, the Rt Rev R O Hall, he founded the Hong Kong Housing Society, the local pioneer in the fields of low-cost housing and housing management - the Society still has a Jesuit member on its committee and has been responsible for housing well over 100,000 people in about 20,000 flats in more than 14 estates, and he was involved with refugee and relief work before, during and after the Pacific War, beginning in 1938 when many thousands of people fled to Hong Kong in the wake of the Japanese invasion of South China - he recruited senior boys in the college to help, and was chairman of the War Relief Committee when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong in December 1941. In his later active years, Fr Ryan was a founder member of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a member of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, of the Board of Education, of the Religious Advisory Committee on Broadcasting, of the City Hall Committee and several others.
In the Rock, Fr Ryan had frequently castigated the Japanese military for their inhuman conduct in China, and consequently was no keener on meeting them than anyone else when they captured Hong Kong. During the siege, he offered his services for any humanitarian work, and spent the early days assisting the administrative staff at Queen Mary Hospital, taking charge later on of the distribution of rice in the Central district where he narrowly escaped death during an air raid one morning. In the first weeks after the surrender, Fr Ryan got all of the Jesuits in Hong Kong to write their experiences of the 18 days of siege, which he later edited and had published as Jesuits Under Fire. Despite his forebodings, however, the Japanese did not seek him out, so he began to make arrangements to go into China. With Fr Harold Craig, who'd also arrived with him in 1933, he left Hong Kong on 17th May, 1942 for the tiny French settlement in Kwangchauwan, and arrived at Kweilin, Kwangsi, on 10th June. There he stayed with Msgr Romaniello and began getting in touch with the many Hong Kong Catholics passing through Kweilin. He helped many spiritually, and found employment for others, often with the allied forces as interpreters. For the British consulate in Kweilin, he made analyses of the French newspapers from Hanoi, and after HQ in Delhi read these he was working every night with a battery of translators making out the trends of opinion from the Chinese press. Life in war-time Kweilin could be hectic; like many cities in China at that time, quite often the city was deserted during the day as people went out to the caves in the nearby mountains when warnings of air-raids were given, returning at evening when normal city life began again and went on till the early hours of the morning. In mid 1944 Kweilin had to be abandoned before a Japanese advance towards Indochina, and Fr Ryan was brought by the British consulate party to Kweiyang where at first he stayed with the bishop. Recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia and convalescing with Fr Pat Grogan at the minor seminary a few miles out in the hills from the city, the question for Fr Ryan was where to move to next. The superior in Hong Kong, Fr Joy, had earlier decided against Fr Ryan going to Chungking; but the superior of the 'dispersi' in China, Fr Donnelly, decided that with the change of time and circumstances the prohibition no longer held. Fr Ryan agreed but declared that if it had been left to himself he would not go to Chungking Nevertheless he began to prepare for the journey north. He had been warned that Chungking was a hilly place without transport, so he practised climbing the hills around the minor seminary at Sze-tse-pa with Fr Grogan just to see if his heart was really equal to Chungking. Having decided that he had nothing to fear he started on the 3-day trip by military lorry to the war-time capital. There, with a Dominican friend from Kweilin, he ran an English-speaking church, St. Joseph's, and became active in refugee work, keeping up his good relations with the allied armies and their diplomatic missions. He was also involved in cultural activities in Chungking, and did a regular series of broadcasts on music and literature which were heard and appreciated by people as far apart as Burma and the southern Philippines. His knowledge of Hong Kong problems so impressed the British ambassador that he wanted Fr Ryan to fly to London to confer with the government there about Hong Kong; the ending of the war, however, changed the plans to Fr Ryan's great relief, and he was free to prepare to go back to Hong Kong,
At the end of the war in 1945 when British forces reoccupied Hong Kong, the then Colonial Secretary, Mr. McDougal who had known Fr Ryan in Chungking and admired his drive and efficiency, invited him to come to Hong Kong and give his services to the rehabilitation of the colony. Fr Ryan accepted, a plane was put as his disposal, and soon he found himself in the unusual position for a Jesuit of being a member of his Majesty's government in Hong Kong. He was appointed Acting Superintendent of Agriculture, and helped to set up the Department of Agriculture in 1946. Re-afforestation was one of the important problems on his desk, since the colony had been greatly denuded of trees during the occupation years. New methods of raising seedlings were introduced, red-tape circumvented in unorthodox ways in bringing in plants and seeds from Australia, many of the present trees and shrubs in the Botanical Gardens were planted (and Fr Ryan took a personal interest in the gardeners' welfare as well), large areas of the New Territories sown, and roadside trees planted along many thoroughfares. Another problem was the plight of the vegetable growers who were being exploited by middlemen; the farmers were getting very poor prices for their produce while consumers had to pay high prices. In 1946 the Wholesale Vegetable Marketing Organisation was set up to counteract the middlemen, who retaliated with a strong fight leading to some ugly incidents in the New Territories; eventually, however, the W.V.M.O. won out.
Early in 1947, with the return of the permanent members of the government, Fr Ryan was able to relinquish his official work and return to Ireland for a much needed rest. But he was a man who never believed in taking a rest, and by August of that year had returned to Hong Kong, having been appointed Regional Superior of the Mission in Hong Kong and Canton. In his new office he exercised his customary energy and vigour, made plans for educational developments in Canton, selected men to be sent abroad for specialised work in social and educational problems, and began plans for the building of the two new Wah Yan Colleges whose choice sites he was responsible for obtaining. His belief that the communists would never take Canton and the south was perhaps his most notable failure of judgement. On ceasing to be Superior in 1950 he returned eagerly to the classroom, a work he believed to be one of the highest forms of Jesuit activity and one in which he himself was very successful, most of his closest Chinese friends being former pupils of his; he always had a great interest and memory for boys he had taught. He also devoted much of his time and talents at this period to promoting social service and cultural activities, being associated with or actively engaged in almost every government committee concerned with the poor and underprivileged, as well as a personal friend and confidant of the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham. He became the regular music critic of the South China Morning Post and frequently wrote the programme notes for concerts and recitals by visiting musicians and orchestras, as well as continuing to broadcast regularly about music, and give lectures. Literature (which he taught at Wah Yan), art and old Hong Kong were among his regular topics in speech and writing, and he was a contributor to the Jesuit monthly Outlook. He published Fr Dan Finn's Archeological Finds on Lamma Island and wrote a number of books over the years: China through Catholic Eyes, Ricci, One Hundred Years (the centenary of the diocese of HK), Jesuits in China, A Catholic Guide to Hong Kong he had visited every outlying parish, and at one time knew every street and backstreet of Hong Kong and Kowloon like the back of his hand.
At the age of 60, Fr Ryan characteristically decided that it was time for him to withdraw from many of the committees of which he was a member, to make way for younger people. However, he still continued to take an active interest in all his old activities and was frequently called upon for advice and help, by people of every class and nationality. He continued working and teaching for several more years, even after a severe heart attack in 1957 greatly curtailed his activities; ill-health finally forced him to retire in the early '60s, though his mind and brain remained as clear and acute as ever. His last public appearance was at the University of Hong Kong in 1966 when an Honorary Degree, D Litt., was conferred on him in recognition of his social, musical and literary work. In recent years, deteriorating health confined him to the house entirely, apart from occasional spells in hospital. Nevertheless he continued to receive a number of regular visitors whenever he felt up to it, and remained interested and well-informed on everything happening in Hong Kong, particularly in social questions, cultural activities and in government, as well as in the Society at large and in the activities of all the members of the province especially the scholastics, Jesuit visitors to the house, and our own men returning, from abroad, were usually subjected to his detailed questioning which revealed an already wide acquaintance with the topics he wanted more information about. With his knowledge and contacts, the advice and encouragement he readily gave to anyone, especially people concerned in social action, was invaluable,
A man of dynamic character and strong convictions, Fr Ryan had little patience with inefficiency, slovenliness, red tape or bureaucratic methods of dealing with human problems. Behind a somewhat serious appearance and sometimes brusque manner there was a shyness, a deep humility and a kindliness which endeared him to all who knew him well. He was a man of great moral courage and high principles, with a highly cultivated mind and a very particular affection for the poor and the needy; and, as many of his former pupils and others can testify, he was a genuine friend when one was needed. Though familiarly known to his colleagues as T.F. or Tommy, it was a familiarity one did not risk in his presence; perhaps his brethren were too cowed by his known forcefulness and forthrightness and by the esteem and honour in which he was held; less inhibited outsiders spoke to him in a way no member of his community dared. Of course he had his foibles and pet hates; his extreme reticence and his ruthlessness in destroying most of his papers and writings have meant that much of the story of his life can never be told - from his occasional reminiscences, he clearly had a wealth of experiences and interests which would : have made a fascinating commentary on Dublin in the '20s, the recent history of Hong Kong and almost the whole history of the Society in this part of the world. Fr Tommy Ryan was undoubtedly one of the giants of this and of the Irish Province; his name and achievements deserve remembrance and gratitude beyond the circle of those who now miss his presence with us ... but his own preference was for obscurity, that he should not be a burden to anyone, and that younger people should break new ground, for the greater glory of God.
May he rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1937

The Past

We print a little of a long letter from that most sadly and dearly remembered of all Belvederian figures, Fr Tommy Ryan SJ. He is, we imagine, one of the ten busiest men in the world, his friends the Holy Father and Mussolini included, yet (oh admirable example) he finds time to write to the Editor. His vivid style, the interest of his news, our own interest in everything he does would justify the long extract if justification were needed.

Wah Yan College,
Hong Kong
January 11, 1938

When I was looking through the pages your name as Editor of the “Belvedereian” caught my eye and it reminded me of an intention formed last summer to tell the holder of that honour something of the Belvederians I met in this part of the world when on my last wanderings not that I had much to say but just something to put on the paper to wrap around their photographs. I began to realise that if I did not do it now I might never do it. I have just three-quarters of an hour at my disposal--so here goes.

Exhibit No 1 is a photo taken a few stories higher than the spot where I am now sitting, that is, on the roof of Wah Yan College. The three smiling faces are well known to Belvederians. Fr Paddy O'Connor, the man behind the American Far East, and Nanky Poo the Second, who made China known and loved to many before he set foot on it, was paying us a flying visit on his way to or from Manila and the Eucharistic. Congress when I snapped him with Fr Donnelly and Terry Sheridan.

A few months after this photo was taken I trekked to Shanghai, and I was only in a few hours in the quiet of a house that a month later had a shell through it, and was trying to feel as cool as I could in a temperature of 99.7 when Fr Paddy O'Connor burst into the room. It was sheer accident that he happened to be in Shanghai. His tour of China was officially at an end when he took a missionary's place for a few days and picked up some tropical disease over-night. This landed him in hospital for a spell, so he missed travelling in the same boat as Terry Sheridan back to Europe. We spent part of a day together, and he piloted me round Shanghai with all the aplomb of one who had spent two months answering the questions of American pilgrims to the Eucharistic Congress at Manila. Together we went among other places, to one of the charitable institutions that was soon to be blown off the map by Japanese shells and its founder, Lo Pa Hong, the Vincent de Paul of China, murdered.

With Fr O'Connor, on that night when I met him in Sharighai, was another to whom I needed no introduction. The last time I had seen him was on an occasion which with great self-restraint I never mentioned till now. It was in Phoenix Park, where a tiny rug emblazoned with the inscription “Ivor” covered his small body in a perambulator; Now he is Fr Ivor McGrath, one of three brothers in the Columban Missionary Society, and a member of one of the greatest of Belvederian clans. I needed no introduction to him, for his resemblance to his eldest, and sorely lamented, brother Garret is most striking. I do not know how many McGraths and Fitzpatricks and Moores and others of the same clan were actually in Belvedere, but I can recall ten, and Ivor is the tenth.

I saw more of Ivor the Tenth a few days later when we sailed up the Yangtze. He was entering on his career as a missionary in China, after some time spent in learning the language in Shanghai, and I was going to give a couple of retreats to some of his companions, and the rumbling of war was just above us in the north. In Nanking, where we stopped on the way, he undertook to pilot me to the Jesuit house where he had been once before. He told me it might not be easy to find for it was a very ordinary house on a very ordinary street, though it had the foundation stone of a better house somewhere in the back garden, but after driving up and down both sides of that street a few times he located it. Then we continued up the Yangtze.

On that trip Ivor was doing something much more important than introducing strange Jesuits to one another; he was bringing a watch-dog to another Belvederian, Fr Fergus Murphy, the Rector of the seminary in an unspellable place in Hupeh. The dog was not reacting favourably to the climate and the conditions during a five day trip on a river boat, and he needed frequent applications of some kind of medicine that Ivor purchased in Nanking or Wuhu or some other town on the way. I went with him to the top of the boat on one of his visits to the dog and took his photo up there. When it was taken Ivor protested “Why did you not wait until a junk came by ?!” Then, hey presto! a junk appeared and I took the two together. But it is had passed and no other hove in sight when I handed the camera to a companion to take the two of us together.

A few days ago (that is, a few days after New Year) it was mentioned in the paper that all foreigners were recommended to leave Kiukiang and Kuling, two places in the Kiangsi province in the direction of the new Government seat at Hankow. It was to these two places that I was bound. Kiukiang was on the river, Kuling on the hill above it. As I was the only one getting off at Kiukiang and my stock of. Southern Chinese was useless here, I was told that some one of the Columban Father's would meet me and pilot me on the rest of the way. Boats are uncertain things on the Chinese rivers. The Yangtze was in flood at this time, and it was a day and a half after the scheduled time when we reached Kiukiang a few hours after nightfalls. It was pitch dark. Usually when a boat touches a wharf in China there is a swarm of coolies up the sides on to the deck in an instant, and it takes a very slick foreigner to get on board until order of some sort has been restored, but on this occasion our boat can hardly have touched the dock when I saw a spare figure striding down the deck, and in spite of the darkness I saw enough of the face under the huge pith helmet to recognise Fr Joe Hogan. Good old Joe! I remember him as the one who long ago in Second Junior could make excuses for home exercises undone in such tones of genuine penitence as would melt any master's heart (until he had learned that the same penitence would be needed quite as much on the morning after the next football match).

The ascent to Kuling is on sedan chairs carried by strong men of the hills, - and it was ten o'clock at night when Fr Joe piloted me to the place where the chairs were to be had. But they weren't to be had and, rather than turn back, we started : on a midnight walk, that would take us till about three in the morning. But my guide's resources were not exhausted, and in spite of the fact that those who managed these things said there were no chairs to be had, chairs were found. The carriers were not in good humour at that time of night, and a quarrel between them made the hills resound with language which Joe assured me was far from parliamentary. But when he intervened his voice dominated, and he told them that he was in much too great a hurry to be able to give them time to have a fight, and that they had better go on. They went on meekly enough, and we reached our destination about an hour after midnight.

It was a fortnight or so before I met any more of the Belvederian missionaries. I had been away from Kuling and when I got back there again two others had arrived: Frs Fergus Murphy and Aidan McGrath. Just as in my memory I associated Joe Hogan with most sincere regrets for not having done an English composition when he was in Junior Grade, so I connected Fergus Murphy in my memory with long-ago days in 1st Prep, and Aidan McGrath with the base of a Rugby scrum. Now Fergus is Rector of a seminary, a Doctor of Canon Law, and the possessor of a neat Captain Cuttle beard, but many years fell away when I met him, and his sunny outlook on life seemed so little changed that it was with some difficulty that I could think of him as being beaten unconscious by bandits and the hero of other missionary adventures of which his companions told me.

That is the way about all those missionaries, it is from their companions that you learn their experiences. I think that I should have been for years with Joe Hogan before I ever discovered that anything extraordinary ever happened to him, yet the others assured me that “a book could be written about him”. I forget how many times he fell into the hands of bandits, but each time he managed to get away. Om at least one occasion he calmly bluffed his way out of their hands. On another occasion he escaped by making his horse swim a stream while he gallantly held on to its tail and was pulled across with an umbrella tucked safely under his arm. When he goes home, if the Mission Society in Belvedere can get him to tell something about his years in China it will have the most exciting hour in its history. But I do not know if he will ever go home. He should have gone long ago for a year's rest, but he always finds an excuse for not leaving his people. I visited his parish in Han-yang afterwards and he is written all over it.

Aidan McGrath is one of the most fluent Chinese speakers among the Irish missionaries in China, but the gift of tongues did not come to him overnight, he learned the language in the hardest of schools-amidst the need of ministering to people dying of hunger and pestilence. He arrived in the blackest year of the Hanyang mission, there was not time for study or preparation, every man was wanted to save and encourage and baptise. Aidan went into the thick of it, and his elder brother, Ronan, at home was envying him. Even looking back on those days there is no glamour of adventure for those who went through it, but Aidan at any rate emerged a vigorous missionary, resourceful and untiring and ready for anything,

The Belvederians are a good sample of what Irish missionaries are in China their old school may well be proud of them.

It was when I had met all those whom I knew as boys in Belvedere that another of the Columban Fathers told me that he too had a brief connection with Belvedere - Fr Shackleton, who spent half a year there when ill-health and the pogrom kept him from his native Belfast. Those who knew him will be glad to hear his name, and perhaps they will have a chance of seeing the Bulletin which he produces to tell the world something of the Hanyang Mission.

Now my three quarters of an hour is at an end."

The Editor feels that he owes his readers an apology for those missing pictures. Sent and mislaid, they were recovered too late for publication. How fortunate that Fr Ryan's pen is more vivid than any photo.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1939

The Past

Fr T F Ryan SJ, who is so well known to several generations of Belvederians, and whose extraordinary zeal and charity the Dublin poor know so well, had already risen to a key position in the Refuge Council, and late in the evening of Friday, November 25th, he came to my room to ask for half a dozen boys on the morrow, to help in opening a new refugee camp at Fanling. I promised him straight away, not merely half a dozen, but as many as he wished, and offered to go myself, if I could be of service. The offer was gladly accepted, and thus began one of the most interesting and touching experiences of my life.

Previous to the capture of Canton, very large supplies of arms, ammunition and other war material had been pouring into China through Hong Kong; in such quantities, indeed, that the Chinese Government had had special sidings constructed along the Kowloon-Canton railway in British territory, where waggons could be loaded and left during the day time, to be sent up to Canton by night. There were, therefore, these now-unused sidings, and large numbers of covered goods-waggons in the New Territories; and somebody hit on the bright idea of using these waggons to house refugees. Forty large waggons had been placed along a siding close to Fanling station; and this was the refuge camp which the Wah Yan boys and I had been invited to get under way. Later, two other similar camps were opened, and for most of the month of December, as I shall relate, I and my handful of schoolboys had full charge of all three camps, with a housing capacity of over three thousand people.

When we arrived at Fanling on that first hectic morning, we found the roads literally black with people: men and women carrying poultry or pigs, or even children, on poles slung across their shoulders, little children laden with bundles of clothes or bedding. There was a constant, endless stream of these unfortunates, fleeing from the terror beyond the border. Along one straight piece of road, we counted over 100 persons within a few hundred yards; and this took no account at all of the many larger or smaller groups, where people had stopped to rest for a while on their weary journey.

At the camp, however, all was still and empty - for we quickly discovered that the poor people did not trust the railway waggons, and would not come to them! When we told them that this was a new refugee camp, they just shook their heads silently, and jogged along further. They thought the whole thing was a “plant”, and that our plan was to get them into the waggons, and then send them back into China. So the boys scattered along the roads to talk to the poor people, and induce them to come in.

Meanwhile, the side of the track was rapidly being turned from virgin soil into a semblance of a kitchen. Holes were dug, rice-pans placed over them, fires lit under the pans, and very soon smoke and steam were rising from the midday meal. The refugees began to drift in, but very slowly; for one group that stayed and took shelter with us, there must have been ten that passed on. Actually, however, about 350 refugees were given a meal as soon as the first boiling of rice and fish and vegetables was ready.

After the meal was over, there was time for a few words with some of our unhappy guests. One man had not eaten for three or four days, and was hardly able to walk with the aid of a stick; and when he returned painfully to his waggon after taking his rice, he discovered that his only blanket had been stolen! Another poor woman with three grand little sons had had her husband killed and her house burned, and had fallen in one fell afternoon from comfort to beggary and a future without hope, Later, however, many groups came in with stories, of houses burned and near relatives killed.

So commenced our month with the refugees.

Let me say at once that the boys were wonderful. I knew their fine spirit, of course, and that I could rely on them to do their very best; but I never dreamed that I should discover amongst them such quiet zeal, competence and efficiency, Not many days had passed, indeed, before I found that I could safely entrust the entire running of the camp to them; and as a consequence, most of my own time was spent in running around on lorries, making sure that they got all the necessary supplies, of food, clothes, blankets, which they needed.

Problems of all kinds arose, at one time or another, and called for qualities of calmness and quick decision. On one occasion, a baby was born, without medical attendance of any kind, in one of the waggons; one or two men died; there was a fight between some of the refugees and the cook's helpers; three adults were knocked down by the trains and killed - one woman, indeed, was killed only a few yards from me, and I lifted her dead body off the track myself! There were thefts, too, and quite a few of the minor little squabbles which are likely to occur when many persons, who are very poor, are cooped up together. But the boys handled all these emergencies with the deftness of skilled organisers; and when they left the camps at the end of the month to return to school, they had won the genuine affection of their charges. The children surrounded them on that last evening, crying, and begging them to remain.

We started schools for the children before we left the camps; all Chinese have a great love of learning, and once the suggestion of a school was made, we had about two hundred students straight away. All the teachers were volunteer workers, and it was amazing how quickly the children learned from them discipline, good manners, and singing. There was a most amusing scene one afternoon, when we got word that the Governor, Sir Geoffrey Northcote, was coming out to visit the camps. The teachers had taught the children how to stand to attention to receive him; and for most of the afternoon before his visit, I spent my time walking up and down between two lines of erect little figures, playing the part of the Governor, and taking the salute!

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1970

Obituary

Father Thomas Ryan SJ : An Appreciation

Father Thomas Francis Ryan SJ, of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong died on Thursday, 4th February, aged 82.

In such an obituary introduction it is usual to give between the name and announcement of death a word or two summarizing the character and career of the deceased. It. would, however, be impossible to summarize the character and career of Father Ryan in a word or two. He was priest, administrator, author, educator, counsellor, essayist, journalist, broadcaster, agriculturalist, inventor, controversialist, art and music critic, social worker - the list is long already, yet those who knew Father Ryan best will complain that it has left out what was most characteristic. Like Dryden's Zimri he was “a man so various that he seemed to be not one but all mankind's epitome”; but no one could have thrown at him Dryden's sneer! “everything in turns but nothing long”. Father Ryan was always master of his many gifts and of all that had come to him through broad training and wide experience. He used that mastery with startling energy for the Glory of God.

He was born in Cork, Ireland on 30th December, 1889. Having received his secondary education at Presentation College Cork, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1907. In his noviciate, the first two years of Jesuit training, he endured one annoyance that foreshadows much of his life. The novices were expected to sleep the hours or so that young men normally need. All his life he slept for only three or four hours at night and spent the rest of the twenty-four hours working with unflagging energy. The extra hours of rest in the noviciate were to him a time of [inerm] boredom. He never again subjected himself to this torture!

After his noviceship he went through the usual Jesuit course of studies, interrupted by six years of secondary teaching in Belvedere College, Dublin. He did his university studies in the National University of Ireland. After the conferring of his MA, the Dean of Philosophy approached him with a suggestion that he should take up a lectureship in aesthetics that the Dean wished to found. This flattering offer was one of the few things that ever succeeded in disconcerting Father Ryan. Deep as his aesthetic interests were he shuddered at the thought of restricting himself to aesthetics - He even sacrificed his membership of a string quartet-and this was a very real sacrifice - because he found it too time-consuming.

Having completed his Jesuit training and been ordained priest (1922), he was appointed editor, first of the Madonna and later of the Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart. With his editorship he combined intense social work, to which he was driven by a fierce intolerance of social injustice and human misery. This work brought him into touch with many of the city courts and for five years, on the invitation of the magistrates, he sat on the bench of the bench of the Dublin Juvenile. Though he was never in the least soft or sentimental, the young offenders and their parents knew that he would understand why an erring youth had gone wrong. If he thought a case was being mishandled, he made his mind known with, at times, appalling energy and clarity, Even when he thought punishment was deserved, he did not banish the delinquent from his sympathies or lose respect for the delinquent's human dignity. Before leaving Ireland in 1933, Father Ryan had to visit every gaol in Ireland. He had friends in all of them. Much as he was accomplishing on his own, Father Ryan had no ambition to be a lone worker. His editorial office was in Belvedere College, Dublin, and though he was not on the staff of the school he interested the boys, past and present, in social work and was largely responsible for the foundation of the Belvedere Newsboys' Club and the Belvedere Housing Society. His work with this latter society brought to his notice similar work that was then being done on Tyneside by an Anglican clergyman, the Rev R A Hall, with whom (as Bishop Hall) he was to work on housing in Hong Kong in later decades.

In 1933, Father Ryan left Ireland for Hong Kong. The send off he received from tenement dwellers, newsboys, young people who had got into trouble and above all the parents of such young people, is still, after 35 years, part of the folklore of Dublin.

On arrival in East Asia, Father Ryan went to Shui Hing, Kwangtung, to try to learn Cantonese, but with very little success. As a young man he had learned several European languages and spoke them well. From Shui Hing he went to Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, to teach and to edit a monthly magazine, The Rock, vigorous attacks on social injustice and his equally vigorous defence of the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War made The Rock a centre of lively controversy: his journalism was like a hail of bullets : facts and judgments were projected at the reader with all the force of intensely held conviction.

Teaching and editing would have overfilled the time of most men, but, as was said above, Father Ryan slept very little and worked all the rest of the day. He was not long in Hong Kong before he became a regular broadcaster on art, music and literature and he was for many years a music critic for the South China Morning Post,

His failure to learn Cantonese had cut him off almost entirely from direct social work, so he redoubled his activity as a committee man and organizer. There was much to be done. Laisez faire was still the unquestioned social philosophy of Hong Kong. There was no Social Welfare Department in those days and there were few voluntary social agencies. Father Ryan and Bishop Hall were among the few who were struggling to bring to life a social conscience in the community at large.

When Canton fell to the Japanese in 1938, Bishop Hall and Father Ryan were among those who had some idea of what had to be done to provide food and shelter for the many thousands of refugees who poured over the border. Government had no organization in those days for dealing with such problems. A War Relief Committee was set up and for a considerable time Father Ryan was Chairman. He had to be ready to hear during dinner that so many thousand refugees had arrived unannounced. He was ready. Railway coaches, unwanted on account of the cutting off of railway traffic provided temporary shelter and well organized services provided food.

In The Rock he made no effort to conceal his opinion of the Japanese attack on China, When the Japanese attacked Hong Kong, he worked in a hospital for a few days and then was asked by the Government to take over rice distribution. After the surrender it was clear that the editor of The Rock would not be persona grata to the occupying power. He made his way to China before the new administration had settled down and after a period with the Maryknoll Fathers in Kweilin, went to Chungking, wiere he continued his welfare work and his radio broadcasting
Since Father Ryan had little love of reminiscence, comparatively little is known here about his activities in China -- a few interesting stories about unusual events but no general picture of his relief work.

Evidence of the value of that work was provided in a startling way after his return to Hong Kong in 1945. There was then a grave shortage of trained administrators there, so the Colonial Secretary, who had been with him in Chunking, asked Father Ryan to take over the Department of Botany and Forestry and to help in setting up a Department of Agriculture. This was almost unprecedented work for a priest; but the organization of Hong Kong had been shattered and the task set before Father Ryan was not one of bureaucratic administration but of helping huge numbers of people in a time of desperate need, He accepted.

Father Ryan, city-born and city-bred, knew nothing about botany or forestry or agriculture; but he did know how to get reliable information and advice and he did know how to get things done. He welded his co-workers into a team and was soon busy introducing New South Wales methods of raising seedlings, planning roadside plantations, experimenting with tung-oil plantations, and looking for boars to raise the level of pig breeding.

Having found that middlemen were exploiting the New Territories vegetable growers he went into action and founded the Wholesale Vegetable Marketing Organization in 1940. The middle men put up a vigorous, at times a vicious, fight; but the new organization triumphed.

Regular administrators became available in 1947, so Father Ryan laid down his departmental responsibilities - only to find himself burdened with new ones, as Regional Superior of the Jesuits in Hong Kong. Almost at once he set about providing more suitable buildings for Wan Yah College. The accomplishment of this plan was delayed till after his period of office, but the impetus was his.

All his life, Father Ryan has been an initiator. As Superior he welcomed initiative in his fellow Jesuits, encouraging and stimulating anyone who had new ideas or new ways of dealing with old problems. From many administrators in Church and State “It's never been done before” is a reason or an excuse for inaction. For Father Ryan it was a challenge to action: “It should be tried now”.

Once again he turned to social action, in a more helpful atmosphere than he had known in pre-war Hong Kong. In conjunction with Bishop Hall and other go-ahead members of the community he helped to found the Hong Kong Housing Society, which has now the proud record of 100,000 people in 16,000 flats in 12 estates. He was also a founder member of the Hong Kong Council of Social Services, a member of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, of the Board of Education, of the Religious Advisory Committee on Broadcasting, of the City Hall Committee and of several other committees. And no one ever accused him of being a silent member of any committee.

Even when bearing the burdens of authority, Father Ryan, continued his work as broadcaster and writer on the arts, and returned to teaching English to the top form in Wah Yan College, Kowloon. Every now and then he published a book - “China Through Catholic Eyes”, “Jesuits Under Fire”, “The Story of a Hundred Years” (a history of the PIME missionaries in Hong Kong), “A Catholic Guide to Hong Kong”, “Jesuits in China”. He also edited “Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island”, the collected papers of the late Father D Finn SJ.

When he reached the age of 60, Father Ryan, characteristically, resigned from several committees, holding that the elderly should make way for their juniors. These resignations did not entail any serious cutting of his work. He maintained and increased his load of broadcasting and was constantly consulted on a very wide variety of subjects.

As he approached the seventies, severe heart trouble began at last to impose limits on his energies. He was reduced to doing only as much as an ord

Born: 06 September 1917, Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 17 October 1941, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1951, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1955, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 03 April 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was a railway clerk at London, Midland and Scottish Railway Dublin.

Eldest of four boys with one sister.

Early education was three years at a National school, then he went to O’Connells school for seven years. He then went to UCD and got a BA.

Entered St Mary's, Emo, County Laois: 07 September 1936; Left: 02 March 1939; Re-entered: 17 October 1941.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/michael-ryan-sj-rip/

Michael Ryan SJ, RIP
The funeral of Fr Michael Ryan SJ took place in Milltown Park, Dublin on April 7, 2008. Michael died peacefully at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin on Thursday, April 3, 2008, aged 90 years.
Born in Dublin, his early education was with the Christian Brothers on North Richmond Street. He entered the Jesuits in Emo in 1936, then studied Arts at UCD, followed by Philosophy at Tullabeg. His Regency was at Mungret and Clongowes, and he studied theology at Milltown, where he was subsequently ordained in 1951. As a priest, he worked first as a teacher in Clongowes and then in Gonzaga College. From 1957 he ministered in the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick, for three years and then assisted in the Milltown library until 2006, when he was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge. His condition had deteriorated in his last six months and he had to be transferred to hospital for treatment, eventually returning to Cherryfield in March before his death on April 3. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went to Juniorate without Vows. Sent away because of bad speech impediment. Reentered

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 136 : Summer 2008

Obituary

Fr Michael Ryan (1917-2008)

6 September 1917: Born in Dublin
Early education at CBS, North Richmond Street, Dublin
7th September 1936: Entered the Society at Emo
1938 - 1939: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
31st July 1939: Left the Society for health reasons
1939 - 1941: Studied Arts at UCD
17th October 1941: Re-entered the Society at Emo
2nd February 1944: First Vows at Emo
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1947 - 1948: Mungret College - Regency
1948 - 1949: Clongowes Wood College - Regency
1949 - 1952: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1951: Ordained at Milltown Park
1952 - 1953: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1953 - 1956: Clongowes Wood College - Teacher
2nd February 1955: Final Vows at Clongowes
1956 - 1957: Gonzaga College - Teacher
1957 - 1960: Sacred Heart, Limerick - Ministered in Church
1960 - 2007: Milltown Park - Assisting in Library....
21st August 2006: Admitted to Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
3rd April 2008: Died at Cherryfield

Fergal Brennan writes:
Michael Ryan was a most unusual character. He possessed a unique combination of charm, humour and suspicion. The Milltown Community Staff found him very pleasant and likeable. He was always smiling, told them jokes, and plied them with stories about fishing. His family were fond of him, and his funeral was delayed so that some relatives could return from Australia to attend.

Born in Dublin in 1917, Michael attended O'Connell Schools, where he was impressed by several of the Brothers. Entering the Noviceship in 1936, he was already an accomplished fisherman, catching pike in the Emo lake. Paddy Kelly reports, however, that several people objected to Michael using live, fluffy, little coot chicks as bait. At the end of his time in Emo, Michael did not take First Vows, but he did go on to Rathfarnham and started studies in UCD. He left the Society the following summer, but continued to associate with the Juniors, going for walks up the hills with them, and attending the Irish Villa. On such Villas in Ballinskelligs, Michael taught fly-fishing to Des O'Loughlen and anyone who was interested. When he finished his degree in 1941, it is said that Michael “talked his way back into the Noviceship”. This time he did take Vows, and his progress through ‘Formation' was quite standard after that, including Ordination in Milltown.

After Tertianship, Michael started on a life of teaching - first in Clongowes, then Gonzaga, where the students in his Irish Class did extremely well in the Leaving Certificate. However, Michael was not suited to the work, and transferred in 1957 to the Sacred Heart Church in the Crescent, Limerick. A physically active man, he loved travel and sport. He not merely fly-fished at Castleconnell, and played golf in Ballybough, but, whenever he could, he would take the bus to Kilkee to go swimming in the Pollock Holes. In the Church, he was regarded as a kind and sympathetic confessor, of great assistance to people with scruples. Michael was considered to be hard-working, religious and committed, very useful in the Church, a man of prayer, but somehow different, perhaps even odd, though this wasn't really his own fault. However, tensions arose between Michael and the Minister. Gradually, the tensions grew, eventually culminating in Michael preaching a public sermon criticising the Minister, while the latter was saying the Sunday Mass. This brought matters to a head, and Michael was moved to Milltown Park.

During his time in Milltown, Michael helped out in the Library, particularly in the Irish Section. He was happy there and enjoyed doing research, mostly on Irish history and ancient languages. He was convinced that all languages are derived from the language of Adam. The older languages include Old Irish, and so it could provide clues to the meaning of Old Testament names. St Patrick was a major subject of Michael's research. It was remarkable that he concluded that our Patron Saint was born in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, in France, without being aware that the citizens of Boulogne were already convinced of that; a school, a parish, and some streets there are called after him. But the Boulognnais based their conclusion directly on tradition, without taking the route touristique through Britannia Secunda and Bun na hAbhann, Normandy and Neustria, which could last the whole of a St Patrick's Day Long Table. Micheal had the imaginative talent of a novelist, piling on the embellishments. It is reported that a whole Supper was spent explaining how the story of the Knock apparitions was fabricated by the Nun of Kenmare.

Fishing remained an important hobby for Michael, and he would spend two weeks every year in Pontoon with Jack McDonald and Dermot Fleury, fishing from a boat on Lough Conn. He practised golf in the Milltown grounds, swam in the pool, and spent a lot of time at "outdoor works", slashing vigorously at tussocks along the Black Walk. He remained an acute observer of nature, especially of birds and plants.

Basically a kind man, Michael helped foreigners with their English, explaining to them the anomalies of the language. Still, he was not above a bit of “divilment”. Before a meal, he would go to the Library and read up a topic in an Encyclopaedia article. In the Refectory he would sit with Eddie FitzGerald, and bring up the topic during a lull in the conversation. Eddie took the bait every time, and a long argument would ensue. After one such exchange, when Michael had left, Eddie said to me: “Actually, I don't know much about it, but I do know Michael Ryan can't be right!” In fact, much of the time Michael was right. He took considerable delight in being able to hold his own in a discussion with a learned professor. In so doing, he proved something to himself and he felt the better for it.

Michael enjoyed teasing people and challenging them, particularly if they were authorities of some sort. But sometimes his words were awkward or aggressive, and his attitude was misread. At a Province Meeting in Rathfarnham, he famously threw down the gauntlet by asking the Provincial would he not agree with the “Danish proverb” that says, “A fish rots from the head down”. There was no real malice in Michael. He was never actually uncharitable about others, though he remained quite convinced that some of them were out to get him. He was particularly worried about John Hyde, watching him and following him around. Michael was convinced, too, that his neighbour was interfering with his hand basin and had bugged his room. There were two reasons for this. Not only did this man live in the room next door, he was also a leading ecumenist, and Michael was ever a loyal defender of the “Catholic truth”.

Old age mellowed him considerably, dampening much of his prickliness and suspicion. He grew tolerant of Superiors, and was liked increasingly by many people. It was sad, though, to watch his powers deteriorate and his confusion grow.

He gave up gardening. Golf became too much for him. He started losing things in his room, though he no longer blamed this on anyone else. As his confusion grew, he seemed to grow in calmness and self awareness. He enjoyed the company of Magda, his Polish care-giver. Beaming, he would come down the stairs to go for a walk, with Magda on his arm. “Don't marry a Polish wife!” he would chuckle, obliquely expressing his appreciation of her solicitude. In fact, he was grateful to the Staff for all the help he received, and very grateful to Mary Mooney, who brought him his breakfast and took care of his room. Finally, Michael's confusion grew too great. He was moved to Cherryfield in August 2006. Suffering from senile dementia, he was well cared for by the Staff there. He died peacefully on April 2008.

Michael lived much of his life in a world of his own imagining. He was a fundamentally decent human being, though haunted by recurrent suspicions which were largely beyond his control. I hope that he has found peace, now, and freedom from all his fears.

Born: 19 February 1894, Castleconnell, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1911, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 17 December 1973, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin

Editor of An Timire, 1929-30.

Eldest of two sons and has three sisters.

Educated at a local National School until the age of 12. He then had an accident which effectively interrupted his education for two years with a leg problem. Having recovered he then went to Crescent College SJ

Studied for MA at UCD

by 1920 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1921 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1922 at Sacred Heart Bonn, Germany (GER I) studying
by 1924 at Oña, Burgos, Castile y León, Spain (CAST) studying
by 1930 at Münster, Germany (GER I) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 1 1941

Leeson St :
Fr. John Ryan has been nominated by the Government a Trustee of the National Library and a member of the Governing Board of Celtic Studies in the new Institute for Advanced
Studies.

Irish Province News 40th Year No 2 1965

Rev. Professor John Ryan, S.J., M.A., D.Litt.

Rev Professor John Ryan, S.J., had his secondary education at the Crescent College, Limerick, and thence entered the Jesuit Order. His Arts course in University College led to the B.A. degree with the highest Honours in Celtic Studies, 1917, the Travelling Studentship, 1918, and the M.A. degree, 1919. There after he spent a good many years abroad, acquiring incidentally, a remarkable equipment in modern languages; his philosophical studies were made at Louvain and Valkenburg, his theological partly at Oña, Burgos. The postponed Travelling Studentship years were spent at Bonn, 1921-23, where the illustrious Thurneysen found in him a pupil to whom, he declared, he had little new to offer. In 1931 Fr. Ryan presented his magnus opus, the volume on Irish Monasticism, for the D.Litt. degree, and became Lecturer in Early Irish History in the college. In 1942 he succeeded Professor Eoin MacNeill in the Chair of Early (including Medieval) Irish History, from which he retired in July 1964.
Among Fr. Ryan's many books and articles may be mentioned The Cain Adomnain (in Studies in Early Irish Law, 1936), The Battle of Clontarf (J.R.S.A.I., 1938), The Abbatial Succession at Clonmacnoise (in Feil-Sgribhinn Eoin Mhic Neill, which was edited by Fr. Ryan, 1940). Many other articles will be collected in a volume to mark the occasion of Fr. Ryan's retirement.
Fr. Ryan's knowledge of early Ireland can only be described as prodigious, his rich and exact information on one aspect being always available to illustrate another. As one of his colleagues puts it, "In answer to a question about an event in a particular century, the whole Ireland of the time would come to life-the political boundaries, the movement of peoples, the interplay of dynasties, the relation of Church and State, the tapestry of genealogies, and as well, for full measure, the impact of the outside world." A wonderful teacher, his rich and humane learning has been available to any enquirer just as readily as to his own students. To travel with him in any part of Ireland is, I am told and can readily believe, a fascinating experience. His familiarity with the genealogies in the Book of Ballymote is not greater than his acquaintance with the names over the shops in the modern towns and villages, and he would delight his travelling companion in tracing the links between the two.
Though Fr. Ryan's classes were never large, and though he was not much involved in the busy concerns of the college, we think of him as a great college man. Perhaps it is because his devotion to the Ireland of the past, which for him survives in the Ireland of the present, gives him a special attachment to the college and sense of its true function. His colleagues hope for a long continuation of his health and his studies, his friendly society and quiet enthusiasm.

Irish Province News 49th Year No 1 1974

35 Lower Leeson Street
The death of Fr John Ryan on Monday, December 17th, was a source of much grief to all at Leeson St. He was an exemplary religious and a great community man. We shall miss him. This issue carried an obituary. The Papal Nuncio presided at the Concelebrated Requiem Mass at Gardiner St. and messages of sympathy were received from the Archbishop of Dublin, the Archbishop of Cashel, Mgr Hamell of Birr, the President of UCD on behalf of the University and from many others too numerous to be mentioned here.

Obituary :

Fr John Ryan (1894-1973)

By the death of Fr John Ryan, the Province has lost one of its most distinguished and well-loved members. Fr Ryan had such a full life that it is difficult in a short space to do justice to it. However, for a start, the mere outline of his career will give some idea of the extent and high standard of his many activities.
He was born at Derreen, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick in 1894, was educated at the Crescent College, and entered the novitiate in 1911. He was one of the first band of Juniors in Rathfarnham in 1913, and was directed to take up Celtic studies in University College, Dublin. It is generally acknowledged that the selection of young men for special studies is not an easy matter, since so many extraneous factors may later frustrate the original plan. However, in the case of Fr Ryan, everything concurred to confirm the far seeing decision of his superiors. He proved himself to be a student of outstanding ability and unflagging industry, took his BA with high honours in 1917, the travelling studentship in 1918 and MA in 1919. He was fortunate in having as his professor such an eminent scholar as Eoin MacNeill, and this early association laid the foundations of a lifelong friendship. Fr Ryan had the happiness, a quarter of a century later, of being invited to edit the volume Féilsgríbhinn Eoin Mhic Néill, presented to his old professor on his retirement.
He then completed his philosophy at Louvain and Valkenburg, and took up his postponed studentship in 1921-23, when he resumed his Celtic studies at the university of Bonn, under the renowned Swiss scholar Rudolf Thurneysen. Here again a close friendship sprang up between professor and student. On the death of Thurneysen in 1940, Fr Ryan paid a worthy tribute to him in the pages of Studies, and recalled the happy hours he had spent in the Professor’s house, and how “when the coffee-cups had been cleared away, the talk would begin in earnest”. In 1923 Fr Ryan went to Oña, Burgos, for theology, and was ordained in 1926 at Milltown Park, After some more studies in Germany and Dublin, he was, in 1930, appointed lecturer in Early Irish History at University College, Dublin. He joined the Leeson St community, living at first in University Hall, where he was a popular figure among the students. A year later, he published his most important book, Irish Monasticism: Origins and Development, and was awarded the D Litt In 1942 he succeeded Eoin MacNeill in the chair of Early (including Medieval) Irish History, which he held until his retirement in 1964, when he was appointed Professor Emeritus.
For some years after his retirement, he led a comparatively active life, producing articles of a high standard from time to time. Later, his sight became impaired and his general health declined. He was, however, mentally alert and in his usual good spirits up to the day of his death, On December 17th he had a severe stroke. He rallied for a while and was anointed, but shortly afterwards became unconscious and died peacefully that evening.
As has been said, this bare outline alone reveals the quality of Fr Ryan's professional career. But to fully appreciate its greatness, it must be recorded that every stage of it was packed with activity. To begin with, from the start and to the end, he devoted himself most conscientiously to his main work, the teaching of his classes. His lectures were prepared with the utmost care, in fact, if they had a defect, it was that of being too meticulous. He was deeply interested in his students and most self-sacrificing in the help he gave them. In addition, he fulfilled with energy that other function of a professor, the promotion of his subject by research and writing. One sometimes heard the regret voiced that Fr Ryan had not written more. There was a grain of truth in this complaint, but only a grain. Fr Ryan began his career as a writer with his Irish Monasticism a large book which is still today a standard work. It has recently been twice republished, by the Irish University Press and by Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He never again produced a full sized book. One can only guess at the reason for this. It may have been that his conscientious desire for complete accuracy of scholarship caused him to restrict himself to work in more limited areas, where he could be satisfied that he had mastered his subject completely. But in these lesser fields he was a prolific writer. I have before me a list-probably not exhaustive - of some sixty of his published articles, most of which are lengthy and scholarly monographs on every phase of Irish history. These appeared not only in Irish learned journals, Studies, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, The North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Repertorium Novum, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, but also in publications outside of Ireland, Religionswissen schaftliches Wörterbuch, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, Encyclopedia Britannica, New Catholic Encyclopedia, Acta Congressus Historiae Slavicae Salisburgensis, Annen Viking Kongree, Bergen; Die Religionen der Erde (ed. Cardinal König), Le Miracle Irelandais (ed. Daniel Rops), Actes du Congrés Internationale de Luxeuil. It was a source of satisfaction to Fr John that he had recently, in spite of failing health, been able to complete a valuable work, a history of the monastery of Clonmacnois, its bishops and abbots. This has been gladly accepted for publication by Bórd Fáilte, the Irish Tourist Board, and should appear shortly.
Apart from his routine lecturing, Fr Ryan was constantly invited to address learned societies on historical topics. Special mention must be made of the series of lectures on Irish Ecclesiastical History which, thanks to the generosity of the late Most Rev Dr John Charles McQuaid, he delivered yearly at the Gregorian University, Rome, between 1951 and 1961. Fr Ryan was at various times president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, president of the North Munster Archaeological Society, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, of the Board of Celtic Studies in the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and of the Council of Trustees of the National Library. On several occasions he was invited by Radio Eireann to participate in the annual Thomas Davis memorial lectures on Irish history.
There was one department of his academic work that was particularly dear to Fr Ryan, which, indeed, could be described as being a personal hobby as well as a professional discipline. This was the history of Irish families. Allusion to this special interest was aptly made by Dr Michael Tierney in the presidential report of University College, 1963-64, in a tribute to Fr Ryan who had just retired : “To travel with him in any part of Ireland is, I am told, and can readily believe, a fascinating experience. His familiarity with the genealogies in the Book of Ballymote is not greater than his acquaintance with the names over the shops in the modern towns and villages, and he would delight his travelling companion in tracing the links between the two”. The report goes on to say: “We think of him as a great College man. Perhaps it is because his devotion to the Ireland of the past, which for him survives in the Ireland of the present, gives him a special attachment to the College and sense of its true function!”
Fr Ryan's interests were not confined to the academic world. His family had for generations been connected with the land, and he was keenly alive to the many problems which confront the farming community today. It was fitting that one of his great friendships - and he had many - was with another great Limerick man, Fr John Hayes founder of Muintir na Tíre. On the death of Fr Hayes in 1957, Fr Ryan paid to him in the pages of Studies a most moving tribute beginning aptly with a line from Goldsmith : “A man he was to all the country dear”.
What has been said so far concerns Fr John Ryan mainly as a scholar and teacher. But the picture would be incomplete were nothing to be said about him as a priest. He was a man of deep and solid piety, and strong loyalty to the Church, the Holy See and the Society. Though his natural bent of mind was conservative, he kept himself fully informed on modern problems, both religious and secular. His advice was constantly sought by clergy, religious and laity from all over the country. He would go to endless trouble to obtain the information sought by his correspondents, or to help them by his personal advice or the use of his influence on their behalf. In his younger days, he found time amidst all his other occupations to give a great many retreats both to priests and nuns, and even when he had to desist from this work, numerous religious communities continued to call on him as spiritual counsellor.
His religious brothers will remember him as a splendid community man, whose naturally unassuming character had not been in the least altered by his academic successes. He had the great gift of being genuinely interested in the work of others, and it was noticeable that when one discussed any topic with him, not only were his own views highly stimulating, but he seemed to make one's own views take on an added value.
Fr Ryan always gave the impression of being a happy man. Like all of us, he had his trials, disappointments, bereavements, ill-health at times, but to the end of his life he preserved a certain good humoured serenity, He had quite strong, sometimes almost impassioned views on various subjects, but he was devoid of all bitterness, and one felt that he preferred to agree with others rather than to differ from them. This happiness of mind sprang, no doubt, largely from his qualities of humility and selflessness, but also from the consciousness of the very full and satisfying life granted to him, spent according to the motto of the ancient writers with whom he was so familiar, dochum glóire Dé agus onóra na h-Éireann.

Born: 02 December 1904, Brisbane, Australia
Entered: 05 April 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 24 August 1938, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 02 February 1942
Died: 26 September 1992, St Joseph, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1930 at Granada, Spain (BAE) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Austin Ryan was educated at St Joseph's College, Sydney, and entered the Society in Sydney, 5 April 1923. His Jesuit training was wholly overseas, including philosophy in Spain. He gained a BA in classics from the University of Ireland, and a Licentiate in theology from Louvain. He was ordained, 24 August 1938, and later professed of the four vows. He retained his ability to read Spanish for the rest of his life. His story about scholastics having to don swim wear under the shower and being provided with a spoon to tuck in their shirts while dressing amused more modern scholastics.
After a few years of teaching at Riverview, 1941-42, Ryan was appointed professor of church history and oriental questions at the theologate, Canisius College, Pymble, 1943-46. He returned to Riverview teaching classics from 1947-52, followed by a year of pastoral ministry at St Ignatius' Church, Richmond. He spent some years between 1954-59 teaching experimental psychology to the scholastics at Loyola College, Watsonia, and was the prefect of studies and minister of juniors. He also edited the province periodicals “Hazaribagh” and “Province News”.
From 1960-69 Ryan was a brilliant and inspiring teacher of Latin, Greek, Italian and Hebrew at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and was a wise and understanding spiritual father to the students. His integrity and unfeigned sincerity won him the respect of his students.
His next appointment was teaching Latin and Greek to the novices at Loyola College, Watsonia, 1970-72. He was far from happy here, and even talked about leaving the Society. One of the Fathers, believing that he was being helpful, continually reminded Ryan of his rubrical failures at Mass. From 1976-81 he returned to Riverview teaching Latin, Greek, French and German. This also was not a success, he was still very unhappy.
Apart from short postings at Campion College, Kew, and the provincial residence, from 1982-92, he remained at Campion College praying for the Society and tutoring in Greek, Latin, Italian and German.
Ryan was a truly international Jesuit, a gifted linguist and scholar, and a fine raconteur. He was lively at recreation with an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes. He worked hard all his life, and was always an available confessor. He suffered depression especially when he felt he could not cope with his work. The province was indebted to him for recording the 'curriculum vitae' of many deceased Jesuits.

Note from Frank Dennett Entry
He enjoyed the work as a Province Archivist, as it gave scope to his historical scholarship and precision. With the assistance of Austin Ryan he compiled a short biography of every Jesuit who had lived and worked in Australia.

Born: 13 July 1834, Ballybot, Newry, County Down
Entered: 07 March 1857, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1864
Final vows: 15 August 1874
Died: 12 September 1912, Ms Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square, Dublin

Part of St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street community at time of death.

by 1864 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying Theology 2
by 1865 at Laval, France (FRA) studying Theology 3

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He came from a very distinguished family and was very gifted. Three sisters entered Religious life. His brother Lord Russell of Killowen, first Catholic to serve as Lord Chief Justice of England.
1860-1865 He taught at Limerick for Regency, and then went to Laval and St Beuno’s for Theology.
1866-1873 He returned to Limerick for more Regency
1873-1875 He was sent to Milltown to complete his studies.
1875 From this time he had various posts in UCD, Gardiner St, Tullabeg and the Gardiner St again, where he spent the rest of his life until he died at Ms Quinn’s Hospital in Mountjoy Square 12 September 1912.

Paraphrase excerpts from Obituary notice of Katharine Tynan :
“Father Russell’s death will have come as a great grief to a great number of people. He was a centre of mental and spiritual health for many of us, and therefore bodily health as well. He was always there, not physically present, but a confidence, a light, a certainty.
For about forty years he fulfilled something of a double Mission in the life of Dublin. He had many personal friendships and gave great care to the poor. But the area I want to focus on is his mission to the young literary people, poets especially, and his work of feeding artistic flame. He took work in the “Irish Monthly” from anyone, no matter their faith or nationality. His own work in Poetry and Prose is well known. ....... Who will be the friend (of writers and artists) now that Father Russell has gone?
He had that most cheerful and lovely personality, very winning, and we used say “robin-like” until illness robbed him of his red cheeks. ... It must be twenty five years since he said he would give up all visiting except of the poor, though he had not the resolve to see this through fully. He had warm personal friendships beyond his work with the poor. He had a whole clientele of working women, such as the two dressmakers who came to him from Limerick looking for patronage. He spoke for the poor because they were inarticulate to speak for themselves. He was a great worker in the cause of Temperance, and an abstainer himself.
(He was Editor of the Irish Monthly for over 40 years.) The “Irish Monthly” gathered gathered in the most unlikely of people. WB Yeats, Frances Wynne and many others, who were unlikely to associate with anything Catholic, did so because of him. Those who came, brought others. Lady Wilde was heard to say “The Irish Monthly had heart behind it” - Oscar Wilde wrote some his earliest poems for it.
My last interview with him in hospital was the most affecting of my life. ...... He was not so far away that he could not remember the children, each one by name. He asked me to forgive someone who had injured me. He talked of the kindness of the nurses.”

Note from John Naughton Entry :
For the last year of his life he was in failing health, and about 10 days before death he was moved to Miss Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square, where he died peacefully. Fathers Matthew Russell and Timothy O’Keeffe were with him at the time.

Note from John Bannon Entry :
On the evening of his death the Telegraphy published an article on him headed “A Famous Irish Jesuit - Chaplain in American War” : “The Community of the Jesuit Fathers in Gardiner St have lost within a comparatively short time some of their best known and most distinguished members. They had to deplore the deaths of Nicholas Walsh, John Naughton, John Hughes and Matthew Russell, four men of great eminence and distinction, each in his own sphere, who added lustre to their Order, and whose services to the Church and their country in their varied lines of apostolic activity cannot son be forgotten. And now another name as illustrious is added to the list. The Rev John Bannon....

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Russell, Matthew
by David Murphy

Russell, Matthew (1834–1912), Jesuit priest, editor, and writer of devotional verse, was born 13 July 1834 at Ballybot, near Newry, Co. Down, second son of Arthur Russell of Newry and Killowen, Co. Down, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Matthew Mullen of Belfast and widow of Arthur Hamill of Belfast. His elder brother was Charles Russell (qv), later lord chief justice of England and Baron Russell of Killowen. Educated at St Vincent's College, Castleknock, Dublin, and Violet Hill, Matthew also studied at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, at a time when his uncle, Charles William Russell (qv), was president of the college. He entered the Society of Jesus on 7 March 1857 and was ordained priest in 1864. He taught (1864–73) at Crescent College, Limerick, and in 1873 founded a journal, Catholic Ireland (later renamed the Irish Monthly), which he edited until his death. He took his final vows on 15 August 1874.

The Irish Monthly soon established a reputation for publishing the work of young writers and contained some of the earliest writings of Oscar Wilde (qv) and Hilaire Belloc. Russell was also a tolerably accomplished poet himself and published collections of devotional verse which included Emmanuel: a book of eucharistic verses (1880), Madonna: verses on Our Lady and the saints (1880) and Erin verses, Irish and catholic (1881). These collections were very popular at the time and he built up a large following. In his capacity as editor of the Irish Monthly he also acted as a friend and confidant to many writers, and was a guiding force behind the Irish literary revival of the late nineteenth century. His correspondence collection in the Jesuit archives in Dublin reflects the influence he had on the Irish literary scene of this period and includes letters from numerous writers and political figures that he befriended and supported, such as Mary Elizabeth Blundell (qv), Aubrey de Vere (qv), Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (qv), Alfred Perceval Graves (qv), Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), Lady Gilbert (née Rosa Mulholland) (qv), Judge John O'Hagan (qv), James Stephens (qv), T. D. Sullivan (qv), Alfred Webb (qv), and W. B. Yeats (qv). He also corresponded with Hilaire Belloc about literary and domestic matters.

In 1874 he was attached to the staff of the Catholic University in St Stephen's Green and later moved to St Francis Xavier's church, Gardiner St., where he undertook pastoral duties (1877–86). In 1886 he was appointed as spiritual father at the Jesuit-run UCD, returning to work with the Gardiner St. community in 1903. He died on 12 September 1912 and, following requiem mass at St Francis Xavier's, was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery. His substantial collection of papers in the Irish Jesuit archives also includes manuscript articles, poems, and devotional writings.

Fr Matthew Russell, SJ, files in Irish Jesuit archives, Dublin; Ir. Monthly, xl, no. 472 (Oct. 1912); WWW; Freeman's Journal, 27 Jan. 1923; Crone; Welch

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927

University Hall :
On November 16th the Community at Lesson St. celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of Fr T Finlay. As a scholastic, Fr Finlay helped Fr. Matt Russell to found the Irish Monthly and the Messenger. The latter periodical ceased to appear after a short time; it was to be revived later, again under Fr Finlay's inspiration.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Matthew (Matt) Russell 1857-1912
In the County Down on July 13th 1834 was born Fr Mattew Russell of that distinguished family which gave a Lord Chief Justice to England.

He entered the Society at Beaumont in 1857, and in the course of his long and fruitful life, was stationed at Limerick, University College, Tullabeg and Gardiner Street, where he ended his days.

His name will always be remembered in connection with the “Irish Monthly”, which for forty years he made the popular literary magazine of Ireland. He had a special mission to encourage young writers and poets, and named among his protegées such famous people as WB Yeats, Speranza, Katherine Tynan, Francis Wynne, Oscar Wilde. He was no mean writer himself, both in prose and poetry.

Apart from his literary activities, which of course had a strong apostolic bias, he was a great lover of the poor. His light shone in many a wretched home that alas was in darkness. He was a very zealous though unobtrusive worker in the cause of temperance.

He was a man of the most cheerful and winning personality, who formed warm friendships among a very diverse circle, high and low, rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, a talent which he used to the best of his power for the salvation of souls and the glory of God.

He died a most happy and peaceful death on September 12th 1912.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 40 : September 1985

Portrait from the Past

MATTHEW RUSSELL : 1834-1912

Katharine Tynan

A native of County Down, Matthew Russell joined the Jesuits at Beaumont in 1857. Ordained in 1870, he worked in the Crescent (Limerick) and Tullabeg before moving to Gardiner Street where he was Editor of The Irish Monthly for close on forty years. One of Ireland's greatest writers paid him this tribute.

Father Russell's death, which took place on Thursday 13th September, 1912, will have come as a great grief to a great number of people. I have always read with a pang of the death of a great doctor, knowing how many people lean on such a one and are suddenly deprived of their prop. Well, here was one in Father Russell, who was a centre of mental and spiritual health to many of us, and, because of that, in many cases a centre of bodily health as well. He is one of those who, like the sun's warmth and light, are always there; not visibly acknowledged and felt every day - but a confidence, a warnth, a certainty. And when the light and the warmth go, there is a chill in the wind and we shiver. Alas, what a desolation his going leaves!

For something like forty years Father Russell has fulfilled a double mission in the life of the Irish capital. Let his private friendships, his work among the poor and simple, who worshipped him, be told by another. The thing with which I am immediately concerned is his mission to young literary people, poets especially, and his work of feeding the artistic flame which in Dublin which did not find much encouragement. For forty years Father Russell in the Irish Monthly has received all manner of men and women - “Jew, Turk and Atheist” - by which I mean to say, since my country-people are given to literalness, only means that he never asked if you were a Protestant or a Catholic, so long as you were a promising or progressing poet or prose-writer - especially a poet.

His own work in poetry and prose is well known. I need not dwell on it here. But, now that he has left us, I desire to pay him tribute for many a one for all he did for us, young writers, to whom in many cases a cold neglect might have meant extinction. In the social history of Dublin the salon sadly to seek.

From time to time I read an obituary notice in The Times or elsewhere of some distinguished Dubliner of cultivated tastes, who has enjoyed the friendship of famous men of other countries and has delighted to entertain the wits, the statesmen, the writers and artists of the world at some delightful house on the shores of Dublin Bay or in the lovely country about Dublin. There may even be such who have not yet qualified for a notice in the obituary column of The Times but will be so written of one of these days. Now, owing perhaps to the terrible gulf between the creeds in Ireland, these potential patrons and fosterers of literature live and die in absolute isolation fron, even in ignorance of, the young intellectual forces struggling and striving about then. Who will be the friend, now that Father Russell has gone?

To the bare claustral parlours of Upper Gardiner Street has come many a young writer, destined to be of importance in the future literary history of the counrty, and has gone away comforted and uplifted. The brother of Lord Russell of Killowen, that strong fighter for the right and hater of shams, had a very curious facial resemblance to his great brother. You would know - have known, alas! - Father Russell at any chance meeting, anywhere, as Lord Russell's brother, just as you must recognise Lord Russell's sons anywhere by their likeness to their father. But all that was searching, dominating, compelling, in the ivory-pale face of the great Judge and lawyer was in Father Russell changed to something sweet, lovely and winning. He had the nose cheerful personality, robin-like, we used to say before mortal illness had robbed his cheek of colours, but never his heart of its fount of living happiness.

It must be now some twenty-five years ago since he announced that he was goind to give up all visiting except of the poor. Perhaps he relented, perhaps he thought of us as his poor children, for he never carried out that stern resolve. His very last visit to me was on the 3rd July in this year, when he came to see us in our new Irish home and told us cheerfully that he was not coming any more. He made the journey by train from Dublin, walked to and from the station, for he would not hear of being driven, and we left him reading his Office at the station. He would not let us wait until the train came in It was a part of his tender worldliness - I use the word for want of a better - that he was always troubled about any interference with working hours or the like. Seeing him there so cheerful, so much his own dear self - although for a long time the inner light had been shining far too brightly through the frail body - we did not believe in last times, but he knew better.

Of his work among the poor, the poor will not speak, because they are inarticulate. I only know that his light shone in many a wretched home, in many a slum, that else was in darkness. He was a very zealous though unobtrusive worker in the cause of Temperance, and was a total abstainer himself till illness came upon him and he was under obedience and compulsion, I don’t think his experiences went very far even then in the matter of stimulants. I remember when he lunched with us a few years ago that he tasted a glass of white wine - just tasted it - with a child-like wonder as to how it might taste.

He had warm personal friendships beyond those ministrations to the poor. He had a whole clientele of working women - in the larger sense of the phrase - whose interests he pushed as far as right be without being troublesome to his other friends. There was a firm of fashionable dressmakers whose component parts were two young girls who came to him one day from Limerick, with not very much equipment beyond an eye for colours and forms, a magnificent audacity in cutting-out. We used to call them “Father Russell's dressmakers” in those early days; and very soon they were quite independent of the patronage he sought for them. I recall in his letters: “If you should be thinking of getting a new hat, there is a friend of mine, Miss So-and-so, of Dublin; Madam So-and-So, in Sloane Street, who might please you perhaps”. Or “If anyone you know is ill, my friend, Miss So-and-So, has just set up a private nursing home near Cavendish Square”. I think, perhaps, he was interested especially in working women; even apart from literary workers.

Of course the Irish Monthly gathered in the most unlikely people because of Father Russell, I brought there myself, at various times, W B Yeats, Frances Wynne, and others who were little likely to come into association with anything Catholic, least of all a Catholic priest and a Jesuit. Those who came brought others, therefore you might find the sons and daughters of Evangelical households, the daughters of a Protestant bishop, young men from Trinity College, Agnostics of all manner of shades of agnosticism, waiting for Father Russell in one of those bare parlours in Upper Gardiner Street, furnished only with a table, a couple of chairs, a crucifix and some religious pictures on the walls. How far this aspect of Father Russell's work went towards affecting the opinions of non-Catholics in Ireland about Catholies and the Catholic Church it is impossible to say of my own personal knowledge I can vouch that the disapproval of Evangelical friends and relatives in the beginning of those friendships with a “Romish priest” were changed to warm approval.

I remember Lady Wilde saying to me long ago that the Irish Monthly had heart behind it. Speranza said a good many unconsidered things in those days, but for once she was right. There was heart behind it and in it, and the heart was one of the most loving and blessing hearts that ever beat. Perhaps the Irish Monthly for which Oscar Wilde wrote his earliest poems, “have had a share in bringing back at last to the old Mother Church, whose arms are wide enough for all saints and sinners”, Speranza's brilliant and unhappy son to rest and comfort at last.

About a fortnight ago I saw Father Russell for the last time in the Nursing Home where he died. It was the most affecting interview of my life. He was plainly dying - the trailing clouds of glory folding about him - but his loving heart cane striving and struggling back to us from the distance to which he had already wandered. He had always thought of the human aspect of things. We used to smile at the quaint, worldly wisdom which prompted his counsels of economy, of prudence, of not offending people, of not running counter to public opinion. He was not so far away that he could not remember the children, each one by name, He spoke of them with the tenderest pity, as of a saint looking back from the heights to those who have yet to endure the world and save their souls. He asked me to forgive someone who had injured ne, and vexed his last days - a harder thing to forgive. He talked of the kindness of the nurses. It was a swan-song of thanksgiving to a whole world which had been good to him, whereas it was he who had been good to the whole world. He blessed us with more than an earthly father's impassioned tenderness. ... And now - one turns to the pages of St. Augustine, who wrote when his mother died: . “And then, nevertheless, I remembered what Thy handmaid was used to be; her walk with Thee, how holy and good it was, and with us so gentle and long-suffering. And that it was all gone away from me now. And I wept over her and for her, over myself and for myself. And I let go my tears, which I had kept in before, making a bed of them, as it were, for my heart, and I rested upon them. Because these were for Thine ears only, and not for any man”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Matthew Russell (1834-1912)

Was one of the founder members of Crescent College, having come here in 1859. He had entered the Society only two years previously but had already completed his course in philosophy and was engaged in his theological studies at Maynooth when he decided to become a Jesuit. He completed his regency at the Crescent in 1863 and was ordained three years later. He returned to the Crescent in 1866 and remained on the teaching staff until 1873. In that year he left for Dublin where for many years he was Editor of the “Irish Monthly”. His editorship of that journal was stimulating for young men of letters on the threshold of a literary career and there were few of those at the period who attained to eminence in Anglo Irish letters who were not first discovered by Father Russell. Father Russell was also in his day a popular author of devotional works.

Born: 07 June 1904, Nymagee, NSW, Australia
Entered: 12 February 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 23 August 1937, Leuven, Belgium
Final vows: 15 August 1940
Died: 01 May 1974, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1929 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Donald Roset was educated at CBC Waverley and Riverview, where he established a record for the mile race U17 at the GPS sports. He joined the Society, 12 February 1923, and after his novitiate at Greenwich went overseas, first to Rathfarnham, 1925-28, where he gained a BA with honors.
He studied philosophy at Jersey, after which he returned to Australia as third prefect at Riverview, 1930-34. Theology studies at Louvain followed, and tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1939. He returned to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, where he stayed until 1954, having completed a term as rector and prefect of studies. From there he went to Riverview until his death. He was prefect of studies from 1955-58.
Roset was a small man but extremely energetic and hardworking. He put himself entirely into everything he did, and worked hard at his studies. He had a great sense of duty, and a personality with a keen deadpan wit that could sometimes be taken as over seriousness or lack of humour. He once said in his deep rather unmusical voice “three of my community let me down last year, one of them left the Society and two of them died”. He did worry a lot, but was very kind and never bore a grudge.
He taught French most of his life, and was considered good teacher by his students. His advice as prefect of studies was wise and helpful. The last few months of his life, during which he suffered a stroke and complete inactivity were particularly difficult for him.

Born: 18 December 1834, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 September 1853, Amiens France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1869
Final Vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 27 May 1907, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Cousin of Andrew J Rorke - RIP 1913

He taught with great success at Clongowes and Galway. He was Minister at both Galway and UCD, and then for many years Minister and procurator at Gardiner St, where he died 27 May 1907.
He was a learned man, but somewhat peculiar, especially in his last years.

Note from Joseph O’Malley Entry :
1859 he was sent to Tullabeg as Lower Line Prefect with Andrew H Rorke as Higher Line.

Born: 31 August 1904, Gardiner’s Hill, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942
Died: 02 February 1987, Nazareth House, 16 Cornell St, Camberwell, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death.

Father was a Civil Servant (Post office official) and family lived at Egerton Villas, St Luke’s, Cork.

Fourth of five boys with five sisters.

Early education was at a Convent school and then at North Monastery, Cork. He then went to CBC Cork for six years, and then went to St Finbarr’s College. He then went to UCC studying English and History.

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Riordan came from a remarkable Irish family. Of five boys, three became priests and two doctors. All four sisters received a tertiary education. The Christian Brothers in Cork educated him before he entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1924.
Riordan's Jesuit studies were all in Ireland, and his secular studies in the classics were undertaken at the National University at the colleges in Cork and Dublin. He was sent to Australia for his regency at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1932-35. He was ordained, 31 July 1939, and arrived back in Australia in 1944. After two years as socius to the master of novices he was appointed master for sixteen years, and more than 100 Jesuits were formed by him. In 1961 he was assigned to profess theology, First in the diocesan seminary at Glen Waverley, then at Canisius College, Pymble. These were not the happiest years for him, as he was well aware of his limitations as a teacher of theology.
At the age of 67 Riordan volunteered to teach English in Lahore, Pakistan, for four years, then returned to Australia to work with the poor at Salisbury North, Adelaide. Living in a housing commission dwelling was not easy, privacy was hard to find, but he loved the people and was loved by them. They called him 'Ned'. After six years in this work he went to live with the homeless men at Corpus Christi Community, Greenville, Victoria, where the men praised him for being a hopeful sign of God's wisdom and true human dignity After four years his memory began to fade and he was forced to retire to the Hawthorn parish community The sisters at Nazareth House eventually cared for him. His memory had practically almost gone.
He was perceived by his novices to combine the rationality of John Fahy with the genuine affective devotion of John Corcoran. He taught his novices the deepest truths of the following of Christ, he lived by those truths as he taught them, and he carried them superbly into the life he led when his term as master of novices was over. His whole life was one of humble service The way he showed was an austere way, one of prayer, self-denial and fidelity He lived a life of great personal poverty and self-sacrifice. Rarely did his novices see the man who in his younger days had been a merry companion and the life of the party. He loved the stage and was a good actor and enjoyed proclaiming poetry and prose. Shakespeare was a particular love.
There was fire in Riordan, there were flashes of merriment but so much was suppressed. It was his understanding of his role. However, he mellowed in his latter years and entered into the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. In himself he was not an aloof person but very companionable. He was not a hard man, but rather had the gift of strong gentleness. He was at peace with himself, and content with his own company, deeply prayerful, and at home with the Blessed Trinity, a priest after the mind of St Ignatius Loyola.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 62nd Year No 2 1987

Obituary

Fr Edward Riordan (1904-1927-1987) (Australia)

31st October 1904: born. Ist September 1924: entered SJ.
1924-26 Tullabeg, noviciate. 1926-29 Rathfarnham, juniorate. 1929-32 philosophy: 29-'30 Milltown, 1930-32 Tullabeg.
5th April 1931: formally transferred to Australia.
1933-35 (three years) Australia: St Aloysius College, Milson's Point, North Sydney, regency.
1936-'41 Ireland. 1936-'40 Milltown Park, theology, 31st July 1939: ordained a. priest, 1940-41 Rathfarnham, tertianship. (Late 1941: probably travelling to Australia. 1942: the Australian catalogue lists him among its overseas members in Ireland, while the Irish catalogue makes no mention of him, not even among the Australian Jesuits residing in Ireland. He may have been in an intermediate position - on the high seas – when both catalogues were being edited.) .
1943-70, 1975-87 Australia.
1943-61 Loyola College, Watsonia (Melbourne area): 1943-44 socius to the master of novices; 1945-61 Master of novices. 1962 Corpus Christi college, Glen Waverley (Melbourne area), professor of dogma, spiritual father to the seminarians. 1963-68 Canisius college, Pymble (Sydney area), professor of theology (1963-65 minor course, 1966-68 dogma; 1964-67 prefect of studies). 1969-70 Jesuit Theological College, Parkville (Melbourne area), professor of dogma, spiritual father.
1971-74 Pakistan: Loyola Hall, Lahore, pastoral work, giving Exercises.
1975-80 South Australia. Adelaide area, pastoral work, mostly in Salisbury North, while residing in Manresa, Norwood (1975), St Ignatius College, Athelstone (1976-78), and Salisbury North itself (1979-80).
1981-'7 Melbourne area: 1981-84 Corpus Christi men's hostel, Greenvale, pastoral work. 19858-6 Immaculate Conception residence, Hawthorn, praying for Church and Society. 20th February 1987: died.

“Ned came from a remarkable Cork family. Of the five boys, three became priests and two, doctors. All four girls had a tertiary education. His sister Una was due to revisit him in April. (Miss Una Riordan, 5 Egerton villas, Military hill, Cork.)

Born: 23 October 1917, Inchicore Road, Inchicore, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 18 January 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was a Sergeant in the Dublin Metropolitan Police and then became an Estate Agent. Family lived at Emmet Road, Kilmainham, Dublin.

Eldest of four boys.

Early education was seven years at the Inchicore Model School, and at age 12 he went to Belvedere College SJ (1930-1936).

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/death-of-mick-reidy-sj/

Death of Michael Reidy SJ
Fr Michael Reidy SJ died peacefully in Cherryfield early on the morning of Friday 18 January 2008, aged 90 years. May he rest in the peace of the Lord. Fr. Michael (Mixer) in the loving care of the dedicated staff of Cherryfield Lodge Nursing Home; sadly missed and deeply regretted by his loving sisters-in-law Chris and Nonie, his nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and a wide circle of friends, especially his very many past pupils of Belvedere College and by his Jesuit companions.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949
The Fire at Milltown Park :
Early in the morning of Friday, February 11th, fire broke out in the tailor's shop over the Refectory. The alarm was given and the Fire Brigade summoned. At first the progress of the fire was slow, but after a short time it became terribly rapid, and some of the Community were rescued barely in time. Fr. Johnston, Fourth Year Theologian, lost his life. He had remained to dress himself completely, as he was due to say Mass at the Sisters of Charity, Mount St. Anne's, and was asphyxiated by the fumes before he could escape - one may say, a martyr of Duty. Fr. Gannon got severely burned, and Mr. Reidy suffered injury to his spine as the result of a fall ; both are doing well and will, it is hoped, be none the worse in the end. The Fire Brigade was able to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the building where it had broken out.

Milltown Park, Dublin :
The morning of Friday, February 11th was a tragic morning here in Milltown Park. The two top stories of the Theologians House (built in 1908 by Fr. Finlay) were burnt out. Fr. James Johnston, a 4th Year Theologian lost his life, Fr. Gannon was severely burnt on his hands and face, and Mr. Reidy dislocated some of the vertebrae of his spine, jumping from a ledge underneath his window.
At 5.30 Br. Kavanagh discovered a fire in the Tailor's Room. He summoned Fr. Smyth, acting Minister, who telephoned for a fire brigade, while a few scholastics endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to extinguish the fire with Minimaxes and water. Br. Kavanagh carried. Fr. W. Gwynn (aged 84) to safety, and Fr. Smyth warned the occupants. of the Theologians House to make for the fire escape.
By this time the stairs end of the Theologians' House was burning fiercely; the fumes and heat in the corridors were unbearable, and it is due to the Mercy of God that so many were able to get to the fire escape before they were overcome with suffocation. In the meantime, the first of the fire brigades had arrived and Frs. Power, Hannigan, Gannon and a couple of scholastics were rescued. The firemen then concentrated on saving the New House which was by this time filling with smoke.
A roll-call shortly after 6 o'clock confirmed that Fr. Johnston was missing, but by this time the whole of the doomed wing was ablaze. Coincidentally with the celebration of the Community Mass at 7.15 the six fire brigades got the conflagration under control.
Offers of assistance and accommodation began to pour in from all sides and within a couple of days ran into thousands.
The Scholastics were transferred to the Retreat House, Rathfarnham, where they stayed for four days. They will always remember the kindness and hospitality shown by the Rector, the Community and the Retreat House staff of Rathfarnham.
On Tuesday 15th the Scholastics returned to Milltown, where a field kitchen, presented by the Army, had been installed. They occupied the Retreat House and many of the rooms had to accommodate two occupants, as the Minister's House also had to be vacated owing to damage and water.
On Friday 18th, the ‘octave' of the fire’, lectures were resumed, and routine was gradually established.
Fr. Gannon recovered rapidly and hopes to be back in Milltown soon. Mr. Reidy is also on his feet again, and he too hopes to be out of hospital in the near future, though he will be partially encased in plaster of paris for a considerable time.
The majority of the occupants of the Theologians' House lost all their personal effects, notes, etc. Fr. Gannon, however, being at the end of the corridor, and having his door closed, will salvage all his books and notes.

◆ Interfuse No 137 : Autumn 2008 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2008

Obituary

Fr Michael Reidy (1917-2008)

23rd October 1917: Born in Dublin
Early education at Belvedere College
7th September 1936: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1938: First Vows at Emo
1938 - 1941: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1941 - 1944: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1944 - 1946: Belvedere College - Regency; H Dip in Ed
1946 - 1950: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1949: Ordained at Milltown Park
1950 - 1951: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1951 - 1982: Belvedere College - Teacher, Chaplain to News Boys Club and Legion of Mary; work with St. Vincent de Paul Society
2nd February 1981: Final Vows
1982 - 1983: Gardiner Street - Sabbatical (3 months)
1983-2001: Belvedere College -
1983 - 1999: Pastoral work Gardiner St.; “Penny Dinners”:
1999 - 2001: Off “Penny Dinners"; Spiritual Director (SJ)
2001 - 2008: Cherryfield - Prayed for Church and Society.
18th January 2008: Died peacefully at Cherryfield.

Frank Sammon writes:
Gerry Walsh, for so many years dedicated to the Jesuit Community at Belvedere and its apostolates, noted that “Mickser” rather than “Mixer” is the right way to spell the name by which Michael Reidy was known to generations of Belvedereans. There was an Irish Comedian whose name was Mickser Reid. Michael was happy to call himself “Mixer” or “Mickser” - and at one of our Class of 1966 Reunions he told us, with a laugh, that he was happy to be with us for our Class Reunion - as a “good Mixer/”Mickser”.

Michael Reidy was associated with Belvedere College for most of his life. He seemed to be the Jesuit with whom Belvedere Past Pupils could most easily indentify - because of his simplicity, his humility, his kindness, his good humour and his holiness. Michael lived out these aspects of Jesuit life in the Belvedere Jesuit Community. These years saw the Jesuit Community at Belvedere change from a community numbering close to thirty Jesuits to a community close to half that number. The style of Jesuit education at Belvedere changed significantly - envisaged through the changes in headmaster (Gerry McLaughlin, Diarmuid O Laoghaire, Jack Leonard, Bob McGoran, Noel Barber, Bruce Bradley, Leonard Moloney and Gerry Foley (the first lay Jesuit Headmaster of Belvedere).

Michael was a student of theology at Milltown Park when the fire at Milltown occurred in 1949. For several years some of the Jesuits studying theology at Milltown had their beds in the Milltown Park Library - between the shelves. Michael injured his back at the time of the fire...

As a teacher in Belvedere he taught Religious Knowledge and Irish. It was as Spiritual Father at Belvedere that he would have been best known by our generation at Belvedere (1960 1966). He organized the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Society of St Vincent de Paul. He preached in the Boys' Chapel, And he interviewed each of the sixth year students (about seventy five in the class of 1966) as we prepared to leave Belvedere and began to make plans to get a job, study for one of the professions, leave Ireland for the UK, US or Canada, or join the Jesuits, one of the other orders or the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Henry Nolan was the Rector at Belvedere (1965), Jack Leonard was the Prefect of Studies. These were years when the Jesuits world-wide were introducing changes instigated by the Second Vatican Council and the Thirty First General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1965-1967). These were years when the culture and the life-style of Jesuit Community life and Jesuit Education went through huge changes.

As Spiritual Father in Belvedere he interviewed all the Leaving Certificate class and discussed with them their plans for when they left Belvedere. I told Michael that I was thinking of joining the Jesuits. Michael suggested that I might like to talk to the Jesuit Provincial - Brendan Barry - who was then visiting the Belvedere Jesuit Community.

Maybe his attraction to the Belvedere Past was his availability and his interest in pupils and past pupils. They sensed that he was present with them and was happy to be with them. They felt, perhaps, that he was content to be there with them - sharing a memory, a bit of news, a joke. He was happy to be with a group connected with Belvedere. They felt he wasn't so busy that he would be rushing away from them.

Michael Reidy was linked in his last years with Cherryfield Community. He used a walking frame. In the years at Cherryfield he always looked forward to going back to Belvedere for a feast-day celebration in the Jesuit Community, an event organized by a class of old Belvedereans or to attend meetings connected with the Belvedere Lourdes group or the Belvedere Youth Club. He conveyed a sense of good humour - to “how are you?” the reply would come: “could be worse!”. There would be a chuckle that expressed a sense of humour as he bore his health struggles with patience. He kept an interest in the lives of the boys. He would mention that he met somebody - and would give a short account of their life. He would signal if there was a difficult situation in their life.

His involvement - in his later years - with the Lourdes group from Belvedere - was a very important commitment; his presence, his involvement in the committee and his appeal to the Past Pupils for financial support for the work. He worked a lot with Eamonn Davis in making the arrangements for the Annual Lourdes Pilgrimage.

Another big commitment he had was to the Belvedere Youth Club - as Chaplain. This would have commenced - in the years soon after his ordination - with his involvement as Chaplain for the Sunshine House groups at Balbriggan; and with the Belvedere Newsboys Club which later became the Belvedere Youth Club. Paul Brady, Director of the Belvedere Youth Club, and Michael Reidy were awarded the Belvedere College Justice Award. Michael was involved in organizing Retreats and Mass for the Belvedere Youth Club. In recent years he would have been present at most of the gatherings.

What was it in him that drew people to him? His humour, his wit, his enjoyment of celebrations. Michael liked a party. He enjoyed gatherings of Past Pupils. He felt happy to be associated with Belvedere College and with the groups that sprouted from it. He was blessed to live almost his entire life in Belvedere College.

In a life-time of 90 years, almost all were spent in Belvedere - as student, scholastic, young Jesuit priest, as a “mature” Jesuit and as an older Jesuit. “Per Vias Rectas” was the legend that Michael was happy to give shape to his Jesuit life.

The decision to amalgamate the Jesuit Communities of Belvedere College and the Gardiner Street Jesuit Community meant that Michael was stationed in Gardiner Street for a short number of years. He would make the journey from Great Denmark Street over to Gardiner Street at a slow pace - greeting people he met along the way and bringing his faith and his goodness to those he met along the footpath.

A final image of Michael Reidy that I came across in recent weeks was in a collection of photographs of John Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979. One of the photographs of the Mass in the Phoenix Park shows a group of Irish priests during the Mass in the Phoenix Park. One can pick out Michael's profile among the faces of that huge crowd. That is an image Michael would be happy with - celebrating the Mass, in a large gathering of people with a huge cross-section of Irish people coming together for a special celebration led by John Paul II.

Born: 14 May 1921, Clonliffe Road, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 December 1940, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 22 April 1977, Kingsmead Hall, Singapore
Died: 20 February 2007, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore - Indonesian Province - Malaysia (MAS)

Part of the Kingsmead Hall, Singapore community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 04 February 1977 ; HK to IND (MAS) : 1991

Father was an auctioneer and then a commercial traveller. At the time of entry his father was unemployed. Mother died in 1934. Family is supported by businesses of two grandmothers.

Eldest of four boys with six sisters.

Early education was at a Convent School and then at O’Connells school for seven years. After the Intermediate Exam he was apprenticed to James Rooney, a tobbaconist on Suffolk Street, Dublin. He returned to school after sixteen months there and got his Leaving Cert.. He then went to work at Horton’s Tailors, on Grafton Street, Dublin as an apprentice.

by 1973 at Singapore (HK) working

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - O’Connells Schools; Apprenticed to an outfitter before entry

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 133 : Special Issue September 2007

Obituary

Fr Desmond (Des) Reid (1921-2007) : Malaysia Singapore Region

14th May 1921: Born in Dublin
Early education - Eccles St. Dominican, and O'Connell's CBS
7th December, 1940: Entered the Society at Emo.
1942 - 1945: Rathfarnham - BA in UCD History, Latin
1945 - 1948: Tullabeg - Philosophy
1948 - 1950: Mungret - Teacher
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park - Theology
31 July, 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park
1954 - 1955: Rathfarnham – Tertianship
1955 - 1963: Leeson Street - Minister, Asst. Editor, Studies.
2nd February, 1956: Final Vows, St. Ignatius, Leeson St.
1963 - 1969: College of Industrial Relations - Minister, Lecturer in Social Philosophy, Director Pre-Marriage Courses
1969 - 2006: Singapore, Parish of St. Ignatius, Kingsmead Hall
20th February, 2007: Died at Mt. Alvernia, Singapore

Excerpts from “A Tribute to Fr. Desmond Reid”, published by the Parish of St. Ignatius, Singapore, May 2007:
Once upon a time, a young Irishman left home and family for a distant land not knowing what lay ahead, but only that he had to go because the people there needed him. More than the apprehension of what to expect of a different culture, he was initially overwhelmed by the incredibly hot weather, only to thrive in it later as he was a “hot-house plant”.

The natives were extremely friendly and welcoming. Before long, everyone in the village got to know this humble, kind, caring, amiable, learned ang-moh, whom they invited to their homes and social functions. He would make it a point to mix with all who would invite him. He was at home with the young and old, the well-heeled and those whose heels had seen better days, the erudite and the retired. He was, if you wish, like the proverbial fairy godmother in every fairy tale, except that this one was for real.

He made it a point to be available to all who called on him because he was faithful to the One Who sent him. He tried his best to speak and think and act like the One Who, because of which he touched the lives of many individuals. Never judgmental or harsh, he attended to each and everyone with such care and attention that it made them feel special. This issue of SHARING features the stories of some of these folks.

Plagued by a bad back and a pair of equally disagreeable legs, he never complained or let them get in the way of what he was doing. Always mindful of the One Who sent him, he remarked several times that he was ready to “go home” if the One should call. That didn't happen for many, many years, until that fateful 20" February morning in 2007. And he lived happily ever after in the house of the One Who sent him,
Stephen Lee

He came for his first meeting with us on his scooter -- thin, wiry and white-haired. He told us he had a few health problems. Foremost of which, at that time, was the tendency to get a clot in a leg artery which caused the leg to swell like Popeye's. This was accompanied by fever and a lot of pain. They told him in Ireland that the heat in a tropical climate would do him good. This was one reason why he was sent here.

I was first surprised by his homilies – which we call allocutions. Coming from a Jesuit, they were unfanciful, down to earth, factual, and yet powerful in content. Later, we discovered what a lasting impact had on us. He was much quoted and appreciated.

One of the Junior Legionaries remembers best the parable that Fr. Reid told of the boy who was walking along the road and saw a snail crossing the road in the path of a car. The boy kicked the snail quickly to get it out of the way, and thus saved it. Nursing his pain in the ditch, the snail cursed the boy who kicked him. Fr. Reid said we are often like that with God. He sends us pain and sorrow, and we curse our fate. Only God, who can see the bigger picture, knows why it happened. Often it is to save us from greater dangers we cannot see or fathom. We have to remind ourselves of this story and encourage others, too, in their woes to trust in God.

The grapevine told us that Fr. Reid was a worrier because if things could go wrong they usually did. His mother died when he was young. His father's business failed, but he forbade his two priest sons from leaving the priesthood to help out. His priest brother, a Jesuit in Hong Kong, was shot and killed when investigating a night-time intruder. For someone who knew the value of suffering, sometimes Fr. Reid wondered if God sent him many sufferings for the good of souls. But as he lamented to someone, it is easier said than done to accept God's will constantly.

A familiar sight was that of Fr. Reid walking down the driveway with the Indian drunk who had come again for a handout. The man was clutching a two-dollar bill and Fr. Reid had his arm around the man's shoulders, like one supporting a good friend, and escorting him down the road for a good send-off.

Fr. Reid was specially known, of course, for his homilies. We are all familiar with the way he spoke, commanding attention from his first word to the last. He spoke barely above a whisper, but always simply and in a measured tone. As a teacher I always longed for this gift of Fr. Reid.
Joan Fong

I would see Fr. Reid sitting outside the residence, quietly praying, his gaze always on the statue of Our Lady. He would always greet me warmly and ask how I was, and I would share with him my thoughts and worries, and he would always say, “You're alright”, and tell me to keep praying and to trust in God. I came to experience real pastoral comfort and solace through this simple man, who accepted me with all my faults and welcomed me with open arms. He might never have thought that he was doing anything special, but he would be surprised how many others feel differently. I began to walk to church not just to pray, but to be just simply with Fr. Reid. I thank God for the special moments with Fr. Reid, priest and friend extraordinaire.
Terence Teo

Born: 01 March 1921, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1944, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1958, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Died: 30 November 1992, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong - Sinensis province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

by 1953 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Derek Reid S.J.
(1927-1992)
R.I.P.

As reported in our last issue and also in the daily press, Father Derek Reid SJ died in mysterious circumstances at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, on 29 November 1992.

Cardinal Wu was the chief concelebrant at a Requiem Mass attended by a packed church in Causeway Bay on 5 December and burial followed immediately afterwards at Happy Valley.

Father Derek Reid was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 1 March 1927. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Emo, Ireland, on 7 September 1944, and went through what was then the normal course of formation for Irish Jesuits.

After two years of novitiate, he studied for a B.A. degree at University College, Dublin, a constituent college of the National University of Ireland. This was followed by three years’ study of philosophy in St. Stanislaus College, situated in the Irish midlands.

Father Reid came to Hong Kong in 1952. His first two years were spent in the study of Cantonese. For the first year he stayed at the MEP House, 1 Battery Path. This building was later used for law courts and now houses part of the Government Information Services. In the second year, he transferred to the newly-acquired Xavier House in Cheung Chau.

From 1954-55, Father Reid, still a scholastic, spent one year teaching at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, then situated in Robinson Road.

He returned to Ireland in 1955 for four years of theology at Milltown Park, in Dublin, At the end of the third year he was ordained priest on 31 July 1958. Theological studies were followed by a final year of spiritual formation in Rathfarnham Castle, also in Dublin.

In 1960 Father Reid returned to Hong Kong where he was to spend the rest of his life and went back to teaching in Wah Yan Hong Kong. The college had in the meantime moved to its present site in Wanchai. During those first years he is listed as teaching religion, history and English Language. He was also the spiritual director of the boys and in charge of the night school (since discontinued).

In 1966, he became principal and supervisor of Wah Yan College in Waterloo Road, Kowloon. He held this post for 12 years and was largely instrumental in maintaining the high standards for the which the school is known.

In 1978 he returned to Wah Yan Hong Kong as a teacher in the ranks but in 1983 he was appointed principal and supervisor of the college.

In 1985, he stepped down as principal but continued part-time teaching. In 1989 he became superior of the Wah Yan Hong Kong Jesuit community, a post he held until this year, when Father John Russell assumed the post.

During the Requiem Mass on 5 December, Father James Hurley SJ, assistant pastor at St Vincent’s Parish, Wongtaisin, and a contemporary of Father Reid, gave the homily in Chinese.

Father Hurley pointed out that Father Reid was a man of all-round and exceptional ability. This was recognised soon after he joined the Jesuits and, even before his ordination as a priest, he had been given many responsibilities. After his return to Hong Kong his great qualities were even more clearly seen.

Whatever work was entrusted to him, he took seriously, worked hard at it, did it competently, undeterred by difficulties, and never gave up until it was completed.

He had a deep sense of responsibility and people naturally had great confidence in him, He was always very ready to help people and Father Hurley gave examples of the help that had been given to himself and others.

Father Reid made an outstanding contribution to the education of young people in Hong Kong and one that was greatly appreciated. He not only encouraged students to study hard, he urged them to take part in a wide range of extracurricular activities, to broaden their outlook, and show their concern for people and for society.

He had great confidence in young people, and while some urged him to act with greater caution, he proceeded to give great freedom to the students of Wah Yan Kowloon in organizing and building up a Students’ Association, something which they did very successfully.

In a pastoral letter in 1989 Cardinal John Baptist Wu urged Catholic school authorities to raise the level of education in democracy in schools. Father Reid had already anticipated the Cardinal’s recommendations more than a decade previously.

Father Reid had many interests. For example, he was a very good football player and, in his later years, he regularly played tennis. Indeed, he had played a game on the day of his death.

Besides his educational work Father Reid did a good deal of pastoral work both in school and in the many churches where he regularly said Mass, preached and administered the sacraments. He was not only a great headmaster, he was also a great priest, said Father Hurley.

Father Reid was highly respected by those who had dealings with him, He had very many friends. All of them, Jesuits, co-workers, students, Catholics and non-Catholics, will miss him greatly. “We shall never forget him,” said Father Hurley in conclusion.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 18 December 1992

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He was born in Dublin in 1927. He first came to Hong Kong as a Regent in 1953, and then returned as a Priest in 1960. He was a modest man of simple tastes and ordinary interests, who worked hard and go along well as a gentleman.

He was a highly respected Principal from 1967 until his untimely death in 192. He was open yet cautious and inspired great confidence in others. Many past students of Wah Yan feel they owe him much.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 72 : Easter 1993

Respected teacher and Educational Administrator : Fr Derek Reid

Harold Naylor

Now six weeks after his death, the “Agatha Christie: mystery of it all remains. A few hypotheses from the accompanying letter have been interpolated into this account (penned on 28th December, 1992) after the paragraph that ends, There is still no police report of the cause of death.

Referring to the 29th November, the Chinese Province News says, “He was last seen at around 8.00 pm on Sunday evening. On his table was found the missal opened at the readings for the Mass for the morning of the 30th”.

To say that many felt the grief of loss for the example of a Confucian gentleman would be an understatement. The large numbers at the HK Funeral Parlour on the night of 4th Dec., and the great funeral Requiem Mass in the Chapel of Christ the King (where he often said the English Sunday Mass), St. Paul's Convent, Causeway Bay, showed not only the respect of priests (over a hundred concelebrating) and Religious, but also the few hundred past students who made up the majority of mourners at the 10 am Requiem Mass on Saturday December 6th. At the interment later, which Cardinal Wu officiated at, there was an unusual crowd of people who felt they had lost a good friend.

I first met Derek as my examiner for the De Universa in Tullabeg in 1959. He was discreet and retiring, as he always was. In August 1960 we travelled from Naples to Hong Kong, in company with a fellow scholastic Brendan James, and priests returning: James Hurley, Peadar Brady, Gerry Keane. The talk among us was that Derek would be Principal of Wah Yan College. In fact he was an ordinary teacher of English and European History, until six years later when he became Principal in Kowloon Wah Yan. In his twelve years as Principal, he earned the deep respect of the teachers for his gentle manner, which never confronted anyone, but rather gave each a feeling that he had good plans for many years ahead.

The senior students found him very supportive. Under him the new Students Association became the most prominent in the whole of Hong Kong, It was at the time of cultural revolution in China, and of strong student movements. He gave the students much autonomy and support, and they in return gave not only full cooperation but made the school known as the freest and most democratic in Hong Kong. He not only wrote good testimonial letters for students leaving the school, but continued to take a personal interest in them in later years.

A good footballer until the early seventies, he took a keen interest in school sports. This gave him an added contact with students. By about 1975, he had an operation for varicose veins in his leg and so gave up football. He took up tennis. In fact, the very afternoon he died he was playing a spot of tennis with Paddy O'Rourke and two lay teachers, as was his Sunday afternoon custom.

Leaving Kowloon as Principal, he went to Hong Kong Wah Yan as an ordinary teacher, He preferred this, and had started there in 1954. Being a teacher did not prevent him being an advisor to many educators outside. He had been chairman of the Grants School Council (72-74) and earned the respect of many heads of schools. He was conservative in an intelligent way, and also very human, but in a very retiring way. He was a man of regular habits and settled tastes. He liked a game of bridge. He used to keep up contact with Donny Reynolds, after he left the Society in '76 by playing bridge with him once a month or so. Donny went to his reward and Derek was at his funeral - about four weeks before his own. In fact, Derek was playing bridge with his brother Desmond, along with Joseph Garland and Robert Ng, two nights before he died.

I appreciated Derek for fully supporting the Education Department request to take in two extra classes to enable the policy of compulsory free education for all to the age of fifteen, which was introduced in 1972 after the Governor, MacLehose's, speech. As a teacher under him, he gave me all the freedoms took, and supported my strange methods and deep involvement outside the school in ecumenical and social movements. I think most of the other teachers felt that they had a friend in the shy and cool man, who kept much to his office, and yet knew every thing that was going on.

Now six weeks after his death, the “Agatha Christie” mystery of it all remains. On the morning of Monday 30th November, the Canteen staff knocked loudly at the room of Seán Coghlan (Principal) at 6.15. There was panic, and mutters of the body of Joe Mallin in a rubbish container in the school canteen. John Russell (Rector) had also been stirred. Fortunately, Joe Mallin was seen on the stairs, and the three went to the canteen. The police were already there and nothing could be touched. They saw the body of an old grey haired caucasian in a 1.3m oil barrel which was used for refuse. The head was bowed. He was not recognised! Seán had a quick breakfast foreseeing difficulties with the students already arriving. The Vice-Principal came. Soon the boys came looking for Fr. Reid, who was to say the 7.45 Boys Mass. There was a search made for him, and when his room was entered, there was every evidence that he had not used it at night. Gradually the tragedy dawned. That body in the canteen, with shoes neatly by the barrel and glasses neatly on the table, was Derek's! The Police report was of no marks of violence on the body. The detective in charge later said, that he had taken the barrel away and tried to get into it, but failed. There is still no police report of the cause of death.

He certainly did not commit suicide, and there could be no one who could have anything against him. there is not only grief in his community, but also fear. It is not know how he died. It is a mystery, We await a police report on cause of death... If it says by suffocation - then could it be robbers? But there is nothing to steal! There are reports of the canteen having been burgled of money from the soft drinks dispensing machine in the past, about £30 or $40 which only teenagers might be interested in - But how did Derek get there? There is talk of Derek missing his tennis cap and going down to the canteen, next to the tennis court - Two tennis caps were found in his tennis bag in is room! Could he have recognised some boys, did something go terribly wrong? - I dread to hear the end for the sake of stupid boys. Was it some mad man? - But could he do it alone? and why bring the body there? It is a mystery, which had better be forgotten. Let us remember this good man.

Several days after, I met Francis Chen, one of his close friends. They liked each other's company and watched the golf championships every year. Francis had met him in very strange circumstances. A few weeks after Derek came here as Principal, the eldest son, then a senior student in the school, was found hanging in the bathroom at home. The mother had a Master's degree in counselling from Cornell Uni, N.Y. Francis found in Derek a sympathy and understanding which made them friends evermore. Then Mabel Chou is another, whom he baptised when her son was a senior student here. It could be said that she saved his life seven years ago, when she visited him in hospital with her husband, a cardiac specialist. Derek's medication was changed and he survived as a frail man with Parkinson's disease. He retired as Principal of HK Wah Yan in 1988. He became Rector in 1989 but resigned for health reasons in July 1992. A holiday in Ireland brought him back with more vigour and absence of shaking of the hand and head. I met him on the feast of Christ the King, when he brought his brother Des (Singapore) from the airport, Des was to preach at his funeral three weeks later!

Regularly saying English Sunday Mass in a parish or Wah Yan, he was a good religious Jesuit, calm and regular. May we remember him as a respected teacher and gentleman. And may his gentle prayers help his past students and friends to be more like him!

Born: 26 December 1919, Ballsbridge, Dublin
Entered: 28 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1950, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1958, Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin
Died: 14 January 2017, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Son of Thomas Redmond and Teresa Lennon. Father was a bread van driver for Johnston, Mooney & O’Brien (Ballsbridge) and then appointed deliveries manager.

Only child of his father’s second marriage. Two older step-sisters and one older step-brother.

Early education was at a Convent school Haddington Road and then at Synge Street CBS (1929-1936). In the Leaving Cert he won a Dublin Corporation University Scholarship, went to UCD and got a BA in English and History.

1942-1945 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1945-1947 Belvedere College SJ - Regency : Teacher; Studying H Dip in Education at UCD (45-46)
1947-1951 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1951-1952 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1952-1971 Gonzaga College SJ - Teacher
1971-1979 Lusaka, Zambia - Assistant to Novice Master; Teaching Theology; Writer; Music Apostolate at Jesuit Educational Institute, Xavier House, Chelston
1979-2010 John Austin House - Music Apostolate; Writer
1989 Assistant Province Archivist; Librarian; Directs Spiritual Exercises
2010-2016 Milltown Park - Music Apostolate; Writer; Spiritual Director; Spiritual Director in Legion of Mary and St Joseph’s Young Priests Society
2013 Music Apostolate; Writer; Spiritual Director in Legion of Mary
2014 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/podcasts/stephen-redmond-sj-looks-back-life-jesuit/

Always young in heart
Stephen Redmond SJ spent his life writing, teaching and composing music, including a song for the Eurovision in 1969. He died on Saturday, aged ninety-seven. In this interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications when he was 93, he talks about his childhood and his life as a Jesuit.
In ‘the good old days’ when Stephen Redmond SJ was teaching English and History in Gonzaga, he was also writing music. In 1968 his Irish song Gleann na Smól was in the final few from which Ireland’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest was chosen. Over the years – many years – he has written many other songs both in Ireland and later in Zambia, where he ran a weekly radio programme.
He published a selection in a CD called Wonder World: Songs for Children and the Young in Heart. The lyrics are by various poets, including four poems by Stephen himself. He wrote and performed (piano and voice) all the music. Proceeds from the sale of the CD goes to Third World charities.

Born: 18 June 1924, Feanna, Iona Road, Glasnevin, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1959, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 29 September 2011, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was a commercial traveller.

Youngest of five boys (2 deceased) and four sisters.

Early education was at the Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin and then three at the Christian Brothers in Glasnevin. He then went to Belvedere College SJ for six years.

Born: 21 April 1842, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 July 1866, Roehampton England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1880
Final Vows: 02 February 1886
Died: 07 February 1914, St Ignatius' House of Writers, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin

by 1869 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1870 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1879 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1885 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His early education was at Clongowes (1856-1859), and he completed his education abroad. In fact all his further studies in the Society were completed out of Ireland. Before entering he had spent some time at the Commercial Buildings on Dame St, Dublin, and this experience stood him well in later life.

He was received age 24 by Edmund O'Reilly then the Provincial. He did his Noviceship at Roehampton. He studied Rhetoric at St Acheul, Amiens with Michael Weafer, Thomas Finlay and Peter Finlay, Robert Kane and Vincent Byrne, among others.
1872 He was sent for Regency to Clongowes which was the start of a long association. He was Sub-Minister there and Sub-Procurator1876-1877, and then in 1877 was in charge of the Study.
1879 He was sent to Louvain for Theology.
After Ordination he was sent back to Clongowes as Procurator.
1883-1884 He was sent to Tullabeg as Minister.
1884 he was sent on Tertianship to Roehampton.
For the next number of years he held many posts, Minister, Socius to the Novice Master at Dromore, Procurator at Milltown and finally for a year, procurator of the Province.
1888 He returned to Clongowes as First Prefect and then Procurator. During this stay at Clongowes, he was also Vice-Rector for a time. As Procurator he was a very familiar figure to generations of Clongownians. He always exhibited the same calm, dignified, unbending bearing with those in Third Line, who troubled him with their important affairs of half a crown for POs. He impressed the boys with his handsome grey head, a slightly husky voice and the profusion of snuff!
1905 He was sent to UCD, and remained in that community until his death 07 February 1914, including accompanying it in the change to Leeson St. He was Superior at Leeson St until June 1912. The numerous positions that James held during his long career as a Jesuit show the esteem in which he was held. he combined great shrewdness of judgement with polish and dignity of manner, and possessed a subtle and delicate humour. His opinion was often sought on knotty practical points. His decisions were always given with great clarity and brevity. As a Minister or Superior the extended hospitality with great readiness and affability. His strongest characteristic was his equability of temper, which was what you expected from his very retiring but remarkably gentle nature.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father James Redmond SJ 1842-1914
The numerous positions of importance which Fr James Redmond held at various times during his long career as a Jesuit show the great esteem in which he was held. He combined great shrewdness of judgement with polish and dignity of manner, to which was added a delicate and gentle humour. As Minister or Superior, he extended his hospitality with great readiness and affability.

He entered the Society in 1886, being received by Fr Edmund O’Reilly, the then Provincial. Before his entry he had given some years to business in the Commercial Buildings, Dame Street, Dublin, an experience which was to stand him in good stead in later years.

He studied Rhetoric at St Acheul with Frs Weafer, Thomas and Peter Finlay and Vincent Byrne amongst others. He had a long connection with Clongowes, both as a scholastic and priest, in many capacities, including Vice-Rector. Owing to his business experience he was Procurator in many houses, including Clongowes and Milltown Park. When we had the novitiate in Dromore, he was Socius to the Master of Novices.

In 1905 he was changed to University College, Stephen’s Green. He remained attached to this community to the end, and when the change was made to Leeson Street, he became Superior of the Residence..

His death occurred on February 7th 1914.

◆ The Clongownian, 1914

Obituary

Father James Redmond SJ

An old and esteemed member of the Jesuit Order died at St Ignatius', No 35 Lower Leeson Street, February 7th, in the person of Rev James Redmond SJ, who passed away peacefully' to his reward after an illness of a few days' duration. Father Redmond, who had reached the advanced age of 72 years, belonged to an old and highly-respected Dublin family, being a brother of Sir Joseph Redmond MD. He received his early education in Clongowes Wood College, and completed his course of studies on the Continent, entering the Order at the close of a distinguished scholastic career. Subsequent to his ordination he held several important posts in the Order, acting temporarily as Vice-Rector of Clongowes Wood College, and, at a later date, he was Vice-President of University College, St. Stephen's Green. A man of saintly and scholarly character, he was very much respected and esteemed by his brethren in th Order, by whom his death is deeply mourned.

Born: 21 March 1916, Mount Vincent View, O’Connell Avenue, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 30 July 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1951, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 09 December 1994, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the John Austin, NCR, Dublin community at the time of death.

Older Brother of Ignatius T Quinn - LEFT 19 September 1947

Father was a postal clerk.

Second of four boys with two sisters.

Educated at a local Convent school and then at Crescent College SJ (1927-1933).

by 1956 at Gregorian, Rome Italy (ROM) teaching

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
The word 'incisive' means 'sharp, clear and effective' and this word apples to Fr. Quinn who was a brilliant student, a clear, talented teacher, had 'justice for all' as a driving force in his life and apostolate. He did not hesitate to stand up to authority in civil, ecclesiastical, religious, trade union and employer circles when he felt justice was at stake – ‘even reducing the Rector of the Gregorian to tears over the way lay employees of that prestigious institution were treated.’

Fr Kevin was born in Limerick, Ireland, on 21 March 1917. He attended the Jesuit school, Crescent College and immediately afterwards entered the Society at Emo Park in 1933. The formation years of study matured him intellectually – university studies, philosophy, theology. He was ordained priest in Milltown Park, Dublin in 1947.

Before the end of 1949, he was called to prepare himself to be co-founder and lecturer in the recently begun Catholic Workers' College. He studied again at U.C.D. where he obtained a Master's degree with first class honours in Economic Science and National Economics in 1951. With this under his belt, he was posted to Rome to the Gregorian University to lecture in Economics for twelve years. He hated Rome and held that his posting was a mistake as the letter summoning him to Rome was address to Pater Quint!

From 1963 to 1969 he lived in Zambia, in Lusaka where he joined the Oppenheimer College (1963-1965) lecturing in Economics and became Vice Principal. Later when the Oppenheimer became the University of Lusaka, he moved there lecturing in Economics. In 1966 he was a member of The Commission of Enquiry into the Mining Industry 1966, Zambia's most important document yet on industry. He was considered to be ‘one of Zambia's most respected and experienced arbitrators in labour affairs’. For his work he was awarded ‘Officer of the Order of Distinguished Service’ by the President in 1966.

He returned to Ireland to the College of Industrial Relations (the former Catholic Workers' College) as director of studies and lecturer where he remained for twenty years.

He lived his life in a spirit of submission to the will of God as he understood it through the wishes of his superiors and ordinary day-to-day events. He was a genuinely humble man with a spirit of detachment and availability. He shared his knowledge with the learned and the unlearned. ‘Kevin possessed many social virtues which endeared him to those about him, especially his colleagues in a common enterprise. His loyal co-operation was very notable, likewise his' almost perpetual good humor and his ability to see both sides of a dispute and provide at times a Solomonesque solution which found acceptance’.

From 1986 to 1994 he was minister in our houses. His health began to fail and he died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge on December 9 1994, aged 78 years.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary

Fr Kevin Quinn (1916-1994)

21st March 1916: Born in Limerick.
Secondary studies: Crescent College, Limerick
7th Sept. 1933: Entered Society at St. Mary's, Emo
1935 - 1938: Juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
1938 - 1941: Studied Philosophy at Tullabeg
1941 - 1944: Regency at Clongowes Wood College
1944 - 1948: Studied Theology at Milltown Institute
30th July 1947: Ordained a Priest
1948 - 1949; Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1949 - 1950: Clongowes Wood College - Master
1950 - 1951: Leeson Street - Studied MA at UCD.
1951 - 1963: Gregorian, Rome - Lecturer in Economics
1963 - 1969: Zambia - Lecturer & Vice-Principal at College of Social Science.
1969 - 1973: College of Industrial Relations - Director of Studies & Lecturer in Social Science.
1973 - 1986: Lecturer in Economics
1986: Minister
1989 - 1994: John Austin House - Minister
9th Dec. 1994: Fr. Quinn had been in failing health since last August. He was brought to Cherryfield Lodge while awaiting a bed in the Bon Secours. After a stay at the Bon Secours, he was back in Cherryfield Lodge since the end of November and died there, peacefully, on Friday December 9th, 1994, aged 78

        Caoimhín, I know not how to sing
        your gifts of mind and heart and everything
        that Love Incarnate fashions for a man
        pledged not to me an 'also ran
        Your sterling worth was measured true
        by all who lived and toiled with you

So wrote a contemporary of Kevin's in a poem celebrating the diamond jubilee of eleven priests who had entered the novitiate at Emo in the autumn of 1933. The author confesses his inability to reveal in the allocated six lines the hiddden treasure of goodness which he and his companions discovered in Kevin during their sixty years in the Society of Jesus.

It was common knowledge even from his noviceship days that he was endowed with a variety of intellectual, social and practical gifts, apart from those supernatural gifts by which Incarnate Love was drawing him to Himself for his own purposes. Yet throughout his long life much remained hiden or at best the subject of surmise while others blossomed with the passing years.

His intellectual gifts matured during his time at UCD and their growth accelerated in philosophy in Tullabeg 1938-41. He spent his next three years teaching in Clongowes, sharing his ideas and ideals with outstanding success. His talent for teaching and opening up young minds became apparent. This was for him a happy and rewarding time. But it was in Milltown Park that his intellectual power became apparent to his professors and fellow-students alike. He was equally at home in dogma and moral. He had little difficulty in passing his Ad Grad in June 1948 before going on to tertianship in Rathfarnham in the September of that year.

After tertianship, to the surprise of many, he was re-appointed to teaching in Clongowes. But before the end of 1949 the call came to prepare himself to be a co-founder and lecturer in the still inchoate Catholic Workers' College. This new appointment entailed two more years of study in Economic Science and National Economics at UCD, where he obtained a Master's degree with first class honours.

One might be excused for thinking that Kevin had reached the end of the beginning of his life-apostolate when he started to lecture to working-men in February 1952. But not long after he was called to take up a permanent post in a newly-founded Institute of Social and Economic Studies attached to the Gregorian University in Rome. He spent the next eleven years lecturing and counselling and in building up a library for the Institute. Then he was seconded to the Oppenheimer Institute in Lusaka, the nucleus of the University of Zambia. He returned to Ireland in 1969 to become Director of the College of Industrial Relations and he remained there for twenty years lecturing in Statistics and contributing greatly to the work of the College.

From this summary of his varied work and apostolate it is clear that at no point did he choose his assignment over the forty-four years of his active ministry. This speaks eloquently of his spirit of detachment and his availability, though it tells us little of what all this cost him personally. It does reveal that there was not a shred of careerism in his make-up neither as to the choice of work nor as to its location or other circumstances.

There are still other aspects of Kevin's authentic Ignatian spirit. Like most of us he had his likes and dislikes as regards his associates or those for whom he worked; but I never knew him to allow personal preferences to intrude on his apostolate. He was on friendly and cooperative terms with his colleagues and he shared his knowledge with the learned and unlearned with equal enthusiasm. He had no 'hang-ups' as between helping the poor rather than the rich, the cleric rather than the lay-person. All who came to his lecture-room or office received the best service he could give. He was a man for all the Lord sent to him: a man without a trace of intellectual snobbery.

Kevin was a very private person and did not speak easily of interior things or tell of all God had done for him. But we know from the Lord that a tree can be known by its fruit; so it was patent to those who lived with him over the years that he was a genuinely humble man. He certainly lived his life, especially after his ordination and tertianship, in a spirit of submission to the will of God as he understood it through the wishes of superiors and day-to-day events.

To persevere in religious life is not always easy nor was it easy in Kevin's case at all times. The following prayer that he once recommended for times of “desolation: may reflect a personal experience of his own:

        Lord, drag me
        if I will not walk
        and when my wavering
        footsteps go astray
        or wander on their own
        perversive way
        when they refuse your will
        the whole day long
        and clamour to be still
        when stubborn knees
        are loath to pray
        the body sulks
        the minds turn gray
        path leads uphill
        then waste no pains
        on me
        nor coax me
        nor to guide, essay
        dear Lord
        but drag me
        if I will not walk

Kevin possessed many social virtues which endered him to those about him, especially his colleagues in a common enterprise. His loyal co-operation was very notable, likewise his almost perpetual good humour and his ability to see both sides of a dispute and provide at times a Solomonesque solution which found acceptance. He combined patience in listening, openness to new ideas and new ways, courtesy in all his dealings, and obvious sincerity with a personal playfulness and a profound love of justice in argument. All went to make him a unique reconciler in the field of industrial relations and a welcome member of any Jesuit community.

When death was near he was well prepared for it. Shortly before he died he asked Brother Joe Cleary to shave off his beard, saying with a smile: 'You can keep it as a relic!'

May his generous soul rest in peace.

Eddie Kent SJ

-oOo-

Kevin returned to the College of Industrial Relations in 1969, succeeding Fr. Edmond Kent as Director. He guided the College through a transitional period after the close of Fr. Kent's directorship in which it had been successfully established and developed. In 1972 he returned to lecturing in Economics and Statistics in which he excelled and remained in this role until his retirement. He was very generous in giving additional personal tuition to students who were experiencing difficulties and many students got through their exams as a result of his help and went on to successful careers in Accountancy, Personnel Management and Trade Unions.

He was well liked by both staff members and students and his advice was frequently sought. It was typical of him that when he felt the time had come to retire he quietly slipped away with a minimum of fuss. Happily, Fr. Tod Morrissey persuaded him to have his portrait painted at this time and it hangs in the College as a reminder of his great contribution over so many years.

John Brady SJ

-oOo-

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice”. This was my text and theme for my homily at Kevin's funeral Mass. And justice for all was, I thought and think, a driving force in his life and apostolate. He did not hesitate to stand up to Authority in civil, ecclesiastical, religious, trade union and employer circles when he felt that justice was at stake - even to reducing the Rector of the Gregorian to tears over the way lay employees of that prestigious institution were treated.

He hated Rome, whither he averred he had been sent by mistake. The message received in Germany summoning him to the Gregorian was addressed to a Pater Quint. He alleged that, apart from the Greg, the only places he knew in Rome were the Termini (the central rail station) and the airport; but he could have added Babington's Tea rooms at the Spanish Steps whither he and Miss Stafford, an old firend from the International Labour Office in Geneva, resorted on Sundays. It is doubtful if he ever visited St. Peter's.

Release from Rome came with his assignment to the Oppenheimer Institute (the nucleus of the University of Zambia) in Lusaka in the then Northern Rhodesia. At the conclusion of his six years there he was decorated by President Kaunda of the newly-formed Zambia, fought off a move to re-assign him to Rome and returned to Ireland.

Kevin was a solid and shrewd counsellor, a very dedicated minister in John Austin and a good friend. I can say no more.

Seán Hughes SJ

-oOo-

It was only when he joined the John Austin Community in 1989 that I really got to know Kevin Quinn. He was a very edifying companion. To see this professsor emeritus of the College of Industrial Relations, the Gregorian and the Oppenheimer commuting between the house and the supermarket and attending to the minutiae of community maintenance was a lesson in diaconia straight from the Acts of the Apostles. More than once I found him a good listener, ready to give time and advice on a problem. He was a very honest person this was evident at community meetings. He was forthright in opinion, impatient of humbug and ready to shed enlightenment on many topics. He was sensitive to the needs of others. I experienced much kindness from him.

He was richly and (forgiveably) repetitiously reminiscent about his time in Rome (which he detested apart from his Sunday excursions - cf. Seán Hughes' piece) and in Zambia where President Kaunda decorated him as an Officer of the Order of Distinguished Service for his work in industrial relations.

As Seán Hughes emphasises, he had a strong sense of justice. With this went a rapport with 'ordinary people: I think a favourite experience of his while in John Austin was the long conversations over coffee and cigarettes with the lady who came to clean and tidy the house. She really mourned him when he left us.

It was a grace to know him in community. Requiescat.

Stephen Redmond SJ

◆ The Clongownian, 1995

Obituary

Father Kevin Quinn SJ

Clongownians of the war years will remember Mr Kevin Quinn SJ, as he then was, who did his regency here 1941-44. A Limerickman and past pupil of the Crescent himself, he subsequently returned here as a priest to teach for a further year in 1949-50 but spent the rest of his life teaching economics. After taking an M.A. in UCD, he went to the Gregorian University in Rome for twelve years, followed by a further six in Zambia. He lectured at the College of Industrial Relations in Ranelagh for seventeen years until 1986 and spent the last period of his life in semi-retirement, acting as minister of the Jesuit Comunity at the CIR and, more recently, at John Austin House on the North Circular Road in Dublin. He died on 9 December 1994, aged 78.

Born: 15 May 1887, Shannon Street, Bandon, County Cork
Entered: 12 November 1902, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1917, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1921, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 31 October 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin

Father is headmaster of a large school, and now resides at The Lodge, Watergate, Bandon, County Cork.

Fourth child of twelve - six boys and six girls.

At the end of his primary education he was given a choice to go into business or go to Clongowes. He chose business, but his parents removed him after two months and sent him to Clongowes Wood College.

by 1907 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin.
We moved in on Saturday morning, 14th August. Fr, Superior (Fr. McCarron), Fr. Minister (Fr. Kearns), and Bro. E. Foley constituted the occupying force, and Fr. T. Martin not only placed his van at our disposal, but gave generously of his time and labour for the heavy work of the first day.
A long procession of vans unloaded until noon, when the men broke off for their half-day, leaving a mountain of assorted hardware and soft goods to be unpacked and stowed. By nightfall we had a chapel installed, the kitchen working, dining-room in passable order, and beds set up, so we said litanies, Fr. Superior blessed the house and consecrated it to the Sacred Heart.
Next morning Fr. Superior said the first Mass ever offered in the building. It was the Feast of the Assumption and a Sunday, so we. placed the house and the work under the Patronage of Our Lady and paused to review the scene. Fr. Provincial came to lunch.
The building is soundly constructed from basement to roof, but needs considerable modification before it can be used as a temporary Retreat House. The permanent Retreat House has yet to be built on the existing stables about 130 yards from the principal structure, but. we hope to take about twenty exercitants as soon as builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and decorators have done their work.
Fr. C. Doyle is equipping and furnishing the domestic chapel as a memorial to Fr. Willie, who worked so tirelessly for the establishment of workingmen's retreats in Ireland. A mantelpiece of this room has been removed, and thermostatically controlled electric heating is being installed. Lighting is to be by means of fluorescent tubes of the latest type.
With all due respects to the expert gardeners of the Province, we modestly assert that our garden is superb. Fr. Provincial was so impressed by the work done there that he presented us with a Fordson 8 H.P. van to bring the surplus produce to market. Under the personal supervision of Fr. Superior, our two professional gardeners took nine first prizes and four seconds with fourteen exhibits at the Drimnagh show. Twelve of their potatoes filled a bucket, and were sold for one shilling each. The garden extends over 2 of our 17 acres and will, please God, provide abundant fruit and vegetables.
From the beginning we have been overwhelmed with kindness: by our houses and by individual Fathers. Fr. Provincial has been a fairy-godmother to us all the time. As well as the van, he has given us a radio to keep us in touch with the outside world. We have benefitted by the wise advice of Frs. Doyle and Kenny in buying equipment and supplies, while both of them, together with Fr. Rector of Belvedere and Fr. Superior of Gardiner Street, have given and lent furniture for our temporary chapel Fr. Scantlebury sacrificed two fine mahogany bookcases, while Frs. Doherty and D. Dargan travelled by rail and bus so that we might have the use of the Pioneer car for three weeks. Milltown sent a roll-top desk for Fr, Superior's use. To all who helped both houses and individuals we offer our warmest thanks, and we include in this acknowledgment the many others whom we have not mentioned by name.
Our man-power problem was acute until the Theologians came to the rescue. Two servants were engaged consecutively, but called off without beginning work. An appeal to Fr. Smyth at Milltown brought us Messrs. Doris and Kelly for a week of gruelling labour in the house. They scrubbed and waxed and carpentered without respite until Saturday when Mr. Kelly had to leave us. Mr. Hornedo of the Toledo Province came to replace him, and Mr. Barry arrived for work in the grounds. Thanks to their zeal and skill, the refectory, library and several bedrooms were made ready and we welcomed our first guest on Monday, 30th August. Under the influence of the sea air, Fr. Quinlan is regaining his strength after his long and severe illness.
If anyone has old furniture, books, bedclothes, pictures, or, in fact anything which he considers superfluous, we should be very glad to hear of it, as we are faced with the task of organizing accommodation for 60 men and are trying to keep the financial load as light as possible in these times of high cost. The maintenance of the house depends on alms and whatever the garden may bring. What may look like junk to an established house may be very useful to us, starting from bare essentials. Most of all, we want the prayers of the brethren for the success of the whole venture, which is judged to be a great act of trust in the Providence of God.
Our postal address is : Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin.

Irish Province News 32nd Year No 1 1957

Obituary :

Fr Michael Quinlan (1887-1956)

Fr. Quinlan was born on 15th May, 1887, at Bandon, Co. Cork, the fifth child in a family of twelve, He attended the National School at Bandon, of which his father was Principal, and in 1899 went to Clongowes, where he remained until June, 1902, leaving after the Middle Grade, He entered at Tullabeg on 12th November, 1902, and after his first vows he remained there for two years' Juniorate. He then went to Stonyhurst to study philosophy for three years,
It was during this time that he took his B.A. degree at the Royal University in Dublin. He taught for five years at Belvedere and in 1914 he went to Milltown Park for theology. He was ordained on 31st July, 1917. Before his tertianship at Tullabeg he taught for one year at Belvedere and after the tertianship he returned to Belvedere in 1920 as Prefect of Studies. He was Rector of Belvedere from 1922 to 1928, and Rector of Galway from 1928 to 1933. After one year at Clongowes he was transferred to Gardiner Street, where we find him as Minister from 1934 to 1945, and Operarius from 1945 to 1955. Owing to failing health he was sent to Milltown Park. He died on 31st October, 1956, and he was buried with his fellow-novice, Fr. MacSheahan, at Glasnevin.
The author of this obituary notice has just attended a meeting of the St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society. It was the first meeting of that branch since the death of its Spiritual Director, Fr. Michael Quinlan. It would not be possible to remain unaffected by the obviously sincere tributes paid to his memory. “He was always ready, at any time or place, to help us in every way in his power”. “In the twenty years he was with us he was our most faithful friend and guide and advisor, never missing a meeting, always easy to approach”. “We could bring him any problem, sure, in advance, of a sympathetic hearing, certain he would leave nothing undone to find the solution”.
Fr. Bodkin, who succeeds Fr. Quinlan as Spiritual Director, warmly endorsed these remarks, having known Fr. Quinlan since he was a scholastic in Belvedere and Fr. Bodkin a small boy there. In those far-off days there was in evidence the same unfailing kindness which deepened with the years, and now remains the characteristic of the man that one instinctively associates with his name.
What was said at that meeting today finds a loud and ready echo in the hearts of countless numbers of Dublin's poor. As successor to Fr. Potter, Fr. Quinlan directed the “Penny Dinners”, devoting himself with tireless zeal, till near the end of his life, to collecting and distributing to visiting the poor, writing countless letters begging alms for them, missing no chance of interesting people in a position to help this excellent form of charity which for many long years has been carried on by the Gardiner Street community.
One got further insight into his interest in the poor and in his love for them, during a mission in Gardiner Street. The number who spoke of him in terms of deep affection, and the detailed knowledge he himself showed by the accurate information he put at the missioners' disposal, gave evidence of the practical zeal he had for their spiritual and corporal welfare.
Not content to direct a Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul, he proved himself a veritable apostle by the innumerable contacts he made with the poor in their homes. He was often observed slipping out quietly with one or two or three parcels of food or clothes for those in dire need. One large store in Dublin is said to have kept him supplied with lots of shoes and boots. The children of the poor flocked around him in the streets, and were happy when they could say they were attending “Fr. Quinlan's School” - the one he had charge of in Dorset Street.
A Jesuit told him once : “Congratulate me, I'm fifty today”. Fr. Quinlan paused a moment and then said the unexpected - regretfully but quite seriously. “Fifty are you? I'm afraid you'll never be a Rector now!” He had a most exalted idea of the honour conferred on a man whom the Society considered fit to be raised to that high eminence, and he would not fail, from time to time to regale you with stories about the time “when I was Rector”. He held that position twice, in Belvedere and at Galway, and it was in his time at Galway that the College got the status of an “A” school. Though no linguist, he managed to reach sufficient proficiency to teach mathematics through Irish, “and I doubt”, writes a contemporary, “if there has ever been a better teacher of that subject in the Province”.
For years in Gardiner Street, whether as Minister or Prefect of the Church, or later as an Operarius, he got through a prodigious amount of work. It was nearly always he who filled the gaps if a preacher had to drop out. It was, above all in the Confessional, we may very reasonably surmise that his great-hearted charity found its widest outlet. It has been well said that devotion to the work of hearing Confession is an infallible mark of a true priest. Judged by that test, Fr. Quinlan was a true priest indeed. He was “always ready”, early or late, irrespective of fixed “hours” to treat with souls in the sacred tribunal, One has heard it said more than once: “I'd love to go to Fr. Quinlan for Confession only that his ‘box’ is always so crowded”.
He was the author of many articles and pamphlets which have circulated widely, particularly one on Confession which is still enjoying an enormous sale.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael Quinlan 1887-1956
It has been truly said that devotion to the confessional is an infallible mark of a good priest. Judged by this standard Fr Michael Quinlan was an excellent priest. He was always ready, early or late, irrespective of fixed hours to help souls in the sacred tribunal. It was afterwards said “I’d love to go to Fr Quinlan for confession, only his box is always crowded”.

Born in Bandon in 1887, he entered the Society in 1902, after his schooling in Clongowes.

He became a Rector comparatively young, first in Belvedere from 1922-1928, and then in Galway from 1928-1933. He always had a reverence for the office of Rector, simple and amusing in its way.

In Gardiner Street, where he spent the latter part of his life, he was in charge of the schools and the Penny Dinners. His devotion to the poor knew no bounds. He was tireless, ingenious and shameless in their service. This and his devotion to hearing confessions mark him out as a man of God. He was also active with his pen, and he was the author of numerous pamphlets, many of which remain popular.

He died on October 31st 1956.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1957

Obituary

Father Michael Quinlan SJ

Fr Quinlan was born on 15th May, 1887, at Bandon, Co Cork, the fifth child in a family of twelve. He was at school at Clongowes, entering the Society of Jesus in 1902. He studied Philosophy at Stonyhurst and then taught for five years at Belvedere. In 1914 he went to Milltown where he was ordained on 31st July, 1917. He came back to Belvedere in 1920 as Prefect of Studies and in 1922 was appointed Rector of the College. At the end of his term of office he went to Galway as Rector and was there from 1928 to 1933. He worked at Gardiner Street from 1934 to 1955. From then till his death in October, 1956, he was at Milltown Park.

Anyone who knew Fr Quinlan could not help but see that his heart was in the work of a priest in Gardiner Street. In the last months of his life his cross was not the pain and weakness he was called on to suffer, but the separation from the work he loved best - the work of the confessional - and from that network of innumerable contacts with the poor he had built up over the years. For years in Gardiner Street, whether as Minister or Prefect of the church, he got through a prodigious amount of work. It was above all in the confessional that his charity found its widest outlet. It has been said that devotion to the work of hearing confessions is an infallible sign of a true priest. Judged by that test, Fr Quinlan was a true priest indeed.

◆ The Clongownian, 1957

Obituary

Father Michael Quinlan SJ

Father Quinlan came to Clongowes as a boy in 1899 and remained until 1902, when he entered the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg. Having finished his earlier studies, he taught for five years at Belvedere and went on to Theology in 1914. He was ordained in 1917.

In 1920 he became Prefect of Studies at Belvedere and he was Rector of that College from 1922 to 1928, and Rector of Galway from 1928 to 1933. After one year at Clongowes he was transferred to Gardiner Street where he worked until 1955, when he was transferred to Milltown Park. He died on October 31st, 1956, and was buried with his fellow-novice, Father MacSheahan, who had died on the previous day. Father Quinlan was for many years Spiritual Director of the St. Joseph's Young Priests Society, who paid glowing tributes to his work for them and to his great sympathy and accessibility. He was much sought after for Confessions and was the author of many articles and pamphlets which have circulated widely, particularly one on Confession which is still enjoying a wide sale. May he rest in peace.

Born: 30 September 1913, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 September 1933, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Sacred Heart Coillege SJ, Limerick
Died: 21 April 1976, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Lavender Bay, North Sydney, Australia community at the time of death.

Father was a Civil servant and family lived at Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin.

Youngest of three boys with three sisters.

Early education was at St Pat’s BNS, Drumcondra and then at St Vincent’s, Glasnevin.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Civil Servant before entry

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Purcell entered the Society at Emo, Ireland, 30 September 1933, did his juniorate at Rathfarnham, 1935-38, studied philosophy at Tullabeg, until 1941, and then gained a BA and a diploma of education from the National University, Dublin. Regency was done at Belvedere College, Dublin, 1941-42, and theology at Milltown Park, 1943-47. Tertianship followed immediately.
Purcell taught at Limerick and at Mungret College, 1948-62, and then went to Australia, and the parishes of Hawthorn and Richmond, 1963-64. From 1965-68 he taught religion and Latin at St Louis School, Claremont, WA, but this was not a successful appointment. Purcell found it hard to adapt to the culture of Australian schoolboys. His final appointment in Australia was at St Francis' Xavier parish, Lavender Bay, Sydney During this time he became ill with cancer and returned to Dublin.
He was very Irish, a simple priest, pious and unworldly He was happiest and more successful in parish work, where he showed pastoral zeal. He enjoyed preaching, but his sermons were long and poetic, and did not relate well to an Australian congregation. There was sadness that when he decided to return to Ireland he was already unwell.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 3 1976

Obituary :

Fr John Purcell (1933-1976)

Fr John Purcell, a Dublin man, entered the Society at Emo on 30th September, 1933, his twentieth birthday. Nearly thirty entered that year, and John, I should think, was as “unusual” a character as any. Let me admit straight away that suavity or blandness of manner was not very outstanding in him; nevertheless the longer we lived with him and the more we came to know him, the more he gained our respect and endeared himself to us. He was a man of deep humility and transparent honesty, combined with a persevering courage in the face of difficulties. As Fr Rodriguez might say, let me illustrate the foregoing with examples.
Very few of us, I imagine, have had to contend with the difficulties of speech and articulation which afflicted John. At times of stress or excitement, when for instance he had to preach or read in the refectory, very often his vocal chords would seize up with nervous tension. It was embarrassing for his audience: it must have been an excruciating embarrassment for himself. A lesser man would have given up. John persevered through several years of this until he gained reasonable control over it. Again, his eyesight gave him difficulty in embarrassing ways. How well we can recall the thick, heavy lenses, and John's myopic peering around on the football field, wondering where the ball had gone. But again he persevered, and took his part in this as in all else that was part of community life. Indeed, he loved those various activities, and was a very friendly and sociable companion, full of innocent jokes and quaint sayings, some of which have passed into the folklore of the province. He took a simple delight in ordinary things, loved our Irish countryside and was always ready for an excursion anywhere, especially to unusual or out-of-the-way places. Many of us are indebted to his enthusiasm for some very noteworthy outings.
In studies he was equally dedicated, and plodded away with the best. He was probably too original in some of his ideas about history, literature and suchlike, too far off the beaten track to be acceptable for higher academic honours, but his intelligence and devotion to work were never in doubt. Very early on he showed an interest in meteorology and quite a remarkable natural flair for weather forecasting. Though he suffered many a goodnatured leg-pull over his hobby, there is no doubt that he was quite outstanding as a 'weather man', and I should imagine that a present day scholastic with his talent might easily be sent on some kind of travelling scholarship or special course in the subject.
A year of teaching in Belvedere followed by another in the Crescent preceded theology in Milltown Park, 1943 to 1947, and tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle, 1947-48. They were, if you like, uneventful years, but all the time they were having their formative influence. Fr John returned to teaching after tertianship, with ten years at the Crescent and four at Mungret before his departure for Australia. I feel sure the classroom must have provided many a penitential hour for him, as his sense of duty, his seriousness of purpose together with his mild external foibles would have left him a natural butt for boyish “humour”. Yet even the boys appreciated his genuineness and sincerity and were happy to join him in bicycle rides all over Limerick and Clare. And it was quite extraordinary the influence he had with parents, especially those in sorrow or tribulation. In most unexpected ways I have come across instances of his power of consoling them which surprised even me who knew him so well. No doubt his long years of faithful effort in the spiritual life earned him this grace of being able to help others.
In 1962 he left for Australia with Fr Nash. He began with church work in Hawthorn and Richmond, followed by teaching in Claremont and Riverview, and finally church work again from 1971 on, at St Francis Xavier's in Sydney. I remember how he wrote to me at one stage explaining that “the die was cast, and he was to leave his bones under the Southern Cross”. His letters were always cheerful, full of news and shrewd comment, and showing an undiminished zest for life. It was in these years that he founded and ran a one-man apostolate that was as unique as himself. He was distressed and deeply concerned at the number of those giving up their priesthood, and he decided to start a campaign to have Masses offered for these “stray shepherds”. How many of us - Jesuits and others - he contacted all over the world, God alone knows, but John's zeal was very great. We were invited to offer Mass once a year for this intention, indicating the month of choice. If you signed on, John would send you a reminder at the beginning of that month, never failing in all the years. One can only marvel at his zeal and perseverance. The labour of letter writing must have been enormous, but who can say what were the limits of the spiritual good he did by his campaign? We must only wait to read the Book of Life.
In recent years his letters mentioned in a very cheerful way that his health had disimproved; but as late as September, 1975, he still had no inkling that the end was drawing near, and informed his family that he was coming to Ireland for a holiday in June. As always, he was full of zest for the project, and had plans for borrowing a bicycle and cycling around Limerick “to revisit past scenes of delight”. However, his health deteriorated so rapidly that his superiors sent him home much earlier, knowing he might not live to see the summer. One is happy to know that he found the few weeks in Ireland very consoling, meeting his relatives and his fellow-Jesuits, and comforted by Br Cleary's devoted nursing until he was moved to St Vincent’s hospital on Holy Thursday. He died six days later, We have lost a good and upright man and a true religious: but we who knew him will continue to draw inspiration from this Jesuit in whom there was no guile. Suaineas síoraí dá anam.
T Mac Mathúna, SJ

An tAthair Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin has sent us from Nantus some memories of Fr John Purcell:
John was a man of burning sincerity and liable, inevitably, to see things in black and white. For him there were no beige or pastel shades - God love him - and his religious colleagues, when desirous of a little amusement, had no difficulty in drawing him out. His likes and dislikes - all strictly based on justice! - were known to all his fellows, and it is to be feared that many, one time or another, succeeded in making him ring the changes on his personal enthusiasms or pet aversions.
He was convinced that the First Principle and Foundation of the Exercises should be meditated on only once in a man's lifetime. And one long-table morning at the Crescent, there were four of us, including John, at the end of a table. One of the fathers unobtrusively shifted the subject of conversation from the Junior Cup to the First Principle. Soon voices were slightly raised, and bit by bit there was some increase in the tension. At the other end of the table a foursome broke up to attend early classes, but one member of it, who was still free, moved up beside us to finish his coffee and draw some profit from a now rather unspiritual conversation. When he got an opening he calmly advanced the respected authority of Fr Hugh Kelly, who advocated strongly the desirability of an annual repetition of the First Principle. For Fr Hugh had recently been on business in a wealthy diocese and learned there that one of the Province's missioners had conducted with marked success, sometime before, the clergy retreat. That missioner, Fr Kelly learned, was able by his eloquence and fervour to move to tears of devotion the wealthily beneficed parish priests by his expose of the First Principle. We did not get time to hear John's rejoinder. I remember vividly that the rector moved swiftly over from his table to say that the domestic staff needed all the tables cleared instantly to prepare the refectory for lunch,
In those now far-off days, John was devoted to the Sunday bicycle-outings with the younger boys. I don't think he enjoyed these outings - he was much too seriously minded - but his strong sense of duty urged him to bring to the healthy country surroundings those youngsters who might easily have got into mischief in the streets. He studied industriously for his classes and was rigorous only with himself. His pupils, no doubt, from time to time imposed on him but knew they could turn to him in time of trouble.
When vacations came round he left his books aside and tried to relax. I can vividly recall our first Christmas Vacation together in the Crescent. When other masters were out and about in the pre Christmas rush, John was at his table with a novel of P G Wodehouse. Raucous sepulchral laughter could be heard issuing from his room, and then at table we all benefitted from the recital of all the ridiculous Wodehousian situations he had read during the morning.
He was hard on himself but was never (intentionally) hard on others. There were some of his colleagues who found his company irritating but I think that with the passing of the years they learned to take a kindlier view of John. He was not unfeeling, as some supposed, and stories percolated back to us of his secret apostolate amongst the sick, the disappointed, the unpopular. There was the story of a family in deep affliction over the tragic death of their eldest child, a very promising young pupil at the Crescent. The jury brought in a very charitable verdict, but in professional circles the term 'dementia praecox' was whispered. Where others failed, John succeeded in bringing lasting consolation and resignation to the mourning parents. After a long absence from the Crescent - in Clongowes, then India - I recall that when I mentioned that family to John, he told me that thanks to God's grace and the help of our Lady, comforter of the afflicted, all the members of that family were leading a normal life and able to mingle naturally with their neighbours and acquaintances. I think John's own good prayers and mortifications had much to do in winning the desired grace.
When he went to Australia, a member of the community (I was then at Leeson street) on the eve of John's departure, remarked: “The province is losing a man of God”. There was no comment: the sincerity of the remark was appreciated by all present.

Fr John Williams of the Australian province, who entered the Society in Tullabeg and spent most of his years of formation in Ireland, had Fr Purcell as a member of his community (Jesuit Residence, Claremont, Perth, Western Australia), 1965-70:
The teacher. As a teacher he was very conscientious in the preparation of his classes. Chesterton once defended the lot of the schoolmaster facing the untamed thing called a class. Fr John was not equipped by nature to tame such. Hence confrontation was frequent and so was the exhibition of muscular Christianity. John had a brawny arm! He had visited Riverview and liked the surroundings, hence his request to be sent there. It was forecast that those scamps there would have him for breakfast! He did not last a term, and was posted to St Francis Xavier's parish (Sydney).
Spiritual father.
Needless to remark, his duty in this respect was most conscientiously carried out. His domestic exhortations were given in an attractive style. His English expression was excellent. They were looked forward to as they wittingly or otherwise were tinged with humour and sometimes with drama.
The priest. During vacations Fr John used to supply in St Mary’s cathedral, where he was much appreciated. One could not but be impressed by his devotion to the blessed Sacrament. The hours of the divine Office were divided and said in the chapel. The late Archbishop Prendiville had a high opinion of Fr John, who attended him in his last hours.

Like Fr Williams, Fr Thomas F (Frank) Costelloe is of the Australian province and also spent much of his time of formation in Ireland. He came to know John Purcell in the parish apostolate at St Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, North Sydney:
He was a curate in this parish during the last six years of his life (1970-76). A man of retiring disposition, he did not mix freely with the people of the parish. They, nevertheless, admired him for his dedication to his work for them and especially for his kindness to the sick and the aged. As a Jesuit, he was what I would call one of the old school, and had doubts of the worth and usefulness of the changes in the liturgy and in religious life. A man of great faith, with a great love of the Society, he showed his fine religious spirit in the willing acceptance of the severe illness from which he died. In a letter to me a short time before his death, he expressed his gratitude to the community at Milltown Park and especially to Brother Cleary for their unfailing kindness to him during his last days there.

Born: 02 March 1878, Kilcullane, Herbertstown, County Limerick
Entered: 01 October 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1912, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 25 February 1915, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome Italy
Died: 03 August 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin

Parents farmers. Second youngest of a family of four boys and six girls.

Educated at Lough Gurr NS, Sexton Street CBS Limerick, St Patrick’s Seminary, Thurles and then St Patrick’s College Maynooth

by 1901 in Saint Joseph’s, Beirut, Syria (LUGD) studying oriental language
by 1908 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1910 at Oran, Algeria (LUGD) studying
by 1910 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying
by 1915 at Pontifical Biblical Institute Rome, Italy (ROM) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from J Austin Hartigan Entry :
After Noviceship he made studies at Tullabeg, and then Eastern languages at Beirut with Edmund Power.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Studied at St Patrick’s Seminary Thurles and St Patrick’s College Maynooth to 1st Divinity before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 28th Year No 4 1953

Obituary :

Father Edmond Power 1878-1953

When Father Power went to his reward, on August 3rd, the Irish Province lost one of its most venerable and distinguished sons. Studying, teaching and writing with unflagging energy till the end, he had done much, in a long lifetime, for that scholarly defence of the Faith which, as the Holy Father said at our fourth centenary, is what the Church chiefly asks of the Society. The funeral of “this eminent Jesuit scholar”, to quote the papers, was marked by sympathetic tributes from the highest dignitaries of Church and State in Ireland. All felt that there had gone from us a learned and holy man who could hardly, if ever, be replaced. Fr. Power had, in fact, in a laborious life devoted to some of the most difficult branches of scholarship, brought his great gifts to a readiness and ripeness which made him indeed a master in Israel." Happily, in the most important contribution which be made to the recent “Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture” be was able to leave to the Church a fitting memorial of his great achievements.
Father Power was born at Kilcullane, Herbertstown, Co. Limerick, in 1878. From his sturdy farming ancestors he derived a wiry vigour which stood him in good stead during the rigours of a student's life passed for the most part under the trying conditions of Eastern and Roman climates. His deep piety too owed much to his remarkable family - seven of his sisters became nuns, two of his brothers priests, one of whom was till his retirement Parish Priest in California, the other Archdeacon of the Cashel diocese. One sister and one brother “stayed in the world”, and Fr. Power had the happiness of seeing a nephew ordained last year. He treasured the memory of his father, who instilled into his children a great devotion to the daily rosary, and who was a weekly communicant at a time when few felt prepared. His saintly mother may well be remembered by her words in time of trial : “What is this life worth, except to serve God”. Fr. Edmond was not the slowest to learn and live that lesson.
He was a talented child, who learnt the alphabet in one lesson at the age of three - a foreshadowing of what he would do later when faced with the four hundred cuneiform characters of the Assyrian ‘alphabet’. When he left the National School to attend the Christian Brothers, Limerick, he was intended for law. But his vocation to the priesthood brought him to Thurles Seminary where in one year he won a place at Maynooth. There he studied Philosophy for two years, 1894-6, and three weeks Theology, before entering the noviceship. Well-meaning and revered counsellors had urged him to wait till after ordination. But he was determined “to get the real Jesuit spirit” by doing the full course, thereby showing the high esteem he had of the Society, and which he expressed on his death-bed. “A year or two”, he said, “what does it matter? You all know what I think of the Society”. He was remembered at Maynooth as the student who was always in the chapel.
He stayed in Tullabeg for his juniorate, 1898-1902, gaining one of the most brilliant degrees on record at the Royal University in Ancient Classics. During three of these years, he taught his fellow juniors. In 1906 he went to the University of the French Jesuits at Beirut. His chief study was Arabic, ancient and modern, which he admitted he found much more difficult than the Hebrew which he also studied, along with Syriac, Aramaic, Assyrian, Coptic and the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. His doctorate thesis was on a medieval poet of Arabia. During these years he gained that living familiarity with the East which graced his widely-read articles on Palestinian Customs as illustrating the Bible. A year's teaching at Clongowes was followed by two years philosophy at Valkenburg, and theology with the exiled French Jesuits at Hastings. His way of passing the summer, even most of the one after ordination, was to study in the British Museum, His preparation for his work could hardly have been more apt or thorough.
In Tertianship at Tullabeg, he was highly appreciated as the author of skits and humorous poems performed at the concerts given to the Novices on festive occasions. His wit was indeed always quick, though his charity restricted its play. He was called to Rome in 1914 to begin the twenty-four years of Professorship at the Biblical Institute which made him a well-loved figure to hundreds of students from all parts of the world. His chief subjects were Arabic, Syriac, Biblical Archaeology, the physical and historical Geography of Palestine, all demanding highly specialised skill. He was for a time editor of the scientific organ of the Institute “Biblica”, and contributed regularly the Bibliography which covered all fields of Scripture studies. He also edited the more ‘popular’ “Verbum Domini”, where articles in his elegant Latin often appeared. His learned research articles gained him the name of high erudition even with those who could not accept some of his conclusions. Perhaps the finest publication of his Roman period was the study of the religion of Islam in Huby's Christus. Some of his work, especially his identification of the site of the House of Caiphas, brought him into controversy with the great Dominican scholars of Jerusalem. When the dust had settled, the new Dictionnaire de la Bible entrusted the subject in question to Fr. Power.
Returning finally to Milltown Park in 1938, at the age of sixty, Fr. Power began an Indian summer which was to be perhaps the most fruitful period of his life. In 1941 he added exegesis of the New Testament to his classes on the old, and took on the duties of prefect of studies. His lectures were clear and solid, and he shirked no amount of repetition to drive home what had to be known - a trait very welcome to students heavily burdened with examinations. The project of a complete English commentary on the Bible found in him an enthusiastic supporter, and his scholarship and industry made him a valued contributor. Nor only did he fulfil his own engagements punctually, but he took up tasks where others defaulted. It is hardly too much to say that without him the Commentary would not have been published for many years more, nor would it have reached the standard it did in the time. To the remuneration of the 200,000 words he wrote, the publishers added a substantial sum in recognition of the special part he played in its production. The relentless energy he put into this work was astonishing in so frail and stooped a frame, racked as it was by the paroxysms of a cough which had been chronic since his early days in Rome. He wore out at his work, but it was well done.
He was fully conscious during his last illness, which lasted only a day, and he died in sentiments of tranquil hope. Priests wept unashamedly at his graveside. None could recall a harsh or an uncharitable remark from his lips, but all remembered his patient and humble obedience, the fervour of his Mass, office and beads, his courageous devotion to duty. Many regretted the loss of a prudent kind and understanding confessor and his friends inside and outside the Society, in many parts of the country, mourned a sympathetic and self-effacing companion. It was well to have known this model of work and prayer. He had joined the Society with the clear purpose of serving God there perfectly. His merciful Judge knows how loyally he kept his word.

Irish Province News 29th Year No 1 1954

AN APPRECIATION

of the late Father Edmund Power
It was only a few days ago that I heard from Fr. Sutcliffe, S.J. of the death of Fr. Edmund Power, S.J., our colleague for the past ten years in the production of A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, and I should like to express on behalf of the other contributors and myself our deep sorrow at your loss and ours. I said Mass for him the day after I heard the news and am making a 30-day memento, which is the same as we always do for the brethren of our own Community.
Fr. Power's part in the production of our Commentary was in valuable and can hardly be overestimated. From our first approach to him early in 1944, be was an enthusiastic supporter of the project, and so far as I can gather, he devoted the greater part of the next seven years to writing a series of articles and commentaries, the learning, balance and breadth of which are amongst the greatest adornments of our work. Indeed, without bis amazing industry and energy it is difficult to see how we could ever have completed our task. His helpfulness and willingness to undertake assignments unfulfilled by others showed the breadth of his character, and none of the many great calls we made on him but was cheerfully taken up and completed to our great satisfaction. Both from his and our point of view, it was providential that in his last years we were able fully to utilise those great stores of learning and experience that he had built up in the course of a most distinguished career.
My own personal contact with him was unfortunately limited to one personal flying visit to Milltown Park in 1945, where I was most hospitably received and entertained. I always received the greatest personal consideration from him at every time and I was always struck by his humility in consulting and sometimes deferring to a much younger and less knowledgeable person. I should appreciate very much receiving a copy of his obit card and of his obituary notice.
Bernard Orchard

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edmund Power 1878-1953
Fr Edmund Power was born of farming stock near Herbertstown County Limerick. His early years of farm life gave him a strong body, which stood him in good stead during his arduous years of study.

He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Limerick. He went first to Maynooth, and when he had finished the Philosophy courses, he entered the novitiate at Tullabeg. He did his studies abroad and was ordained in 1912.

He was then sent to the Biblical Institute, where he spent the next 24 years. He contributed to many learned magazines, including “Studies” and “Christus”. He took a major part in th compilation of the Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture.

He returned to Dublin in 1938 to teach Old and New testament Studies at Milltown Park. His many virtues made him much beloved. He died there on August 3rd 1953.

Born: 23 March 1890, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1907, St Stanislaus, College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 08 December 1926, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 19 March 1980, Mater Hospital, Dublin

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

Father was a Manager at the Hibernian Bank. He subsequently became managing director of P & H Egan, Tullamore and was head of the Hibernian Bank there at the same time. He died in January 1907. Mother now lives on private means at Eden Park, Dun Laoghaire.

He is the eldest of four boys and one girl.

Early education at home until 12, and then to Cotton College (St Wilfred’s College), Oakamoor, Cotton Lane, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 1904-7 and then Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for MSc at UCD and MA (Cantab) at Cambridge University

by 1916 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1920 at St Edmund’s House, Cambridge, England (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Cyril Power entered the Society at Tullamore in 1907. After tertianship in 1926, Power was on loan to the Australian Mission to teach moral theology, ethics and canon law at Werribee until the end of 1929. He returned to Ireland, and in October 1930 was made rector of Milltown Park, and then professor of moral theology for many years. As a professionally trained mathematician, he was eventually allowed to return to Clongowes where he spent twenty years teaching mathematics, and looking after the farm, which was what he had always wanted to do.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 3 1934

On 14th May the following notice was sent by Father Socius to all the Houses of the Irish Province. : “Rev. Father Provincial (Kieran) has been ordered a period of rest by his doctor, and in the meantime, with Father General's approval, Father Cyril Power has been appointed to act as Vice-Provincial.”

Irish Province News 55th Year No 2 1980

Clongowes

In Memory of Fr Cyril Power SJ, by Francis McKeagney (OC 1976)

They've all gone home now.
Just you and I, old man,
And the workmen shovelling clay,
The grave a foot too wide, a foot too deep they say.

To here,
This sheltering graveyard corner
With the Castle peeping through the trees,
You have come
Theologian, farmer, mathematician, Sir.
I remember most a cap,
“The demon on wheels”,
Nights, teeth out,
The class formulae
‘Wake up, man! Cos 2A?’
‘I bet he died with his pipe in his mouth’
Somebody said for something to say.

Dead.
Your silence stood larger than any words said.

I suppose a modest black cross
Will be placed in due course
R. Pater C. Power, S.J.
Obiit March 19, 1980
And questions wait like prayers for answers
Inside the iron gates.

But it is time to leave.
A last few fading traces of snow whiten the hour.
A quiet quiet pervades the journey's end,
Rest a while, kind Sir, morning can't be far.
From somewhere in the maze of time's enormous corridors
I offer you this tiny flower,
Perhaps it might catch even a single sunbeam
And open slightly
In a remembered colour of you.

21.3.80

Irish Province News 55th Year No 3 1980

Obituary

Fr Cyril Power (1890-1907-1980)

Fr Cyril Power died in the Mater hospital on the 19th March, just a few days before completing his ninetieth year. Of those ninety years he had spent 47 in Clongowes as a student, scholastic and priest. He entered the Society in 1907, doing his noviceship under the famous (or as some would think today, infamous) Fr James Murphy. This Mag Nov frequently said to his novices that he would make life so hard for them in the noviceship that never again for the rest of their lives would they feel anything hard; and he acted on his say. Yet, wonder of wonders, Fr Power used to recall with almost boyish glee the many rather harsh (to modern eyes anyway) penances meted out for trivial mistakes or accidents. The penances were so bizarre - outrageous, we might almost say - that they afforded continual fun to all save the actual recipient. But then he had his turn for a laugh too.
From the noviceship in Tullabeg Fr Power proceeded to University College, Dublin, where his mathematical genius continued to reveal itself; and in 1914 he secured his MSc, winning at the same time a studentship to Cambridge. For two years he taught mathematics in Rathfarnham to his fellow scholastics. From Rathfarnham he went to Stonyhurst to study philosophy. In 1917 he returned to the boys for two years. In 1919 he took up his studentship at Cambridge, studying mathematical physics for two years: he gained a brilliant MA (Cantab). For the next four years he studied theology in Milltown Park, being ordained priest in 1923. Finally he returned to Tullabeg for tertianship (1925-26).
His first appointment as a formed Jesuit was to teach moral theology and canon law in Archbishop Mannix's seminary, Werribee, Australia. From there he was summoned home in 1930 to teach moral theology in Milltown, where he became Rector (1930-38) and a Consultor of the Province (1931-39). From the professor's chair, he was sent to manage the 700-acre farm of Clongowes, which he did very successfully for the next 24 years, teaching senior mathematics all the time and continuing to teach it till a few months before his death.
Such in brief are the bald facts of Fr Cyril's life. All they tell us really is that he was a brilliant mathematician and an able theologian.
But he had even better qualities, the most obvious and praiseworthy being his genuine modesty - humility would be a better word. The writer of this obituary was pretty closely associated with him for over fifty years. Never by word or act did he show the least pride in his brilliant academic career.
He spoke to everyone on level terms, and seemed quite unconscious of his intellectual ability. He never did the heavy, if I may be excused the telling expression. In fact it was difficult to get him to talk seriously at recreation, as he rightly considered that it was not the time for treating of serious topics. He was an inveterate leg puller, and seemed to take life lightly, seeing the funny side of most people and things. The possession of these qualities made him, as one would expect, a pleasant companion and an enemy of pessimism and gloom.
Of course, behind all this lighter side of Fr Cyril there was the man of solid faith and simple piety (his great devotion was to the rosary). Being a very balanced and common sense person, he was to a great extent free from prejudice, and in Milltown Park, as rector of eighty scholastics of ten or twelve nationalities, was noted for his just, equal treatment of all.
As a professor he worked a perpetual miracle every day by being extremely clear in the worst of Latin. He wasn't a Latin scholar. Though his clear and quick mind made him shine in the exact sciences, he was no linguist. But it was as a teacher of mathematics that he really found his métier. He was a patient and understanding master, being ready to repeat again and again the explanation of a problem till all his pupils understood. No wonder he was liked and admired by his boys. Yes! we in Clongowes have lost in him a well beloved member of our dwindling community, and the Province has lost one to whom it owes much.

◆ The Clongownian, 1980

Obituary

Father Cyril Power SJ

On March 19th, Fr Cyril Power died just four days before his ninetieth birthday, having spent forty-six years of his life in Clongowes as a boy, scholastic and priest. Few, if any, in its one hundred and sixty-six years of existence spent so much of their life. living and working in the school.

Father Cyril entered the Society of Jesus from Clongowes in 1907. He went through the various stages of Jesuit formation: novitiate, university, philosophy, teaching and finally theology. Being a brilliant mathematician, when he finished his MSc in the National University, he won a travelling studentship to Cambridge. He then taught mathematics to his fellow scholastics for some two years, and later returned to his alma mater to continue teaching maths to the boys.

After the completion of his studies, sacred and profane, he was sent to profess moral theology and canon law in Archbishop Mannix's seminary at Werribee, Melbourne, Australia. After five years there, he was summoned home to take the chair of moral theology at Milltown Park, the Irish Jesuit theologate. He became Rector of the house the following year and, in this difficult post, he spent the next eight years. In 1939, he took on the management of the Clongowes farm and held that position for the next twenty-four years, at the same time teaching senior level maths. He continued to teach mathematics up to a few months before his death.

Such, in brief outline, is the story of his life. It tells us only of his great intellectual ability as mathematician, philosopher and theologian but he had even better qualities. He was a humble man, never showing in word or act pride in his intellectual superiority. He shunned the light. He offered his solid knowledge in things philosophical and theological only when asked and one could always rely on his reply.

He seemed quite unconscious of his great mental powers. He had a light and humorous approach in ordinary conversation. He was a natural leg-puller and whenever he was around at recreation, there was always fun and laughter. Behind it all, there was well hidden, a deep and simple piety - his great devotion was to the Rosary and, as one would expect, a profound faith.

How we miss him from our community

GO'B SJ

-oOo-

Fr Cyril Power SJ

We were all deeply saddened to hear of Fr Power's death. It falls to my lot to write an appreciation for a man who, throughout the years, has written the appreciations of many others in the pages of the Clongownian.

Fr Power's life was a long and eventful one, the greater part by far being spent in Clongowes, serving God, the community and the boys. Up to a few short months ago, six of us had the privilege of being taught maths by him in the Castle. When we have long forgotten the maths, we will remember Fr Power's dedication and determination in coming to teach us at the age of 89. Fr Power faithfully gave and corrected six (!) themes a week. We had eight maths classes every week and, in four terms, Fr Power did not miss more than five days though at times his health was far from good.

How can one describe or do justice to such a varied and long life ranging from a distinguished post-graduate career in physics in Cambridge to a professorship of moral theology in Australia; from Rector of Milltown Park to farm manager in Clongowes! As recently as a few weeks ago, Fr Power maintained his keen interest in the College even to the point of being able to suggest a tactic for the Senior XV to adopt against 'Rock!

Fr Power was an integral part of Clongowes, more so than any of us would have realized. Our one regret is that Fr Power did not live to celebrate his 90th birthday with us in Clongowes. After forty years, we bid a sad farewell to a grand old man.

Dara Ryan, Rhetoric

Student card for Cyril Joseph Power (UA/Graduati 12/188), Cambridge (2023)
He matriculated at (that is, formally enrolled in) the University on 22 October 1919, having been admitted as a member of Downing College. He was a research student, did not study for a Tripos (as the Cambridge Honours BA is known), and kept six terms in Cambridge rather than the nine usually required to graduate BA. He wrote a dissertation, which was approved on 21 December 1921 by the Special Board for Physics and Chemistry. The dissertation was deposited at the library on 16 December 1921. A certificate of research was sent to him on 13 February 1922. He graduated BA by proxy (i.e., he was not present at the ceremony) on 11 February 1922, and MA by proxy on 26 January 1926.

From the ‘List of Advanced Students Dissertations Deposited in the University Library’, he submitted two papers, ‘Electrification by friction’, written with J. A. McClelland and printed in 1918, and ‘The electrification of salts by friction’. Power was at Cambridge at a transitional period when people were starting to do research degrees at Cambridge but before the PhD was available, so they took BAs instead.

Born: 12 November 1870, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 13 August 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1909, Milltown, Park, Dublin
Died: 12 October 1948, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Educated at Belvedere College SJ

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg;
by 1894 at Cannes France (LUGD) health
Came to Australia for Regency 1896
by 1902 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Albert Power came from a pious Catholic family, uninterested in politics. Their life centred the Jesuit church in Gardiner Street, and the Jesuits educated Power at Belvedere College. Albert's vocation was believed to be a great blessing by the whole family.
He entered the Society, 13 August 1887, First at Dromore, and then moved to Tullabeg under John Colman. He studied for his humanities degree as a junior at Tullabeg and Milltown Park, Dublin. His health was not good, and he was sent to Australia, 1895-1901, to teach the classics at Riverview. He was prefect of studies from 1899-1901. He returned to Europe and Valkenburg, for philosophy, and to Milltown Park for theology, 1903-07. He lectured in dogma and scripture, and held the office of prefect of studies and rector at Milltown Park, 1907-18. He was a consultor of the province from 1914-18.
Power returned to Australia to become the first rector of Newman College, Melbourne University, where he tutored in history and English. He was appointed the first rector of the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, as well as being consultor of the mission in 1923. He taught Latin, Greek, history, elocution, and Hebrew, as well as scripture at various times, and was much sought after by nuns for spiritual direction, which was “wise, firm and sure”. He had a special liking for Our Lady's Nurses at Coogee, founded by Eileen O'Connor, a good and holy lady.
Power had much Irish piety, but was not good in the apologetics of dealing with non-Catholics. He was a clear teacher, but not an original thinker. He had great devotion to God, the Church, the Society and to all in trouble. His published works included: “Six World Problems” (NY: Postet, 1927); “Our Lady’s Titles” (NY: Postet, 1928); “Plain Reasons for Being a Catholic: (NY: Postet, 1929), and many ACTS pamphlets, including “The Sanity of Catholicism” and “Do Catholics Think for Themselves?”. He retired to Xavier College in 1945 and remained there until his death.
Power was a very small man, and called 'the mighty atom' because of his abundant energy and ceaseless activity. He was first and foremost a devout Irish Catholic and all his later learning did nothing but reinforce the faith he had learned from his mother. But the intensity of his faith and devotion appealed enormously to the devout and to struggling souls, and he had a very wide spiritual clientele, especially among women.
He was also a genuine classical scholar and a first class teacher, much appreciated at Riverview by staff and students. He deepened his knowledge of scripture and was able to expound it better than most people. He was not particularly contemporary with theology, but in Latin, Greek or Hebrew, he was an expert. While his sympathies were somewhat narrow, and he found it hard to understand different personalities, he was a highly respected priest.
From external appearances, Power was a very successful Jesuit, projecting confidence and friendliness. His diaries, however, revealed an inner struggle to become the kind of person he believed that God and the Society of Jesus expected him to be. He typified most Jesuits who seemed to experience a continual tension between their individual personality and the expectations of formal authority.
But being a Jesuit for Power was not all romance and adventure to the ends of the earth. It also meant some internal changes in the person. Through socialisation processes in the Society, he believed that to be a good Jesuit he should avoid the things of the “world”. For him this meant obedience to the rules of the Society avoiding material and secular distractions, such as visiting “externs”, or interest in the political or social questions of his time. In the diaries he expressed the struggle within him to be such a person. In particular he recognised a tension in his life between fear and love, believing that love, confidence and hope were better motives for the Christian life than fear.
While respecting and admiring men who preached an austere life with much mortification and self-denial, he was never comfortable with that more traditional spirituality which had frequently caused him tension and “nerves”. Power suffered from scruples, and he needed to be encouraged in his convictions about a more joyful spirituality. However, he was sufficiency clear-minded to observe that too much self-introspection inflamed the scrupulous conscience and led to depression. He would prefer to convince himself that somehow his personal problems would be resolved once he became close to God.
He enjoyed meditating on the life of Christ, entering well into St Ignatius' use of the senses as the retreatant contemplated Christ in his humanity Power was more comfortable relating to a loving and caring Christ. In his diaries, sermons and lectures, he expressed a spirituality that accepted the whole human person, intellectual and affective.
Power's spirituality reflected much of the emotion of the French spiritual writers whom he claimed to value and whom he read at various stages through his life. St Francis de Sales was a good counter balance to Michael Browne's severe spirituality He read de Maumigny, de Ravignan, Lallemant, and St Therese. All these authors wrote about the importance of human emotions in the spiritual life. Human and consoling thoughts of joy and hope were needed in a soul that was torn by self-doubt and anxiety,
Power regularly expressed recognition of the movement of strong spirits within him, especially guilt, but as he grew in understanding of himself and learnt how to discern these spirits, he could offer himself sound advice, but he was not always able to put it into practice. He also worried about not possessing many human qualities. He wanted to be more patient, amiable, large-minded, more generous and self-sacrificing, courteous, and tolerant.
Despite his weaknesses, through direction and resection, Power seemed to grow in his spiritual life, becoming less introspective, more controlled and happy with his life. Learning to live with tensions, and working hard through teaching, writing, spiritual direction, and retreats, towards the end of his active life, he found the confidence to record :
“ I find it hard to resist a cry for help from someone i distress (of body or soul). And I think I can say - honestly- that during the past twenty years I have rarely (if ever) refused help when I could give it......”
Living in an age that generally promoted a severe spirituality Power exemplified those Jesuits who experienced tension when presented with an exclusively austere spirituality and he came to prefer a more fully human integration - a balance paradoxically more natural and instinctive to the older Irish traditions in which he had his roots.

Note from the Joseph A Brennan Entry
He was also chosen to superintend the foundation of Corpus Christi College, Werribee, whilst awaiting the arrival of the Rector, Albert Power.

Note from William McEntegart Entry
He arrived in 1926 and went to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, to teach philosophy. But it was not long before he clashed with the rector, Albert Power. McEntegart was a genial, easy-going man. Albert Power a small, intense, hard-drivlng and rather narrow man. The latter persuaded himself the former was having a bad influence on the students, and had him moved to Riverview in 1927. He had McEntegart's final vows postponed, despite clearance from the English province. After this treatment, McEntegart naturally desired to return to his own province, and left Australia in February 1929.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
Obituary
Fr. Albert Power (1870-1887-1948) – Vice Province of Australia
A native of Dublin Fr. Power was educated at Belvedere College, and entered the Society at Dromore in 1887 at the age of 17. After a brilliant course at the old Royal University of Ireland, he taught at Riverview College, Sydney, and later studied philosophy at Valkenburg, Holland, and theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1906. He joined the professorial staff at Milltown Park, first as Professor of Dogmatic Theology and later of Sacred Scripture, and was Dean of Studies and Rector from 1910-18.
In the latter year Archbishop Mannix founded Newman College at the University of Melbourne and entrusted it to the Fathers of the Society. Father Power led a band of pioneer teachers to Newman and was its first Rector. From 1923-30 he was Rector of the new Regional Seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and continued until 1945 on its teaching staff. He was also for most of this period Spiritual Director of the seminarians, so that for nearly a quarter of a century he played a distinguished part in the training of the secular priesthood of the Archdiocese. In 1947 when celebrating at Xavier College, Kew, the 60th anniversary of his entrance into the Society he was honoured by the largest gathering of his former priest-students ever to assemble in Melbourne.
Father Power was a popular lecturer in the Catholic Hour broad cast from Melbourne. His books include “Plain Reasons for Being a Catholic”, “The Catholic Church and Her Critics”, and “Six World Problems”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1949

Obituary

Father Albert Power SJ (1870-1948)

Fr Power was born in Dublin on November 12th, 1870 and died in Melbourne on October 12th, 1948. He had thus nearly eighty years on earth. Of these, forty-two were spent in Ireland, thirty-six in Australia, and in both he had accomplished so much that it was a constant source of wonder to those who lived near him not only that one small head could carry all he knew, but that one small frail body could perform all it was called upon to do. He worked smoothly, tirelessly, unobtrusively, but efficiently. It is, indeed, difficult to write about him without seeming to exaggerate, and no one would depreciate this more than himself, for he was naturally shy and retiring, as well as genuinely humble. Born in an intensely pious home he went early to Belvedere. Without the physique, aptitude or inclination for games he must have lived a little apart from the hurly-burly of a great school and concentrated all his energies on acquiring knowledge and holiness.

At the age of seventeen he entered the Noviceship and glided into the current of the new life so smoothly that it will have held less trials for him than for most. Certainly he took the Ignatian mould to perfection. Throughout his whole life he exemplified the “Book of the Exercises” as well as he was later to preach it to others. After the Noviceship he studied for the old Royal University and taking the Classical Course, he won all possible distinctions until he ended with first place in MA. Of the Classics he always remained a lover and a master. They were to serve him well in his sacred studies. He became in time something of a polymath. In his lectures he would often turn aside into very out-of-the-way paths of learning. This was not to the taste of all listeners, but for others it was a source of delight. He was never the dry-as-dust specialist.

In Philosophy and Theology he had the same success as at the University. So that it was only natural he should gravitate to Milltown Park at the end of his course, where he remained as Professor (a part of the time as Rector) until in 1918, he was invited to return to Australia, where he had spent six years as a scholastic teaching Classics. This time he went in the higher capacity of Professor of Theology and first Rector of Werribee College, near Melbourne, which Dr. Mannix had founded as a higher Seminary for the Archdiocese of Melbourne and its suffragan Sees. It was here his greatest work was done and here his last thirty- years were spent.

Dr Mannix had practically commandeered. him from Milltown Park. The Irish Province felt the sacrifice but made it whole-heartedly for such an important end. The personal victim felt it keenly; for he had thrown deep roots into the subsoil of ecclesiastical life in his native land and had made innumerable friends. He was human enough for all his exalted virtue, to feel the wrench acutely. But there was no hesitation. The call was too clear to leave a doubt about God's will. And that was for him always the thing that really mattered.

As a reward for his sacrifice Fr Power found a wider field for his talents, his zeal, his restless pursuit of the greater glory of God than he would have found at home. He was able to contribute to the growth and development of the young Australian Church, already so glorious and destined perhaps to far greater glory, in the days to come, by helping in the formation of its young clergy, and incidentally, by the spiritual direction of many of its nuns, No one was more in demand for their retreats or as extraordinary confessor.

But if Dr Mannix commandeered him in life he seems to have done so even more imperiously in death. He robbed the Jesuits of the handful of clay to give it what one might call an ecclesi- . astical state funeral. The Archbishop himself presided at the solemn requiem in St Patrick's Cathedral, three hundred and fifty clerics from all over the continent chanted in the stalls and Rev James Murtagh paid tribute to the dead Jesuit's services in a panegyric at once generous and palpably sincere. He résumés all in the words : “Fr. Albert Power was surely one of the mnost saintly, scholarly and influential priests Australia has ever known”.

Before quitting Ireland he had gone far towards establishing for himself a hardly less honourable reputation in the Irish Church, where he had already won the titles of “Albertus Magnus”, and “The Mighty Atom”. There was a spiritual dynamism about him which really did suggest what we now know as atomic energy. But it was harnessed not to the chariot of Mars but to the Ark of Salvation - which makes a difference!

It is to be hoped that both in Australia and Ireland the memory of him will long remain to be an inspiration in the spiritual warfare we are all committed to, the principles of which he taught and practised so long and so well.

Born: Dundrum House, Dundrum, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 10 June 1885, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 31 July 1898, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 March 1901
Died: 22 May 1929, Mater Hospital, Sydney, Australia

member of the St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia community at the time of death.

Educated at Mungret College SJ

by 1893 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1894 at Enghien Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1895 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1900 at St Joseph, Yang Jin Bang, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1904 in St Ignatius, Riverview, Sydney (HIB)
by 1905 at ZI-KA-WEI Seminary, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1910 in Australia

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)
by L. A. Drake
L. A. Drake, 'Pigot, Edward Francis (1858–1929)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pigot-edward-francis-8048/text14037, published first in hardcopy 1988

astronomer; Catholic priest; meteorologist; schoolteacher; seismologist

Died : 22 May 1929, North Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Edward Francis Pigot (1858-1929), Jesuit priest, astronomer and seismologist, was born on 18 September 1858 at Dundrum, near Dublin, son of David Richard Pigot, master of the Court of Exchequer, and his wife Christina, daughter of Sir James Murray, a well-known Dublin physician. Descended from eminent lawyers, Edward was educated at home by tutors and by a governess. The family was very musical and Edward became a fine pianist; he was later complimented by Liszt. He studied arts and medicine at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1879; M.B., B.Ch., 1882) and also attended lectures by the astronomer (Sir) Robert Ball. After experience at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, he set up practice in Dublin.

In June 1885 Pigot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He began to teach at University College, Dublin, but in 1888, on account of ill health, came to Australia. He taught at St Francis Xavier's College, Melbourne, and from August 1889 at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney. Returning to Europe in 1892 he studied philosophy with French Jesuits exiled in Jersey, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. He was ordained priest on 31 July 1898. In 1899 he volunteered for the China Mission and was stationed at the world-famous Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory, Shanghai. In 1903, again in poor health, he spent some months working in Melbourne and at Sydney Observatory, and taught for a year at Riverview before returning to Zi-Ka-Wei for three years. Tall and lanky, he came finally to Sydney in 1907, a frail, sick man. He had yet to begin the main work of his life.

On his way back to Australia Pigot visited the Jesuit observatory in Manila: he was beginning to plan an observatory of international standard at Riverview. He began meteorological observations there on 1 January 1908. As terrestrial magnetism could not be studied because of nearby electric trams, he decided to set up a seismological station as the start of the observatory. The Göttingen Academy of Sciences operated the only fully equipped seismological station in the southern hemisphere at Apia, Samoa: a station in eastern Australia would also be favourably situated to observe the frequent earthquakes that occur in the south-west Pacific Ocean. Assisted by the generosity of L. F. Heydon, Pigot ordered a complete set of Wiechert seismographs from Göttingen, and visited the Apia observatory. Riverview College Observatory opened as a seismological station in March 1909. Seismological observations continue to be made there.

A great traveller despite his teaching duties, Pigot visited Bruny Island, Tasmania (1910), the Tonga Islands (1911) and Goondiwindi, Queensland (1922), to observe total solar eclipses; and observatories in Europe in 1911, 1912, 1914 and 1922 and North America in 1919 and 1922. He made observations of earth tides in a mine at Cobar (1913-19), collaborated with Professor L. A. Cotton in measurements of the deflection of the earth's crust as Burrinjuck Dam filled (1914-15) and performed Foucault pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market building, Sydney (1916-17). On 1 September 1923 F. Omori, a leading Japanese seismologist, observed with Pigot a violent earthquake being recorded in the Riverview vault; it turned out to have destroyed Tokyo, with the loss of 140,000 lives.

Fr Pigot was a member of the Australian National Research Council from 1921, president of the State branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923-24 and a council-member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1921-29. On his way back from the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo (1926), he visited the observatory at Lembang, Java, where he planned a programme of study at Riverview Observatory of variable stars. Between 1925 and 1929 Pigot measured solar radiation at Riverview and Orange, particularly in relation to long-range weather forecasting. He was seeking a site of high elevation above sea-level for this work, when he contracted pneumonia at Mount Canobolas. He died at North Sydney on 22 May 1929 and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.

Sir Edgeworth David paid tribute to Pigot:
It was not only for his profound learning that scientists revered him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there never was any scientific man so well-beloved as he.

Select Bibliography
Royal Society of New South Wales, Journal, 49 (1915), p 448
Riverview College Observatory Publications, 2 (1940), p 17
S.J. Studies, June 1952, p 189, Sept-Dec 1952, p 323.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Paraphrase/Excerpts from an article published in the “Catholic Press” 30/05/1929
“The late Father Pigott, whose death was announced last week in the ‘Press’, was born at Dundrum Co Dublin 18/09/1858, of a family which gave three generations of judges to the Irish Bench. He himself adopted the medical profession, and having taken his degree at Trinity, he practiced for a few years in Dublin and at Croom, Co Limerick. While studying at Trinity he made his first acquaintance with astronomy, when he heard a course of lectures by the famous Sir Robert Ball, then head of the Observatory at Dunsink, and Astronomer Royal of Ireland.
In 1885 the young Doctor, already noted for his charming gentleness and self-sacrificing charity entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore. he made his first visit to Australia as a Scholastic in 1888, and he taught for four years at Xavier College Kew, and Riverview Sydney. Naturally his department was Science.
In 1892 he was sent to St Helier in Jersey to study Philosophy with the French Jesuits who had been expelled from France. It was here that he began his long battle with frailty and illness, during which he achieved so much for scientific research over his 70 years. He did his Theology at Milltown and was Ordained 1899. Two years later he volunteered to join the French Jesuits in China, and this required of him not only his scientific zeal, but also his spiritual and missionary ones. he did manage to master the Chinese language for his work, and he used to tell amusing stories of his first sermons against himself and his intonations. His health was always threatening to intervene, and so he went to work at the Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory near Shanghai. The work he did here on the Chinese Mission was to reach his fulness in the work he later did over many years in Australia, and where he went to find the climate which suited his health better. He received much training at Zi-Kai-Wei and in photography and study of sunspots at Ze-se, which had a twin 16 inch telescope.
1907 saw him back in Australia and he set about founding the Observatory at Riverview, while teaching Science. By his death, this Observatory had a range and capacity, in terms of sophisticated instruments, which rivalled the best Government-endowed observatories throughout the world. Whilst he had the best of equipment, he lacked the administrative personnel necessary to record all the data he was amassing. His great pride towards the end was in his spectroscope for the work on Solar Radiation where he believed that ‘Long-distance weather forecasts will soon be possible, though not in my time’ (Country Life, 29/04/1929). Current farmers and graziers will owe him a lot in the future.
The scientific work at Riverview has received recognition in Australia. Edward’s interests in the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments in earth tremors at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Markets of Sydney. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania, and in 1911 on the ship Encounter a similar trip to the Tongan Islands, and the Goondiwindi Expedition of 1922.
In 1914 he was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg, though war cancelled that. In 1921 he was a member of the Australian National Research Council and sent to represent them to Rome at the 1922 first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union and the International Union of Geoditics and Geophysics. He was president of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association, and a member of the Royal Society of NSW. In 1923 the Pan-Pacific Science Congress was held in Australia, and during this Professor Omori of Japan was at Riverview watching the seismometers as they were recording the earthquake of Tokyo, Dr Omori’s home city. In 1926 he went to the same event at Tokyo, and later that year was elected a member of the newly formed International Commission of Research of the Central International Bureau of Seismology.
From an early age he was a passionate lover of music, and this came from his family. he gave long hours to practising the piano when young, and in later life he could play some of the great pieces from memory. He was said to be one of the finest amateur pianists in Australia. It often served as a perfect antidote to a stressful day at the Observatory."

Many warm-hearted and generous tributes to the kindness and charm for Father Pigott’s personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his association with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, gentle associate, and of a saintly religious.”

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Pigot's family was of Norman origin and settled in Co Cork. Ireland. The family was a famous legal family in Dublin. He was the grandson of Chief Baron Pigot, son of judge David Pigot, brother of Judge John Pigot. He was the fourth of eight children, and was educated at home by a governess and tutors. The family was very musical, Edward playing the piano.
Pigot went to Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated BA in science in 1879. His mentor at the university in astronomy was Sir Robert Ball, then Royal Astronomer for Ireland and Professor of Astronomy. Pigot then studied medicine and graduated with high distinction in 1882, and after postgraduate studies practiced in Baggot Street, Dublin.
However, Pigot gave up this practice to join the Society of Jesus, 10 June 1885, at the age of 27.
After a short teaching period at University College, Dublin, Pigot was sent to Australia in 1888 because of constant headaches, and he taught physics and physiology principally at St Ignatius College, Riverview, 1890-92. He returned to Europe for further studies, philosophy in Jersey with the French Jesuits, 1892-95, and theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained priest in 1898. Tertianship followed immediately at Tullabeg.
At the age of 41 and in ill health, Pigot volunteered for the Chinese Mission in 1899, and was stationed at Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, working on a world famous observatory, where
meteorology, astronomy and terrestrial magnetism were fostered. Pigot specialised in astronomy and also studied Chinese. Like other missionaries of those days, he grew a beard and a pigtail. However, his health deteriorated and he was sent to Australia in 1903 for a few years. He then returned to Shanghai, 1905-07, before returning to Riverview in 1908.
After visiting the Manila Observatory, he formulated plans for starting an observatory at Riverview, an activity that he believed would bring recognition for the excellence in research that he expected at the Riverview observatory He believed that seismology was best suited to the location. Pigot obtained the best equipment available for his work, with the gracious benefaction of the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC. He personally visited other observatories around the world to gain ideas and experience, as well as attending many international conferences over the years. One result of his visit to Samoa was the building and fittings for the instruments in the half-underground, vaulted, brick building at Riverview. Brs Forster and Girschik performed the work. Some instruments, called the Wiechert Seismographs, came from Germany.
He became a member of the Australian National Research Council at its inception in 1921, and foundation member of the Australian Committee on Astronomy, as well as that on Geodosy and Geophysics. He served on the Council of the Royal Society of NSW, and was President of the British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), 1923-24.
The upkeep of the Riverview observatory was borne by the Australian Jesuits and Riverview. Family and friends also gave funds for this work. When he died from pneumonia, he left at the Riverview observatory five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and a solar radiation station, possessing rare and costly instruments.
Pigot's work at Riverview included working on scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, geophysics at the Cobar mines, and pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania. In April 1911 he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondiwindi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.
Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St Petersburg in 1914. He was secretary of the seismo-
logical section of the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Sydney, 1923, and in 1926, once more represented the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, Tokyo. In 1928 he was elected a member of an International Commission of Research, which was part of the International Bureau of Seismology, centered at Strasbourg.
He was highly esteemed by his colleagues for his friendship, high scholarship, modest and unassuming demeanour, and nobility of character. Upon his death the rector of Riverview received a letter from the acting-premier of New South Wales, describing Pigot as one of the state's “most distinguished citizens”, and Sir Edgeworth David praised his magnetic personality and eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth.
Edward Pigot, tall and lanky, frail and often in weak health, was also a fine priest, always helper of the poor, and exemplary in the practice of poverty. He did pastoral work in a quiet way. On his scientific expeditions, he was always willing to help the local clergy and their scattered flocks. He was genuinely modest, humble, and courteous to all. Yet he was naturally a very sensitive and even passionate man, with a temperament that he did not find easy to control. He disagreed strongly with Dr Mannix on the issue of conscription - the Pigots were decidedly Anglo-Irish - and positively refused to entertain the idea of setting up an observatory at Newman under the archbishop's aegis.
His extremely high standards of scientific accuracy and integrity made it difficult for him to find an assistant he could work with, or who could work with him. George Downey, Robert McCarthy, and Wilfred Ryan, all failed to satisfy. However, when he met the young scholastic Daniel O'Connell he found a man after his own heart. When he found death approaching he was afraid, not of death, but because O’Connell was still only a theologian and not ready to take over the observatory. Happily, the Irish province was willing to release his other great friend, William O'Leary to fill the gap.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927
Fr Pigot attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo as a delegate representing the Australian Commonwealth Government. He was Secretary to the Seismological Section, and read two important papers. On the journey home he spent some time in hospital in Shanghai, and later touched at Hong Kong where he met Frs. Byrne and Neary.

Irish Province News 3rd Year No 1 1927

Lavender Bay, Sydney :
Fr. Pigot's great reputation as a seismologist was much increased during the present year by his locating of the Kansu earthquake within a few hours of the first earth tremors. “Where he deserted medicine,” the Herald writes, “that profession lost a brilliant member, but science in general was the gainer. Dr Pigot is one of the world's leading authorities on seismology, and can juggle azimuths and seismometers with uncanny confidence”.

Irish Province News 4th Year No 4 1929

Obituary :
Fr Edward Pigot
Fr Pigot died at Sydney on May 21st. He caught a slight cold which in a few days developed into T. B. pneumonia. He was very frail, and had no reserve of strength left to meet the attack. The Archbishop presided at the Requiem. The Government sent a representative. The papers were all very appreciative.

Fr Pigot was born at Dundrum, Co. Dublin on the 18th September 1858, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied medicine, and took out his degrees - MB, BCh, in 1882. For the three following years he was on the staff of Baggot St Hospital, Dublin, and was Chemist with his uncle, Sir James Murray, at Murray's Magnesia works. He entered the Society at Loyola House, Dromore, Co. Down on the 10th June 1885. He spent one year at Milltown Park as junior, and then sailed for Australia. One year at Kew as prefect, and three years at Riverview teaching chemistry and physics brought his regency to an end. Fr. Pigot spent three years at Jersey doing philosophy, as many at Milltown at theology, and then went to Tullabeg for his tertianship in 1898. At the and of the year a very big event in his life took place. He applied for and obtained leave to join the Chinese Mission of the Paris province. For a year he worked in the Church of St. Joseph at Yang-King-Pang, and for two more at the Seminary at Zi-Kai-Wei, but the state of his health compelled a rest, and in 1913 we find him once more at Riverview teaching and trying to repair his shattered strength. He seems to have, in some measure, succeeded, for, at the end of the year he returned to his work at Zi-kai-wei. The success however was short lived. He struggled on bravely for three years when broken health and climatic conditions forced him to yield, and he asked to be received back into the Irish Province. We have it on the highest authority that his reasons for seeking the Chinese Mission were so a virtuous and self-denying, that he was heartily welcomed back to his own province. In 1907 he was stationed once more at Riverview, and to that house he belonged up to the time of his happy death in 1929.
It was during these 22 years that Fr. Pigot's greatest work was done - the founding and perfecting of the Riverview Observatory. The story is told by Fr. Dan. O'Connell in the Australian Jesuit Directory of 1927.
Fr. Pigot's first astronomical training was at Dunsink Observatory under the well known astronomer “Sir Robert Ball”. Then, as mentioned above, many years were passed at the Jesuit Observatory at Zi-kai-wei.
For some years previous to his return to Riverview, earthquakes had been receiving more and more attention from scientists, Excellent stations had been established in Europe and Japan, but the lack of news from the Southern Hemisphere greatly hampered the work of experts. It was the very excellent way in which Fr. Pigot supplied this want that has won him a high place amongst the worlds scientists.
Thanks to the kindness of relatives and friends, and to government help, Fr. Pigot was able to set up at Riverview quite a number of the very best and most up-to-date seismometers, some of which were constructed at government workshops under his own personal supervision. At once, as soon as things were ready, Fr Pigot entered into communication with seismological stations all the world over. When his very first bulletins were received in Europe, Riverview was gazetted as a “first-order station”, and the work done there was declared by seismologists everywhere as of first-rate importance. At the time of his death Fr Pigot had established telegraphic communication with the International Seismological Bureau at Strasbourg.
The study of earthquakes was only one of Fr. Pilot's activities, He was able, again through the generosity of his friends, to put up at Riverview, a first class astronomical observatory. It has four distinct lines of research :

1. The photography of the heavens.
2. Photographs of sunspots
3. Study of variable stars.
4. Micrometre measurements of double stars.
   Fr Pigot also took part ill a number of solar eclipse expeditions to Tasmania in May 1910, in April 1911 to Tonga, and to Goondiwindi in 1922.
   Finally, and perhaps most difficult of all, he established at Riverview a solar radiation station. The object of such a station is to determine the quantity of heat radiated out by the sun. This quantity of heat is not constant, as was thought but variable. The work is expensive, and of a highly specialised nature. It was hoped that in course of time it would have very
   practical results, amongst them being the power of being able to forecast changes in climate and weather over much longer periods than is at present possible. The necessary funds were collected by a Solar Radiation Committee formed at Sydney, Supplemented by a legacy from a relative of Fr Pigot's.
   Fr Pigot's ability as a scientist is shown by the number of important positions he held, and by the number of missions entrusted to him. He was elected President of the N. S. W. branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923 and 1924.
   He was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of NSW for several years. On the occasion of the International Seismological Congress to be held at. St. Petersburg in l914 he was appointed by the Commonwealth Government as delegate to represent Australia. Owing to the war the Congress was not held. It was on this occasion that Fr Pigot was sternly refused permission as a Jesuit to enter Russia. Even the request of the British ambassador at St Petersbourg for a passport was of no avail. It was only through the intercession of Prince Galitzin the leading Seismologist in Russia and a personal friend of the Russian Foreign Minister that the permit was granted.
   He went to Rome in 1922 as delegate from the Australian National Research Council to the first General Assembly of the Astronomical Union.
   He was Secretary of the Seismological Section at the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Australia 1923.
   He was appointed by the Commonwealth Government as one of an official delegation of four which represented Australia at the Pan-Pacific Congress in Tokyo 1926.
   Fr Pigot was a great scientist he was also a fine musician an exquisite pianist and a powerful one. He was said Lo be amongst the finest amateur pianists in Australia. Once during a villa he was playing a piece by one of the old masters. In the same room was a card party intent on their game. Fr Pigot whispered to a friend sitting near the piano “mind the discord
   that's coming”. It came, and with it came howl and a yell from the card players. In the frenzy of the moment no one could tell what was going to come next. But, as Fr Pigot continued to play a soothing bit that followed, a normal state of nerves was restored, and the players settles down to their game.
   He was a great scientist, and a fine musician, but, above all and before all, he was an excellent religious. In the noviceship too much concentration injured his head, and he felt the effects ever afterwards. It affected him during his missionary work and during his own studies. His piety was not of the demonstrative order, but he had got a firm grip of the supernatural, and held it to the cud. He knew the meaning of life, the meaning of eternity and squared his life accordingly.
   His request for a change of province was in no way due to fickleness or inconstancy. He had asked a great grace from Almighty God, a favour on which the dearest wish of his heart was set, and he made a supreme, a heroic sacrifice to obtain it. That gives us the key note to his life, and it shows us the religious man far better than the most eloquent panegyric or the longest list of virtues that adorn religious life could do. Judged by that sacrifice he holds a higher and a nobler place in the world of our Society that that which his genius and unremitting hard work won for him in the world of science.
   A few extracts to show the esteem if which Fr. Pigot was held by externs :
   Father Pigot's death “removes a great figure not only from the Catholic world but also from the world of science. His fame was world-wide. He was one of the worlds' most famous seismologists”.
   “By his death Australian science and the science of seismology have sustained a loss that is almost irreparable. He initiated what now ranks among the very best seismological observatories in the world”.
   “He was able to secure the best instruments for recording the variations in heat transmitted from the sun to the earth for his Solar observatory at Riverview, and to make observations, which science in time will rely upon to put mankind in the possession of long range forecasts as to future rainfall and weather in general”.
   “Dr. Pigot told me that after some years it would be possible to forecast the weather' two seasons ahead”.
   “ Dr. Pigot was one of the brightest examples of simple faith in a Divine purpose pervading all the universe”.
   “It was not only for his profound learning that scientists reverenced him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there never was any scientific man so well beloved as he”
   “Those who knew him in his private 1ife will always reserve the memory of a kindly, gentle associate, and of a saintly religious”.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 1 1929

Obituary : Fr Edward Pigot
The following items about Fr. Pigot's youth have been kindly supplied by his brother.
“He was born the 18th Sept. 1858 at Meadowbrook, Dundrum, Co. Dublin His first tuition was at the hands of governesses and private tutors, after which he attended for some years a day school kept by H. Tilney-Bassett at 67 Lower Mount St.
Concurrently, under the influence of his music Master, George Sproule, his taste for music began to develop rapidly. Sproule had a great personal liking for him, and took him on a visit to Switzerland. Many years afterwards Fr. Pigot heard that Sproule (who had taken orders in the Church of England) was in Sydney. He rang him up on the telephone, without disclosing identity, and whistled some musical passages well known to both of them. Almost at once Sproule knew and spoke his name.
Even as a schoolboy, I can recall how he impressed me by his superiority, by his even temper, command of himself under provocation, his generosity, his studiousness and his steadiness generally.
He entered Trinity about 1879. In the Medical School, he had the repute of a really serious student. He was especially interested in chemistry and experimental physics. Astronomy was outside his regular course, but I remember visits to Dunsink observatory, His studies seemed to he regulated by clockwork.
Before setting up as a doctor in Upper Baggot Street, he was resident medical attendant at Cork Street Fever Hospital, and the Rotunda Hospital, and at the City of Dublin Hospital. When in private practice at Baggot Street, he was not financially successful. I have the impression that his serious demeanour and grave appearance were against him, But I have better grounds for believing that his work amongst the poor, his unwillingness to charge fees to the needy, operated still more in the same direction. We often heard, but not from him, of his goodness to the poor. This was the time that he announced to us his desire to join the Jesuit Order. May I add that if there was one event in Ned’s life for which I have long felt joy and thankfulness, it was his desire to enter your Order.
Years after he had left Dublin, one of his prescriptions had become locally famous, and was ordered from the chemist as “a bottle of Kate Gallagher, please”, Kate having been one of his poor friends”.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Australia :

Riverview :

In 1923 Fr. Pigot built a Solar Radiation Station at Riverview, and started a programme of research on the heat we receive from the sun. This work has now been finally wound up. The valuable instruments, which are the property of the Solar Radiation Committee, were offered on loan to Commonwealth Solar Observatory, Mt. Strombo, Canberra. The offer was accepted and the instruments were sent by lorry to Mt. Strombo on February 7th. The results of the work have been prepared for publication and are now being printed. This will be the first astronomical publication to be issued by the Observatory since December 1939. Shortage of staff and pressure of other work during the war were responsible for interrupting that branch of our activities. Another number of our astronomical publications is now ready and about to be sent to the printer. We have started a new series of publications: Riverview College Observatory Geophysical Papers." The first three numbers are now being printed and will be sent to all seismological Observatories and to those scientists who may be interested.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Edward Pigott 1859-1929
Fr Edward Pigott was born in Dundrum Dublin on September 18th 1858, of a family which gave three generations to the Irish Bench. Edward himself became a Doctor of Medicine, taking a degree at Trinity College, and practising first in Dublin, then in Croom County Limerick. In 1885, the young doctor entered the Society at Dromore, and made his first visit to Australia in 1888, where he spent four years teaching at Xavier College.

Ordained in 1899, two years later he volunteered for the Chinese Mission. He learned the Chinese language in preparation for his work, and for a while tested the hardships of active service with the French Fathers of the Society. He used recall afterwards with a wry smile his efforts to preach in Chinese, and how he hardly avoided the pitfalls on Chinese intimation. I;; health, which dogged him all his life, sent him to the less arduous work of Assistant at Zi-Kai-Wei Observatory, near Shanghai. This was the beginning of his brilliant career as an astronomer.

After six years in Shanghai, during which he mastered his science, he returned to Australia in 1907 and started the Observatory at Riverview. He started with a small telescope and a few elementary instruments for recording weather changes, and finally made of Riverview, one of the leading Observatories of the world. Honours and distinctions were showered on him. He was appointed by the Government to represent Australia at St Petersburg in 1914, in Rome in 1922, at the International Astronomical Union, and the Pan Pacific Science Congress in 1923, held in Australia.

In spite of his prominence in the scientific world, Fr Pigott remained always to his brethren a kindly and gentle associate and a saintly religious.

He died on May 22nd 1929, aged 70 years, battling with ill health all his life. A strong spirit housed in a frail body.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1912

Father Pigot’s Return

On April 11th, the Community and boys went down to the College Wharf to welconie Father Pigot SJ, back to Riverview, after his extended tour through Europe. He had been absent about seven months, and during that time visited most of the leading seismological observatories on the Continent and in the British Isles. He had purposed visiting also some other observatories in the United States, Canada and Japan, on his return journey to Sydney; but a severe attack of pleurisy in Italy, during the trying mid-winter season, obliged him to hasten back to the warm Australian climate, without even being able to accept the kind invitation of Prince Galitzin to spend a few days as his guest at St Petersburg. All have heard of Father Pigot's application to the Foreign Office, London (on hearing accidentally, a day or two before, of the existence of a Russian law prohibiting members of the Jesuit Order. from entering Russia) to obtain from the Russian Government the necessary permission, in view of a short visit to Prince Galitzin's Seismological Observatory at Pulkovo. The request of the Foreign Office was refused, as everyone knows, but apparently the sequel of the story is not so generally known.

It was during liis stay at Potsdam (Berlin) that Father Pigot received the unfavourable reply from Westminster. He at once acquainted Prince Galitzin with the refusal, whereupon the distinguished seismologist made a strong representation, resulting in his Government immediately withdrawing the prohibition. His kind letter to Father Pigot acquainting him with the Russian Government's concession, and a formal communication to the same effect from the British Foreign Office, arrived during Father Pigot's convalescence, but a delay in Europe of three months would have been necessary to allow the severe winter in St. Petersburg to pass before he could, without risk of relapse, have availed himself of the concession and kind invitation.

Father Pigot has asked us to record his deep feeling of appreciation of the cordial greetings of the Community and boys, when they most kindly came down to welcome him at the wharf,

We give a photograph of Father Pigot, and another of a group of distinguished seismologists assembled together from various parts of the world, at Manchester, for the International Seismological Congress (1911).

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1922

Fr Pigot’s Visit to Europe : The InternationalAstronomical Union - First General Assembly, Rome, May 1922

The First General Assembly of the Inter national Astronomical Union commenced its deliberations in May this year, in the Academy of Science (the old Corsini Palace), at Rome. That Australia in union with the other nations, might be represented at the two main conferences (Astronomy, and Geodesy and Geophysics), the Commonwealth Government having paid the necessary subscriptions, three delegates - Dr T M Baldwin (Government Astronomer for Victoria), Mr G F Dodwell (Government Astronomer for South Australia), and Father Pigot represented the Australian National Research Council at the General Assembly.

The purpose of the Union, as set forth in this report, is - (I) “To facilitate the relations between astronomers of different countries where international co-operation is neces sary or useful; and, (2) To promote the study of astronomy in all its departments”. Each country adhering to the Union has its own National Research Council, which forms the National Committee for the promotion and co-ordination of astronomical work iul the respective countries, especially regard ing their international requirements. The countries at present adhering to the Union are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, · Itály, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
When Father Pigot left us suddenly in March, we felt that indeed there must be “something on” in the scientific world to draw him away at short notice from his beloved observatory. But the meetings of the Astronoinical Union, despite their international importance, were not his only objective. His itinerary, as we shall see, was a long one, and one of his chief aims while in Europe and America, was to inspect the principal Astronomical, Seismological and Solar Radiation observatories, and to get in personal touch with the foremost scientists. of the northern hemisphere.

Upon arrival in Europe he spent some time, successively, in the observatories of Marseilles, Nice, Geneva, and Zurich, In April he attended the Seismological Congress at Strasbourg, and then went on to Rome, taking in on his way, the Arcetri Observatory at Florence (situated, by the way, a stone's-throw from Galileo's house). While in Rome at the Conferences of the Astronomical and Geophysical Unions, he was, of course, in constant touch with Father Hagen S J, the Director of the Vatican Observatory, and though he does not say so, we may well imagine that his feelings were not untinged with sadness as he ascended the great staircase of the Government Observatory-the great Roman College of the Jesuit Order, before a Ministry more sectarian than honest usurped it.

Before the Conferences of the General Assembly were over, the delegates were in vited by His Holiness the Pope to a special audience in the Throne Room of the Vatican. It was accepted by all. Before congratu lating themselves on the splendid success of their meetings, His Holiness spent some time in chatting freely with most of those present, shook hands with them all, and be fore their departure, had a photo taken by the Papal photographer in the Court of St. Damasus.

The Roman Conferences over, Father Pigot lost no time in getting on his way. His first call was at the Geophysical Institute of Göttingen. Then on to Munich, and to Davos Platz for a private meeting on Sky and Solar Radiation with Dr Dorno (Head of Davos Observatory), Professor Maurer (Head of the Swiss Weather Bureau), and Professor Kimball (of the Solar Radiation Station of the Washington Weather Bureau).

The Paris Observatory - one of the largest in Europe - came next, and after spending some time here, he went on to the Royal Observatory at Brussels. Before leaving Beigium, he had time to run down to the Jesuit Observatory at Valkenberg, near the Dutch frontier, after which he returned to Greenwich. At a dinner of the Royal Astronomical Society, at which nine of the delegates were entertained, Father Pigot's health was proposed by Father Cortie SJ, of the Stonyhurst Observatory.

After a brief visit to Ireland, Father Pigot started out on his return journey, via America. One of his first visits on the other side was to the Jesuit Seismological Observatory at Georgetown University, Washington. While in the Capital, he spent some time at the Carnegie Observatory (Terrestrial Magnetisın), the Weather Bureau Solar Radiation Station, the Astro-physical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institute (where he renewed acquaintance with a valued friend, Dr Abbot, the President), the Bureau of Standards, and the Office of the Geodetic Survey. He was much impressed, as in 1919, with the up-to-date appliances of the Americans, and with the thoroughness of their scientific work.

Leaving Washington, he called at The Observatory of Harvard University (Boston, Mass.), and at the University of Detroit, where he found Professor Hussey, who knows Riverview well and has been in Australia more than once on scientific work. Yerkes Observatory, near Chicago, where is installed the largest Refractor in the world, claimed him next, after which he proceeded to the famous Mt Wilson Observatory at Pasadena (near Los Angeles, Col.). Here Father Pigot was in his element, for it is with Dr. Abbott, more especially than any one else, that he has discussed the details of the projected Solar Radiation Observatory at Riverview, and from him received the most valuable assistance.

Passing on to the Lick Observatory (Mt Hamilton, N Cal), he just missed Professor Campbell, who had left for Australia four days before as a member of the Wallal (WA) Eclipse Expedition. Professor Tucker, however, the locuin tenens, showed hiin every kindness.

Father Pigot's final visit before embarking for Australia was to the Canadian Government Observatory (Victoria, BC), which possesses the most powerful telescope in the British Empire (73in. Reflector). In the realm of instrumental astronomy Canada has outstripped all the other Dominions, and even the Mother Country herself.

It is superfluous to emphasise the immense value Father Pigot derived from his visits to the leading scientific men of the world, picking up hints, seeing new methods, and the most modern appliances for the subject nearest and dearest to his heart.

That the Riverview Observatory will gain by his experiences, and that the new Solat Radiation Observatory will receive a new fillip, goes without saying:

◆ Our Alma Mater Riverview 1929

Obituary

Edward F Pigot

Father Pigot was born at Dundrum, County Dublin, on September 18, 1858. He adopted the medical profession, and practised for a few years in Dublin. In 1885 he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Dromore, County Down. He made his first visit to Australia as a Jesuit scholastic in 1888, and taught for four years at Xavier College, Melbourne, and St Ignatius' College, Sydney. Naturally, his department was science. He completed his theological studies in Milltown Park, Dublin, and was ordained in the summer of 1899. Two years later he volunteered for the arduous China Mission, where the French Fathers of the Society of Jesus were endeavouring to Christianise the vast pagan kingdom - an act revealing fires of missionary zeal and personal devotion probably unsuspected by those who knew only the retiring scientist and scholar of later years. His sacrifice was accepted, and recompensed in a striking manner. He did, indeed, master the Chinese language in preparation for missionary labours, and for a while tasted the hardships of active service.

He returned to Australia in 1907, and immediately set about founding an observatory at Riverview, while teaching science on the college staff. When death called him he had gathered at Riverview five double-component seismometers, two telescopes fully equipped for visual and photographic work, a wireless installation, clocks specially designed for extreme accuracy, an extensive scientific library, a complete set of meteorological instruments, and what he most valued in his later years, a solar radiation, station, possessing rare and costly instruments, such as are possessed by only a few other, and these Government-endowed, stations throughout the world.

Fr. Pigot's in terest in the scientific problems of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, his experiments at the construction of the Burrenjuck Dam, in geophysics at the Cobar mines and elsewhere, his pendulum experiments in the Queen Victoria Market Buildings in Sydney, are well known. In 1910 he took part in a solar eclipse expedition to Tasmania; in April, 1911, he went with the warship Encounter on a similar expedition to the Tongan Islands in the Pacific, and was prominent in the Goondiwindi Solar Eclipse Expedition in 1922.

Father Pigot was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the International Seismological Congress at St. Petersburg in 1914. The outbreak of war prevented the Congress being held. In 1921 he was chosen as a member of the Australian National Research Council, and in 1922 went to Rome as its representative at the first general assembly of the International Astronomical Union, and of the International Union of Geodetics and Geophysics. He was elected President of the NSW branch of the British Astronomical Association in 1923 and 1924. For many years he was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of NSW.

At the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, held in Australia in 1923, Father Pigot was secretary of the seismological section. In 1926 Father Pigot was once more chosen by the Commonwealth Government as a member of the Australian Delegation at the Pan-Pacific Congress, held in Tokyo, in October, 1926. In December of last year he received word from the secretary of the Central International Bureau of Seismology, Strasburg, that he had been elected member of an International Commission of Research, formed a short time previously at a congress held in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia.

Many warm-hearted and generous tri butes to the kindliness and charm of Father Pigot's personal character have been expressed by public and scientific men since his death. Clearly his associa tion with men in all walks of life begot high esteem and sincere friendship. Those who knew him in his private life will always preserve the memory of a kindly, geritle associate, and of a saintly religious. RIP

-oOo-

The Solemn Office and Requiem Mass were celebrated at St Mary's North Sydney in the presence of a large congregation. His Grace the Archbishop presided, and preached the panegyric, and a very large number of the priests of the Diocese were present. Representatives of all classes were amongst the congregation, as may be seen from the list, which we cull from the “Catholic Press”.

The Government was represented by Mr J Ryan, MLC, and the Premier's Department by Messrs. F C G Tremlett and C H Hay. Other mourners included Professor Sir Edgeworth David, Professor C E Fawcitt (Dean of the Fa ulty of Science in Sydney University), Professor H G Chapman, Professor L A Cotton (president of the Royal Society of NSW), Professor T G . Osborn (chairman of the executive committee of the Australian National Research Council), Dr and Mrs Conrick, Dr P Murray, Dr Noble, Dr Murray Curtis, Dr H Daly, Dr Armit, Dr G H McElhone, Dr Wardlaw (president of the Linnean Society), Dr Robert Noble, Dr James Hughes, Messrs Cecil O'Dea, M J Mc Grath, H W and J N Lenehan, Austin Callachor (St Aloysius' Old Boys' Union), J Boylan (St Ignatius' Old Boys' Union), K Ryan, J Hayes, I Bryant, G E Bryant, K Young, R W Challinor (Sydney Technical College), James Nangle (Government Astronomer), O J Lawler, V J Evans, K E Finn, F W Brennan, J and I McDonnell, J Burfitt, and W S Gale, E Wunderlich, Dr Bradfield, Messrs L Campbell, L Bridge jun, Harold Healy, J Edmunds, E P Hollingdale, T Thyne, H Tricker (German Consul, representing the German Scientific Societies), W H Paradice, J. J. Richardson, W Poole (representing the Council of the Royal Society), K M Burgraaff (German Geographical Survey), E W Esdaile, A P Mackerras, E Gardiner, F S Manse (Under-Setretary for Mines), E C Andrews (Mines Department), W S Dun (Geological Survey), E H Matthews, F K Du Boise, Herbert Brown, R H Bulkeley, FRAS, M B Young, O S Cleary.

Letters of condolence were received from the following :The Old Boys' Union, NSW Chamber of Agriculture, The Shires Association of NSW, Dr C J Prescott (Headmaster, Newington Coll ege), Lane Cove Municipal Council, British Astronomical Association (NSW Branch), Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Chemical Society of the Sydney Technical College, the Royal Society of New South Wales, The Hon Sir Norman Kater, Kt, MLC, and many others.

The following letter was received from: the New South Wales Cabinet:

Premier's Office, Sydney, N.S.W.
22nd May, 1929.
Dear Sir,
At a meeting of the Cabinet this morning mention was made of the sad loss this State has sustained in the death of Reverend Father Pigot, one of its most distinguished citizens. I was invited by my colleagues to convey to you, as Principal of the eminent educational establishment, with which Father Pigot had the honour to be associated, an. expression of the deepest sympathy from the Members of the New South Wales Ministry.

The memory of Father Pigot, who was a personal friend of many of us, will be kept ever green by reason of his high scholastic and scientific attainments, modest and unassuming demeanour, and easy of character.
Yours faithfully,

E. A. BUTTENSHAW,
Acting Premier,

The Rev Father Lockington SJ, StIgnatius' College, Professor

H, H. Turner, of the British Association and the International Seismological Summary, speaks of “the splendid work done by Father Pigot in seismology; Riverview has been for many years our standby in the discussion of earthquakes near Australia”.

Professor Sir Edgeworth David, quoted in the “Catholic Press”, writes:

“By his death Australian science and the science of seismology have sustained a loss that is almost irreparable. He initiated what now ranks among the very best seismological observatories in the world. He was able to secure the best instruments for recording the variations in heat transmitted from the sun to the earth for his solar observatory at Riverview, and to make observations. This science in time we will rely upon to put mankind in possession of long range forecasts as to future rainfall and weather in general.

He was well known to all leading physicists and astronomers, and entirely because of his great reputation the University of Sydney was able to borrow for a period of six years some extremely valuable pendulums from Germany for measuring small displacements of the earth's crust at the great reservoir at Burrenjuck.

It was not only for his profound learning that scientists reverenced him. They could not fail to be attracted by his magnetic personality, for though frail and often in weak health, he ever preserved the same charming and cheerful manner, and was full of eagerness and enthusiasm in discussing plans for the better pursuit of scientific truth. Surely there. never was any scientific man so well beloved as he”.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930

The New Seismographs at Riverview

That Seismology, and especially Seismographs, are in the air at present, there can be no doubt. We have recently experienced in Sydney such a series of earthquake tremors, some of which have been usually large, and all coming on top of one another, as it were, that the subject was a common topic of conversation for several weeks. But the greatest interest centred not so much on the earthquakes as on the Riverview Seismograph that recorded them. When, a few weeks ago, the papers announced that a big and destructive earthquake had occurred so many thousands of miles away, "A big earthquake somewhere," one Melbourne Daily headed the re port-the safe announcement following that it was possibly in the sea somewhere, did much, we are sure, to nullify any exciting effect the tid ngs might have had on even unsceptical readers. The news two days later, however, that a severe earthquake had taken place in Sumatra, and that 250 people had been killed, made the Riverview Seismograph not only known, but famous. With Father Pigot's permission (or, shall I say, with out Father Pigot's permission?) I purpose giving a short account of the Seismographs to accompany our illustrations,

The idea, as a mere remote possibility, of starting a Seismographical Observatory at Riverview, occurred to Father Pigot a few years ago at Zi ka-wei (Shanghai), just when leaving for Australia, where he was oblijed by ill-health to return, and received a fresh impetus when he was passing through Manilla on the voyage south. The splendid seismographical work done by the Fathers for many years at these two great Jesuit Observator ies of the Far East (not to speak of all that they have achieved in their other departments, viz., Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism, and Astro nomy, above all, of the tens of thousands of lives saved by their typhoon warnings during the last thirty years), was a sufficient incentive to Fr Pigot, who had been on the staff of the former Observatory for some time, to attempt a small beginning of at least one branch of similar high class work in Australia. No doubt excellent records had been obtained for several years in Australia and New Zealand by the well-known instrument of the veteran Seismologist, Professor Milne; but it was interesting to see what results would be obtained by a more modern type of Seismograph of one or other of the recent German models. Those of Professor Wiechert, of Gottingen University, were decided upon, if funds would permit. The decision was most unexpectedly confirmed by the arrival in Sydney shortly after, on his way home to Germany, at the expiration of his term of office as Director of the Samoa Observatory, of Dr Linke, who showed his Wiechert earthquake records to Father Pigot, at Riverview. Dr Linke, who now, by the way, is Director of the Geophysical Institute in Frankfort (Germany), has since taken the kindliest interest in our embryo Observatory.

But where was all the necessary money to come from? Needless to say, a lot of expense was involved. As two of the principal instruments are now installed, we may say that nearly the whole of the expense of the larger (horizontal) Seismograph was defrayed by our kind and generous friend and neighbour, the Hon Louis F Heydon, MLC - a man whose charity is equalled only by his love of learning and scientific progress ad majorem Dei gloriam. To the Hon Mr Heydon, therefore, for the great pioneer part he played in giving Seismology a foothold in Riverview, not Father Pigot's alone, but Riverview's warmest thanks are due. But though Seismology has certainly got a foothold in Riverview, it must be remembered that at present our Observatory is only in an embryonic condition. Space has been provided in the building for other Geophysical re search work, to be carried out later on, when, like the Hon. Mr. Heydon, other lovers of scientific research shall have recognised in the Riverview Observatory, a work deserving of their patronage and generosity.

In July, 1908, Father Pigot paid a visit of three weeks to Samoa, where, through the kindness and courtesy of the Director of the Observa tory, Dr. Angenheister, and his assistants, he was able to study the construction and working of the various instruments, the methods for the reduction of the records, etc. On his return, he set about erecting the building and fittings for the instruments the half-underground, vaulted, brick building (not as yet covered with its protecting mantle for tem perature), and woodwork fittings. These were admirably constructed respectively by Brother Forster SJ, and Brother Girschik SJ, with their usual indefatigable care. In the early autumn the instruments arrived from Germany, and soon afterwards they were recording tremors and earthquakes. The instruments are amongst the most modern in use at the present day, and are known as the Wiechert Seismographs or Seismometers, named from their designer, Professor Wiechert. Until quite recently they were not numerous, being confined, with the exception of the Samoa instrument, to European Observatories. Now, however, they are being installed in various regions of the globe. The extreme delicacy of the instruments is almost incredible; an unusual weight on the floor of the Observatory (a party of visitors, for example), even at some distance from the instruments, would be sufficient to cause serious derange ment of the recording pens; the ocean waves dashing on the coast six miles away on a rough day are frequently recorded. It is in this extreme delicacy that the value (and, incidentally, the trouble) of the instruments consists. As a consequence they demand the most careful handling, and almost constant attention.

There are two instruments: a Horizontal Seismograph and a Vertical Seismograph, to receive, as the names suggest, the horizontal part (or component, as the scientists call it), and the vertical part respectively of the earth-waves set up by any seismic disturbance. The Horizontal Seismograph, however, consists practically of two Seismographs in as much as it separates the waves it receives into two directions; NS and EW, giving a separate record for each, as may be seen from the two recording rolls hang ing down in front.

The horizontal is an inverted pendulum whose bob is a large iron cylindrical (or drum-shaped) mass of 1000 kilograms, or a little over a ton weight. This mass is supported on a pedestal which is poised on four springs set on a large concrete pillar built on the solid rock, and separated from the surrounding floor by an air-gap one inch wide. When an earth quake occurs in any place, that place becomes the centre from which earth waves travel in all directions, through the earth and round the earth (surface waves). These waves on reaching Riverview disturb our concrete pillar, and set the pendulum in motion. The iron mass is reduced to a "stable equilibrium” by a system of springs, so that when the base is disturbed, the large mass will not fall over, but will oscillate or swing backwards and for wards till it comes to rest again. Now, a very ingenious air-damping arrangement (the two drum-like structures over the mass) destroys the oscillation or swing set up in the mass by the first wave, so that the second and third and succeeding earth-waves will not be affected by the oscillation of the mass itself, but each wave, no matter how quickly it comes after the others, will have its own effect on the mass. Consider, for illustration sake, one of those now-antiquated punching-ball apparatus that consist of a heavy leaden circular base, into the middle of which is inserted a stout four or five-foot cane, on the top of which is fixed the punching ball. When you punch this ball it and the cane oscillate, or swing backwards and forwards (the heavy base remaining stationary). If you determine to hit out at this ball at a fixed rate, say thirty punches a minute, you cannot be certain that every blow will have its full effect on the ball-in many cases you may not hit the ball at all. But if you contrive to make the ball stationary, so that it keeps still, or moves very little, when you punch it, every punch, no matter at what rate you punch it, will catch the ball and have its full effect upon it. In somewhat the same way our large iron mass is kept as stationary as possible, by the damping cylinders, while each earth-wave has its full effect upon it. This effect is received by the arrangement of levers above the mass, and magnified enormously, which magnified effect is traced by the recording stylus or pen--a tiny platinum pin-on the smoked re cording roll of paper, Waves coming in a N or S direction are recorded on one of the rolls; those in an E or W direction are recorded on the other, while waves coming in any other direction are recorded on both.

The Vertical Wiechert Seismograph is a Lever-Pendulum, consisting of an iron mass of 160lbs. weight at the end of an arm (under the wooden temperature-insulation box), and a spiral spring (enclosed in the box) be tween the weight and the fulcrum, the weight and the spring keeping the arm of the lever in equilibrium. Hence this pendulum can move only up and down, only by the vertical part of the earth-waves. The effect, as before, is highly magnified and recorded by the stylus. The damping (drum-like) arrangement in this instrument is seen at the left-hand back corner of the table. The temperature-insulation box is simply a double-walled wooden jacket packed with carbon, to protect the spiral, as well as a zinc-steel grid iron compensation, from change of temperature. One of the greatest difficulties with these instruments is keeping the instrument room at the same temperature always. For this reason the brick building is not yet nearly completed, as it will have to be covered by a thick layer of protecting material, which will finally have to be covered by a proper roofing. Again, scientifically inclined and generously disposed friends, please note!

To lessen any disturbance from the room itself (visitors, etc.) the floor of the building is covered with sand to the depth of a few inches, and in the case of the Horizontal, an air gap to the depth of a few feet separates the instrument from the surrounding floor.

The records, which are changed every twenty-four hours, are traced on specially-prepared smoked paper, and can be fixed at once with a suitable varnish. On the instruments, the records are stretched by drums which, by a very nice clock-work device (c.f, weight and escapement) are rotated once every hour, and moved to the right at the same time. Furthermore, by an ingenious electro-magnetic contrivance connected with a Wiechert contact-clock (seen with the Vertical Seismograph), the hours and minutes are accurately recorded on the earthquake tracing itself, and not at the side. Consequently, the exact second almost at which a distur bance begins is known. The rate of tracing is about fourteen millimetres per minute for the Horizontal, and ten millimetres per minute for the Vertical Seismograph.

To the uninitiated, at least, the results in the matter of records are really marvellous. They are worth the trouble they entail, and they do en tail lots of trouble. So far, there have been records of at least four considerable earthquakes (one of which has been already identified), as well as eight or nine smaller ones. Some of these have probably been subma rine, and can be localised when reports come in from other distant Observatories. There is one more point to be treated in this rather crude explanation, and it will explain the last sentence. How is the distance of the earthquake ascertained? Well, in a large seismic disturbance, if situated at a considerable distance, preliminary earth tremors or short waves precede the long earthquake-waves. The distance of the centre of the disturbance (which usually lasts for an hour or two) can be calculated from the time elapsing between the first preliminary tremors, and the beginning of the long waves. Consequently when three Observatories sufficiently distant and suitably situated calculate the distance of a particular shock, say, in mid-ocean, the actual centre can be found by simple geometry.

I have tried to give a simple, straightforward, unscientific explanation of the instruments, without going into more detail than was absolutely necessary. In fact, it would be unwise to go into much detail, for, if I did, I should probably become helpless very soon, and should require a kind and helping hand from Father Pigot to extricate me. But the calculations involved are terrific—a fact that will appear plausible when we say (I have it on Father Pigot's word) that the pressure of the stylus on the record, equivalent to a weight of one milligram, must be allowed for in the reductions of the observations.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from Our Past

Father Edward Pigot SJ

China

Father Pigot SJ, whom our past students of late years will remember, writes from the Shanghai district: to somewhat the same purport :

“Oh, if we only had a few thorough-going Irish priests here, how many more poor Chinese could be received into the Church! In some parts, as in the North, and in Father Perrin's section, one priest more would nean the certain conversion of hundreds and hundreds of Pagans. But Father Superior is at the end of his tether and can not send any more men just now; for the Christian villages around here cannot be left without their missionaries”.

In another letter, dated October of present year, Father Pigott writes :

“Here in our mission, as indeed throughout nearly the whale of China, things are quiet enough : how long it will last I do not know, The Boxers have lately broken out again in the south-west. We had many deaths this past year among our missionaries, and are badly in want of men, especially in the newly opened up districts in the north and in parts of the west of our mission. I send you the lately published yearly “Resumé” of the Kiang Nan. It is, above all, in the Sin-tchcou-fou (Western) Section that the greatest movement of conversion has taken place recently among the people whole villages sometimes asking

Born: 30 January 1904, Campbell Town, Tasmania
Entered: 10 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 07 September 1939, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 15 August 1946
Died: 18 September 1987, Newman College, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1930 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Phillips received his early education in Tasmania before entering the Jesuit noviceship at Greenwich, Sydney, 10 March 1924. He did his university studies at University College,
Dublin, where his interest in history was enkindled. He then studied philosophy at Chieri, Turin, Italy.
Regency was at Riverview, where, with Gerald Lawlor, he produced a notebook called “Notes on European History”, designed to remedy deficiencies in the presentation of Catholic aspects of history. He is also credited for being the first Riverview debating master to admit that the GPS competition was the most important phase of the Debating Society. In this aim, Phillips was the first “team coach” of Riverview debating in the modern sense. It was during his term of office that the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition was established. In all three years of his leadership Riverview reached the final of the GPS competition and won two of them, 1935-36, and it also won the oratory competition.
It was during his theological studies at Heythrop College in England that his predilection for scriptural studies appeared. However, he was not able to return to Australia immediately after ordination because of the war. En route to Australia, a German torpedo hit his ship but it did not explode.
He began to teach scripture, but had no special training for it. He spent many years at Werribee and Glen Waverley. His grasp of biblical studies eventually became quite encyclopaedic, and he was rated highly among professional scholars.
In 1954 Phillips was asked to take over the Catholic Central Library after the death of William Hackett. Under his management it became more a bookshop than a lending library.
After his retirement from teaching, he gave his full attention to the library, working long hours into the night, catching the last tram home to the Jesuit Theological College. He became notorious for preparing his own meals, and eventually from malnutrition. His contemporaries had always respected his learning and zeal. As he aged, he mellowed, and a wide circle of friends genuinely mourned him.

Born: 24 April 1911, Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 02 March 1928, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1947
Died: 13 October 1948, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia- Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Bernard Perry was educated at St Bede's Grammar School, Bradford, and St Patrick's College, East Melbourne. He entered fully into the life of the school, being among the first in his class each year, and he took part in football and athletics. He was also a member of the Sodality of Our Lady. He entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 2 March 1928, and then went abroad for his juniorate at Rathfarnham, 1930-33, gaining a science degree. Philosophy was at Jersey, 1933-36.
He was back in Australia for regency at St Aloysius' College, 1936-40, and was also prefect of discipline. Theology studies were taken at Canisius College, Pymble, 1941=44. Tertianship was at Loyola College, Watsonia, 1946, and then he returned to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, for the last two years of his life.
From the time that he studied at Jersey he suffered from an ulcer that caused him much pain and distress. lt seems that doctors did not diagnose the trouble, and superiors believed that his problems were more nervous than physical. He was by nature a big, athletic, active man, and found it hardly possible to restrain his activity as the doctors prescribed. His superiors were no wiser. His life became a series of recoveries and relapses until at last the ulceration killed him. He was a generous man, unselfish and loving. He shunned any sign of sentimentality, or any trace of affected piety He was a great example of much patience amid prolonged suffering.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/279532255

Third Jesuit Priest Dies In Sydney

SYDNEY, Thursday. — After seven months’ illness. Rev. Bernard Perry, S.J., a native of Coburg, Melbourne, died in St. Vincent's Hospital last night, aged 37. He is the third Jesuit
priest to die in a week. The others were Revs. W. J. Lockington and Albert Power.] Father .Perry was ordained at North Sydney in 1944 in the first group of Jesuits ordained in Australia. He had studied in France, Ireland and the Isle of Jersey. At the time of his death, he was attached to St Aloysius College, Milson's Point. Rev. Leo Perry. S.J., of Christ church (N.Z.). is a brother.

Born: 31 December 1899, Fair Hill, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 31 August 1916, Tullabeg
Ordained: 31 July 1930, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934
Died: 25 October 1964, St Louis School, Claremont, Perth, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Eldest brother of Cyril - RIP 1952 and Gerard - RIP 1985

Father was a master painter and with his mother now live at Thorndene Cross, Douglas Road, Cork.

Fourth eldest of six sons

Educated for some years at a private school and then went to the Christian Brothers at Our Lady’s Mount (North Monastery) intil 1915 and then a final year at Mungret College SJ

by 1933 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Perrott was one of three brothers to join the Society in Ireland. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at Cork and at Mungret College, and entered at Tullabeg, 31 August 1916. After his juniorate there, he studied philosophy and theology at Milltown Park, 1920-23, and 1927-31. His regency was at Clongowes as third prefect, 1923-27, and he taught there again, 1931-32, before tertianship at St Beuno's, 1932-33. While not a student in the academic sense, he was most thorough in his studies. He liked to complete tasks well, and was utilitarian in his approach, card indexing all he studied for future reference.
Being sent to Australia was a considerable sacrifice for him, but the presence of his eldest brother Charles and his family who lived in Perth tempered the exile. He was first sent as division prefect to Xavier College, 1933-34, where he assisted in the furnishing of the chapel. Perrott was always appreciated for his business acumen.
He worked at Sr Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, 1935-37, where he helped improve the financial difficulties of the college. Apart from a short time founding the new school of St
Ignatius' College, Norwood, SA, 1950-53, where he inspired the new parents to be involved in the education of their sons, he spent the rest of his working life at St Louis School, Perth. He helped Austin Kelly set up the school in 1938.
During those many years he was, at various times, minister, bursar for 22 years, a meticulous teacher of mathematics, chaplain to the St Luke's Medical Guild, founder of the Guild of St Apollonia for dentists, and answered questions on the radio 6PR Catholic Hour. In addition, he worked with Alcoholics Anonymous.
He was considered particularly skilled in assisting his gifted students of mathematics to obtain excellent results in their Final examination. He worked long hours outside class checking
homework and analysing the weaknesses of his students. As minister and bursar, his expertise in Financial matters greatly assisted development programmes for the school.
During the school holidays he gave retreats to religious across Western Australia, as well as occasional spiritual lectures, especially to the sisters of St John of God at Subiaco each month. He had twelve volumes of neatly typed lectures on a wide range of spiritual topics. When speaking he was forthright, fluent and most sincere, not seeking after effect. He would rather say something plainly than risk being misunderstood. He also loved singing and produced “The Mikado” at St Aloysius' College, and other more modest productions at St Louis and Norwood,
Perrott was a capable organiser, always busy about something, very focused and most meticulous in the execution of any task; no detail was spared, and never any half-measures. He
never lost the stamp of religion and the priesthood and yet he was loved for his approachability and understanding, and admired for his keen appreciation of the realities of life. The ordinary family found in him ready understanding and sympathetic treatment.
His last illness was not long, and he succumbed Finally to cancer He was buried from the parish church at Nedlands with a full congregation in attendance. He was the first Jesuit to be sent to Western Australia, spent most of his priestly life there. and was the First to be buried there. He was indeed a worthy pioneer in that state.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 40th Year No 1 1965
Obituary :
Fr Thomas Perrott SJ (1899-1964)
Fr. Thomas Perrott was one of three brothers who entered the Society. Fr. Thomas was born in 1899 and educated at Mungret College, Limerick. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1916, after which he followed the university course, and three years of philosophy. He was sent to Clongowes College for his regency, which was done under the guidance of Dr. T. Corcoran, S.J., Professor of Education, at the National University of Ireland. He went to theology in 1927 and was ordained priest on the feast of St. Ignatius, 1930. After his arrival in Australia in 1933, he was appointed to Xavier, and in 1934 was posted to St. Aloysius'. In 1938 he was given the task of building the first Jesuit school in Western Australia. The new college, under the patronage of St. Louis, opened in 1939 with Fr. Perrott as one of the first teachers and also holding the office of Minister. Teaching by no means curtailed his zeal and energies, since during the next twelve years he travelled the State from Geraldton to Albany directing retreats for the clergy, religious orders and students as well as giving lectures to religious communities and conducting the Catholic Answer." From these activities Fr. Perrott was withdrawn in 1950 to South Australia to start work on the new Jesuit college of St. Ignatius, Norwood. After completing his task, he was appointed Prefect of Studies, a position he held for four years. In 1955 St. Louis was fortunate in again having him on the teaching staff. As senior mathematics teacher, parents and boys well realised his superb organising ability and exceptional acumen. The success of his boys in the public examinations was outstanding, not only because he was able to develop the ability of the gifted students who crowned his efforts with unique success. But this was not secured without painstaking work outside class time when all homework was checked and the individual weakness analysed and recorded. Little would be known outside his own community of his work as college bursar, a task which, with all the drudgery it involved, he performed with unremitting care and thoroughness. With his experience and advice, St. Louis was able to extend its facilities and playing fields and to prepare and plan for the future. The twelve volumes of neatly typed lectures and retreats, each containing sufficient matter for a sizeable book, are testimony of his spiritual life and his care for the souls for his Divine Master, Fr. Perrott was tireless in giving retreats and lectures to audiences in different walks of life. Not a few will regret his passing who came to him for guidance, instruction, and whom he received into the Church. The service of his Divine Master also called him to labour in other spheres, as organiser and chaplain of the Guild for Chemists, and founding the Guild of St. Appolonia for Dentists. His final phase in the service of God found him active in organising retreats and days of recollection for the A.A. Society. May he rest in peace.
To his brother Fr. Gerard we express our very sincere sympathy.
from Australian Province News.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1938

Our Past

Father Thomas Perrott SJ

The following notice of Rev Thomas Perrott SJ (1914-'15), appeared in “The Advocate” of January 6th, 1938 :

Rev Thomas Perrott SJ, formerly of St Aloysius' College, North Sydney, has left for Perth to supervise the building of the new college at Claremont - the first foundation of the Jesuit Fathers in Western Australia. Father Perrott entered the Society of Jesus in 1916, and made the novitiate at Tullabeg, Ireland. He studied philosophy at Milltown Park, Dublin, and for the next five years was Prefect of Discipline at Clongowes Wood College. Then followed another period at Milltown Park, where he studied theology, and was ordained in 1934. The last year of Jesuit training (tertianship) was spent at St Beuno's College, North Wales, Father Perrott came to Australia in 1933. His first appointment was to Xavier College, Melbourne, where for one year he was sports master. During the last three years Father Perrott has been on the staff of St Aloysius' College, Sydney. Since coming to Australia he has conducted retreats, during vacation time, in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as in the Geraldton Diocese two years ago.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1965

Obituary

Father Thomas Perrott SJ

On October 25th in Subiaco, Western Australia, Father Tom Perrott died. He was the first Jesuit to come to Western Australia, and the first Jesuit to die there.

He was born in Cork in 1899. He spent a year in Mungret and then entered the Jesuit Novitiate. He taught in Clongowes and after his theological studies was ordained in 1930. After tertianship in Wales, he was on the Status for Australia. There he was assigned to Xavier College, Melbourne, and later to St Aloysius College, Sydney. In 1938 he was sent to build the first Jesuit school in Western Australia. This was put under the patronage of St Louis. Father Tom was appointed Minister and teacher in the new establishment. The twelve years he spent there were by no means confined to work in the college. He travelled far and wide giving retreats to priests and religious.

In 1950 he was sent to construct a new college in the parish of St Ignatius, Norwood, South Australia. When the task was completed, he was appointed Prefect of Studies. He remained in this post for four years, when he was again recalled to St Louis. Here he laboured until his death. Apart from schoolwork he was organiser and chaplain of the Guilds of Chemists and Dentists. He had another hobby also which he did not get much time to indulge in, namely music. He produced a number of operas in some of the colleges.

In a crowded church the archbishop presided at the Mass which was offered by the Provincial, Very Reverend Father J Rolland Boylen SJ

To his sister and brothers we offer our deep sympathy. RIP

Born: 01 November 1888, Ardeevin, Drumcondra, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1905, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, St George's Cathedral, London, England
Final Vows: 01 February 1924, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 07 August 1963, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Brother of Gerald - Left 1926

Came to Australia for Regency 1910
by 1913 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1919 at St Mary’s, Kurseong, West Bengal, India (BELG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William Owens, affectionately known as “Gerry” was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1905. He remained there for his juniorate 1907-10, and prepared for his university exams at Milltown Park, 1910-11. He taught at Galway, 1911-12, before philosophy studies at Stonyhurst, 1912-14. He taught students for the public examinations at Xavier College, Melbourne, 1914-18, before theology studies at Kurseong, India, Milltown Park and St Beuno's, Wales, 1918-22. Tertianship followed at Tullabeg, 1922-23.
Owens returned to Xavier College in 1923, and remained there teaching until his death in 1963. During these years he was also consultor, 1931-62, prefect of studies, 1934-41, in charge of senior debating, 1926-42, and worked with Old Xaverians. He was spiritual father and still teaching at the time of his death.
He was an institution at Xavier College, independent minded and a real individual. He was much appreciated as an eloquent teacher of modern history Latin and Greek. He taught with great ease and distinction, treating his students as adults, and helping many to gain high honours and distinctions each year. He was a teacher whose great command of English, Greek and Latin inspired many boys to a love of learning, wide reading, and quiet discipline. He gave students the sense that secular interests could coexist happily with faith. His style of life, prayer and scholarship was inspiring.
He was a man of mature judgment, where he himself was not involved, and could be charming. He had a nervous disposition that caused ill health, and he was painfully reserved. He read widely and was an authority on the classics, English and French literature, and all modern political movements. He had many friends and was very loyal and generous to them. He always seemed to be on hand for direction and consultation.
In his early days at Xavier he was a keen tennis player and a good left-hand bowler. For over 50 years he was a first class golfer and played regularly at Kew, even taking a day off school every week to play. He was a good example of a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Though he looked very frail he really had a strong physique. He survived a serious heart attack some years before his death but recovered very quickly He had a second heart attack two years before he died. Again he recovered quickly and was back at work, but this time he had to relinquish golf.
He was a popular retreat-giver, and much in demand. For years he gave retreats in convents throughout Victoria.
He suffered a severe blow in 1926 when his younger brother Gerald left the Society. Gerald had just completed a biennium in moral theology and had been appointed to Werribee, but does not seem to have arrived. He went to the USA and married.

◆ Irish Province News 39th Year No 1 1964 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1964

Obituary :

Fr William Owens SJ

Fr. William Owens was one of a large group of Belvederians who entered the Society at Tullabeg in the early 1900s.
Taking his vows in 1907 he studied up to Second Arts under the old Royal University - and when that institution was replaced by U.C.D. he went to Dublin to attend lectures for his degree in Classics.
He taught for one year at St. Ignatius College, Galway, and then went to Stonyhurst for philosophy. He was then sent to the Australian mission and taught at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne. Owing to shipping difficulties this was 1914-during World War I he was unable to return to Dublin for his theology but made his first year at Kurseong, India. At the end of the year, however, it was possible for him to return to Dublin and Milltown Park for the remainder of his theology.
Fr. Owens was ordained at St. George's Cathedral, Southwark, in 1920, and did his tertianship at Tullabeg under Fr. Joseph Wellesby.
Having completed his tertianship Fr. Owens returned to Australia where he was to spend the remainder of his life teaching at Xavier College - except for a term spent at Riverview College, Sydney.
He excelled as a teacher of Modern History and the Ancient Classics - and was well versed in English and French Literature. Year after year his pupils took high honours and distinctions and left school well prepared for their courses in the universities. With a rare capacity for friendship, he commanded great influence among the many generations of boys who passed through his hands; loyal and generous he was always ready with counsel and directions and kept in close contact with them in after life.
Though frail and delicate looking, Fr. Owens was really a very strong man. In his early years he was a keen tennis-player, a good left-hand bowler, and he played golf regularly on the Kew links where for many years he was a well-known figure. He survived two heart attacks in later life—but they did not prevent him continuing to teach.
Fr. Owens was an excellent religious - rose early and said Mass with great devotion. He was a very popular retreat giver and was in great demand among religious throughout Victoria in that capacity.
He was faithful to the class-room to the last - on the 7th August, 1963 he took his morning classes as usual though he had a very heavy cold. At 7p.m. he went to St. Vincent's Hospital where he received the Sacrament of the Sick and died an hour later, May he rest in peace.

Born: 17 May 1913, Inchicore, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 October 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 18 May 1996, Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown, Dublin

Part of the Belvedere College SJ, Dublin community at the time of death.

Born at Holles Street Maternity Hospital, Dublin.

Father was a doctor

Eldest of three boys and one girl.

Early education was at a private school and then at age 9 he went to Belvedere College SJ.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/evening-prayer-chad-and-belvedere/

Evening Prayer: Chad and Belvedere
Fr Gerry Clarke, a member of the Rapid Response Unit of the Jesuit Refugee Service, has just been appointed National Director of the JRS in Chad, where he has been working for some month. When we asked him what it was like, he gave an atmospheric reply:

..........I turn into the gates of the Catholic Mission. The last basketball players drift past me in groups of chatter and exhaustion; some wash the dust off and drink long draughts from the water jars at the gates of the residence, like Greek warriors after battle or the games. I’m hoping that the electricity will be running to give me light for my own shower. Did I remember to fill the water buckets? And in the near quiet of my room broken only by the whirr of the fan above my head, I retreat into the sanctuary of mosquito net and head-torch and recall a moment in Belvedere College community where I spent two years during Jesuit formation. Fr. FX O’Sullivan sits quietly before the Blessed Sacrament. The feeble light of four o’clock on a December afternoon barely penetrates the darkened chapel. He doesn’t stir but sits silently as my eyes and ears adapt to this place of prayer. In the yard outside the voices of the last schoolboys rise and fall indistinctly; not a disturbance, more a confirmation of the outside and the inside, the inner and the outer. By his reverence and stillness Fr. FX is my leader in prayer, and we enter into a communion of silence, of listening and learning from which both of us depart more quietly than we came.

◆ Interfuse No 92 : August 1996 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1996

Obituary
Fr F X O’Sullivan (1913-1996)

17th May 1913: Born in Dublin
Educated at Belvedere College
7th Oct. 1931: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Oct. 1933: First Vows at Emo
1933 - 1935: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD.
1935 - 1938: Tullabeg, Study of Philosophy
1938 - 1941: Mungret College, Regency
1941 - 1945: Milltown Park, Theology
31st July 1944: Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1945 - 1946: Rathfarnham, Tertianship
1946 - 1994: Belvedere - Teacher, Spiritual Director in Junior School
1994 - 1996: Pastoral care of Staff in Junior School

Fr. F.X. O'Sullivan was the Great Old Man of Belvedere. A doctor's son and close neighbour of the late Dr. Dermot Ryan, Archbishop of Dublin, Frank was born and reared in Inchicore. He was educated at Belvedere College and except for his years of study as a Jesuit and a short spell in Mungret College, he spent all of his teaching life in the Junior School in his old school. Mindful of the words of Jesus, “suffer little children to come unto me”.

F.X. ensured that all the thousands of young Belvederians entrusted to his care knew who their true friends were. His great devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin was crystal clear to all who had the privilege of being taught by him. Every boy was cared for individually and his ability to quietly expose, praise and develop their latent talents endeared him to all, but particularly to the shy and diffident young pupils. The super academic teenage sophisticates were expertly taught the virtue of humility and the art of tactfully and charitably assisting the slower learners among their peers. Many of his pupils owe a keen interest in reading to him as he was an assiduous reader. For many years he stocked the Junior School Library with the type of books that even the most reluctant readers could not resist.

My first clear recollection of Fr. F.X. O'Sullivan was during one of his lively geography classes in Rudiments, when he engaged us in naming all the stations on the railway line from Dublin to Cork. “At least one of you know, what's at Limerick Junction. Isn't that so Eddie?”

That remark started our favourite subject of conversation, which brightened many days for both of us over the next fifty years. It was a great boost for me, a raw recruit to this very big city centre school, to realise that even Jesuits could be interested in horses.

He taught us the importance of accepting God's will in everything and doing the very ordinary daily assignments extraordinarily well. His pupils in the 40's and 50's will always remember with joy his many visits to Dublin factories, when, every Wednesday he brought them to visit them. His meticulous preparation and organisation of educational tours to Shannon, Cobh, Armagh and other such places ensured his pupils full enjoyment of these never to be forgotten days. Mindful of the importance of having happy staff colleagues he was warm in his welcome for new members of staff and deeply appreciated their friendship and loyalty and attended all their social functions.

In addition to teaching, he was confessor to the Christian Brothers in Marino and for many years in O'Connells' schools where his kindness and understanding were treasured. For some thirty years he took a supply in Worthing for approximately three months. He endeared himself to both the parishioners and clergy in Worthing and always availed of generous offers to visit Plumpton, Fortwell and Glorious Goodwood! Away from the crowds on the beach near Worthing he daringly wore his “sin suit”, as he called the jeans he purchased much to the wonder of many who admired this gentle conservative. Working in Worthing he developed an understanding of family difficulties which helped him in his counselling ministry to past pupils who frequently sought his advice and prayers in their hour of need.

God gave him excellent health and up to his illness some years ago he seemed to have the gift of perpetual youth. Always an avid walker even in old age, he thoroughly enjoyed his “canters” in Dun Laoghaire, the Phoenix Park and Dollymount. He had great taste for good music and frequently visited the theatre. Early lunches on Saturday graciously supplied by his great friend Br. Pat McNamara, SJ, enabled him for many years to attend “devotions” as he jocosely described his visits to Naas, the Curragh, Punchestown, Fairyhouse and Kilbeggin. Fifty years in the Society of Jesus called for something very special and we were happy to bring him on a never to be forgotten visit to Cheltenham. The opportunity to meet top trainers and racing personalities, from both sides of the pond, was way beyond his wildest dreams. God was good to his faithful servant!

Though very friendly to everyone F.X. would not allow anyone to encroach on his privacy. He always needed his own space and particularly his long prayerful sessions where he remembered all of us daily. Death came peacefully after some two years of constant illness very patiently and courageously borne. It was terrible to see the once so agile F.X, an invalid. He was heroic in his illness. A true Jesuit, he welcomed worthwhile changes in both the Society of Jesus and the Church which he judged would help to get more people nearer to the God he loved so well.

To his brother David and sister-in-law Paddy we extend our deepest sympathy on the loss of a loyal and devoted teacher for over fifty years.

ТVМ/ЕН

Born: 22 May 1924, Ardlahan, Kildimo, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1982, Hong Kong
Died: 17 December 2003, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to HIB : 15 September 1992

Parents were farmers.

Fourth of five boys with two sisters.

Educated at a National School in Kildimo for six years, then he went to Crescent College SJ

by 1951 at Hong Kong - Regency

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Patrick O’Rourke, SJ
R.I.P.

Father Patrick O’Rourke, SJ died rather suddenly but peacefully on 17 December 2003, aged 79 years.

He died, appropriately, in Wah Yan College Hong Kong, where he had lived and taught for 45 years, and in the college chapel, of which he was the prefect in recent years.

In many ways a quiet-spoken man of simple tastes, but coming from a farming background in his native Ireland, he was also shrewd and somewhat skeptical by nature, not suffering fools gladly. He lived very simply, his room was left almost bare.

He possessed a well-developed sense of humour and enjoyed having a good laugh and also causing a good laugh.

A keen sportsman in earlier days, he enjoyed football, playing left-wing and, like many of his students, was a keen fan of Manchester United and latterly played a useful game of tennis in the school yard.

In his 45 years of teaching in Wah Yan College, he certainly taught hundreds, perhaps thousands of boys, in successive generations.

Many of his students returned to their mother school for his funeral Mass on 21 December 2003, presided over by Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun SDB and Bishop John Tong Hon and followed by burial in the Catholic cemetery in Happy Valley.

Just as his patron, St. Patrick, was called by God from being a shepherd boy to bring the Gospel of Christ to the pagan Irish in the 5th century AD, his 20th century namesake, a farmer’s son from Limerick, was also called to devote his long life to offering a sound education and the same Gospel to the Chinese youth of this sophisticated city with its age-old culture and yearnings for the infinite.

May God richly reward this latter day “Mr. Chips” and bring him quickly to Heaven, if he is not already there.

May Father Patrick O’Rourke have many Hong Kong Jesuit successors to continue the Wah Yan tradition into the future. May his gentle soul rest in the peace of Christ!
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 11 January 2004

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He first came to Hong Kong as a Regent in 1952 to study Cantonese at Cheung Chau. He then returned to Ireland for Theology

1958-1989 He returned to Hong Kong to teach English and religious Knowledge at Wah Yan College Hong Kong and lived there for over 40 years. During this time he also helped with pastoral work on weekends with Sunday Masses, and he was Chaplain to the Hong Kong Volunteers for 20 years.

He was known for his humour and was very popular with his fellow Jesuits.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 123 : Special Issue February 2005

Obituary

Fr Patrick (Paddy) O’Rourke (1924-2003)

May 22nd 1924: Born in Kildimo, Co. Limerick
Early education at Kildimo National School and Sacred Heart College, The Crescent, Co. Limerick
Sept. 7th 1942: Entered the Society at Emo
1944 - 1947: Studied Arts UCD
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1950 - 1952: Hong Kong - Language School
1952 - 1953: Wah Yan College - Regency
1953 - 1957: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
July 31st 1956: Ordained at Milltown Park
1958 - 1959: Tertianship at Rathfamham
1959 - 2003: Wah Yan , Hong Kong - Prefect of the church, Spiritual Director (SJ), Treasurer, Teacher.
Feb. 2nd 1982: Final Vows in Hong Kong
Dec.17th 2003: Died in Hong Kong.

Fr Paddy O'Rourke died in the chapel in his community at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. His death was completely unexpected. The cause of his death is believed to have been a heart attack. He had been in fair health right to the end. Another member of the community spoke to him on the phone an hour before he died.

Homily preached by Fr. Seán Coghlan on December 21st at a Vigil Mass, the night before his funeral:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today, instead of speaking about Advent or the fast approaching feast of Christmas I want to share with you some thoughts about Fr. Paddy O'Rourke who died last Wednesday in this chapel and who will be buried from here tomorrow.

Wah Yan College moved from Robinson Road to this site on Mount Parrish in 1955. Fr. O'Rourke took up residence here in August or September 1958 and has lived here ever since. Before his ordination in Ireland he taught for one year in Robinson Road after two years of Cantonese studies in Battery Path. 48 years of Fr. O'Rourke's nearly 80 years of life were spent in Hong Kong, 46 of them in Wah Yan.

He will be remembered by generations of Wah Yan students. Many of you will remember him too. For the last few years of his life his health made it impossible for him to go out for Mass on Sundays. Instead, he looked after this chapel with great care. He was always standing down there at the back of the chapel or hearing Confessions and then he would come up to the altar to help the celebrant distribute Holy Communion.

Fr. O'Rourke taught for most of his life, and even after his retirement he assisted the teachers and students in a wide variety of extra curricular activities. He was Minister of the community for many years. That is, he looked after the material needs of his fellow Jesuits.

He knew where every pipe in the building was. He did the jobs that needed to be done. He was that essential person in a religious community who can be relied on to be around, keeping an eye on things.

Fr. O'Rourke was chaplain to the Hong Kong Regiment (”The Volunteers”). Until quite recently he would offer Sunday Mass and preach in St. Margaret's and St. Jude's Parishes and Christ the King Chapel. Fr. O'Rourke was a good footballer in his younger days and played tennis on Sunday afternoons on the court beside the chapel, just a few yards away from where we are now. His partners were Mr. Frank Yung, Mr. Anthony Ip and Fr. Derek Reid.

He was a simple man but shrewd and somewhat skeptical by nature. He did not get wildly enthusiastic about new ideas but was absolutely reliable in all his commitments. He lived very simply. His room was almost bare. It will be very easy to clean up. Some Jesuit rooms take much time and energy to clean up after the occupant has left us for the Lord. Remember Fr. O' Rourke was 45 years in the some room!

Fr. Deignan was speaking to Fr. O'Rourke's nephew on the phone last Thursday. His nephew said too that he was a very simple man. He was quite content to stay around the old home, wandering about the farm and cycling on the bicycle which is still there. Fr. O'Rourke was very interested in local history. On holidays in Ireland he would visit the local parish churches and look up the publicly available marriage and baptismal registers. He would go to the local government offices and study the title deeds to the local farms and properties. These records stretched back many years.

On one occasion I asked him to look up some details about my family. When I asked him about his findings he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “If I were you I wouldn't look too deeply into the matter, some of the dates are a bit difficult to reconcile”. Fr. O'Rourke was very humorous and enjoyed having a good laugh and causing a good laugh.

Fr. O'Rourke lived in the country. His home was nine or ten miles from the nearest town where there was a Jesuit school, He cycled to school and back home in all kinds of weather. That was hard at times.

When Fr. O' Rourke was in school, Ireland was going through difficult years. It had recently become independent. The economy, nationally and internationally, was bad. Farmers in particular faced difficult problems. But Ireland was a Catholic country. It had a tremendous missionary tradition. Young women and young men like Fr. O' Rourke became priests and nuns and went to bring God's light to many different parts of the would. Fr. O' Rourke was one of those who, despite very difficult economic conditions, received a good education. He was available for God's work.

Now life is very different in Ireland. The economy is booming. But Ireland has not adapted well to prosperity. There is a crisis in the religious life of the people. The number of practicing Catholics has dropped drastically. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life have diminished correspondingly. It has to be said, too, that the Church has not coped well with the crisis. It is a very different scene from the one Fr. O' Rourke was familiar with. I would ask you to pray that God will recall his people to a richer and more mature faith.

I think that Ireland is at one with the rest of the Western world in a certain tiredness and sickness. It seems to lack creativity and imagination in finding spiritual and humane answers to the challenges of a new world.

If one reads the financial and business pages of our newspapers and journals one finds that the experts are divided as to whether India or China will be the great economic force of the world in the not too distant future. Are the countries of the East emerging as the power houses of the world?

Prosperity and a spiritual outlook on life do not always go hand in hand. However, a general awakening and growth in one area of life may be accompanied by a growth in other areas. There is a hunger for spiritual meaning in many Eastern countries. Religious novitiates in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Korea have many candidates. In China there are many young men and women preparing for the priesthood and religious life.

Lay Christians are active and confident. Recently I met a young Hong Kong woman who has already spent seven years with a Catholic refugee service in South East Asia. She is now preparing to commit herself for life to the work. She is one among many lay people from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia who are “on mission” to the world. In God's loving plan the Western world brought his light to the world for many centuries. Could it not now be the tum of the Eastern world to bring spiritual values to a world which thirsts for meaning?

Fr. O'Rourke came from a farming community, fields stretching down to the River Shannon, the hills of Clare rising from the fields on the other side of the river. Now it may be the time for a young man or woman from the green fields of Korea or from one of the immense bustling cities of China to bring God's light to those who long for it.

-oOo-

Homily preached at the Requiem Mass for Fr. O'Rourke by Fr. Robert Ng Chi-fan:

My dear Wah Yan friends,

We have gathered here today to celebrate a Requiem Mass for Fr. Paddy O'Rourke who died last Wednesday. For most of you he was either a teacher, a colleague or a good friend.... Hong Kong people appreciate stability greatly. Fr. O' Rourke was a very stable person indeed! He believed that things shouldn't be changed if they were good, so he stayed in Wah Yan for 45 years and never left it. He lived in the same room for those 45 years and every morning had his breakfast at 6:45. Then he started his day's work. His main responsibility was teaching, especially teaching English. He had his own special way of teaching. For the first few minutes of each class he asked his students to repeat again and again words which could be easily mispelt. Then he would ask them to memorize some proverbs. Fr, O'Rourke was the teacher who helped me most to improve my English. If a student couldn't answer his questions he would poke him with his finger until the right answer came. But he didn't confine himself to helping the students in class. He trained them to take part in English debates and verse-speaking competitions. He continued to do so almost to the very end of his life. Shortly before he died he acted as judge in one of the competitions. It can truly be said that he worked humbly and simply until his death.

Many people can be good teachers but, as a Jesuit and priest, Fr. O'Rourke came to Hong Kong from Ireland to fulfil a further mission. He wanted people to know God. He liked teaching English but he liked teaching religion even more. He gave religious instruction and was spiritual director of a Catholic society. He was very happy when a student was baptized. His apostolate extended beyond the school. He was chaplain to the locally enlisted Hong Kong Regiment (”The Volunteers”) On Sundays he went for many years to St Margaret's Parish and Christ the King Chapel to offer Mass.

As a Jesuit and missionary he was a traditional type. He followed the rules carefully. He was obedient. He led a simple life and was generous in sharing with others. When I was a student I used to see poor people coming up to Wah Yan every Saturday to look for help. It was always Fr. O'Rourke who came downstairs to talk to them and give them some money. For many years he was the Minister of the Jesuit community and as Minister was very willing to share with those in need. In St. Mathew's Gospel Jesus speaks of the criteria for judgment on the Last Day. The criteria are almost exclusively concerned with helping those who need our help. Fr, O'Rourke will get high marks in this area.

Those who know Fr, O'Rourke were well aware of how much he liked football. He played football when he was young. In the 60's, the "Fathers' team" always beat the students' team. A few of the Fathers played for the Hong Kong Football Club. Fr. O'Rourke played on the left wing and the students found it very hard to block his very accurate centering of the ball. When football was mentioned, one could see a big smile on his face. Friends know that the Fathers liked football so they generously installed Cable TV for them. This gave Fr, O'Rourke the entertainment he loved. His favourite team was Manchester United, probably because there were always Irish players on the Manchester United team. The reason why I mention his love of football is to show that Fr. O'Rourke was not a rather remote, distant priest and missionary. On the contrary, he mixed with ordinary people and shared their likes and interests. He insisted, however that entertainment should be healthy. This reflects his character. He was an upright man, but a humorous one too.

Since Fr. O'Rourke loved games and sporting activities it would be appropriate and the truth to quote of him St. Paul's words. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing”. (2 Tim 4:7 & 8)

When Jesuits die, they wish to go to the Lord quickly. They envy those who manage not to delay on their way to Him! Fr. Corbally died while eating his breakfast, Fr. Doody while offering Mass. Last year Fr. McLoughlin died in his sleep. The Lord was merciful to Fr. O'Rourke. At noon on Wednesday 17th Fr. O' Rourke arranged with a colleague to have some Masses offered. Before 5:00 p.m. he died while praying in the chapel.

We chose to have Fr. O'Rourke's Requiem Mass in the school chapel because it has a special meaning for him and for us. He served Wah Yan for 45 years. This is the chapel he loved and looked after. Here he offered numerous Masses. Here he prayed for the students. I am sure he will be happy to say “good bye” to the teachers and students in this place. He must be happy to have two Bishops and many priests offering Mass for him, his student to preach about him, and so many teachers and students, past and present, to pray for him.

Those who spoke to him recently must feel a little sad at his passing. But for a Jesuit to die in the bosom of the Lord is a consoling thing. Let us unite in praying for him who offered his life to God by his work of education among the students of Wah Van. May he hear the words of to-days Gospel being addressed to him by Our Lord himself. “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt. 11:28)

Born: 31 December 1849, Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan
Entered: 19 April 1872, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1887, St Beuno’s, Wales
Final vows: 02 February 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 21 January 1932, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Youngest brother of John (ANG) - RIP 1892, and Philip (ANG) - RIP 1926

Early education at Mount St Mary’s, Derbyshire and Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1873 at Laval, France (FRA) studying
by 1885 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1888 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying
by 1890 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 2 1932
Obituary :
Fr Richard O'Reilly
On Thursday, 21 January, Fr. R, O'Reilly died at Tullabeg, in his 59th year in the Society, at the age of 82.

He first saw the light at Ballyjamesduff, Co, Cavan on the 31st December 1849, was educated. first at St. Mary's, Chesterfield, then went to Clongowes in 1868, where he joined the class I Grammar, taught by Fr. N. Walsh, and had as class fellow Fr. M. Devitt. He was elected captain of the House two years in succession. This unique honour was probably due to that popularity which won for him so many friends in after life.
He entered the novitiate at Milltown 19 April 1872, and at the end of the two years was sent to Roehampton. After spending some months there he joined Frs. M. Devitt and H. Lynch at Milltown in September. All three attended the courses of the old Catholic University for the year 1874-75.
Three years philosophy at Laval followed, and then began a course of teaching for 6 years in Ireland, The first of them was spent in Tullabeg the next three in Clongowes, and the last two at the Crescent. His subjects were Latin, Greek, French, Mathematics. For one year he had charge of the H. Line debate in Clongowes. Theology came next, one year in Jersey and three at St. Beuno's. A year was spent in Mungret as Minister and Procurator before going to his Teirtianship at Tronchiennes in 1889.
On returning to Ireland he began his long career as Minister, Procurator, Consulter, broken only by three years as Miss. Excurr., during which he was stationed in Galway.
In all he was Minister for 11 years, Procurator or sub-Proc. for 29, Consultor for 39, twenty-seven of them being in Tullabeg.
He lived in Tullabeg for 29 years, in Clongowes for 9, Mungret 5, Galway 3, Milltown 3, Crescent 2, and Belvedere 1 (1917-18). These, with 8 years abroad, brought him to within a few months of his Diamond Jubilee in the Society.
He had charge of the People's Sodality in Tullabeg for a Number of years, and his devotion to the work made the members really devoted to him. They almost looked on him as their Parish Priest. He spoke to them with great frankness when occasion demanded it, and told them of their faults, but this only increased their respect.
For years he never missed saying Mass in the People's Church daily, though in winter it was so cold that with difficulty he kept the blood circulating in hi s fingers so as to hold the chalice. The novices looked serving Mass in that Church for a week during winter as a severe penance yet Fr O'Reilly said Mass there, week in week out, for many a year,
With the priests too he was very popular. At all their social meetings he was ever a welcome guest, and was given the place of honour. When Dr. Mulvaney was consecrated Bishop, it was Fr. O'Reilly who was placed on the Bishop's right hand.
All this shows what manner of man Fr. O'Reilly was. Through life a quiet, steady worker, easy to get on with, yet, when his own opinions seemed right, they were defended with energy. His kindliness won for him hosts of friends at home and abroad. No man enjoyed a joke better and when he himself was the object of the fun every thing was taken in the best possible humour, a somewhat rare virtue. To the end he was an excellent religious, and his devotion to the obligations of Jesuit life resembled at times those of a novice.
Fr, O’Reilly was anointed on Saturday evening, 16 Jan., yet he was able to get up on Sunday, actually said Mass and heard two others. On Monday he offered the Holy Sacrifice for the last time, and on the following Thursday morning was found dead.
His Lordship Dr. Mulvaney, many priests and a great crowd of people attended the Requiem Mass and funeral

◆ The Clongownian, 1932

Obituary
Father Richard O’Reilly SJ

Many old Clongownians will have heard with regret of Father O'Reilly's death at Tullabeg, on 21st January, 1932. He was then already beginning the 83rd year of his age and had nearly completed the 60th year of his religious life. Born at Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, on 31st December, 1849, he was educated first at Mount St Mary's College, Chesterfield, from which he entered Clongowes on 31st October, 1868, and was placed in the class of I Grammar, of which the late Father Nicholas Walsh was then Master. Richard was then 18 years of age and considerably senior to most of his class-fellows, to whom he gave a good example of piety, industry and genial comradeship. His skill at games, especially on the cricket ground, where he excelled as a batsman, secured his election as Captain of the Higher Line XI in the summer of 1870, and his re-election to the same position in 1871. In the summer of this year an unpleasant incident occurred which occasioned some criticism of the Captain. An inter-collegiate cricket match had been arranged between Ciongowes and Tullabeg, and was to be played on the Clongowes ground. On the morning of the fixture, a scurrilous and insulting letter, anonymous, but purporting to come from the Tullabeg team, was delivered to the Clongowes Captain, who immediately showed it to the Rector Father Carbery, with the result that the latter sent an express messenger to Tullabeg cancelling the invitation previously issued to the XI of the latter College. This precipitate action caused much disappointment and bitterness, especially when it was ascertained that the Tullabeg XI had no cognisance whatever of the writer, and were looking forward to the match in the most friendly spirit. At the end of the Summer Term, 1871, Richard O'Reilly left Clongowes, having completed his course in the class of Rhetoric, of which Father James Dalton was Master. On 19th April, 1872, he entered the Jesuit Noviceship at Milltown Park. Two of his elder brothers had joined the Society before him - John in the English Province and Philip in the Irish, from which, in 1886, at his own request, he was transferred to England. Richard having completed his two years novitiate and one year of second Rhetoric at Milltown Park, was in 1875 sent to Laval for the usual three years course of Philosophy, and in 1878 to Tullabeg as master. In the following year he went to Clongowes as Master; taking Middle Grade for two years, and I Rhetoric for one year (1881-82), when he was also Presiderit of the Higher Line Debate.

After two years further teaching at the Crescent College, Limerick, he began his Theology at Jersey, in 1884, and passing to St Beuno's, N Wales, in 1885, where he was ordained in 1887. At the end of his fourth year theology, in 1888, he was appointed Minister and Procurator of Mungret College. He made his Tertianship in the following year at Tronchienne, and in 1890 was appointed Procurator and in charge of the farm at Tullabeg, where he remained in the same position for seven years. In 1897 he joined the Missionary Staff, and in 1900 he took charge of the farm in Clongowes for a period of six years. In 1906 he returned to Mungret as Minister and Procurator for four years. In 1910 he was again Procurator at Tullabeg, where, with the exception of one year as Minister in Belvedere College, he spent the rest of his life, either acting as Minister or in charge of the farm, and there he celebrated his Golden Jubilee in 1922.

Of the 60 years of his life in religion, he gave 29 to the service of Tullabeg and 9 to that of Clongowes. In the various offices which he held he displayed great activity, and showed an ardent interest not only in his own work but in the responsibilities and concerns of others inside and outside the Society. For over a year before his death his energy had begun to wane, heart trouble set in and at last congestion of the lungs supervened. He received the last Sacraments on January 20th and died peacefully in sleep on the morning of January 21st, 1932. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1932 : Golden Jubilee

Obituary

Father Richard O’Reilly SJ

The 21st of January saw the death of Father O'Reilly at the advanced age of 82. For some months his health had been precarious and people wondered whether he would survive until his Diamond Jubilee in the Society. That he did not live to see it and the Golden Jubilee of Mungret College is a cause of sincere regret to us.

Father O'Reilly was born at Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, on the 31st of December, 1849. After a year or two spent at Mt St Mary's College, Chesterfield, he went to Clongowes in 1868, where, before the end of his schooldays, he had the rare honour of being elected Captain of the House for two years in succession.

In 1872 he entered the Novitiate of the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, and, at the end of two years, was sent to Roehampton. After some months spent there, he returned to Ireland to attend the courses of the Catholic University.

He spent three years at Laval, in France, studying philosophy and then taught for a year at Tullabeg, at that time a College of the Society. The next five years were spent teaching in Clongowes, and in the Crescent. Theology came next, one year in Jersey and three at St Bueno's, in Wales. In 1888, he came to Mungret as Minister and Procurator, before going to his Tertianship in Tronchiennes. He returned to Mungret in 1907, in his former capacity as Minister, and filled that office until 1910.

By far the greater part of the remainder of Father O'Reilly's life was spent at Tullabeg. He was given charge of the Sodality attached to the People's Church there, and won the respect of the people for miles around. His Sodalists were devoted to him and almost looked on him as their parish priest; and this in spite of the fact that when occasion demanded, he could be fearless in his rebukes.

His popularity with his fellow-priests was unbounded. Excellent at kindly repartee, they enjoyed a passage at arms with him, and his quick wit was nearly always successful in routing his opponents. When he himself was overthrown, a somewhat rare occurrence, he never showed signs other than those of an imperturbable self-possession and good humour. At social meetings he was ever a welcome guest, and was given the place of honour. When Dr Mulvaney was consecrated Bishop, it was Father O'Reilly that was placed on his right hand.

He knew everyone for miles around Tullabeg and was keenly interested in their doings. Those in trouble found him ever ready to come to their help with practical and sound advice. A quiet steady worker and excellent religious, his departure will be keenly felt by a wide circle of friends. He has taken with him some of that old-world courtesy and interest in things of the intellect, qualities all too rare in an age of staccato phrases and loose thinking. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Richard O’Reilly (1849-1932)

A native of Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan and educated at St Mary's, Chesterfield and Clongowes, entered the Society in 1872. He made his higher studies at the old Catholic University, Laval, Jersey and St. Beuno's, Wales. He spent two years of his regency here from 1882 to 1884. With the exception of three years on the mission staff, all of Father O'Reilly's priestly life was passed in the bursar's office and from 1902, with the exception of one year, his days were passed at Tullabeg where he worked many years in the church. In his school days he was elected captain of the house for two successive years-a distinction probably unique in the annals of that school.

Born: 30 April 1811, London, England
Entered: 24 July 1851, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1838 - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1862
Died: 10 November 1878, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1853 Teaching at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG)

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus : 08 December 1863-19 April 1870

Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Thomas, a merchant, and Brigid née O’Callaghan (one of five daughters of Edmund, of Killegorey Co Clare). One of his aunts married the Third Earl of Kenmare.

Born in London, but the family returned to Ireland when he was six years old.

Early education was at Clongowes and Maynooth and then on to the Roman College - where he made a public defence of universal Theology with applause and graduated DD. He was ordained there 1838.
1838-1851 He returned to Ireland and was appointed to the Chair of Theology, a position he held for thirteen years, and then he joined HIB 1851, received at Rome aged 40, and did his Noviceship in Naples.

1853-1856 Appointed professor of Dogmatic Theology at St Beuno’s, endearing himself to all who came to know him during his short stay.
1856 Sent to Ireland.
1862 He received his Final Vows unusually early due to his impending appointment as Provincial.
1863-1870 Appointed Provincial, succeeding Father Lentaigne who was the First provincial of HIB. On several occasions he was chosen by Prelates as their Theologian at various Provincial Synods, including the one at Oscott, England.
1874 Appointed first Rector of Milltown, whilst teaching at University, and also being Socius to the Provincial, and continued in these roles until his death 10 November 1878 At Milltown aged 67. He was universally loved and lamented. His funeral was attended by a large number of Ecclesiastics, Secular and Religious.
When the Catholic University was opened, he was appointed to the Chair of Theology, and the mutual sentiments of affection and esteem which existed between Newman, its First Rector, and Edmund remained undiminished until his death.. He was regarded by Newman and other high authorities as one of the first Theologians of the day.
He was remarkable for his devotion to the Church and the Society, a deep a solid piety, with exactness and fidelity in everything pertaining to the duties of the Priesthood, combined with great cheerfulness. His love of the poor was proverbial.
A brief memoir appears in the “Irish Monthly” Vol vi, 1878

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
One of his aunts married the Third Earl of Kenmare; Another entered the Visitation Convent Westbury; Another married Mr Bagot of Castle Bagot, and the last Married Mr Dease of Turbotstown. Their father - Edumnd’s grandfather - Edmund was mortally wounded in a duel, surviving for five days in time to repent and prepare for judgement.

He spent several years of his boyhood at Mount Catherine, near Limerick, and then in George’s (O’Connell) St Limerick. His very early education was by private tutor before going to Clongowes and Maynooth. While he was at the Roman College, the soon to be Cardinal Cullen was the President. When he became Cardinal at Armagh, he chose Edmund as his Theologian at the Synod of Thurles.

When Passaglia “broke off so miserably” in the middle of a brilliant career, Father General Beckx thought of summoning Edmund to Rome, to have him take the Chair of Theology at the Roman College. Although this did not happen, he was held in high regard as a Professor, and represented all the English speaking Provinces at a meeting held about Jesuit studies in Rome.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
O'Reilly, Edmund Joseph
by David Murphy

O'Reilly, Edmund Joseph (1811–78), Jesuit priest and theologian, was born 30 April 1811 in London, son of Thomas O'Reilly, merchant, and his wife Bridget, daughter of Edmund O'Callaghan and co-heiress to considerable estates in Co. Clare and Co. Limerick. He was brought to Ireland at the age of six and initially educated by a private tutor at the family estate at Mount Catherine, Co. Limerick, before attending Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. In 1826 he entered St Patrick's College, Maynooth, to begin studies for the priesthood but left three years later, doubting his vocation. He went to Rome in 1830 to continue his studies, however, and distinguished himself at the Roman College. While in Rome he lived at the Irish College where Paul Cullen (qv) was president, and the two men became firm friends. In 1835 he graduated DD, and was ordained priest for the diocese of Limerick in 1838. Returning to Ireland, he was appointed to the chair of dogmatic theology at Maynooth (1838–51). Renowned for his theological knowledge, he was in constant demand with members of the Irish hierarchy, acting as a counsellor on theological matters and points of sacred learning generally. In 1850 he was appointed as theologian to Cullen at the synod of Thurles; he later served as theological advisor to Bishop Brown of Shrewsbury at the synod of Oscott and to Bishop Thomas Furlong (1802–75) of Ferns at the synod of Maynooth. At one time he was considered by the general of the Society of Jesus, Fr Beckx, for the chair of theology at the Roman College.

In July 1851 he asked to be admitted to the Society of Jesus and completed his noviciate at Naples. After first profession, he was appointed as professor of theology at the Jesuit college of St Beuno's, north Wales, and in 1855 was appointed professor of theology at the Catholic University in Dublin, where he became a close associate of John Henry Newman (qv). In 1859 he founded the Jesuit house of studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, and was appointed its first rector, an appointment he held until his death. He took his final vows in August 1862 and was later appointed provincial of the Irish province of the Society of Jesus (1863–70). He died 10 November 1878 at Milltown Park, and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

O'Reilly published numerous theological articles. Several appeared in the Irish Monthly in 1873–4; from 1875 he assisted Matthew Russell (qv) in editing this journal. In 1875 Newman quoted from some of his writings on temporal papal power in his response to Gladstone's Vaticanism: an answer to reproofs and replies. Newman also referred to O'Reilly in his Letter to the duke of Norfolk (London, 1875). A collection of O'Reilly's writings, edited by Russell, was published in 1892 as The relations of the church to society. A large collection of his papers in the Irish Jesuit archives, Dublin, includes correspondence and manuscript drafts of his theological and devotional writings.

Fr Edmund Joseph O'Reilly, SJ, files in Irish Jesuit archives, Dublin; Irish Monthly, Dec. 1878, 695–700: Boase; Matthew Russell (ed.), The relations of the church to society (1892); Crone; Burke, IFR (1976) 889; Patrick J. Corish, Maynooth College, 1795–1995 (1995); ODNB

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Edmund O’Reilly SJ 1811-1878
On November 19th 1878, aged 67, died Fr Edmund Joseph O’Reilly, who in the words of Cardinal Newman was “a great authority” and “one of the first Theologians of his day”.

He was born in London, of Irish parents, on April 10th 1811, and returned to Ireland with his parents when he was six years old, residing first at Mount Catherine, a few miles from Limerick, and then in the city, in the house in O’Connell Street opposite the present Provincial Bank. His maternal grandfather, Mr Edmund O’Sullivan of Killegory, was mortally wounded in a duel, but survived five days to repent and die a Christian death.

Young Edmund was educated at Clongowes and then went to Maynooth, and from there to Rome in 1830 where he crowned a brilliant theological course with the “public act de universa theologica”, and the doctors cap in Divinity. On his return in 1838, he was appointed to the chair of Theology in Maynooth, a post he discharged with great distinction for thirteen years.

In 1851 he joined the Society when already 40 years of age. After his novitiate, he was appointed to the chair of Theology at St Beuno’s, Wales.

He became Rector of Milltown Park and held the arduous office of Provincial from 1863-1870. When the Catholic University was established at Dublin, Fr O’Reilly was invited by Newman to take the chair of Theology. This began an affection and esteem between these two great men, which ended only at death.

It is difficult in such a short notice to convey the excellence of Fr O’Reilly’s character. In the words of a very close friend of his, we may say “I have never known a more perfect character or a more blameless life”.

He had a special devotion to the Office, and it was related of him that while a Professor at Maynooth, he used to recite it daily with Dr Dixon, later the saintly Primate of Armagh. His kindness to the poor was known to all.

He retained his faculties right to up the end. Three minutes before he died he raised the crucifix to his lips and kissed it twice with great fervour. His last breath was a prayer. “He has gone to his reward” wrote Cardinal Newman “and all who knew him must have followed on his journey with thoughts full of thanksgiving and gladness for what God made him”.

◆ The Clongownian, 1899

Four Jesuits among our Past

The last number of “The Clongownian” contained some account of our Past in the Army, an account which, though extended, has proved by no means exhaustive. It is now proposed to give a similar record of four members of another societas militans, though their warfare is not of this world.

First on this confined list of Old Clongownians who have · filled responsible offices in the Society of Jesus is the name of Edmund Joseph O'Reilly. In the records of the house at our disposal we find him mentioned among the scholars leaving in the summer of 1830. He was born in London in 1811, and came to the College in 1825, being a school-fellow of Father Frank Murphy SJ, whose death in Australia we recorded eighteen months ago. They were in the Philosophy class of 1829-30, and Father B Esmonde, then Rector, records in his diary, under date of June 29 in the latter year, that “of the four philosophers at present in the house, two (Fr Murphy and Edmd, O'Reilly) have expressed their desire to enter the Society, and are both registered. Both are excellent, virtuous, and talented youths”. The word registered has in this context a curious significance, linking our own days with penal times. The Emancipation Act, passed in the previous year, was not wholly “for the relief of His Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects”. Of its eighteen penal clauses, one provides that “Whereas Jesuits are resident within this kingdom, and it is expedient to make provision for the gradual suppression and final prohibition of the same therein, it is enacted that every Jesuit. . . shall within six months deliver to the Clerk of the Peace notice of his name, age, place of birth, the name of the Order, and of the immediate Superior of the Order, ... and in case he offend in the premnisses, he shall forfeit to His Majesty for every month he shall remain in the United Kingdom, the sum of fifty pounds”. And so the Rector of that day sent in, early in the autumn of 1829, the list of the community and of those likely to join, to Mr Medlicott, then Clerk of the County of Kildare. The subject of this notice. however, did not enter the Society for many years after the registration. He left Ireland for Rome in company with Francis Murphy and John Curtis on September 8, 1830, and joined the Irish College, then presided over by Dr Cullen, the future Cardinal. After a brilliant course in the Roman College of the Society he gained the degree of DD, by examination, and returned to Ireland, where soon he became Professor of Tbeology in Maynooth. There his reputation for holiness and piety rivalled his great name as a scholar and professor. After thirteen years in Maynooth, he entered the Society in 1851, and went through the noviceship, a trial of no ordinary difficulty for a man of his years, whose character and habits were already fully formed. After the period of probation, he professed theology at the Jesuit House of Studies at St Buenos, near St Asaph, and afterwards became Superior of Milltown Park. There he died on November 10, 1878, having been Provincial of Ireland from 1863 to 1870.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Edmund O’Reilly (1811-1878)

In the foregoing pages, only Jesuits who have been members of the Limerick community have been noticed in the biographical index. Yet, this centenary publication would not be complete if it did not assign a notice to two Irish Jesuits who were never members of the community. Father Edmund O'Reilly undoubtedly had much to do with the restoration of the Society in Limerick, while Father John Hannon, an Old Crescent boy, became the second Irish Father Assistant at Rome in the four centuries history of the Society.

Father Edmund O'Reilly (1811-1878), was born in London on 30 April, 1811. Edmund was a child of six when his father decided to return to Ireland and settle down at Mount Catherine House, Clonlara. As Mr. Power died shortly after he returned to the country, the upbringing of the boy devolved upon a mother who was deeply religious in spite of the social class from which she came. She was a daughter of Edmund O’Callaghan of Kilgorey, Co. Clare. Her father was mortally wounded in a duel but survived long enough to repent and die at peace with God. All the O'Callaghan daughters made enviable matches from a social point of view: Lord Kenmare, Bagot of Castle Bagot and Dease of Turbotstown.

Young Edmund was brought for his early education into the city and mother and son occupied a house in George Street opposite the Provincial Bank in the then George Street. His early lessons he learned from a private tutor but later he entered Clongowes. He was accepted for the diocese of Limerick by Bishop Ryan and sent first to Maynooth and later to Rome for his higher studies. At Rome, he resided at the Irish College but took his lectures at the Roman College (Gregorian University) where he graduated Doctor of Divinity after a public act in all theology. He had been ordained priest in 1838. On his return to Ireland, his bishop recommended him to enter the concursus for the chair of theology at Maynooth College and young Dr O'Reilly was successful not only in obtaining the chair but in holding it with distinction for the next thirteen years.

Dr O'Reilly was chosen by Cardinal Cullen to be his theologian at the first National Synod of Thurles in 1850. He acted in the same capacity at the Synods of Oscott and Maynooth. To the surprise of many, Dr. O'Reilly in 1851 asked to be admitted to the Society. He was sent to Naples for his noviceship and the first news he received from Ireland after his arrival there was the sad message of his good mother's death. Father O'Reilly (as he became known amongst his religious brethren who do not use titles even when well earned) fitted in immediately with his new surroundings, in spite of the fact that he was now in his forty-first year. His formation in the Society was limited to the essentials: his noviceship and tertianship.

On his return from Italy, Father O'Reilly was loaned as professor of theology to the English Province of the Society. Later in Ireland, he became the first rector of Milltown Park and in 1863 was appointed Provincial. This latter post he occupied for seven years. Father O'Reilly has always been regarded as one of the greatest Jesuits of the last century not only in Ireland but throughout the Society. His ability as a theologian was known to the General of the Society who had already taken steps to appoint him to the chair of dogmatic theology at the Gregorian University. Fortunately he was allowed to remain in Ireland. Father O'Reilly was acquainted with Cardinal (then Dr.) Newman before his entrance into the Society. The great oratoriau regarded highly the fine intellectual gifts and noble character of the future Jesuit, and the friend ship of both remained constant to the end.

Born: 24 November 1903, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1934, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 26 February 1979, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Father was a farmer and a journalist and both parents are dead.

When his father died he was sent to his uncle, a Parish Priest in St Colman’s Church, Church Street, Gort, County Galway.

Educated first at Banagher Convent for two years and then went to Blackrock College CSSp for one year. He finally went to Mungret College SJ

Studied for BA at UCD

by 1936 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 54th Year No 2 1979

Galway
Fr Andrew O’Reilly RIP
It is with sincere regret that we have to record the death of one of the most respected and revered members of our community. Fr Andrew O’Reilly died on February 26 of an incurable illness, leukemia. His funeral Mass on Ash Wednesday, February 28, was concelebrated and attended by a very representative gathering of members of the Province. The chief concelebrant was his Rector, Fr Robert McGoran, assisted by the Vice-Principal, Fr Joseph Dargan, and Fr Bernard Murray.
Of Fr Andy we in the community could say “He was all things to all of us”. Always a friend to whom you could go when you wanted anything done. Elsewhere in this issue is an obituary notice. It was written by Fr Michael McGrath. Sincere thanks to him for such a fitting tribute. We include also two appreciations from dear friends, Maurice Semple, author of two books, “Some Galway Memories” and “Reflections on Lough Corrib”, and owner of the boat on which Fr O’Reilly spent his summer vacation, and Seán Beatty of the Columban Badminton Club, of which Fr O'Reilly was president.

Obituary :

Fr Andrew O’Reilly (1904-1979)

Fr Andy, as he was known by all, was a man without a spark of pride in him, yet in the last few years of his life, urged on and prompted by an American cousin, he did quite an amount of research on the family tree. Though three generations of O’Reillys have lived in Co Galway and Galway city, the O’Reillys were of Cavan origin. His greatgrandfather was Edward O’Reilly of Killanne between Shercock and Bailieborough. This Edward, who was a farmer, had a family of two sons and two daughters. One of his sons, Edward, became a teacher, moved south, and taught in Knockroon school between Headford and Shrule and lived in Headford. He married a Miss Kyne and had three children, a daughter Margaret and two sons, Alfred, who followed his father's footsteps and became a teacher, and Augustus, who moved to Galway and worked in the “Connacht Tribune”. Later, Augustus met and married a Catherine Nestor, whose family came originally from Gort. Augustus and Catherine had six children, Eddie, Andrew (our Fr Andy), George, Jack, Patrick and May. Both parents died whilst the family was still very young. The mother died in 1909 and the father in 1912, so their uncle, Father, later Canon, Andrew Nestor took charge of them. It meant however that the young OReillys hardly knew family life and had to be educated in boarding schools. So Fr Andy was in Banagher Convent, Blackrock College and Mungret. Andy felt the call to the priesthood and the Society. This was not surprising as the Nestor family had a tradition of giving sons to the priesthood. Fr Andy's granduncle, Fr John, was a priest of the diocese and died in Gort in 1853. Then as well as Fr Andrew Nestor, Fr Andy had another uncle, Fr John, who became a Jesuit in America where he died in 1942. Following therefore in their footsteps Fr. Andy entered the novitiate on September 1st 1919 before he had completed his sixteenth year.
He followed what was then the strict routine of formation and studies:
Noviceship 1919-1921 at Tullabeg
Home Juniorate 1921-1922 also at Tullabeg
University 1922-25 from Rathfarnham
Philosophy 1925-28 at Milltown
Regency 1928-31 at Clongowes
Theology 1931-35 with ordination 1934
Tertianship 1935-36 at St. Beuno's College, Wales
His first assignement after Tertianship was to St Ignatius College, Galway where he was to spend the rest of his life. For two years, he was Adj Praef Stud, Doc and Praef Spir Alumn, among other things. On August 3rd, 1938 he was appointed Rector but was also Doc and Operarius in the Church. Because the war intervened he held the office of Rector until 1947, a period of nine years. They were difficult years as finance was very tight because school fees were low and prices were rising. Yet he managed to save the wood panelling of the Church ceiling which was found to be infested with woodworm, as well as keeping the complex solvent. Whilst he fulfilled his duties as Rector most faithfully and conscientiously, with sound judgement and with kindness and consideration for everyone, I think it can be truthfully stated that he was never quite happy in the position and looked forward to the day his term of office would be finished. Being an essentially humble and self-effacing man, he disliked the limelight.
It was during his term of office that the Old Boys’ Union was founded and he also managed the affairs of the Columban Hall. This was because a Provincial had said that unless it paid its way it would have to be sold. By careful management and by doing most of the work himself, he managed to keep it afloat. In this way, he fostered music and dramatics in the city, for the Columban Hall was the only hall for such functions at the time. In his own strange way, he was very interested in these functions and made his contribution behind the scenes by acting as stage manager. His connection with the same hall continued to the end. Since the new School Hall was built, most of the former activities of the Columban Hall have been transferred to it, but Fr Andy continued to maintain the old Columban Hall. There had grown up a love-hate relationship between himself and that old building. From time to time, he would declare that he would gladly be rid of it, but at the same time all felt that he would be lonely without it.
When he ceased to be Rector, he returned to fulltime teaching, being the principal Latin teacher, through the medium of Irish, for many a long year. He was a man of tremendous practical abilities and skills and as well as his teaching, he was prepared to exercise his talents as electrician, carpenter, welder and general handyman in the house in his spare time. He even installed our first interphone system and did the same in Belvedere and the Crescent. Although he found preaching and public speaking difficult, he was always willing to step into the breach in the Church when help was needed. His whole life, though a rather hidden one, was nevertheless a very fulll one and one of service to others. He did not find it easy to mix with people, but when occasion demanded he was a most pleasant companion in any group. When he made friends his friendship was very sincere and loyal and again one of service. In return, his circle of friends was very loyal to him and truly loved him,
He was a man of prayer and most exact in the performance of all his religious duties but there was no outward show. He was a man who strictly interpreted his vow of poverty, sough permission for the gifts he received, never had superflua, never wasted, and used what he needed for his life and work with great care.
He was a man of great patience, self control and toleration and whilst he could get irritated and slightly annoyed, I don’t think anyone ever saw him lose his temper or get angry.
If he had one passion, it was his love of the Corrib River and Lake. He was never a great talker, but when he spoke of his trips and holidays on the lake he waxed eloquent. The Lake was obviously his earthly paradise. I think it was the peace, quiet and solitude of the lake that appealed to him, that and the companionship of those very dear friends, who shared these holidays and trips with him. May the Lord bless the Provincial who first granted him permission for such a holiday. He gave much happiness to Fr Andy. For whilst Andy gave unremitting service to the Society in Galway, apart from this pleasure we did not give him back much in return. Whilst he was teaching the Latin Classics down through the long years, from time to time he said he would like to visit Rome and Italy. Being the man he was, he would not ask for such a trip, but now it seems a pity that no one in authority ever said, “Andy, here is the money, Go”. Andy however did not look for earthly rewards.
His end was like the rest of his life, quiet, unobtrusive and without causing any trouble. He had been failing slightly for some months but no one paid much attention. He had always been so active, so sprightly, we thought that now in his 75th year, the years were catching up on him. However at the end of January it became apparent that it was something more than age. He was sent to the doctor who diagnosed leukaemia and he was put into hospital. There it was discovered after tests that he had one of the worst forms of that disease. Because his poor blood condition left him wide open to every and any infection he had to be pretty well isolated and his illness had to be kept quiet. Only the Rector and Fr Murray were allowed to visit him and then only for brief visits. He found the blood transfusions and drugs distressing and the haemorrhages and other side effects of his disease humiliating and then there was the loneliness of his isolation. As the month of February passed and he did not respond to the treatment it became obvious that there was little hope of his recovery. The Community arranged to say a Novena of Masses for him. The end came quicker than was expected on the morning of February 26th, the day the first Mass of the Novena was said. The Lord had answered but in a way we did not expect. Thus he entered his reward for his life of truly faithful service, and we can be certain he was welcomed by his Lord and Master with the words “Well done good and faithful servant: enter into the joy of the Lord”.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam gléigeal.

An Appreciation
It is only when one loses a friend to Death that the impact of his personality can be appreciated objectively. And so, with the passing to his Eternal Reward of Father Andrew O'Reilly, it is possible to consider him both as a priest and as a friend.
"Father Andy", as he was affectionately known to his friends, was firstly - and finally - a man of God, a faithful observer of the Rule of Saint Ignatius. This was reflected in his profound trust in Divine Providence and in his extraordinary sense of obedience and humility, Those of us who were fortunate to be close to him can truthfully and sincerely confirm that he was an inspiration - an example – on how to co-operate with Our Lord, and so, come closer to Him. And we are deeply, deeply grateful to Father Andy for this.
Who would expect that an expert in the Classics (having taught so many boys at Saint Ignatius College down the years the idiosyncrasies of Vergil and Homer) could also write to his friends in verse, while, in his unassuming manner, revealing himself as a skilled carpenter, electrician, and general handyman, whose talents were so freely made available to his Community and his friends ?
Father Andy had one particular interest, apart from his priestly vocation - his love for the Corrib country. Being a Galwayman, he had opportunity to visit it. For 21 years he sailed Lough Corrib from end to end, fishing, exploring and enjoying that peace and beauty so peculiar to that lake. In addition to his weekly visits during each season, he spent his annual fortnight's vacation in a boat, offering the Divine Sacrifice daily, on the lake. When he celebrated Mass on the 3rd August 1958 on a boat on the Corrib, it was the first time ever that such an event took place not alone on the Corrib but on any other lake in these islands. It was an historic occasion which pleased him greatly.
His ability to adapt himself in every company, his gentleness and his deep Christian convictions were an inspiration to many people around the lake. His passing has not only been a tremendous loss to his friends and Community but also a void on the Corrib scene.
May his gentle Soul find peace in his Divine Master and joy in the Happy Fishing Grounds.
(William F.) Maurice Semple

An Appreciation
Fr Andrew O’Reilly SJ, a Galway man, a community man, a priest, a friend and companion, slipped out of this world last month leaving with his friends and all who knew him wonderful and cherished memories.
Born in Galway 76 years ago. Went to school in Galway. Entered the Society of Jesus in 1919. Appointed to the teaching staff of Clongowes Wood College and ordained in 1934,
Returned to St. Ignatius College, Sea Road, Galway 43 years ago. Two years later he was appointed Rector. This position he held for 9 years and was also attached to the teaching staff of the College. He being a native Irish speaker, specialised in Irish, also Mathematics and Latin.
He was a quiet and unassuming man. A man of extraordinary and wonderful talent and ability.
Having attended to his priestly duties, he looked forward to overcoming any task great or small. He loved work and took delight and enjoyment in whatever he turned his hands to. His workshop was his paradise.
He was a builder, carpenter, decorator, electrician, painter, plumber, welder, in fact no task was too great and every job was a challenge.
He was associated with the management of the Columban Hall, Sea Road, and its activities including the Columban Players; Penny Dinners and Sewing Guild; Pantomimes (C.H.E.C.); Our Lady’s Boys' Club; Our Lady's Girls' Club; Irish Plays; Irish Dancing and the Columban Badminton club; the latter of which he was Honorary President of at the time of his death. : He was instrumental in reviving badminton in Galway in 1953 and his help and generosity were outstanding.
As a member of Corrib Rowing and Yachting Club, he was a navigator, an angler and above all he was a man of the Corrib. He loved the River Corrib and the Lake. He looked forward to cast off time on board the “Lady Corrib” each summer. For the first fortnight in August each morning he celebrated Mass on board the “Lady Corrib” in Golden Bay, Cong, where friends and neighbours and anglers prayed with him on board, on water and on land.
He has now cast off for his final voyage. His destination in his Final Reward.
He has left on the shore a multitude of friends. His hands will guide the rudder of each of us.
His guidance will be from the Higher Bridge. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.
Always remembered,
Seán Beatty

Born: 19 September 1884, The Square, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 12 November 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 December 1955, Blackrock College CSSp, Blackrock, County Dublin
Died: 01 August 1969, St Michael’s Nursing Home, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 02 May 1914

Known when Jesuit as Alfred J Rahilly.

Father was Clerk at the Petty Sessions to three districts, flour agent, Insurance and Emigration Agent, and died February 1899.

Mother then lived at Ballybunion, County Kerry. Had four brothers and ten sisters (1 brother and sister deceased)

Educated at local Convent and St Michael’s College, Listowel and then went to Blackrock College CSSp

1901-1903: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1903-1905: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, studying
1905-1908: University College, studying
1908-1911: Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
1911-1913: St Ignatius, Leeson Street, teaching and research (at British Museum, London)
1913-1914: Milltown Park, studying Theology

Married Agnes in 1916 with two children. Ordained priest 18/12/1955 by Archbishop McQuaid at Blackrock College after the death of his wife and his retirement from UCC. Lived as a secular priest at Blackrock College CSSp. Created Monsignor in 1960. He was buried at Kimmage Manor in the Spiritans graveyard. In his will he left his theologial library to the Society of Jesus at Milltown Park, and his other books to Blackrock College.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/orahilly-alfred-a6973#:~:text=After%20retirement%20he%20went%20to,two%20children%2C%20Ronan%20and%20Sybil.

O'Rahilly, Alfred

Contributed by
Murphy, John A.

O'Rahilly, Alfred (1884–1969), scholar, university president, controversialist, and priest, was born 19 September 1884 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, eighth child of Thomas Francis Rahilly and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry); he changed his name to ‘O'Rahilly’ by deed poll in 1920. His fourteen siblings included Celtic scholars Thomas Francis (qv) and Cecile (qv), and a first cousin was The O'Rahilly (qv), killed during the 1916 rising. Educated at St Michael's College, Listowel, Blackrock College, and UCD, he underwent a long period (1901–14) of training as a member of the Society of Jesus, but eventually left during the final stages of preparation for the priesthood, because of temperamental unsuitability. Appointed an assistant lecturer in mathematics and mathematical physics at UCC in October 1914, he became the dominant figure in the institution within six years. He became professor of mathematical physics on 1 June 1917 and registrar on 11 February 1920, and vacated these offices when he became president (1943–54).

His early career in UCC was set against the background of the revolutionary period, and he became predominantly identified, within and without the college, with the rise of post-1916 Sinn Féin. In UCC he led the nationalist interest that ousted the perceived pro-British old regime, personified by Sir Bertram Windle (qv), who resigned from the presidency in 1919. O'Rahilly was flamboyant, extrovert, disputatious and dynamic. During the low-key, unassertive presidency (1919–43) of P. J. Merriman, O'Rahilly as registrar was heir-presumptive and acted as de facto president. All in all, the whirlwind age of O'Rahilly lasted for almost four decades.

He was a volatile and bristling polymath of inexhaustible energy: the vast range of his scholarly interests – politics, sociology, finance, Christology, mathematical physics, history – aroused astonishment and envy. One critique of his work on Money ended with the reflection that the book would enable people to relieve rural tedium by laughing the winter nights away. His contemplated multi-volume life of Christ prompted a National University colleague to observe (not very originally) that a life of O'Rahilly by Christ would be much more interesting. O'Rahilly, who was vain but not stuffy, was not offended by such descriptions of him as ‘a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Jimmy O'Dea’ (qv), but was not pleased by the jibe that he had the best mind of the twelfth century, since he considered himself a very modern man indeed. But he would not have taken exception to the waggish description of the Holy Shroud of Turin (the subject of his province-wide lectures) as ‘Alfie's flying carpet’.

There were some negative and even frivolous aspects of his UCC presidency. He had a strong appetite for the hurly-burly of academic politics and, it was said, entered no controversy that he did not aggravate. He had the reputation of being a bully and exploiter in his dealings with junior academic staff; but he could be kind, helpful, and extraordinarily generous to staff and students with problems. His zeal for vigorously promoting a Roman catholic ethos in a nominally pluralist institution was frequently paternalistic and extended to acts of petty supervision, particularly perhaps over women students. This was the kind of atmosphere that prompted a visiting examiner to describe the UCC of the 1940s as ‘a convent run by a mad reverend mother’.

All this being said, O'Rahilly was one of the most vibrant and effective presidents in the history of the National University. His initiatives included extensive improvements in the library, of which he was director, and the institution of student health and restaurant services. He founded the electrical engineering department and the Cork University Press, which he believed would provide a publication outlet for the researches of his colleagues, particularly those concerned with native learning. He strengthened UCC's links with the city and the province, and these were significantly expressed through the provision of adult education courses, an area where O'Rahilly was particularly innovative and pioneering.

As a young academic, he had become caught up in the struggle for independence. He served on Cork corporation in the heroic age of Tomás Mac Curtáin (qv) and Terence MacSwiney (qv), and spent a patriotic period in jail and on the run. He represented Cork borough (1923–4) in Dáil Éireann for Cumann na nGaedheal but resigned his seat in 1924. He was a constitutional adviser to the Irish delegation at the treaty negotiations in 1921, argued publicly for the acceptance of the treaty, and helped to draft the constitution of the Irish Free State. His links with the local labour and trade-union movement were long and close, and at national level he served as Irish government chief representative in successive sessions of the International Labour Conference in Geneva. He was also a member of government commissions on banking and vocational organisation. After retirement he went to reside at Blackrock College, where he was ordained a priest (18 December 1955), and became a domestic prelate (monsignor) in 1960. O'Rahilly died 2 August 1969. He married (4 September 1916) his first cousin, Agnes O'Donoghue (d. 14 September 1953); they had two children, Ronan and Sybil.

No other layman of his day so self-confidently assumed a central role in so many areas of catholic life – philosophy, sociology, theology, scriptural studies. The controversies in which be became involved were a source of interest and pride to UCC students. Their president was a pugnacious polemicist (who jousted with such eminences as H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw (qv)), a man of stature, and a formidable catholic intellectual. And who could not be impressed, as well as entertained, by his exuberant claim: ‘I have not now the smallest doubt that I have Einstein refuted’?

Sources
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly (4 vols, 1986–93); John A. Murphy, The College: a history of Queen's/ University College Cork 1845–1995 (1995)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_O%27Rahilly

Alfred O'Rahilly

Alfred O'Rahilly, KSG (1 October 1884 – 1 August 1969) was an academic with controversial views on both electromagnetism and religion. He briefly served in politics, as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork City, and was later the president of University College Cork. He also became a priest following the death of his wife.

Education and academia
Born (with the last name Rahilly) in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland to Thomas Francis Rahilly of Ballylongford, County Kerry and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry) of Glin, County Limerick. He was first educated at St Michael's College, Listowel[1] and at Blackrock College in Dublin. O'Rahilly first earned University College Cork degrees in mathematical physics (BA 1907, MA 1908).

The O'Rahilly Building (left) houses UCC’s Humanities Faculty.
He studied scholastic philosophy at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire following his master's degree, then returned to UCC for a BSc (1912). In 1914, he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and then in 1917 he was made Professor of Mathematical Physics.

In 1919 he received a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He became Registrar of UCC in 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President of the University. O'Rahilly founded Cork University Press in 1925. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard studying social and political theory.

In 1938, he published a controversial book surveying electromagnetic theory called Electromagnetics (Longman, Green and Company), republished in 1956 by Dover as Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals.

In 1939, UCC conferred on him the degree D.Litt., and in 1940 the National University of Ireland awarded him a DSc.

The O'Rahilly Building was one of the major developments on the UCC campus in the 1990s and was named in honour of O'Rahilly.[2]

Politics and public life
After the 1916 Easter Rising, O'Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for political writings, O'Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison.

Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O'Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State with Darrell Figgis.

O'Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on a conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. As President of University College Cork, he initiated workers' education courses in the university in the late 1940s which proved popular with Cork trade unionists.[citation needed]

Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dáil at the 1923 general election.[3] He resigned in 1924,[4] causing a by-election later that year which was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Michael Egan.

Religion
A deeply religious Catholic from early life, O'Rahilly was a member of the Society of Jesus but left before ordination and was dispensed from his vows. He maintained his (sometimes controversial) religious views throughout his life, and became a priest, and then Monsignor, in later years following the death of his wife. He wrote a biography of Willie Doyle. He also contributed to The Irish Catholic weekly newspaper.

In 1954, Pope Pius XII conferred on him the Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

He was also an advisor on university education to the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid and sat on an informal committee from 1950. The committee included O'Rahilly, and the other presidents of the National University of Ireland; Michael Tierney of UCD, Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, Cardinal D'Alton, and Bishops Cornelius Lucey of Cork and Michael Browne of Galway.

Science
In O'Rahilly's major survey of electromagnetic theory, Electromagnetics (1938),[5] he opposed Maxwell's dominant (British) theory of the electromagnetic field and followed the French Catholic physicist, historian of science, and philosopher of science Pierre Duhem in rejecting Maxwell's field account.[6] As a logical consequence of his rejection of Maxwell, O'Rahilly also rejected Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. O'Rahilly embraced Ritz's ballistic theory of light and Ritz's electrodynamics.[7] While Ritz's theory reduces to Coulomb's Law and Ampere's Law, since its derivation is phenomenological, it differs from the Liénard–Wiechert potential. O'Rahilly also wrote against applying the theory of evolution to human society.

Because O'Rahilly thought Cork lacked a social science curriculum he volunteered to teach courses in economics and sociology. When told that they could not spare him from the physics courses, he volunteered to teach an economics course and sociology course along with his physics courses.

Family
His brother T. F. O'Rahilly was a Celtic languages scholar and academic, noted for his contribution to the fields of historical linguistics and Irish dialects.[8] His sister Cecile O'Rahilly was also a Celtic scholar, and published editions of both recensions of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and worked with her brother in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[9]

His first cousin The O'Rahilly was one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers and died in the Easter Rising.[10]

Writings
O'Rahilly's writings include: Father William Doyle, S.J. (1920, 4th ed. 1930), Flour, Wheat and Tariffs (1928), Money (1941), Jewish Burial: The Burial of Christ (1941), Religion and Science (1948), Aquinas versus Marx (1948), Moral Principles (1948), Social Principles (1948), The Family at Bethany (1949), Moral and Social Principles (1955), Gospel Meditations (1958) and Electromagnetic Theory (2 vols, 1965).

Father William Doyle S.J. (1922)
Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (1938)
References
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly Biography (Kingdom Books, 1986) (ISBN 0-9506015-6-X)
"O' Rahilly Building Extension and Quadrangle". University College Cork. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Worldcat entry for "Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals" - First edition published in 1938 under title: "Electromagnetics"
See Pierre Duhem: Against "Cartesian Method": Metaphysics and Models from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for why Duhem rejected Maxwell's theory.
For a short description of O'Rahilly's criticism of the special theory of relativity, see this section of Challenging Modern Physics by Al Kelly
Murphy, John A. "O'Rahilly, Alfred". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa. "O'Rahilly (Ní Rathaille, Ó Rathaille), Cecile (Sisile)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Breathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire. "Ó RATHGHAILLE, Micheál Seosamh (1875–1916)". Ainm. Retrieved 27 December 2020.

https://www.ucc.ie/en/heritage/history/people/ucc-presidents/president-alfred-orahilly/

Alfred O'Rahilly

Alfred O’Rahilly MA DPhil DSc KSG, President, University College Cork, 1943-54

Alfred O’Rahilly, was born in September 1884[1] in Listowel, Co. Kerry, the son of Thomas F. Rahilly, clerk of petty sessions, and his wife Julia M. Curry. He changed his surname by deed poll in 1920 to ‘O’Rahilly’.[2] He was educated at St Michael’s College, Listowel, and at Blackrock College, Dublin.[3] O’Rahilly was awarded a BA (1907), MA in Mathematical and Experimental Physics (1908) by the Royal University of Ireland. He then entered Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England, where he is an resident at the time of the 1911 census. At Stonyhurst, he studied at St Mary’s Hall, where he attended a three-year course in scholastic philosophy in the Jesuit novitiate for which he was awarded the papal degree of DPhil.[4] O’Rahilly then gained a BSc (1912) at University College, Dublin. In 1914 he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and made full Professor of Mathematical Physics in June 1917. He became Registrar of the college in February 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard University studying social and political theory. On his return, he persuaded the Governing Body to establish a lectureship in sociology, which he took on without salary.[5] The National University of Ireland conferred on him the honorary degree DLitt in 1939 and, in the following year, his work on Electromagnetics obtained for him the degree DSc.

After the 1916 Easter Rising, O’Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for his political writings, O’Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison in Cork harbour. Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O’Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State. O’Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dail at the 1923 general election but did not go for re-election in 1924.[6] As representative of the Irish Government, he attended the Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva in 1932.[7] He was a member of the Banking Commission and, from 1923, Chairman of the Cork Arbitration Board, where he was prominent in the settlement of industrial disputes. In this latter role he was active in securing compensation for the loss of employment suffered by the workers of the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, for which work some of the tramway men of the city presented him with 'The Tramway Cup' in 1933.

O’Rahilly had a dominant personality and was a prolific scholar, polymath, controversialist and public figure. His UCC initiatives included improvements in his role as Director of the Library, the institution of student health and restaurant services, and the acquisition of the extensive former County Gaol site which made significant building expansion possible. Other innovations included the foundation of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Cork University Press in 1925 (which he handed over to the College in 1928)[8] and UCC’s second in-house magazine, Cork University Record, in 1944. O’Rahilly strengthened College links with the city and the province, particularly in adult education courses. He instituted a diploma in Social Science, the first diplomate was Seán Casey who was later a TD for Cork city and Lord Mayor.[9] He published prolifically, often on issues relating to religion and politics.

Alfred O’Rahilly married Agnes O’Donoghue on 4 September 1916 at Rathmines, Dublin. They had two children. She died on 14 September 1953.[10] He retired from the presidency of UCC in October 1954 and moved to Blackrock College (Holy Ghost Fathers), Dublin, where he was ordained as a member of the order on 18 December 1955, aged 71. He remained at Blackrock, becoming a monsignor in 1960. O’Rahilly died at St Michael’s nursing home, Dún Laoghaire, on 2 August 1969. He is buried in the community cemetery in the grounds of Kimmage Manor, headquarters of the Holy Ghost Fathers.[11] O’Rahilly left his theological library to the Jesuits at Milltown Park; in 2019 the Milltown Park library was transferred to Dublin City University;[12] his other books were given to Blackrock College.

In 1998 the new Business and Languages building, named the Alfred O’Rahilly Building, was opened by Micheál Martin, Minister for Education (a UCC graduate).[13] O’Rahilly’s tenure as Director of the Library is remembered in the relief created by Séamus Murphy RHA that is on display in the Boole Library.

Born: 23 February 1926, Kamaduru, North Circular Road, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1944, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 19 November 2009, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.
Buried Mungret, Limerick.

Father was an accountant.

Older of two boys with three sisters.

Educated at a Convent school for three years and then he went to Crescent College SJ for nine years.

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 142 : Spring 2010
Obituary

Fr Niall O’Neill (1926-2009)

23rd February 1926: Born in Limerick
Early education at Crescent College
7th September 1944: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1946: First Vows at Emo
1946 - 1950: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1950 - 1953: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: Belvedere - Teacher
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1959: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1960 - 1961: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1961 - 1962: Clongowes- Lower Line Prefect; Teacher
2nd February 1962: Final Vows
1962 - 1967: Crescent College, Limerick - Spiritual Director (pupils); Confessor; Teacher
1967 - 1973: Tullabeg - Missions / Retreat Staff
1973 - 1989: Sacred Heart Church, Limerick
1973 - 1984: Missions / Retreat staff
1984 - 1989: Missions / Retreat staff; Promoted the Apostleship of Prayer and the Messenger
1989 - 2000: Tory Island - Parish Curate
2000 - 2001: Gort an Choirce - LeitirCeanainn, Dun na nGall
2001 - 2006: Gallen Priory Nursing and Retirement Home, Ferbane - Residential Chaplain
2006 - 2009: Della Strada, Limerick - Prayed for Church and Society
19th November, 2009: Died in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Liam O'Connell writes:
Niall O'Neill grew up on the North Circular Road, Limerick. His family was important to Niall, and he remained close to his brother and three sisters. His father, Dick, died in his 40's, and a photograph from the ordination day of Niall and his mother, whom the family called Mater, had pride of place in Niall's room. All of his family shared a devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, and a commitment to the care of the sick, and over the years their annual pilgrimages there also became a family reunion.

Niall took great pleasure in the achievements of his nieces and nephews, and they in turn were great at keeping in touch with him. He introduced them to music at an early age, buying guitars and a set of uileann pipes for them. They were most grateful to him for this, and many of them followed musical careers.

In 1944, during the World War, Niall left the Crescent and began his life as a Jesuit, when he went to Emo. Years later when Emo closed, Niall salvaged the bell from there, called the Challenger, and he used it to summon people to Mass on Tory Island. After studies in UCD and in Tullabeg, Niall taught as a scholastic in Belvedere where he also ran the Field Club, and he became a lifelong friend and supporter of the Belvedere Youth Club. In later years he went as chaplain with them on their annual seaside camp in County Meath.

During the years of study Niall belonged to a great group of Jesuit companions. These included Tom McGivern and Gerry Keane, who later worked in Zambia and Singapore, but they still remained his steadfast friends. Contemporaries enjoyed Niall's personal qualities, his rugged determination, his patriotism, his good humour, his talent as a musician, as a sportsman, as an actor, and as one of the authors of the pantomimes and reviews they produced regularly. In these they poked gentle fun at everybody and everything, and they maintained a sense of balance and good humour at a time of Spartan living conditions.

As a schoolboy Niall and a friend cycled from Limerick to Portlaoise on a bird watching expedition, to see the first collared doves in Ireland, and as a Jesuit this love of nature continued to enrich his life. Years later he attracted hundreds of 'twitchers' to Tory, by alerting the BBC to the presence on the island of a bird rarely seen in Europe. He amassed a specialised collection of Irish bird books, and even when in Cherryfield be sent for his binoculars so that he could continue to be close to the natural world.

After Tertianship Niall became Lower Liner Prefect at Clongowes. Then in 1962 he went to Limerick, to Crescent College as a teacher and Spiritual Father. In 1967 he joined the Retreat and Parish Mission staff. This new work brought him to every diocese in Ireland, giving parish missions that lasted up to two weeks at a time, and he worked closely with Seán Noonan and Kevin Laheen and Noel Holden. Niall had a great love of the lore of country places, and took many fine slide photographs of the places he visited.

For much of this time Niall continued to live in the Crescent, until he went in 1989 to live as the resident priest in Tory Island off the Donegal coast. He described this as the happiest period of his life, and he adapted his Munster Irish to Caighdeán Cuige Ulaidh. At this time he began to say the Divine Office and Mass in Irish, a practice he continued till the end. On Tory he also visited the sick, worked as a peacemaker, welcomed visitors, and brought encouragement and friendship to many, especially the housebound. He also had time to fish for his supper, and to wander in all weathers all over the island. In recent years he used to look at his collection of videos of life on Tory. These included pictures of the Ferry journey to Tory, programmes about Tory recorded from TG4, homemade videos that recorded the island way of life, and some great Atlantic storms.

We also have some beautiful photographs of Niall from Tory; processing outside the church with altar servers, with their vestments blowing in the wind; bounding over rocky outcrops with two beautiful dogs; ringing the bell for Mass, and smiling with delight as he greeted friends. In recent Niall used to receive a large post every day, and the Donegal postmarks on many of these letters were a sign of strong and lasting friendships formed on Tory.

In the year 2000 Niall had a stroke, and had to leave his beloved Tory. He always was a determined person, and entered into his rehabilitation programme with great resolve. He lived for a year in Cherryfield and then in Gort an Choirce, Letterkenny, before becoming Resident Chaplain, in Gallen Priory Nursing and Retirement Home, Ferbane, Co. Offaly. Gallen Priory is the site of a 5th century hermitage of Saint Canoc, on the River Brosna, and it is one of the oldest Christian sites in Ireland. Niall loved his time here, and became great friends with the sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny who lived there, and with the staff and the patients of the Priory. Again Niall was a constant friend the these people visited him often in Limerick for his last three years.

And every morning he spent two hours in his own little sanctuary, down by a bend in the River Brosna. Here he built a shaded seat at the base of an ivy clad tree, and trained the ivy so that it formed a canopy that gave shelter from the wind and rain. He prayed here, surrounded by a beauty that only comes slowly to those who know how to sit and wait. Here among the wildlife, including all the songbirds and otters and kingfishers, and other rare species he said his prayers. Ignatius of Loyola asks us to consider how God works and labours for us in all things created on the face of the earth. On this bend on the River Brosna, where the sky is constantly changing, Niall made time for God, and allowed God to touch his heart. Here he was like the person in Coleridge's poem:
“He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all...”
In 2006 Niall had to move again, because of ill health, this time back to Limerick, to Della Strada, Dooradoyle. He became a regular patient and visitor to Ward 2C in the Regional Hospital. Here he established a strong friendship with the nurses and doctors.

Niall was blessed by their professional and personal care, and by their friendship. Later Niall was to receive the same loving care at the Jesuit nursing home, at Cherryfield Lodge in Dublin.
Niall was stubborn and determined, and during national elections his trenchant views might not have been shared by many of his colleagues. But everybody who got to know him learned to have enormous respect for his integrity and his faithfulness to the Gospel, and they were grateful for the prayerful support we received from him. He had a public disagreement with another Jesuit colleague about Tory Island affairs, but in his final months Niall used this colleague's mortuary card as a bookmark and he became reconciled with him through in prayer.

People were struck by Niall's happiness. His faith and his Jesuit vocation brought him great joy, deep down contentment, the sort of joy that is bigger than any of life's difficulties. This was true especially in the last three years, when he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, which at first made speech difficult, and then impossible. However Niall never seemed to be wrapped up in himself. He was a great host to visitors to Della Strada, and even in illness he became their willing chauffeur. And whenever colleagues and friends faced a difficulty, they valued his prayers and his support.
During these three years of sickness, Niall spent much of this time praying, in the chapel with the curtains to the outside world drawn back, to let the world of nature in. God works and labours for us in all things created on the face of the earth. Every morning he put an apple on the ground outside the window of his room, to feed two blackbirds who became his companions. Then for much of the day he put a cushion on his lap, used his bad hand to steady a writing pad, and he proceeded to write long letters to his friends.

Niall O'Neill was closely connected to God, to God's creation and to his family and his Jesuit friends in the Lord. And that's not taken away by death. That faithful life and prayerful support is stronger than death, and we continue to be enriched by his faith and his hope and his love.

Born: 20 May 1927, Dungarvan, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1944, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1958, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1961, Crescent College SJ, Limerick
Died: 12 February 2017, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Son of Hugh O’Neill and Pauline Farrell. Father was a doctor and the family lived at Annebrook, Mullingar, County Westmeath.

Younger of two boys with two sisters.

Early Education at St.Mary's College Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Clongowes Wood College SJ

1946-1949 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1949-1952 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1952-1955 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Regency : Teacher; Studying for H Dip in Education
1955-1959 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1959-1960 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1960-1961 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Teacher
1961-1962 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Lower Line Prefect; Teacher
1962-1973 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Teacher; Pioneers
1973-1975 Gonzaga College SJ - Secretary to Headmaster
1974 Assistant Province Treasurer
1975-1979 Loyola House - Assistant Province Treasurer; Editor “Ordo”
1976 Editor of “Liturgical Calendar” & “Province News”
1979-1984 Leeson St - Subminister; Editor of “Liturgical Calendar” & “Province News”
1984-1989 Crescent Church, Limerick - Assists in Church; Editor of “Liturgical Calendar” & “Province News”
1989-1991 Tullabeg - Assists in Church; Editor of “Liturgical Calendar” & “Province News”
1991-2017 Milltown Park - Editor of “Liturgical Calendar”; Chaplain
1992 Chaplain Maryville Nursing Home, Donnybrook, Dublin
2011 Editor of “Liturgical Calendar”; Assists Co-ordination of Community Liturgy
2013 Editor of “Liturgical Calendar”
2014 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/life-quiet-faithfulness/

A life of quiet faithfulness
Jesuits, family and friends bid a final farewell to Hugh O’ Neill SJ, who died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge in the early hours of Sunday morning, 12 February. He would have been 90 on 20 May this year. He was a native of Dugarvan, Co Waterford and as a Jesuit, taught in Crescent, Clongowes and Gonzaga colleges. He was a keen environmentalist and ahead of his time in that respect. In his later years he worked on the ‘Liturgical Calendar’ for the Irish Province and edited ‘Province News’.
Fr Bill Callan, rector of Milltown Park, gave the homily at his funeral mass place in Milltown Park Chapel, Ranelagh, on the Wednesday after his passing. Fr Hugh was remarkable for his courtesy he said, noting how many of the nurses and staff of Cherryfield Lodge referred to him as ‘a true gentle man’. He quoted Ella, the Polish nurse who spoke of her sadness at his death saying,“O Father, so sad: he was beautiful man, – so grateful. No matter how small the thing you do for him he always says ‘Thank you’.” This sentiment was echoed even by the Jesuits whom he taught. David Coghlan was in his class and remembered the high jinks he and his fellow students would get up to. No matter what their behaviour, Fr Hugh’s toughest form of discipline was the admonishment – “Better remain standing”.
The Provincial, Fr Leonard Moloney also remembered his school days being taught by Fr Hugh. He shared about the real impression he made on him and the boys when Fr Hugh inculcated in them a sense of caring for the environment, especially the trees that provided the paper they so took for granted. To this day, the Provincial said, he was always mindful not to be wasteful of paper.
An anecdote from Bill also underlined Fr Hugh’s sensitivity to the environment. “Hugh immensely enjoyed his walks, taking a bus to some remote destination at weekends and doing a circuit locally on weekdays. On these daily outings if he saw any offending litter strewn on the ground he had no hesitation in collecting it and bringing it home for disposal in the house bins. The sight of a Jesuit coming up Eglington Road and stooping to pick up litter as he went, is not seen all that often! However what might strike us as incongruous made perfect sense to Hugh: Such rubbish was a blot on the landscape and as he was passing why should he not be the one to put this to rights.”
But in the end, according to Bill, what stood out most regarding Fr Hugh and his life as a Jesuit priest was his faithful service to the God he believed in. The life he lived was sustained by quiet faithfulness, and the strong love he had for his country and his religion, he said. This was “the key to understanding Hugh’s life: His fidelity would not make sense if God did not exist.”
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Born: 16 April 1863, Dungannon, County Tyrone
Entered: 07 September 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1895, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 19 July 1947, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

Educated at CUS Dublin, St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

by 1890 at Prague Residence, Czech Republic (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1891 at Paris France (FRA) studying
by 1897 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
O'Neill, George (1863–1947)
by J. Eddy
J. Eddy, 'O'Neill, George (1863–1947)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oneill-george-7909/text13757, published first in hardcopy 1988

biographer; Catholic priest; linguist; religious writer; theological college teacher

Died : 19 July 1947
George O'Neill (1863-1947), Jesuit priest, academic and author, was born on 16 April 1863 at Dungannon, Tyrone, Ireland, son of George F. O'Neill, inspector of schools, and his wife Mary Teresa, née McDermott. He was educated at the Catholic University School in Dublin and at St Stanislaus College, Tullamore, and entered the Jesuit novitiate in September 1880 at Milltown Park. In 1880-89 he taught at Belvedere and Clongowes Wood colleges, studied at Milltown Park and took his B.A. with first-class honours in classics from the Royal University of Ireland. He spent a postgraduate year in Prague in 1890, followed by a year in Paris. On his return to Ireland he took his M.A. with first-class honours in modern languages at the Royal University.

From 1891 O'Neill pursued philosophical and theological studies at Milltown Park and was ordained priest in 1895. In 1897, after completing his tertianship at Tronchiennes, Belgium, he was appointed to the staff of University College, St Stephen's Green, an independent Jesuit college which prepared its students for the examinations of the Royal University. Fr O'Neill was prefect of the library and church, choirmaster, and taught ancient and modern languages until 1901, when he became a fellow of the Royal University, while continuing to teach at St Stephen's Green as professor of English literature, in succession to Thomas Arnold. In 1909 when the Royal University was replaced by the National University of Ireland, O'Neill became a founding fellow and was nominated the first professor of English language and philosophy in 1910. He held this post until his departure at the age of 60 for Australia. One of his pupils was the young James Joyce.

O'Neill was sent to the Australian Jesuit Mission in 1923 at his own request, influenced by a period of ill health and a sense of dissatisfaction at the approach of retirement. Archbishop Mannix was keen to obtain distinguished staff for his new seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, Victoria, and O'Neill became professor of modern languages (1923-45) and of church history (1932-45), and lectured and wrote in theology, history, literature and aesthetics. In 1945 when his eyesight and health were failing, he retired to Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney. He died on 19 July 1947 and was buried in Gore Hill cemetery.

A somewhat reticent and scholarly figure, O'Neill was nevertheless warm, frank, cultured and friendly, respected for his good critical judgement, his moral qualities of courage and sympathy for others, and his spiritual outlook. He was a precocious linguist, being thoroughly at home in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German and Italian, a fine pianist and occasional composer, an omnivorous reader and, though not a great supporter of the Irish revival, was a correspondent of Canon Sheehan, Lady Gregory and Louise Guiney. Among his publications were studies of Shakespeare and of English poetry, a history of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay, scripture and poetry anthologies, a Newman reader, and a study of Job. He served as editorial consultant and wrote for a number of scholarly journals, including the Lyceum and the New Ireland Review, and contributed over thirty articles to the Jesuit publication Studies. His best writing is to be found in the Life of the Reverend Julian Edmund Tenison Woods (1929) and Life of Mother Mary of the Cross, 1842-1909 (1931).

Select Bibliography:
U. M. L. Bygott, With Pen and Tongue (Melb, 1980)
Irish Province News, 5, no 3, July 1947, p 238
Society of Jesus, Irish Jesuit Archives, Dublin and Australian Province Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
George O’Neill came to Australia in 1923, when he was over 60. It might have been thought that at this age, his value to the Society in Australia would not be very great, but the work he did in the 22 years he spent at Corpus Christi College was of greater value for the glory of God than anything he had done in his earlier life.
Before his arrival in Australia, O’Neill had been engaged in university work in Dublin for years, first with the Royal University of Ireland and then with the National University. This assignment began in 1897, when he was appointed to University College, where he prepared students for the Royal examinations, lecturing in modern and ancient languages. University College was a relic of the abortive attempt to establish a Catholic university in Newman's time. It was handed over to the Society by the Irish bishops, and became a kind of hostel for students preparing for the Royal Examinations. O’Neill was a fellow of the Royal University of Ireland. He set and corrected examinations and received a modest salary.
O’Neill went to school at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, (later amalgamated with Clongowes), and gave evidence of the ability, so strikingly manifested later. He entered the noviceship at Milltown Park, Dublin, 7 September 1880. After this he was sent for a year to teach in Belvedere College, Dublin, and then returned to Milltown Park for a year's
philosophy. He was at the same time doing his university course by taking the examination of the Royal University of Ireland. He was given a year free of teaching at University
College, 1884-85, to prepare for his BA exams, and it was during this year that he lived with Gerard Manley Hopkins, who had been elected a Fellow of the Royal University at the
beginning of 1884 and was resident at University College.
After obtaining his degree, O'Neill did two more years teaching at Belvedere, where Albert Power was a pupil at the time, and a year at Clongowes. He was then given two years on the continent, one in Prague and one in Paris, preparing for his MA examinations in modern languages, which he took in 1891 with first class honours. Then he did a second year of philosophy (seven years after completing his first year) at Milltown Park, and went straight to theology in the same place.
He was ordained in 1895, at the age of 32, and did his tertianship at Tronchiennes. In 1897 he was appointed to University College and took up the work that was to occupy him until he left for Australia in 1923 at his own request, influenced by a period of ill health and a sense of dissatisfaction at the approach of retirement. In 1909, when the National University of Ireland replaced the Royal University O’Neill became a founding fellow and was nominated the first professor of English language and philosophy in 1910. One of his pupils was a young James Joyce. He later joined the community at Lower Lesson Street, not far from the university. He was a precocious linguist, being master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and German. He was an omnivorous reader, particluarly in English literature. He regularly contributed critical English articles in “Studies”.
When he reached Melbourne, it was a question whether he would go to Newman or to Werribee, and Werribee was chosen. He was to spend just over 22 years there, and his courses
exceeded all expectations. He professed modern languages, 1923-45, and church history, 1932-45. and lectured and wrote in theology, history, literature and aesthetics. He had never been a real teacher, being too academic for the average student, though the specially gifted could obtain much from him. But his simplicity of character, his edifying religious life, and general culture, had a great influence on generations of students, even if he did not teach them much.
Even in Ireland O'Neill was noted for care of the young and being kind to them. He loved having the students around him at Werribee, and regretted their departure for vacations
Though he had very considerable musical gifts, possessing a sense of absolute pitch and being competent player of the piano, he was not a real pianist, being rather hard and mechanical, and he had very poor handwriting.
O'Neill wrote a number of books and articles. in Ireland he had published a small volume “Lectures on Poetry”, and two books on the Shakespeare-Bacon question, “Could Bacon Have Written the Plays?” and “The Clouds around Shakespeare”. He continued his writing in Australia. Though always a good writer, he never succeeded in becoming a popular one. His book on the Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay, “Golden Years on the Paraguay”, deserved more popularity than it attained. The two books that made most impact on the Australian public were his life of Saint Mother Mary of the Cross (MacKillop) and his life of Julian Tenison Woods. The latter was written first. It was not popular with the Black Josephite Sisters, for in matters of controversy concerning their origins, he came down too heavily on one side.
He wrote a history of the Australian Mission, but it was never published. It was very good concerning the early years, but it was somewhat superficial in the treatment of the more
contemporary period. He could hardly be regarded as an unbiased historian, since he tended to be influenced unduly by his likes and dislikes. He never maintained a sufficiently detached outlook. He went to immense trouble in gathering material on the origins of the Josephite Sisters, particularly from surviving associates of Mother Mary and Father Woods, but his judgment on the facts could not always be firmly relied upon.
O'Neill put a great deal of work into his translation of Job, in which he received much help from Albert Power. It is greatly to his credit that he was always ready to help other writers. He had, for example, done a good deal of work on Caroline Chisholm, and helped Margaret Kiddie with her biography.
O'Neill was an extraordinary combination of genius, honesty and simplicity. He was child-like in many ways, always, for example, ready to experiment with strange combinations of dishes at meals. Though kind and even-tempered as a rule, he could become annoyed at times over what other people would regard as of no importance. Although a somewhat reticent and scholarly figure, he was nevertheless warm, frank, cultured and friendly, respected for his good critical judgment, his moral qualities of courage and sympathy for others, and for his spiritual outlook.
When his eyesight became so bad that he could no longer carry on his work at Werribee, he retired at the end of 1945 to Canisius College, Pymble, where he remained for the last year and a half of his life. As he could no longer read himself, the scholastics were very good to him by acting as readers, even if there was not always perfect agreement on both sides about the type of book to be read. He always enjoyed hearing his own creations. Towards the end he wanted to die. The Australian province should not easily forget the generous and notable service he gave in the autumn of his life.

◆ 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 18th Year No 2 1943
Australian Vice-Province
From a letter of Fr. George O'Neill, Werribee, Melbourne. dated 29th November, 1942 :
This Vice-Province never before got such a painful shock as it has received in the absolutely sudden death of Fr. Thomas O'Dwyer (Rector of St Patrick's College Melbourne) On last Thursday I was chatting with him and he seemed alright. This morning (Saturday) he was laid in earth amid deep and widespread mourning, the grief of his Community at St. Patrick's being specially notable. He had been doing all his work up to the last. It would appear, however, that two or three months ago. he had consulted a. doctor and had been warned that he was not quite safe in the matter of blood pressure. On Wednesday night he was phoned to by the Mercy Nuns at Nicholson St where he acted as daily chaplain, asking him to say Mass early for them as the Coadjutor Archbishop was to say Mass there at 7.l5 or 7.30. He agreed. and made the early start next morning. The time came for his breakfast in the Convent parlour while the Archbishop was finishing Mass, but when the lay-sister came in after a time she found Fr. O'Dwyer lying on the ground and vomiting. He tried to reassure her, but she ran to the Rev. Mother and they phoned for a doctor who came at once. He saw that the situation was serious and that the last Sacraments should be given. Then the Cathedral (not far off) was called up and presently the Adm. came along with the Holy Oils. The Archbishop, who had meantime finished his Mass, came on the scene and anointed Fr. O'Dwyer, having previously given him absolution for which he was still conscious. The Provincial (from Hawthorn) also arrived. Then an ambulance was got and took the dying man to St. Vincent's Hospital where he died at 9.30 am. We are accustomed here to funerals rapidly carried out, so it was not strange that all was over in the following forenoon. Some 100 priests were present , an immense crowd of boys and girls, and of the ordinary faithful, and the two archbishops. Dr. Mannix spoke some happy words with much feeling.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 3 1947
Obituary :
Fr. George O’Neill (1863-1880-1947)
Not many of Ours have brilliantly distinguished themselves in two far separate provinces of the Society. Fr. George O'Neill did so not merely by his literary and linguistic attainments but by his moral qualities of courage, friendliness, and spiritual outlook. Fame came to him in spite of his reserved and shy character. Indeed those who knew him but slightly never realised the warmth of his character. And even those who knew him well are amazed when they sum up the total record of his quiet achievements and recognise the importance of the role he played. Very few men of such eminence have been so averse from publicity. His earlier life can be briefly summarised. He was born at Dungannon, the son of a well-known Irish, barrister. After his schooldays in Belvedere, where for one year he was also Prefect of Studies. He then taught for one year in Clongowes. While he was in Belvedere he took his B.A, degree in Classics in the Royal University, but he showed such remarkable talent for modern languages that he was set aside to specialise in them. From 1889 to 1891 he spent one year at the University of Prague and another at the University of Paris and took his M.A. in modern languages with first-class honours. He then went through his philosophy and theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1895. Fr, O'Neill was a fast worker, but that is not the explanation of how he contrived to complete his whole studies for the priesthood, philosophy and theology, between 1891 and 1896. He seems to have done one year of his philosophy immediately after his noviceship. He went to Tronchiennes for his tertianship in 1897. In 1895 began the series of mishaps that eventually led him into the wrong chair in the National University. In that year he competed with Miss Mary Hayden for a Fellowship that was to lead to a Professorship. He was regarded as Miss Hayden's superior, despite her impressive accomplishments, but he came up for examination so tired and distraught with the preparations for his ordination that she won by the narrowest margin. Yet, though she won the Fellowship, she was debarred from becoming Professor as the old Royal University did not admit women professors. Fr. O'Neill therefore taught modern languages in the University until 1901, when on the death of Thomas Arnold he was made a Fellow and raised to Arnold's former chair of English Literature. However be lost this chair in 1909 on the foundation of the National University. Robert Donovan, who had deserved well of the Irish Party by his leading articles in the Freeman's Journal, had to be appointed to a chair. Unfortunately, knowing but one language, he was only qualified to fill the chair of English Literature. So a chair of English Language, now abolished, was created for Fr. O'Neill from which he also taught part of the English Literature course. It was just because he was not really the dry and unimaginative pedagogue that his somewhat prim manner suggested that he was dissatisfied with this arrangement.
As a lecturer he was well worth hearing, for everything that he said was the result of long and able critical meditation. Though always respectful of the opinions of others his own were very firm and not easily shaken. His lectures would doubtless have been more stimulating to young people had not his habit of reticence induced him to state briefly or not at all his reasons for his critical verdicts. But those verdicts were sound and, if one attends less to the notes than to the selections in his Five Centuries of English Poetry, one discovers a cultured and personal taste in the anthologist. His lecture on a poem by Donne would sound like a series of remarks overheard on a poem that he was reading for the first time. Similarly his judgments, on the work of young authors, though always kind, read like criticisms of well-known writers. Praise or condemnation were both downright, though he loved to praise and hated to condemn. The truth is that in judging a poem he took no account whatever of the reputation of the author or of his presence.
This critical integrity, merely a sign of the love of truth, required both the self-confidence that comes of clarity of mind and moral courage. Anyone who has tried to tell an artist that his work is bad knows the courage that he needs, and Fr. O'Neill had nothing of the brutality that makes such plain speaking easy. It was this courage that made him willing to champion unpopular courses. He was a Baconian, openly professed, and wrote two books on the controversy : ‘Could Bacon Have Written The Plays’? and ‘The Clouds Around Shakespeare’. He was an active helper in all university projects. One of his few opportunities for apostolic work was when he became for a year or two Director of the University Sodality. He was also invaluable as a contributor and editorial consultor to the three periodicals for the University reading public - the Lyceum, the New Ireland Review, and Studies. He was never editor himself. This unselfish man had a gift far rarer and fairer than that of initiating good works, a gift for serving energetically the good works initiated by others. He also founded a musical society in the Royal University and rather inadequately called it the ‘Choral Union’. But this leads to the consideration of another gift of his.
Fr. O'Neill was a noted pianist and something of a composer. Be cause, like the poet Grey, he ‘never spoke out’, his playing was not so eloquent as he could have made it. But his brilliant technique and general musical ‘usefulness’ were never in doubt. He was in great request as examiner at the Feis or in Clongowes. He was also frequently invited to accompany singers in public. He was the friend of the late Arthur Darley and many other of the finest musicians of this country. Both as performer and promoter he played a prominent part in the musical life of the city, in which he has no successor,

In 1923 Fr. O'Neill startled the Province by asking to be sent to the Australian Mission, as it was then. Several motives, ill-health and dissatisfaction with his chair at the University among them, have been said to account for his request. But (to give a personal opinion) his chief motive was his approaching compulsory retirement from his chair. To be a professional idler such as most retired gentlemen are expected to be was distasteful to him. And he needed to retire before he was too old to go to Australia. Moreover Dr. Mannix was anxious to get distinguished professors for his new seminary in Werribee. Fr. O'Neil answered the call and was allowed to go.
On the boat out to Australia he was still his mildly cheerful and companionable self. He was always ready to give a piano recital to the old ladies. And, notwithstanding the prestige that members like Fr. H. Johnson and Fr. W. Owens gave to our party, Fr. O'Neill was our star in the eyes of the passengers. But he cut his ties with Dublin slowly and one by one. Even in the Bay of Biscay he was still acting as a member of the Editorial Board of Studies, for he revised and passed a poem by one of his companions and sent it to the Editor.
In Werribee he held the posts of Professor of Church History and of Modern Languages until a few years before his death. He also, needless to say, directed the choir and promoted concerts and plays among the students. He read papers and spoke before various Catholic societies in Melbourne.
But his career in Australia is chiefly notable as the time when he produced his finest books. In Dublin besides the works already noted, several anthologies and books of selections, and innumerable articles and pamphlets, his chief work had been Essays on Poetry and a biography of Blessed Mary of the Angels. But in Australia he discovered his power for historical narrative. He became deeply interested in the beginnings of the Church in Australia and produced two fascinating biographies of that period, one on Fr. Julian Tenison Woods, the other on Mary McKillop, Mother Mary of the Cross. In these works all his deepest loyalties gave more than usual fire to his writing. And a later work on the Jesuit Reductions of South America, ‘Golden Years on the Paraguay’, is worthy to stand beside them. Up to the end he was filled with projects for new books. He thought that he could prove that all the Scholastics had been wrong in their doctrines on Beauty. Perhaps his intention to publish this thesis was evidence of failing powers. But he never admitted old age as a valid reason for ceasing to work, When a few years ago he was relieved, of most of his duties he could not, or would not, understand the reason of his superiors. But the truth that the shadows were gathering figuratively must have been forced upon his attention when they began to gather literally. More than a year before his death he became blind or almost blind. One can give him the only praise that, after all, any man can deserve : he found a great work to do for God and did it.

The following is taken from an appreciation which appeared in The Dungannon Observer of July 26th :
“The news was received in Dungannon and Clonoe districts with the deepest feelings of regret of the recent death of Rev. George O'Neill, S.J., the noted author and essayist and former Fellow of the Royal University and Professor of English at University College, Dublin. Son of the late Mr. George F. O'Neill, Inspector of National Schools, Fr. O'Neill was born in County Antrim in 1863, but at an early age came to reside in Dungannon, to which his father was transferred. His father's family came from Clonoe district, and for both Dungannon and Clonoe the late priest had always a warm spot in his heart. When the Convent of Mercy in Dungannon celebrated its golden Jubilee two years ago, Fr. O'Neill wrote a poem in honour of the occasion. The late Cardinal MacRory was a close friend of Fr. O'Neill, and the Cardinal was highly appreciative of his spiritual writings. When the Cardinal visited Australia for the Eucharistic Congress in 1929, he made a journey to Werribee College to see Fr. O'Neill, who was then ill. By the marriage of his sister to the late Dr. Conor Maguire of Claremorris, Fr. O'Neill was the uncle of the Chief Justice Conor Maguire. He was also related through marriage to Most Rev. Dr. Dr. D'Alton, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
Fr. O'Neill died on July 19th.
May he rest in peace”

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 4 1947

On 28 July a special Mass was celebrated at Gardiner Street for the late Fr. George O'Neill (Viceprovince), an obituary notice of whom appeared in our last issue; in addition to the Chief Justice, Mr. Conor Maguire, a nephew, and other relatives, His Excellency Sean T. O'Kelly and Mr. McEntee, Minister were present.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father George O’Neill 1864-1947
Not many of ours have distinguished themselves so brillinatly in two different sections of the Society, poles apart from each other. Fr George O’Neill was in that category, being renowned both in Ireland and Australia.

Born in Dungannon in 1863, he was educated at Belvedere College. He displayed a remarkable talent for modern languages and literature, and he was outstanding in his degree examinations. He became Professor of English literature at the Royal University in 1901, succeeding Thomas Arnold. It was during this period that he produced his book so well known to students of English “Five Centuries of English Literature”. He was a keen advocate of Bacon as the author of Shakespeare’s plays and published two works on that subject “Coiuld Bacon have written the Plays?” and “The Clouds around Shakespeare”.

In 1923 Fr O’Neill volunteered for the Australian Mission. This was just the beginning of another illustrious career, more remarkable when one recalls that he was 60 years of age at the time.The 24 years he spent in Australia added to his fame as a writer, lecturer and musician, for he had considerable also in music, being something of a composer himself. His finest books were written in Australia : “The Life of Father Julian Tenison Woods”; “Mother Mary of the Cross”; and “Golden Years in the Paraquay”.

He died on July 19th 1947, 84 years of age, ending a life of continual service of God, right up to the end, and leaving behind him works that will ever keep his memory green.

◆ The Clongownian, 1948

Obituary

Father George O’Neill SJ

Not many Jesuits have brilliantly distinguished themselves in two far separate provinces of the Society. Fr George O'Neill did so not merely by his literary and linguistic achievements but by his moral qualities of courage, friendliness and spiritual outlook. Fame came to him in spite of a reserved and shy character. Even those who knew him well are amazed when they sum up the total record of his quiet achievements and recognise the importance of the role he played. Very few men of such eminence have been so averse from publicity.

His early life can be briefly summarised. He came to Tullabeg, a small boy of eleven, in 1874 and quickly showed the promise of those talents he was to develop in later life. When he left in 1880 he had gained ninth place in Ireland in the Senior Grade examination, third place in English and first place with medal in Modern Languages. Even at school he was a noted pianist and he afterwards became some thing of a composer. Because, like the poet Grey he “never spoke out”, his playing was not so eloquent as he could have made it; but his brilliant technique and general musical “usefulness" were never in doubt. He was in great demand as an examiner at the Feis or in Clongowes. He was also frequently invited to accompany singers in public. He was the friend of the late Arthur Darley and many others of the finest musicians in the country. Both as performer and promoter he played a prominent part in the musical life of Dublin.

He took his BA degree in classics at the Royal University but he showed such remarkable talent for modern languages that he was set aside to specialise in them. He spent a year at the University of Prague, another at the University of Paris and took his MA in modern languages with first class honours.

In the Royal University he was Professor, first of Modern Languages, then of English Literature. On the foundation of the National University he became Professor of English Language. As a lecturer he was well worth hearing, for everything he said was the result of long and able critical meditation. Though always re spectful of the opinions of others his own were very firm and not easily shaken. In judging a poem he took no account of the reputation of the author - or his presence. With him praise and condemnation were both downright, though he loved to praise and hated to condemn. This critical integrity, a sign of the love of truth, required both the self-confidence that comes of clarity of mind and moral courage. It was this courage that made him willing to champion unpopular causes. He was a Baconian openly professed and wrote two books on the con troversy : “Could Bacon Have Written The Plays?” and “The Clouds Around Shakespeare”.

He was an active helper in all University projects. He was for a year or two Director of the University Sodality. He was also invaluable as a contributor and editorial consultor to the three periodicals for the University reading public, the “Lyceum”, the “New Ireland Review”, and “Studies”. He was never editor himself. This unselfish man had a gift far rarer and fairer than that of initiating good works, a gift for serving the good works initiated by others.

In Australia Fr O'Neill held the posts of Professor of Church History and of Modern Languages at Werribee, the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, until a few years before his death. He read many papers and spoke before various Catholic Societies and acquired a great reputation as a scholar. But his career in Australia is chiefly notable as the time when he produced his finest books. In Dublin he had published several anthologies and innumerable articles and pamphlets, and a biography of “Blessed Mary of the Angels”. But in Australia he discovered his power for historical narrative. He became deeply interested in the beginnings of the Church in Australia and produced two fascinating biographies of that period, one on Fr Julian Tenison Woods, the other on Mary McKillop, Mother Mary of the Cross. In these books all his deepest loyalties gave more than usual fire to his writing. And a later work on the Jesuit Reductions of South America, “Golden Years on the Paraguay”, is worthy to stand beside them.

Up to the end he was filled with projects for new books, but the shadows were slowly gathering and for over a year before the end he became blind or almost blind. The long life of work was drawing to a close and when he went to God it could be said of him, and indeed, it is the only praise any man can deserve; he found a great work to do for God and did it.

Born: 11 July 1928, Eyeries, Castletownbere, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1962, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, St Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 06 April 2011, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

Parents were farmers.

Youngest in a family of five boys and three girls.

Early education was in the National school at Eyeries, and then he went to the Apostolic School at Mungret College SJ for six years.

by 1957 at Chivuna, N Rhodesia - Regency
by 1958 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia - Regency

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-frank-oneill-r-i-p/

Fr Frank O’Neill, R.I.P.
Fr Frank O’Neill, who died on 6 April, grew up on a farm in Allihies, West Cork, in peaceful days when living was simple and you knew your neighbours. After school in Mungret he entered the Jesuits and volunteered for the Zambia mission. He loved the Tonga people – the gentlest he had ever met, he said; and he attained real fluency in their language. He was attuned to country people and worked mostly in parishes in the bush, living austerely, with no creature comforts. What made him a great missionary was that he was able to enter into the rhythm of the Africans. He revelled in their music and dance, and they loved him, a happy man, always positive and hopeful, with a deep trust in God’s Providence.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 145 : Summer 2011

Obituary

Fr Frank O’Neill (1928-2011) : Zambia-Malawi Province

11 July 1928: Born in Castletownbere, Co Cork.
Early education in Castletownbere National School and Apostolic School, Mungret,
7 September 1948: Entered the Society at Emo
8 September 1950: First Vows at Emo
1950 -1953: Rathfarnham - BA Degree, UCD
1953 - 1956: Studied Philosophy, Tullabeg
1956 - 1959: Regency, Chikuni Mission -learning language, teaching
1959 - 1963: Milltown Park, studying theology
31 July, 1962: Ordained at Miltown Park, Dublin
1963 - 1964: Tertianship at Rathfarnham

Zambia
1964 - 1966: Namwala pastoral work
1966 - 1968: Kasiya parish priest
1968 - 1982: Chivuna parish priest
1969: Transcribed to Zambia Province
5 November, 1977: Final vows in Chikuni
1982 - 1983: Sabbatical in Toronto
1983 - 1993: Namwala parish priest
1993 - 1998: Mazabuka, Nakumbala: superior, parish priest

1998 - 2007: Limerick, Sacred Heart Church, pastoral work.
2000: Superior
2007 - 2008: Della Strada, Asst. Chaplain, Dooradoyle Shopping Centre
2008 - 2009: Gardiner Street -- Chaplain, St. Monica's.
2009 - 2011: Residing in Cherryfield Lodge Nursing Home
6th April 2011: Died at Cherryfield

Frank settled in very well to Cherryfield and made a significant contribution to the liturgical music, which was much appreciated and enjoyed by all. His condition deteriorated over the last year and he died peacefully on 6th April 2011. May he rest in the Peace of Christ.

Obituary by Jim McGloin
Frank O'Neill was born on 11 July, 1928 to Michael and Margaret (O'Donovan) O'Neill in Eyeries village on the Beara Peninsula in County Cork. He did his early education in the area and then went to the Jesuit-run Mungret College near Limerick for his secondary schooling. In his youth he was called “Ollie”, short for Oliver. (My grandfather was from the same Eyeries village. Whenever I visited my cousins who still live there and who were his age-mates, they always asked me, “How is Father Ollie?” He told me that it was only when he entered the novitiate, the Jesuits started calling him by his other name, Francis, “Frank”.)

Frank entered the Jesuit novitiate at Emo Park in 1948. After completing his philosophy studies in Dublin in 1956, Frank was sent to Northern Rhodesia for regency. During his three years here, he studied Chitonga and taught at Canisius College in Chikuni. He returned to Ireland for theology and was ordained in 1962. Following tertianship in 1964, he returned to Zambia and began his many years of pastoral service for the people of the Monze diocese.

As a side note, while Frank was doing theology, Arthur Cox, a famous Dublin solicitor, on retirement requested the Archbishop of Dublin to accept him for the priesthood. The Archbishop asked James Corboy, the rector of Milltown Park to take Cox, who was 71 years old and a widower, for his theological studies. Corboy reluctantly agreed and asked Frank to take charge of Cox. In his book, Arthur Cox 1891 1965, Eugene McCague writes, “That Arthur fitted so well into Milltown is a tribute to his own determination and resourcefulness, but is also thanks, in no small measure, to the friendship of one particular fellow scholastic, Frank O'Neill”. Frank, as Cox's “guardian angel” fulfilled (the role) “with great devotion and understanding”. (p 126). After his ordination in 1963, Cox followed Frank (and Bishop Corboy) to Zambia. He died tragically following a car accident on the Namwala road in 1965 and is buried in Chikuni.

Frank's first assignment was Namwala where he worked for two years; then Kasiya for another two years. In 1968 he was missioned to Chivuna where he served as parish priest for the next fourteen years. He took a year away from Zambia in 1982-1983, studying pastoral theology at Regis College in Toronto. He thoroughly enjoyed the year away, especially the stimulus of studying theology and the companionship of a larger Jesuit community.

When he returned, he was assigned to Namwala parish as the parish priest and superior of the community. He served the people of Namwala for the next ten years. His final posting in Zambia was in 1993 to Nakambala parish in Mazabuka. After all the years working in very rural parishes, with numerous outstations over rough roads, he found the work in Nakambala pleasant and less taxing. However, late in 1997 while driving outside Mazabuka, he ran off the road and hit into a tree. Although he was not injured in the accident, there was concern that dizziness or a blackout might have been the cause of the accident. He returned to Ireland for a rest and to have his health examined. He was given medication for high blood pressure which seemed to have been the cause of his other problems.

However, surprisingly he asked for permission to stay in Ireland and not return to Zambia. He complained of tiredness and a heaviness concerning the way some things were going in Zambia. Colm Brophy in a note expressed his own surprise; he wondered why Frank did not want to return since “he was deeply immersed in the pastoral scene, so much identified with ordinary people and is still so much talked about by Zambian priests, religious and lay people. They keep on asking when is he coming and would love to have him back”.

Frank was sent to work in the Crescent Church in Limerick. He quickly settled into the work of the Church saying Mass, hearing confessions, taking care of callers, directing a Legion of Mary group, offering days of recollection. He was happy that he had returned to Ireland while he was still in good health and able to do some work. In 2000 he was appointed the superior of the community in Limerick.

In 2006 the Church and community in Limerick were closed. Frank continued for a short time with a chaplaincy in Limerick and in 2007 he was sent to Gardiner Street in Dublin. With his health deteriorating, he was sent to the Irish Province Infirmary in 2008 where he died on 6 April 2011.

Frank will be remembered in Zambia for his zealous apostolic work among the rural Tonga of the Monze Diocese. His vibrancy, his optimism, his welcome smile were wonderful characteristics giving hope and support to many people over many years. May the Lord whom he served so faithfully welcome him into the eternal joy of his Kingdom.

From the funeral homily preached by Fr Paul Brassil:
Frank's life was marked by hard work, in difficult circumstances, little rest or comfort in the rural areas of Zambia. There were bad roads, poor housing, makeshift churches, basic food and the task of communicating the Gospel in another language. It was characteristic of Frank to take all this in a spirit of optimism and buoyancy. He was blessed with a cheerful and outgoing nature which helped him make friends wherever he went. It also helped him make little of the difficulties and frustrations which were inevitable. To my mind his lifetime of work in Zambia was nothing short of heroic.
After his first few years in Zambia be returned to Ireland to take up theological studies in Milltown. There he was asked by the rector, Fr. (later Bishop) James Corboy, to chaperon the distinguished solicitor and, as he was then, candidate for the priesthood, Arthur Cox. Frank revelled in his task and followed a very unorthodox regime of studies. Frank and Arthur struck up a close friendship, so that later when Frank returned to Zambia, Arthur, by then ordained, came out there, too, and joined Frank in the same out-station of Namwala. Unfortunately a short time after coming to Zambia both men were involved in a car accident which led to the untimely death of Arthur.

Despite this deep sorrow, Frank proceeded to engage with great enthusiasm in the basic work of evangelisation. He was among the first to put into practice the theology of the laity which was promoted by Vatican II. He spent a major portion of his time and energy in the zealous promotion of the laity. He saw this as the only way to insert the faith in a living and vibrant community. Much of his time was dedicated to the training of leaders and he built up a strong partnership with the leaders and catechists in various outstations. He shared in the tragedies of the people and in their difficulties, but never lost his positive outlook, and always had a word of encouragement in the darkest moments. His later years were affected by the scourge of HIV/Aids which ravaged the people he served .

Frank was a man of deep faith which survived difficulties and disappointments. This faith came from his own family background in West Cork, as well as from his grounding in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. He was blessed by a warm and sunny disposition and entertained his fellow-workers with Danny Boy on many a social occasion.

On his return to Ireland for medical reasons he worked in Limerick where he found the people just lovely. Later, as his health declined, he helped out in Gardiner Street. Then his last years were spent in the kind care of the staff in Cherryfield. When he arrives at the gates of heaven, he will surely be cheered up at all the simple folk he has guided to the knowledge and love of the Heavenly Father, who has revealed these things not to the wise and clever but to little children. We pray that he will hear the words of the Heavenly Father: “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest”. Frank has earned his rest.

Born: 27 February 1921, Arlington Street, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 14 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1981
Died: 09 November 1986, St Mary’s Parish, Emmitsburg, Maryland, USA

Father was a railway guard.

Youngest of three boys with one sister.

Early education at a local primary school and then he went to the Christian Brothers Technical school in Belfast for three years. He then went for a year and a half to St Mary’s Christian Brothers school in Belfast. whilst there he sat a Civil Service exam, being offered three posts and accepting one as a Post Office Clerk and Telegraphist at Belfast GPO. He then transferred to Ballymena GPO, and whilst there studied for matriculation.

by 1974 at Emmitsburgh MD, USA (NEB) working

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Post office Official before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 62nd Year No 1 1987

Obituary

Fr Bernard O’Neill (1921-1943-1986)

22nd February 1921: born in Belfast. Schooled at St Mary's secondary school (CBS) and for three years at a Belfast technical institution. For three years he was a postal clerk in London.
14th September 1943: entered SJ. 1943-45 Emo, noviciate. 1945-48 Rathfarnham, juniorate (BA course at UCD). 1948-51 Tullabeg, philosophy. 1951-53 Clongowes, regency. 1953-57 Milltown, theology. 1957-60 Belvedere, teaching. 28th July 1960: ordained a priest. 1960-61 Clongowes, prefect of Lower Line. 1961-62 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1962-73 Gardiner street: 1962-4 at Jesuit Missions office: 1964-72 bursar, adj. dir, SFX Hall, pastoral work.
1973-86 Mount St Mary's seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland, USA: adj, rector. 9th November 1986: died.

Irish Province News 62nd Year No 3 1987

Obituary

Fr Bernard O’Neill (1921-1943-1986)
(† 9th November 1986)

“True joy is a sure sign of the presence of God” These words of the French philosopher, Léon Bloy, ring so true in the life of Father Barney O'Neill. An Irish-born Jesuit, Barney brought joy into the lives of everyone he met, and during his lifetime he met many people. There was always a smile wherever he went. He was a master story-teller and knew every new joke before anyone else. Above all, he was an excellent priest, an insightful spiritual director and good friend. He knew what priesthood was about.
He was born in Belfast in 1921 and was ordained for the Society of Jesus in 1960 in Dublin, He taught and did parish work in Ireland and England before coming to the United States. In 1973 he came to Mount St Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as dean of men and Director of Field Education.
As any priest or seminarian who knew him found, there was never a dull moment when Barney was around. He had a mask, puppet, or joke for every occasion. His humor could touch the heart of anyone, especially if they were hurting. He also had a special gift of being able to size up a situation and offer a solution to it. Bishop Harry Flynn, former rector of the Mount, recalled a time when he was faced with a difficult situation. Fr Barney came into his office and said to him, “In Ireland we have a saying about problems like this. You look it straight in the eye and then you walk around it”.
Fr Barney's life was always deeply rooted in prayer and the Eucharist. He prayed constantly, while walking, running, with the community, even in the car. He never learned to drive, so the seminarians would take him to the air- port or train station so he could get to his destination. As you'd be driving along he'd say, "Can I hit you with some Day time Prayer,' or 'Can I give you a bit of the rosary?'.
Barney had a special affinity to the ‘unimportant, especially the poor, dis advantaged, the homeless. He saw Christ in everyone and everyone was important. If he knew a seminarian was far from home and could get home only for Christmas, he would make sure he would not feel left out. He would take him to a restaurant for a good meal, later would pick up the tab for a movie and on the way home would stick a $20 bill in his pocket and say, 'Go out this week on me.'
As dean of men, the seminarians always felt welcome at his door whenever they had a problem. He did whatever he could and always listened compassionately. Even in his last days on earth, he continued to give of himself and bear witness to Christ.
He was diagnosed as having cancer on 6th October, 1986 and died just a month later, As the cancer spread he was increasingly confined to bed. Wishing to be part of the community, the seminarians carried him on a chair wherever he wanted to go. The Thursday before he died he met with the entire seminary community. As he was brought in we rose to our feet in applause for the priest we loved so much. Though very weak, he soon had us laughing and smiling as he sang his favourite song, “New York, New York”. God was to let us have him only three more days.
He died the way he lived, at peace with himself and with his God. He will be remembered for his kindness, his generosity, his simplicity of life and above all his unfailing humor. He taught us much by the way he lived, but he taught us even more by the way he died.
As the weeks pass, we spend less time talking about Father Barney, yet he is closer than ever. He instilled in us a spirit of joy that will remain forever. We thank God for the many blessings we have received from his faithful servant and we confidently pray that he may now enjoy his heavenly reward.
Kenneth Borowiak

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 49 : September 1987
In Memory of Barney O’Neill
Albert Ledoux

The move from Gardiner Street to the United States must have been a difficult one for our late lamented Barney. Yet he managed to retain his sense of humour, as this tribute tells us.

First of all, let me introduce myself as a member of the deacon class at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland. Barney O'Neill was a personal friend of mine. Here are a few, brief glimpses of his last few months among us.

My association with Barney began in August of 1982. It's traditional at the seminary to hold welcoming parties for the new man. Usually 50 - 55 men are involved: all of first theology as well as the pre-theologians and transfers. It is also customary to entertain the entire house at these parties, which are held in the basement recreation room amid ample quantities of beer, lemonade, crackers, cheese, etc. This was probably where I got my first memory of Barney. Several faculty took their turn entertaining the new men. Barney's version of the entertainment was a stand-up comedy routine, some singing (favourite song: “New York, New York”) interspersed with some of his famous jokes. Some of these jokes tended to be real 'groaners', a fact which only served to make Barney more delightful.

Whether his listeners laughed or groaned at his jokes, Barney was there to entertain them. He didn't mind making himself vulnerable, open to rejection, even on as simplistic a level as telling funny stories at a party. It was this vulnerability that characterized his dealings with the seminarians in general. His unpretentiousness was almost legendary. This was rendered all the more noteworthy when compared to the attitude of certain other faculty who, shall we say, have a much loftier notion of themselves than would reasonably be necessary.

I had the opportunity to work with Barney three times on the assigning of rooms to seminarians. This ordeal takes place twice a year, once in September and once again in January after a number of the deacons return to their dioceses for a semester of parish work. All seminarians concerned are expected to submit a piece of paper with room preferences. The pieces of paper are then drawn at random, and a precedence list is drawn up. I remember spending hours with Barney in his room, pouring over diagrams of the seminary, trying to fit each seminarian into one of his room choices. This was where I came to appreciate the extreme difficulty that Barney experienced in saying “NO” to people. Wherever Barney felt there was a need, he was first to offer help. Certain older seminarians were sure to find an appreciative ear in requesting particular rooms on lower floors or in more remote corners of the building. One of Barney's mottoes was obviously that it was preferable to err on the side of charity than to judge too hastily.

I returned to the seminary a few days early last August in order to help with seminarian orientation for the new men. Since there were only two seminarians in the building at the time, and since Barney needed some sort of transportation to the hospital the next morning, he approached me for the favour. He said it was a matter of “some blood work” that needed to be done. The mention of blood work sounded rather serious, but the next morning he explained that the doctors merely wanted to check the uric acid content of his blood. He had been experiencing a certain difficulty in walking which the doctors were tempted to attribute to gout. I drove him to the hospital, waited for his tests to finish, and drove him back to Mount Saint Mary's. Barney was not one to waste time in the car. He graciously offered to read his divine office aloud so that may time in the car would not be entirely “wasted”.

Well, the tests came back negative, to the stupefaction of the doctors. He was then given some pain medicine and told to ease up on his activities. The doctors suspected by now that the problem had to do with muscular strain.

Yet the problem refused to go away. During the ensuing weeks, when ideally the pain should have subsided, it only got worse. Barney took to hobbling around the corridors and to climbing the stairs with great difficulty. (He lived on the third floor above the ground in a building without elevators). We heard no complaints. If anyone asked, Barney would explain that he was feeling some discomfort. Very few people knew to what extent Barney was feeling pain.

The first clue that the problem was not trivial came in early October when Barney was hospitalized for a week. All manner of tests were run on him. The conclusion was that he had cancer, although for the time being it was not known where the cancer was principally located. Hence treatment could not be started. When it was established that he had lung cancer and that the cancer in his bones was a side-effect therefrom, the condition was too far advanced to merit therapy. This was when Barney decided to return to the seminary to die among those with whom he had lived, worked and prayed.

The Rector announced the news to the seminary community one evening at the weekly Rector's conference. Still, in this day and age, we have become accustomed to people living for years with their cancer. When we heard the news, the doctors had not yet concluded that treatment would be fruitless. That judgement would come the following week. There was a general feeling of dismay among the seminarians, but certainly not one of gloom, for we were all anticipating a successful treatment.

One of the seminarians set up a rotating schedule whereby twenty-one other seminarians took their turns bringing Barney his meals. It was principally through these seminarians that the remaining 140 of us found out details about Barney's condition. A few days after Barney's last diagno affixed a note to Barney's door advising all those without official business to kindly keep their distance. Barney was fading fast.

Three days before Barney died, I asked one of the fellows on the meal list if he would mind terribly if I brought Barney his supper. I had a few things to tell him before it was too late... When I knocked on Barney's door that evening, I found him sitting at an angle in his hospital bed. It took him several minutes to get his bearings, for he had been sleeping. It became apparent that Barney was becoming disorientated since his train of thought would trail off, and he tended to make illogical connections when he spoke.

Still, his spirits were good. He had been receiving visitors constantly for the last few days. He had been on the phone several times with friends and relatives in Britain and Ireland. Apart from the lapses in conversation, he seemed alert. In short, his condition did not seen as serious as I had thought.

When I returned with his supper, thinly sliced roast beef and potatoes with some tea to wash it down, Barney wasn't alone in his room. A seminarian who worked as a male nurse prior to coming here was there in the room with him. This fellow would get Barney up in the morning, bathe him if necessary, see to it that he took his medicine, and the like. I never did get the chance to tell him what I had on my mind, namely that he had been one of the finest Christian models to which I had been exposed at the seminary, and that I was grateful for his being there.

Coincidentally, this was also the night when Barney wished to attend (what turned out to be) his last Rector's conference. He had already attended Mass in our large lecture hall the previous Monday, a Mass which he himself used to say for seminarians whose apostolic duties conflicted with the community Mass on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Anyway, he was hoisted into a chair and carried down to that Mass by four seminarians.

After the gospel was read, the celebrant asked Barney if he had anything to say. Barney, true to form, then attempted to turn a gloomy situation into a happy one. He noted that in the gospel passage the crippled and the beggars were the ones ultimately invited to the wedding feast. “I want the word to go out!” he exclaimed, “I am a cripple! And I want to know what's been happening to all these party invitation I'm supposed to be getting?!”

He did strike a more serious note at the end of the Mass, however. He was heading to the hospital for his last round of tests, and just wished to express how much it meant for him to be spending these days and weeks among the seminarians, those who had meant a great deal to him during the past several years. Here the customary happy face disappeared for a moment as he choked back a sob.

That Thursday he was back in the lecture hall, having been carried down from the third floor by some seminarians. Another faculty member gave the talk, after which Barney, still seated in his wheelchair, took the microphone. He expressed his sentiments to the community, giving no indication with his manner of speaking that things were as far advanced as they were. A fellow at the piano struck up the chords to "New York, New York". We all joined in on what was universally perceived to be Barney's theme song. Barney was at Benediction that evening. He spent Friday and Saturday receiving visitors and giving other cancer patients courage over the telephone.

Friday morning, I summoned up my courage to ignore the Rector's "No visitors" sign on Barney's door and intruded to ask if he might like some of the Lourdes water that I had in my room. I brought him some after class, cautioning him at the time that the water had been all bottled up for over a year, ever since I collected it myself at Lourdes. I told him that I wouldn't recommend it for internal use. At that, with the customary gleam in his eye, he removed the cap and took a hefty swallow. Upon looking up he explained that he had been into the baths at Lourdes on several occasions, upon none of which the waters had looked as clear as did the heavenly elixír which he now held in his hands.

Ken Borowaik and I stayed with him for a good half hour, during which Barney spoke a near-monologue on his family in Europe, especially his nephew who resides in Italy with his wife and children. I found myself wondering if the kinder thing would be to excuse myself or to just allow him to continue talking. I eventually left the room to allow Barney to rest.

Sunday, as I'm sure you already know, Barney had the opportunity to say his last Mass. This took place during the afternoon. That night, after Benediction, the seminarian ex-nurse of whom I already spoke, went into Barney's room to make him comfortable for the night. That's when it was discovered that he had died. Several days earlier, the Rector had arranged to have an electrical speaker installed in Barney's room that would relay the sound of all our chapel exercises. It is reasonable to suppose that Barney died while listening to solemn Benediction.

At about 10.40 that night, various seminarians ran about the building knocking on doors, spreading the news that Barney had died and asking everyone to assemble in the chapel to recite a rosary for Barney's happy repose.

The next afternoon, Barney's remains were brought back to lie in state in the seminary chapel. His coffin was of oak, in a rich brown shade. The lid was entirely removed to reveal Barney vested in an off-white chasuble with gold trim. For the first time since I met him Barney looked his age. In his last two months of life Barney seemed to have aged fifteen years. After his death, the fact of his being sixty-five years old was greeted with near-universal astonishment. He had always been the picture of vitality. Yet now he looked very old.

The funeral was set for Wednesday morning in the college chapel, about a hundred yards away from the seminary and of more ample proportion than our seminary chapel which can only seat 160 people comfortably. We had two questions: where Barney would be buried and whether or not his family would come from Ireland. The first matter was resolved quickly. The afternoon of the day he died, Barney had told the Rector that he wished to be buried in Mount Saint Mary's cemetery. Later on Monday we were told that his sister, Lily, and her husband would be arriving from Ireland on Tuesday. A niece from Toronto would also attend the funeral.

And so, Barney lay in state for two days in the seminary chapel. Our regular chapel exercises took on a decidedly different air as we meditated upon Barney's life and death and upon the transitory nature of our own lives as well.

The two days prior to Barney's funeral were marked by rather dreary weather. The air turned unseasonably cold; it rained or drizzled constantly. The morning of the funeral, however, the gloom was gone. The temperature was barely above freezing, yet the sky was a clear blue. After the funeral director prepared Barney's coffin for removal, the 165 seminarians led the funeral cortege down the driveway to the college chapel. We were followed by 75 priests, a number of officials from the college, as well as a good representation of local people. Marching two-by-two, the procession covered the entire distance between the seminary and large chapel.

The Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, former Rector of the seminary, and recently-named auxiliary bishop of Lafayette, Louisiana, was the main celebrant. A choir of twenty-odd seminarians provided the music. Several selections were worked into the Mass that were based on Irish folk tunes or which incorporated passages from the Spiritual Exercises. I myself sang the “Pie Jesu” from the “Faure Requiem”, a beautiful piece of music in my opinion, and one which I wanted to sing for Barney.

Over and over again reference was made to Barney's over-riding kindness and cheerful disposition, his ability to walk into the gloomiest setting, the most contentious of environments, and leave everyone smiling after a few minutes. The bishop tied it all together with Barney's vision of the priesthood, with Barney's own personal way of spreading the love of Christ among those who needed it the most.

After the funeral Mass, most of the participants gathered in the cemetery behind the seminary. The seminary building is located at the precise spot where à 1,500 foot high mountain meets the coastal plain. Our founder, an exiled French priest by the name of John Dubois, built his first church on the mountain side in 1806. Adjacent to the church was the cemetery. The church is gone but the cemetery remains, holding several hundred graves and dating back to the second decade of the 19th century. Barney's remains were placed in the faculty plot, which is composed of the graves of about a dozen former Rectors, spiritual directors, and the like. The faculty plot is located at the base of the cemetery which measures about 100 x 300 yards and stretches back into an oak forest at about a twenty degree incline.

A canopy covered the grave, near which chairs had been set up for Lily, her husband and the niece from Toronto. Bishop Flynn read the final prayers of commendation, after which he bent down to offer his condolences to the family. The mourners then began walking down the hill toward this parking lot. This was when a sole instrumentalist, placed further up the cemetery behind a small mausoleum, began playing Barney's theme song. The Rector had thought that Barney, who had spent so much time making people smile while he was living, would have wanted people to smile while remembering him in death. So the instrumentalist played “New York, New York” very quietly and slowly. And as each of the mourners realized what was being played, a smile spread across their lips. And so, by a fortunate musical association, Barney made everyone smile once again.

Before leaving the cemetery, I offered two roses to Lily, telling her to give them to her mother. (I am also the seminary gardener and can cut flowers with impunity). These happened to be the last two roses in bloom on the seminary property before the arrival of heavy frost. Lily expressed some doubt as to whether she could bring such things through British customs. The niece suggested that the flowers be pressed, however, at which point the ban on live plants would no longer hold. Lily and her husband remained in Emmitsburg until the next morning. They visited Barney's old rooms to retrieve anything that might be of sentimental value. They fastened upon a few photographs and souvenir pebbles that Barney had picked up somewhere or other. This was all they took.

Born: 21 January 1911, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 30 December 1993, Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown, Dublin

Youngest brother of Jack - RIP 1991; Michael - RIP 1998

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Tommie O'Meara (as he was known) had two brothers also in the Society. One summer on villa (summer holidays), the local parish priest was invited to dinner and was being introduced to the scholastics, one of whom was Charles O'Conor-Don (a descendant of the last High King of Ireland). He was introduced as ‘This is the O’Conor-Don’, when Tommie immediately pipes up ‘I'm the O’Meara Tom’.

Tommie was born in Mallow, Co Cork in 1911, did his secondary education in Clongowes Wood College and entered the Society in 1929 at Tullabeg. He also did regency at Clongowes taking his H Dip in Education there. Then Milltown Park saw him for theology with ordination on 29 July 1943.

After tertianship, he was posted to Milltown Park as minister of the house for 8 years, 1945-1953, a difficult and onerous task catering for four years of theologians as well as priests and brothers. He entered the work with a heart and a half, the way he took all the jobs he was given. He moved to Gardiner Street ministering in the church for two years. The pattern was set for the rest of his life, being minister and/or, for the most part, being engaged in pastoral work.

He was direct in speech but ever kind and charitable. He had a great laugh and a strong voice (some say a 'loud' voice) which became stronger in later years with the advance of deafness. He was a man of very definite opinions and expressed them so. A bit of an either-or person; sometimes that was bluff, sometimes not. In his directness, simplicity and impulsiveness, he was far from being the stereotype Jesuit. Those 8 years as minister in Milltown Park brought out his gifts of unselfishness and generosity.

He came to Zambia in 1955, went to Chivuna for the language, then to Chikuni as minister and for parish work. He went back to Chivuna again as minister and parish priest. Mazabuka had him for 13 years (1962-1975) doing all sorts of jobs: hospital chaplain, minister, bursar, parish work, teaching. He set up an unofficial school to cater for those who did not get into any school, but he had to discontinue it. Tommie was an active priest, on-the-go all the time. His brethren used to joke that he never read a book after theology, there was too much to do. He returned to Chikuni in 1975 as minister and assisted in the parish church. However, arthritis began to take over and developed quickly despite replacement of his limbs. It was very noticeable in the deformation of his hands. Now came a life of complete inactivity, a great cross for such an active person. He found it hard to come to terms with the arthritis but after a while he did. He had returned to Ireland, to Cherryfield, the Jesuit infirmary in Dublin and was confined to a wheelchair. He found it very difficult to adapt to this new type of life and, with deafness increasing, there must have been the inevitable feeling of isolation. The few breaks for him, apart from visits from relatives and Jesuits from Zambia, were to watch the horses on TV, an ancient love of his.

Fr .Eddie Kent did him a great service by supplying him with books of varying interest for him, spiritual, Irish and so forth. Dormant interests were awakened and life surely was made a little more bearable; concelebrated Mass with other ailing Jesuits in Cherryfield and the many daily rosaries also helped him.

When a Jesuit comes to an inactive stage in his life, his status in the Jesuit catalogue is “to pray for the Church and the Society”. This Tommie did. Is it a coincidence that in those years leading up to his death, vocations to the Society increased in Zambia? His ten long years of suffering and prayer came to an end on 30 December 1993.

Note from Jean Indeku Entry
During this time his real solace, as he says himself, was the weekend supplies in Mazabuka where he was duly missioned together with Frs Tom O’Meara and Vinnie Murphy.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 76 : Christmas 1993 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary

Thomas O’Meara (1911-1993)

21st Jan. 1911: Born in Mallow, Co. Cork
Secondary studies: Clongowes Wood College
7th Sept. 1929: Entered the Society at Tullabeg
8th Sept. 1931: First Vows at Tullabeg
1931 - 1934: Rathfarnham Castle - Third level studies, BA
1934 - 1937: Tullabeg - Philosophy
1937 - 1940: Clongowes Wood College - Regency, H.Dip. in Ed
1940 - 1944: Milltown - Theology
29th July 1943: Ordained a priest in Milltown Park
1944 - 1945: Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1945 - 1953: Milltown Park - Minister
1953 - 1955: Gardiner Street - Ministering in the Church
1955 - 1983: Zambia-Malawi Province
1955 - 1956; Chivuna and Fumbo; Language studies
1956 - 1958: Chikuni - Minister.
1958 - 1961: Chivuna - Parish Priest and Minister
1961 - 1962; Gardiner Street, Dublin
1962 - 1975: Mazabuka - Hospital Chaplain, teaching, Minister and Bursar, Ministry in the Parish.
1975 - 1983: Chikuni - Minister and other work including assisting in the Parish.
1983 - 1993: Cherryfield - Praying for the Society, and the Church. (
16th May 1990: Transcribed to Irish Province
30th Dec, 1993: Died, at Cherryfield Lodge

When we look at Fr Tom's life as a priest we see it is all of one place, whether in Africa or in Ireland - being minister and/or for the most part, being engaged in pastoral priestly work. All of these tasks were done with a heart and a half.

You would say that - even though he was a Corkman - here is an Israelite without guile, Direct in speech, but ever kind and charitable. A great laugh and a strong voice that became even stronger in later years with the advance of deafness.

There was much witness to his lack of guile and inability to think ill of people, even of those who sold him foul, stole from him and sold him what they had stolen. In his directness, simplicity and impulsiveness, he was far from being the stereotype Jesuit.

His active life was one of service, first of all in Milltown Park in his first of many assignments as minister. There he ministered in the days of a large community of priests, brothers and scholastics, the scholastics from many provinces. There he had to cope with all the chores of a minister, with the numerous and constant supplies, and the every-busy retreat house. He was also there in the troubled aftermath of the fire, although actually on retreat in Emo on the night of the fire. He spent eight years in that exacting position, and there all his gifts of unselfishness and generosity were plain to all.

Then after all the busy and apostolic life in Zambia came the very opposite, a life of complete inactivity. Arthritis, despite replacement of limbs, took over his body, noticeably in the deformation of his hands. He was confined in Cherryfield to a wheel chair, and till the end, after ten long years. Very hard for one of such activity and so unused to a sedentary life, very hard to adapt. Skin trouble also forced him to go into hospital for treatment. Then there must have been the inevitable feeling of isolation when deafness increased. An odd break for him, apart from visits, especially from his relations, must have been occasionally to watch the horses on the television. They were an ancient love – Briseann an dúchass.

Fr Eddie Kent did him a great service by supplying him with books of varying interest for him, spiritual, Irish and so forth. Dormant interests were awakened, and life surely was made a little more bearable – in addition to concelebrated Mass and the many daily rosaries.

At last, relief came on the 30th of December. God grant him glory. Who is to say which was more fruitful, for himself, the Church and the Society, the long fruitful years of zealous activity, or the ten long years of suffering and prayer?

◆ The Clongownian, 1994

Obituary

Father Thomas O’Meara SJ

Born in Mallow, Co. Cork in 1911, Fr Tom was number eight in a row of boys; two sisters came next and the boy twins made it twelve in all. Unlike his seven elder brothers, Tom was fragile, often sick, and small. This drew himself and his mother very much together and he was always regarded by the family as her pet (if she ever admitted to having one). He was the fourth of the family to become a priest. Numbers one and seven became Jesuits and David, number three, became a diocesan priest - he worked all his life in Queensland, Australia, came home a retired Monsignor and died in his native Mallow.

He was in Clongowes for five years at the end of the twenties and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg in 1929. He made his First Vows two years later and studied for a BA at UCD, while living in Rathfarnham Castle. Three years followed back in Tullabeg, by then transformed into a philosophate and, after his studies there, he joined the staff of his old school, carrying out all the teaching, prefecting and other chores traditionally the lot of Jesuit scholastics in the Colleges at that time, as well as obtaining his HDip. He spent four years studying theology in Milltown Park and was, according to what was then the custom, ordained after the third, on 29 July 1943. He returned to Rathfarnham Castle for tertianship and then served for eight years as Minister in Milltown Park, followed by two years' pastoral work in Gardiner Street. He spent the years in Gardiner Street as Director of the Garda Síochana Sodality and he was on his bike every day contacting the Gardai. His sodality swelled in numbers until he finally achieved his ambition - to go to Zambia (or Northern Rhodesia as it then was) in 1955.

This, to my mind, was the first of two great events in his life: two events which shaped his whole spiritual life. The first step to Zambia (where, over almost thirty years, his enthusiasm and drive were put at the service of the people of Chivuna, Mazabuka, Chikuni and other parishes and mission stations of the Monze diocese) involved the end of life with his mother - she died in 1957.

That was to bring about the second event which occurred when he came back for his year's leave in 1961-2: the three homes which he had known with his mother now had sisters-in-law. One sister, Tess, four years younger and a widow with nine children, was his choice of residence. Never a better - he was welcomed and in a short time really belonged, not only to the family but to all roundabout in Macroom.

This, I think, was the big event in his life. It was his first experience of adult home life and it was real adult family life for him. He was, in a way, a father, a brother, you name it, to the family and he revelled in it. So much so that, when he went back to Zambia, a colleague of mine wrote to know what had transformed Fr Tommy. It had elevated him in a wonderful, supernatural way. As I said in my homily at his funeral, Fr Tom was deeply spiritual, always seeking to share more and more in the divine life given us by baptism, emphasized at the lavabo at every Mass or, as St Paul puts it, he was trying “to live now but Christ lives in me”, to put on Christ, and his experience of being in a beloved family home helped him to achieve that.

I just put forward my theory as my explanation of his wonderful hilarity over all his years in the mission fields and his years of pain in the wheelchair in Cherryfield Lodge, the infirmary of the Irish Province beside Milltown Park, where he had once been a student and later Minister. There he had returned, stricken with arthritis, never to move anywhere again, visited by all the members of the Macroom family and always ready with a smiling welcome. He put up with his increasing infirmities with faith and good humour and praying for the needs and intentions of the Church and the Society of Jesus.

To sum up, an elderly Jesuit once remarked to me that Monsignor David was a great Parish Priest down under, Father Mick would always be the same, but Father Jack and Father Tom were “real SJ's”. Fr Tom was in his 83rd year and went home peacefully on the morning of 30th December 1993. May he rest in peace.

MO’M.

Born: 17 May 1909, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Manresa House, Roehampton, London, England
Died: 19 November 1998, Sacred Heart, Limerick

Middle brother of Jack - RIP 1991; Tommy - RIP 1993

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Chaplain in the Second World War.

◆ Interfuse No 101 : Special Edition 1999 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1999

Obituary
Fr Michael (Mickey) O’Meara (1909-1988)

17th May 1909: Born in Mallow, Co. Cork
Early education: CB School, Cork, Patrician Bros School, Mallow, & Clongowes Wood College.
1st Sept. 1926: Entered the Society at Tullabeg.
2nd Sept. 1928: First vows at Tullabeg.
1928 - 1931: Rathfarnham, studying Arts at UCD
1931 - 1934: Tullabeg, studying philosophy.
1934 - 1937: Clongowes, Teacher and 3rd Line Prefect.
1937 - 1941: Milltown Park, studying theology.
31st July 1940: Ordained at Milltown Park,
1941 - 1942: Rathfarnham, Tertianship
1942 - 1946: British Army Chaplain in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Egypt, Palestine.
1946 - 1955: Clongowes, Minister
1955 - 1961: Rathfarnham, Chaplain to School of Commerce, Rathmines.
1961 - 1962: Mungret College, teacher.
1962 - 1964: Clongowes, H-Line Prefect.
1964 - 1973: Mungret: Minister till '69; Teacher.
1973 - 1998: Sacred Heart Church, Limerick, Minister, Prefect of Church, Dir. “Pioneers”. (off Minister in 1991)

Father O'Meara had been attending to his church duties when he collapsed and was found on the floor of the church. He was rushed by ambulance to hospital, but did not regain consciousness.

Fr. Michael O'Meara (known affectionately to us as Mickey) was born in Mallow in 1909, one of a large family of boys and girls. One of the boys joined the secular clergy, and three became Jesuits. Michael went to school first to the Christian Brothers in Cork, and he had interesting reminiscences about the dangers of travel to Cork during those difficult years of the Great War and the “Troubles” here at home. After a period with the Patrician Brothers in Mallow he finished his secondary education in Clongowes, where he distinguished himself especially in rugby. He was a member of that famous team which first won the cup for Clongowes (a victory not to be repeated until many decades later). He was justifiably proud of it, and I found a copy of the photo of the winning team in his room after his death. He had cherished it all those years.

He entered Tullabeg in 1926 and followed the normal Jesuit course, doing his regency in Clongowes, and thus strengthening what was already a strong bond. In 1942, after his Tertianship in Rathfarnham, he became a British Army Chaplain. He went with his men to England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Egypt and Palestine, sharing with them in everything,

After this exciting period he returned to his beloved Clongowes as Minister in 1946, and as always, threw himself into the work. It was quite a shock to him when he was sent to Rathfarnham in 1955 to act as chaplain to Rathmines Technical School of Commerce. Distasteful though the change was, he once again took up the new work with enthusiasm, and endeared himself to many of the students. Interestingly, he had a great regard for a fellow chaplain, Fr. Brian Scallen; and they worked happily together until Michael was sent to Mungret in 1961. Here he taught for a year before being sent off once again to Clongowes, this time as Higher Line Prefect. Two years later he was back in Mungret, as Minister for five years until 73, when he received his final posting to the Crescent.

This last quarter of a century was the crowning of a long life of service. He was Minister for a number of years, his third spell at this job for which he had a natural aptitude and liking. His main efforts, however, were centered on our church and its associated apostolates: Devotion to the Sacred Heart, to Our Lady, direction of the Pioneer work ( he was for years in charge of the Munster area) manager of the church shop, and general contact with the people of Limerick and further afield. He had a happy and friendly disposition, which he had inherited from his parents and family background. He was always willing to listen to people, to have a friendly chat, to enthuse with them in their joys and successes, to sympathise with them in their difficulties. He prayed with them too, and they knew him as a man of prayer and child-like faith. He was responsible for the Saturday Fatima Devotions; for a prayer group that meets once a week in the back parlour; for the Rosary after our final morning Mass; and of course for the pioneers, as already mentioned. He was indefatigable in accompanying the various pilgrimages, - to Knock, Holy Cross Abbey, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorjie; any time, any where, he was off to help them to make their pilgrimage a prayerful success.

Although he was a deeply spiritual man, he never gave the impression that he was a “holy Joe”. Instead he was happily interested in many very human activities. He was physically vigorous and nimble himself, and never lost his interest in sport and games. When he was an Army Chaplain his skill was in demand on army rugby teams, and later on he rarely missed any of the big national or international matches shown on TV. He came from a family that was keenly interested in horses, and he watched all the big classic races, both in Ireland and abroad. It was not merely a spectator sport for him. He was an excellent rider, and by the kindness of his brother there was always a horse ready for him and transport to collect him, so that he could participate in the local hunt. Many a story was told of his skill and daring, none more glamorous than that of his famous rescue of a "damsel in distress". Apparently she was thrown from her horse into a river in spate, and was being swept helplessly along. Our gallant Michael rode down the bank below her, jumped in, and managed to pull her to safety. This incident - and a famous remark made at the time - have become part of the O'Meara family folklore! Hunting and horse-riding around the Mallow home-country were a tonic relaxation for him in his intensely active life, and he kept it up until he was into his seventies.

One may mention finally his work in our church shop. This was a real apostolate for him, as he saw in it a way of spreading Catholic devotions and good literature. Apart from the work of organising the shop and ordering the supplies, he spent long hours every week in setting out the cards, the magazines and papers, the rosaries and various religious goods. To give some notion of the extent and scope of his efforts: he worked up the scale of the Irish Messenger to well over 1000 copies each month. For a man of his years his work programme was quite strenuous, as we in the Crescent are keenly aware, now that we have to pick up the pieces, so to speak, after his death. He was probably at this work when he collapsed suddenly and died in the church. He is mourned by many people in various places, but particularly by devoted friends who are loyal supporters of our Church of the Sacred Heart and of our community. May he rest in peace.

Tom MacMahon

Born: 23 February 1898, Bank Place, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 31 August 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 August 1930, Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows: 08 December 1976
Died: 14 November 1991, St Joseph’s Home, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Part of the Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong community at the time of death.

Eldest brother of Michael - RIP 1998; Tommy - RIP 1993

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to HK: 03 December 1966

by 1928 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1932 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1934 at Catholic Mission, Ngau-Pei-Lan, Shiuhing (Zhaoqing), Guandong, China (LUS) - language
by 1935 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - working
by 1943 at Campion Hall, Oxford, England (ANG) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives & ◆ The Clongownian, 1992

Father John O’Meara S.J. R.I.P.

Father John O’Meara SJ, Hong Kong’s oldest priest, who did missionary work in Hong Kong and southern China for almost 60 years, died on 14 November 1991 after a brief illness.

Father O'Meara was born in Mallow, Ireland, on 23 February 1898, into a large family. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and later by the Jesuits.

He join the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1915 and followed the usual course of studies of the time, which, in his case, included an honours degree in history at the National University of Ireland.

He did his philosophical studies in Dublin and went to Louvain in Belgium for theology. He was ordained priest in 1930.

Father O’Meara arrived in Hong Kong for the first time in September 1933 with four companions. Within three days of landing here he was told to proceed to Zhaoqing (Shiu Hing), the Portuguese Jesuit mission on the West River, to study Chinese.

In the following year he moved to the river island mission station of Tianshuisha (Tin Shui Sha), where he gained an intimate knowledge of working in a rural mission.

Later in 1934 he was recalled to Hong Kong and began an important period of his life at the then South China Regional Seminary in Aberdeen. He was first named Vice-Rector, a post he held until 1937 when he was appointed Rector.

In 1935 the seminarians from Fujian Province left Aberdeen when a new regional seminary was opened by the bishops of that region. Their loss was more than compensated for by a large influx of students from Guangdong and Guangxi, as the minor seminaries of those two provinces began to show the results of 10 years patient labour.

With the Japanese invasion of South China, travel to and from Hong Kong became difficult and from 1940 no new students came to Aberdeen.

With the Japanese attack on Hong Kong in December 1941, a very difficult period began for the seminary and for its Rector, Father O’Meara.

The building was shelled and bombed for three days during the siege of Hong Kong and so severe was the firing that the students and some refugees who had gathered there for shelter were forced to leave on Christmas morning. (Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas day).

During the succeeding three and a half years the seminary teaching staff, under Father O’Meara’s leadership, continued to train priests in spite of persistent visits from suspicious gendarmes.

The feeding of such a large community was a problem solved only by repeated interventions of Divine Providence.

For months there was no wheeled traffic other than military on the only road leading to the city. Food supplies had to be brought by hand, on battered bicycles.

In May 1945, Father O’Meara decided that the seminarians who had not finished their studies should go with their professors to neighbouring Macau, which, being Portuguese, was considered neutral.

The main reason was that it had become impossible to find food. Father O’Meara himself remained with an ex-seminarian and a servant to guard the seminary building from looters.

The war came to an end on 15 August 1945, and in November of that year Father O’Meara welcomed the first new students to arrive since 1940 and those in Macau were recalled.

In October 1947, Father O’Meara was relieved of the heavy burden he had carried for 12 years. He was sent to the newly-founded Jesuit mission in Guangzhou (Canton). There he taught at the Sacred Heart School and did missionary work in Dongshan (Tung Shan) as well as being director of the Legion of Mary in the diocese.

In 1953, four years after the establishment of the People’s Republic, he and the other Jesuits were forced to leave the country.

Back in Hong Kong, he taught at Wah Yan College, Kowloon, for five years until his appointment as Master of Novices in 1958 at the newly opened Jesuit novitiate at Xavier House in Cheung Chau.

He was extremely pleased to have been given such a responsible post in forming new Jesuits at the age of 60. He held the position for 10 years when, in 1968, he began a period of parish ministry.

He was first assigned to the Holy Rosary Parish in Kennedy Town and, four years later, transferred to Christ the Worker parish in Ngautaukok.

He was still vigorous in his 80s when he became chaplain to the St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged in Ngauchiwan. In the final years of his life, when he could no longer continue this ministry, he became himself one of the old folk in the home.

Father O’Meara had one final ambition, which he did not get to see - to live until the year 2000 and say he had touched three centuries.

The funeral Mass, presided over by Cardinal John Baptist Wu, Bishop of Hong Kong, and assisted by Archbishop Dominic Tang of Canton (Where Father O’Meara spent some of the happiest years of his life), was held at St. Ignatius Chapel, Kowloon, on 18 November at 11am.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 22 November 1991

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :

Note from Tommy Martin Entry
He first arrived as a Scholastic for regency in Hong Kong in 1933. He was accompanied by Frs Jack O’Meara and Thomas Ryan, and by two other Scholastics, John Foley and Dick Kennedy.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Frs. Bourke and John O'Meara returned from Hong Kong on 25th November for a rest. Fr. Joseph O'Mara, who had returned to the Mission some time ago after a stay in Ireland, was forced by ill-health to come back to the Province. He reached Dublin on 13th January, and is now teaching philosophy at Tullabeg.

Born: 04 March 1906, Randolf Crescent, Maida Vale, London, England
Entered: 14 August 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 August 1935, Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows: 15 August 1941, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 11 February 1977, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death

Father was Managing Director of the O’Mara O’Shea Company, and on retirement went to live at Glenmore, Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin.

Younger of two boys with two sisters.

Educated at Hodder, Stonyhurst from the age of 6, and then went to Stonyhurst College for one year. The family moved to Ireland and he went to Belvedere College SJ

Cousin of Patrick (Pom) O'Mara - RIP 1969

Entered Tullabeg 31 August 1922; LEFT 1923 and Re-entered 1924 at Tullabeg;

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - LEFT twice on account of health having entered 31 August 1922. Finally Reentered 14 August 1924

by 1933 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1937 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) making Tertianship
by 1938 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 6th Year No 1 1931
Brussels Congress :
Fr. Rector (John Coyne) and Fr. J. O'Meara (Louvain) represented the College at the First International Gongress of Catholic Secondary Education, held at Brussels July 28 . August 2. Fr, O'Meara read a paper on State Aid in Irish Secondary Education. Our Irish Jesuit Colleges were well represented in the Exhibition organised by Fr. Corcoran S. J.

Irish Province News 8th Year No 4 1933

Father T. Corcoran's labours in connection with the examinations for the Higher Diploma had scarcely concluded when he had to betake himself to Holland to preside at the second International Congress of Catholic Secondary Education. The meetings of the Congress took place at the Hague each day from 31st .July to 5th August.
Their Excellencies, the Bishops of Holland, were patrons of the Congress, which was attended by some 350 delegates representing the leading Catholic countries. Among the delegates were about 45 members of the Society from lands outside Holland. Prominent among the visitors were the Provincial of the Paris Province, with various Rectors and Prefects of Studies from our French Colleges. Père Yoes de la Brière, the Rectors of Brussels, Namur, Liege and other Belgian Colleges, Fathers Errandonea, Herrera and others from Spain,the French Oratorian Sabatier and various distinguished lay-men from Germany and Italy.
Cardinal Pacelli, in the name of the Holy Father, sent a long and cordial telegram of good wishes to the Congress , also the Nuncio Apostolic in Holland, who was prevented by serious illness from attending in person.
In the absence of the Nuncio the final allocation was delivered by the Bishop of Haarlem, after the Rector Magnificus of the University of Nijmegen and Father Corcoran, as President of the Congress had already spoken. Mr. J. O'Meara from Louvain Messrs. B. Lawler and C. Lonergan from Valkenburg acted as assistants to Father Corcoran at the Hague.
A splendid paper on “The Present Condition of Secondary Education in Ireland” was read by Dr. John McQuaid, the President of Blackrock College. All accounts agree in stating that the Congress was a brilliant success.
As the proceedings at the Hague coincided with the Biennial Conference of the World Federation of Education Associations, Father Corcoran was unable to be present at the functions in Dublin, but an important paper from his pen was read by Mrs McCarville, Lecturer in English in University College, Dublin. This paper expounded the Catholic philosophy of Education.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947
Frs. Bourke and John O'Meara returned from Hong Kong on 25th November for a reşt. Fr. Joseph O'Mara, who had returned to the Mission some time ago after a stay in Ireland, was forced by ill-health to come back to the Province. He reached Dublin on 13th January, and is now teaching philosophy at Tullabeg.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977

Milltown Park
Since the last issue of the Province News, the community has been saddened by the loss of Father Joe O’Mara. He entered St Vincent's Hospital on Thursday 27th January, and passed away just after midnight on the morning of Friday 11th February. His unfailing cheerfulness and buoyancy to the end were a great example to us all. Ar dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam!

Obituary :

Fr Joseph O’Mara (1906-1977)

One Wednesday morning in late January this year, Joe O’Mara gave a lecture in Milltown Park on Immanuel Kant. He was to have followed up with lectures on Maurice Blondel and J P Sartre. On the same Wednesday evening he went to St Vincent's, Elm Park, for what had become his habitual check-up and clean-up: a recurrent necessity because of his grievous emphysema and painful difficulty with breathing. That same evening he suffered what seems to have been a severe brain haemorrhage and his heart stopped beating.
There were many of us who wished he had been struck down before going to hospital. Joe would most likely have died quickly and been spared the long days in intensive care whose loneliness not even the traditionally splendid Vincent’s nursing could eliminate. We suffered with him. We did not want Joe to suffer any more. He was a man we cared for deeply: a man whose death makes a great gap in life. He was, in short, well loved.
We were happy for him then when he died on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was a Friday. Joe said, in his last days, that his parents had died on a Friday and he thought he just might do likewise. Is it necessary to say that, in Vincent’s, he was beloved by nurses and patients, that he entrusted himself completely to his doctors and that he never complained? He died at ten past midnight: causing the minimum of inconvenience to those who were with him. The Lord allowed him to be a gentleman to the last. He was nearly seventy-one years of age.
A potted biography of Joe O'Mara tells us only very little about the man. However, it tells us something :
He went to school at Hodder, Stonyhurst and Belvedere. I remember someone pointing out to me once how remarkable Joe was in that, coming from a background of considerable wealth, his personal religious poverty was so simple and natural. For example he never possessed anything better than a battered set of unmatched golf clubs. I do not remember seeing him with even one precious keepsake from his family. Yet he was a devoted family man.
Give or take a month or so, Joe made two noviceships because of ill-health. I was not aware that, between the two periods in Tullabeg, he took First Science in UCD. Joe would usually be taken as a professional philosopher with a literary and artistic turn. This he was. The early injection of science however explains certain qualities and dimensions in his later philosophy. After the double noviceship there was latin, french and history in UCD. Then came the usual three year Milltown - Tullabeg philosophy. There was of course no LPH. or Bacc Phil in those days; only ens ut sic. However, putting aside the latin nonsense (Joe O’Mara spoke latin very well) and remembering the precious third year, it was perhaps as good an introduction to philosophy as has ever been devised. Then Joe went to Louvain.
There have been many great periods in the splendid history of Louvain. Joe was there in a great one (1932-37). He was in time to fall under the influence of Joseph Maréchal. Even those who only met Maréchal through his books and (like Bernard Longergan) through hearsay can never escape from the experience. Joe O’Mara sat under Maréchal and always spoke of that period as an awakening to a new understanding of reality. From Maréchal came Joe’s lifelong interest in and dedication to the philosophies of Kant and Blondel. Thence too came the natural facility with which he seized on the key-ideas of Bernard Lonergan and found himself at home. Because of the Maréchallien liberation from prejudice and conventional stagnation, Joe could give hearty approval to the reform of thought and practice in Vatican II and as well (though he sometimes pulled a wry face as we all do) to the many attempts in recent years to rethink Jesuit spirituality for our day. Louvain taught minds to be clear and open.
After tertianship in St. Beuno's came Hong Kong. It was Hong Kong at war and eventually occupied by the Japanese (1938-46). I wish I knew about this period because I am sure there are stories to be told. Joe however (at least to me) spoke hardly at all about war time Hong Kong. I must leave it then and the story of philosophy taught at the Regional Seminary to someone better qualified.
Joe came back from the East in bad health. Some thought he was finished. However, it was then began his sixteen years in Tullabeg as professor of philosophy and as rector for the last three years. Joe always spoke of these years as very happy ones. But the cross was on the way and I use the word 'cross deliberately having examined my conscience to see if the word here is free from the pious naivety that uses “cross” for every insignificant pain or ache. Indeed it was the cross that came and Joe was to be asked to suffer deeply because his faith in obedience was absolute.
In 1962, Fr Jack McMahon, the Visitor from the USA, closed the philosophate in Tullabeg. It had been thirty years in existence and was a pontifical faculty. Personally my own relations with Fr McMahon were good: I liked the man. Nevertheless it is as well to recall that he was known far and wide as “Jack-the-Knife” even by people who had never heard of Brecht. I have no reason to believe that the severing of philosophy from Tullabeg was performed very gently. Surgery was relatively rough in those days. Joe O'Mara, the rector, was the one who had to resist, suffer and obey. There was no better man. I was in Tullabeg shortly after the mortal decision had been taken and Joe was, to all appearances, his usual gentlemanly, warmhearted, smiling self. Real suffering is too sacred a thing to flaunt.
There followed for Joe a short period of oscillation. He started the retreat house in Tullabeg. He came to the CIR. He was in the Milltown retreat house. But soon (’68) he came to Milltown and found his place in the faculty of philosophy. Here, I think in great happiness, he spent the rest of his life. He was in on the early days of the Milltown Institute, on the successful end of the long labours to have pontifical faculties extended, on the aborted affair with the NCEA, which died at the stroke of a ministerial pen. He was dean of philosophy from 1970-72 and became senior professor. His subjects were mostly the history of philosophy and his favourite moderns: Kant, Hegel, Blondel, Bergson, Sartre.
Something must be said of Joe as a writer. He wrote I think too little. This is a fault common to Irish Jesuits which is not entirely due to laziness or inability. We seem, for example, (and Joe was no exception) to be more concerned about pedagogy then about print.
Among his papers was a slim folder containing three articles from Studies: “Kierkegaard revealed” (Dec. 1949), “Death and the existententialist” Dec. 1950) and “The meaning and value of existentialism” (March 1951), In Ireland these articles were more than a little ahead of their time. The article on death begins with the sentence “There is an irrational quality about death which is frightening”. Also in the folder there are a public lecture “Existentialism and the christian vision” (undated) and an inaugural lecture for the Milltown Institute called “Maurice Blondel: christian philosopher?” (1973). Were these his favourites? Perhaps. I rather think however that they were kept because they were useful in seminars and in class. Joe was not one to cling to splendid relics of his past without good additional reasons. These few pieces are enough to show that Joe knew about English prose. They are elegant, polished, witty, interesting and strong. The style is the man.
Joe could handle language; as his ordinary conversation showed. His precise enunciation was part of his personality: the result of long training and practice; born of a desire (as politeness ever is) to make no unnecessary difficulties for his audience. After his first stroke he was concerned, “I hope” he said “my speech is sufficiently distinct”. Every final p and t was still clear as a whip-crack.
It could be forgotten that Joe O’Mara was a musician and the son of a distinguished musician, Joe told me once that his father had thought highly of his voice but would never entertain for a moment the idea of allowing his son to expose himself to the jungle of professional singing. What the O’Mara Opera Company lost anyone who heard Joe sing in his heyday at a Milltown ordination will know. His pure, true, powerful and trained tenor voice was professional: a sound to be heard. Joe’s musical knowledge and culture was wider than singing and opera. He knew a great deal about classical and modern concert music. When, once or twice a season, he used the community tickets for an RTESO concert (usually in the company of Jim FitzGerald or Billy Kelly) it was clear from his subsequent remarks that he not merely appreciated the music and the performance but that he knew the music intimately. He had a deadly ear for false notes!
It was in these last eight years, working in the Milltown Institute, that I came to know Joe O'Mara well. I consider it a privilege and a grace to have been able to do so.
It is good then to read some of the many tributes that have been paid to him. We read of his eloquence in the pulpit, his zeal as a missionary, his kindness and understanding. That good friend of the Jesuits, Mary Purcell, sent a card:
“He was a real Jesuit - first things first always - and it was a pleasure to hear him preach on special occasions in Gardiner Street, he came across as utterly sincere and dedicated”.
The spontaneous quiet grief of some lay-friends at his funeral was very moving.
Joe could relax. He had the great selfless sense of humour: a wit, a tough reasonableness, that was always kind. As long as he could play he was a great believer in golf at which he was “useful” or a little better. He loved TV. He loved the cinema too and rejoiced that his old-age card let him in at reduced price. He was a bridge player when Jesuits used to play bridge. But perhaps above all he was a wizard at crosswords. While Joe was alive the Times daily crossword was always removed from the paper with collaboration from Brendan Lawler. That was understood. Joe worked a puzzle at lightning speed and even understood and solved Ximenes. He was no highbrow, someone said. That is true. Neither however was he that other sad thing (using Virginia Woolf's terminology) a middlebrow. He was an authentic man who knew what he liked to do and did it when possible: whether it was Beethoven's string quartet in C sharp minor or the currently popular TV comic. Above all I think he liked the Sunday evening 'crack in Milltown with the community. Fortified by a glass and a half but no more) of whiskey he was very content to listen and radiate friendship.
But there was a depth in this pleasant, indeed delightful, man. It was a depth I have found in those Jesuits I have most admired: Eddie Coyle, Arthur Little, Paddy Joy, Morty Glynn - to mention a few and omit many. “A real Jesuit” Mary Purcell wrote. Joe was a rounded man, a balanced man; not following the new because it was novel nor clinging to the old because it was there; not exaggerating piety to a ludicrous degree like one of Moliére's faux dévots, not thinking for a moment that his direct apostolate of retreat-giving brought him nearer to God than teaching or administration. Joe was a free man. He understood that Ignatian indifference is the capacity to love everything. As Chesterton said of Francis of Assisi, he had left everything and returned to love everything. Like Teilhard de Chardin, he could have dedicated a book “To those who love the world”. Joe is my idea of a holy man.
I am convinced he was a man of deep, silent, personal prayer. This was evident in the quality of his stillness at concelebrated Mass. deep prayer is the only final explanation of his continued success with priests at Pia Unio meetings, of the continuous demands made on him by sisters and brothers. He had no difficulty in dealing with contemplatives: he gave retreats to Cistercians and often to Carmelite sisters. I am sure he was contemplative in action. The great Lord God had given him the kind of contemplative apostolic prayer Ignatius wished for Jesuits: the kind of constant prayer that genuine work does not interrupt. One could talk to Joe about this but it was best done tête-at-tête or with one or two people. He was more reticent in public. So were all the great ones. While dying, his prayers were vocal and very simple. His devotion to Gerard Manley Hopkins's “O God, I love thee, I love thee” - is known. Shortly before his last illness, he drew my attention to a poem in volume 2 of the new breviary (p. 625) which he said he always used at night prayer or compline: it was John Donne's “Hymn to God the Father” which begins “Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun ...”
His complete forgetfulness of self was perhaps his great virtue: the source of his charm, affability, peace, generosity. If he could, he would have been present at all the exhausting meetings we have – out of respect for whoever called the meeting. Ambition for him was confined to becoming a better christian. He never seemed to feel slighted or ignored. He would heartily support shared prayer meetings or penance services to help the brethren even though these techniques were of small importance to him personally. He might not attend but he would defend vigorously the right to pray like this.
Some modern questions “are you lonely?”, “are you fulfilled?” “are you satisfied with community conditions and life?”) had little or no meaning for Joe. For him the only question was “am I doing with all my heart the main job I have been given on the status?” Because for Joe, as for us all, that is the nearest approximation we shall ever arrive at to knowing what is the will of God.
I must finish with a word about his loyalty to the Society of Jesus. It was absolute. The only times I have seen him angry was when rather reactionary Jesuits criticized in public a brother Jesuit (or Jesuit institution) who was taking the dangerous but necessary risk of trying to push Catholic thought and practice forward. The fact that some of the critics were rather ill-informed was of no importance to Joe. This was just something not to be done ever. “I love the Society” he said dying “and I love the brethren”. At that moment the Society for him meant, in the first place, Milltown Park. After Milltown, it meant the whole Province and Jesuits everywhere. This was the theme of his last homily on the feast of the Epiphany this year. We are grateful
Joe's last semiconscious words were 'I shall not surrender'. It is impossible to guess what he was referring to but, as an expression of a general sentiment, it is – one may say - satisfactory.
The Lord has given him rest beside the quiet waters of life. May we be like him when our time comes.
J C Kelly SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1977

Obituary

Father Joseph O’Mara SJ (1922)

From a contemporary of schooldays:

Joe entered Belvedere College in 1918 at the age of 12. In a very short time he won fame as an outstanding rugby player. In the season 1920/21 he was selected Captain of the JCT. He played centre three-quarter and was reckoned a fearless player. In that season he scored 100 tries, playing in 24 matches, winning 22, losing 1 and drawing 1. This was surely a great achievement. “Omega”, who that season was the team's trainer, described Joe as fast, fearless and every inch a footballer. Great things were expected of him in the future as a three quarter. He was also Captain of the junior cricket team that same season.

Joe was a most popular boy and liked by everybody. He had no time for boys who would not train and put their heart and soul into a game. On one occasion in a rugby game when his team was down at half time one of his players came up to and said “Joe, we're bet”. On the spot Joe said to him “Leave the field at once”! This was typical of Joe. Both on and off the field the boys had great admiration and respect for Joe for they knew that they had a dedicated Captain and one who was considerate of others and an example of a thorough sportsman.

He also had a delightful voice and the college choir benefited greatly by having him a member of it. In this same year he was admitted a member of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. That day was a holiday for those received and a very happy day too. After the ceremonies were over, which included a special breakfast, Joe and a few of his close companions decided to go to the top of Nelson Pillar to get a birds view of the city.

In class Joe was above average in ability. He was always full of fun and good humour and because of that was on occasions called to order by his master for talking to fellow colleagues when in the eyes of the master, he should have been studying. From a student at Tullabeg:

All students, at any level, first second or third, will invariably build up caricatures of their teachers. Teachers, to a greater or lesser extent, will adapt themselves to fit this groove...possibly for some kind of self protection in predicability. Fr Joe was “Pater Formalis”. Everything had to be correct and formal, crystal articulation, the dramatic, even staged, pause. However he did not always have to hide behind these traits. We would sometimes see the flash of brilliance in a chance remark or the simplicity with which he would sing the Prologue to I Pagliacci, or Danny Boy (bilingually), or remove his gown to act the matador to someone else's bull ... very well too; he amazingly acquired in an instant a spanish face without benefit of costume or make up. These were the less formal times, when it was accepted that you could let your hair down to amuse your students, which was the real Fr Joe O'Mara? Both probably. For he was a very shy man, and complicated. He did not easily reveal what he felt, least, perhaps, he should be indulging in self pity, and he had none of that.

His breakdown in health in Hong Kong must have altered his life very greatly, not only because he ceased to be a missionary but also because he could not give himself to study with the same verve as before. We students of Philosophy felt that he had gone stale; if he saw fresh mountains to conquer he turned the other way and preferred to think of the good old days in Louvain when he was at the height of his powers. However he did not complain. He had a job and he held it down.

A bigger crisis came in the sixties, a few years after he was made Rector at Tullabeg. St Stanislaus College was a large, rambling, stone flagged, high-windowed, underheated and decaying building, where we studied Philosophy. The almost universal experience of Irish Jesuits who studied there was that it was the happiest house along the trail to ordination. We complained of course, for we were young and knew everything and the earth was our periwinkle, but in contrast to the scramble of university days it was a wonderful time of peace and companionship. As soon as Fr Joe became Rector he set about relieving the harshness of the domestic scene. Why was there not better heat in the Philosophers wing? Because, he was told, you couldn't get more heat out of that bunker. A new one was needed. The man in charge of the bunker was taken aback the next morning to find Fr Rector down in the coal dust stoking the furnace! He painted the walls, he bought tintawn carpeting for the stones, he encouraged music by making the music room more comfortable, he bought pictures to break up the bare expanses of wall. Tullabeg “never had it so good”. Then came the Visitor from the USA. He thought Tullabeg was primitive and should be closed. Some would say that the mistake in this step is still in evidence, but at the time it was not possible to get much comment out of Fr Joe. He had been caught holding the can, in fact he thought he had been doing a good job of cleaning up the can, and he had, but rough justice dictated that Fr O'Mara's philosophate was not fit for the training of Jesuits

Surgery was relatively rough in those days. Joe O'Mara, the Rector, was the one who had to resist, suffer and obey. There was no better man. I was in Tullabeg shortly after the mortal decision had been taken and Joe was, to all appearances, his usual, gentlemanly, warmhearted, smiling self. Real suffering is too sacred a thing to flaunt.

J C Kelly SJ

-oOo-

Extracts from a tribute by a Milltown '77 Jesuit:

One Wednesday morning in late January this year, Joe O'Mara Gave a lecture in Milltown Park on Immanuel Kant. He was to have followed up with lectures on Maurice Blondel and J.P. Sartre. On the same Wednesday evening he went to St Vincent's Elm Park, for what had become his habitual check-up and clean-up: a recurrent necessity because of his grevious emphysema and painful difficulty with breathing. That same evening he suffered what seems to have been a severe brain haemorrhage and his heart stopped beating.

There were many of us who wished he had been struck down before going to hospital. Joe would most likely have died quickly and been spared the longdays in intensive care whose loneliness not even the traditionally splendid Vincent's nursing could eliminate. We did not want Joe to suffer any more. He was a man we cared for deeply: a man whose death makes a great gap in life. He was, in short, well loved.

While dying, his prayers were vocal and very simple. His devotion to Gerard Manley Hopkins's “O God, I love thee, I love thee” is known. Shortly before his last illness, he drew my attention to a poem in volume 2 of the new breviary (p. 625) which he said he always used at night prayer or compline: it was John Donne's “Hymn to God the Father” which begins... “Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun....”

Joe's last semiconscious words were “I shall not surrender”. It is impossible to guess what he was referring to but, as an expression of a general sentiment, it is - one may say - satisfactory.

The Lord has given him rest beside the quiet waters of life. May we be like him when our time comes.

Born: 03 March 1918, Ulster Bank House, Lombard Street, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1954, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 04 September 2003, St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Zambia Mission : 27 November 1962
Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03/12/1969

Father was a Bank Manager, and family changed home frequently : St Anthony’s Terrace, Newtown, Waterford; Ulster Bank House, The Quay, Waterford from 1932.

Eldest of three boys with one sister.

Early education was at a private school in Waterford and then he went to Waterpark College (1925-1929 & 1930-1933 - the intervening years was spent at Coláiste na Rinne) He then went to Blackrock College (1933-1935). In 1935 he went to the Patrician College at Ballyfin, County Laois.

by 1951 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) making Tertianship
by 1952 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fourth wave of Zambian Missioners
Mission Superior Chikuni (HIB) 21 November 1962 - 1969

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Des (as he was known to his fellow Jesuits) died on 4 September 2003 at the age of 85, completely unexpectedly. His mother lived to be 101 and all thought that Des would follow suit. He had gone to the Mina Medical Centre with a touch of 'flu with another member of the community, and then he died.

He was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1918, attended school at Blackrock College and Ballyfin and then entered the Society at Emo Park in 1936. The usual course of studies, arts, philosophy, theology, brought him to ordination in 1949 at Milltown Park, Dublin. For his tertianship he went to Paray-le-Monial in France, 1950/1951.

The second batch of Irish Jesuits to come to the then Northern Rhodesia in 1951 included Des who came to Chikuni to be Assistant principal of the newly opened Canisius College, 1951-52. He then went north to learn CiBemba for a year and came to Lusaka to work in the Regiment church for a few months before moving to St. Ignatius (1953-l959), doing parish work at Chilanga and Kafue, and being chaplain to Munali Secondary School and Chalimbana Teacher Training College. He became judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese. He moved to Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College to teach for a few months in 1960. He returned to St .Ignatius as Superior and chaplain as above.

He was appointed Regular Superior of the Mission from 1962 to 1969, first residing in Choma and then in Mazabuka in Moreau house. As Des never gave a snap decision but one which was cautiously thought out, where he lived became known as ‘Tomorrow House’. He returned to Lusaka to St. Ignatius in 1970 where he spent the rest of his life. Parish priest there from 1970 to 1977, he then became full time chaplain to the University Teaching Hospital, a devoted priest to the sick and dying. This was from 1977 to 1991 where he also built a chapel in the hospital. Even after retiring as official chaplain, his devotion to the sick took him twice a week to other hospitals in Lusaka, Hill Top, Mina Medical Centre and Mine Hospital etc. At the same time parish work in St Ignatius: Masses, funerals, marriages, occupied his ever busy life right to the end.

Des was a very hospitable person, sincere and genuine in his relationships with others. He was sensitive to the needs of others and had a great serenity about him. He never became upset, was 'unflappable' as the homilist at his funeral described him. He ‘hastened slowly’ and was known to arrive for meals or any other function always 'slightly late'.

He had a marvellous memory for people and occasions, and could be relied upon to remember who was who, and recall when such an event took place. ‘Ask Des’ was always the solution when one was looking for information about the past. In fact after he died, letters, newspaper cuttings, records etc were found in his room, in short, ample material to gladden the heart of the archivist!

He would never be rushed. Once when he was having a cuppa in the sitting room at St Ignatius, someone came to the parish office to see him without an appointment. He continued with his tea even pouring a second cup and was reminded that someone was still waiting at the parish office. He is said to have remarked ‘I am not a fireman’! But, despite that, he was always kind and understanding to all who came to him. He was the perfect example of a gentleman in his graceful old age who had spent 52 years of dedicated priestly service in Zambia and especially Lusaka.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 123 : Special Issue February 2005

Obituary
Fr Desmond (Des) O’Loghlen (1918-2003) : Zambia-Malawi Province

3rd March, 1918: Born in Waterford, Ireland
7th Sept. 1936: Entered the Society at Emo
1944 - 1946: Crescent College, Limerick, teaching, regency
31st July, 1949: Ordained
1950 - 1951: Tertianship at Paray-le-Monial, France.
1951 - 1952: Chikuni, Canisius, assistant principal
1952 - 1953: Chingombe, Kabwe, Mpika, language study
2nd Feb 1954: Professed of four vows
1953 - 1959: Lusaka, St. Ignatius, pastoral work
1955 - 1959: Chaplain at Chalimbana
1956 - 1959: Chaplain at Munali
1959 - 1993: Judicial vicar for Archdiocese of Lusaka
1960: Chikuni, Charles Lwanga, teaching
1960 - 1962: Lusaka, St. Ignatius, Superior,
1962 - 1967: Choma, Regional Superior for Chikuni Mission
1967 - 1969: Mazabuka, Regional Superior for Mission
1970 - 1977: Lusaka, St. Ignatius, Parish Priest
1977 - 1992: St. Ignatius, Chaplain, University Teaching
1992 - 2003: St. Ignatius, Assistant PP, Hospital Chaplain
Sept. 4th 2003: Died in Lusaka, Zambia.

Des had been planning for home leave in 2004 and had gone to visit his brother, Dinnie, who was dying in Durban. On returning to Lusaka, he contracted a chest infection which, indeed, many had picked up. On September 4, he was driven to the clinic, although there was no sign of anything critical. However, his breathing suddenly became very acute and he was anointed. Shortly afterwards, he died.

Clive Dillon-Malone writes:
Des entered the Society after secondary school in 1936 when he was eighteen years old. He went through the ordinary formation of Jesuits: novitiate, juniorate at University College, Dublin, philosophy, regency in Limerick, theology, ordination in 1949, tertianship and final vows in 1954.

It was in the years 1950 and 1951 that the Irish Province of the Jesuits had been asked especially to help the Polish Jesuits in staffing their work in what was then Northern Rhodesia. The Irish Province responded generously and sent eight to ten men in each of these two years in order to lay a solid foundation for their work. Des was amongst the group that came in 1951.

He became Superior of Chikuni Mission in 1962, the year in which the late Bishop Corboy was ordained Bishop of Monze. While the greater part of Des's life was spent in the Archdiocese of Lusaka, he spent seven years as Superior of Chikuni Mission from 1962-1969 in the Diocese of Monze, residing in Choma from 1962-1967, and at the newly-built Moreau House in Mazabuka from 1967-1969. As a result Des, though in many ways a man of cautious bent, was closely associated with the energetic and far-sighted expansion of the early years of Bishop Corboy's tenure in Monze. During those years, many new parishes were established and Jesuits served in those of Mazabuka (1964), Chilalantambo (1967), Chirundu (1967), Nakambala (1967), and St Mary's Monze (1969). Charles Lwanga Teachers' Training College had opened in Chikuni in 1959, Mukasa Minor Seminary in Choma in 1966, and St. Kizito Catechist Training Centre in Monze in 1967. A Jesuit had also become Chaplain of St. Edmund's Secondary School in Mazabuka in 1964.

In Lusaka, the new residence at St. Ignatius was built in 1966. Des presided over a talented and generous group of Jesuits whose achievements he would have been the first to
recognise. He had the vision to encourage a number of younger Jesuits, who saw the need to do further studies, especially in anthropology, sociology, music and linguistics.

Des loved to recall stories of his travels in small aircraft using various remote airfields in different corners of East and Central Africa. He accompanied Fr. General Arrupe during his early visit to Zambia in 1965 and delighted in pioneering meetings with other Major Superiors, meetings which were the remote forerunners of the Jesuit Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar (JESAM) and the establishing, years later, of the African Assistancy. It was at the end of his time as Superior in July 1969 that the famous meeting took place in Chikuni at which the Jesuits of Chikuni Mission agreed in a cliff-hanger of a vote to be part of the proposed new Vice-Province of Zambia (3rd December, 1969). Des was justly proud of his part in the setting up in 1969 of the Jesuit Novitiate at Xavier House in Lusaka, a novitiate which was soon to cater not only for Zambia and Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), but also for the five countries of the East Africa Region as well as the Nigeria-Ghana Region.

In 1969, Des was assigned to St. Ignatius Parish in Lusaka where he spent the rest of his life. From 1970 -77, he was the parish priest; then followed his long stint as chaplain at the University Teaching Hospital which he finished in 1991. During his time in Lusaka, he was also the vicar for the archdiocese of Lusaka.

He was always a man of caution. No quick decisions, no hasty moves. He looked ahead and planned carefully. Everything he did was done well and conscientiously. If mistakes were made, they were very few. He would go to any lengths to help and would see a problem right through to the very end. Despite his more conservative bent, he remained open to change and could joke about the internet, e-mails and computers which he acknowledged to be out of his reach. His good humour and wit were even more pronounced in his later years.

Punctuality was not one of his greatest virtues. In fact, arriving late for everything seemed to Des to be itself a virtue in view of his appreciation of the value of time. And he adamantly refused to be rushed. There is a true story of how, one day when he was taking his afternoon tea in the recreation room, a member of the community came in and told him that some woman wanted to see him at the reception area of the parish offices. As always, he enquired if she had an appointment and, when the answer to that question was negative, he continued taking his tea. About ten minutes later, the same member of the community returned to the recreation room. Seeing Des still taking his tea, he gently said to him: “I hope, Des, that you understand that there is a woman waiting to see you at the parish reception area”. His comment was: “We're priests, not firemen”.

Des was always available and so anxious to help everyone with his advice and wisdom. Well versed in Canon Law, he had a way of cutting through the legal technicalities and focusing on the persons involved. He felt for people in a special way and his pastoral sensitivity ran through everything he did. His pastoral work spanned three generations, and he had a phenomenal memory for people and places. He would take delight in telling young married couples of having married their parents and having known their grandparents. He touched so many through baptisms, weddings, marriage counselling, funerals, the sacrament of reconciliation and the Eucharist. He was always on call in the parish and his phone was seldom silent.

But perhaps his endless concern for the sick and the dying is what stands out more than anything else in his life. As Chaplain at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Des will be remembered especially for his kindness to the sick and the dying and their families, as well as for his unfailing interest in the medical staff and their formation, especially the nurses and doctors. The Chaplaincy Centre with its Interdenominational Chapel which was the outcome of persistence and determination on his part is a lasting memorial to his far-sightedness in the face of many difficulties. When he retired from being official chaplain there after over twenty years, he continued to visit three smaller hospitals to cater to the needs of all patients without distinction right up to the end. He brought healing to so many on so many different levels. He was a living channel of God's loving care and concern for the suffering and the dying.

Des was a wonderful community member, always ready to share in whatever problems arose. He was a most pleasant, heartfelt and sincere person to live with, and always a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. He was kind, compassionate and gentle in all that he did. He might get angry with people at times for breaking appointments or coming late but it was a momentary frustration. He would always find a way of excusing those involved. He would get so sorry if he felt that he had hurt anyone and would go out of his way to put things right. He was incapable of becoming bitter or holding a grudge.

Des was a man of God and a man of the people. First thing every morning, he would be there in our small oratory with the Lord. Every evening last thing, he would be there in that same small oratory. But his contact with the Lord continued throughout the day in his contact with people. Des loved people and he loved the people of Zambia in particular. After coming to Zambia, he had become a Zambian citizen as a sign of his total commitment. It was his ardent wish to live and die here. He got his wish.

Born: 18 December 1914, Rock Villas, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1952
Died: 04 March 1968, Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin

Father is a building contractor.

Eldest of three boys (second is with the Salesians in Macclesfield) with two sisters.

Early education for fifteen years was at local National school and then he went to Mungret College SJ. In 1930 he entered the Apostolic school at Mungret (1930-1934)

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 43rd Year No 3 1968

Gonzaga College
Fr. John O'Leary, on medical advice, entered hospital on the evening of Saturday, 2nd March, but neither he nor we were unduly concerned for the state of his health : he himself had talked about a weak heart muscle and the need to lie up for a couple of weeks. Consequently we were very shocked on the following morning to learn that he had suffered a coronary and been anointed. Matters seemed to have improved somewhat by that Sunday evening, but another attack ensued during the night and he died about 4 a.m. on Monday. The remains were received at Gongaza chapel on Monday evening and solemn requiem Mass celebrated there on Wednesday, 6th March. The numbers that attended both the reception and the Mass bore eloquent testimony to the great esteem in which he was held and to his tremendous capacity for making friends. May he rest in peace.

Irish Province News 43rd Year No 4 1968
Obituary :

Fr John O’Leary SJ (1914-1968)

Father John O'Leary was born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, on the 18th December 1914. One might say of him that he was a pure product of the Irish Province of the Society. From the time he entered Mungret College as a boy, all his studies and all his experience of life were confined to Ireland. His career in the Province can be summarised thus. Noviceship at Emo 1934-36; University studies in Rathfarnham 1936-39; Philosophy in Tullabeg 1939-42; Regency at Mungret 1943-46; Theology at Milltown Park 1946-50; Tertianship at Rathfarnham 1950-51; Clongowes 1951-61; Belvedere 1962-63; Gonzaga 1963-68
Father John was an uncomplicated character. An enduring and endearing trait was a certain “pietas” if one understands by this, a loyalty to places where one has lived and worked. It is a good quality. It was strong enough in him to make him vulnerable to some leg-pulling. One could easily get a ‘rise' out of him by some adverse remark on any house where he had worked. Father was no academic. He was an extrovert, with no inclinations towards intellectual theories or controversies. This has its advantages since everything appears much simpler than it really is. Of late years he was upset by the unrest and questioning in the Church and in the Society. This simplicity of outlook also made him somewhat of a “laudator temporis acti”. Indeed, a good deal of his conversation was about the good old days as a scholastic. It never seemed to dawn on him that in the remembrance of other people, they were very bad old days. As a boy in school he distinguished himself both at Hurling and Rugby, and even in the incomprehensive art of Cricket. And he retained a trim athletic figure to the end. It is notorious that schoolboys have a deadly accuracy in the nicknames they sometimes give to their masters or prefects. At Clongowes they called him “Ever-Ready”. And as far as outward activity was concerned, it gave the essence of Father John. He was always on the spot when something happened. It was an invaluable quality in a prefect, or a Minister, as far as the boys were concerned. Possibly not equally appreciated where the Community is concerned. But it made him invaluable especially in games and school activities.
He got on very well with the parents of our boys. He was always “there”. Partly from tradition, and partly from false spiritual direction in regard to “externs”, it must be admitted that many Irish Jesuits rather tend to avoid the casual visitor. He, or she, is the responsibility of the Minister or the Rector. Father John's inclination was in the opposite direction, and his instinct in this was right. The parents appreciated it. He was willing to talk, even by the hour, about the doings of “little John” or “little Alexander”. What this meant to the parents came as a revelation to the community at Gonzaga when he died. Amongst the very large gathering of parents who came to the College for his obsequies there was real genuine grief. There is surely a lesson in it for all of us who are engaged in teaching in the Colleges. During his years at Gonzaga he also organised the swimming classes. It took a lot of patience and a lot of trouble, since the boys had to be organised for transport to the Iveagh Baths. One can get very tired of that sort of thing. But once again Father John was always there, always ready. The school misses him sorely.
He is gone now to his reward. He will be understood and appreciated by the Marthas of God's Kingdom; those invaluable people without whose incessant activities there would be no dinner for the Marys.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1968

Obituary

Father John C O’Leary SJ

The Rev John C O'Leary SJ, who died in a Dublin nursing home, was born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, in 1914 and received his secondary education at Mungret College, Limerick. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1934, did his clerical studies in Jesuit houses in Ireland and was ordained to the priesthood at Milltown Park in 1949.

He had taught at Mungret College for three years before ordination. Subsequently he was stationed at Clongowes Wood College for ten years (1951-1962), at Belvedere College for one year and at Gonzaga College for nearly five years (1963-68), where he functioned as teacher, prefect and vice rector.

Irish Independent

Born: 18 March 1896, Baltinglass, County Wicklow
Entered: 13 August 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1927, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome Italy
Died: 22 July 1968, Coláiste Iognáid, Sea Road, Galway

Father was a shopkeeper and died in 1914 (during novitiate) and mother died in 1911.

Youngest of four sons (1 deceased) and has six sisters, three of whom are nuns (French Sisters of Charity; Good Shepherds; Little Sisters of the Assumption). Eldest brother is a doctor at Mount Street Dublin.

Early education at a day school near his home in 1908 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for BSc at UCD

by 1929 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1930 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-jesuits-name-bugs/

JESUITICA: The flies of Ireland
Only one Irish Provincial has had a genus of flies called after him. In 1937 Fr Larry Kieran welcomed Fr Hermann Schmitz, a German Jesuit, to Ireland, and he stayed here for about four years, teaching in Tullabeg and doing prodigious research on Irish Phoridae, or flies. He increased the known list of Irish Phoridae by more than 100 species, and immortalised Fr Larry by calling a genus after him: Kierania grata. Frs Leo Morahan and Paddy O’Kelly were similarly honoured, Leo with a genus: Morahanian pellinta, and Paddy with a species, Okellyi. Hermann served Irish entomologists by scientifically rearranging and updating the specimens of Phoridae in our National Museum. He died in Germany exactly fifty years ago.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 43rd Year No 4 1968

St. Ignatius College, Galway
Our Community has seen sad days since the last issue of “Province News”. Fathers O'Connor, Hutchinson and Brennan had severe heart attacks which necessitated for each a long stay in hospital. Father Andrews, on his return from Spain, was very ill and went into hospital. And Father Butler is in hospital after an appendix operation.
The saddest news of all, however, was the death of two members of our community, Father P. O'Kelly and Brother Foley. Father Kelly's death was sudden and unexpected. On Monday, 22nd July, when he did not turn up for the 6.50 a.m. Mass, Brother Bonfield went to his room and found him dead in his chair. A note in the “History of the House”, in his own hand, dated the 22nd July, leads to the conclusion that he died in the early hours of that morning. On Sunday 21st he seemed to be in the best of form, had his usual swim (or swims), his usual trips on the bike, and in the evening took the Bona Mors Devotions. Little knowing that the prayers were for himself he said the usual three Hail Marys for the person in the congregation who was next to die. His death has left an unfillable gap in the Community. “We shall not see his like again”. But it was surely the death Father Paddy would have chosen for himself - a labourer in the Lord's vineyard, working on and on, right up to the eleventh hour. Messages of sympathy poured in from all sides, among them, one from His Lordship the Bishop, and one from the County Council. All day long, for two days, the doorbell kept ringing as Mass Cards were handed in and the pile grew steadily.
When Brother Foley's death came so soon after Father O'Kelly's funeral and the church bell tolled again, people showed deep sympathy for the community. Mass cards piled up again, a sign that, in spite of his enforced retirement, over the years, his old friends had not forgotten him.
Both funerals were large and impressive. The town's people were there in great numbers to pay their last tribute, and Fathers and Brothers from all over the Province came to be present at the last sad rites. Many of Father O'Kelly's and Brother Foley's relatives were at the Mass and at the graveside. Fr. G. Perrott (Rector at the time) came all the way from Achill to say the Requiem
Mass for Father O'Kelly and was present at both funerals. Fr. V. McLaughlin was Celebrant at the Mass for Brother Foley. Reciting the last prayers at the burial of Father O'Kelly was Rev. Father Provincial, Father Barry and at Brother Foley's burial the prayers were said by Father C. McGarry, Father Barry's successor as Provincial. Ar laimh dheis De go raibh a n-anama.

Obituary :

Fr Patrick H O’Kelly SJ (1896-1968)

Fr. Patrick O'Kelly was born in 1896 at Baltinglass. He was the son of Mr. E. P. O'Kelly, M.P. for Wicklow, and was one of a family of nine, of whom four, himself and three sisters, entered religion.
He went from the local National School to Clongowes in 1908 and spent five years there. Though he did not achieve any very notable distinction, he was above average in all departments of school life. He was awarded a book prize in the mathematical group in all the grades of the Intermediate examinations, Junior, Middle and Senior. He was useful at all games, but the only athletic achievement of his which is on record is second place in the Lower Line walking race at the Easter sports of 1911. Strange to say, this minor event is engraved on the memory of the writer after all these years. The race took place most unsuitably immediately after a “full feed”, and Paddy's superhuman efforts had catastrophic after-effects. Paddy entered the novitiate at Tullabeg in 1913, took his vows in 1915 and spent four years in the juniorate at Rathfarnham. His mental powers developed greatly at this period and, with that remarkable power of application and exactness of mind which characterised him in after life, he had no difficulty in getting his Honours B.Sc. in mathematics and mathematical physics. Whilst in Rathfarnham, he had a very severe attack of rheumatic fever, as a result of which the doctors declared that he would never be able to play any game again, and that it would be dangerous for him even to walk upstairs quickly. Never was medical prophesy so completely off the mark.
At Milltown Park in 1919-21, he showed a decided aptitude for philosophy, clearness and exactness being his characteristics. A minor memory recalls the troubled times in which we then lived. In one of the Christmas plays, Fr. Paddy took the part of a sergeant of the R.I.C., complete with dark green uniform and bristling moustache. Just before the curtain went up, he remembered that he had left some essential property in his room, and dashed up the stairs to get it. On the way he encountered the late Father Patrick Gannon, who nearly had a heart attack at meeting what he took to be a Black and Tan engaged on a raid.
Then followed three years at Belvedere, where, in spite of the doctors' forebodings, he took an active part in organising the games, theology at Milltown, with ordination in 1927, tertianship at St. Beuno's, and a biennium in philosophy in Rome, 1929-31, his last vows being pronounced in the Church of the Gesù.
In 1931 he was appointed professor of Ontology at Tullabeg, which post he filled until 1937, being also Minister from 1932 to 1935. As a professor, if not very inspiring, he was most painstaking and thorough. He was a devoted, one might say almost fanatical follower of the doctrines of Suarez, and found himself ploughing a lone furrow, as his brilliant colleagues, Fathers Joseph Canavan, Arthur Little and Edward Coyne, were equally ardent Thomists and had secured the intellectual allegiance of the majority of the philosophers.
A curious incident must have seemed to Father Paddy to be almost a heaven-sent approval of his loyalty to Suarez. Browsing one day in a Dublin secondhand bookshop, he found an ancient copy of one of Suarez' works. Examining the fly-leaf, he found it inscribed to a certain person “from his friend Francisco Suarez”. The price of the volume was only a few shillings, but Father Paddy found that he had not even this amount in his pocket. He hurried to the nearest Jesuit house, borrowed the money and secured his prize. Experts afterwards confirmed that the signature was really that of the great theologian whose theories Father Paddy had so stubbornly defended.
During his years in Tullabeg, Fr. Paddy had ample opportunity for the pursuit of botany and entomology, subjects which, ever since the juniorate, had occupied his spare moments. Though he never had any formal training in either, he pursued them not as a mere hobby, but in the thorough way in which he did everything, and his knowledge was wide and exact.
In 1937, Fr. O'Kelly was transferred to St. Ignatius', Galway, and here began the most active and successful period of his life, which was to last for thirty-one years. He was at the height of his powers, and well equipped for all the varied tasks he found at his disposal, Of no man could it be more truly said that he was paratus ad omnia. He was a full-time teacher, mostly of mathematics, also of French, English and Religious Knowledge. But at the same time he was a full-time operarius in the church, and also exercised a most devoted ministry to the sick and suffering.
His energy soon became legendary. His bicycle stood at the door, always ready for action, and he thought nothing of starting off immediately after a full day's class to ride twenty or thirty miles to visit some invalid. When he went to give retreats during the summer, he usually performed the whole, or at least a large part of the journey by bicycle. His spare time was occupied by other activities, gardening, botanising, and painting, for the last of which he had a considerable, though untrained talent. Even his recreations were of a strenuous kind. When he played a round of golf, he was as much interested in the speed with which he completed it as in his score, and he was one of those hardy wights, the all-the-year round swimmers.
His best friends would not deny that there was a certain degree of exaggeration in this boundless activity, and that his zeal some times led to friction when he crossed the path of others, but none could but admire his utter devotion to his priestly duties, and his readiness to take on the most difficult tasks. He soon won the admiration and affection of the people of Galway, and there must have been countless souls who were enabled by his ministrations to face sickness and death with courage and hope, and not a few whom he helped to return to the fold from which they had strayed, Through the years his energy seemed undiminished. In the last year of his life, he again took on full teaching, which for a short time he had curtailed, and he was, just before his death, actually preparing to assume a new task, the teaching of biology through Irish, and was making, with his usual thoroughness, a study of the required vocabulary of technical terms. It had often been feared that his relentless activity must be putting a strain on his constitution, but there was no outward sign of this, and on the Sunday before his death, he had carried out all his usual work in the church. As he would have wished, he died in harness. He always went to bed at a late hour so as to be ready to answer a sick call. Death came while he was thus on duty. He was found on the morning of Monday, 22nd July, seated at his table, with the decrees of the Vatican Council, which he had evidently been studying, open before him.
Every section of the population of Galway, clerical and lay, was represented in the immense congregation which thronged the church for his funeral. Many tributes were paid to him in the local press and in letters of condolence sent to the community. Perhaps more eloquent than any of these was a remark made shortly before his death by a poor man. “Sure, he'd jump into the canal to save a soul”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1969

Obituary

Father Patrick H O’Kelly SJ

Fr O'Kelly who was found dead seated at his table in St Ignatius College, Galway on July 22nd, 1968, was a priest who never spared himself in the service of others. Very gifted intellectually, he was a superb field. worker in all branches of the natural sciences From 1921 to 1924 he taught Honours Mathematics at the top of the school in Belvedere winning from his admiring pupils “mantissa” as a nickname. He never lost his interest in things Belvederian.

◆ The Clongownian, 1969

Obituary

Father Patrick H O’Kelly SJ

Patrick O'Kelly was born in 1896 at Baltinglass. He was the son of Mr E P O'Kelly, MP for West Wicklow and younger brother of the late Professor W D O'Kelly who has also passed away. Paddy came to Clongowes in 1908 and spent five years here. Even though he did not achieve any notable distinction, he was above average in all departments of school life. He shone at mathematics and won a book prize in this group in all the grades of the intermediate examinations, Junior, Middle and Senior. He was useful at games, especially at athletics and in the Clongownian of 1913 there is a photo of Paddy winning the Higher Line 440 yards race in the Easter Sports. Upon leaving Clongowes in 1913, Paddy entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, took his vows in 1915 and spent four years at University studies in Rathfarnham Castle. It was here that he showed his real mental calibre as well as that remarkable power of application and exactness of mind which ever characterised him in after life. He had no difficulty in getting his Honours BSc in mathematics and mathematical phycics.

In Milltown Park during the years 1919-21 he showed a decided aptitude for Philosophy as he was endowed with a high degree of clearness and exactness. Paddy spent three years teaching in Belvedere College before going for his theological studies to Milltown Park. He was ordained in 1927. He completed his formation as a Jesuit with a spiritual year (Tertianship) at St Beuno's College, Wales, and was then sent to the Gregorian University, Rome for special studies in Philosophy.

On his return to Ireland in 1931 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy and filled this post until 1937. He was then transferred to St Ignatius College, Galway, where he once again taught his favourite subject mathematics, but he was also a very competent teacher of French and English. It was here. in Galway that his energy became legendary, and his charity all-embracing. After a full day's class he thought nothing of cycling twenty miles to visit some poor invalid.

He won the admiration and affection of the people of Galway by his utter devotion to his priestly duties and there must have been countless souls who were enabled by his ministrations to face sickness and death with courage and hope.

Fr Paddy's death was the one he would have wished for, death whilst on duty. He was found on the morning of Monday, July 22, seated at his desk with the degrees of the Vatican Council open before him. He had evidently been studying them when God called him to his reward. To all Fr, Paddy's relatives and friends we offer our sincere sympathy.

Born: 25 April 1927, Castlereagh, County Roscommon
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, John Austin House, Dublin
Died: 13 October 2011, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Older brother of Fergus

Son of Fergus Thomas O’Keefe and Hilda Galwey Foley. Father was a Bank Manager.

Born in Dublin but living in Castlereagh.

Father was a Bank Manager, and family was living at Bank of Ireland House, Callan, County Kilkenny.

Elder of two boys with one sister.

Early education at a Convent and National School in Arklow, County Wicklow, he went then to the Christian Brothers school in Callan for two years. Next he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ for three years.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-edmund-okeefe-rip/

Fr Edmund O'Keefe RIP
Fr Edmund (Ned) O’Keefe died peacefully in St Vincent’s Hospital on 13th October, at the age of 84. We offer sincere condolences to his younger brothers Fergus SJ and Niall, and to his wider family. Though born in Castlereagh, Ned lived and worked mainly in the Dublin area, teaching for many years in the colleges of technology. He spent himself especially on two causes, devotion to the Sacred Heart, and the canonisation of Fr John Sullivan. He worked on the staff of the Sacred Heart Messenger, and produced a Novena to the Sacred Heart for radio. He gave similar energy to the Cause of Fr Sullivan, and produced a CD on John’s life. He spent the last year of his life in fragile health in Cherryfield, but remained to the end an active and engaged member of the Milltown Park community.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 147 : Spring 2012

Obituary

Fr T Edmund (Ned) O’Keefe (1927-2011)

25 April 1927: Born in Dublin.
Early education at Templerainey National School, CBS Secondary, Callan and Clongowes
7 September 1945: Entered the Society at Emo
8 September 1947: First Vows at Emo
1947 - 1950: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1950 - 1953: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: Clongowes - "Gallery Prefect"; Teacher (History and Geography)
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31st July 1959: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1960 - 1961: Tertianship at St. Beuno's
1961 - 1962: Clongowes -- Third Line Prefect; Teacher (History, Geography and RK)
5 November 1977: Final Vows
1962 - 1963: College of Industrial Relations - Teaching in Rathmines College of Commerce (and and 3rd level)
1963 - 1966: Emo - Minister; Socius to Novice Director
1966 - 1974: SFX, Gardiner Street - Assisted in the Church; Chaplain to Kevin Street College of Technology
1974 - 1979: Austin House - Head Chaplain at Kevin Street DIT and Lecturer in Bioethics
1979 - 1980: Leeson Street - Head Chaplain at Kevin Street DIT
1980 - 1982: SFX Gardiner Street - Assistant Director of Pioneers; Assisted in Church
1982 - 1984: Campion House - Promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Messenger
1984 - 1996: Austin House - Promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Messenger
1992 - 1996: Sabbatical (to January 1993); John Sullivan Cross Apostolate
1996 - 2003: Belvedere College - Assistant Vice-Postulator of John Sullivan SJ Cause
2003 - 2011: Milltown Park - Assisted in Community; Assistant Vice-Postulator of John Sullivan SJ Cause
2010: Milltown Park - Residing at Cherryfield Lodge - praying for the Church and the Society
13th October 2011: Died Cherryfield

Fr. O'Keefe was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge in September 2009 following surgery. He improved fairly rapidly and was happy to stay on in our Nursing Home. He deteriorated over the last six months and was transferred to St. Vincent's Hospital after suffering a stroke three weeks ago. In the last week, it was clear that he was not going to recover. Family members and Jesuits kept an eye on him and prayed at his bedside up to the end. He died peacefully in hospital on the morning of 13th October 2011. May he rest in the Peace of Christ

Obituary : Paul Andrews
Ned was what he liked to be called, although he had lived through many changes: Edmund from birth, then Brother O'Keefe in the noviciate, and Mr O'Keefe in Rathfarnham, and Nedser in Tullabeg. He had grown accustomed to changes as he moved with his parents from one bank house to another: Castlerea, Sligo, Arklow, Callan. For six years, until the arrival of Fergus, and later Mary and Niall, Ned was an only child, but he showed an older brother's sense of responsibility.

Of his various homes, he would look back on the seven years in Arklow, from the age of 6 to 13, as the idyllic years: a little town where there were friends and fishermen, a reasonable school, a beach, a harbour for messing about in boats, Jack Tyrrell's boatyard, and the chance to ride a pony and join the hunt. The move to Callan and the CBS was hard. Ned found himself among Kilkenny farmers' sons, but was clueless about hurling, and living in the Bank House was seen as a wealthy outsider. It was a relief to move to Clongowes at fifteen, and to make new friends. He became a Pioneer and remained one all his life. He joined the Sodality and the FCA, and absorbed some memories of Fr John Sullivan, who was to be very important in his priestly life. He received his first Communion on the Feast of Saint Aloysius, 1934, and that was the name he took at Confirmation. His godmother gave him a statue of Aloysius, which graced the mantelpiece of his bedroom. So Ned moved like Aloysius into the Company of Jesus, and went to Emo in 1945. In giving his life to God he had a powerful model in his mother's cousin, Edel Quinn.

There was one special feature in his years of Jesuit formation. He did his tertianship in St Beuno's under Fr Paul Kennedy, an experience he always treasured. After it he was delighted to be appointed to Clongowes as Third Line Prefect, a job he loved. But only a year later Visitor McMahon scattered a large part of the Clongowes community, and Ned found himself a chaplain and teacher in the Colleges of Technology, first in Rathmines, later as Head Chaplain in Kevin Street. Not the easiest of assignments, but Ned brought a special strength to it. Unusually for a priest, he joined the Teachers' Union of Ireland, so that he could speak for those who needed a spokesman. He contributed much to the chaplain's role, lectured well on Bioethics, and created a Social Action group among the students. One summer he brought a group of building apprentices to work on a building project of the Kiltegan Fathers in the desert of Turkhana, Kenya, to show them a poverty more profound than anything in Dublin.

In his early fifties Ned moved to a new ministry: he spent eight years promoting the Sacred Heart Messenger and the Apostleship of Prayer, mostly in the West of Ireland. He claimed to have brought them into every school in County Clare, and reached a still wider audience when he collaborated with Stephen Redmond to produce a Novena to the Sacred Heart for local radio.

In 1992 Ned took up the apostolate of Fr John Sullivan's Cross, and was Assistant Vice-Postulator of Fr John's cause. He produced two videos, with great help from the Kairos group of SVD priests in Maynooth; they are still in use today. These interests stayed with him to the end of his days, when he lived in Milltown Park and finally in Cherryfield.

How will we remember Ned? As a devoted Jesuit, hard on himself, but with a kind and compassionate spirit - he would always speak up for those he felt were hard done by. A contemporary called him “one of the kindest Jesuits I have ever known”. He was a gentleman, with impeccable manners and easy social graces, a stickler for propriety, with total integrity; the soul of discretion, never gossiping about community life, telling no tales out of school; a man who worried, and tried to anticipate problems – the boot of his car held equipment to face almost any emergency from the Arctic to the Tropics. His nephews and nieces remember his sense of fun, the twinkle in his eye, and the educational tours he would give them as children. He was devoted to, and immensely proud of his extended family, and grieved over the loss of his only sister Mary, who herself had buried both her husband. Hugh and one of her children. Her son John McGeogh was to die in a rafting accident in Austria in 1999.

Ned faced the diminutions of age with courage: the loss of his car - a hard blow – and reduction to a walking frame, then a wheelchair, and finally a mandatory escort whenever he went outside the house. But to the end he was a real presence, felt both at community meetings in Milltown, and at the prayers of the faithful at Cherryfield Mass. May the Lord be good to his gentle soul.

Born: 31 March 1923, Drumcondra, Dublin
Entered: 06 September 1941, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1955, Milltown Park , Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1959, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 19 April 2018, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

Brother of Colm O’Holohan - RIP 1998

Son of Patrick O’Holohan and Winifred Byrne. Father was a Civil Servant

Fourth of eight boys (1 deceased) with three sisters.

Early education was at a Convent school in Bray and then one in Dublin and then he went to Presentation College Bray (1928-1931). He then went to a Christian Brothers school in Dublin. He then went to to Belvedere College SJ (1934-1941)

by 1958 at Gandia, Valencia, Spain (TARR) making Tertianship
by 1994 at Orlando FL, USA (NOR) working
by 2001 at Simpsonville SC, USA (NOR) working
by 2004 at Lancaster SC, USA (NOR) working

Early education at Loreto Convent Bray, CBS St. Canice's NCR; Belvedere College SJ

1943-1946 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1946-1949 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1949-1952 Belvedere College SJ - Regency : Teacher; Studying H Dip in Education at UCD (49-50)
1952-1956 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1956-1957 St Mary’s, Emo - Assistant Socius; Bursar; Teacher; Confessor;
1957-1958 Gandia, Valencia, Spain - Tertianship in Palacio del Santo Duque
1958-1960 Mungret College SJ - Teacher
1960-1965 Belvedere College SJ - Teacher; Directs Conf VdP; Editor of “Belvederian”
1965-1966 Chivuna Mission, Zambia - Studying CiTonga
1966-1978 Chisekesi, Zambia - Teacher ; Spiritual Father; St John Berchmans Sodality; Editor “Canisian” at Canisius College, Chikuni
1969 Transcribed to Zambia Province [ZAM] (03/12/1969)
1978-1981 Mazabuka, Zambia - Teacher and Spiritual Father at St Edmund’s Secondary School
1981-1982 Sabbatical
1982-1986 Zomba, Malawi - Acting Rector; Professor of Moral Theology; Directs Pastoral Ministry at St Peter’s Major Seminary
1986-1987 Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia - Teacher at Juniorate; Writer, Director National Apostleship of Prayer, Edits Newsletter
1987-1988 Spokane, WA, USA - Pastor at The Ministry Institute
1988-1992 DeLand, FL, USA - Assistant Pastor at St Peter's Catholic Church
1992-2000 Orlando, FL, USA - Assistant Pastor at Holy Family Catholic Church
1992 Transcribed to Irish Province [HIB] (24/11/1992)
2000-2003 Simpsonville, SC, USA - Associate Pastor at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church
2003-2009 Lancaster, SC, USA - Pastor at St Catherine Catholic Church
2007 Pastor at St Joseph Parish, Chester, SC; Pastor at St Michael’s, Great Falls, SC
2009-2018 Gardiner St - Writer; Chaplain St Monica’s; Locum in Mater Hospital; People’s Church in Clongowes
2014 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/remembering-john-oholohan-sj/

Remembering John O’Holohan SJ
Fr John O’Holohan SJ died peacefully at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin on 19 April 2018 aged 95 years. Prayers were said at Cherryfield Lodge on 22 April, and his funeral Mass took place at Milltown Park Chapel on 23 April, followed by burial at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Born in 1923, John grew up in Drumcondra, Dublin and was educated at Belvedere College SJ in Dublin City. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois in 1941. He studied arts at UCD and philosophy at Tullabeg, County Offaly. He did his regency as a teacher in Belvedere while also studying for the Higher Diploma in Education at UCD. He was ordained in 1955 after further studies in theology at Milltown Park, Dublin. John continued to teach in Jesuit schools in Ireland and did his tertianship in Spain.
In 1965, John went to the missions in Zambia. There, he learned the Chitonga language, taught in schools, and ministered as Spiritual Father among other roles. He was transcribed to the Zambia Province in 1969. He continued to mission in Zambia except for a period as a key formator in St Peter’s Major Seminary in Malawi from 1982-1986. He was the national director of the Apostleship of Prayer in Zambia from 1986- 1987.
In his later years, John worked in pastoral ministry in the United States from 1987-2009. First in Washington state as pastor, then in Florida as assistant pastor, and later as associate pastor and pastor in South Carolina. In the meantime, he was transcribed to the Irish Province again. He returned to Ireland as a member of the Gardiner Street Community in Dublin where he was a writer among other positions. Notably, John celebrated his 90th birthday in 2013, and he finished the day by watching reports of the election of Pope Francis.
He moved to Cherryfield Lodge nursing home in 2014 where his family visited him very often, and he was most appreciative of the care he received there. John died peacefully on the evening of 19 April in the loving care of the staff at Cherryfield. He is deeply regretted by his sisters Dympna Cunningham and Nesta Tuomey, his brother-in-law Larry, his nephews, nieces and extended family, his Jesuit Community and by many friends in the United States.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

The Early Years – in appreciation of my brother John Terry O’Holohan SJ by Nesta Tuomey
As I often told you your influence on me when I was growing up gave me my strong faith in Jesus Christ and your loving chats about God and the saints so interesting and inspiring, they led me to know and want to love Him from an early age. When you took my sister and myself on walks in the Botanic Garden I particularly remember your stories about Wopsy, the little angel, who was always getting into trouble but when he saw the error of his ways he was penitent and tried to do better. He was the role model for me when I was as young as five or six and I loved hearing about him and all the adventures he had. When you were appointed to Belvedere College you would often bring the boys’ essays home with you and allow us to read them, even, at times, to allot marks in order of excellence. All very exciting and heady stuff for ones as young as we were then. Of course, you would put your own marks on the actual copies but it taught us literary appreciation and perception. I remember being intrigued by the letters A.M.D.G. written at the top of each copybook page. When I asked, you explained what the letters stood for – Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam which was the Latin motto for the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola and meant ‘To the greater glory of God’. We enthusiastically imitated the Belvedere boys and put A.M.D.G. at the top of our exercise copies until the Sacred Heart nuns at our school in Leeson Street gently bid us to desist.
Undoubtedly, you passed on to us your own fervour and love of St. Ignatius and when you were ordained you chose to spend your Tertianship at Valencia in Spain, despite the rigorous regime this would entail. When you returned to Ireland after a year away, you could speak Spanish and loved to tell us of St. Ignatius and how he came from a very wealthy family and what a proud aristocratic man he was. How when his leg was severely injured by a cannon ball at the Battle of Pamplona he courageously endured the agony of having it broken again and set without benefit of anaesthetic, rather than endure the mortification of walking for the rest of his life with a limp. During his long convalescence, as his leg slowly healed, he underwent a religious conversion. The only books available to him were the lives of the saints but, before long, he found them very much to his taste, and was inspired by the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who showed their burning love in their unconditional service of God. Giving up his great wealth, he resolved to live a life of poverty and sacrifice, doing everything to the greater glory of God, later founding the Society of Jesus. I read the books you gave me including the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and learned discernment and how to make the right decisions but that was not until I had reached a more mature age.
Back in my childhood I very much liked hearing of St. Ignatius’s life and generosity and how when St. Francis Xavier was very strict on new novices and inclined to send them away from the seminary St. Ignatius always gave them a second chance and took them in again by the back door. That was the saint for me, I decided, he was just like Jesus Christ compassionate and ready to forgive and I found myself very much drawn to the order you had chosen to join. From what you told me I was aware that at the age of seven you knew that you wanted to become a priest and it was through your influence on your pupils at Belvedere that a great many joined the Jesuits and were ordained priests. I was no saint myself and in those early years when I used to complain about having to set the Sunday lunch table while my older sister sat listening to you, you told us the story of Mary and Martha, pointing out that in listening to Jesus and letting her sister cook and set tables ‘Mary had chosen the better part’, as indeed she had. But I could never really like Mary or Martha and would have much preferred to be sitting comfortably listening to your stories myself, particularly, when you had such a wonderful way of engaging our interest. You often told us the Bible was the most exciting book ever written, certainly it was the most blood thirsty too. The stories of David and Jonathan’s great friendship and Saul’s jealousy came alive when you told them, making me long to read them for myself.
You were always very generous with your time and I particularly loved the way you would keep front seats for us at the Belvedere College operas. How we loved Gilbert and Sullivan and came to know all the songs. I can still see you young and vigorous, your soutane flying out behind you, as you came smiling towards us. There were our ‘Lemmo’ parties when you financed a bottle of fizzy lemonade and the luxury of Mikado biscuits with jam and marshmallow topping. You would play cards with us, simple games of ‘Snap’ or ‘Beggar My Neighbour’ and there would be a sweet as the winner’s prize. My mother used to laugh and say you could see no wrong in us, I suspect she would have liked us to be more like model children but was forced to put up with the reality.
On looking back, it was on our walks as children and later when you came to spend your leave from Africa with myself, my husband and children, becoming their friend as you had become mine, that our friendship blossomed and grew. I am so thankful you entered into our lives from the beginning enriching them by your affectionate presence, always stirring us gently to an awareness of Jesus and telling us how important it was to put him first in our lives. Somehow you always saw the best in us no matter what and by your unstinting friendship and wise counselling helped us to become more worthy, less selfish, less self- orientated. Undoubtedly, you helped and guided so many others while abroad on the missions in Africa and during your time spent in America as a Jesuit priest. By your ministry you have touched so many lives. At 86 you returned home to Ireland, having been pastor to three parishes in South Carolina, where you had a driver who brought you to the distant towns to say the weekend masses. You took on so much having always expressed the desire to ‘work while there was work to be done’, always of the mind that you would go anywhere a priest was needed; in your eighties even offering your services on an American troop ship. When the officer with a smile in his voice asked, ‘Do you mind my asking, Father, how old you are?’ you told him your age, adding ‘Well, even if I can’t go on board I can set up a confessional on the dock,’ adding the sobering observation, ‘Many of those young soldiers will never come back from Afghanistan and it may be the only time they will have an opportunity to confess before death.’
With your passing, I feel as though I have lost my best friend but believe and take consolation from the fact you have gone to a better place and you are now with Jesus whom you served so faithfully and for so long. With all my love and thanks until we meet again.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1966

First Impressions of Zambia : Father John O’Holohan SJ (OB 1941)

Lusaka - The Capital
The darkness was falling as we landed at Lusaka airport. I was surprised at the modern and efficient aspect of the streets and traffic arrangements. The people were the main interest. There was great variety of colours, black, brown, and white. The bulk of business seemed to be run by Europeans and Indians. Lusaka has a population of 118,800 of whom 13,800 are non-Africans. It seemed to me like a large country town in Ireland, but it, is growing steadily in population and popularity. I stayed at the parish church of St Ignatius which was built by Father Dermot Murphy (OB 1933), now Father Minister in Canisius College. The PP is Father Denis O'Connell SJ, who taught as a scholastic in Belvedere from 1950 to 1953. On Sunday I said the 10.00 am Mass and preached at four Masses.

I left Lusaka next day with Father Arthur Clarke SJ, the Rector of Canisius College, to drive south to the Chikuni Mission Headquarters. As we drove on in the brilliant sunshine between acres and acres of bush country which covers so much of central Africa, and glimpsed the round huts of the Africans between the trees, I realised that I was now really in the heart of Africa. From the moment I stepped onto African soil I noticed a change of atmosphere, the tempo of life seemed slower, outside the city the clock went back hundreds of years. The heart-throb of Africa beat slowly and steadily like drums at evening.

Chivuna Mission Station
The main road south is a very good one most of the way. Sometimes it degenerates into a narrow strip of tarmac so that it is necessary to shift onto the clay surface when passing cars. This can be quite dangerous, clouds of dust rendering visibility almost nil. About 27 miles on we passed over the great Kafue river where I saw my first hippos, ten of them were wallowing in the warm water near the bridge. After 50 miles more we stopped at Mazabuka to call to see to ever cheerful Father Tom O'Meara, SJ from Mallow. Our next brief stop was at the bishop's house in Monze, 120 miles from Lusaka. There we turned off the main road to drive west over the dirt road to Chivuna 27 miles in the bush. As the swift Africa twilight merged into darkness we reached the mission station situated on a slight elvation. The Superior, Father Bernard Collins SJ, gave us a hearty welcome. He knows Belvedere well; he taught there both as scholastic and a priest. In fact he taught me Greek for the Intermediate Cert in 1939 . Now I was coming back to sit in a desk before him in Central Africa and study Citonga, one of the thirty different Bantu dialects in use in Zambia. Of all the languages I have studied there is only one which bore any resemblance to Tonga, and that Hebrew. Fortunately the letters used are the same as in English, but the whole structure and syntax of the language is different. Most languages vary their tenses and cases, modulating their terminations; Tonga do the reverse, it changes its prefixes and makes the noun, adjective and verb undergo complicated changes to preserve this kind of agreement. Some words evoke memories of English, either by chance or because they are from the English. Some examples interesting words are: mutwe - head, bong - brains, impongo - goat, taata - father; baama - mother, muntu - man, bantu - me The Ave Maria begins: “Wabonwa Mari ozwide luse, Mwami nkwali kuli nduwe ..

Each day we rose at 5.00 am - 5.30 to 7.00 was spent in prayers and celebrating Mass. Classes began at 8.00 and ended at 10.00 am The rest of the day was spent most in private study varied by sessions with a African tutor. The usual course is one year - I was trying to do it in three months - was very painful, and I felt a new sympathy for my pupils in Latin and Greek in Belvedere.

Life in the Bush
When I was told I was going to spend three months in the bush I was prepared for very primitive conditions. At Chivuna I found a well-built house with running water, gauze over the windows and electricity from 6.00 to 9.30 p.m. nightly. The last convenience was due to the presence of a large educational settlement beside us. The Irish Sisters of Charity run very efficiently a large secondary and primary school for girls. They had a machine generating electricity and we shared its light. Beside the convent there is a clinic run by the Sisters which rivals seriously the reputation of any local medicine-men. Zambia is ful of strange contrasts; it is straddling two worlds. In the cities you are in the twentieth century; in the bush you seem to be almost in the stone age. Only a hundred yards from my room there were people living in a manner that was ancient when Caesar invaded Britain. They live in round huts made of bricks, mud or straw. Their staple food is maize seasoned with meat, fish, vegetables, nuts, according as fortune favours them.

One day at the building site near us I saw a devoted wife bringing dinner to her husband at midday: she had two dishes perched on her head and when she presented them to him she did so on her bended knees. There is no doubt who is the official master in the home. In the African tradition the woman is held to be inferior to the man, and virtually his slave. All this is changing now with the rapid improvement of living conditions and education in Zambia. When a girl is through a secondary school she is able to secure personal independence. Boy or girl finishing secondary school has great opportunities for good positions in the country. Even if a boy fails his exams he can still get a job.

Many European teachers have come out to Zambia on a contract to teach for two years. They are doing great work. Many more are needed. Zambia is about nine times the size of Ireland, but its population is less than four million. It is a wealthy country and is spending great sums on education. For five years all education, books, etc, are free. The great need is for teachers, The Government is pouring twenty million pounds into new schools, hospitals and administration centres, and building contractors are so overloaded that they cannot begin to meet the demand for private housing. The new buildings in Chivuna are being built by the Irish firm of Sisk. Signs of progress are everywhere. Africans driving ox carts are passed in a cloud of dust by Africans speeding by in Chevrolets. Near prirnitive huts you see fine modern bungalows springing up. At night I heard the drums beating in the darkness and distance; near the parish church I saw workmen sitting around a fire with a transistor blaring out the top ten. People come to the clinic for treatment for all sorts of ailments; some still consult local quacks and are much influenced by them. Sometimes the sick person comes to the doctor to try to have the medicine-man's failure remedied. One day a youth of 19 came in to the clinic, “I am bewitched”, he said. The Sister laughed at his fears, took his temperature; he seemed in perfect health. He insisted he was going to die. His friends came in and added helpfully “Yes, he is going to die, he is bewitched”. True enough later the healthy young man died. His friends came and took the body away. It is very hard to explain such things.

I have made many forays into the bush in a Landrover to bring people to hospital, sometimes it has been at night alone with a rather formidable looking African complete with club, as a guide. Always I have found them gentle and courteous. Up to very recent times the Tonga people were shamefully neglected. They are fast becoming the complete controllers of their own destinies. They are fortunate in having such a remarkable man as President Kaunda as their leader. He is a man of Christian principles, moderate and idealistic. He welcomes help from Europeans; the white missionary is welcome and respected. There is a great chance for the Catholic Church here.

Born: 13 August 1919, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1956, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 23 April 1998, St Joseph’s, Shankill, Dublin

Part of the Milltown Park, Dublin community at the time of death.

Brother of John O'Holohan - RIP 2018

Born at Holles Street Dublin

Brother of John O’Holohan - RIP 2018

Son of Patrick O’Holohan and Winifred Byrne. Father was a Civil Servant

Second of eight boys (1 deceased) with three sisters. Family lived at Bantry Road, Drumcondra, Dublin

Early education was at preparatory schools in Dublin and then he went to Presentation College Bray (1928-1931). He then went to O’Connells School and finally to Belvedere College SJ (1934-1938)

Born: 08 September 1911, Cappagh, Ballinasloe, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1945, Miltown Park, Dublin
Died: 07 June 1969, College of Industrial Relations, Ranelagh, Dublin

Parents were both National Teachers.

Sixth of a family of eight with four boys and four girls.

Early education was at his father’s National School until 1924. He won a County Scholarship and entered the Diocesan Seminary in Sligo, Sumerhill College.

by 1946 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, 31 July 1953-19 July 1959.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Summerhill College, College Road, Knocknaganny, Sligo student

Irish Province News 34th Year No 4 1959

GENERAL
On 20th July Fr. Charles O'Conor, former Rector of Gonzaga College was appointed Provincial in succession to Fr. Michael A. O’Grady. The best wishes of the Province are with the Provincial in his new office, and to Fr. O'Grady the Province offers its gratitude for his services during his Provincialate. He will be remembered, beyond doubt, above all for his outstanding kindness, under standing and sympathy. His great and quite genuine charm of manner made personal contact between him and his subjects easy. They could always feel that their position was understood even if it could not always be improved. And these qualities extended themselves outside the Society and won for Fr. O’Grady and for the Province the goodwill, esteem and affection of everyone with whom he came into contact.
When he became Provincial in 1953 Fr. O’Grady was faced with a task which demanded gifts of this high order, The period of office of his predecessor, Fr. T, Byrne, had been one of expansion after the war. It was for Fr. O’Grady to consolidate. He found himself with a number of new enterprises-the Catholic Workers' College, the Mission in Rhodesia, Gonzaga College - which he had to see firmly established. This involved, among other things, a heavy building programme. It has been his great achievement that he courageously carried through this programme, though the toll on his health was at times very great. Besides the buildings at Gonzaga and the Workers' College, there were the preparatory school at Belvedere, the Pioneer Hall, the extension to Manresa and the renovation of Loyola, Eglinton Road, which was purchased as a Provincial Residence in his term of office. That, in spite of the expenditure involved, the Province is in a sound financial position is a tribute to Fr. O'Grady's generous use of his great personal gifts and to his inexhaustible patience and zeal.
Other activities recently undertaken which received his wholehearted encouragement were the Missions to Britain and to the Irish workers in Britain, the work of teaching Christian Doctrine in the Technical Schools, and the Child Educational Centre, which was started in his Provincialate and was finally established in its new premises in Northumberland Road last year.
He visited both China and Northern Rhodesia, and it was largely through his tireless negotiation that a satisfactory status for the Rhodesian Mission was worked out and the Mission of Chikuni created. He also saw the expansion of the Mission to the Chinese in Malaya. In both Missions he supported extensive building schemes of which the most ambitious were the new Wah Yan College, Queen's Road, Hong Kong and the Teacher Training College, Chikuni. And for all this the Province is grateful to Fr. O’Grady.

Obituary :

Fr Louis O’Grady SJ (1911-1969)

To comply with the desires expressed by the writer of the following appreciation we prelude with a few chronological facts of the life of Fr. M. A. O'Grady; something has been said of his death and obsequies in the notes from Gardiner St.
He was born September 8th, 1911, a fact registered in the mind of the present writer in that he completed his sixteenth year only a week after he entered the Noviceship in 1927.
After the Noviciate he did the usual arts course at U.C.D. from Rathfarnham, with distinction. He caused great alarm by having a severe haemorrhage which necessitated a blood-transfusion while at the Castle; it, the transfusion, was the source of considerable merriment when the community was assured that he was out of danger and his merry acceptance of the quizzing was a temptation to persist.
He did Philosophy in Tullabeg, 1932-5 and was on the staff at Clongowes 1935-38 and thence to Milltown where he was ordained, 1941.
After the Tertianship he proceeded with his dear friend Fr. Scozzari, later so tragically to die, of the Sicilian province, to Maynooth where both distinguished themselves in their doctorates.
Apart from his double term as Provincial, 1953-9 it may be said that Milltown claimed him until his appointment to the College of Industrial relations. He was rector of Milltown from 1947 till he assumed his higher offices. These are the bare bones to which we hope the following will add life.

An Appreciation
He had been baptised Michael Aloysius, but in the noviceship in an unusual fashion he acquired a new name or a new form of name : he was henceforth Luigi or Louis. The Luigi came first. It was no accidental re-christening, no casual re-naming. It was rather a singular and striking tribute in which his fellow novices saluted if not another Aloysius at least a fellow novice whose total dedication of himself was in the Gonzaga mode.
The phenomenon of the “saintly” novice must be as old as the religious life. More often than not the phenomenon is happily ephemeral : either the prig disappears or his priggishness does. Luigi was the exception. He never changed and the epithet prig is the one no person would ever use of him. I feel sure that no act of his was ever insincere.
The peculiar character and the specific colour were already there in the noviceship. Though Louis was always what one would describe as a normal, an ordinary man, from the beginning he was in some sense set a little apart from his fellows. While it could never have been said of him that he was illiberal in his views or intolerant in his actions, yet from the earliest times his fellows knew that behind the warm and friendly exterior there was a core of utter intransigence. One did not think of this as obstinacy (the obstinate man might change his mind); in Louis's case the matter of principle was already prejudged and decided : it was not open to reconsideration. Those who knew Louis well will remember the cloud which would suddenly transform his features and change the customary smile to a frown when in any cause a measure of either insincerity or uncharity appeared.
To my mind, when it strives to express what manner of man Louis was, the one complex which keeps coming to the front is the disproportion between his physical capacity and his spiritual potential. In a special and differing sense it could be said of him that “the spirit was willing and the flesh was weak”. In him the spirit was always willing more than the flesh could support. He would help everybody though no single body could sustain what everybody claimed. Of him one cliché is unavoidable, the one which says that he did not know how to say no.
About his own health Father Louis never liked to speak : it was. he said, a dull topic. In deference to that sentiment, I will allow myself only one sentence. Though I knew Louis very well and for a long time, it was only when (on more than one occasion) I shared a room with him on holiday that I realised how very ill he was at times, how much he suffered and how desperately hard the night could be before another day began.
Father Louis's genius could be described as an infinite capacity for making friends. There was something in him which invited confidence, the confidence of many both in high places in Church and State and of even more perhaps in lowly estate : he was equally at home at either level : he did not know how to look To comply with the desires expressed by the writer of the following appreciation we prelude with a few chronological facts of the life of Fr. M. A. O'Grady; something has been said of his death and obsequies in the notes from Gardiner St.
He was born September 8th, 1911, a fact registered in the mind of the present writer in that he completed his sixteenth year only a week after he entered the Noviceship in 1927.
After the Noviciate he did the usual arts course at U.C.D. from Rathfarnham, with distinction. He caused great alarm by having a severe haemorrhage which necessitated a blood-transfusion while at the Castle; it, the transfusion, was the source of considerable merriment when the community was assured that he was out of danger and his merry acceptance of the quizzing was a temptation to persist.
He did Philosophy in Tullabeg, 1932-5 and was on the staff at Clongowes 1935-38 and thence to Milltown where he was ordained, 1941.
After the Tertianship he proceeded with his dear friend Fr. Scozzari, later so tragically to die, of the Sicilian province, to Maynooth where both distinguished themselves in their doctorates.
Apart from his double term as Provincial, 1953-9 it may be said that Milltown claimed him until his appointment to the College of Industrial relations. He was rector of Milltown from 1947 till he assumed his higher offices. These are the bare bones to which we hope the following will add life.

An Appreciation
He had been baptised Michael Aloysius, but in the noviceship in an unusual fashion he acquired a new name or a new form of name : he was henceforth Luigi or Louis. The Luigi came first. It was no accidental re-christening, no casual re-naming. It was rather a singular and striking tribute in which his fellow novices saluted if not another Aloysius at least a fellow novice whose total dedication of himself was in the Gonzaga mode.
The phenomenon of the “saintly” novice must be as old as the religious life. More often than not the phenomenon is happily ephemeral : either the prig disappears or his priggishness does. Luigi was the exception. He never changed and the epithet prig is the one no person would ever use of him. I feel sure that no act of his was ever insincere.
The peculiar character and the specific colour were already there in the noviceship. Though Louis was always what one would describe as a normal, an ordinary man, from the beginning he was in some sense set a little apart from his fellows. While it could never have been said of him that he was illiberal in his views or intolerant in his actions, yet from the earliest times his fellows knew that behind the warm and friendly exterior there was a core of utter intransigence. One did not think of this as obstinacy (the obstinate man might change his mind); in Louis's case the matter of principle was already prejudged and decided : it was not open to reconsideration. Those who knew Louis well will remember the cloud which would suddenly transform his features and change the customary smile to a frown when in any cause a measure of either insincerity or uncharity appeared.
To my mind, when it strives to express what manner of man Louis was, the one complex which keeps coming to the front is the disproportion between his physical capacity and his spiritual potential. In a special and differing sense it could be said of him that “the spirit was willing and the flesh was weak”. In him the spirit was always willing more than the flesh could support. He would help everybody though no single body could sustain what everybody claimed. Of him one cliché is unavoidable, the one which says that he did not know how to say no.
About his own health Father Louis never liked to speak : it was. he said, a dull topic. In deference to that sentiment, I will allow myself only one sentence. Though I knew Louis very well and for a long time, it was only when (on more than one occasion) I shared a room with him on holiday that I realised how very ill he was at times, how much he suffered and how desperately hard the night could be before another day began.
Father Louis's genius could be described as an infinite capacity for making friends. There was something in him which invited confidence, the confidence of many both in high places in Church and State and of even more perhaps in lowly estate : he was equally at home at either level : he did not know how to look up or look down. Many of the friendships which he made began with an appeal to him for help. The truth was that men came to Louis not so much because they wanted the benefit of his judgment as because they needed the strengthening of his understanding and kindness.
As time went on the number of those who depended on him grew. Unfortunately his physical strength did not grow apace, and he began to be at times desperately tired. He spoke to me once about that well-known exhortation to moderation which takes the form : if you were dead, people would get along all right without you. Characteristically his comment given with a tired smile was : that argument is useless : the difficulty is that I am not dead.
He is dead now, God rest him, and what can we do who are saddened by his death other than thank God for the precious goodness which shone so brightly amongst us. Under God's grace the cost in effort and determination was great; in later years the cost included perhaps inevitably some small measure of irritability, At times he drove himself very hard with an intensity which few could emulate : there was never any doubt about the high grade of asceticism to which he attained : but of this few were aware. Surprisingly this achievement of his increased rather than diminished his humanity: it gave him a freedom of action beyond the ordinary, and allowed him to disregard convention for convention's sake.
Speaking of Louis's humanity it should be recorded that those who had always the first claim on his affection were the members of his own family, especially, in later years, his ageing mother but not less indeed his brothers and sisters.
Father Louis's life was totally at the service of the Society which (within or after the Church) had claim on his whole loyalty. Some who did not know him might think from what I have written that he was an invalid who from his sick-bed gave counsel to many. Not true this: in any case he was never that long in a sick bed. The Society made a full claim on him, as a teacher and administrator at the highest level both separately and together. His gifts of intellect were considerable and had he been chosen for a purely scholastic career he might have made a name for himself as a philosopher or a theologian. He was not good at languages and I know he found the use of Latin as a medium of teaching a burden. As a consequence the movement away from Latin in post-Vatican II days he welcomed; but of many other changes in the same time he felt less happy.
Father Louis, one may surmise, might have been happier had he been born a quarter of a century earlier or a quarter of a century later. By nature and taste he had always been in church affairs more liberal and progressive than otherwise. In the pre Vatican II world he might have been said to be left of centre. When the centre moved rapidly to the left, like many of his contemporaries, he was perplexed to some degree and to some extent unhappy.
When I was asked to write this notice of my friend, I hesitated, because I did not think that it would be easy to do justice to the subject of it. In many ways Father Louis O'Grady was a conventional religious, not differing that much from his fellows. As a teacher and an administrator he was possibly more competent than brilliant. The record in the books may not put him in the first dozen. That does not matter, because in the case of Louis O'Grady it is not what he did which counts but what he was. Father John Ryan has said somewhere that in Ireland there was never any need for a judicial process of canonisation : if a man, especially a religious, could pass the scrutiny of his fellowmen, especially his fellow-monks, it was enough. Most of his religious life Father Louis, as rector or provincial or superior, underwent that extra sifting which the monks reserve for those who sit in the chair of Moses; he passed that stringent test splendidly, and as far as I know nem. con.
The ability of the man, about whom I write, to make friends was a purely natural asset, with nothing about it which was either studied or artificial. But the synthesis of this natural gift with the purer and more intense flame of Christian charity was the work of a lifetime. No one could know Louis for long without realising how near to God he was at all times. And this was the source in him of that rare sensitive personal integrity which was with him in the noviceship and was with him to the end : and this too was the source in him of that expansive, universal, dynamic. fearless love for men which knew no limit of moderation or even of prudence.
The strain and the tension in this man's life could have but one ending, for the conflict was unequal. During the night of June 6:7 the persistently over-taxed energy finally ran out, and Louis was dead.
It is not easy to link with him the notion of rest and peace. Nevertheless one feels that the change from life to death (or from life through death to life) in Louis's case cannot have been great; perhaps now that he is dead, with more truth he can say what he could surely have said at any time in his life : I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.

Born: 10 April 1898, Castle D’Arcy, Lahinch, County Clare
Entered: 31 August 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1930, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 23 September 1974, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Brother of Bishop Dermot R O'Flanagan who Entered the Irish Province in 1917 and LEFT as a priest in 1932. He then went to Alaska in 1933 and was appointed first Bishop of Juneau, Alsaka 9th July 1951

Father was manager of Morgan Mooney’s Chemical Works. When he retired he went to live at Old Court, Borrisokane, County Tipperary, where he was a gentleman farmer, and now his parents live at 10, Effra Road, Rathgar, Dublin.

Fourth of six sons and he has three sisters.

Educated at Belvedere College SJ (1907-1915)

by 1922 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency
by 1933 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Already with a BSc, Paul O'Flannagan arrived in Australia as a regent at Riverview, 1923, teaching, organising cadets and directing debating. In 1926-27 he was first division prefect, and looked after rowing before returning to Ireland for theology He later returned to Australia, working with Victor Turner, 1949-50, in the Australian Mission team.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 49th Year No 4 1974

Obituary :
Fr Paul O'Flanagan (1898-1974)
The recollection evoked by the sad, sudden demise of Fr Paul O'Flanagan on September 23rd, of the severe heart seizure and consequent sickliness he had been visited by eight or nine years since, and before his advent to Gardiner Street, reconciled some what for his loss - his death might have been anticipated by years and yet during the years in Gardiner Street he undertook and fulfilled the chores thrust upon him with admirable regularity and efficiency. A comment, attributed to Fr P O'Mara in his latter days when age compelled him to seek Fr O’Flanagan's aid in running his Ladies' Sodality : “Don’t deprive me of my friends” was not totally whimsical ... Fr Paul did make a notable success of the succession
He was approachable, punctual, unassuming; popular with the house staff (competent critics), and among the Community and with externs a counsellor confidently consulted.
The obsequies took place on Wednesday, September 25th. Fr David Murtagh, CC, a nephew of Fr Paul’s was principal celebrant assisted by Fr Provincial and upwards of twenty others, Ours and externs, familiar friends. Fr Murtagh again later officiated at the graveside.
We offer sympathy to Mr Frank O'Flanagan and Mrs Murtagh, the surviving members of Fr Paul’s family....and their families.

We offer an appreciation by one long associate with the deceased :
I first met Fr Paul O'Flanagan a few months after his ordination; and I spoke to him for the last time about a day and a half before he died. We chatted for over an hour.
In the intervening years, time had lined his face and flecked his hair with grey. In my view, however, though greatly matured by the experiences of a very active life and a good deal of suffering in his latter years, I found him the very same Paul I had known in the far-off days. His conversation was refreshingly youthful, and he was as mentally alert as ever-optimistic, full of humour and boyish mischief. The idea that he was so soon to die never crossed my mind; I wonder, if it did his?
Paul was born in Lahinch in 1898, went to school in Belvedere College and entered the novitiate at Tullabeg in 1915. Having gained his BSc degree in University College, Dublin, and studied philosophy with the German Jesuits in Valkenburg, Holland, he was sent to Riverview College, Sydney, to teach. Returning to Milltown Park for theology, he was ordained in 1930.
Most of his life as a priest was spent on the mission-staff, and it was there I came to know him, both as a colleague and as a friend. In the work we did together, he appeared to me to have preserved his boyhood ideal of what a Jesuit should be, and I never detected any trace of - as it is now the fashion to call it! - “crisis of identity”! He was possessed of all the natural qualities that go to the making of a good Jesuit, holding the Society in high esteem and regarding it with affection. He was interested in its welfare and in that of our Province; as also in the success of his Jesuit friends. As a community man, he was unrivalled. He brought joy to all his work, and shared it with the members of the house to which he happened to be attached. His pleasures were simple a game of bridge, which he took seriously; a day's golf or a session of story-swopping. When in the mood, he was a delicious raconteur, notably about his adventures under the Southern Cross, about Archbishop Mannix of Melbourne or Archbishop Kelly of Sydney. His warmth of character won him many friends, both inside and outside the Society. Amongst the laity, he was the special friend of the men. On missions they would call him on the telephone, wishing to enjoy again his warm, human companionship. Some were past pupils, some school friends, and others, men to whom he had lent a helping, priestly hand.
Paul was an outstandingly good, even exemplary priest, and he distinguished himself over many years as an excellent missioner and retreat-master. All through his life he preserved his youthful, high ideal of the priesthood, and in his last years he edified us all by his incredible bravery, as he fought for health and life. I cannot speak for others, but I never heard a word of complaint or self pity escape his lips. Practising what he had preached so often, he took his suffering tanquam de manu Dei, as indeed he took every thing in life.
From glimpses I had of him on missions, I guess he must have helped thousands yearly, both by his advice and by example: But he never spoke of this work, his cases or of those who had come to him. In this he showed no sign of self-glorification or self seeking; certainly no trace of worldly ambition. He was always ready with prompt obedience, whatever the task or office assigned him. And, as already mentioned, in the allotted work he made himself happy, and by so doing, contributed greatly to the happiness of all concerned.
It would be an incomplete and phoney picture of Paul, if I did not refer - I hope, gently and with kindly intent?....to his likeable foible! He was pre-possessed about his BSc degree, and sometimes referred to himself as a “scientist”! However, he was open to a bit of leg-pulling on the subject, provided it came from the right quarter! He was proud of Bishop Dermot, his brother, and one might sometimes lead him on, to discourse on Dermot's successes. He was most vulnerable, however, on the subject of Australia. This was a favourite theme of his conversation, for, besides his years teaching in Riverview, he had done a two-year stint as a missioner there. Right to the end, he never lost his interest in the Aussies, more especially in their cricket. When a Test Match was in progress, he would listen assiduously to the ball-by-ball account on the radio, and was ever ready to explain the intricacies of the game and the prospects of an Australian victory to any interested party. Some of the boys who had been introduced to cricket by him, later won places on Test teams, and he could often be drawn on this subject. If I remember rightly, one of their number was the well-known and very successful player, Fingleton. It has been suggested to me that Sir Don Bradman was another; but there, I am open to correction!
Paul was ever one of Belvedere's most loyal past pupils. Even to the last days of his life, he was proud of the college and took keen interest in its successes in studies or at games; in Old Belvederians, the Newsboys' Club, as it formerly was, but more especially in the Old Belvedere Rugby Football Club. . If an acquaintance were to judge merely by Paul’s manner, he might conclude, that he never faced a crisis in his life. I am sure such a conclusion would be incorrect, since most of us do. But he never lost his cool in any circumstance that I saw, and appeared calm and unperturbed at all times - the completely unflappable man!
He showed little of his real self, either to the outside world or to his fellow Jesuits. I have, however, reason to believe, that underneath, he was possessed of a very strong, deep faith, and a great reverence for the things of God, Reserved and silent regarding his interior life with God, I strongly suspect him to have been as truly a pious man as he was a sincere and staunch friend.
As one who worked side by side with him on many occasions, I am happy to be able to bear witness, and pay tribute to his gracious charity, his kindness and thoughtfulness. He was generous in praising and encouraging others, and his memories of any mission concerned either its success, or the amusing incidents which cropped up from time to time. As we sat together thirty-six hours before his death, a smile often played about his lips, as he recounted the pleasant happenings of a mission in Mullingar Cathedral, in which he and I were engaged, just over thirty years back. That is my last memory and picture of him,
It is sometimes said, that every human life is like an Unfinished Symphony; to this statement, I am afraid, I cannot subscribe. Colleagues of mine who worked for God all the days of their lives, and aspired to union with Christ through his grace, seemed in their latter years, to be anything but the Unfinished Symphony. If I may say so, each life-work appeared perfectly rounded off, ending in a rising crescendo of faith, trust, joy, hope and expectation of life eternal. For these men we have prayed, that that crescendo would end in a paean of glory with the Risen Christ. In their number we, Paul’s friends and colleagues, would wish to include him by heartfelt and earnest prayer. I should like to think, that no one who ever met him would wish otherwise, and that without exception they would gladly join us as we pray: Solus na Soillse agus radharc na Tríonóide dá anam!

Born: 14 February 1816, County Longford
Entered: 25 April 1835, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: by 1851
Final vows: 15 August 1857
Died 12 May 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1844 in Nice (LUGD) studying philosophy
by 1847 in Rome Studying
by 1857 in Rome Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1865 in San Francisco College CA, USA (TAUR) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He received a great part of his early and Priestly education before Ent. he was received into the Society by Peter Kenney 25 April 1835.

1847 he was studying Theology at Rome, and he was considered a rival to the great Passaglia.
1851-1856 He was sent Teaching Classics at Belvedere, and was also a Professor and Examiner at the Catholic University.
1856-1857 He was sent to St Eusebia’s in Rome for Tertianship.
1857-1861 He was made Superior of the new Theologate at 28 Nth Frederick St, but as this house only lasted one year, he was made Rector of Belvedere in August 1858, and held that post until 1861.
1861-1864 he was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius.
1864 He was sent to Santa Clara to preside over the English Department at the College there.
1868 He was appointed Socius to the Visitor in California.
1869 He returned to Ireland and was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius. He remained at Gardiner St until within a few months before his death, when he moved to Milltown and died there 12 May 1877.
He was eminent in Theology, Literature and Science. He had a reputation as a poet, his most famous piece was entitled “The Triumph of the Just”. A man of extensive knowledge, he was held in high esteem by the learned.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael O’Ferrall SJ 1816-1877
Fr Michael O’Ferrall was born in Longford on Feb 14th 1816. He had received a great part of his education before he was received into the Society by Fr Peter Kenney in 1835.

He studied Theology in Rome in 1847 where he was considered a rival of the great Passaglia. He was Professor and examiner in the Catholic University, and then in 1857 he became Superior of the new Theologate at 28 Great Frederick Street. This house only lasted a year and he then became Rector of Belvedere until 1861.

He was sent to California in 1864 where he presided over the English Department at Santa Clara College. He then became Socius to the Visitor in California in 1868.

Returning to Ireland he was stationed at Gardiner Street until a few months before his death, which took place at Milltown Park on May 12th 1877.

He was eminent in Theology, Literature and Science and was a poet of no mean order, his finest piece being “The Triumph of the Just”.

Born: 27 August 1912, Iona Road, Glasnevin, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 06 January 1945, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1948, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 23 January 1987, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the Kingsmead Hall, Singapore community at the time of death

Transcribed : HIB to HK 03/12/1966

Father worked for Guinness Brewery Dublin.

Youngest of six boys with one sister.

Early education for seven years at Convent schools, at age 12 he went to O’Connell’s School, Dublin (1924-1930)

by 1939 at Loyola Hong Kong - studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Kevin O’Dwyer
R.I.P.

Father Kevin O'Dwyer, SJ., formerly of Hong Kong, died in Singapore on Friday, 23 January 1987, aged 74.
Father O'Dwyer was born in Ireland in 1912 and joined the Jesuits in 1930. He came to Hong Kong as a scholastic in 1938, studied theology in Australia 1941-1944 and was ordained priest there. After further studies in North America on social work, he returned to Hong Kong where he worked chiefly in organising cooperative marketing. In 1959 he went to Singapore where he served in St. Ignatius Church till his death. His health was failing in his later years, but he worked to the very end.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 6 February 1987

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
Note from Tommy Byrne Entry
During his term as Provincial (1947-1963) he sent many Jesuits to Hong Kong, and then in 1951 he started the Irish Jesuit Mission to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). He also saw the needs in Singapore and Malaysia and sent Jesuits to work there - like Kevin O’Dwyer, who built St Ignatius Church in Singapore; Patrick McGovern who built St Francis Xavier Church in Petaling Jaya, and also Liam Egan, Gerard (Geoffrey?) Murphy and Tom Fitzgerald.

Note from Thomas Ryan Entry
He sent young Jesuits to work on social activities there - Patrick McGovern and Kevin O'Dwyer

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. John Carroll, Kevin O'Dwyer and Cyril Peyton, of the Hong Kong Mission, who completed their theology at Pymble recently, left, Sydney on December 9th on the Aquitania for England via the Cape. They hope to be home by the end of January. They are accompanied by Fr.. Vincent Conway, an old Mungret boy, member of the Vice Province. All four will make their tertianship in Rathfarnham next autumn.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948
Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

Irish Province News 62nd Year No 2 1987

Obituary

Fr Kevin O'Dwyer (1912-1930-1987) (Macau-Hong Kong)

27th August 1912: born in Dublin. Schooled at Dominican Convent, Eccles Street; Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin; O'Connell (CB) Schools, North Richmond Street.
3rd September 1930: entered SJ. 1930-32 Emo, noviciate. 1932-35 Rathfarnham, juniorate. BSc in mathematics and mathematical physics. 1935-38 Tullabeg, philosophy.
1938-41 Hong Kong: 1938-40 Taai Lam Chung language school, learning Cantonese; 1940-41 Wah Yan HK (2 Robinson road), form-master of 2B, and teaching mathematics to matriculation class.
1941-5 Australia: '41 (for four months, while awaiting the start of the Australian academic year) Xavier College Kew, Melbourne, teaching; 42-5 (four years) Pymble, Sydney, theology. 6th January 1945: ordained a priest.
1946-47 Ireland: 1946 (January-June) Mungret, teaching; 1946-47 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1947-48 Tour of inspection of co-operative organisations, in order to learn their method and success: in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, Low Countries, France; Antigonish (Nova Scotia), where he spent two months as guest of SFX university extension department; then to about twenty cities, four in Canada and the rest in USA.
1948-54 (Feb.), 1955-'9 Hong Kong: 1948-49 Regional seminary, Aberdeen (HK), improving his Cantonese and writing a report on co-operatives; 1949-52 (Feb.) Ricci Hall, minister. While there he acted as organising adviser in the setting-up of the rural service division of the HK government's vegetable marketing organisation. This was the foundation for the co-operative development in Hong Kong (his own words). In November 1949 he went on a lecture-tour of the Philippines, representing Mons. L. G. Ligutti, Vatican observer to the United Nations agency.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), He spent three weeks visiting most of the main centres of the islands and lecturing on the advantages of co operative organisation, 'the presence of a priest being considered essential for the proper selling of the idea to the people'. 1952 (Feb.)-54 (Feb.) Faber House (of writers), Braga Circuit, Kowloon, minister. During this period he became a member of the vegetable marketing advisory board, chaplain to the HK defence force and committee member of the HK housing society. (1954 (Feb.)-55 Singapore. 1955 (for a short time) Ricci Hall, then, 1955-59, Wah Yan HK, port chaplain (Apostleship of the Sea), bursar, 1954 (Feb.)-55, 1959 (Nov.)-1987 Singapore: 1954 (Feb.)-55, helping Fr Paddy Joy to equip the newly-built hostel for student teachers (Kingsmead Hall). Bursar (of the house (1960-87), of the parish (1961-87), and of the new “Dependent Region' of Malaysia-Singapore” (1985-87). “Builder” of the church of St Ignatius, its first administrator (1961-66) and its first parish priest (1966-74). Minister (1960-63, 1978-87). Warden of Kingsmead Hall (1967-72), then Warden's assistant (1972-86). 23rd January 1987: died.

The Australian province's Fortnightly report (15th April) quotes a letter from a Sr Elizabeth Curran: "I was in Singapore (a stop-over on my return trip to Adelaide) and I saw the beauty of death on the face of Fr Kevin O'Dwyer, SJ, I was with the FMM Community to sing Vespers near Fr Kevin. The Asians made carpets of flowers round the coffin for their beloved parish priest. Resurrection ‘was in the atmosphere’ ... there was deep peace everywhere ... By request of Fr Kevin, the Chinese New Year decorations and banners were still in the church: it was a triumphant celebration”.

Irish Province News 62nd Year No 3 1987

Obituary

Fr Kevin O’Dwyer (1912-1930-1987) (Macau-Hong Kong)

Memories of earlier days
Kevin entered the novitiate one year after me and I was, in fact, his angelus. Nevertheless, even though he was with me in Rathfarnham and later in Tullabeg, Hong Kong and the Australian theologate at Pymble, it is not easy to recall, after all these years, any particular incident, whether humorous or exciting in which he might have been involved, except very pleasant memories of a good Jesuit and an entertaining companion with a ready laugh and a fine sense of humour.
In Tullabeg, he was a keen tennis player and reached the high level of skill which earned him a place in Arthur Little's exclusive tennis team, a great honour not easily achieved.
Kevin was also very keen on music, so much so that when Hilary Lawton formed the Tullabeg orchestra, Kevin painstakingly taught himself the violin so that he would at least be able to make some small contribution to the second or third strings.
He arrived in Hong Kong in 1938 and was subsequently among the second group of Hong Kong scholastics to go to Canisius College in Sydney for theology.
During his period in the theologate, he found an outlet for his love of music. He organised an orchestra (no easy feat in wartime) with literally no instruments to begin with except a piano, an old trombone and a couple of violins. This did not daunt him, however. Somehow or other, he managed, with the help of an army chaplain, to obtain a contract to make (or rather assemble) sets of plastic rosaries which were sold, mostly, to the army.
With the small income from this and probably some other donations he gradually acquired two drums, a clarinet, a flute, a cello (which someone had learnt to play), more violins, one viola and probably some instruments I can now no longer remember. Soon there was an orchestra of about eight or more players and the community was successfully entertained to pieces like Tancredi, Hebrides March, Rosamund Ballet and the Second Movement of Haydn's Surprise Symphony.
On his return to Hong Kong as a priest in 1947, Kevin was able to make a lasting contribution to the life of the farmers in the New Territories, Tommy Ryan, then Mission Superior, sent him to the Cody Institute attached to St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where he made a close study of co-operative societies.
On his return to Hong Kong, he was instrumental, together with Mr (now Sir) Jack Cater, in forming the first vegetable co-operatives to be established in Hong Kong. These co-operatives and the vegetable co-operative markets have been operating successfully in Hong Kong for more than 30 years and have saved many a farmer from the greed of the middle-man.
Some people gave Kevin the nickname 'Barbdwyer.' This could give a wrong impression to those who did not know him. Kevin loved the cut and thrust of good repartee. It did not matter what the subject was, he watched with glee to see how his opponent would extricate himself, or, with a chortle, concede defeat.
John Collins

Vivacious to the end
My earliest recollections of Kevin go back to noviceship days in Emo. He was delivering one of those short practice sermons on the theme of the Epiphany. Being mere schoolboys, the theological significance of the feast was somewhat beyond us, and in those days our familiarity with Scripture was that of the aver age Catholic closer to Vatican I than Vatican II. What impressed Kevin about the Magi was that at the end of a long, tiresome journey, they were still on talking terms with each other!
In this reflection on the Wise Men, Kevin was being quite realistic. He was a great talker and, at the end of a long trek in Tullabeg days while still smartly stepping out a military pace with three other stalwarts, he would keep the conversation moving until they reached home.
For almost two years before his death, Kevin was receiving blood transfusions to make up for the haemoglobin deficiency in his system. Despite this marrow failure, he remained vivacious to the end. At first, the transfusions fasted several months but later had to be repeated at shorter intervals until finally his energy dissipated after a few weeks.
Though with his community he spoke in a light-hearted manner about his illness, he did recommend in glowing terms the article in the December 1986 issue of The Furrow by Fr Peter Lemass, 'The call to live.'
Like Fr Lemass, Kevin had many people supporting and encouraging him in his struggle to survive. When an appeal for blood donations was made from the pulpit over a year ago the response was overwhelming. On that occasion no blood type was indicated. Last December, when another appeal was made this time for “B” type blood, several parishioners apologised for being unable to donate according to the specific type. It turned out that type “B” is quite rare in Singapore. One of the last to donate blood was a girl Legionary from the University of Singapore. Kevin was spiritual director to one of the six praesidia on the campus.
Despite the rare type of blood he needed, Kevin was never denied blood when it was required. About a week before his death, he was given a transfusion of six pints and when they did not raise his haemoglobin count sufficiently, he was given two more pints before being allowed home.
On Wednesday, January 21, at 3 am, suffering from high fever and body pains, he phoned doctor and ambulance and was taken to the intensive care unit of Mount Alvernia Hospital, in the care of the FMDM Sisters. Only Tom O'Neill was disturbed by the commotion and finding a taxi cruising at that unearthly hour followed the ambulance to discover what was amiss. What had been feared from the beginning of the illness had happened. He was stricken with a virus infection and was unable to combat it. I had the privilege of anointing him and giving him Communion that afternoon. On Friday, about 11.30 am, his brea thing became difficult and he died with out further suffering.
Despite my recommendation that all watching and praying close down at 11.00 pm, while Kevin's body was lying in the parish hall, his friends would have none of it. For three nights, they organised relays of watchers, while some remained through the night. There were several phone calls from people who said he had officiated at their marriage twenty or so years previously and had baptised their children.
John Wood

Respect, yes - but affection?
To those who knew Kevin O'Dwyer only as an efficient Minister, a meticulous Econome, a competent teacher and, at times, a quite sharp-tongued critic, the depth of mourning displayed at his passing would have come as a surprise.
He died rather suddenly at the end, just before noon on Friday, 23 January, The body was embalmed and brought that same evening to the Parish Hall. At 9.00 pm there was a concelebrated Mass in the Hall at which about three hundred people were present. How the word had got around so fast is still a mystery.
Over the weekend the parishioners took it in turns to watch by the body, day and night. Each evening at 9.00 Mass was said. On Monday morning Archbishop Gregory Yong concelebrated the funeral Mass together with over 70 priests before a full congregation. Although it was an ordinary working day, three busloads of parishioners, as well as several private cars, went to the cemetery.
All this was a tribute to a man who many would have thought incapable of inspiring such affection. Respect, yes - but affection? The answer seems to be that Kevin did not wear his heart on his sleeve, but, over the years, a great number of people came to realise that, while he might sometimes seem severe on the outside, he was, on the inside, not only a big-hearted man but a tender hearted one.
To say that Kevin O'Dwyer could not accept fools gladly would be misleading: it depended on the sort of fools. With those who were simply impractical or woolly-headed, he could be quite gentle. His sharp tongue was reserved for those who engaged in bombast, boasting or loud-mouthed proclamations of their opinions. Towards these he could be scathing.
But with the poor, even the 'under serving poor', Kevin was not only sympathetic but helpful in a practical way.
Twenty-five years ago, as soon as the Church of St Ignatius was built, he started the St Vincent de Paul Society and remained their Spiritual Director until his death.
Towards the sick his devotion knew no bounds. For years he brought Holy Communion to the sick in their homes every week and even when he himself was ailing, he continued to visit sick parishioners in various hospitals until the doctor insisted that he must confine himself to one hospital each day.
For almost two years Kevin was living on borrowed blood and therefore as he well knew, on borrowed time. Yet, although he could speak fluently on many subjects, he rarely spoke of this, He just went on working, in a restricted fashion as he grew weaker, until the end. Three days before he died, he was still busy at the accounts.
On one occasion he had confided that he did not want to end up a burden to the community. He didn't. He died quickly and quietly, without a fuss. Kevin always disliked making a fuss.
Liam Egan

Where only the best was good enough
I used to think that procurators generally were mean with money. Living with Kevin cured me of that. I do not consider myself stingy but he was far ahead of me in generosity.
Many a time I asked him for alms for a deserving case. “How much?” he would say and then suggest an amount far more than I had in mind. The same was true on occasions when, as a community, we discussed making a donation to some current charity or other. There was no single time when Kevin's proposed figure was not far above my own.
But a “bum” (a specifically “Kevinensian” term) got short shrift. For the uninitiated, a “bum” was/is someone “on the make”, a fraud, a faker of hard-luck tales, a taker who never gives. The direct opposite, in other words, of Kevin's own blunt honesty and self-giving. On one famous occasion, the (locally-born) priest secretary of one of our inter-parish meetings faithfully recorded the term in his minutes but confessed he had to consult a dictionary as he had thought the word had only one meaning,
Two things were always calculated to rile Kevin: if you asked a silly question, you got more, far more, than a silly answer! And if you happened to turn up even a little late for a public Mass or stupidly forgot some parish matter you were supposed to attend to, it was best to keep out of his path for a while until he had simmered down a bit.
The parishioners deserved only our best and always. They knew that, too. His service of them was complete dedication. That was why they loved him; and unceasingly asked for and after him during his illness; and why they poured in to pay their respects and shed their tears when the news spread, like a prairie fire, that God had taken him home.
A parishioner whose opinion I greatly value asked if we priests could do more to influence the parishioners. “Let them see the priests praying”, she said, “We know you pray but let them see you at it”. It so happened that only Kevin and I were in residence at the time and I saw at once that this was a gentle admonition to myself.
My preparation for Mass and thanksgiving were done in private, in my room or the sacristy, but Kevin was long on his knees daily in church before and after his Mass. He was a prayerful priest. Go to his room any day about 5 pm and you would find him saying his rosary.
In the final months, when his activities were necessarily curbed, he spent long periods, not with his beloved music or engaged in reading, but in the domestic chapel, next to my room. I saw him there, to quote a Milltown professor, whom my contemporaries will instantly identity, with my own two eyes'. For that example, as for so much else, I am
very grateful.
Des Reid

Born: 31 October 1921, Sunday’s Well, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Della Strada, Dooradoyle, Limerick
Died: 14 September 1999, Toulouse, France

Working at St Thérèse en Corbières, Lagrasse, France at the time of death.

Father was a Civil Servant. Family lived at Rock Lodge, Blackrock Road, Cork City supported by a shop.

Third in a family of two sisters and three boys.

Early education at CBC Cork for nine year, and at 16 went to Mungret College SJ for two.

by 1971 at Paris, France (GAL) studying
by 1988 at Garancières, Île-de-France, France (GAL) working
by 1994 at Lagrasse, France (GAL) working

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 105 : Special Edition 2000

Obituary

Fr Barry O’Dowling (1921-1999)

1921, Oct 31: Born in Cork
Early education: Christian Brothers' College Cork and Mungret College
1939, Sept 7: Entered the Society at Emo
1941, Sept 6: First vows at Emo
1941 - 1944 Studied Arts at U.C.D.
1944 - 1947 Tullabeg, studying philosophy
1947 - 1951 Belvedere - Regency, H.Dip in Education
1951 - 1955 Milltown Park, studying philosophy
1954, July 29 Ordained priest at Milltown Park
1955 - 1956 Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1956 - 1958 St. Ignatius, Galway, Minister
1958 - 1970 Crescent College, Teacher
1970 - 1971 Paris, Studying Catechetics & French
1971 - 1987 Crescent College Comprehensive, Teacher
1987 - 1989 Versailles, Parish work
1989 - 1993 Clongowes, Teacher
1993 - 1999 France, Parish work

In his last year, Barry experienced health problems. During the spring and summer he received post-operative radiation treatment for cancer. In his last week he felt very weak and was taken to hospital in Toulouse where he died peacefully on Tuesday morning, September 14th.

Liam O'Connell preached at a special mass in Limerick after Barry's burial in France ...

When Fr. Barry O'Dowling died, the Bishop of Carcassone described him as a great priest and peacemaker, and as a most discrete person. Because of this discretion, because of Barry's efforts to be totally private, it is difficult to give an outline of his life. And yet it can help our prayer and thanksgiving, and I will attempt to do so.

Barry O'Dowling was born in Cork on October 31st 1921, one of four children, Ciaran, Deirdre, Barry and Aidan. He received his early education at C.B.C. and in Mungret College, which he attended with his brother Aidan. In 1939, at the start of the war, he joined the Jesuit noviceship at Emo, near Portlaoise. Fr. Sean O Duibhir and Fr, Bill McKenna who are on the altar with us today joined on the same day, and celebrated 60 years as Jesuits on 7th of this month. Barry followed the usual Jesuit course of studies, studying Arts at UCD, Philosophy at Tullabeg near Tullamore and Theology at Milltown Park. He had the usual break in his studies when he taught from 1947 until 1951 at Belvedere, and Fr. Hugh Duffy who is also with us today remembers how Barry was his water polo trainer at that time.

After ordination in 1954, Barry worked in St. Ignatius Galway as Minister, or Assistant Superior for two years, and then in 1958 began his long association with the Crescent, which lasted for 20 years until 1987. At a time when authority was strong, and arguments from authority were accepted in our homes, in our schools, and in our churches, Barry used a different approach in the teaching of Religion. He would introduce a question, and often not tell his students what his position was so that the questioning could go on. One student got his own back, after he was fed up with arguments with Marx and Feurbach and Camus. This student wrote in a student magazine that Fr. O'Dowling was considering joining the Catholic Church. But to this day his past pupils appreciate that they had the right to express their own views and to speak their minds, and they received approval and support for doing this. His colleagues on the teaching staff still remember the great theology lectures he organised for the staff in the late 1970's.

I will only refer to the other qualities Barry brought to the school:
As a teacher of English, Barry had a skill in teaching students to write well. This was achieved through the quality of his regular marking of students' English essays. Despite the right to free speech, there was an orderly atmosphere in the classroom, and speaking out of order could be met with an exclusion order - expressed in one word - “out”. While he did not like large groups, Barry had a great gift for conversation, wide ranging, long conversations, and some of these were fondly recalled over the last few days. Barry was an unlikely impressario, but in the 1960's he organised a theatre group from past pupils, and he once had to rearrange a production at the last minute, because the theatre owners did not approve of Tennessee Williams. He also organised youth discos, until they became too successful, and too large.

In 1987 when the time came to retire from Crescent, Barry feared that there might be speeches and presents, so he obtained permission to slip quietly away, the day before the end of term. This was not because he did not care. With his family or with his friends or with his God, while he cared deeply, he did not always want what was most important to him to be dealt with in public.

Starting in the 1960's, during school holidays Barry used to recharge his batteries in France, as often as he could. There he enjoyed the beauty of the French language, the energy and style of the church, and the friendship of French Jesuits, priests and other acquaintances. He needed this French dimension in his life, and it helped him to live fully and to breathe.

After retirement Barry worked for two years in a parish outside Paris, near Garancière. Then he returned to some teaching of English classes at Clongowes. He enjoyed his new life of teaching and gardening and reading, and could have been very happy at Clongowes till the Lord called him. But he never sold his French car, a sign that he still felt the pull of missionary work.

Then in 1993 at the age of 72 Barry accepted a new challenge, and went to work in Lagrasse in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The Bishop of Carcasonne found it difficult to get priests to work in this mountainy place. The region of the Corbieres has 22 villages in a large area, but only 2000 people living in them. Many of these isolated villages have long since lost their shops and post offices, and when the tourists go home, there are often as few as 10 or 20 people, mostly old people, left behind. Some people from northern Europe have settled in the area, and are finding it difficult to be accepted. Barry recently conducted a small survey among the people of this region, and he learned that their greatest problem was loneliness. Barry ministered to them, travelling 25,000 kilometres a year on tiny mountain roads, to help keep the small churches and their small communities alive.

At the Mass in Lagrasse last Sunday, the church was full of the people of the surrounding 21 villages, from Albieres, and Auriac and Davejan and Dernicueillette and Felines Termenes, and Laviers, and Lanet and Lanroqe de Fa and Maisons and Messac and Mouthournet and Montgaillard and Montjoi and Paliarac and Ribaute and Salza and St. Martin des Puits and St. Pierre des Champs and Termenes and Vignevielle and Villerouge Termenes and La Grasse. Tears were shed by the old inhabitants and by newcomers to the area, for the man who was willing to live in simplicity and in loneliness himself, as a man of the Gospel.

At the end of the Mass Madame Pla spoke about Barry, and I would love to have the text of what she said. She spoke of the Barry we see in the photograph that is displayed in the church, as he prepared to bless the vines from the top of a mountain. She spoke of the rocky hilly area, with tiny congregations, and how Barry was welcomed into that area by everybody, believers and non-believers. In an area where people were suspicious of each other and of outsiders, he was accepted and loved as everybody's priest.

Barry's death was sudden in the end, but he had been preparing for a long time. When his own mother died, he told the Jesuit Community at Dooradoyle, in an unusual moment of self-revelation, since my mother's death heaven and earth have been drawn closer together, this is an extraordinary time. When Charlie Davy's mother died, Barry told Charlie that he loved the part of the Mass where we remember the dead. In his recent homilies in Lagrasse Barry returned again and again to the faithfulness of God. During the summer in Toulouse, while he received radiation treatment, Barry read the books of the Jesuit theologian, Varillon, and discussed them with the Superior of the community. He was especially moved by the book entitled The Humility of God. On the Sunday before he died Barry asked his Jesuit colleague Père Daniel, to read the readings for the day, the 24th Sunday of the year, and then he asked for communion.

Today we pray that Barry enjoys eternal communion with God, and that after all the open ended discussions without answers, that Barry enjoys what eye has not seen and ear has not heard.

Liam O'Connell SJ

◆ The Clongownian, 2000

Obituary

Father Barry O’Dowling SJ
Fr Barry O'Dowling, who had spent much of his working life as a Jesuit teaching in Crescent College Comprehensive, came to Clongowes in 1989. By then he had retired from teaching and had just done a two-year stint in a parish near Versailles in France. As he had suffered a heart-attack, the solitary life of a curé in rural France was no longer appropriate. He taught English with us for four years on a part-time basis until he felt well enough to resume pastoral work in 1993. This time he went much further south to Lagrasse, a depopulated region of scattered mountain villages with a low level of religious practice, in which there were twenty-one churches in the parish. He served his people with fidelity and characteristic good humour, while living in poverty in a rambling, ramshackle presbytery beside the church in Lagrasse. His health had been declining for some time before he died on 14 September 1999, at the age of 77, in Toulouse, where he now lies buried. At a memorial Mass in Lagrasse the Sunday after, when the church was filled with parishioners from the different villages in his care, one of them, speaking for others, said: “Il nous a fait tant de bien”.

The local paper, Midi Libre, published the following touching appreciation a week after his death :

Nous apprenons avec tristesse le décès du Père Barry O'Dowling, hospitalisé mercredi dernier dans un établissement de soins à Toulouse. Curé de Lagrasse depuis plus de six ans, il avait en plus la charge du secteur paroissial du Termenès Orbieu.

Nous nous étions habitués à sa haute silhouette coiffée de son éternelle casquette, arpentant les rues du village. Très affable, un mot gentil à tous, il aimait se mettre à l'écoute des Lagrassiens ainsi que des personnes qu'il était appelé à rencontrer dans le secteur. Au village il connaissait tout le monde et chacun, pratiquant ou non, appréciait son ouverture d'esprit et sa tolérance. Les fidèles ont eu l'occasion d'apprécier ses homélies particulièrement profondes et tournées vers la vie quotidienne de ses paroissiens.

L'abbé Barry était Jésuite, et comme un grand nombre de ses collègues, il a pratiqué l'enseignement dans son pays d'Irlande qu'il aimait bien. Il ne manquait jamais les matchs France-Irlande. On lui posait quelquefois la question: “Vous soutenez évidemment l'Irlandé?' et il n'hésitait de répondre: Ah non! Que le meilleur gagne!” Après s'être dévoué à l'enseignement, il a voulu se mettre au service de la pastorale. C'est ainsi qu'il a servi à son arrivée en France, dans la région parisienne. Le tumulte de la ville ne lui convenait pas. Il a demandé à exercer dans la France profonde: “Donnez-moi le secteur le plus reculé de France”. Il faut croire qu'à Lagrasse il avait enfin trouvé le calme qu'il cherchait, puisqu'il avait souhaité rester dans ces Corbières sauvages tant qu'il pourrait exercer. Il a servi Dieu et l'Église jusqu'à l'extrême limite de ses forces.

Souhaitons à cet homme juste qu'il ait retrouvé la plénitude qu'il recherchait. Pour ses paroissiens, c'est le Père spirituel qui les a quittés et pour nous tous c'est un ami qui n'a fait que passer.

Born: 30 June 1894, Lismoher House, Kilfenora, County Clare
Entered: 07 September 1911, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 30 April 1972, Milltown Park, Dublin

Father was originally a farmer, and not succeeding moved to Church Street, Ennistymon County Clare 1901 and became a grocer and wine & spirit merchant, whilst maintaining the farm.

One older brother and two younger sisters.

Early education at Kilfenora National School and then by the Christian Brothers at Ennistymon. He then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1909-1911)

Studied for BA in Economics at UCD

by 1918 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1928 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1929 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 3 1972

Milltown Park
Father Paul O'Dea died peacefully in Milltown Park on the after noon of Sunday April 30th. He had lived here without a break for almost forty years and had been in the same room for thirty of them. Although he had been ailing for some time, he became very weak only two days before his death Nurses were called to attend him but the end came more swiftly than the community expected. He will be remembered particularly for his great patience and his hope in eternity. May he rest in peace.

Obituary :
Fr Paul O'Dea SJ (1894-1972)
A very long chapter in the history of Milltown Park ended with the death of Fr Paul O'Dea on the afternoon on Sunday, April 30th. For the past fifteen years or so his physical health had suffered and in the last few years he made no secret of the fact that he was weary of life and eagerly expecting a call to a better life. “Why does God not take me?” was a question he often asked. Latterly it became more and more plain that the end was drawing near. Yet, Fr Paul, with indomitable will-power, rose each morning to say his Mass (though he sometimes had to cling to the wall for support on his way to the chapel); and he was equally faithful in his attendance at each community duty. In the last twenty-four hours it was necessary to call in the help of a day nurse and a night nurse, but death came, in the end suddenly and most peacefully --- release from a life that had, for almost fifty years, been one of unbroken and faithful service to the house that for him was the centre of all his activities and of his prayers..
Paul O'Dea was born at Ennistymon on June 30th, 1894, the son of an old-world shopkeeper and farmer whose fine example and wise counsels made so deep an impression on the young boy that, seventy years later, he would constantly recall the lessons he had learned at home or when walking with his father through the streets of Ennis - for Paul's father moved from Ennistymon to Ennis when Paul was still a young boy.
It was from the Christian Brothers in Ennis that he learned what were to be the foundations on which he build so assiduously, in reading and in solitary thought, for many long years.
At the age of fifteen he was sent to Clongowes where he spent the two years, 1909-11. Of the novices who went with him to Tullabeg in 1911 Fr John Ryan is now the sole survivor. But the present writer can remember the grim determination of Br O'Dea's fervour, which was to be matched a few years later by an almost equally grim determination to break every rule of the Juniorate during his years in Rathfarnham Castle, 1913-17! Ill-health may have been in part the cause of these sudden swings from one extreme to another, but there was also the overpowering thirst for knowledge, especially for historical or geographical knowledge which took deep root in his mind during those early years.
Fr Paul never lost his sense of deep personal gratitude to the two men who saved him from the loss of what was, beyond all doubt, a true and lasting vocation to the Society. Those two men were the first Rector of Rathfarnham Castle, Fr James Brennan, and the Provincial Fr T V Nolan who took the place of Fr William Delaney in the autumn of 1912.
To tell the story of Fr Paul's slow but impressive intellectual development and of the devoted service he gave to Milltown Park as Professor of what was then known as the morning Dorma class, for so many years and as the immediate successor to Fr Peter Fin lay, in that chair, would require more space than is available in a number of Province News which has to find space for so many other losses to our Irish province. Let it be sufficient for the moment to say that with the death of Fr Paul O'Dea, Milltown Park has lost a singularly faithful and loyal son and those of us who survive him know that we also have lost a patient and kindly older brother in our religious life.

◆ The Clongownian, 1972

Obituary

Father Paul O'Dea SJ
Father Paul O'Dea passed a long life, as few men are permitted to do, wholly dedicated to a single activity: the acquisition and exposition of theological truth. The place and times in which he lived made such a career singularly uneventful and for all its competence can be briefly summarised.

When in 1909 he came to Clongowes he had been so well taught by the Christian Brothers in Ennis that he could more than hold his own in a brilliant class which included Fr Paul Healy SJ, Sir Gilbert Laithwaite, Tom Finlay and Ray O'Kelly. He entered the Jesuit Noviceship in 1911 and in 1913 went to the National University and took a first class honours degree in History. He then began his study of Philosophy in Stonyhurst but the conscription crisis brought him back to Milltown Park to complete his course there. In 1920 he came to Clongowes where he taught English and History to the senior classes. In the vacation of 1923 he helped to draw up the first certificate courses; he made use of the liberal choice of text and method which were all too soon to be superceded. In 1923 he came back to Milltown for four years study of Theology, at the end of which time it was settled that he should do Doctorate studies in Rome. The sudden death however of his old Professor Fr Peter Finlay cut short these courses and he was called back to take over his chair of Theology in Milltown. He spent the rest of his life in this office.

When he died he had been in Milltown for forty years without a break, He had always been a tireless walker and kept this exercise up into his old age. In these solitary walks he confessed that he often lost his way so preoccupied was he with his thoughts. As a confessor he was much sought after: here his personal holiness, his gentleness and his ever present desire to help were most evident.

The last years of his life were clouded by ill health which made concentration and lecturing impossible. He made no pretence that he was not longing for death and in the end it came happily. A few days before he died he had a heavy fall, he was confined to his room only for a short while but remained conscious to the end. An hour before his death he was able to recognise and greet his beloved sister - Mother de Lourdes who in a unique way shared his remarkable gifts.

To her we owe our most sincere sympathy.

Born: 25 March 1906, Thornfields, Lisnagry, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 02 November 1981, Hazel Hall Nursing Home, Clane, County Kildare

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, Clane, Co Kildare community at the time of death

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 20 July 1959-1965

Father was a Commissioner of Local Government and the family moved to Dublin

Family of ten, with nine sisters (1 deceased). He is second eldest.

Early Education at CUS, Dublin and in 1918 at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1938 at Petworth, Surrey (ANG) health

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Arthur J Clarke Entry
Arthur took as his model and ideal his Master of Juniors, Fr Charles O'Conor Don, whose motto, ‘faithful always and everywhere’, Arthur took as his own.

Note from Tommie O’Meara Entry
One summer on villa (summer holidays), the local parish priest was invited to dinner and was being introduced to the scholastics, one of whom was Charles O'Conor-Don (a descendant of the last High King of Ireland). He was introduced as ‘This is the O’Conor-Don’, when Tommie immediately pipes up ‘I'm the O’Meara Tom’.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 18th Year No 2 1943

The O’Conor Don, Owen Phelim O’Conor who died at Glenageary Dublin, on 1st March, was the last lineal descendant, from father to son of Roderick O’Conor, last High King of Ireland, who resigned in the 12th century. He was the second son of the late Right Hon. Charles Owen O'Conor and succeeded to the title on the death of his elder brother, Denis, in 1917. The new holder of the title is our Fr. Charles O’Conor, Minister of Juniors at Rathfarnham, the only son of the late Mr. Charles O’Conor K.M., Lucan House Dublin, and nephew of the late holder. He is the first bearer of an hereditary Irish title to be a priest, and not until his death will the title go to the son or grandson of a cousin of Owen Phelim O’Conor. This gentleman, Mr. Charles William O’Conor was once M.P. for Sligo and now lives in Herefordshire.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Frs. G. Casey and C. O'Conor represented the Province at the Solem Requiem Mass celebrated at Kikeel Church, Co. Down on 22nd January for the late Fr. John Sloan, S.J., of Patna Mission (Chicago Province) who perished in the Dakota crash outside Karachi on the night of 27th December. Fr. O'Conor was the Celebrant. A brief account of his career appears below.

Irish Province News 34th Year No 4 1959

GENERAL
On 20th July Fr. Charles O'Conor, former Rector of Gonzaga College was appointed Provincial in succession to Fr. Michael A. O’Grady. The best wishes of the Province are with the Provincial in his new office, and to Fr. O'Grady the Province offers its gratitude for his services during his Provincialate. He will be remembered, beyond doubt, above all for his outstanding kindness, under standing and sympathy. His great and quite genuine charm of manner made personal contact between him and his subjects easy. They could always feel that their position was understood even if it could not always be improved. And these qualities extended themselves outside the Society and won for Fr. O’Grady and for the Province the goodwill, esteem and affection of everyone with whom he came into contact.
When he became Provincial in 1953 Fr. O’Grady was faced with a task which demanded gifts of this high order, The period of office of his predecessor, Fr. T, Byrne, had been one of expansion after the war. It was for Fr. O’Grady to consolidate. He found himself with a number of new enterprises-the Catholic Workers' College, the Mission in Rhodesia, Gonzaga College - which he had to see firmly established. This involved, among other things, a heavy building programme. It has been his great achievement that he courageously carried through this programme, though the toll on his health was at times very great. Besides the buildings at Gonzaga and the Workers' College, there were the preparatory school at Belvedere, the Pioneer Hall, the extension to Manresa and the renovation of Loyola, Eglinton Road, which was purchased as a Provincial Residence in his term of office. That, in spite of the expenditure involved, the Province is in a sound financial position is a tribute to Fr. O'Grady's generous use of his great personal gifts and to his inexhaustible patience and zeal.
Other activities recently undertaken which received his wholehearted en couragement were the Missions to Britain and to the Irish workers in Britain, the work of teaching Christian Doctrine in the Technical Schools, and the Child Educational Centre, which was started in his Provincialate and was finally established in its new premises in Northumberland Road last year.
He visited both China and Northern Rhodesia, and it was largely through his tireless negotiation that a satisfactory status for the Rhodesian Mission was worked out and the Mission of Chikuni created. He also saw the expansion of the Mission to the Chinese in Malaya. In both Missions he supported extensive building schemes of which the most ambitious were the new Wah Yan College, Queen's Road, Hong Kong and the Teacher Training College, Chikuni. And for all this the Province is grateful to Fr. O’Grady.

Irish Province News 57th Year No 1 1982

Clongowes
The Clongowes Community and boys suffered a grievous loss by the death of Fr Charles O'Conor. (See obituary notices, pp. 152 ff.] No one who reads this brief account of the man will wonder why we, his community, feel his passing so keenly, and share with all the people in the immediate and remoter vicinity a profound sense of loss.
Charles excelled in love of his neighbour. He could not offend in word or deed; he could not say or think present and a Jesuit Roman Catholic anything uncharitable; he was always priest was very well received. The Rector already to oblige; he was a humble man and Headmaster attended the annual who never gave the faintest impression of dinner of the Munster Branch of the being superior in any sense. He was Clongowes Union (28th November). always a pleasant companion and Like all other post-primary schools, gravitated towards the less popular, less Clongowes opened late (14th/15th attractive of his fellows. He was deeply September) on ministerial instructions. respected and beloved by all his fellow scholastics.
One could write of his tireless activity his great patience with himself, especially during the last few years when his memory was failing very and was causing him humiliating trouble in conversation, and that same patience with the poor arriving at our door, many of whom were humbugs with made-up hard-luck stories that went on With all inside and outside he showed the same restraint and respect: he himself all unawares won the greatest reverence from all the people around. Even the boys, thoughtless though they seem, regarded him with great affection and respect; and boys are seldom deceived in their judgments of their masters or superiors.

Obituary

Fr Charles O’Conor (1906-1924-1981)

The present writer first met Fr Charlie in Tullabeg noviciate on 1st September 1924, in the days when an entry-list of 26 first-year novices was looked upon as quite normal. He and his family had made a great sacrifice by his following a religious vocation, as he was the last direct descendant of the third-last High King of Ireland. Turlough O’Conor. For the tiine, however, he was just one of us novices and went through all the noviceship experiments like the rest of us. Tall and ascetic-looking, but of rather frail physique, he took little part in team games, but was exceptionally good at tennis and very popular with everyone.
After the noviceship he went with the rest of his year to Rathfarnham and attended University College, Dublin, gaining there a BA degree with honours. for the next two years (1929-'31), still in Rathfarnham, he went on to gain an HDE and (something quite exceptional in those days) an MA in History. His dissertation was on Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, a distinguished ancestor of his who lived in Penal times. As a result of the two extra years in Rathfarnham, when his contemporaries had moved on to philosophy, Charlie was out of step with them for the rest of his scholastic career. After philosophical studies in Tullabeg, instead of teaching prefecting in the colleges, he returned to Rathfarnham and spent two more years there, assisting the Minister of Juniors and doing some teaching in the juniorate.
His theological studies in Milltown Park (1936-41) were interrupted by ill- health. At the end of his first year it was discovered that he had contracted tuberculosis, so he was sent to Petworth, where the English Province maintained a sanatorium. Here within twelve months he made what seemed to be a satisfactory recovery. However, when he resumed theology in Ireland, doubt arose over the permanence of this recovery, so by special dispensation he was ordained a priest at the end of his second year. After theology he went to Rathfarnham (his third time there) as a tertian, and on his appointment as Minister of Juniors stayed on (1942-50). During this period also he was “Province Prefect of Studies” (inspector of colleges).
Since about 1945 Fr Charlie was “vice postulator” of the cause of Fr John Sullivan's beatification. He played a great part in drawing up the necessary documents for the Judicial Informative Process held in Dublin and in Kildare and Leighlin. The cause entailed an enormous amount of correspondence not only with Rome but also with a very large number of clients both at home and abroad, some seeking relics and others informing him of favours received through Fr Sullivan’s intercession.
[The next nine years of Fr Charles’s life - his Gonzaga period, 1950-59 - are dealt with separately, below. His Provincialate (1959-'65) presently lacks a chronicler! Fr Brendan Barry was his Socius and successor as Provincial: had he survived, we might have had a first hand account).
When Fr Charlie ceased to be Provincial in 1965, he came to Clongowes, where he spent the reinaining sixteen years of his life. He was made pastor of the people's church and was given charge of the garden and the pleasure grounds. For many years also he taught religion to one of the junior classes, to whom he became guide, philosopher and friend. He interviewed the boys regularly in his room, and in later life many of them returned to thank him for the help he gave them when they had succumbed to depression.
Besides his voluminous correspondence connected with Fr John Sullivan, he was also indefatigable in writing to Ours, especially to those working on the missions in Hong Kong, Zambia and Australia. Many an exile was completely dependent on him for news of what was happening here at home. As guestmaster he always gave them a hearty céad mile failte on their return from foreign parts.
Fr Charlie occupied one of the rooms near the hall door and so was in constant demand as confessor at unusual hours, He heard confessions also for long hours every week-end, on the eves of First Fridays and all the Church holydays. However, probably the greatest demand made on his time and patience was in listening to all sorts of down-and-outs who came regularly to him seeking help both spiritual and temporal. Frequently they arrived at mealtimes, but never did he show any resentment at the inconvenience they caused him. He took very literally the words of the Gospel: “As often as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me”. He was often asked also to bless invalids either in their own homes or in hospitals in Naas or Dublin or sometimes farther afield.
In the school itself he was in daily demand to superintend the swimming pool and showers. On half-days, especially when there were visiting teams Charlie was taken and put under to be catered for, this was a long and sedation. very wearisome chore in the steaming atmosphere of the baths, to the accompaniment of a constant din of high-pitched youthful screaming and shouting to their hearts' content. At the end of the exercise, he always insisted on doing the mopping-up personally, even though many volunteered to help.
A few years ago, his tuberculosis showed signs of returning, so he had to go to hospital in Dublin. Afterwards he spent some time recuperating in his home atmosphere at Clonalis, Co Roscommon. He began to suffer from two great disabilities: deafness and loss of memory. Though he was supplied with a hearing aid, it never worked very successfully. He was not mechanically-minded, and so found it difficult to adjust: for all practical purposes he discarded it completely.
With his loss of memory, another man might have retired completely into his shell, but not Fr Charlie. At times admittedly when talking to him, it could be embarrassing to have to hear and answer the same question two or three times in the course of a short conversation. As a result of these disabilities, he had to give up offering Mass and hearing confessions in the People's church, but these were the only concessions he did make. He managed to keep up all his other activities right up to the end.
On Sunday, 25th October 1981, at breakfast (7.30 am) he looked pale and sickly, and admitted to feeling unwell. He took merely a cup of tea and was led back to his room. The doctor was sent for and diagnosed a heart attack, but not one requiring immediate intensive care hospital. He saw Fr O’Conor's immediate need as rest, preparatory to transfer to hospital, and himself suggested the nearby nursing home, Hazel Hall in Clane. The consultant assented to this course, so there Fr Charlie was taken and put under sedation.
During his first few days in Hazel Hall he appeared very anaemic and listless; then by degrees he seemed to regain both his colour and his interest in everything: happenings at home, goings and comings. Various members of the community visited him daily, as did his sisters, four of whom survive.
On All Souls' day (2nd November) two of the community visited him and found him ever better than he had been on previous days. Within an hour or so, as afternoon tea was being brought to the rooms, word came back that Fr Charlie had suffered another heart attack, to which he succumbed. Next evening his remains were brought to Clongowes. Dr Patrick Lennon, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, received the coffin at the main door of the 1932 building. The senior boys carried it down the corridors, the others lining the way, to the high altar of the Boys' chapel, where his Lordship spoke the final prayers. Among the dignitaries present that evening were Dublin's Lord Mayor, Alexis FitzGerald, who had been one of Fr Charlie's pupils at Gonzaga, and the ex-Taoiseach, Mr Liam Cosgrave. Dr Dominic Conway, Bishop of Elphin (the O’Conor home diocese), presided next morning at the funeral Mass concelebrated by some seventy
priests. The then Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, was represented by his aide-de-camp, and the Knights of Malta, attired in their robes, were well represented: Fr Charlie had been their chaplain. The coffin was then carried once more in by the senior boys to the hearse waiting on the main avenue, with the rest of the boys fining the route; then all proceeded to the community cemetery, where the final farewell was spoken by Fr Provincial. Tributes carne from far and near from all classes of people who felt his death as a real personal loss. May he rest in peace!

Fr O'Conor's Gonzaga period
In the spring of 1950 Charlie left Rathfarnham to take up residence in Milltown Park and to set up Gonzaga College in part of the newly-acquired Bewley property. He had been Province
Prefect of Studies for some years, but had never been on the teaching staff of any of our colleges. With the thoroughness and dedication that was characteristic of him, he set about this pioneering task leading to an ever-mysterious future whose outlines he could barely have glimpsed.
Those who were posted to Gonzaga in 1950 received more sympathy than envy from their friends. One of them told the present writer that the postal delivery of 31st July, which brought the unwelcome Status news brought also another letter - a line of welcome from Charlie with a their ten-shilling note enclosed. This kind personal consideration was a marked feature of his life.
The Rector of Milltown, in whose name the Bewley property had been bought, had entrusted the reconstruction of the house - the future school and residence - to a group of tradesmen who undertook to do it after working hours. By the opening date, 8th September, they hadn't finished the job. However, classrooms and toilets were ready. The brethren's rooms had each a bed, a table and a chair: community meals were in Miltown Park, Every night Charlie went down to meet the workmen and enjoy a smoke with them, despite the irritation their broken promises occasioned him.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, had requested a school at the south side of the city. While meeting this request, the Provincial, Fr “Luigi” O'Grady, had decided that the Province should try to offer a preparation for third-level education other than that given by the Leaving Certificate and Matriculation courses of those days. A return to the Ratio
Studiorum was invoked, but it wasn't obvious how this was to be applied to the realities of Irish secondary education in 1950, when parents paid all school fees and university entrance standards had to be met. Charlie had his own ideas of what a school might be, and while not being a theorist, he had his own quiet way of converting his ideas into reality. I think he saw the school as ancillary to the home. Hence parents were invited to all school occasions, even to a cup of coffee after a Confirmation in the opening year, when standing-room scarcely existed for parents and boys. He had a deep personal interest in each of the boys and held private “chats” with them in his office. Many of them have told the present writer that they received help from him that carried them through post-school years.Charlie’s involvement in the school’s life was total. He taught Religion and supervised the lunchroom and the changing-room for games. He was constantly thinking of the immediate and future needs of the school, and planned community each change with great care, relying on listed arguments pro and contra before his decision, then really trusting in the power of prayer for every undertaking. Here his devotion to our Lady and confidence in her intercession was remarkable. When the theologians vacated the second Bewley house, variously known as Sandford Grove, Winkelmann’s and St. Joseph's, Gonzaga fitted it up as a classroom block. Charlie gave great care and attention to every detail of the plans for this, as he did for the building of the hall and library block, and on this latter he was more efficient than any clerk of works could be. Before the building was handed over, the whole community was paration for third-level education other asked to do a tour of inspection to note any omissions or defects; the result was a long list of 113 minor items for the builder's consideration.
As a superior, he was a man of his time. He expected co-operation with his ideas, though he listened to ours. It was possible to disagree with him without having a row about the matter. He was thoughtful and considerate for each individual. His expectations of others were high, but he never asked anyone to do what he himself was not willing to attempt
He had a real interest in people, indeed in all people, from the poor man begging for a shilling to those friends of his own family who were in a very different social class. He had a real love for the poor, evidenced by the fact that on one Sunday afternoon no less then 37 came to Gonzaga begging for a little help'. He didn't readily speak about himself, but one day he did tell us of his delight at receiving a letter from a woman in England, asking for his mother's name. She wished her child to take that name in Confirmation, because Mrs O'Conor had given this woman's mother a weekly gift of tea and sugar and the only new clothes she had ever worn,
In the community Charlie was very friendly, even though his shyness tended to make him seem aloof at times. His life with God may have affected his easy approach to people. It was certainly the hub of his life, about which all else revolved. The sincerity of his faith was an inspiration. He won the respect and affection of a large proportion of the boys and their parents, and the years have not blunted their perception of his simplicity, sincerity and saintliness.

A former pupil's appreciation
Mr Charles Edward Lysaght, born in 1942, was educated at Gonzaga and is a barrister and writer. He is the author of Brendan Bracken (1979) and of the following tribute, which appeared in The Irish Times and is reprinted here with a few excisions.]
Fr Charles O’Conor, O’Conor Don, was in every sense a prince among men. As the descendant of the O’Conor High Kings, he was heir to an aristocratic tradition which far antedated the Protestant ascendancy and stretched back beyond the Norman invasion. His forebears in the Penal days had paid a heavy price in worldly terms to hold on to their Faith. It was wholly in character that Fr Charles, the only son among ten children, should not have counted the cost of devoting his life to the priestly vocation in the Society of Jesus.
As a Jesuit he has a fruitful life. Before his ordination he read History at University College, Dublin, and did important historical research for his Master's degree on the history of his family in the Penal days. In 1950 he founded Gonzaga College and quickly established it in a position of eminence in Dublin life ... He was a man of vision and he realised the importance of establishing in Dublin a first-class Catholic day-school.
Of course he had his foibles. His picturesque turn of phrase and well-bred mannerisms evoked occasional mirth among the boys. He could be rigid in some ways and may have lacked an understanding of human frailty in dealing with the wayward. He was very much the child of the old preconciliar Church, where the maintenance of standards was considered as important as the apparent dictates of human compassion.
It was a recognition of Fr O’Conor’s achievement as first rector of Gonzaga that he was appointed in 1959 to be Provincial of the Irish Province of the Jesuits. ... When his term as Provincial ended in 1965, he returned to Clongowes and sought to promote for canonisation the cause of Fr John Sullivan, the convert son of an Irish Lord Chancellor, who had taught him as a boy at the school. He also acted as chaplain to the Irish Association of the Order of Malta, which his father, Mr Charles O’Conor of Lucan House, had helped to found..
The memory which abides is of the man himself, a gaunt delicate figure, shy, reticent, earnest and somewhat tense, who walked very much alone in God’s path through life’s journey. There was about him a graciousness and elegance, epitomised by his handwriting and use of language, which adorned all he touched. It went to the very core of his being and was combined with a deep spirituality and true humility. In his last years he accepted with true Christian resignation his declining mental powers and the great cross of not being able to say Mass. To have been taught by him and to have known him was an inspiration in life, for through that experience one could not help but feel closer to one’s God.

◆ The Clongownian, 1982
Obituary
Father Charles O’Conor SJ
The Clongowes Community and boys suffered a grievous loss by the death of Fr Charles O'Conor on the 2nd November in Hazel Hall Nursing Home in Clane - just two miles from the College. He had suffered a heart attack on the Sunday morning eight days earlier which the doctor at first did not think was very serious. Indeed within a day or two Charles began to get his colour back and seemed definitely to be on the mend. However on Monday, 2nd November at 3.30 pm the nurse brought him a cup of tea, returned in ten minutes and found him dead. So his passing was swift and probably painless. Many of the younger generation may know little about Fr Charles or his career. So a brief outline of his life in the Society is called for.

Fr Charles O'Conor entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on the 1st September 1924 accompanied to that grim building by a bevy of young ladies, who, we learned afterwards, were some of his nine sisters - Charlie being the only son and heir to the title of the “O'Conor Don”. Having completed his two years noviceship he passed on to Rathfarnham, to the University, and there he spent four years and secured an MA in History. Then he returned to Tullabeg for his three years of Philosophy and he later spent the time of regency as assistant to the Master of Juniors.

In 1936 he began his theology in Milltown, but the following year he had to retire to the Jesuit sanatorium at Petworth in Sussex after a serious attack of TB. After a year in Petworth he returned to Milltown with his health improved; there he finished his theology, having been ordained after only two years of theology by special privilege. He finally completed his Tertianship and training in Rathfarnham Castle, and here he was to remain as master of Juniors, for eight years until 1950 when he was given the difficult and extremely demanding task of founding our now so successful Gonzaga College. Charles spent three more than busy years on this task and the next six years as Rector of the College.

In 1959 he was appointed Provincial of the Irish Province and at the end of this task, and at his own request, he came to Clongowes to take charge of the Peoples Church. Added to his other duties was that of vice-postulator for the cause of Fr John Sullivan. This well-loved task involved him in a very tiring, heavy and constant correspondence.

This, in brief, is the factual account of Charles's life, the part of it that all could see. But “qualis erat” really? Again we must be brief.

The Lord said that the love of God and the love of our neighbour is the summary of Christianity, nor can the two commandments be separated. He who has the one must have the other. We, humans, can in any case see, or at least be certain of the one ie, love of the neighbour. Charles had this virtue in excelsis. He could not offend in word or deed; he could not say or, I believe, think an uncharitable word; he was always ready to oblige; he was a humble man who never gave the faintest impression of being superior in any sense. He was always a pleasant companion and gravitated towards the less popular, less attractive of his fellows. He was deeply respected and beloved, I dare say, by all his fellow scholastics, and saying that I have said enough,

G O'B SJ

Born: 20 July 1920, Corrig Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin
Entered: 04 October 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1950, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1953, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 04 September 2006, Loyola House, Nairobi, Kenya - Africa Orientalis Province (AOR)

Transcibed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969; ZAM to AOR 21 December 1982

Born in Baggot Street nursing home.

Father was a doctor and died in 1937.

Second of three sons with two sisters.

Early education CBS Dun Laoghaire, he was sent to St Nathy’s Collge, Ballaghadereen for one year. He then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1933-1937).

by 1953 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fifth wave of Zambian Missioners
by 1962 at St Paul’s, Brokenhill, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) teaching
by 1968 at Katwata, Lusaka, Zambia (POL Mi) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
After secondary school, Fr Sean entered the novitiate at Emo in October 1937 and after vows he progressed through the normal course or studies, viz. university in Dublin, philosophy in Tullabeg, regency in one or our colleges, theology in Milltown Park, Dublin where he was ordained in 1950. His final year of tertianship was in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

The first large batch of nine Jesuits had gone to Africa in 1950 and the African mission was in the air. So in 1952, Fr Sean departed for Northern Rhodesia to Chikuni where he began to learn the local language, CiTonga. After a year there he then worked for some time in Chivuna and Fumbo mission stations.

In 1955 at the request of Archbishop Adam, Fr Sean went north to Kabwe to Mpima Minor Seminary to teach for eleven years. During this time he was very active both teaching and being chaplain at St. Paul's secondary school some miles away. For nine months he was parish priest in a church in Kabwe and even lived at St .Paul's for some time.

1967 saw him back in Lusaka as archdiocesan coordinator for the Lay Apostolate, a post he held for a year. He was also asked to work on radio and TV in the absence of Fr E Milingo who was studying in Nairobi. From 1968 to 1975 he gave religious instruction in nine Government schools in the Lusaka area. He was then appointed fulltime Communications Secretary for the Archdiocese. This entailed a great deal of work giving basic training in radio, TV and journalism. He helped to produce 26 Sunday morning services and many shorter programs. This was really his last job in Zambia.

He returned to Ireland on health grounds for a year and a half. While convalescing his active mind was constantly enquiring about different courses which he might follow. He went to Tanzania in 1977 where he worked in the minor Seminary in Tabora for six and a half years. He became Vocations Promotor for the East African province for about twenty years. He traveled all over East Africa visiting schools and families of those aspiring to religious life, giving retreats and workshops, directing young men into seminaries and religious life. He retired from this work in 2004 as his health was failing and he returned to Ireland but on rallying, he returned to Nairobi. He died in Nairobi on 5 September 2006 at the age of 86. This is a broad outline of a long active life.

What of the man himself? He was a good letter writer to superiors keeping in touch with them in Zambia and elsewhere. In one of his letters he wrote: ‘It's not the teaching that counts but giving students your time, interest and energy’. This Fr .Sean lived throughout his long life with his contact with young men in minor seminaries, in government schools, in Christian Life Groups and in his vocation promoting work. While in Zambia, he edited for eleven years a magazine called "The Sun" for young people, finding material, advertisers, photos, prizes and himself editing all these materials. He was also very active in the Christian Life Groups and the Pioneer TTA movement.

Early on, he became involved in refereeing when he was asked by his superior in Mpima if he would help the referees in their work in Kabwe. He became chairman of the local branch of referees and became so involved with this work that later he was honorary secretary of the Referee Board of Zambia. For many years in Zambia he both refereed and trained referees. In 1972, an article of his appeared in the Mirror newspaper ‘Know the Soccer Laws’ and in the same year a 26 page booklet also appeared entitled, ‘How to be a Football Referee’. This was very successful with 4000 copies printed which the Daily Mail called the “the perfect referee's ‘Bible'”. It cost 9 ngwe in that year! He was most influential in this field of work as it dealt with youth. So much so that in November of 2004, he was awarded a certificate:

‘The Football Association of Zambia in recognition of your contribution to Zambian Football bestows the award of:
OUTSTANDING REFEREE to FATHER SEAN O'CONNOR’.

Communications was another love of his life, speaking and writing, radio and TV – all of which took a lot of his time. He completed communication courses in Dublin, Wisconsin (US) and elsewhere. He encouraged the youth to write wherever he was, for he considered this the apostolate of the printed word.

As with so many people who are active, always looking ahead, people in a hurry, details were often forgotten which caused misunderstandings with fellow workers. Still, in his letters he was always at pains to clear up any such misunderstandings. In spite of such a hectic life, he was always ready to give retreats.

Born: 22 October 1898, Saint Alphonsus Terrace, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 31 August 1916, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 20 May 1972, Coláiste Iognáid, Sea Road, Galway

Father was head accountant and secretary at WJ Shaw & Sons, Limerick. Mother died in December 1900

Only son with two sisters.

Educated initially at a Convent school for two years and then he went to at Crescent College SJ

by 1923 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1933 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 3 1972

St Ignatius College, Galway

Father Joseph O'Connor died in the Regional Hospital on the morning of Saturday, 20th May from a coronary attack. He had been in hospital for about six weeks. He had been a member of this Community since 1941, when he came here as Minister. Fourteen priests took part in the Concelebrated Mass on the day of his burial, Fr O'Keefe (Rector) being First Concelebrant, assisted by Fr Provincial and Fr McGrath, PP, and a very large number followed the remains to the graveside. May he rest in peace.

Obituary :

Fr Joseph O’Connor SJ

Father Joe O'Connor who died in Galway on 20th May was born in Limerick, in October 1898, and was educated at St. Philomena's Preparatory School and the Crescent College, Limerick. On August 31st, 1916 he entered the Society at Tullabeg, and at the end of his Noviceship went to Rathfarnham Castle for his University studies. Having taken his degree, he studied Philosophy for three years at Stonyhurst, and then went to Mungret College, where he taught for three years. Going to Milltown Park for Theology, he was ordained there in 1931. The following year he did his Tertianship in St. Beuno's, N Wales. Returning to Ireland in 1933 he spent three years as Higher Line Prefect in Clongowes, and was then appointed Rector of Mungret College. From Mungret he came to Coláiste lognáid, Galway in 1941 where he remained until his death in 1972. There he began a busy career, occupying the positions of Minister, Procurator, Prefect of the Church, and Director of the Bona Mors Confraternity. He continued as Pro curator, Operarius in the Church, and Director of the Bona Mors till 2 or 3 years before his death, when ill health forced him to retire. In 1942, due to his contacts with the people and the need he saw for it, he began the Nazareth Benevolent Fund and continued as its organiser till the time of his death, The aim of this fund was to assist those whose financial status had been reduced and who needed help. Through Flag Days and Xmas Raffles he raised sufficient money to keep the Fund going. By personal contact he had the gift of singling out those who stood in most need, and helped them over long periods. Besides that, he was Spiritual Director of the Ignatian Branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, for years, and came to know the very poor of the City, and was always ready and generous in helping them. Those in distress found in him a “friend in need”, one always ready to lend them a helping hand.
As Operarius in the Church, he was dedicated to his work over a period of 28 years. He wrote all his sermons in a neat hand, and preached them in a gracious way all his own, occasionally stepping back quietly but in an authoritative manner to emphasise some point. He had a fair knowledge of Irish, and read the Long Acts and the long prayer before Mass quite fluently. In his active years he quite frequently cycled to Calvary and Merlin Park Hospitals to visit patients whom he knew. Once, after a long absence, (through illness) he found the front wheel of his bicycle missing, and this put an end to his cycling career. This was 4 years ago.
At no time was his health very robust, but the first sign of serious illness came in the Spring of 1968 when he had a black-out after supper and was rushed by ambulance to the Regional Hospital. After a fairly long stay there he went to Milford House, Limerick, to recuperate. He seems to have never fully recovered from that attack, as he had to go away for treatment, on many occasions, during the last few years, and in the last year or more, one could see that he was a sick man. Even in his last years he sometimes took over, for a brief period, the office of Procurator, and helped in the Church,
His chief characteristics were, quietness, kindness, and gentleness combined with remarkable efficiency in all that he undertook. He was very interested in people and his knowledge of the Galway people extensive and, sometimes, very surprising. In his walks through the city he often stopped for a chat with one after another on his way. As a result he had numerous friends, and was very popular. When he was ill members of the community were frequently stopped in the street to be asked “How is Father Joe”. To many who had known him since the days of their childhood his death was in the nature of a personal loss. This was shown by the large number of Mass Cards and letters of sympathy that came to the house when the news of his death spread through the town. (One of these letters of sympathy was from the Mayor and Corporation of Galway City). It was also shown by the large number of mourners who followed his remains to the graveside to pay their last tribute to one they had esteemed and loved over so many years. His funeral was attended by priests from all houses of the Province and from the parishes of Galway. May he rest in peace!

Born: 12 April 1879, Parnell Square, Dublin
Entered: 05 January 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 27 July 1913, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1916, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 25 June 1958, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

Father was a wine merchant and Bacon maker, RIP 1892. He had eight sisters (three of whom were step-sisters, one step-sister deceased and two sisters deceased very young). Three brothers (one deceased in infancy). As father died intestate all children were made wards of chancery.

Originally required a dispensation for entry due to a finger malformation.

Early education at Belvedere College SJ & Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1902 at Pressburg Hungary (Bratlslava, Slovakia) (ASR) studying
by 1911 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ Irish Province News 33rd Year No 4 1958 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1959

Obituary :
Fr John M O'Connor (1879-1958)
The death of Fr. John Mary O'Connor has taken from us one of the heroic-sized figures of the Province. He was one around whom a legend was bound to grow. His emphatic way of speaking, his oft-repeated “Do you follow?”, his delight in purple ink, his championing of unusual causes, his infinite capacity for interviewing were all peculiarities that lent themselves to many a tale. Born in 1879, the youngest son of his father, Fr. John seems to have been his father's chosen companion in his childhood. Those were the exciting years of the Home Rule Party with Parnell at its head and Mr. O'Connor as Lord Mayor of Dublin playing his part in the politics of the day. Hence would seem to spring Fr. O'Connor's life-long interest in debating which he put to good use in Clongowes, Belvedere and University Hall. His parents lived on Parnell Square, or Rutland Square as it was then called, and sent him to school to Belvedere which was so close to home. However, it was found difficult to control the activities of John outside school and he was transferred to Clongowes to encourage him to study. There he remained till he passed the First Arts examination of the old Royal University, so that he did study even if his out-of-class activities grey greater than ever.
When he finally left Clongowes, he wished to join the Society but found two obstacles confronting him, he was a ward in Chancery and he had lost an index-finger. Ways and means were discovered for surmounting both these impediments and he entered the noviceship in 1898. At the end of his noviceship and juniorate in Tullabeg, he went to Pressburg for philosophy and then began his magisterium in Clongowes. After a few years as Line Prefect, he was sent to Belvedere where he spent the remaining years of his teaching. He studied theology first in Louvain, where Fr. General was then attending the University, and later in Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1913. His tertianship was made in Tullabeg and after it he went in 1915 to Clongowes as Higher Line Prefect. In 1921, he returned to Belvedere as Prefect of Games, a post he held until 1930 when he was appointed for the first time as Head of University Hall. He was made Rector of Belvedere in 1936 and when he had finished his term of office in 1942, he returned to University Hall. During this second period in the Hall, a nervous breakdown slowly developed from which he was never to fully recover. He spent a short time in Milltown Park before returning to Belvedere in 1947 to which house he was attached till his death in June, 1958.
As will be noted, Fr. O'Connor's work was for the most part with boys and adolescents for both of whom he possessed traits of character which gave him a marked ascendancy over them. His interest in sport and gifts as a trainer appealed to the athletic and his supreme conviction of the importance of everything he was doing attracted to him adolescents uncertain of themselves. There was, of course, much more than this to his influence over young people. Probably his greatest single asset was his interest in everybody. He could not pass a long railway journey, he could not stay for a short time in a hotel without falling into conversation with his neighbour and getting to know him. This was far from the countryman's spirit of inquisitiveness but marked a very genuine interest in his fellowmen. When boys and University students met him, it was a revelation to many of them that a priest could take the interest in them that Fr, O'Connor obviously did. Hence sprang their devotion to him and their habit of making him the confidant of their ambitions and disappointments. When University College Rugby Club required a trainer, they paid him a remarkable tribute by turning to him in their need and asking him to undertake the difficult task. Mr. Sarsfield Hogan's eulogy of him at a recent meeting of the L.B.I.R.F.U. is a fair indication of the success he made of it. The students had many a story to tell about him but there was no mockery behind the stories, they told them about one for whom they had the highest regard. The gold chalice presented to him when he became Rector of Belvedere was a touching tribute from so notoriously impecunious a body of young men.
Fr. O'Connor was not a person who liked to take his ease - those who went on villa with him often found to their dismay that he fitted a minor mission into tho holiday. Safety first was never his motto, nor is it a Jesuit motto. He undertook many things, some of which were a great success, others the reverse, but the balance was very much in his favour.
Probably his years in Clongowes would appear to many as the least successful, for apart from founding one of the Debating Societies as a Scholastic, he was responsible for no permanent change there. However his influence with the boys was beyond denial and their devotion to him then and afterwards.
His association with Belvedere was very long and Belvedere has much to thank him for. As & scholastic he founded the Rhetoric Debating Society in 1908 and organised the Swimming Gala so well that it was the chief event of the season of the Leinster Swimming World, he was also instrumental in having the Sports Ground at Jones's Road purchased. When he returned as a priest in 1921 he revived the Debating Society, set the College in the front ranks of the Leinster schools for Rugby and Cricket and just before his appointment to University Hall founded a commercial school. Then as Rector be galvanised into new life the Union, founded the Musical Society and got the Old Boys' Rugby Club admitted to Senior ranks, as one of his helpers amongst the Past said at the time rather ruefully, “Being an O.B, is a full-time occupation. nowadays”. No Old Belvederian was allowed to hide his light under a bushel, and heaven and earth was canvassed for the beatification of Dom Columba Marmion. As regards the school itself, he revived the study of German, inaugurated the Philosophy year, the annual mothers' meeting and the interviewing by the Rector of all boys in the final school-year. Even on his return to Belvedere in broken health, he showed he had lost none of his interest in the College. School matches had to be played over again. in his room and changes in the school order of time brought to his notice.
Some think that Fr. O'Connor's finest work was done in University Hall. It was certainly a most difficult assignment. He had to deal with some sixty young men with no great spirit of reverence and very resentful of any attempt to drive them. Yet in a remarkably short space of time, he had established over them an ascendancy which none would have expected. He attributed his success to the prayers he had offered up in so many convents for his charges. On the natural level, the transformation was due to his energetic interest in every aspect of student life. He put before them an ideal to which they promptly responded. They should be leaders in every department of student life. They should be on the College teams, they should be prominent in the Debating Societies and Honours men in the different University faculties. When the students saw that he believed in what he preached and that University Hall was no place for idlers, they came to realise that he had the right scale of values and adopted it themselves. There resulted that high regard for the Hall which still holds in College circles and that brilliant series of results obtained by Hall students which is not likely to be ever surpassed. Fr. O'Connor left the Hall a house of which University College and the Province itself might well be proud. The work Fr. O'Connor himself preferred was that of guiding souls, He was in constant demand by young men and women who wished for advice on the question of vocation. Moreover he never missed an opportunity of giving a retreat. He had not a very attractive style as a lecturer but retreatants forgot that once they had been to confession to him and experienced his great patience and devotion. His sympathy was genuine and souls in, distress were sure of a kindly hearing. The many nuns at his funeral in Gardiner St. reminded us that his constant labours for them were sincerely appreciated. When his crippling illness made it impossible for him to continue his apostolate of the spoken word he turned to that of the written word. His correspondence directed to the four quarters of the globe was voluminous. Old boys of Belvedere and Clongowes, past students of University Hall, Jesuits who had lived with him and were now continents away, former servants, people he had met on holidays, nuns turned to him in their trouble and were sure of an answer to any petition for help. Those who doubt the value of all this letter-writing should have heard the appreciative comments of the people to whom he wrote. When he grew very ill and was no longer able to write, letters were received from his correspondents saying how much they missed hearing from him.
Fr. O'Connor was a very good “Community man”. He enjoyed the give and take of Community life and a Community was happier for his presence. He was guide, philosopher and friend to many generations of scholastics and put at their disposal his great experience as Games master and President of Debates. When he was present, recreations were seldom dull, often uproarious and, for most of us, great fun. As was said at the beginning of this article, Fr. O'Connor is a fit subject for a legend, but if it is to reflect the truth in any way it must pay tribute to his essential kindliness, essential zeal, and his fidelity to the motto of every Jesuit-Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
There was nothing small about him and his reward must surely be correspondingly great.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Mary O'Connor 1879-1958
Fr John Mary O’Connor was one of those Jesuits around whom legends grow. His emphatic way of speaking, his oft-repeated :do you follow me?”, his delight in purple ink, his championing of unusual causes, his infinite capacity for interviewing, were all peculiarities that lent themselves to many a tale.

Born in Dublin in 1879 at Parnell Square, his father was an active Irish Party man and Lord Mayor of Dublin in his day. John was educated at Belvedere and Clongowes. When he wished to enter the Society, he had two obstacles in his way, he was a Ward in Chancery, and he had lost an index finger.. He loved to tell the story of how his mother took him to the Pope, Leo XIII, and personally got a dispensation from the Second impediment.

The two outstanding purple patches in his life as a Jesuit, besides the purple ink, were his period as First prefect in Clongowes, and secondly his reign as Rector in Belvedere. He had a rare gift of direction of young men and boys, and his prowess in the athletic field lent him no small influence with them. Some think that Fr O’Connor’s finest work was done at University Hall as Principal. It is certainly a most difficult assignment, and the fact that so notoriously impecunious a body as University students presented him with a gold chalice on his appointment to Belvedere as Rector, is no small tribute to his power of striking enthusiasm out of young men with no great spirit of reverence, and resentful of any attempt to drive them.

Fr O’Connor undertook many projects, some of which were a great success, others the reverse, but the balance was much in his favour. Safety first was never his motto.
However, his favourite work was the direction of souls, and when ill health prevented him from active work, he took to the pen, and purple ink, with even more energy than usual.
He was an excellent community man. Recreation was never dull in his presence. In a word, there was nothing small about John Mary O’Connor, and for his good heart alone and his sympathy, he surely went straight to heaven when he died on June 25th 1958.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1948

Editorial

Father John Mary O'Connor SJ

This year was to have seen the celebration of the Jubilee of a figure well known and well loved by many generations of Belvederians, Fr John O'Connor. Unfortunately, sickness has precluded the possibility of any functions so far, but we may not let this number of the Magazine pass without some mention of all that Belvedere owes to him.

The narrow limits of the Editorial page do not allow us to say all that rises to the mind at the mention of Fr O'Connor, but the mere reference to the many spheres in which he has won the indebtedness of many generations of Belvederians will recall to those concerned a long vista of devoted work, unfailing interest and ever-ready help.

We must content ourselves with but a few of the host of activities to which he lent his aid. Unknown now within our walls is a Commercial School : Fr O'Connor started one and ran it for some years before he left us for University Hall. Back numbers of the Annual illustrate the grave and worthy students. As Rector he sped upon its way the Old Belvedere Musical and Dramatic Society. Many had grave doubts as to the practical possibility of such a step - he had none. His trust and confidence have been amply justified. As Rector, too, he urged on the emergence of the Old Belvedere Rugby Football Club into Senior Ranks. He looked after them, trained them, and the record of seven years of success is linked up with his name, and influence. To his originality and initiative as Rector is due the grandly successful reorganisation of the College Union on its present Vocational basis, which has resulted in the renewed vitality, Apostolic enterprise and social development of that Body.

In former days the College Rugby Teams were weak owing to the small numbers from which they might be drawn. Nowadays, the selectors are not so straitened, but even before the College Roll numbered its present hundreds Fr O'Connor, by training and tactics, had won the Senior Schools' Cup, and by setting this high standard he raised the level of the College achievement to the position it has held with varying success ever since; but he was not alone a first class Rugby coach, for he promoted all the College games, Cricket, Swimming and Tennis at which he himself was a fine exponent.

Finally, not a few must thank him for his encouragement to the Debating Societies. Always a strong believer in their advantages for later life, he once staged a full dress Debate in the Preparatory School, while he followed and guided the proceedings of the Senior Societies with unfailing attention.

And so we might go on, but space forbids. These few lines take no account of what is most important - his work and influence as a Priest of God - his Apostolic care and guidance in the ways of God of countless people, both within and without the College precincts, but that we may leave to Him who alone can assess its magnitude and lasting worth. Brief and inadequate as these lines are to fill the Portrait of the man we speak of, they may suffice to arouse a host of grateful and multitudinous memories in those who worked with him. and under him. Providence was surely kind in sending him back to us in Belvedere in the year of his Jubilee. He is with us again, not only to recall his long and busy years at Belvedere but to assist us with his counsel and his wisdom in the Spiritual Welfare of the boys. We can only hope that in due course he may come back and resume for many years the valued place that is his amongst us.

◆ The Clongownian, 1959

Obituary

Father John M O’Connor SJ

After two years at Belvedere John O'Connor entered Clongowes at the age of twelve, his advance in studies thereafter being solid rather than spectacular and he is remembered as making his mark in debate and for his prowess as a tennis player. He entered the novitiate early in 1898 and returned as a Scholastic to take over the Lower Line from 1904 to 1906. But it is as Prefect of the Higher Line (1915-1921), subsequent to his Ordination in 1913, that his name will be linked with the school in a notable way for the impress made by his personality on its way of life and on the many boys committed to his charge. Always a man of decided views, which found ready utterance, and lofty ideals anent the upbringing of youth, he set himself from the start to mould the upright and useful citizen of the future and the leader, even, of his community. To be sure his ideas, as is the lot of pioneers, did not win too ready acceptance above or below, but “John M” (to his familiars) was never the man then or after to be lightly swayed from his chosen line of country, and it may be conceded that tact did not always coruscate in his galaxy of virtues, The Saturday Declamation, carefully planned and never omitted, was his instrument of uplift, and how effective it could be was proven when, one evening just before tea, the entire indoor staff staged a lightning strike. Almost unprompted the boys buckled to and served at table, washed up afterwards and for most of the week cheerfully per formed every chore about the house even to the sweeping of the galleries and classrooms! “Correctness” was at a premium but did not preclude high spirits, as witness the famous Hunt incident (too long to be told) with its aftermath of comedy and high tragedy. But perhaps it is as Rugby coach that Father O'Connor is best remembered and that not only for skills he imparted but also for his fostering of self-reliance, keenness and true sportsmanship, all of which paid ample dividends. Under him, tennis enjoyed a boom as never before, largely as a social asset for after life, while at the same time cricket was fully accorded its traditional pride of place as the Clongowes summer game. Always he looked ahead and was never niggardly of advice to his Higher Liners about the problems that awaited them - he even once (or was it oftener?) devoted a Declamation on how to make a proposal of marriage, blending the ingredients of tenderness and firmness in just proportion! Little wonder, then, that so many of his boys kept in touch with him in after years, indeed his was a voluminous correspondence to almost the end.

In 1931 he became for six years Principal. of University Hostel, Dublin, to which exacting post he returned immediately after his Rectorship of Belvedere (1937-43) for a further three as Principal, and on both establishments he left an abiding mark all his own.

Earnestness was, I think, the keynote of his character and of all he undertook, and yet he could be, and often was, the best of company and his, too, was the gift of truly Jovian laughter. Even during the illness that overtook him in the closing years of his life he was prodigal of himself and of his time to the many Old Boys of his who sought him out, as did his brother Jesuits, either for his kindly counsel, the warmth of his handclasp, or just to while away an agreeable hour or two - so prodigal indeed that he was seldom known to terminate a session of his own accord and clocks night chime and bells ring unheeded by his visitors, so stimulating was his talk.

He died peacefully in Dublin, on the 25th of June, 1958, in his 80th year, and in the press of mourners about his graveside, “revolving many memories”, there were surely not a few who felt their world to be the poorer for the passing of a personality so vital and so kind. May he rest in peace.

MG

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2002
Farewell Companions : Dermot S Harte
Fr John Mary O’Connor SJ

Amongst the Great Belvederians the name of John Mary O'Connor (”Mr. Belvedere”), must loom large! He was Rector during most of my schooldays and he became a cherished friend to me and to my family. Known as “Bloody Bill” to generations of boys who entered and exited the College portals, it was not unusual to see a wedding announcement that read, “The ceremony was conducted by Fr O'Connor SJ”.

A keen fly-fisherman, I revelled in his company on various lakes around Ireland where fish abounded and, occasionally, were known to have been caught. We fished Lough Conn one summer and the only trout that was caught on the day was caught by me. l really looked forward to a feast of nice plump brown trout. However, as I was returning to Dublin the following morning, I was directed to which house I was to deliver my catch. Even Haffner's sausages didn't quite make up for my loss, but like so many other events in life, I survived!

But he had one “vice” that really was a very small one! I am convinced that he really believed the quotation that “No Salvation exists outside Belvedere”. He would defend to the death the life of any Belvederian; he would find jobs for them where no jobs existed; he would extricate them from trouble when it was impossible to do so; he would bail them out in the event that they needed to be bailed; he would pacify their irate bank managers when this was necessary; he would marry them and bury them because he loved them all - and they in return loved him. He was an expert in pursuing with dogged determination any and all matters on their behalf if he were requested to do so, and was quite capable of harassing and hassling people until they did what he required. I often thought that his 'victims' might have done what he wanted simply to get him out of their hair! But he will always be remembered by generations as a dear, dear man.
In his always kindly mind he nominated various friends for various personal tasks but he did it with such style, diplomacy and grace that I don't suppose anyone ever said “No”.

In later years he nominated me as his personal chauffeur when he was returning to Dublin from his yearly retreat that usually took place in some remote part of the country. But he gave much more than he asked and our journeys from even the remotest parts were carefully organised by him well in advance! He would arrange lunch here, and tea there, and I must have got to know scores of nuns in Ireland! When Our Lady's Hospital in Drogheda was damaged by fire he summoned me to drive him to Co Louth so that he could offer his sympathy and help to his close friend, Mother Mary Martin. These were spectacularly happy and memorable times and I enjoyed every second.

But there is a story told about him and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid that I am assured is absolutely true! It seems that he was dining with John Charles when a slight argument developed as to which Order - the Holy Ghosts or the Jesuits - was greater in the sight of God. With no resolution in sight it was decided that a telegram must be immediately sent to Heaven. This was done and the reply was eagerly awaited. Sometime within the hour a telegram was delivered from God! It read, “There is absolutely no difference between the Holy Ghosts and the Jesuits. Signed: Jesus Christ, SJ”. As is said in all the best US law dramas, “I rest my case!”

I visited this remarkable and dear friend when I was home on leave sometime towards the end of the Fifties. His health was declining and he was confined to his room. For a man of such inexhaustible energy this would not have been easy. He was weak but he was fairly happy and when I left him he gave me a small crucifix. In 1958 he was called 'home' and I have no doubt that he is still sorting out other people's problems whilst maintaining that Belvederians are the Chosen People!

Who knows, he may be right!

Born: 14 October 1827, Tullyvin, County Cavan
Entered: 15 September 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - 1852, pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 06 July 1903, University College, Dublin

Education at Laragh Classical School, County Cavan; Diocesan Seminary County Cavan; St Patrick’s College Maynooth

1866 2nd year Novitiate at Galway
by 1867 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a priest of the Diocese of Kilmore. When he had completed his studies he was appointed President of St Patrick’s College, Cavan. Under his leadership he raised the status of the College as one of great efficiency. he endeared himself to his students by his courteous and friendly manner, whilst at the same time modelling the virtues necessary for Ministry.
After years of service to his Diocese he entered the Society of Jesus.

After First Vows he was immediately appointed Rector at Galway, and later Rector at Crescent, Limerick.
As a Missioner, he became known and revered in many parishes in Ireland.
He continued to be held in high regard by the Priests of Kilmore, even after he entered the Society. When the Bishop Dr Finnegan died, as names of a possible successor were sought from the Priests of the Diocese, many voted for Philip O’Connell, eve though they knew he was precluded from Ecclesiastical Office by his membership of the Society of Jesus. He was mourned greatly by the Priests of Kilmore and the Society, many of those Kilmore Priests had been students of his at St Patrick’s.
(Text taken from an obituary which appeared in “The Nation”)

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Philip O’Connell (1827-1903)

Was a secular priest of Kilmore diocese when he entered the Society in 1864. After his ordination at Maynooth, he had been appointed to the staff of St Patrick's College, Cavan where he eventually became President. His obituary notice in “The Nation” states that “during his tenure of that office, he raised the College to a high state of efficiency”. His first association with the Crescent was from 1869 to 1870 when he was a member of the teaching staff. He returned to Limerick in 1872 as member of the mission staff and remained here until 1876. Appointed rector of the Crescent in 1882 he remained in office until 1885 when he resumed his mission work. During the years 1885 to 1896 he was stationed variously at Clongowes, Milltown Park and Tullabeg. He was appointed rector of St Ignatius', Galway in 1896 and remained there until 1900 when he returned for another year to work at Sacred Heart Church. He was a member of the community at University College and attached to University Church at the time of his death. Whether as missioner or retreat director, Father O'Connell was one of the most respected priests of his day. The obituary notice in “The Nation” says of him: “As a missioner, he was known and revered in many parishes of Ireland; and from many a peasant homestead will arise a prayer to God for the repose of his soul. Among his brother priests of the diocese of Kilmore, he was held in special veneration. This feeling found expression when, on the death of the late Dr. Finnegan, the names of those from whom the priests of the diocese judged his successor should be selected were submitted to the Holy See. Many of his old colleagues and friends voted for Father O'Connell, though it was known that his obligations precluded him from accepting ecclesiastical dignities”.

Born: 07 September 1920, Iveragh, Athenry, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 08 September 1951, Heythrop College, Oxford, England
Final Vows: 02 February 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 11 February 1997, St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin

Part of the Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin community at the time of death.

Father was an Inspector of National Schools, and this meant changing address many times, living in Cork and Waterford before living at Iona Road, Glasnevin, Dublin.

Eldest of two sisters and one brother.

Early education was with the Sisters of Charity Convent in Waterford, then at CBC Cork and then PBC Cork. On moving to Dublin he went toBelvedere College SJ for two years.

by 1949 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying
by 1963 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1972 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 92 : August 1996

Obituary

Fr Patrick (Paddy) O’Connell (1920-1997)

7th Sept. 1920: Born in Galway.
Early education: Presentation Brothers, Cork and Belvedere College
7th Sept. 1938: Entered the Society at Emo
1940 - 1944: Rathfarnham, studied Classics at UCD
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg, studied Philosophy
1947 - 1948: Belvedere College, Regency
1948 - 1952: Heythrop College, studied Theology
8th Sept. 1951: Ordained at Heythrop College
1952 - 1953: Rathfarnham, Tertianship
1953 - 1955: Gonzaga College, teaching
1955 - 1961: Milltown Park, teaching Dogma and Church History
1961 - 1963: Rome, Oriental Inst., Study : Oriental Church History
1963 - 1967; Milltown Park, Prof. Fundamental Theology
1967 - 1970: Rome, Gregorian - (Apr - Oct)
1970 - 1971: Sabbatical year
1971 - 1972: Milltown Park (Sem 1), Rome (Sem 2)
1973 - 1974: Rome: Dean, Faculty of Oriental Theology and Superior of the Community
1974 - 1984: Leeson St. - Editor of “Studies”
1984 - 1997: Manresa: Curate, St. Gabriel's Parish

Fr. Paddy O'Connell was born in Galway on the 7th September 1920. His father, who was from Kerry, was a school inspector. He began his schooling with the Presentation Brothers, Cork and finished in Belvedere College. In 1938 on his eighteenth birthday he joined the Jesuits. After two years noviceship in Emo, near Portarlington, his long years of study began. Four years at UCD obtaining an MA in Latin and Greek, three years philosophy in Rahan, Co. Offaly and four years theology in England where he was ordained in 1951. In the early sixties he obtained a doctorate in Theology in Rome.

Fr. Paddy was at home among books of all kinds, but they were not his only love. He was keen on sport and current affairs. He was very much himself in the company of young people; what interested them interested him. For a number of years while teaching theology in Milltown Park he was the rugby trainer of Presentation College, Bray. Apart from teaching in the Milltown Institute, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Theology, he also taught briefly in Belvedere and Gonzaga in Dublin and at the Oriental Institute in Rome where he was Rector in 1973-74. In the ten years before coming to St. Gabriel's he was editor of the Jesuit Review Studies. Up until recently he acted as censor of several Jesuit magazines. He learned to read quickly!

When Fr. Paddy was appointed to St. Gabriel's he lived for a while in Manresa before he had a house in the parish. However, he always remained a member of the Manresa community and had his dinner there a few days a week.

Of all the jobs he had as a priest the one that made him happiest was his time in St. Gabriel's. There is no giving without receiving. As he gave himself tirelessly to young and old, Fr. Paddy received encouragement and support for his life as a Jesuit priest. His Jesuit brothers wish to thank all of you in the parish who helped him find happiness in serving in the parish in his final twelve years.

His younger brother John was priest of the Dublin diocese and died ten years ago while parish priest of Brackenstown. Fr. Paddy is survived by his sisters, Nora in England and Maureen in Canada, and his many nieces and nephews and their families.

Ar dheis Dé ar a anam.

Charlie Davy

-oOo-

It is not a case of what can one say about Fr. O'Connell, rather one wonders what can one leave out when writing about him. He was such a “Complete Human Being” in every sense of the word and a wonderful Priest. He truly lived his vocation and gave 200% all of the time, never thinking of himself.

Academically he had reached great heights yet he was a very humble man. He loved his work in this parish and he loved the people and was always concerned for them. He took unto himself a lot of the worries and problems of those he served.

There was another side to Fr. O'Connnell. Yes he always had a smile and a greeting whenever he met you, he was most gracious. Then he would start joking and pulling the leg and all in good fun; he was the best of company. One of his favourite television programmes was Taggart, and when Taggart actor Mark McManus died, Fr. O'Connell celebrated a Mass for him. This was his way of saying “Thank You” for the hours of pleasure and relaxation he had received.

There are so many wonderful memories of Fr. O'Connell, but the one I will hold onto is seeing him on a sunny morning sitting on the concrete parapet under the portico outside the sacristy, the jacket open, a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other and delighted to chat to anyone who happened to come along.

We have lost a good friend and a wonderful character but as followers of Christ we must rejoice for him now and thank the good Lord for giving us the privilege of knowing him. He died on the feast of our Lady of Lourdes. May he rest in peace.

Focus 2000 Group

-oOo-

Fr. Paddy has been our much loved Spiritual Director almost since he came to the Parish more than 12 years ago. During all that time members of the branch and all parishioners who wished to attend, had the spiritual benefit of the Mass which he offered and a short talk before the monthly meetings he attended.

At the monthly meetings we had the benefit of his advice, encouragement and help in the recruitment of new members for whom he was always on the look-out, all of which has helped to ensure that our branch remains vibrant.

Over the years he arranged a number of Sunday "Afternoons of Prayer" at the Little Sisters of the Poor Church in Sybil Hill and in the Parish Church. His care for the problems of members, especially sick members, was much appreciated.

Ar dheis De go raibh a ainm dilis.

St. Joseph's Young Priest Society

-oOo-

For several years now Fr. O'Connell has been holding a Bible Class on Tuesday nights and all who attended feel so privileged to have participated.
The members of this group wish to acknowledge the tremendous amount of work and preparation he put into it each week and how much we have all learned. It was all very informal but he made all
the readings come to life for us.

Not only will we miss our Bible studies but we will miss the grand finale of each session when he celebrated Mass for us and then provided a couple of large pavlovas with the tea!

Bible Study Group

-oOo-

The people of Dollymount Grove are grieving the loss of a Neighbour and Friend as well as their priest. Fr. O'Connell was a familiar sight driving in and out, doing a wide U-turn to park in his usual spot, and God help anyone who got in the way! He was always ready to stop for à chat and knew everyone he met, down to their dislikes and failings, which he worked on to his advantage. But he also knew their good points and never missed an opportunity to offer praise and encouragement.

He was keen on gardening - especially watching other people - and was always quick to point out the weeds. He loved children and they returned his affection. He could not pass the boys playing football on the road without joining in, and indeed sadly he was seen out with then just a few short weeks ago.

Fr. O'Connell was welcomed in every house and brought consolation and comfort to the elderly and the lonely. He was new to parish work when he came to St. Gabriel's in 1983 and frequently became distressed after being with people in their last hours. He never lost this emotion and could empathise with those in grief and sorrow. But he did not dwell on sadness for long and used his ability and will to force a smile and lift a heart in even the darkest situations

Auaimhneas siorai ar a anam uasal.

Dollymount Grove

-oOo-

Fr. O'Connell was one of us yet he was also a man apart. His deep knowledge of theology was coupled with a childlike innocence of expression. He brought the comfort of Christ to many, particularly those he visited at home. His rare gift of heart-warming laughter brightened our days.

No trained journalist could have lowered barriers of reserve more quickly. He became both friend and pastor. When our family suffered a bereavement Fr. O'Connell suffered too. Yet he made us aware that death is a new beginning, that there is joy in Heaven, Fr. O'Connell was the epitome of Christianity. He was Christlike.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

A Personal Tribute

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1997

Obituary

Father Patrick O’Connell SJ (OB 1938)

Paddy O'Connell arrived in Belvedere in September 1938 [1936]. He had just finished his Inter Cert in another school, and joined us with the reputation of what we schoolboys called a “swot”. This meant that he would spend most of his time with his head in the books, and would consequently be somewhat anti-social. It was not long before we discovered how wrong we were. In no time he had got involved in all the extra-curricular activities, such as the Debating Society, the St Vincent de Paul Society, the Mission Society, and, of course, the rugby. He even made an abortive attempt to start a chess club. In about one month he must have learned the names of every boy in the school and he was so involved that one could have got the impression that he was a Belvederian of long standing. It was well known that he was a great reader and that he borrowed books from a number of city libraries. This fact tempted one of the boys to ask, “Paddy, is it true that you read four books before breakfast every morning?” With that O'Connell glint in the eye that we all came to know so well as time passed, he replied, “No. It is not true. I can only manage to read three”. I was told that on another occasion, when the same question was asked, Paddy replied, “Did you say read or write?” We all grew to like him as time passed, and when he pushed Gerry Victory into second place in his first house exam, we all believed that Paddy had achieved the impossible.

He was a lover of sport, and while rugby was new to him, he threw himself into the game with a gusto that was well-intentioned if some what lacking in finesse. He was a danger in the lineout, for as a schoolboy, he was a big boned second row forward, all elbows and knees, and one of his own team was just as likely to get a black eye as was one of the opponents. Coming off the field in Roscrea, I asked Seamus Henry, who was to captain the Senior team that won the Cup that year, what he thought of Paddy's performance in the lineout. He replied, briefly but tellingly, “Very effective, if somewhat unusual”. He carried his love of rugby right through his life and coached many school teams, even when much involved in the academic life later on. Although gifted in many ways, he had no musical ability, even if he had a great love for it. He never made the school opera, but displayed a knowledge of Gilbert and Sullivan lore that put us budding thespians to shame.

In September 1938, six Belvederians arrived in the Jesuit novitiate in Emo, with two or more of our year to follow at a later date. It was like Belvedere being moved to the midlands. At school, Paddy had distinguished himself in Fr Charlie Byrne's Latin and Greek classes. We were not surprised when the Master of Novices asked Paddy to help some of the other novices whose training in the classics had been some what limited. During our time in Emo, Paddy told me that he envied his brother, John, who was a student in Clonliffe College and who eventually became a priest in the Dublin dioceşes. John would have ample scope to do what Paddy called “specifically priestly work” in a parish, while he, as a Jesuit, might have limited opportunities to do so. During the last assignment of his life, his hopes of doing this type of pastoral work were granted.

As a Jesuit, he held many important positions. His love of books made him an automatic choice for the post of Librarian in Jesuit communities. He was the editor of the Jesuit quarterly, Studies, and lectured in Milltown Park and Heythrop College, the Irish and English Jesuit theologates. While resident in Dublin, between his many postings abroad, he was of immense help to the victims of alcoholism. His final assignment outside the country saw him occupy the position of Rector of the Oriental Institute in Rome.

His love of rugby brought him into contact with many schools, some run by Jesuits and some by other orders. While engaged in the study of theology at Heythrop before ordination, he did a little bit of coaching in his spare time, and even turned out and played with the local club, a thing that would not have been tolerated in Ireland at the time. But in spite of these contacts, he never lost his love for Belvedere. During the last decade of his life, when he was a curate in the parish of St Gabriel, Dollymount, he came in contact with many of his past pupils who lived in the area. They still regarded him as their old master and were grateful that he was always available to listen to their problems and rejoice in their successes. These were the happiest years of his life and the close proximity of his fellow Jesuits in Manresa House was a special bonus that added much to that happiness.

Paddy was always an optimist, and when I visited him in hospital three days before his death, he assured me that he would be back working in the parish in about two weeks. But that was not to be. His death came as a great shock to his many friends, and to the parishioners of St Gabriel's. One of them, Raymond O’Driscoll, penned a tribute to him in verse, two lines. of which I will quote, for they epitomise the Paddy we all knew so well, and now so sadly miss. May he rest in peace.

"For thirteen years he served us; his labours never ceased,
A humble man, a learned man, a dedicated priest.”

KAL SJ

Born: 19 February 1923, Mill Street, Westport, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1942, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1959, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 18 October 2004, Crossna, County Roscommon - Nazareth House, Sligo - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid Galway community at the time of death.

Father was an agricultural instructor.

One older sister.

Early education at the Christian Brothers school in Westport for seven years he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Denis O'Connell (known to all as 'Dinny') was born in Westport, Co Mayo. After primary school, he went to Clongowes Wood College, run by the Jesuits, until he finished his secondary education. The attraction to religious life was already there for he went to the Cistercians for a short time but turned back to the Jesuits he knew from school, and entered the novitiate at Emo Park in 1942. He followed the normal course of studies of university, philosophy, regency at Belvedere and on to theology at Milltown Park Dublin, where he was ordained priest on 31st July 1956.

He came out to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1958 and went to Chikuni to learn CiTonga, the language of the people. After a year at Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College he came to Monze (1962/63) where he worked in the parish. Pastoral work was to be his vocation for the rest of his life. A big step from here took him to the large urban parish of St Ignatius in Lusaka where he worked for six years (1964–1970). Nakambala on the Sugar Estate in Mazabuka held Dinny for eight years, again working with the people.

During that time he oversaw the building of Christ the King church, the second church on the estate along with St Paul's.
After thirty years of fruitful, patient work in Zambia, he returned to Ireland to continue his pastoral work, first in the archdiocese of Dublin for three years and then in the west at Clarinbridge and Lisdoonvarna in the diocese of Galway where he did pastoral work and chaplaincy. After nine years at this he went north to Sligo to Nazareth House as assistant hospital chaplain. He returned to Galway from Sligo on the 18 October 2004, staying with a priest friend at Crossna, Co Roscommon on the way, but died peacefully in his sleep while staying there.

These are the facts of Dinny's life, a pastoral priest at all times. What of the man himself? Outwardly he was a very laid-back person, easy going in the sense that very little disturbed him much. Always associated with him was his pipe and his hand basket in which he carried the essentials for his pastoral work as he moved around. The pipe brings to mind a story about him while he was on a sabbatical in the United States. A quiet evening smoke in the room where he was a guest activated the sprinklers in the ceiling and drenched the room.

As a pastoral worker and chaplain, he was most faithful to the work at hand, proceeding quietly and with no fuss, almost unnoticed. He had an easy way of talking to the elders, putting them at their ease, whether visiting their homes or attending at their bedside in hospital. He loved to walk on his own by the sea if it was nearby or along a river bank and for him this was also a time of prayer. He loved a good chat with friends once he had the pipe lit and glowing.

He was not adverse to recounting stories or events about himself. One that springs to mind is the time when he was traveling to Lusaka with a Jesuit colleague, a colleague who would quickly speak of spiritual matters. ‘Dinny’, the colleague said, ‘I admire you’. ‘Huh! why's that?’ said Dinny. ‘Well’ was the reply ‘you are a man of few talents but you use them to the best of your ability’. Dinny's talent was the quiet, unobtrusive ability to get his pastoral or chaplaincy work done and his easy manner with people.

Before he died, Dinny donated his body to the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway for medical research. After the evening service in St Ignatius Church, the body was taken away so that at the Mass for Dinny on the following morning in Dublin, his body was not present.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 123 : Special Issue February 2005

Obituary

Fr Denis (Dinny) O’Connell (1923-2004) : Zambia Malawi Province

Feb. 19th 1923: Born in Westport, Co. Mayo
Early education at CBS, Westport, and Clongowes Wood College
Sept. 7th 1942: Entered the Society at Emo Park
Sept. 8th 1944: First Vows
1944 - 1947: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1947 - 1950: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1950 - 1953: Belvedere College - Teacher
1953 - 1957: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
July 31st 1956: Ordained at Milltown Park
1957 - 1958: Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1958 - 1959: Chikuni - Studying local language; Spiritual Director
Feb. 2nd 1959: Final Vows at Chikuni Mission
1959 - 1960: Teacher Training College Chisekesi – Teacher; Spiritual Director
1960 - 1963: Sacred Heart, Monze - Prefect of Church
1963 - 1964: Sacred Heart, Monze - Mission Bursar; Prefect of Church
1964 - 1970: St. Ignatius Church Lusaka, - parish priest
Dec. 31st 1969: Transcribed to Zambia / Malawi Province
1970 - 1971: Chikuni, Canisius community - studying Chitonga
1971 - 1973: St. Mary's, Monze, - parish priest, minister
1973 - 1974: Chikuni, Canisius community - PP Fumbo
1974 - 1975: Ireland
1975 - 1980: Mazabuka, Nakambala- assistant PP
1980 - 1983: Mazabuka, Nakambala- superior, PP
1983 - 1984: Toronto-sabbatical
1984 - 1987: Kalomo - PP
1987 - 1988: Loyola House, Dublin - pastoral work
1988 - 1990: Arklow, Co Wicklow - pastoral work
1990 - 1991: Galway - pastoral work in Galway Archd.
1991 - 1993: Lisdoonvarna, Stella Maris Convent chaplain
1993 - 1999: Galway - assistant director of Mission Office.
1999 - 2003: Sligo, Nazareth House -asst. hosp. chaplain
2003 - 2004: Galway - Assist in church
Oct. 18th 2004: Died in Co. Roscommon

On October 9th Denis left Galway to visit friends in Sligo. He planned to be away for about a week. On Monday 18th he left a message for John O'Keeffe to say that he was with friends near Lough Key and that he planned to return to Galway on Wednesday 20th. On the evening of the 18th a message was received in Galway from the PP of Crossna, Co. Roscommon, to say that Denis did not come to tea as expected and that on going to his room he found him dead. He had gone to take a siesta.

Tom McGivern writes in the ZAM Province News Oct. 2004:

Dennis O'Connell (known to all as “Dinny”) was born in the west of Ireland, in Westport, County Mayo, on 19 February 1923. After primary school, he went to Clongowes Wood College run by the Jesuits, until he finished his secondary education. After school he tried a vocation with the Cistercians for a short time but turned back to the Jesuits whom he knew from school....He came out to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1958 to Chikuni where he studied Chitonga. After a year at Charles Lwanga Teachers' Training College, he went to Monze (1962-63) where he worked in the parish. Pastoral work was to be his vocation for the rest of his life. From Monze he took a big step to the large urban parish of St. Ignatius in Lusaka where he was parish priest for six years (1964-1970).

After Lusaka he moved again to the South where he worked for a while out of Chikuni and later in Monze. Then, for eight years (1975-1983) he worked at Nakambala in Mazabuka. During that time he oversaw the building of Christ the King church, the second church on the Sugar Estate after St. Paul's. His final years in Zambia were spent as parish priest in Kalomo (1984-1987). After thirty years of fruitful, patient work in Zambia, he returned to Ireland to continue his pastoral work. First he worked in the Archdiocese of Dublin for three years and then went to the West to the Diocese of Galway. There he did pastoral work and chaplaincy in Clarinbridge and Lisdoonvarna. After nine years at this he moved north to Sligo to Nazareth House as assistant hospital chaplain. In the latter part of last year he moved back to the Jesuit community in Galway where he was assisting in the church. Returning to Galway from a visit to Sligo on 18 October, he stayed with a priest friend at Crossna, County Roscommon. He died peacefully in his sleep while staying there.

These are the facts of Dinny's life. What of the man himself? Outwardly, he was a very laid-back person, easy going in the sense that very little disturbed him much. Always associated with him was his pipe and his hand basket in which he carried the essentials for his pastoral work as he moved around. The pipe brings to mind a story about him while he was on his sabbatical in the States. A quiet evening smoke in his room above the Downtown Chapel in Portland, Oregon, where he was a guest, activated the smoke detector in the ceiling and set off the sprinkler system, drenching the room.
As a pastoral worker and chaplain, he was most faithful to the work at hand, quietly, no fuss, almost unnoticed. He had an easy way of talking with elders, putting them at their ease, whether visiting their homes or attending their bedside in hospital. He loved to walk on his own by the sea or along a river bank. For him it was a time of prayer. He loved a good chat with friends once he had the pipe lit and glowing.

He was not adverse to recounting stories about himself. One that springs to mind was a time when he was traveling to Lusaka with a Jesuit companion, a companion who would quickly speak of spiritual matters. “Dinny”, the Jesuit said, “I admire you”. “Huh! Why's that?” asked Dinny. “Well”, was the reply. “You are a man of few talents, but you use them to the best of your ability!”
Dinny's talent was his easy, welcoming manner with people and his quiet, unobtrusive pastoral ability.

◆ The Clongownian, 2005

Obituary

Father Denis O’Connell SJ

On October 9th Denis left Galway to visit friends in Sligo. He planned to be away for about a week. On Monday 18th he left a message for John O'Keeffe to say that he was with friends near Lough Key and that he planned to return to Galway on Wednesday 20th. On the evening of the 18th a message was received in Galway from the PP of Crossna, Co Roscommon, to say that Denis did not come to tea as expected and that on going to his room he found him dead. He had gone to take a siesta.

Dennis O'Connell (known to all as “Dinny”) was born in the west of Ireland, in Westport, County Mayo, on 19 February 1923. After primary school, he went to Clongowes Wood College run by the Jesuits, until he finished his secondary education. After school he tried a vocation with the Cistercians for a short time but turned back to the Jesuits whom he knew from school. He came out to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1958 to Chikuni where he studied Chitonga. After a year at Charles Lwanga Teachers Training College, he went to Monze (1962-63). where he worked in the parish. Pastoral work was to be his vocation for the rest of his life. From Monze he took a big step to the large urban parish of St Ignatius in Lusaka where he was parish priest for six years (1964-1970).

After Lusaka he moved again to the South where he worked for a while out of Chikuni and later in Monze. Then, for eight years (1975-1983) he worked at Nakambala in Mazabuka. During that time he oversaw the building of Christ the King church, the second church on the Sugar Estate after St Paul's. His final years in Zambia were spent as parish priest in Kalomo (1984-1987). After thirty years of fruitful, patient work in Zambia, he returned to Ireland to continue his pastoral work. First he worked in the Archdiocese of Dublin for three years and then went to the West to the Diocese of Galway. There he did pastoral work and chaplaincy in Clarinbridge and Lisdoonvarna. After nine years at this he moved north to Sligo to Nazareth House as assistant hospital chaplain. In the latter part of last year he moved back to the Jesuit community in Galway where he was assisting in the church. Returning to Galway from a visit to Sligo on 18 October, he stayed with a priest friend at Crossna, County Roscommon. He died peacefully in his sleep while staying there.

These are the facts of Dinny's life. What of the man himself? Outwardly, he was a very laid-back person; easy going in the sense that very little disturbed him much. Always associated with him were his pipe and his hand basket in which he carried the essentials for his pastoral work as he moved around. The pipe brings to mind a story about him while he was on his sabbatical in the States. A quiet evening smoke in his room above the Downtown Chapel in Portland, Oregon, where he was a guest, activated the smoke detector in the ceiling and sec off the sprinkler system, drenching the room.

As a pastoral worker and chaplain, he was most faithful to the work at hand, quietly, no fuss, almost unnoticed. He had an easy way of talking with elders, putting them at their ease, whether visiting their homes or attending their bedside in hospital. He loved to walk on his own by the sea or along a riverbank. For him it was a time of prayer. He loved a good chat with friends once he had the pipe lit and glowing. Dinny's talent was · his easy, welcoming manner with people and his quiet, unobtrusive pastoral ability.

TMCG

Born: 25 July 1896, Clifton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Entered: 08 September 1913, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1932
Died: 14 October 1982, Borgo Santo Spirito, Rome, Italy

Transcribed : HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

Father was a Surveyor in Custons & Excise and died in 1913. His mother died in 1907. After parents death his father had appointed his uncle D O’Connell of Eccles Street, Dublin and aunt Miss J Kelly as guardians.

Eldest of one sister and two brothers.

Early education initially and a private school and a convent school in London, he was sent to St Aloysius College, Hornsey Lane, Highgate, London for two years. In 1907-1908 he received private tuition in Leicester. He then got an Entrance Scholarship to St Flannan’s College in Ennis. In 1911 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1921 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1924 in Australia - Regency

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
O'Connell, Daniel Joseph Kelly (1896–1982)
by Nick Lomb
Nick Lomb, 'O'Connell, Daniel Joseph Kelly (1896–1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oconnell-daniel-joseph-kelly-15389/text26596, published first in hardcopy 2012

astronomer; Catholic priest; seismologist

Died : 14 October 1982, Rome, Italy

Daniel Joseph Kelly O’Connell (1896-1982), Jesuit priest, astronomer and seismologist, was born on 25 July 1896 at Rugby, England, one of four children of Irish-born Daniel O’Connell (d.1905), Inland Revenue officer, and his English wife Rosa Susannah Helena, née Kelly (d.1907). Soon after the death of his mother, Daniel was sent to Clongowes Wood College, Dublin. At 17 he joined the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg and in 1915 entered his juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle. He majored in experimental physics and mathematics at University College, Dublin (B.Sc., 1919; M.Sc., 1920; D.Sc., 1949, National University of Ireland). Subsequently he studied philosophy at St Ignatius’ College, Valkenburg, the Netherlands, where he began watching variable stars, especially eclipsing binaries that were to become the main focus of his astronomical research.

O’Connell planned to attend the University of Cambridge but, due to a lung condition, he was advised to leave Britain. In 1922 he arrived at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Sydney; he did his regency, taught physics and the next year became assistant-director at the college’s observatory. He returned to Ireland in 1926 to complete his theological studies at Milltown Park, Dublin. Ordained on 31 July 1928, he undertook his tertianship at St Bueno’s College, Wales. In 1931 he travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, to study at the Harvard College Observatory with Harlow Shapley.

Back at Riverview Observatory in 1933, O’Connell became director in 1938. At the observatory his research included seismology and the measurement of time with various kinds of clocks, as well as astronomy in the field of variable stars using the newly developed technique of photographic photometry. In 1935 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales; he served on the RSNSW council (1946-49) and as vice-president (1950-52), and became an honorary member in 1953. He was chairman from 1946 of the board of visitors of Sydney Observatory. One of the friendships he established while in Australia was with (Sir) Richard Woolley, director of Mount Stromlo Observatory. O’Connell presented radio talks, including a series of three titled ‘According to Hoyle’ on the Australian Broadcasting Commission station 2BL-2NC in March and April 1952.

That year O’Connell was called to Rome as director of the Vatican Observatory. On 26 July he left Australia, arriving in time for the Rome meeting of the International Astronomical Union. He continued his work on eclipsing binary stars, again using photoelectric photometry. A leading expert in the field, he was president (1955-61) of the commission on photometric double stars of the IAU. He published The Green Flash and Other Low Sun Phenomena (1958), which included colour photographs proving that the phenomenon, sometimes seen at sunrise or sunset, was real and not subjective.

At the Vatican Observatory O’Connell built up the staff and installed a 60/90-cm Schmidt telescope that became the observatory’s largest instrument. As objective prisms were available, the telescope was used for spectroscopy. With leading scientists he organised two study weeks—one on stellar populations in 1957 and another on nuclei of galaxies in 1970—and published the proceedings. He had personal friendships with three popes, especially Pope Pius XII. In 1970 he retired from his observatory post but continued as president (1968-72) of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

O’Connell died on 14 October 1982 at the headquarters of the Society of Jesus in Rome. He is remembered mainly for his work on eclipsing binary stars and the ‘O’Connell effect’ that relates to the rotation of the major axis of the elliptical orbit of a double star.

Select Bibliography
D. Strong, The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-1998 (1999)
Irish Astronomical Journal, vol 15, no 4, 1982, p 347
D. O’Connell personal file (Society of Jesus, Australian Province Archives, Melbourne)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Daniel O'Connell's secondary education was at Clongowes College, Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, Ireland, 8 September 1913, and juniorate followed at Rathfarnham, 1915-20. He received his diploma in experimental physics and a Master of Science in mathematics at the University of Dublin, and later a doctorate in science from the Irish National University At this time he came under the influence of William O'Leary, the Irish Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, who at that time was director of Rathfarnham Castle Observatory in Dublin.
O’Connell then studied philosophy at Valkenburg, 1920-22, and did further tertiary studies in science, gaining first class honours in most subjects. It was while in Holland that he also pursued spare time astronomical studies under world famous Jesuit scientists like Michael Esch, expert on variable stars, Xavier Kugler, world authority on Assyriology and Babylonian astronomy; and Theodor Wulf world ranking physicist.
Regency followed as assistant director of the Riverview observatory, 1922-26, as well as physics master and second division prefect. At this time he undertook to advance the local study of solar radiation.
He went to theology at Milltown Park, Dublin 1926-29, and to tertianship at St Beuno's, Wales.
O'Connell studied from 1931-33 at Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was subsequently to have studied with the famous Sir Arthur Eddington. However, because of a lung condition, he returned to Australia, and then worked first as assistant director and later as director of the Riverview observatory 1933-52. Then he was appointed moderator of the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, Rome, 1953-70. He lived in the Jesuit Curia, Rome, and from 1974 was due president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
During the years that O'Connell was at Harvard, the observatory was at the centre of major developments in astronomical research and especially those that were to lead within
the next few decades to the notion of the expanding universe of galaxies. He was thus associated with such eminent astronomers as Harlow Shapley, Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin, and others. His principal occupation at Harvard, and a pursuit which continued for the rest of his life, was the study of variable stars; but he also became known as a keen card player, especially bridge.
On his way back to Australia he visited Mount Wilson and Lick observatories in California, and then went to Japan, China, Java and the Philippines, where he visited leading observatories and advanced his practical studies.
While at the Riverview Observatory, working under William O'Leary, and in addition to his study of variable stars, he developed a keen interest in seismology and in the measurement of time with various types of clocks. This latter focus led him into a lifelong interest in the calendar and calendar reform, a study that served him well in later decades since he was asked to advise popes on both calendar reform and the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts.
In 1935 he initiated the “Riverview Observatory Publications” which enjoyed international reputation. Later, he founded the “Reprint Series” and the “Geophysical Papers” that became also well known. In the field of astronomy, O'Connell worked on eclipsing stars and Cepheid variables For the latter he used photo-electric equipment. About 15 ,000 plates on variable stars were on file at the observatory.
In the field of seismology the observatory's programme included the regional study of earthquake waves and the relationship between earthquake waves and the interior of the earth
During World War II, O'Connell collaborated with the United States government in the location of earthquakes in the Pacific zone in relation to war strategy. This work continued after the war. Each week a cabled report was sent to the United States from Riverview. The Imperial War Graves Commission also consulted him concerning possible earthquake damage to war cemetery sites in the Pacific area.
In his role as director of the Vatican Observatory, he began a career of unique service to the Church that spanned the reign of three popes, and saw immense developments in astronomical research from the initial concept of various stellar populations to an expanding universe containing active galactic nuclei and quasars. On a few occasions he organised study weeks of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, at which these subjects were discussed, e.g. Stellar Populations in 1957, and Nuclei of Galaxies in 1970. As a result of these study weeks, two books were published, both edited by O'Connell, and they became classics of astronomical literature. From 1955-61 he was president of the Commission on Double Stars of the International Astronomical Union.
Of his many contacts with popes he served, his relationship with Pius XII was especially close. He frequently advised the Pope, himself a very keen and diligent student of the natural sciences, on topics of current scientific research. In was under Pius XII that the major modern research tool of the Vatican Observatory, the Schmidt telescope, planned under his predecessors but completed under O'Connell, was inaugurated and blessed. Pius XII often visited the observatory, and on one occasion viewed the launching of the Russian Sputnik.
Paul VI viewed the landing of the first man on the Moon with O'Connell over a specially installed television, and he advised the Pope on the technical details of the mission.
In the pursuit of his scientific research, O'Connell became a close friend and collaborator of an international community of astronomers. As director of the Riverview Observatory he went to Europe in 1948 to attend the first post-war meeting of the International Astronomical Union held at Zurich, and on that occasion visited many European observatories. His visit to Utrecht was noteworthy, for there he established a lifelong friendship with Professor Marcel Minnaert who later encouraged him to issue the now famous book on the Green Flash, which, published in collaboration with Brother Karl Trench SJ, provides excellent documentation on optical effects that occur in the Earth's atmosphere when the sun is rising or setting.
However, O'Connell was best known in the international community of astronomers for his research on double stars. He discovered an effect, since known as the “O'Connell Effect”,
concerning the rotation of the line of the apsides (the major aids of the double star's ellipticalorbit). The discovery of this effect was typical of the scientific work of O'Connell. lt required a long period of painstaking observations and careful analyses over many years.
In addition to his membership in the academies and institutes already mentioned, O’Connell was a member of the National Research Council of Australia, and an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy He was also a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales, publishing three papers on earthquakes and the Galitzin seismograph. He served on council, 1946-49, and was vice-president, 1950-52. He became an honorary member of the Society in 1953.
O'Connell retired as director of the Vatican Observatory in 1970. He was president of the Pontifical Academy of Science, 1968-72. While he was an indefatigable worker and consequently very jealous of his time, he still treasured his friends immensely, and was always nurturing new friendships. Even during his last years, when he was largely bedridden, he developed new friendships among old and young alike. The students at Riverview remembered him for showing groups of boys the Moon, planets and the stars on clear nights and for his unfailing gracious word and cheery smile for staff and students.
Many were the nights that, under the then clear skies over Castel Gandolfo. O'Connell climbed the stairs to the telescope atop the papal palace passing die plaque inscribed “Deum Creatorurn Venite Adoremus. He was very intelligent, hardworking and always a gentleman genuine international Jesuit.

Note from Noel Burke-Gaffney entry
1950 He was appointed Director of the Observatory at Riverview after Daniel O’Connell was appointed to the Vatican Observatory

Note from William O’Leary Entry
He remained at Riverview until his death in 1939, directing the observatory until 1937 when Daniel O'Connell became director

Note from Edward Pigot Entry
His extremely high standards of scientific accuracy and integrity made it difficult for him to find an assistant he could work with, or who could work with him. George Downey, Robert McCarthy, and Wilfred Ryan, all failed to satisfy. However, when he met the young scholastic Daniel O'Connell he found a man after his own heart. When he found death approaching he was afraid, not of death, but because O’Connell was still only a theologian and not ready to take over the observatory. Happily, the Irish province was willing to release his other great friend, William O'Leary to fill the gap.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948
Fr. Daniel O'Connell of the Vice-province visited Ireland after an absence of many years, early in September: He has had a very busy time since he left Australia : he did some astronomical work at Leyden before going to the Vatican Observatory where he spent 6 weeks ; he attended a Meeting at Zurich of the International Astronomical Union and then went on to Oslo for the Congress of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. He has been invited to lecture to the Irish Astronomical Society at Armagh and to be the guest of Dr. Lindsay, Director of the Armagh Observatory, who is a good friend of his since the Harvard days when they spent two years together at that Observatory. Fr. O'Connell is due to sail for the United States from Southampton on 6th November and will spend some months at Harvard Observatory before returning to Australia.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949
On 6th November Fr. Daniel O'Connell, of the Vice-province, who during his stay in Ireland gave evidence in Fr. Sullivan's cause, left Southampton for U.S.A. on 6th November.
Irish Province News 58th Year No 1 1983
Obituary
Fr Daniel O'Connell (1896-1913-1982) (Australia)

I met Dan O'Connell for the first time when I went to the noviciate, then in Tullabeg. I found him a quiet novice but a very pleasant companion. We both went to Rathfarnham and were together in our First Arts year (1916-17). He was a brilliant and highly intelligent man. He took a keen interest in Fr William O’Leary's seismograph, which stood in Rathfarnham grounds, and frequently inspected it with him.
We parted company in 1920, when he went to Valkenburg for philosophy while I followed the subject in Milltown. Two years later we were both posted to Australia. We did not travel there together but met in Riverview College, Sydney, where we spent our regency. In Riverview was the Irish Jesuit, Fr Edward Pigot, who had an astronomical observatory, in which Dan became keenly interested, Fr Pigot himself had erected this observatory and fitted it out with a strong telescope for watching the various stars at night. He was also an accomplished pianist and taught Dan the piano.
In 1926 Dan followed me to Milltown for theology. Together we were ordained there by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Edward J. Byrne. Later, whenever Fr Dan came back to Dublin, he stayed with Dr Byrne's successor, Dr John Charles McQuaid, who was a great friend of his, as they had been classmates in Clongowes. Twenty or so years after Fr Dan's return to Riverview, he was called to Rome to take charge of the Vatican observatory, and ended his days in Rome.

The summary notice, taken from L'Osservatore Romano (16th October 1982) and transmitted by Frs Joseph Costelloe and John P. Leonard of the General Curia, fills in some of the external details of Fr O’Connell’s life:
"Yesterday evening, Thursday, 14th October, Fr Daniel O’Connell, former Director of the Vatican Observatory and ex-President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, died after a long illness in the infirmary of the Jesuit General Curia in Rome.
Born in Rugby, Great Britain, in 1896, he had entered the Society of Jesus in Ireland in 1913. After completing his studies in physics and mathematics at the University College, Dublin, he spent two years of special studies at the Harvard College Observatory in Cam bridge, Massachusetts, between 1931 and 1933.
He then became Director of the Riverview College Observatory in Australia, where he remained until 1952, when he was appointed Director of the Vatican Observatory, which he directed until 1970. From 1968 until 1972, he was, by the appointment of Paul VI, President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Known for his scientific labours, especially for his researches on double stars - an area in which he discovered a particular effect named after him - Fr O'Connell was a member of many international societies, including The National Research Council of Australia, The Royal Academy of Ireland, and The Royal Society of New South Wales”

Frs George V Coyne and Martin F McCarthy SJ, of the Vatican Observatory brought out a glossy four-page printed leaflet (of A4-size page) as a memorial to their fellow-astronomer and fellow-Jesuit. Five of the photographs therein show Fr O’Connell greeting in turn four recent Popes, including the present one. An interesting account is also given of his astronomical work. The editor of IPN has at his disposal at least one photocopy of this leaflet, which he will gladly send to any contemporary of Fr Dan’s or to any other interested person who might like to have it.
Fr Dan O’Connell contributed two articles to the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “Calendar reform” and “Vatican Observatory”. He featured in past numbers of The Clongownian: 1953, pp. 9-12, “Astronomer and seismologist”; 1968, pp. 42-3; 1974, p. 33 (copy of an autographed letter to him from Paul VI).

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary
Fr Daniel O’Connell (1896-1982)
Like William Keane, Daniel O'Connell was a brilliant student who devoted his life to the Lord's work in the Society. He was born at Rugby, England, on 25th July to an Irish father and English mother, At the age of 12 when his parents died, he went to Ireland and completed his secondary education at Clongowes College; in view of his examination results, I presume that he was Dux of his class, as William Keane had been. One of his masters was Henry Johnston, and one of his fellow students was John Charles McQuaid, later a famous Archbishop of Dublin. At the age of 17, he entered the novitiate of the Irish Province at Tullabeg on August 8th, 1913. A fellow novice described him as 'quiet but a very pleasant companion', qualities noted in him throughout his later life which were to win him many friends.

It may be remarked, incidentally, that although he was related to the Liberator' he was called Daniel after another member of the family.
University Studies
University studies were at the National University of Ireland where he did a brilliant scientific course with first class honours in experimental physics and mathematics, ending with a Master of Science. With other scholastics he would have commuted to the University from Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate residence and later retreat house. In its grounds was a seismograph, erected by Fr. William O'Leary, who was later to take over from Fr. Pigot as Director of the Riverview Observatory. Daniel took a keen interest in this, a fact which was not lost on Fr. O'Leary who was later to choose him as their designate'. For Philosophy, Daniel was sent to Valkenburg in Holland where the German Provinces had their house of studies, having been driven out of Germany by Bismarck's Kulturkampf. Here he pursued part-time studies in astronomy under important German Jesuit scientists. Arrangements had been made for him to enter Cambridge University to study relativity under Sir Arthur Eddington but he experienced a breakdown in health, had lung trouble, and was sent to Australia to recuperate and do Regency. He taught at the observatory in 1923 under Fr. Pigot. The latter was also a fine pianist and taught Daniel the piano.

In 1926 Daniel returned to Ireland for theology, studied at Milltown Park and was ordained on July 31st, 1928 by the then Archbishop of Dublin. Tertianship was at St. Beuno's, Wales(1930-1931).

Further Studies
Destined now to become a professional astronomer, Daniel returned to Australia and the Observatory but the following year went to Harvard for further studies and research at its Observatory, then a great centre of research under Howard Sharpley and others. His principal occupation there was the study of variable stars which he continued throughout life and through which he made his name as an astronomer. In 1948 he was awarded a doctorate in science from the National University of Ireland for outstanding services to astronomy, but he also became interested in seismology and the measurement of time with various types of clocks. (These and other scientific details are taken from a brief memorial bulletin published by the Vatican Observatory after Daniel's death in 1982.)

Riverview Observatory (1933-1952)
After visiting other observatories, he returned to Riverview as Assistant Director of the Observatory, taking over from Fr. O'Leary in 1938 when the latter died on the Riverview golf course. (Fr. O'Leary is remembered at Riverview as the inventor of a Free Pendulum clock of superb accuracy which used to stand in the corridor outside the Rector's room in the old building.)

The Observatory received a small grant (£450 in 1939) from the Australian government. When Daniel took over and for a number of years afterwards it had the only fully equipped seismological station in Australia and its reports appeared in the local papers whenever a major earthquake occurred. Its astronomical work consisted mainly in the photographing of variable stars, a work which Daniel carried out himself in the hours of darkness when others were asleep. The increasing illumination of the skies above Sydney rendered this more and more difficult but he managed to make 20,000 plates over the years.

During his years at the Observatory Daniel became a highly respected figure in astronomical circles in Australia and elsewhere, becoming, for instance, a Fellow of the Royal astronomical Society among other memberships. But he was no remote scholar. He had a gift for popularizing science when this was needed and he was called on occasionally by the ABC for broadcasts. When Fred Hoyle (of Steady State fame) delivered a number of lectures on the BBC on “The Nature of the Universe” Daniel was asked to give three lectures on the ABC on the same topic. He called his lectures “According to Hoyle” and made it very clear that his distinguished counterpart was wrong in dismissing the Creator from the origin of things. Hoyle, who must be a very old man now, is said to be now more in favour of creation, impressed by the 'fine tuning' of the universe.

Riverview
While Daniel did not teach, he was an object lesson to the boys that science and religion could be reconciled. He was also a familiar and friendly priest, whose sermons they listened to in the chapel with more than usual attention. He could get down to their level. There were occasional guided tours of the Observatory - I had some myself when I was at Riverview as a scholastic 1947-1949. He was also a 'good community man'. The only thing that annoyed him was noise, and most particularly the lowing of Brother O'Brien's cows which disturbed his sleep by day after a night of observation. But he did not have recourse to the 'ultimate deterrent' of shooting one or two. He bore it cheerfully enough as he did the loneliness of much of his work. I think of him as a very dedicated, kindly person.

Vatican Observatory
In 1952 news came that Daniel had been appointed Director of the Vatican Observatory located at the papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo in the hills 16 miles from Rome. His appointment was a 'most strict secret', which he observed most faithfully, but it was leaked out over in Rome so he was embarrassed by people asking him if it were true. Due to illness and the necessity of taking up the appointment quickly, he had little time to say goodbye to his many friends in Australia. He left by ship on July 26th, 1952, bringing to an end almost a quarter of a century at Riverview and its Observatory, both of which remained very dear to him.

From 1952 until his retirement in 1970 he was Director at the Vatican Observatory. He was President of the Pontifical Academy of Science from 1968 to 1972. He served three Popes and had close personal relations with them. Over the years he published a number of books (e.g. The Green Flash, Stellar Populations, Nuclear Galaxies) and many papers. The Vatican Observatory gave him much greater scope than he would have had at Riverview. He could do better work and was in contact with a wider group of scientists. There were times when he lamented that he had never given a retreat, but his was a full-time ministry.

Retirement (1970 - 1982)
His health, never very robust, gave him increasing problems so he had ultimately to retire from the Observatory and come to live in Rome at our Curia. The Pope wanted him to stay in Rome and keep in touch with the Pontifical Academy. In August 1973 he was allowed to make a trip to Australia to attend a conference and make contact. Of course, he had always kept in touch and delighted to meet Australian Jesuits studying in Rome. I have very happy memories of meeting with him during the 32nd General Congregation. He had a great memory for the Australian brethren and even for the boys he had known at Riverview.

His health became worse and worse so that for the last two years he was practically bed-ridden. He died in the infirmary at the Curia on October 13th, 1982. The notice in the Osservatore Romano mentioned that he had bore his long illness with marvellous serenity and was comforted by the special blessing of the Holy Father, John Paul II. One can only say that the papal blessing was richly deserved - Daniel O'Connell had been a very faithful servant of the Church in the difficult field of science.
With similar talents and in different ways, William Keane and Daniel O'Connell made very significant contributions to the work of the Province and the Society. As they were men who shared their wisdom with others we may trust that they will shine like stars for all eternity (Book of Daniel, 12:3)
John Begley
Australian Province Taken from “Jesuit Life” Newsletter

◆ The Clongownian, 1953
Astronomer and Seismologist
Father Daniel O’Connell SJ
THE appointment of Father Daniel O'Connell SJ, director of Riverview Observatory, New South Wales, Australia, since 1938, as Director of the Vatican Observatory in Rome, climaxes a long and eminent career as astronomer and seismologist.
Father O'Connell enjoys world repute as a scientist and he has contributed much to the high reputation enjoyed by the famous Jesuit observatory at Riverview.
He holds the Doctorate of Science of the National University of Ireland and the Docotrate of Philosophy of the Gregorian University of Rome, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
He was born near Rugby, England, in 1896, of an Irish father, a civil servant and a native of County Limerick, and an English mother. He had two brothers and one sister, all of whom are still living. He went to Ireland as a boy of 12, following the death of his parents, completed his schooling at Clongowes Wood College, and entered the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg at the age of 17.
His family has a 600-years-old affinity with that of “The Liberator”. He was not, however, called after “The Liberator”. The Christian name, Daniel, was traditional in his family.

His first introduction to astronomy was a year's private study with the late Father W O'Leary SJ, a famous Irish Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, who at that stage was Director of the Rathfarnham Observatory from 1929 to 1938. He began by setting up some telescopes at Rathfarnham, largely as a hobby.

Father O'Connell completed his MSc degree at University College, Dublin, in 1920, after a brilliant course of study, specialising in Mathematics and Experimental Plıysics. He topped all his examinations, graduated with first-class honoura, and was awarded a travelling student ship in Mathematics. Whilst he was still an undergraduate he was in charge of the Rathfarnham station for several years after the departure of Father O'Leary.

He completed his philosophical studies at the Jesuit House at Valkenburg, in Holland, where he also pursued spare time astronomical studies under world famous Jesuit scientists like Father Michael Esch SJ, expert on variable stars; Father Franz Xavier Kugler SJ, world authority on Assyriology and Babylonian astronomy, and Father Theodor Wulfe SJ, world-ranking physicist.

Arrangements had been made for him to enter Cambridge University on a travelling scholarship where he would have studied relativity under Eddington, when he experienced a breakdown in health and was sent to Australia by his superiors to recuperate. Prior to this, he had never dreamt of going to Australia, had thought little about that country, and had few friends there.

An interesting and significant incident occurred whilst he was studying at Valkenburg. Seemingly for no apparent reason, Father Edward Pigot SJ, Founder of Riverview Observatory, appeared at the college one day during a visit to Europe. The young Jesuit student met the veteran and conversed with him. He was later invited to accompany him to the railway station to see him off. Just before he boarded his train, Father Pigot mentioned that his real reason for coming was to see the future Director of Riverview and to “look him over”. It was no surprise when he later sought him as his assistant.

Father O'Connell was appointed to St Ignatius College, Riverview as teacher of physics and assistant to the Director of the Observatory, Father Pigot. Father O'Connell is still happy to recall that another assignment in the early days was that of sports master at St Ignatius. In 1923 he was appointed assistant director of the observatory, and one of the first tasks he undertook in his new post was to advance the local study of solar radiation.

Father O'Connell returned to Dublin in 1926 to complete his theological studies and was ordained at Milltown Park by Archbishop Byrne in 1928. After two more years of theological studies he com pleted his tertianship in St Beuno's College, Wales.

During 1931 to 1933, Father O'Connell was a member of the staff of the Harvard University Observatory, renowned for its work on variable stars, where he completed post-graduate studies and research on variable stars and other aspects of astronomy. He published numerous papers in Harvard publications, and has since acknowledged that his work at Harvard was the foundation of his later contribution to astronomy.

During his stay in the United States Father O'Connell visited Mount Wilson and Lick Observatories in California before returning to Australia via Japan, China, Java and the Philippines, where he visited leading observatories and advanced his practical studies. The Lembang Observatory in Java was one that held special interest for him.

Father O'Connell resumed his work at Riverview Observatory at the end of 1933. In 1935 he initiated the “Riverview Observatory Publications”, which now enjoy an international reputation. Later he also founded the observatory's “Geophysical Papers” and “Reprint Series”, which are also known and used internationally. In 1948 Father O'Connell spent 10 months in Europe. He was the Australian delegate at the conference of the International Astronomical Union at Zurich and that of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at Oslo. He spent six weeks at the Vatican Observatory and visited other leading observatories of Europe.

During World War II, Father O'Conneil, working at the Riverview Observatory collaborated with the United States Government in the location of earthquakes in the Pacific zone in relation to war strategy. This work was carried on in the post-war period and is still taking place. Each week a cabled report in code is sent to the United States from Riverview. He was also consulted by the Imperial War Graves Commission concerning possible earthquake damage to war cemetery sites in the Pacific area.

In 1948 Father O'Connell received his Doctorate of Science from the National University of Ireland in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science.

Father O'Connell is a member of leading Australian and overseas societies and other organisations, and has contributed numerous research papers and other writings to their publications and proceedings.

He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the international Astronomical Union, Fellow of the Royal Astromomical Society, Vice-President of the Royal Society of New South Wales, member of the National Research Council of Australia and the National Committee on Astronomy, Geophysics and Calendar reform; Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Commonwealth Observatory, Mount Stromio; Australian representative on the Committee for Seismology of the Pacific Science Commission and member of many other scientific councils and committees in Australia. Father O'Connell resigned from 19.Boards and Committees..

Under Father O'Connell's direction, the Riverview Observatory has conducted a programme of continuous research that has been responsible for important discoveries. In the field of astronomy, eclipsing stars and cepheid variables have received special study. The photographic photometry of these stars has been one of the main aspects of the observatory's programme. Hundreds of new variable stars have been discovered, and much original research has been completed on known stars. About 15,000 plates are on file in the observatory.

Variable stars are those which are con stantly changing in brightness. Another star may move in front of them, they may expand or contract becoming hotter and brighter.

Knowledge of variable stars is highly important and basic to progress in modern astronomy. But for a knowledge of cepheid stars, for example, scientists would not have the faintest notion of the size of the universe,

One of Father O'Connell's latest activities was the use of photo-electric equipment in relation to variable stars.

Father O'Connell is reassured by the knowledge that this and other phases of the work at Riverview will continue and, naturally, it is his hope that necessary staff and equipment will be forthcoming. The fact that the direction will be in the hands of Father Burke-Gaffney gives Father O'Connell confidence in the future work and role of the observatory. Father O'Connell has taken some material on southern stars with him to Rome for completion.

In the field of seismology, the observatory's programme has included the regional study of earthquakes and the relation ship between earthquake waves and the interior of the earth.

The publications of Riverview Observatory are an important aspect of the work. They include four series - the “Seismological Bulletins”, which have appeared since 1909, the “Riverview Observatory Publications”, which began in 1935, the “Reprint” series, which date back to 1936, and the “Geophysical Papers”, which were founded in 1946. All of them are circulated and read all over the world.

The Riverview Observatory, which progressed under Father O'Connell, has never been anything but first-rate. It inherited this tradition from its founder and it was maintained by later directors. Complete accuracy has always been its aim, and all of its work has proved to be as careful and painstaking as human processes can ensure. Its equipment has always been the best available and its overhead has growii in dimension as well.

Father O'Connell left Sydney by slip for Rome on July 26 to take up his net post.

It distressed him that he was unable to make a personal farewell to many of his friends before he left Australia, due to the fact that he was confined to bed until the day before his ship sailed.
The Catholic Weekly (Sydney)

◆ The Clongownian, 1983
Obituary
Father Daniel Joseph Kelly O’Connell SJ
On October 14, 1982, the Jesuit order lost one of the best known of its modern scientists, the internationally acclaimed astronomer: Father Daniel J K O'Connell SJ. After several years of serious and confining sickness, Father O'Connell died peacefully among his Jesuit brothers at the order's headquarters in Rome, where he had settled after his retirement in 1970. In addition to directing the Vatican Observatory from 1952 to 1970, he was President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from 1968 to 1972 and President of the Commission on Double Stars of the International Astronomical Union from 1955 to 1961. He served three popes and had close personal relationships with all of them.

Born in Rugby, England, in 1896, he entered the Jesuit order in Ireland in 1913. He received his diploma in experimental physics and a Master of Science degree in mathematics at University College Dublin, and later a Doctorate in Science from the National University of Ireland. He studied from 1931 to 1933 at the Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was subsequently to have studied with the famous Sir Arthur Eddington. However, because of a lung condition, Jesuit superiors, in order to provide him with a more favourable climate, assigned him to the Riverview College Observatory, Sydney, Australia, where he became director in 1938.

During the years that Father O'Connell was at Harvard, the observatory was at the centre of the major developments in astronomical research and especially those which were to lead within the next few decades to the notion of the expanding universe of galaxies. He was thus associated with such eminent astronomers as Harlow Shapley, Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin, and others. His principal occupation at Harvard, a pursuit which he continued for the rest of his life, was the study of variable stars; but he also became known as a keen card player, especially at bridge. In fact, a story is told of how two young graduate students were duped into an evening of bridge against Father O'Connell and the famous cosmologist Abbé Georges Lemaitre on the occasion of a visit which the latter paid to the Harvard College Observatory. The students, not knowing the true identity of their challengers except that they gave a distinct impression of being neophytes at bridge, since they were overheard explaining to one another in broken English and French the names of the cards, were a bit embarrassed to accept the challenge for fear of crushing opponents to whom they were expected to show at least respectful deference. After a long evening of play the students, soundly defeated and thoroughly deflated, approached the famous Harlow Shapley for an explanation. His only remark to them was that the game must have been both an honest and an intelligent one, at least on the part of the two older gentlemen, since both of them were on the one hand Catholic priests and on the other eminent scientists.

While at the Riverview College Observatory, in addition to his study of variable stars, Father O'Connell, under the tutelage of the famous Father Wm O'Leary SJ, developed a keen interest in seismology and in the measurement of time with various types of clocks. This latter pursuit led him into a life long interest in the calendar and calendar reform, a study which served him well in later decades, since he was asked to advise popes on calendar reform and the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts.

Called to be director of the Vatican Observatory in 1952, Father O'Connell began a career of unique service to the Church which spanned the reign of three popes and saw immense developments in astronomical research from the initial concept of various stellar populations to an expanding universe containing active galactic nuclei and quasars, In fact, during his directorship, once near the beginning and once at the end, Father O'Connell organized Study Weeks of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at which some of the world's most capable astronomers discussed the topics respectively of Stellar Populations (1957) and Nuclei of Galaxies (1970). As a result of these Study Weeks two books were published, both edited by Father O'Connell, which have become classics of astronomical literature.

Of his many contacts with the popes he served, his relationship with Pope Pius XII was an especially close one. He frequently advised the pope, himself a very keen and diligent student of the natural sciences, on topics of current scientific research. The International Astronomical Society held its triennial meeting in Rome in 1952, the same year that Father O'Connell came as director to the Vatican Observatory. At an audience and reception given by the Pope, the first opportunity was given to the pontiff to appreciate what a qualified representative the Church had in Father O'Connell as an interpreter of the Church's aspirations to the culture of science. It was under Pius XII that the major modern research tool of the Vatican Observatory, the Schmidt telescope, planned under his predecessors but completed under Father O'Connell, was inaugurated and blessed. Pope Pius XII often visited the observatory and, in fact, as a gesture of his interest, came to view through the Schmidt telescope with Father O'Connell on the night when the Space Age was born with the launching of the Russian Sputnik.

Pope John XXIII showed a special affection for Father O'Connell and the observatory staff and not infrequently paid visits to Father O'Connell's office, which was located directly above the Pope's private study. At the time of the landing of the first man on the moon, Father O'Connell had the privilege of viewing the event with Pope Paul VI over a specially installed television and he advised the Pope on the technical details of the mission.

In the pursuit of his scientific research, Father O'Connell was a close friend and collaborator of an international community of astronomers. As director of the Riverview College Observatory, he came to Europe in 1948 to attend the first postwar meeting of the International Astronomical Union held at Zurich, and on that occasion he visited many European observatories. His visit to Utrecht was noteworthy, for there he established a life long friendship with Professor Minnaert who later encouraged him to issue the now famous book on the Green Flash, which, published in collaboration with Brother Karl Treusch SJ, provides excellent documentation on optical effects which occur in the earth's atmosphere when the sun is rising or setting. However, Father O'Connell was best known in the inter national community of astronomers for his research on double stars. He discovered an effect - since known as the “O'Connell Effect”, concerning the rotation of the line of the apsides (the major axis of the double star's elliptical orbit). The discovery of this effect was typical of the scientific work of Father O'Connell. It required a long period of pains taking observations and careful analyses over many years.

In addition to his membership in the academies and institutes mentioned above, Father O'Connell was a member of the National Research Council of Australia, and an honorary member of both the Royal Society of New South Wales and of the Royal Irish Academy

While he was an indefatigable worker and consequently very jealous of his time, he still treasured immensely his friends and was, as a matter of fact, always nurturing new friend ships. Even during his last years, when he was largely bedridden, he developed new friend ships among old and young alike. There was never an international scientific conference attended by Vatican astronomers in the Rome area where the participants failed to request to pay a visit to Father O'Connell. Many were the nights that, under the then clear skies over Castle Gandolfo, Father O'Connell climbed the stairs to the telescope atop the papal palace passing the plaque inscribed thus: Deum Creatorem Venite Adoremus. In serving many, of high and low station alike, he was serving but One, the Creator of all that he observed. For that Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell, sj. has been called to his Father and we are happy for him.

George V Coyne SJ (Maryland) and Martin F McCarthy SJ (New England), Vatican Observatory.

Born: 07 June 1870, Umballa, Haryana, Punjab, India
Entered: 03 April 1894, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 12 August 1952, Crescent College, Limerick

Grew up in Clonmel, County Tipperary; Father was a Major in Indian Army

Educated at Catholic Grammar School Newcastle; University College, Dublin (Medicine)

by 1897 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1898 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1907 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 27th Year No 4 1952

Obituary :
Father Charles O'Connell
Fr. O'Connell, who had been born in India on June 7th, 1870, spent his early years in Clonmel. He studied Medicine for some time before he entered the Society on April 3rd, 1894. Having completed his Philosophy at Enghien, Belgium, be joined the staff at Clongowes, where he taught French and Irish from 1899 to 1903. He studied Theology at Milltown Park and was ordained in 1906. After his Tertianship at Tronchiennes he was again appointed to Clongowes, where he taught until he was transferred to the Crescent, Limerick in 1917. Here he worked in the College and Church for 35 years. He had charge of the Children of Mary Sodality from 1931 to 1936. He died on the night of August 12th. He was at dinner and recreation on the previous day, but did not appear at Litanies, which was quite unusual. He was found dead by the servants on the following morning.
Naturally rather retiring, but with a nice sense of humour, Fr. O'Connell was a most agreeable community man, though a good listener rather than a great conversationalist. In the Church he was an effective preacher, but it is the memory of his continued and devoted service in the confessional that will long remain with the people of Limerick and of the neighbouring counties. He was a good linguist and was frequently sought by foreigners who wanted confession.
It was quite clear that for some time he was suffering, but he was never heard to make a complaint. A great lover of common life, he did not want to be a burden to anyone. A short time before his death he resolutely refused little dispensations kindly pressed on him by Superiors. He was a soldier to the last, ever true to the kindly name of “Captain”, given to him in his early religious life.
A few days before his death he expressed a wish to see the place where he would be buried. One of the community got a car and drove him out to Mungret. After saying a prayer for the repose of the soul of Fr. MacWilliams, the sole occupant of the new cemetery, he said : “There I shall be buried”. And there some four days later, he was laid beside that other great apostle of the confessional. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953
Obituary
Father Charles O'Connell SJ
Father Charles O'Connell died suddenly on the night of August 12th last. He was born in India on June 7th, 1870, but spent his early life in Clonmel. He had been studying for his degree in Medicine when he entered the Society in his twenty-fifth year. He spent four years in Clongowes as a scholastic and later returned to Clongowes after his ordination and tertianship. He was an able teacher of French and was a pioneer teacher of Irish among the Clongowes community. His tall soliderly bearing earned him the name of “The Captain” from the boys of the period.
When he was transferred to Sacred Heart College, The Crescent, Limerick, in the summer of 1917 he was to spend the last thirty-five years of his life there. For some few years he taught in the Crescent, but the work for which he will best be remembered was his devotion to the work of confessions and preaching. A fluent speaker of French and German, he had a good command of other European languages also and was thus often called on to hear the confessions of foreigners passing through Limerick. Father O'Connell was naturally shy but possessed a delicious sense of humour. He had a remarkably clear memory of the boys he taught during his periods as a master in the Colleges. His death was sudden but not unexpected. He was last seen reading his breviary and for the first time in thirty five years was missed from the Church corridor where he always said his beads. He passed, as he would have wished it, unobstrusively to the reward of the good and faithful servant. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959
Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community
Father Charles O'Connell (1870-1952)
Was born at Umbala, India but spent his early childhood in Clonmel. He was studying medicine when he entered the Society in 1894. On the completion of his higher studies at Enghien and Dublin, he was ordained in 1906. After his tertianship at Tronchiennes, Father O'Connell taught Irish and French at Clongowes until 1917. In that year he began his long association - thirty-five years - with the Crescent. Until the early 1930's, Father O'Connell continued to teach, but his classes were fewer as he was engaged in full time church work. The memory of his devotion to duty in the church during those years must long remain vivid for the many who sought his help and guidance. He was a good linguist and was frequently sought by foreigners who wanted confession.

Born: 10 December 1910, Bohernagore, Ardpatrick, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 27 July 1969, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Abbotstown, Dublin

Part of the Belvedere College SJ, Dublin community at the time of death

Parrents were farmers and resides at Hotel, Kilfinane, County Limerick supported by private means.

Second of three boys with three sisters.

Early education at Ardpatrick National School for six years he then went to Mungret College SJ

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 44th Year No 4 1969

Belvedere College
On July 26th we were saddened to hear of the death of Fr. Alf O'Connell. For the past few years he had been going down hill steadily but his death took us all by surprise. During the latter months he was able only with difficulty to get around the house, his arthritis and other complications getting steadily worse. Two days before he died it was thought imperative that he should have oxygen and he was transferred to Blanchardstown Hospital on Thursday 24th; he survived only two days, dying on the 26th. It is no exaggeration to say that his name was synonymous with Belvedere as far as the Old Boys were concerned and he thought nothing too much trouble whether it was fixing them up in jobs, arranging retreats for them or attending their social functions. He was an encyclopaedia on their doings and many an editor of The Belvederian got invaluable help from him in compiling notes on the past. Though it was in the midst of holidays a big representative gathering of the past managed to be present at his Requiem Mass and funeral. We shall miss him in the community and class room, R.I.P.

Obituary :

Fr Alphonsus O’Connell SJ (1910-1969)

Fr. “Alf” as he was familiarly known, was born December 10th, 1910 in Kilfinane, Co. Limerick. After his secondary education at Mungret he entered the Society in Tullabeg, September ist, 1928 and saw the end of Tullabeg as a novitiate and the start of Emo. After his degree in U.C.D. and philosophate in Tullabeg he spent three years teaching in Galway. On July 29th, 1943 he was ordained in Milltown and after Tertianship in Rathfarnham he spent the rest of his life in Belvedere.
An able and intelligent man, he had a wide range of interests which he pursued during the different stages of his career. At the university he studied Archaeology and contributed a section to a life of St. Carthage. He produced the boys' plays in Galway and during his long term at Belvedere he was always on call to make up the boys for the College opera. He contributed a number of poems to various magazines in his early life. For many years he was director and confessor at the Morning Star Hostel, assisted in the running of St. Stanislaus' Boys' Club and had many a tale of the Irish courses at Gibstown. In his youth he was a fine athlete excelling in hurling and rugby. In later life he suffered so much from arthritis one tended to overlook his former prowess. Up to practically the end of his life he was in charge of rugby and cricket teams in the school. He graced many a school pavilion, trudged up and down the touch-line, umpired even when he had to use his hunting stick. He was extremely popular with his opposite number in other schools, They admired his devotion and enthusiasm and many a time quoted him as an example.
He was a first-class teacher and went to great pains to make up his course, for, in his time, he taught many subjects, Whatever he did he did well. He boasted in his own quiet way of the different subjects he had taught.
He had an extremely retentive memory, looked simple but was as sharp as a knife. Always ready to help, he never refused an appeal. Teachers, games' masters, the past, the boys knew this and appreciated it. Year after year, he filled our Retreat Houses with the past and always had his red note-book available with a surplus of names. In fact the past were never quite sure whether Fr. Alf of "Jeff" as he was affectionately known to them, came to games to cheer them on or to seek retreatants. But they did know he was interested in them. Many a Belvederian owes his present position to Fr. Alf's unflagging interest. Editors of the Belvederian readily availed themselves of his wide knowledge of the Past.
He was a good Religious in an unostentatious way and showed his love of God in his love of others - kindly, generous and a good companion. A good community man, filled with a sense of humour, he told many a story against himself. He suffered much and few of us realised that, as he said, he was working on borrowed time. We feel that Fr. Alf who never refused a call to help will not forget us now that his physical pains and distress are over, May his soul rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1970

Obituary

Father Alphonsus O’Connell SJ

Sunday, July 27th, was a clear, bright day at Cabra Oval. Our cricket season was going well and the morale of our players was high, We were enjoying ourselves.

Suddenly, the enjoyment, the bright skies and the high morale were all overshadowed in our minds. Fr O'Connell had died at 5 am on that morning and we had just heard the very sad news. Little was said; the feelings of shock, of loss and of sadness were clear. We had lost a great friend.

Fr O'Connell came to Belvedere College in August 1946. He had been to school in Mungret in Limerick and worked as a scholastic in St Ignatius College in Galway where he obtained his HDip. From the moment he came to Belvedere his life's interest centred mainly around Belvederians and Old Belvederians. It is an understatement to say that everyone connected with sport in Belvedere and many not directly involved in Belvederian activities knew and respected him. It is unnecessary to recall the devotion and enthusiasm of Fr O'Connell for his “seconds”, for these are already well known to us.

What is perhaps not so well known is the great human personality which was behind the kind and unassuming exterior which presented to the outside world. He was kind, humble and always cheerful. He was a simple man without a trace of vanity and although he had a very heavy work load at all times he seemed to have plenty of time to listen all who approached him for help with their problems.

Few of us who attended Belvedere Colege and particularly those of us who played on his cricket or rugby teams, will forget the fantastic kindness and interest he displayed in each student in his care. His anxiety to involve as many as possible in his organised activities was typified by his appointing the writer “permanent substitute linesman” on the Second A Rugby XV. His memory for faces and facts about Old Belvederians was extraordinary and his meticulous recordings in his multiplicity of notebooks of academic achievement, business promotions, weekend retreats, marriages or deaths were the subject of many a good joke.

Fr O'Connell was a natural priest, for such was his great humanity that although his deep, simple piety was evident, one forgot he was a priest. In religious discussion with members of the St Stanislaus Boys Club, of which he was holiday spiritual director for twelve years, he was tolerant and open-minded but quietly firm. From all of these boys he earned respect and affecticion as he did in his tremendous work with the “Morning Star”. He had the great gift of winning the loyalty and confidence of people whether they were students in Belveder the less fortunate members of Dublin society for whom his devotion and work was a splendid example.

His simple and ever cheerful manner made association with him a pleasure. The fund of jokes, very often stories against himself seemed limitless. How he enjoyed telling of his difficulty in confusing a student, so he could discipline him, when the particular student labelled a parallelogram J, E F and F; or by his calling a boy by his older brother’s Christian name and getting the reply “Yes Mutt?” His most relaxing and pleasing personality ensured that “Jeff” was popular and welcome person at all social events.

We will miss Fr O’Connell greatly - his optimism and very positive views on life and on the development of our club contributed greatly to the establishment of solid foundations for us and for all organisations with which he was associated. The best tribute to his memory is to carry on his work in the many fields where he laboured.

Ár dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam.

Tim Sheehy

Born: 01 September 1837, Great Charles Street, Dublin
Entered: 13 September 1853, Amiens France - Franciae Province (FRA
Ordained: 1865
Professed: 15 August 1873
Died: 05 March 1889, University College, Dublin, St Stephen's Green, Dublin

by 1855 at Laval, France (FRA) studying Theology
by 1857 at Montauban, France (TOLO) studying Theology
by 1859 at Feldkirch, Germany (GER) studying Theology
by 1864 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1871 at Maastricht College, Netherlands (NER) Studying
by 1872 at Stara Wieś, Subcarpathian Province Poland (GALI) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His father, Redmond, was first President of the VdP Society; his mother née Goold was related to the Dease family and that of Lord Justice Naish. His brother Vincent was an Oratorian. Both were educated at Clongowes.

His studies clearly had a linguistic direction, and he became Professor of Modern Languages at Catholic University, and Examiner at the Royal University, Ireland. It was said of him that he was a master of fourteen languages and literatures, and that he could converse in eight. In whichever country he studied, he quickly mastered both the language and dialects, and was appointed as an examiner there in some branches of public examinations. His likeable sanctity impressed everyone he met, and he possessed a remarkable innocence and spirit of penance. On the day of his death, 05 March 1889, he had carried on his research at both Trinity and Gardiner St, and on arriving home became very ill and died.

“We do not exceed the rigid truth when we say that he has left not one in Ireland who could fill his place. He was a master of almost all the languages of Europe ... He was an indefatigable student, always seeking to increased the range of his knowledge ... it was not unusual to have a sailor from a distant place spend time with him .... works on which he was engaged cannot now be completed .... his memory was tenacious, recalling for instance details of conversations that had taken place thirty years before ... he once stated .. that his study of the old Gaelic literature had convinced him that had the literature been allowed naturally to develop, it would have been rich in drama ...he was the last descendant of the O'Carrolls of Ely ... although naturally a bookworm, when at the Roman College he was always ready to companion another ... ”

William Delaney SJ :
“Being in Rome in the year 1866, I was present on many occasions at conversations between J J O’Carroll and a Dutch clergyman named Steins and also a Dalmatian named Jeramaz, with whom he conversed in the Dutch and Slavonic languages. I know these gentlemen intimately, and they assured me that Father O'Carroll spoke their languages with extraordinary ease and correctness. I was preset also several times at Propaganda College when he conversed in Modern Greek with a young Greek who assured me similarly”

Matthew Russell in the “Irish Monthly” :
“One day that St Aloysius and his fellow-novices were ‘at recreation’ - as the phrase is in convents - the question was mooted what each should do if he were told that in a few minutes he was to die. One would hurry off to his Confessor and try receive the sacramental absolution for the last time with the most perfect possible dispositions. Another would run to the chapel and pour out his soul before the altar in fervent acts of contrition. Aloysius said that he would go on with his recreation, for that is what God wished of him at that moment. Father O'Carroll did not guess, on the last morning of his life, that this same question was practically proposed to him, but it so happened that on that last morning he made use of these methods of immediate preparation for death. But his daily habitual life was the best preparation, and for the suddenness of his death was only an additional mercy. ‘Cujus anime propitietur Deus’.”

Father O’Carroll worked on cheerfully and earnestly, though it was known that he suffered from disease of the heart.

(full text appeared in “The Freeman’s Journal”, along with many Testimonials from his peers in various Universities around Europe, the morning after his death)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John O’Carroll 1837-1889
Fr John O’Carroll was the Mezzofanti of the Irish Province of the Society. He was master of fourteen languages and literatures, he could converse in eight of others, and could read eight or nine more. Besides the ordinary European languages, he knew Russian, Polish, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Serbian, Illyrian and Hungarian.

He was born at 51, Great Charles Street, Dublin, on September 1st 1837. His father was Redmond O’Carroll, first President General of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Ireland, and a direct descendant of the O’Carroll’s of Ely. There were only two sons, Francis who became an Oratorian and died young, and John who became a Jesuit in 1853. He was therefore the last direct descendant of the O’Carrolls.

He showed a linguistic bent early, so that in the various countries in which he pursued his studies, he was able, in a short time, so to qualify himself as to be appointed government examiner in some branches of the public examinations. He had no difficulty in being appointed to the chair of Modern Languages in the Royal University. He was as proficient in Irish as in the other languages, and he contributed frequently to the “Gaelic Journal” and the “Lyceum”.

His death was sudden. On Shrove Tuesday, March 5th 1889, he pursued his researches in Trinity College Library until four o’clock, and then continued them in the library of St Francis Xavier’s Gardiner Street. Hurrying home after five o’clock to University College Stephen’s Green, he was seen to be very ill. There was but time to administer Extreme Unction, before he expired at the comparatively early age of 52. His obituary notice in the Freeman’s Journal contained the following :

“We deplore the sudden death which has taken him off with only a few minutes warning. We cannot but regard it as a national loss. As it is, his fame must not grow to the measure of his intellectual abilities. But his name will nonetheless remain enshrined in the memory of those who had the good fortune to know him intimately and to learn from him, how transcendent gifts of mind, may be combined with the most touching modesty, and rare endowments of intellect enhanced by the charm of unaffected humility”.

◆ The Clongownian, 1906

Two Distinguished Scholars

I Father John James O’Carroll SJ

by Father Matthew Russell SJ

John James O’Carroll was born at 51 Great Charles Street, Dublin, September Ist, 1837. Through his mother, a member of the Good family, he was connected with the Dease and Naish families. His father, Redmond O'Carroll, is memorable for one fact in his life. On the death of a relative he had entered into possession of a large landed property, when he himself discovered in some secret place a will bequeathing the property to another. He at once gave the property up, and remained poor all his life.

John James O'Carroll was educated at Clongowes, as was also his younger brother, Francis, who afterwards joined Father Faber's Oratory in London. He himself, when sixteen years old, joined the Society of Jesus, September 13th, 1853. He was always singularly pious, humble, obedient, . and amiable. His bent in study was towards the acquisition of languages. His acquirements in this department were amazing. We have his own testimony on the subject in the letter in which he offered himself as candidate for a Fellowship of Modern Languages in the Royal University of Ireland. He was incapable of untruth or exaggeration; and therefore we know that he was thoroughly acquainted with Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Bohemian, Russian, Serbian, Dalmatian, and Croatian. To these we may add Latin and modern Greek as well as ancient Greek, Father O'Carroll is careful to claim a much lower degree of acquaintance with Icelandic, Anglo Saxon, Romanian, Bulgarian, Carniolese and Romaic. In The Irish Monthly for 1889 (vol xvii., PP. 211-115) a most interesting collection of testimonies is given from Max Muller and Sundry Germans, Frenchmen, Italians, etc., each bearing witness that in his own language and literature Father O'Carroll was as much at home as an educated native.

After working for many years in Clongowes, and at Galway, Father O'Carroll was placed on the staff of University College, Dublin, and was appointed an Examiner, and afterwards a Fellow of the Royal University. He laboured assiduously at all the duties of his office, finding time also for an enthusiastic study of Gaelic literature, to which he contributed much original work. In his personal relations he was a model of every amiable virtue, a man of singular holiness. He was always ready for the end, which came suddenly on the 5th of March, 1889.

The following is the obituary notice which appeared in “The Freeman's Journal” the morning after his death :

“We deeply regret to announce the death of one of our country's most gifted scholars - Rev. JJ O'Carroll SJ, Professor of Modern Languages, University College, and Examiner in these same subjects in the Royal University. To men of education in Ireland it is unnecessary to explain what a loss the cause of learning has sustained in him. We do not exceed the rigid truth when we state that he has left not one in Ireland who can adequately fill his place, He was a master of almost all the languages of Europe a master in the fullest sense of the term. He spoke them fluently, and he was an adept in their literatures. The Russian and the Hungarian, which are beyond the reach of most of our literati, were familiar to him - even the provincial dialects of these strange tongues afforded him scope for the exercise of his singular talent. He was an indefatigable student, seeking every facility to extend the range of his knowledge. The ships which brought foreigners from distant lands to Dublin sometimes supplied him with teachers, and it was not unusual for him to pay a foreign sailor to sit with him in his room by the hour and talk to him in the language of Sweden or of Iceland. Hitherto he had been engaged accumulating his stores of knowledge; he had just begun to utilise his vast acquirements for the advantage of others. Works of rare merit on which he was engaged must now remain unfinished. There is no one who can complete fittingly the tasks to which he had put his band, but which he has not been spared to accomplish. We deplore the sudden death which has taken him off with only a few minutes warning. We cannot but regard it as a national loss. As it is, his fame must not grow to the measure of his intellectual merits. But his name will none the less remain enshrined in the memory of those who had the good fortune to know him intimately, and to learn from him how transcendent gifts of mind may be combined with the most touching modesty and rare endowments of intellect, enhanced by the charms of unaffected humility”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John O’Carroll (1837-1889)

A native of Dublin and alumnus of Clongowes, was one of the most remarkable Jesuits who have ever passed through the Crescent. More remarkable perhaps is the fact that no one saw anything remarkable about him. Father O'Carroll was the most accomplished linguist of his time. All his studies in the Society, which he entered in 1853, were made abroad. On his return to Ireland as a priest, this man of very modest, self-effacing bearing was sent to teach in the colleges. He came to the Crescent as prefect of studies in 1887 and remained here four years. Shortly after his departure from Limerick, Father O'Carroll was appointed to the position of Examiner in Modern Languages to the Royal University of Ireland and resided at University College, Dublin until his death. Father O'Carroll had mastered some two dozen European languages, between Romance, Teutonic and Slav.

Born: 16 June 1932, Clifton Ville, Ennis Road, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 06 August 1992, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM: 03 December 1969

Son of Mr and Mrs Thomas O'Brien. Father was a businessman.

Second in a family of ten, nine boys and one girl.

Educated at Crescent College SJ for nine years.

by 1959 at Chivuna, Monze, N Rhodesia - studying language Regency

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Tom's death was very sudden. He was acting Mission Procurator in Dublin and had just picked up his sister from the airport. He drove back to the Mission Office. While speaking to her there, he just fell from his chair, with a massive heart attack, and so he died. That was on 6 August 1992.

Tom was born in Limerick in 1932, attended the Jesuit school of the Crescent and then entered the Society in 1950 in Emo. He pursued the normal course of studies of the Society and came out to Zambia for his regency where he taught, prefected and was games master at Canisius Secondary School and Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College.

He was ordained priest at Milltown Park, Dublin on 31st July 1964 and returned to Zambia after his tertianship. He was in the Southern Province from 1966 to 1970 as minister and bursar at Chikuni, minister and assistant Parish Priest in Monze and minister/teacher at Charles Lwanga TTC. The rest of his life in Zambia was spent in Lusaka. Chaplaincy and teaching occupied his time and he also helped in the parish at St Ignatius. He taught at Munali Secondary and Chongwe Secondary. For the Advanced Primary Course at Chalimbana, he taught Religious Education as well as being involved in student counselling. Students at Evelyn Hone College also saw him for spiritual direction. Counselling was what he wished to do with third level students and so he studied at Loyola University in Chicago, USA, for his Masters in Education.

From 1978 to 1983 he became socius/secretary to the provincial, a job which took him to all the Jesuit houses. He became rector of Luwisha House in 1983 and worked as chaplain at the Christian Centre at UNZA. While there, he had a serious heart attack and left for Ireland when he was well enough to travel. It was while he was acting mission procurator, that he had the massive heart attack. As he wished, he was active to the end.

There was a history of heart sickness in the family. Tom himself had minor strokes as well as a by-pass. He was well aware that he would probably die from a heart attack but forged ahead with his life even with this in mind. He was so busy in Dublin – meetings of the Irish Missionary Union, interviewing possible volunteer teachers, traveling for Missionary Exhibitions, fund raising, bringing missionary awareness to the pupils of the Jesuit schools in Ireland – these all kept him on the go. Added to these were family functions such as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

His great talent was his ability to relate to other people, to share friendship with them. He had his own close circle of friends in the Society, yet this never interfered with his sharing his friendship with others. He was approachable and warm-hearted, person-centered. Being with others meant more to Tom than efficiency in planning and execution. On one occasion, he had three appointments in different places at the same time! He looked for the best side of others, accepting them as they were. In his own communities he would give himself as freely and as warmly to the shy and withdrawn as to the stronger members.

A 20-year friend of Tom wrote about him after his death: “He loved life; he loved people. And he did so from a base that was hidden and silent because he dreaded that anyone would think him ‘pious’. But over the years, I became more and more aware of that hidden rock in Tom – his love of Christ. It came through in his homilies to the students and his love of the Jesuits. I think he was at his most fulfilled and contented as a Jesuit during his years at Luwisha. He loved his brothers. I find myself also thinking of the contradictions in him. He was confident and proud; but he was also humble. He was contented, so contented – but he was questioning, sometimes startlingly so. He was above all compassionate but his compassion didn't let you off the hook”.

Note from Jean Indeku Entry
In 1955 he came to Northern Rhodesia with Fr. Tom O’Brien and scholastics Michael Kelly and Michael Tyrrell. They were among the first batch of missionaries to come by air and the journey from London took almost five days via Marseilles – Malta – Wadi Halfa (now under the Aswan Dam) – Mersa Matruh (north Egypt) – Nairobi – Ndola – and finally to Lusaka.