Showing 453 results

Born: 25 May 1815, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
Entered: 01 September 1843, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1859
Died: 13 June 1883, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 17 March 1768, Ireland
Entered: 10 October 1806 Georgetown College MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR))
Professed: 02 February 1821
Died: 04 October 1837, St Thomas, Port Tobacco, Maryland, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 04 January 1829, Naas, County Kildare
Entered: 16 November 1859, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Professed: 15 August 1870
Died: 15 July 1894, St Mary’s, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 14 September 1823, Enniscrone, County Sligo
Entered: 26 February 1853, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Professed: 15 August 1864
Died: 17 October 1891, St Louis University, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Part of the St Mary's, Kansas, KS, USA community at the time of death

Born: 20 September 1775, Athy, County Kildare
Entered: 17 November 1817, Richmond, Virginia, USA - Maryland Mission (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1829
Died: 09 August 1864, Georgetown College MD, USA - Maryland Province (MAR)

Born: 31 December 1826, Cloonmore, Tuam, County Galway
Entered: 17 November 1851, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Professed: 02 February 1862
Died: 02 September 1914, St Francis Hospital, New York NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

part of the Fordham College, New York, NY, USA community at the time of death

Born: 22 June 1804, Aghaloo, County Tyrone
Entered: 12 April 1845, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 08 January 1857
Died: 27 September 1888, Mercy Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Part of the Woodstock College, Washington DC, USA community at the time of death.

Born: 01 March 1814, Tintern, County Wexford
Entered: 12 February 1853, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Professed: 15 August 1863, Sault-au-Récollet, Montréal, Canada
Died: 03 November 1885, St Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 12 July 1808, Minorstown, County Tipperary
Entered: 13 March 1843, Ste Marie, Bardstown KY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Professed: 02 February 1861
Died: 22 August 1879, Jersey City Sisters Hospital, NJ, USA

Part of the Fordham College, Bronx, New York USA community at the time of death.

Born: 25 November 1839, Pécs, Baranya, Hungary
Entered: 22 May 1864, Turnov, Austria (ASR)
Final vows: 08 December 1874
Died: 06 November 1922, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed : ASR-HUN to HIB 01/01/1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was an Austrian Province Brother who elected to stay with the Irish Fathers when they took responsibility for the Australian Mission in 1901.
He spent almost all of his life in Australia at Sevenhill and died there 06 November 1922.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Francis Xavier Waldrnann entered the Society at Tyrnau, Austria, 22 May 1864, but finished the noviciate at Szathmar, where he worked as cook, sacristan and gardener. He left Vienna for Australia with Leo Rogalski, 3 December 1869, and arrived at Sevenhill on 5 April 1870, where he was cook, storekeeper, baker, and stonemason, for most of his life. His only time away from Sevenhill was 1884-89, at Georgetown, and 1897-98 at Norwood.
Waldmann was a fine craftsman, and a loving one, devoting what time he could find to his craft. His chief monument is the stone carving on the church at Sevenhill. He continued his work when he was very old, feeble and practically blind, working by the feel of the stone. His life was a long, holy and useful one.

Born: 17 March 1818, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 01 June 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 29 March 1890, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent all his Jesuit life as a tailor at Clongowes. He was a holy old man.
He was one of Father Bracken’s eight Brother Novices who Ent 1858 and persevered to the end. He died at Clongowes 29 March 1890.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 31 December 1816, Ardee, County Louth
Entered: 30 April 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 26 November 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

1901 Census inicates born in Meath.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
According to himself, a sermon by the famous Dr Cahill was the occasion of his deciding to enter Religion. The key statement by Dr Cahill was “Woe to him who is alone”!

Note from Daniel Scully Entry :
He had a very long illness, and was carefully nursed by his old friend Brother George Sillery, who told many amusing stories about him.

His Noviceship was spent first at Clongowes and then at Tullabeg.
1861 He was sent to Belvedere, and was there for 38 years.
1900 He was sent to Tullabeg, and he died there 26 November 1901

His simple homely ways, his unaffected gentleness and piety made him a favourite of everyone. Nothing seemed to affect his mood and temper, even in very trying times. His standard response to anything was a calm “Aye”!
He had a long and fairly uneventful life. He was always either in the Chapel, at Prayer or at Work. At the same time, he was not an austere ascetic, he had a great sense of humour and love a joke. He loved to tell amusing stories from his life, and also quote some of the rhymes he had stored up calling it a “Bit of poethry”!
In his later years he began to dote a bit, and there are a legion of stories on his exploits, one of which included his rousing the Community for prayer in the small hours of the night. The Rector woke one night at 2am to find him standing by his bed, swinging a piece of burning rope around his head and telling him it was time to get up! It was said that on more than one occasion he all but set the house on fire! he had a great affinity for matches, a large quantity of which he kept in his room, and he would journey through the house at midday lighting any gas jet he could find. In the end his memory failed him completely. Often when he had recently completed a meal, he would turn up in the refectory asking what time the meal would begin. Famously, at one domestic exhortation which went on a bit long, he suddenly threw up his hands and spoke in a fairly loud voice “Blessed Mother of God, will he ever stop”! These and many other similar stories made his name a household one, especially in the Novitiate, where he died 26 November 1901.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother George Sillery 1816-1901
Br George Sillery was born on December 31st 1916 and entered the Society in 1858. According to himself, the cause of his vocation was a sermon he heard preached by the famous Dr Cahill in Dublin. His text was “Woe to him that is alone”. The preacher dwelt with such persuasive eloquence on the evils of a solitary life, that Br George resolved to seek in religious life a remedy for the loneliness and spiritless derelictions of this world. His noviceship was spent at Clongowes and Tullabeg, after which he came to Belvedere in 1861. In 1900 he was transferred to Tullabeg and he remained there until his death.

His life was long and uneventful. It flowed on its unvarying round of prayers and work till he reached the patriarchal age of 85. In the latter years of his old age he began to dote, and he lost all sense of time. Just when the Litanies were ending in the evening he was often heard asking when they wold begin. Once, when a domestic exhortation lasted rather long, old Br George, sublimely oblivious of his surroundings, suddenly threw up his hands and said in a fairly loud voice “Blessed Mother of God, will he ever stop”. These and a thousand other anecdotes made his name a household word among the novices in the Novitiate, where he died on November 26th 1901.

Born: 06 January 1822, County Fermanagh
Entered: 14 August 1848, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 15 August 1859
Died: 08 January 1882, St Mary's, Kansas, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 06 May 1835, County Wicklow
Entered: 12 June 1874, Sevenhill - Austriaco-Hungaricae (ASR-HUN)
Final Vows: 02 October 1884
Died: 29 July 1915, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He originally belonged to the Austrian Mission in South Australia and then the HIB Mission after amalgamation in 1901.
He had charge of the Vintage cellar at Sevenhill and also worked in the garden.
He was very hardworking and remained at Sevenhill until his death there 29 July 1915.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Storey migrated from Ireland to Australia and worked as a labourer before entering the Society at Sevenhill, 12 June 1874. He worked at Sevenhill for the rest of his life performing all necessary domestic duties, keeping the books and was in charge of the servants. He was cellarer from 1889-1911, and was the first non-Austrian to have charge of the winery. He greatly enhanced the reputation of the Sevenhill winery producing good quality wines, especially altar wine.
He combined evenness of temperament, good judgment and general reliability with good humour and wit, and so was not only respected but also liked by all who came into contact with him. He had a large funeral, and was one of the more striking figures of the Austrian Mission.

Born: 10 August 1794, County Wexford
Entered: 12 November 1825, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 25 May 1864, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His parents were good Catholics, and made many sacrifices for their faith in troubled times. He was very talented, and had he had better opportunities, he might have become a distinguished man of his day. It was said the he was brought up innocently and “free of the contagion of the world”. He was keen to become a religious, but his aged parents needed his help, and so he became a carpenter in order to support them. When they died, he sought admission as a postulant. He then Ent 12 November 1825 at Tullabeg.

He lived 40 years as a Jesuit, and always appeared the same no matter where he was asked to serve. Modesty, humility and fraternal charity were his favourite virtues. In advance aged he was released from responsibility, but continued to work. He had spent some few years at Clongowes, and a short time at the Dublin Residence. Most of his religious life was spent in Tullabeg, and this is where he died 25 May 1864. He is buried in the old Rahan Cemetery beside Brother Egan.

Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Born: 08 February 1793, Kilworth, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1819, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 30 January 1893, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
John was the eighth Brother to join the Irish Province. He began his Noviceship in the company of John Doyle; Patrick Doyle; Peter Egan and Michael Gallagher, who all Entered on the same day. He was “Master Tailor” and widely known to the Province - there is hardly one he did not clothe, either as boys or Jesuits.

Joseph Dalton writes of him :
“After many years in the College, he did not - though he probably felt it - ‘quorus magna pars fui’, he was moved to Dublin and St Francis Xavier’s Church and Presbytery, where he spent the rest of his days as tailor, assistant infirmarian, and Reader i the Community refectory. This last duty he performed very correctly and wit great ‘gusto’, even in his old age. He was greatly liked by all for his simple piety, respectful manner and kindness to the sick. He was well known by many from all parts of Ireland, who knew him when they were boys in the Colleges, and they spoke of him always with respect and affection. His fellow Lay Brothers looked on him as a Patriarch among them, and treated him with great respect.”

He was a truly edifying religious.

Note from John Nelson Entry
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

Born: 12 March 1818, Killarney, County Kerry
Entered: 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 14 January 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent almost all his Jesuit life at Clongowes as Horticulturalist. He had charge of the Farm for many years.
1866 He was sent to care for his own health to Tullabeg, where he led a most saintly life. He was a model Brother all through his hard life. He died at Tullabeg 14 January 1893.

Born: 26 January 1835, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Entered: 02 May 1856, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 11 May 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a tailor by trade. He worked at Milltown as a tailor for many years. He was later sent to Tullabeg, and when it closed in 1856, he went to Clongowes, where he worked until his death 11 May 1894. He was a model of industry.

Born: 10 August 1791, County Wexford
Entered: 07 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Clane, County Kildare
Died: 20 May 1865, Kolkata, Bengal, India

by 1839 in Calcutta Mission; We have a date of death from somewhere and he disappears from the 1844 Catalogue, having been in up to 1841

Born: 15 June 1834, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 28 February 1868, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 01 November 1878
Died: 06 May 1908, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1874-1876 He was at UCD
1876-1881 He was sent to Galway
1888 He was sent to Clongowes and he died in hospital but was buried there 06 May 1908
He was a painter by trade. he was considered a very handy, painstaking, hardworking and most obliging man. He was quiet and retiring in manner, but was often chosen as Manductor for the Brother Novices.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Glazier before entry

◆ The Clongownian, 1908

Obituary

Brother Daniel Hampson SJ

The hand of death has been heavy on Clongownians this year. Few were so intimately connected with Clongowes as Brother Daniel Hampson. He was here for a great number of years, but now be is gone. Many prayers have gone with him for he was much beloved. We all liked him and admired his goodness. He astonished everyone by his marvellous memory. The department of the Magazine over which he presided was one to tax the best of memories his was seldom found wanting. Brother Hampson was respected by all classes in the neighbour hood. He was very zealous, particularly for the Propagation of the Faith, and he distributed the periodical of the Society and made the annual collection with great earnestness. Punctuality was one of his most noted characteristics. He was for many years Sacristan, an office which he filled with great zeal. He wound up a long, earnest life, devoted with great singlemindedness to God's service, by a pious death. He has now gone to his reward, and the regrets and prayers of many past Clongowoians will follow him.

Born: 05 April 1829, Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath
Entered: 01 January 1853, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 02 February 1864
Died: 10 December 1915, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 24 September 1815, Draperstown, County Derry
Entered: 19 June 1851, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 08 September 1862
Died: 18 December 1905, St Mary’s, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 24 June 1777, County Galway
Entered: 26 September 1820, White Marsh MD - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August1833
Died: 13 March 1862, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 20 December 1822, Ballyheane, County Mayo
Entered: 25 July 1854, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1864
Died: 30 December 1895, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 01 January 1794, Shandrum, Charleville, County Cork
Entered: 01 July 1845, St Mary’s, Lebanon, KY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final Vows: 25 March 1857
Died: 28 July 1875, Xavier College, New York, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province (NEBCAN)

Born: 01 September 1786, Leixlip, County Kildare
Entered: 07 September 1819, St Stanislaus, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 04 December 1866, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a carpenter by trade. It is not certain when he first went to Clongowes, but after several petitions, he was finally accepted in the Noviceship at Tullabeg 07/09/1819.

He spent the greater part of his life in the Society at Clongowes. He was very hardworking and made himself very useful. He was industrious and skillful and “paratus ad omnia”. Nothing was beneath him, although he often had the lion’s share of the work to be done. He wore the oldest clothes, washed and cleaned the dormitories, and this and other similar kinds of work were his delight. He was both innocent and remarkable for his singular good humour, d though naturally quick tempered, he never showed it in his work, governing it with humility and modesty.
During the last years of his life he suffered much. The fact that he had been so active and now unable to be so pained him greatly. In time he became both blind and deaf, and he bore all these sufferings with great patience. He died peacefully 04/12/1866, after 47 years of service in the Society.

Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02/02/1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Michael Gallagher 1796-1866
Br Michael Gallagher was born in Leixlip County Dublin in 1796. A carpenter by trade, he became a Jesuit Brother in 1819.

The greater part of his life was spent at Clongowes. He was a “paratus ad omnia”, nothing was beneath him, although he always had the lion’s share of disagreeable work.

Though naturally of a quick temper, he scarcely ever sign of it, but governed it by humility and modesty. During the later years of his l;ife he suffered much, especially from being incapable of work, when he had been so active. He became blind and deaf.

At a ripe age of seventy years, forty seven of which he spent in the Society, he died peacefully and full of merit on December 4th 1866.

Born: 17 March 1815, Monsea, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 December 1857, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Final vows: 19 March 1868
Died: 21 May 1875, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Born: 29 June 1833, County Kildare
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 24 December 1884, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a baker by trade, and a Manductor to the Brother Novices at Clongowes.
1866 He was sent to Gardiner St, and he worked hard in various posts until his death there Christmas Eve 1884. By a strange coincidence, Fr Joseph Lentaigne, who had received him as Provincial, died in the same community the day before. Both coffins were laid on the High Altar on 26 December 1884.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were Christopher Coffey, Peter Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 10 October 1836, County Waterford
Entered: 27 February 1855, Florissant MO, USA - Missourians Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 02 February 1867
Died: 10 March 1918, Florissant MO, USA - Missourians Province (MIS)

Born: 01 January 1841, County Mayo
Entered: 20 June 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1876
Died: 21 June 1903, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Aloysius Sturzo was Novice Master to Thomas at Milltown.
After his First Vows he remained at Milltown as Cook.
He was then sent to Gardiner St as Refectorian. He was known there as a man who always had a god word for you, especially for externs he came in contact with,
1886-1888 He spent a year each in Clongowes and Milltown.
1888 He returned to Gardiner St.
Eighteen months before his death he had a serious operation for cancer, which prolonged his life a little. He was a most edifying patient during his final illness, and died on the Feast of St Aloysius at Gardiner St 21 June 1903

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Thomas Flatley 1842-1903
Br Thomas Flatley, who was born on January 7th 1842, entered the Society 24 years later. He did his noviceship at Milltown Park under Fr Sturzo.

The greater part of his life he worked at Gardiner Street. While there, he ever lost the opportunity of saying a good word in due season, to the many externs with whom he came in contact.

Eighteen months before his death he underwent a sever operation, which only prolonged his life for a short while. His conduct during his last illness was most patient and edifying, and he died calmly on the Feast of St Aloysius, June 21st 1903.

Born: 02 April 1836, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 03 September 1857, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 07 July 1885, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Born: 17 March 1828, Leinster
Entered: 03 December 1850, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 15 August 1862
Died: 28 February 1865, St Louis University, St Louis MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 02 February 1819, Cloonygormican, County Roscommon
Entered: 09 November 1854, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 02 February 1865
Died: 22 June 1888, Sault-au-Récollet, Montréal, Québec, Canada - Missions Canadiensis (CAN)

Born: 25 July 1832, Drumshambo, County Leitrim
Entered: 15 July 1855, Sault-au-Rècollet Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 15 August 1865
Died: 10 May 1908, St Andrew on Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 1578, Ireland
Entered: 1614, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final vows: 1630
Died: 20 September 1643, Ghent, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias FitzEdmund
1628 Socius of the Procurator of ANG

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1628 In Madrid
Latin name of Edwardus is Edmundus.
He is called an Irishman in Catalogue ANG 1628 (cf Foley’s "Collectanea")

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
EDMUNDS, EDMUND, of Devonshire. This confidential lay-brother died at Ghent, 20th September, 1643, aet.75, Rel. 27.

Born: 10 May 1814, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 13 September 1855, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 02 February 1866
Died: 19 January 1892, Fordham College, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 20 December 1829, Richardstown, County Louth
Entered: 23 September 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1865
Died: 10 April 1903, Woodstock College, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 24 June 1826, Downpatrick, County Down
Entered: 05 September 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 27 June 1902, Georgetown College , Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 10 January 1822, Paulstown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 17 August 1850, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 16 December 1896, Fordham College, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 19 July 1858, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria
Entered: 14 August 1879, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final vows: 08 September 1890
Died: 23 January 1923, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed : ASR-HUN to HIB 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was an Austrian Province Brother whom elected to stay with the Irish Fathers when they took responsibility for the Australian Mission in 1901.
1910 He was at Sevenhill
1912 He was at Xavier College, Kew, and he died in Melbourne 23 January 1923

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Vincent Scharmer entered the Society at St Andra, 14 August 1879, and after vows worked as a carpenter at Kalocsa, Hungary He arrived in Adelaide, 13 December 1883, and, with Josef Conrath, went to the Northern Territory Mission, 24 January 1884. He worked as a builder and carpenter during his time in Australia, first at Rapid Creek, 188489, and then at the Daly River, 1890-99. He also performed whatever domestic duties were required, which included caring for the Aborigines and sacristan. He went to Sevenhill, 1899-10, and finally to Xavier College, Kew, 1910-23.
He was a man of powerful physique, and an excellent carpenter. He was most valuable building structures on the Northern Territory Mission and had a reputation among the Aborigines for proficiency in the use of firearms. He saved the mission station on one occasion from the attack of some Aborigines by firing over their heads.
He had a most picturesque and unusual personality. At Xavier College he was so good with finances that he saved the college large sums of money. He carried out every duty entrusted to him with great thoroughness and even combativeness, for which he was known as “the Old Watch Dog”. He had a rugged appearance and an iron will. in performing functions he cared not for anyone except superiors. Directions were carried out to the letter. He even refused entrance at the Xavier gates to the current mission superior, until his identity was made clear.
There was something of the Prussian drill-sergeant in him. He kept four cats for his cellars, and they were all drilled like dragoons. He did much business over the telephone, and hearing him issuing orders gave one an admiration for the interpretative powers of Australian tradesmen. He was not easy to understand, yet the goods always appeared at the college.
He was also a skilled mechanic, a strenuous worker, and orderly to the last degree. His somewhat dour character was enlivened by a grim kind of humour. He loved a joke. Despite increasing sickness, he continued working for as long as he could stand on his feet. He was, indeed, a true and faithful soldier. with genuine kind-heartedness and much generosity.

Note from Friedrich Schwarz Entry
Frederick Schwarz entered the Society 29 July 1874, and arrived in Adelaide with Josef Conrath and Vinzenz Scharmer, 13 December 1883.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1923

Obituary

Brother Vincent Scharmer SJ

(Born in the Tyrol, July, 1858;. entered the Austrian Province of the Society, August 14, 1879; came to Australia and spent some years on the Austrian Mission to the blacks in the Northern Territory; came to Xavier in 1910 and died there on the 23rd of January, 1923.)

In Brother Vincent Scharmer the College lost a most useful and devoted servant and a picturesque, if somewhat unusual, personality. In charge of the commissariat department, he saved the College large sums of money by his excellent management and avoidance of all waste. He carried out every duty entrusted to him with such thoroughness and, at times, combativeness, that he was popularly known as “the Old Watch Dog”. He liked that title, and it truly described him. He was somewhat rugged, both in appearance and in character, and had a will - or an obstinacy - of the wrought iron quality.

In carrying out instructions he cared not a jot for anyone except his superiors, and it was felt by all that to make him swerve from his instructions it would be necessary to pass over his dead body. If he was told to allow no one through a certain gate on a certain occasion, the Prime Minister or the Governor-General himself would have sought admittance in vain. In carrying out even such a task on one occasion he “put his foot in it” very badly. During the College Sports he was sent to the Minister to hold the gate on the back avenue and to allow no one through without a ticket. This was a precaution against the admission of undesirables. Brother Vincent made no invidious distinctions: he carried out his instructions to the letter, Several meritorious visitors without tickets had to look for admission elsewhere. Whether they were doctors or lawyers or members of Parliament mattered not in the least to Brother Scharmer. Then came along a tall and stately reverend gentleman, no less a personage than his own highest superior, Father T Brown, the head of all the Jesuit houses in Australia, but whom Brother Vincent had never seen before. “Tickets; please!” said he, blocking the way. Father Brown was highly amused, and not yet revealing his identity, maintained that he had no need of a ticket, “Your Reverence can't pass!” he said. And the sentry barred the way to his general! Father Brown tried every argument to effect an entry, but in vain. Only when he revealed his identity were the gates thrown open.

Brother Scharmer was a Tyrolese, but he had something in him of the Prussian drill-serjeant. He kept four cats for his cellars, and they were all drilled like dragoons. Every evening he whistled for them at a certain hour, and they came tumbling over one another to be at their posts on time. Not exactly that they loved him, but because they were trained on the strict military plan and dared not violate the regulations. Then they followed him down to the cellars, and each was locked into its respective dungeon. He gave away nothing to the mice.

He did a lot of business on the telephone. To hear him issuing orders gave you a high idea of the interpretative powers of our Australian tradesmen. It was little short of the miraculous that any of them ever understood a single word of his mumblings through the phone. Yet the goods came in all right - as a rule; but not always. One day le ordered as follows: “Ten backs off flour fifty pounds eack-ke”. This meant, “Ten bags of four of fifty pounds weight each”. He repeated the order five times, and the Kew grocer, despite his remarkable powers of interpretation, despatched 10 bags of four and 50 pounds of treacle!

He was a skilled mechanic, a strenuous worker, orderly to the last degree in all his business arrangements, and, as we have seen, faithful to a fault in all his appointed tasks. His somewhat dour character was enlivened by a grim kind, of humour; he loved a joke. His manful and religious disposition shone out conspicuously in the closing year of his life. He suffered much, but never repined. While clearly a dying man and unable to retain solid food in his stomach, and later on unable to swallow anything but liquid nourishment - and that with the greatest difficulty, he continued to work as long as he could stand on his feet. Undismayed by the approach of death, he treated in his grim way the break down of his physical forces almost as a joke.

He was a true and a strong man, a faithful soldier who never faltered at the word of command, and his genuine kind heartedness endeared him to everyone who knew him long enough to get a glimpse of the sterling qualities that lay beneath his rugged and unbending exterior. May the Lord rest his soul!

E Boylan SJ

Born: 24 June 1789, Dingle, County Kerry
Entered: 01 April 1828, St Louis, Missouri, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 15 August 1839
Died: 25 May 1863, St Louis, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 28 June 1872, Glasthule, County Dublin
Entered 01 February 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1904
Died: 26 July 1959, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 34th Year No 4 1959
Obituary :
Br Denis Fennell

Denis Peter Fennell was born in Glasthule on 28th June, 1872 and died in St. Vincent's Hospital last July. Of his 87 years, over 59 were spent in Clongowes, where he worked patiently and efficiently as accountant and assistant to the Procurator to within a week or so of his death.
From his boyhood he deeply venerated the priestly and religious state and he first cherished the ambition of entering a seminary and devoting himself to God as a priest in the foreign missions preferably, he said, in a remote and painful mission. Family circumstances, however, imposed a delay and he joined the office of the Freeman's Journal in Dublin in 1889. Here, during an exciting and critical period of Irish history, 1889-1892, he worked in the capacity of shorthand-typist and junior secretary to the Manager, meeting the editors of the three papers published from that office and listening to the interesting and informative conversation of journalists and reporters during the dramatic years of the Parnell “split”. He had some interviews with the Provincial, Fr. Timothy Kenny, at that time, and it was suggested that he should pursue his studies and enter as a scholastic; but the disedifying aspects of the controversies then raging and the fact that his newspaper decided to his dismay to advocate the continued leadership of Parnell convinced him that it was time to flee the world. In any case he had, he believed, received a light in prayer that he would please God far more and do far more work for Him as a brother than as a priest. This, he said, overcame his natural reluctance to forego his first zealous desire, so he applied for admission at once and entered Tullabeg on 4th August, 1892.
Before his noviceship had been completed he was sent to Clongowes to undertake some urgent work and he remained there until it was time to return to Tullabeg for his vows. At once he was sent back to Clongowes and he remained there until his death in 1959 with but one break of six years. From 1918-1921 he was in Tullabeg and from 1921-1924 in Belvedere. He was to state towards the close of his life that he felt most grateful to God for this interruption of his long years of service in Clongowes. The sojourn in the quiet of our midland Thebaid and later amid the busy streets of Dublin helped, he felt, his love of solitude and shaped an inclination towards the mystical life, preparing him for the long term that awaited him among the account-books and money bags of Clongowes. Indeed, he once stated with an endearing simplicity that for a Jesuit he was exceptionally contemplative! He mentioned too that while a few past pupils, notably Sir Gilbert Laithwaite and Mr. Bobby Keogh, invariably went in search of him when they visited the old school, as regards other Old Clongownians, however much he might esteem and like them, he usually succeeded in following the counsel of the Imitation of Christ to keep from the company of men as much as he could”.
While he was in Tullabeg he wrote a little book entitled The Loving Adorer of Jesus. It consisted of 96 closely-printed pages of prayers in verse, and was, he proudly said, “honoured with the imprimatur of Archbishop Byrne and published by the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland”. He insisted on its being published anonymously but a few of his religious brethren and some old friends came to know the secret.
His long years of devoted service in Clongowes were passed within a narrow compass - his office, the chapel, his room. Apart from these places and in dispensable visits to the refectory, only the library saw him. Here he would peruse the news columns of the daily papers for half-an-hour or so, sometimes while Fathers waited with a kindly smile for the old man to finish his reading. His view of the world was that of the prelude to the meditation of Two Standards and he believed that he could see in the daily news items the working out of the conflict between the forces of Christ and the forces of the Evil One, thus drawing matter for contemplation even from the morning paper.
The study of history too was a favourite hobby of his and here again his standpoint was the same. I do not know if in his youth he had read De Civitate Dei or l'Histoire Universelle, but in heaven he will have discovered an affinity with Bossuet and St. Augustine. Not surprisingly his interest began with Irish history, as he felt that his vocation had been to some extent determined by it. His views were, of course, occasionally extravagant and unbalanced, for he lacked professional training in that study. But he had as much as some of those who looked askance at this hobby of his and had read more widely and systematically than most. In his service of God in Clongowes he was a model of punctuality, exactitude and method: even if the method was peculiarly his own it was intelligent and it worked. Members of that community have said that it was always a pleasure to deal with him. He was kindly, deferential, soft-spoken, always a perfect gentleman. When Fathers who were about to travel went to him to collect a viaticum, he invariably inquired anxiously if they were sure they had enough a solicitude not always remarked in keepers of the common purse-courteously and charitably presuming that their devotion to holy poverty was not less than his own. Finally, he was a religious who kept on working to an age when most others would have drifted into a well-merited retirement. The very large number of Jesuits who attended the funeral Mass said by his nephew testified to the esteem in which he was held by the Province in general and by all who had connections with Clongowes in particular. The community there will miss him and the Brothers have lost an old companion who was interesting, well-informed, edifying and withal possessed of a deep and charitable sense of humour - a remarkable man and a remarkable Jesuit Brother. May he rest in peace after his long labours.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953

Jubilee

Brother Denis Fennell SJ

In February Brother Fennell celebrated his Diamond Jubilee as a member of the Society of Jesuis. He first came to Clongowes in November, 1894 and, with the exception of the years 1918-24 which were spent in Tullabeg and Belvedere, he has passed his long and devoted life here.

Early on in his life in the Society, Brother Fennell's talents in book-keeping were recognised by his superiors. He was appointed accountant and assistant to the procurator of Clongowes and has been employed in this exacting work ever since. Over the long years he has given splendidly efficient but unobstrusive service in the procurator's office and Clongowes owes him a debt of deep gratitude. It is characteristic of Brother Fennell's devotion to duty that he spent the most of his Jubilee day at the books. His sixty years of signal service have in no way diminished his ardour for work and we pray that Brother Fennell with his useful talents may long be spared to us.

Editors of the Clongownian in the past have been under deep obligations to Brother Fennell, who since his arrival in Clongowes, set in order many valuable memorials of the College's history. His collections of press cuttings, and printed documents relating to social activities in the College for the past century and a half (nearly) will in days to come make historians of the College bless his memory. A feature of Brother Fennell's Jubilee celebrations was the number of letters of congratulations and enquiries from many of our Past. Ad Multos, Annos.

◆ The Clongownian, 1960

Obituary

Brother Denis Fennell SJ

Last July, shortly after the boys had left for the holidays, died the oldest member of the Clongowes community, Brother Denis Fennell, in the 88th year of his age. And it is almost certainly true to say that when they returned after the vacation not a single boy missed him or even noticed his absence. For he was one of the many who in the background or behind the scenes perform the work, humdrum and tedious, on which so much depends, without which the school could not continue. For almost 60 years he had toiled for God in Clongowes, spending his days among ledgers and bills and receipts, passing the rest of his time in prayer or exploring the curious by ways of history, a study which he loved much, At last, unthanked by any of those whom he had served in successive generations through such long years, he quietly left to meet his Master, a likeness of the good and faithful servant of Our Lord's parable.

Schoolboys are thoughtless - they have, most of them, received so much loving care from their parents and others that they take for granted and as a matter of right anything that is done for them. But perhaps their elders are often at fault in allowing them to ignore so blithely the realities of life and their debt to others. The passing of a man like Brother Fennell should furnish matter for reflection for our past and present boys, for their parents, and indeed for some of our facile theorists in the popular subject of education,

He was born in 1872 in Glasthule and from an early age was attracted to the priesthood. Family circumstances however seemed to impose a delay in carrying out his plans and he took to newspaper work, joining the staff of the Freeman's Journal and serving on that paper during a most interesting and dramatic period of Irish history, an intelligent young observer of events that included the Parnell “split”. Before very long the impulse towards the religious life made itself felt more strongly and he received, he believed, a light in prayer that God wished him to become a religious brother rather than a priest. And so this talented young man left behind the world and the prospect of an interesting career.

The story of the long years that followed is briefly told: almost all of them, after the noviceship, were spent in Clongowes where his skill in accountancy was to prove most useful until the end of his life. For him the service of the school was the service of the Divine Majesty, and was therefore performed with no thought of reward, no hungering for human gratitude or recognition. Such is the foundation of supernatural dedication on which a school like Clongowes is built; such is the capital of selfless enthusiasm and service on which a school like Clongowes runs; and it is lives of prayer and toil like Brother Fennell's that bring down God's blessing on its activities. And here is the secret which is apparently so seldom penetrated even by those who profit most from it. It is surely fitting that such devotion should be occasionally acknowledged and that those for whom Brother Fennell worked so hard should pray for him now that his long years of labour are ended.

Born: 17 June 1821, Newry, County Down
Entered: 28 September 1859, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 02 February 1870
Died: 13 November 1895, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Born: 14 February 1818, Glin, County Limerick
Entered: 20 February 1859, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 19 December 1876, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Born: 19 March 1811, Bagenalstown, County Carlow
Entered: 10 June 1847, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 07 May 1859
Died: 09 March 1890, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 08 September 1797, Faheran, Tober, County Offaly
Entered: 08 September 1842, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Died: 08 September 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 13 May 1813, Bally Mac Quaid (Ballymacward), County Galway
Entered: 23 September 1841, Frederick, MD, USA - Mayrlandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 08 September 1852
Died: 30 June 1883, Baltimore, MD, USA - Mayrlandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEN)

Part of the Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA community at the time of death

Born: 11 November 1809, County Kildare
Entered: 02 February 1843, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 25 March 1859
Died: 19 February 1880, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He did not join the Society until his 36th year, having spent years before this as a Postulant at Clongowes.
He was one of the most remarkable of the Irish brothers, as he was a most saintly religious. He worked as a carpenter in any place where a Church or House was being erected.
The closing years of his life were spent at Gardiner St, where he gave great edification to all who came to the Church, through his spirit of piety and work. He constantly recommended a devotion to St Joseph. His death at Gardiner St was like his life, truly edifying, and he died 19 February 1880

Born: 31 December 1811, County Kilkenny
Entered: 17 November 1851, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final Vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 05 April 1874 Xavier College, New York, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province (NEBCAN)

Born: 10 October 1788, Ireland
Entered: 12 July 1814 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1826
Died: 06 July 1831, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 15 September 1799, County Cork
Entered: 04 May 1839, Florissant MO, USA
Final Vows: 25 March 1854
Died: 25 April 1856, St Louis College, St Louis, MO, USA

Born: 17 March 1813, Kells, County Kilkenny
Entered: 29 August 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouri Province (MIS)
Final Vows:15 August 1858
Died: 25 October 1890, Florissant MO, USA - Missouri Province (MIS)

Born: 26 December 1817, Ballyragget, County Kilkenny
Entered: 07 September 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 16 May 1891, St Joseph's College, Philadelphia, PA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 14 August 1827, Cumber Upper, Claudy, County Derry
Entered: 21 August 1852, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1863
Died: 27 September 1891, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 29 September 1815, Tuam, County Galway
Entered: 08 February 1845, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1855
Died: 23 February 1896, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 25 December 1830, Strokestown, County Roscommon
Entered: 28 September 1859, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows:15 August 1870
Died: 04 September 1908, Woodstock College, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 25 December 1813, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
Entered: 31 July 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 25 March 1854
Died: 07 June 1866, St Mary’s, Pottowatomie, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 15 July 1805, Drumnakilly, County Tyrone
Entered: 09 September 1837, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 02 February 1848
Died: 19 December 1882, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 02 May 1815, Thurles, County Tipperary
Entered: 13 February 1844, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final Vows: 15 August 1857
Died: 31 March 1883, St Louis College, St Louis, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 07 April 1827, Rathkeale, County Limerick
Entered: 31 October 1846, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1861
Final Vows: 15 August 1865
Died: 23 December 1891, Fordham College, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 23 December 1837, County Meath
Entered: 12 November 1868, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1879
Died: 06 August 1893, Dunbrody, South Africa - Zambesi Mission

Part of the St Aidan’s College, Grahamstown, South Africa community at the time of death

by 1883 at at Zambesi Mission

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was in the Metropolitan Police before Ent

His twenty five years in the Society was spent mostly at Gardiner St and a short time as “Villicar” in Clongowes.
On the occasion of Father Wild’s visit to HIB looking for volunteers for the Zambesi Mission, Thomas volunteered and was accepted. He was sent to Dunbrody on the Eastern Cape, where he cared for an ostrich farm. He died there five months after his companion Thomas Manning 06 August 1893.

Born: 26 December 1864, Crossboyne, County Mayo
Entered: 24 March 1890, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 15 August 1900
Died: 12 November 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin - Angliae Province (ANG)

Member of the Manresa, Roehampton, London community at the time of death

Died in HIB but member of ANG

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
A member of the ANG Province. He had been in poor health and was sent to Ireland for a change of air in his native surroundings.
On his return journey he stayed at Milltown and died there after a short illness 12 November 1916.

Born: 24 June 1820, Caherciveen, County Kerry
Entered: 23 August 1856, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae-NeoEboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Final Vows: 15 August 1867
Died: 24 October1897, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA - Marylandiae-NeoEboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 28 September 1908, Benraw, Castlewellan, County Down
Entered: 13 May 1950, Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1962
Died: 28 May 1972, Benraw, Castlewellan, County Down - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

Part of the Jesuit High School, New Orleans, USA community at the time of death

Born: 01 July 1817, Knockbegg, County Roscommon
Entered: 09 September 1853, St John’s, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final Vows: 02 February 1864
Died: 11 March 1874, Xavier College, New York, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province (NEBCAN)

Born: 28 February 1817, County Carlow
Entered: 10 January 1845, St Mary’s, Lebanon, KY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final Vows: 15 August 1855
Died: 08 August 1869, Fordham College, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province NEBCAN)

Born: 11 November 1832, Ballycallan, County Kilkenny
Entered: 25 June 1858, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 08 December 1870
Died: 17 October 1901, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 01 September 1869, Ballycumber, County Offaly
Entered: 08 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 15 August 1902
Died: 08 November 1956, Clongowes wood College SJ, County Kildare

◆ Irish Province News 32nd Year No 1 1957 & ◆ The Clongownian, 1957

Obituary :

Br Kieran Corcoran (1869-1956)

With Br, Corcoran there passed away a figure that had become something of a legend in the life of Clongowes. We of a later vintage lived with him and saw his passing; but who, with a solitary exception, can recall his coming over fifty years ago, or indeed can think of a Clongowes without that stalwart figure moving impressively about its lawful occasions? For even till about a couple of years ago, when his heart attacks became more crippling, he bore himself upright as always, and though his work became more and more curtailed, he sought employment about the house, and it is not so long ago since one saw him, as ever, in the midst of buckets and crates of eggs making his weekly tally! After three months as a Postulant he joined the Noviceship at Tullabeg in 1891, whence he was posted to Galway in 1893, taking his first Vows in the October of that year. From 1893 to early in 1904 he was stationed in our Gardiner Street house and the list of positions he filled makes impressive reading. There he pronounced his final Vows in 1902, and from there he left in February of 1904 to begin his unbroken half-century and more in Clongowes Wood till the day of his death. Jubilee succeeded Jubilee, and on his Diamond one in 1951 he was favoured with a letter from the hand of Very Rev. Father General; and in 1954, the Golden Jubilee of his sojourn in Clongowes Wood, was marked by celebrations and many messages of congratulation.
The maintenance of the fabric of the College was his prime care all those years, that and the employing and supervising of the small army of artisans and servants involved in that care. This he did with conspicuous skill and mastery and he could rightly claim (if ever he thought of it) that his activities vitally touched the lives of masters and boys, asleep or awake at many points. How much of that is simply taken for granted in a big institution and how small the meed of recognition! The host of daily, almost hourly, activities involved in "maintenance" of a large and sprawling and, in places, antiquated building who thinks of them? The endless inspections and checking; the planning ahead; the expert knowledge in many fields; the sudden improvisations called for and demanding sound judgment; crises in lighting or heating or drainage systems, all these involve considerable responsibility and systematic care. Suffice it to say that through all the years of his stewardship Br. Corcoran was seldom or never unequal to the heavy task laid on him by day or by night. For he was thorough in all he did, deeply conscientious and rigidly systematic. Only the best workmanship, whether it was sweeping a Gallery or slating a roof could pass muster with his eagle eye. Workmanship of the best, materials of the best and a job that would last “to and through the Doomsday's fire” if necessary was what he demanded, and he had the knack of getting these from his staff. And he never spared himself physically in his endless routine of daily and hourly inspections. In fact so rigid was his sense of routine that one could almost infer the time of day from his passing, whether it was in and about the building or “beating the bounds” on his daily perambulation of the main and Kapolis avenues! As a result the spick and span state of walls and floors and ceilings everywhere in the place from endless scrubbings and paintings and polishings were justly the admiration of his Brethren and of visitors. He took a pride in his office, and had he been capable of boasting he could justly have pointed to the myriad of improvements he effected (the walls of the Lower Line Gallery were in whitewash when he first came!) throughout his fifty years as an enduring monument to his memory.
And sustaining and inspiring in all this was his sterling worth as a Religious. He impressed all with his deep Faith and simple and genuine piety; his unfailing presence and punctuality at every religious duty; bis reverence for the priestly state and his considerateness for others. In pressing forward for the good of the College he never lost sight of the claims of the individual, and in the exercise of the considerable authority that rested with him he strove for fairness. The handicap imposed by frequent heart attacks must have been a galling one to a man of his disposition, and his endurance of this; his uncomplaining acceptance of God's will, especially in the last year or two, when he had often to keep to his bed or his room, was impressive to those who had any dealings with him.. Characteristic of him was his rejoinder at the very end to one who counselled him to say his prayers internally" instead of vocalising them (as was bis wont), “Oh, but one would have to be very sick to do a thing like that!" And to a visitor leaving his room at night he motioned with his hand to the alarm-clock beside his bed and murmured, "The clock, the clock, wind it! For meditation! It was set for half-past six, and this was the day before he died.
Fully conscious to the end, and in his 87th year, he passed away without pain on the 7th of November in the room he occupied so long in the very heart of the School he served for half a century with such fine loyalty, and with young life pulsating all around him. On the 9th he was borne to his grave down the long avenue so familiar to him in his unvarying daily walk, the community and entire school preceding the coffin. May he rest in peace!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Kieran Corcoran 1862-1956
Br Kieran Corcoran was identified with Clongowes for over fifty years. The maintenance of the fabric of the College was his prime care, together with the running of the whole place, both Castle and College, Methodical, efficient, though kindly with all, he managed the domestic staff and got astonishing results out of them. As a result, the spick and span state of the walls, floors and ceilings everywhere in the place, from endless scrubbings, polishings and paintings, was justly the admiration of his brethren and visitors.

Sustaining this continual effort was his religious spirit. He impressed all with his simple faith and deep piety. He had a natural dignity which commanded respect and reverence for his cloth.

He entered Tullabeg as a novice in 1891, and in 1954 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his stay in Clongowes. He died on November 7th 1956 in the room which he had occupied for over half a century, in the very heart of the school he had served so well ad majoram Dei Gloriam.

Born: 03 April 1905, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 08 February 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 09 May 1976, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

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

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - KEVIN J Rogers; Drapers Assistant before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 51st Year No 3 1976

Obituary :

Br John Rogers (1932-1976)

It was in 1933 that I first met Br John Rogers in the novitiate at Emo, and later on I lived some fifteen years with him at Milltown Park. So I think I knew him fairly well, although he was always a bit reserved, shy almost. He was a gentle and cultured man, a fine pianist and had a gift of dedication to anything he took in hand. After his noviceship he went to Milltown Park and spent all his life there, except for two short spells at Roehampton to study firstly nursing and later bookbinding.
Living with him I was always struck by his devotion and dedication to his allotted tasks. Milltown Park being a big sprawling building, it was edifying to say the least, to see Br Rogers during a flu epidemic (in pre-antibiotic days, remember) making three trips a day carrying food trays all over the house. When the disastrous Milltown fire of 11th February, 1949, necessitated new buildings, his wish to have a six-bed infirmary incorporated in the plans went unfulfilled. He read quite a lot about medicine and nursing, and this along with his devotion to duty was one of the reasons why he was such a good infirmarian. He combined this duty with his work as bookbinder until some six years before his death. Over the years he built up a fine workshop, acquiring good machinery at bargain prices, and his knowledge and craftsmanship advanced so well that he was recognised by the trade as one of the finest bookbinders in Ireland.
His devotion and regularity and prayer were striking and must surely have been the source of his perseverance and patience. Some three years ago he developed a very troublesome growth alongside the breast, which meant annual visits to hospitals and an operation to arrest growth. The infection, however, spread and eventually resulted in his death, which took place at Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross. I visited Br John there a few times, and his patience and resignation were obvious, although he admitted that he had suffered a great deal, especially during his treatment at St Vincent's hospital, Elm park. He was an excellent religious and a true son of Ignatius, and I am sure he will have a very high place in heaven.

As one who joined his community in the latter years of John's life, I think of him as a master bookbinder. He really loved his work, and spoke with warm affection of Fr Cyril Power, then his rector, who appointed him to the job forty-two years ago. John often reminisced about the difficulties in procuring the various machines for his art. He attended auctions and picked up old machines that needed repairs. These repairs he did himself, and was very proud of being able to do a first-class job on a machine that was bought for a pittance. As he advanced in age, he asked for an assistant, and found a most willing helper in Br John Ronan.

It is estimated that Br Rogers bound ten thousand books in his forty-two years on the job. If anyone wanted a little binding job done, he was most obliging. No matter what it was, from making an old keepsake look like new, to binding a writer's thesis, he would say “Yes; come back in a few days”.
Besides being bookbinder, which occupied him six full days a week, he was also infirmarian to the large community. He was shrewd and clever, often diagnosing the patient's complaint before the doctor was called. Milltown always had many old people who needed nursing and care, and John always kept a supply of medicines for this. Unlike today's system whereby the man in the room next door to the sick person looks after him, John had to carry trays up many flights of stairs to many people in an epidemic. For this tireless labour of love, the Lord will surely reward him. For one who admitted he had not got a 'bedside manner', we can only guess at the personal sacrifice this must have cost him. John was relieved of this office some seven years ago due to his failing health
Another of John's talents was cooking. This job he did equally well, but it was not a long-term assignment,
What kind of man was John? After his early education at the hands of the Christian Brothers, he continued to educate himself, and read extensively. He was a cultured man and a musician, playing the organ and piano superbly. There was one subject on which he confessed his ignorance: sport, His main hobby was stamp-collecting. He often said that his large collection would be worth quite a sum of money when he had gone. If one wanted to thank John for some favour he had done, a gift of stamps meant more to him than anything else.
He was a solitary: no one knew him intimately. I think that in many ways he was a lonely man, and in this he probably suffered quite a bit. As a religious, he was regular at his duties, being an early riser. Although he agreed with changes in the liturgy, he never participated in these changes himself, but kept faithfully to his earlier devotions.
The last two years of John Rogers's life saw a series of seven operations on a cancerous growth under the arm. He suffered greatly during this period. When the old trouble was seen to return, he was most resigned and worked away at his job quite resignedly. For the last six months right up to the morning of his death, he was in great pain, apart from the relief that modern medicine can provide.
I am satisfied now that John is enjoying the reward of his steadfastness. He has answered the invitation he received forty-four years ago : “Come, follow Me!”

Born: 19 August 1943, Ballyfermot, Dublin
Entered: 10 May 1964, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 31 May 1979, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 04 May 1982, Dublin

Part of Coláiste Iognáid community, Galway at time of his death.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 3 1983
Obituary

Br Vincent Robinson (1943-1964-1982)

My first memory of Vincent has him in a white apron wheeling a barrow full of turf along the bottom corridor in Emo: sturdy, composed, with bright and fun-loving eyes. When he entered the noviciate in Emo in 1964 he was already qualified as a gas-fitter/plumber with a London City and Guilds Intermediate and Final certificate. He made his first vows in the noviciate in 1966 and stayed on there till 1969: he subsequently had spells in Manresa, Milltown Park (for two different periods), Betagh House, Tullabeg (Tertianship). Belvedere and Galway. During most of that time he worked mainly but not exclusively (he was a man of many skills) as a plumber, servicing the demands of the particular house he was in or available to the Province at large: for some of it he did further studies at the College of Technology in Bolton street (obtaining his technician's certificate there); also some teaching in the same college. He took his final vows in May 1979; towards the end of that same year he became ill and was in and out of health, with periods of great distress, until his death this year, three years after those vows, also in the month of May. He was thirty-eight when he died.
A man of many skills and talents - to do with hands, with heart, and with head. And so the bare facts above indicate little of the great richness and vitality of his life. Vinny was an excellent craftsman and worker, who did the job not just competently and well, but with flair. This artistic side of his craftsmanship was given rein most freely in his work with silver and bronze. He took a delight in this work: I remember well in Milltown, the '70s, the relish with which he would discuss possible suitable titles for the four bronze shields which now hang on the wall outside the Milltown refectory. His skill and artistry were expressed in other ways too: in poetry, in music, in his soccer-playing and coaching. In these, as in so many other areas of his life, he demonstrated a competence, a seriousness of application and a genuine inspiration and imagination which were characteristic, and went deep. It meant that he did things well, but never in a pedestrian way: that he respected quality wherever he found it, and was dissatisfied with anything that was shoddy. He was the opposite of boring or censorious in this pursuit of excellence: a real sense of both fun and compassion ensured this.
The sense of fun was simple in the kind of surprising way that showed how deep and real it was. The joking and companionship of the lads he played within the Pioneer Soccer Club, the sing songs and yarns, the pleasure in a bit of cake, some sweets, a mineral, the calling by for a chat, the weekly cup of coffee with his mother in Bewley’s, the leg-pulling, the colloquialisms and inimitable gestures and turns of phrase: there was a simple joy in life at the heart of Vinny which made it a delight to know him. He loved the theatre, and was an acute and appreciative critic whose particular expertise lay in assessing the staging of a production: and one of my last memories of him shows that sense of fun in evidence precisely in a theatrical setting. We were at the production of The Pirates of Penzance in the Olympia after Christmas this year: Vinny had just been in hospital and was to return there before long. He loved the show, and at one particular point, as a contraption descended from the ceiling with one of the cast on it, he exploded with enjoyment and laughter to such an extent that the tears rolled down his cheeks. For minutes afterwards he laughed on: and, in as often happens on such occasions, the people all around were affected too, faces lighting up, laughing at and with him. To me it's a lovely image of the feel for life which he radiated to the many friends. from different walks of life who were so graced by his company. Not that Vinny was always laughing:. or that he was an effortlessly outgoing positive sort of person. He knew too much of struggle and conflict for this to be so, and the sense of fun and life were real precisely because they came from someone who at heart was deeply serious, and also quite shy. The effervescent front which he sometimes presented to the world did not conceal this side of Vinny from those who knew him, least of all from himself. He knew what it was to be confused, to be angry, to feel alienated, to question himself. In particular within the Society, which he loved so much, and with fellow Jesuits, for whom he had such great affection, there was nonetheless the very real difficulty of attempting to live the Brother's vocation at a time of great change: integration in this area was not easy; there was always struggle going on. Much of this was due to objective factors: but Vinny was quite aware too that his own diffidence contributed to the problem. Similarly with regard to those both inside and outside the Society whom he knew and liked well the path to intimacy was not easy: he was very sensitive, and did not find it obvious to accept that others were so pleased to be with him and to share his life. I think too that his keen intelligence, his questioning of life, his great integrity and honesty, his own strong views on many subjects were not always easy for him to live with: he mistrusted any kind of superficiality or fashion for its own sake, and sometimes this left him feeling a lack of sympathy for other positions and people which belied his more characteristic compassion. The richness and goodness of Vinny's life then were far from automatic: the great thing was that with all his complexity he did in fact come across as having a very simple love of life and people, and so many who came into contact with him sensed this, sensed that his shyness was not the last word, and responded to him with affection and gratitude. He enriched and warmed the lives of so many. He was a loving son and brother in his own family, a great friend, a most amiable companion: and his own human weaknesses, in this context, were simply a most reassuring touchstone of the reality of his love to those who were privileged enough to enjoy it.
Vinny's life then was humanly very rich: he himself however would have found such an assessment rather inadequate, perhaps beside, and certainly ' missing, the point. God was very much at the centre of his life: the ideals of the Jesuit vocation as a Brother nourished him throughout. He valued prayer, read copiously about it, practised it, treasured his relationship with the Lord. He valued deeply the often hidden life of service which he understood to be at the heart of his vocation: he was very proud to be a Brother in the Society. He lived out his vows to the utmost, conscious right to the end, and especially in the suffering of his final illness which he bore so courageously, that he was fulfilling the promise which he had made in Emo in 1966 to place himself under the standard of Christ's cross if that was the Father's plan for him. Such a strong and authentic faith was already rich in the hundredfold of God's love in this life: it is a great consolation and inspiration to those who now miss him so much - his mother Josephine, sister Maura (a nun with the Little Sisters of the Poor in France), three brothers Noel, Paddy and George, all his relations, fellow-Jesuits, many friends. We may have great hope that Vincent now enjoys the fulness of God’s love: the words of St Irenaeus seem very apt in his respect - “The glory of God is man fully alive and it is the life of man to see God”.
I’m left with a host of memories of Vinny: two stand out. One is of the emaciated figure, who had suffered so much, just days before he died, able still to smile for friends or nurses in the midst of his pain. The other, stronger, is of an exuberant, gleeful Vinny, just having scored a goal on the soccer pitch, fist raised in playful triumph, delighting in the joy of the moment, whooping exultantly to the rest of us - “No problem for this kid here!”. May he rest in peace.
Gerry O'Hanlon SJ

The Mountjoy square Pioneer Club devoted to Vincent almost a whole issue (dated 16th May) of their newsletter. In it Joe MacNamara wrote the following appreciation, slightly adapted and shortened here :
On Tuesday, 4th May, the Pioneer Club lost one of its best-loved members, Vincent Robinson. Vincent joined the club some eleven years ago, and since then contributed much not only on the committees and on the playing-fields, but generally with the jovial atmosphere which his presence brought. For Vincent, or better known to most as Robbo, was one of the characters of the club and of its football scene. For whatever he did, alone or in the midst of a group, he brought an air of lightheartedness which always went down well. He often gave a 'terrible slagging', but he also got a fair share himself!
Vincent joined the club as a player for our football teams, and played regularly for the Second team, mainly in defence. In tackling he was very strong. As the priest said at his funeral Mass, he was known to the team as the roving full back. It was very true. Vincent loved to go forward and have a go at scoring a goal. He did score now and again, and when he did, you could guarantee hearing how great a goal it was for weeks on end. He urged his team-mates on by his gentle jokes and by comments that brought the best out of them. Robbo knew the game: he had studied coaching, passed his tests, and in pre-season training made full use of what he had learned, passing it on to the players, particularly the newcomers, thus increasing their skills. He played right up the beginning of last season, and the Second team's first three games before leaving for Galway. All present at the first match will remember his goal. He kicked home a 25-yard free, so becoming the top scorer. He was thrilled over it.
At committee meetings he thought deeply on each matter and gave his view in a manner which showed this. He had to have advance notice of the agenda, so that he could study all aspects of the topic. Vincent was always looking to the future, and so he spoke about his 'visions'. One of these was the strengthening of the senior teams over the years. As it was hard to get Pioneers to play for the club, Vincent came up with the idea of catching them young, bringing them up along and then introducing them at senior level. His idea was a schoolboy team, to start at under-17 : under-18 level. Having got approval to enter a team in the schoolboy league at under-18 level, Vincent went on a search for players, as the club itself had none. : He attended schoolboy tournaments and spent his spare time watching school matches; he approached the teams, telling them about the club and its facilities, enticing them to join. As the 1980-81 season began, after his three month search for players, Pioneers were able to field a schoolboy side. The work put in by Vincent was tremendous. He himself looked after the team in the early days, but then other pressures forced him to hand over the management to others. At first the team did not achieve the best results, but most of the players were young enough for the same team again last season. With their year's experience they did well and as this was being. written were just one win away from the title. The club has reaped the benefit of those 'visions' that Vincent had. The great pity is that he passed away just a couple of weeks before the club achieved its first major honour in over eleven years, fulfilling his dream. On the to evening of the day of Vincent's death, the featured in youths were in action in his native Ballyfermot, where they recorded their biggest victory ever. When they returned to the club, news of Vincent's death had just come. Vincent was interested, not just in the football, but in the club as a whole. This can be seen by the very impressive papers he drew up for last year's club seminar. He put a lot of thought into the topic of better communications in the club, and had ideas on a change-around in structure and accommodation. At the seminar it was mainly Vincent's ideas that were discussed. All present agreed that these should be implemented in order to bring the members closer together.
It was at the funeral Mass that most members learned that they had known only a part of Vincent. He was a full-fledged plumber, having passed his London Guilds exams before he entered the Society of Jesus. He was also a silversmith, with his own registered mark, and designed various pennants and trophies. He once made the trophy for the Young Player of the Year, also a special cross and chains for the winners of the ladies' indoor football. (Another writer adds : that he was also a very useful painter, decorator and carpenter. He kept the football-room ‘in good nick'. It was typical of the man that when the room needed painting he got in there and painted it instead of talking about it.]
He had other talents. He was always having a “bash” at poetry and he was a “dab hand” on the guitar. He appeared on a number of shows; and the footballers who went on the Easter trips to Galway (1980, 1981) will never forget the songs he sang along with the rest of the lads. Those two weekends were great. Again it was Vincent who arranged it all: the rooms in the “Jes” and the food. Last year he even got a minibus to take our group out the Galway coast road, Everything had a story for Vincent: he loved telling stories, Passing a building or other place he would tell you a little story about it, going back into history. The way he told them would make anyone believe him, but I am sure some were just made up on the spur of the moment.
Vincent gave up the society of his many friends in his native Dublin and moved to Galway so that another Brother in the College there could go on the missions to Zambia. It was this unselfishness that one had to admire in him. One will always have memories of his vow-day: the joy on his face was really marvellous.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1982

Obituary

Brother Vincent Robinson SJ

Vinny came to live and work in Belvedere towards the end of his short life, (1943--1982). He had joined the Society of Jesus in 1964, already qualified as a gas-fitter and plumber, and took vows as a Brother in 1966. In the years that followed he lived in several different communities of the Society, servicing the houses of the Irish Province in his capacity as a plumber. He also did further study and eventually teaching in the College of Technology in Bolton Street.

These rather bare facts indicate little of the great richness and vitality of Vinny's life. He was an extremely talented person: skilled craftsman, artist in silver and bronze, poet, musician, gifted soccer player and coach, in all these areas he showed a faithful application and genuine flair which were characteristic of him in all other areas too. He did things well, but never in a pedestrian way: and he respected quality wherever he found it, dissatisfied with anything that was shoddy. He was the opposite of boring or censorious in this pursuit of excellence: he had a huge sense of fun and life which he radiated to the many friends from different walks of life who were so graced by his company, Not that he was an effortlessly outgoing sort of person: he knew too much of struggle and conflict for this to be so, and beneath the effervescent front which he sometimes presented to the world was quite a shy man. But he did love life and people, and others usually sensed that the shyness was not the last word, and responded to him with affection and gratitude. He enriched and warmed the lives of so many.

Vinny had just one year in Belvedere, 1980–81, when he was already suffering from the illness which would soon enough kill him. I like what was said about him as a soccer coach to the boys during that brief period: apparently, in the course of the year he won over some rather disgruntled, alienated young men to the point whereby the end of the season they were eating out of his hand. This would not be difficult to visualize for those who knew Vinny; his consummate professionalism, controlled enthusiasm, sense of humour, imagination, absolute fairness and great regard for the underdog, all these would indeed have been difficult to resist. And Vinny too by the end of that year had learned not to resist Belvedere either: he liked it there, made some good friends among community, staff and boys, and was sorry to be on his way again so soon.

His life then was humanly very rich: for Vinny himself however such a description would have fallen flat, would have missed the point. God was at the centre of his life, the ideals of the Jesuit vocation as a Brother nourished him throughout. He valued prayer, he valued the often hidden life of service that he understood to be at the heart of the Brother's vocation: and he lived out his religious Vows to the utmost, conscious right to the end, and especially in the suffering that his final illness entailed, that he was fulfilling the promise which he had made in Emo in 1966 to place his life under the standard of Christ's cross. The remark of St. Irenaeus is suitable: “The glory of God is man fully alive: and it is the life of man to see God”.

This strong faith is a great consolation to those who now mourn him: his mother, sister, three brothers, relations, fellow-Jesuits, his many other friends. It means that we're invited in the light of Christ's resurrection to hope in Vinny's new presence among us: and the memory of the unique beauty of his too-short life is a great encouragement to us to join with Vincent in anchoring our hope in the immense love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Gerry O'Hanlon SJ

Born: 14 September 1908, Dundalk, County Louth
Entered: 09 November 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1939, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 22 February 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 35th Year No 3 1960

Obituary :

Br Ignatius Rice (1908-1960)

Br. Rice was born at Dundalk on 14th September, 1908 and entered the Society on 9th November, 1927. On 20th February, 1960 he collapsed at his work at Milltown Park and died two days later in hospital without regaining consciousness.
After his noviceship he worked as cook in Belvedere, Rathfarnham, Leeson Street and Galway. His years in the kitchen accentuated a weakness in his right leg which had given him trouble even as a boy; and the heat and long hours standing by the range made him suffer great pain. Finally he had to give up the work of cooking and was sent to The Crescent in charge of the domestic staff, where he also worked in organising card drives in aid of the college building fund. While in Limerick he made many friends by his zeal and good humour.
In 1956 Br. Rice was sent to Milltown Park to help in the Library, and by reason of his energy and great natural intelligence he learnt the new art of book-binding very quickly and soon became a very valuable member of the staff of the bindery. This is the work on which he was engaged when he suffered the stroke which led to his sudden death.
The loss of Br. Rice was very deeply felt by the community in Milltown Park. In this province the number of Brothers in any house is necessarily very small. In these circumstances a man of unfailing courtesy and friendliness is a very great treasure; and Br. Rice was just such a man. Furthermore, he was always ready and willing to take on extra work when one of the other Brothers was away for holidays or to make a retreat. Br. Rice was very versatile and always seemed to be delighted to find some way in which he could be of service to the community in spite of his ill-health. Finally, he was in his own way a deeply religious man with a very true notion of the ideals of the vocation of a Jesuit Brother.
To his sister, his brothers and other relatives and to his many friends we offer our sincerest sympathy. May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Ignatius Rice SJ 1908-1960
Br Ignatius Rice was born in Dundalk on September 14th 1908. All his life he was subject to an infirmity in his right leg which must have made his years as a cook and manductor a veritable martyrdom.

A good part of his religious life was spent in the Crescent where he was invaluable in organising charitable functions in aid of the school building fund.

His last years were spent at Milltown Park as a semi-invalid. Always a fund of good humour, he was willing, cheerful and deeply religious. Little was ever heard by his brethern of his sufferings in life. He gave a fine example of pain cheerfully borne.

He died on February 22nd 1960 from a stroke, which proved fatal.

Born: 10 February 1841, Ballynahowan, County Westmeath
Entered: 07 September 1866, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 05 September 1897, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was ‘villicus’ at Tullabeg and for a long time at Clongowes, where he died 05 September 1897.
A most useful Brother.

Note from Laurence Brady Entry :
He was a companion on the farm to Eugene Duffy.

◆ The Clongownian, 1897

Obituary

Brother Eugene Duffy SJ

As Br Duffy has been so intimately connected with Clongowes, it is only just that we should pay some slight tribute to his memory.

Those who saw him last summer, strong and healthy, full of good humour as he ever was, little thought that the early days of Autumn would see him lying cold and lifeless in the little cemetery he tended with such loving care. Though Br Duffy, to a stranger, seemed in perfect health, he suffered from an internal disease; how much he suffered no one can ever tell, for he bore it all with an heroic patience which marked the true Jesuit.

Always forgetful of himself when he had the interests of others to serve, it was this which caused his death. Being away from the college on some business, he neglected to take proper nourishment, with the result that he brought on a fresh attack of his old enemy, and after a couple of months of intense pain, borne with the patience which was characteristic of the man, he died on the 5th of September, almost the very day on which he had entered the Society thirty - one years before.

-oOo-

As manager of the farm, Br Duffy had made such a reputation that people, came from miles around to consult him and get his advice, and it is only now that he is gone one is able to judge what his loss means.

By the poor of the country he was simply beloved, for they knew well the kind friend he was, and when at length he was laid in his last cold resting place, and the damp earth rattled on his coffin, many a rugged cheek was wet with tears, and rich and poor alike, who had come to pay this last tribute to his memory, turned away with sad and heavy hearts for the loss of him who lay there so calm and peaceful. RIP

Born: 30 July 1840, County Limerick
Entered: 30 July 1863, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1874
Died: 14 December 1904, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1865-1874 He was sent as Sacristan to Galway.
1874-1875 He was sent as Dispenser to Clongowes.
1875-1876 He was sent to Limerick as Sacristan, and he assisted at the opening of the Sacred Heart Church.
He also spent some time at Tullabeg where he was responsible for the Domestic staff.
When Tullabeg closed as a College he was sent to Milltown, and later at Galway again as Sacristan.
Finally he returned to Clongowes and he died there 14 December 1904.
He was a simple soul and worked hard with goodwill.

Born: 30 June 1821, Mountmellick, County Laois
Entered 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 25 July 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Nephew of John Pexton Sr, who lived most of his life at Clongowes - RIP 1860

He made his Postulancy at Clongowes under Father Bracken before formal Ent.
Almost all of his life in the Society was spent at Tullabeg. The exceptions were a short stay at Gardiner St where he was the janitor, and 1893-1896 when he was Infirmarian and Manductor of the domestic staff at Milltown.
1896 He returned to Tullabeg, and he died there 26 July 1904.
He was a shoemaker by trade and he proved very useful when Tullabeg was a College.
He was dear to all for his innocence and piety, and he served the Society well for 62 years, as a model of obedience and uprightness.

Born: 11 July 1884, Ballivor, County Meath
Entered: 09 October 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 17 July 1965, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 40th Year No 4 1965

Obituary :

Br James Priest SJ

Brother James Priest died on 17th July, 1965, in his 82nd year, having spent over fifty-eight years as Sacristan in the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick. Such a long unbroken service in the same house must surely be almost unique in the Irish Province. He came to the Crescent in the year 1906, three years before the Jubilee Year, and survived the Centenary Year (1959) by six years.
Brother Priest was a man of remarkably strong physique. In his younger days, in addition to his duties in the sacristy, and his occupations in the house - for in the early and lean years he also personally superintended the buying for the community needs he energetically and profitably tended a garden (known locally as Br. Priest's garden) to provide a constant supply of flowers for the altar; and then by way of recreation he played handball and cycled the countryside with his “collectors” and the boys of the College. And when in his declining years he suffered constantly and patiently from a multiplicity of severe and trying ailments, his great physical strength pulled him through; and though regarded for many years as a critical “heart case”, he nevertheless baffled the physicians, and lingered on for a considerable time after medical opinion had predicted the end..
Brother Priest was a man wholly dedicated to his job. To keep the Church spotlessly clean, to care for and renew and replace the vestments and altar linen, to decorate with great taste the altar for the ordinary and solemn occasions, to promote the various Church services and provide for their smooth and efficient running, he cheerfully gave his wholehearted and unflagging attention for over half a century.
In his hey-day he was immensely popular with the boys of the College, especially those who were Mass Servers, who loved him for his friendliness, his interest, his good humour, and no less for his pranks and eccentricities. This affection on the part of the boys continued through the years long after they had left school, and no social gathering of the Past was complete without the honoured presence of Brother Priest. Past pupils from distant and foreign parts regularly corresponded with him or came to visit him, and in many letters from the Past to other members of the Community over all those years, almost without exception, there was an interested and affectionate inquiry for “Priesty”.
But even to a still wider circle of friends - the patrons of the Sacred Heart Church - the name of Brother Priest was a house hold word, and he was held in affectionate esteem both by the dwellers in the more pretentious quarters of the city, and by the humble folk in the lanes and alleys. They came to him on their joyful occasions and they came to him with their troubles, their needs and their gifts - gifts of flowers, candles, Church ornaments, material for vestments, altar wine, oil for the sanctuary lamps, money and many other things. And curiously too, among these many benefactors there could be found quite a few non-Catholics, for long before the recent ecumenical movement had broken down a cautious reserve, Brother Priest extended his friendship and his charity to all classes and creeds.
Any account of Brother Priest would not be complete without reference to the curious admixture of opposing elements in his make-up which made him somewhat of a “character”. Side by side with very obvious shrewdness, astuteness, common sense and knowledge of the world, there was to be found a homely simplicity, naivety and unction which one might rather be inclined to associate with a sheltered and cloistered way of life. Again, an almost obsequious declaration of submission to authority went hand in hand, with the disposing of events according to a very definite preconceived plan. As was said of him in public on one occasion by one of his great admirers : “We all know that Brother Priest is a rogue, but what a lovable one!”
At bottom, however, Brother Priest was a solidly pious and obedient man, who laboured unceasingly and devotedly for his Master. He had a one-track mind in the best sense of that expression, and associated himself completely with anything connected with Devotion to the Sacred Heart in the first Church in Ireland to be dedicated under that title. During his life he won the acclaim and esteem of his numerous friends and they mourned his passing in no uncertain manner. The great pile of Mass Cards, the large numbers who attended his obsequies, were a moving tribute to the regard in which he was held. May he rest in peace

Born: 07 February 1825, Steyer, Steyerland, Austria
Entered: 01 January 1852, Baumgartenberg Austria - Austriae Province (ASR)
Final vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 08 April 1913, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1863 Franz arrived on the Austrian Mission to Australia at Adelaide 04 November 1863 with Francis Lenz and Ignacy Danielwicz. They were all skilled in various branches of domestic service. One who knew him well before his death wrote : “Brother Pölzl was a very pious Brother, and had a great reputation for having been a great worker, he never spared himself”.

The writer of an interesting article entitles “The Society in Australia”, which appeared in the “Woodstock Letters”, refers to Brother Pölzl : “as being one of those, together with Father Polk, to whom we are indebted for the details of the events which led to the founding of the Mission of the Society in South Australia. Both Father Polk and Brother Pölzl were assiduous in collecting full and correct data of what had happened in the early years and in committing to writing the events of which they were eye-witnesses”.

He was for several years confined to his room and was very grateful when anyone paid him a visit. He was always occupied with prayer or a pious book. The only time he left his room was when he dragged himself to the chapel close by for Mass and Holy Communion.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Francis Poelzl's father was a tailor in good standing, and he himself did his apprenticeship and became a master tailor; but from boyhood he wished to be a religious. In 1845 he took a vow of perpetual chastity. After that he offered himself, first to the Brothers of Charity, a nursing congregation, and then to the Franciscans; but both refused him. Only then did he approach the Jesuits, whom he preferred. They accepted him, and he entered at Innsbruck, 1 January 1852.
At that time the Austro-Hungarian province was still dispersed owing to the troubles of 1848-49, and he began his noviciate with the French novices at lssenheim, but, the Austrian noviciate being re-established at Baumgartenberg, it was there that he completed his two years and took vows, in 1854. He was then stationed at Tyrnau as a tailor. In 1859 he began to petition to be sent on the South Australian Mission, and his request was finally granted in 1863.
He arrived at Sevenhill, 4 November 1863. and remained there most of his life as sacristan tailor, infirmarian and buyer. He spent short times at Norwood, Georgetown and Jamestown cooking and performing domestic duties.
Poelzl's real contribution to the Austrian Mission and Australian province was the “History of the Mission” that he compiled and wrote on the orders of his superiors, and which was illustrated with his own photographs, coupled with the volumes of news cuttings that he made between 1866 and 1903. He was also much appreciated as an infirmarian, and his services were sought after, even to caring for the bishop of Adelaide, Dr Reynolds, when he was dying. He nursed the bishop for three months. He was totally dedicated to his vocation, and was a hard worker.

Note from Patrick Dalton Entry
He translated many of the early German documents, such as the letters of Father Kranewitter and the diary of Brother Pölzl.

Born: 01 March 1828, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 01 February 1901, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
From the very beginning of his religious life he practised the austerities to which he was addicted in his later life. One of his fellow Novices said “I remember how we used torment him by pulling the board he slept on from under his bed”!

1863-1870 He was Villicus and Cook at Tullabeg, and he left behind him the reputation as one of the best land stewards that ever was there. He reclaimed much of what had been considered waste land around the College and made it profitable, and he infused a not altogether spontaneous spirit of energy into the inhabitants of Rahan.
1870-1871 He was sent to Gardiner St for a year.
After this he served mostly as a Cook in Milltown, Clongowes, Crescent, UCD and Mungret for periods varying one to five years.

He was remarkable for his austerity and great spirit of prayer. For thirty years he never ate meat, save on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, where he would accept meat on his plate, but he was never seen to eat it. After his death at Crescent, a wooden board was found under the sheet in place of a mattress. His room, if you can call a cupboard beside the organ loft a room, was a place he was happy to sleep in as he had recourse to the Blessed Sacrament whenever he wished. If ever you needed him outside his normal work hours, you could find him rapt in prayer before the Tabernacle. His life was always one of being in prayer, and he had little time for the softness of the world, saying “If we’ve got enough to keep body and soul together what more do we want?” and “It will be time enough to rest when we go to heaven!”
He was full of charity towards the poor. As Cook and Dispenser, he pushed his generosity as far as obedience would allow. When he was Dispenser at Mungret, the Rector eventually put a stop to his charity, so great was the crowd of beggars which was always around him. After dinner you would find him addressing the assorted beggars who came to him, encouraging them to keep away from sin, say prayers and go to confession - “Keep the Grace of God about you, and believe me you’ll be better off in every way, and won’t have to be begging this way around the country”. Another Brother, a good friend of his, would often remark if asked where Br McEvoy was : “Oh!” nodding towards the back door “He’s round there giving a Mission at the back door!”
His constant prayer over forty years was that he might be allowed work up to the last, and die without giving trouble to anyone, and his prayer was answered in a remarkable manner. He had been a Cook at Crescent for some years, and on the evening of his death he had cooked dinner as usual for the community. That night at eleven o’clock, he went to the Rector, telling him he was very ill and requesting the Last Sacraments. The Rector, seeing that he was in a bad way, did as requested, and Br McEvoy seemed to rally a little, and then went into a deep sleep. Early in the morning, before the call, he died 01 February 1901.

Note from Christopher Coffey Entry :
He died peacefully 29 March 1911, and after the Requiem Mass he was brought to the small cemetery and buried between William Frayne and David MacEvoy, and close to the grave of William Ronan.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others which had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother David McEvoy 1828-1901
On February 1at 1901 died David McEvoy, la Brother renowned for the austerities he practiced from the very beginning of his religious life.

He was born near Banagher on March 1st 1828. He was Villicus in Tullabeg from 1863-1870, and was responsible for the reclamation of a great deal of waste land round the College. He left behind the reputation of one of the best land stewards the College ever had.

For thirty years he never ate meat. On Feast days he used to take a piece of chicken on his plate, but was never known to eat it. He had a remarkable spirit of prayer and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. For this reason, he took as his bedroom what was little better than a lumber room near the organ loft, so that he could visit the Blessed Sacrament at any hour of the day or night.

His austerity and spirit of prayer were only equalled to his love for the poor. As Dispenser in Mungret, his charity had to be curbed by the Rector, so great was the swarm of beggars at the back door. It was his custom to exhort his clients to a better life, to say their prayers and go to confession. “keep the grace of God about you” he would say to them “and you’ll be better off every day, and won't have to be begging this way round the country”.

His constant prayer over forty years was that he might die in harness and without causing any trouble to the community. So it was.

On the day he died he cooked an evening meal for the community. That night at eleven o’clock he went to the rector’s room and asked for the last Sacraments. Fortified by the last Rites, he sank into a deep slumber and passed away quietly an hour before the morning call on February 1st 1901.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Brother David McEvoy (1828-1901)

In the last century, very few of our Brothers were associated with the Crescent and even then for but a few years at a time. Yet, two at least, of their names should find a place in this biographical index.

Brother David McEvoy (1828-1901), a native of Banagher entered the Society in 1858 and was stationed at the Crescent from 1878 to 1883 and again from 1897 until his death on 1 February, 1901. Throughout his life he was known to be a man of singular holiness. During his years at the Crescent he asked to be allowed to occupy a lumber room in the house instead of the room offered him. The only light of the room of his choice came from a tiny window opening on to the old organ gallery. It was known that he spent long vigils at the same window from which he could see the altar. On the night of the 31 January, 1901, he called at the rector's room and asked to be anointed. The rector was perplexed by the strange request, but noticing that the good Brother looked rather weak and that he repeated his request with more than customary earnestness, consented to anoint him. Some five hours later Brother David passed to his reward.

Born: 28 February 1901, Kilsallagh, Fethard, County Tipperary
Entered: 21 October 1939, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1950, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 05 March 1958, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of St Mary’s community, Emo, County Laois at time of his death.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Farmer before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Province News 33rd Year No 2 1958
Obituary :
Br James O’Neill (1901-1958)
Br. James O'Neill died at St. Vincent's Private Hospital on 5th March after a lingering and fairly painful illness of nearly five months. He had been sent into hospital in October and about Christmas he. was allowed to go to a Nursing Home; but he was not restored to health. He had to return to hospital after about a week for an operation, which was not expected to make him well but which saved him from severe pain for the remaining time of his illness. For weeks he grew steadily worse and as he could take practically no food he was reduced at the end to the last stage of emaciation. But during all these weeks he displayed unfailing patience and a holy resignation to God's will. Al who came to visit him were struck by his genuine Catholic spirit; and the nurses were edified by the virtuous way in which he met his sufferings and growing weakness and especially the strong simple Faith in which he approached his death.
He was a late vocation, being thirty-eight when he entered Emo in 1939, He was born at Fethard in County Tipperary, where he owned a farm left him by his father, which he worked with the assistance of his brother. For a good length of time he had a feeling that God wanted him in religious life. He spoke of this to the curate of his parish, Fr. Meaney, a past pupil of the Crescent College, Limerick, who advised him to enter the Society as a Brother and brought him to meet Fr. Gubbins, who at that time was Rector of the Crescent. Fr. Gubbins agreed at once with the opinion of Fr. Meaney and wrote recommending him to the Provincial, Fr. Kieran. When some time after, Fr. Kieran went to Emo on Visitation, Fr. Meaney brought James O'Neill to meet him and Fr. Provincial promptly admitted him to the Society. When James left home he made over his farm to his brother.
From the first he fitted into the new life on which he had entered much older in years than the companions he found in the noviceship. Straight away he showed a real affinity with the religious life; he was humble, docile, hard working, devout. He felt that he was where God wished him to be and had from the beginning peace in his vocation. During all his life in the Society he was given the work he bad been trained for and which he liked-work on the land. In 1943, shortly after his First Vows, he was sent to Rathfarnham Castle to take charge of the farm, where he worked for nearly seven years. In 1949 he was appointed to the same office in Milltown Park. After some years his health began to fail and he was changed again to Emo in 1956, where he was appointed to help in the running of the farm. But the change did not restore his health, He found that he had not his old energy - that he quickly grew tired. These were the first unrecognised symptoms of the disease which was to be fatal. But in spite of his weakness he worked on uncomplainingly until he could work no longer. Br. O'Neill remained all his life long what he had been in his noviceship, a humble devout Religious. He was always industrious and was devoted to his work as a farmer. Wherever he went he won the esteem and liking of his lay-helpers. He was always just and considerate with them, and he set them an example of hard work. With the different communities of Brothers he was always a favourite as he was invariably kind, friendly and easy to get on with. Indeed, with all members of the communities to which he was attached he was esteemed for his humility and devotion to work, and his religious duties.
His Religious life was relatively brief, lasting only 18 years; but he showed that he had a true Jesuit vocation; be gave all he had to God and the Society. He gave the years of quiet conscientious work; but he gave something more valuable in the example of simple, unobtrusive piety and religious observance which his life presented. May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother James O’Neill SJ 1901-1958
Br James O’Neill was a late vocation, being 38 when he entered Emo in 1939. Born at Fethard County Tipperary, he was the owner of a farm inherited from his father. But feeling the call to follow the Lord closer, he resigned his farm in favour of his brother and became a Jesuit.

In the Society he worked on the farms attached to our houses, first in Rathfarnham, then in Milltown and finally in Emo. But ill-health overtook him and he died after a painful illness on March 5th 1958.

He was only 18 years a Jesuit, but he showed he had a genuine Jesuit vocation – he gave all he had to God and the Society, years of quiet conscientious work, and an example of simple, unobtrusive piety and religious observance.

Born: 27 September 1872, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1921, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Died: 25 January 1930, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Sturrock was quite a well-educated man and a good musician. He enjoyed singing at novices concerts. After leaving school he joined the GPO and was a valued worker. He owned some property at Geelong, and was a man of substance before he entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1 February 1921.
He worked at the noviceship after vows performing domestic duties until 1928 when he went to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, for a few years as assistant editor of the Messenger. His last few years were at Riverview in charge of the boys' books, and as sacristan.
His death was a very painful one, diagnosed, after death, as cancer of the pancreas. His superior thought he suffered from imaginitis, and so he was not well treated for his condition. He considered to be a most steady, dependable and cheerful person.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Br John Sturrock

Br. Sturrock was born on the 27th Dec. 1872, and began his novitiate at Loyola, Sydney,on the lst Feb 1921. He remained at Loyola for seven years, and amongst his duties being “Script. hist, dom”. He then passed a year at St. Patrick's, where, he was “Adj. Dir, Nunt. SS Cord”. In 1929, he went to Riverview, was “Aedit and Cust, Lib. Alum”. His holy death took place on Jan. 25th 1930.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1930

Obituary

John Sturrock

During the Christmas vacation, early in January of the present year, the remains of Brother John Sturrock were laid to rest in Gore Hill cemetery. Brother Sturrock had been with us only about a year and a half, having come from Melbourne, where he had been acting as a clerk on the staff of the “Messenger”. He had previously been at “Loyola”, Greenwich, where he served for some years after completing his novitiate. Before entering the religious life he had been an official in the GPO, Melbourne. During his stay amongst us he gave great edification by his holy life and remarkably cheerful and gentlemanly manner. He always wore the inestimable ornament of a genial smile, and though he must, of late years, have suffered intensely, for he was a victim of internal cancer, he was of such a stamp that, when eventual autopsy revealed what he had gone through, all were amazed to remember that he had never lost his cheerful and extremely sociable disposition, nor ever voiced the smallest complaint. Following so soon our loss of the saintly Father Pigot and good Brother Forster, the departure of this dear soul has left us sensibly poorer. RIP

Born: 11 July 1907, Carlton, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Entered: 27 March 1928, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Final vows: 15 August 1944
Died: 20 August 1986, Canisius College, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Ent as Scholastic Novice

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He lived in Huntsville, a South Sydney suburb and he was educated by the Christian Brothers, first at St Charles and then Waverley College where he had gained a scholarship. he then went on to begin an apprenticeship in pharmacy. A year into that he entered St Columba’s Seminary at Springwood for priestly studies. There he read the story of William Pardow, an American Jesuit, and the inspiration and attraction he got from this led him to ask to be released by the Archdiocese.
Having entered as a scholastic novice at Loyola Greenwich, he was subsequently sent to Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin for his Juniorate, graduating from University College Dublin with First Class Honours in Hebrew and Aramaic, the first Jesuit to attain this distinction at that time. From there he was sent to Pullach in Germany for Philosophy, in the process leaning German, which he attempted to maintain through the rest of his life.
During his time abroad the first signs of epilepsy appeared. He returned to Australia and was sent to Xavier College, Kew for Regency. Because his condition continued it was decided that he would not proceed the scholastic course of studies to ordination. This decision brought him to a crossroads which tested his vocation. The Provincial of the time, John Fahy earnestly urged him to leave the Society, which advice was a source of resentment for the remainder of his life. He was obsessed with scholarship, and becoming a Brother would mean the end of his studies. He was pained by being separated from his scholastic companions and joining in with the Brothers, who in general would have had simpler tastes than his, but he decided to do so in order to remain a Jesuit.

1938-1940 He went as a Brother to Sevenhill, which was something of a refuge for men in difficulty of one kind or other, and it was thought that the climate would be good for his condition.
He was then sent to the Noviciate at Loyola College Watsonia as kitchen hand, occasional cook and infirmarian. The latter did not suit his temperament, but he was faithful to his duties. Here he also learned some basic bookbinding from Brother Maurice Joyce. With characteristic thoroughness he decided that he wished to master this craft. He was unable to do this until such time as a retired chief bookbinder of the Sydney Municipal Library gave him weekly lessons.
1944-1986 His remaining years were spent doing the work of bookbinding at Canisius College Pymble, and the Theologate Library contains many of his professionally bound books and periodicals.

At times he felt frustrated that much of the work given to him was unworthy of his talents, and in addition when many of the Latin Missals he had bound he took to the incinerator following the liturgical renewal. As with everything he faced these trials with a brave and humble heart.
Even in his later years he could be called on in an emergency, stepping in to cook meals or help clean up a room of one of the older men when nobody else could, and he did so with a certain joy in facing the challenge presented.
For many years he had shown a degenerative condition of the spine which occasioned spondylitis, and this caused him increasing pain and distress. It was a relief to his sufferings when he died at Babworth House, the Sydney mansion at Darling Point that had been the home of Sir Samuel Horden and his family, but acquired by the Sisters of Charity and used as an adjunct to St Vincent’s Hospital. He would have been pleased to die in the midst of such expired affluence.

He was a great raconteur and enjoyed talking about his time in Europe and about the sayings and doings of Ours. In his earlier days he enjoyed walking and went on many long hikes with scholastics, especially in the region around the holiday house at Geoora. Each year he joined the Riverview Villa (holiday) in December and was a regular member of the card players. He was a good companion and a faithful Jesuit.

Born: 16 April 1896, Rhode, County Offaly
Entered: 11 December 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 25 August 1977, Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin community at themtime of death

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Chauffeur before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 52nd Year No 4 1977
Manresa
Having lost two members of our community as a result of the status we suffered a more lasting loss on August 25 when Brother Laurence McNamee died suddenly. He had been mildly unwell for a few days but was up and about and quite well enough to entertain his sister a Cross & Passion nun. Brother John Loftus was driving the sister back to her convent in Glandore Rd and Bro Laurence went also for the drive; at the bottom of Griffith Ave, he collapsed; Bro Loftus rang for an ambulance immediately and Fr Dargan rushed to Jervis St Hospital to anoint Bro Laurence; officially he was dead on admission.
When one thinks of Bro Laurence one is reminded of Mary Purcell's life of Blessed Peter Fabre ... The Quiet Companion; so gently and so quietly and so prayerfully did he pass his last years.
Fr Ambrose McNamee, O Carm. (nephew) was chief concelebrant at the Requiem Mass in Gardiner St.

Irish Province News 56th Year No 3 1981

Obituary

Br Laurence McNamee (1896-1920-1977)

A great worker. He said the one time he was tempted to leave the Society was when he was sent to Emo to get the place ready for the novices and was then told to do nothing as the contract of sale had not yet been signed. Earlier in Tullabeg he looked after the car. Bringing back three novices (after their appendicitis operations in St Vincent's hospital on Stephen’s Green) from Tullamore, the car lost a wheel just after crossing a bridge near the gate of Charleville castle. He promptly took one nut off each of the other wheels and fixed the wandering wheel to bring the novices safely back to Tullabeg. Back in Tullabeg during the war, he looked after the 'gig' or 'back-to back' which in those petrol-starved days carried Jesuits to and from Tullamore and the train. He took the same care of the horse as he did previously of the motor-car, with the result that the steed grew fat and kicked.

Born: 24 June 1832, Durha, Kilrush, County Clare
Entered: 15 June 1860, Santa Clara, CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Final Vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 28 January 1911, Los Gatos, CA, USA - Californiae Province (CAL)

Born: 19 December 1872, Drumcolliher, County Limerick
Entered: 30 March 1894, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Professed: 15 August 1905
Died: 24 February 1949, Meath Hospital, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949
Clongowes :
We regret to announce the death of Br. John Brennan in his fifty-third year in Clongowes. He had been failing during the past year but continued to do duty as infirmarian to the College until he was attacked by violent pains on the night of 12th February. He was taken to hospital in Dublin next morning and was operated upon two days later but he never really rallied and he died in the early morning of the 24th February, having received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction some days previously,
Br. Brennan's remains were brought to Clongowes on the evening of the 24th and were received by the Rector and Community in the presence of the boys. Fr. Rector celebrated the Requiem Mass next morning, and after the Absolutions bad been performed by Fr. Provincial, the funeral procession, headed by a guard of honour from the College F.C.A., proceeded down the front avenue to the College cemetery. Here Br. Brennan was finally laid to rest in the presence of all the boys of the College, many of the Past and a big gathering of Jesuits from Tullabeg, Emo and all the Dublin houses. May he rest in peace.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 3 1949
Obituary
Br. John Brennan (1872-1894-1949)
Br. Brennan was born in County Limerick in 1872. In early life he was in business in Limerick City, and was at this time a keen oarsman. Entering the Society in 1894 he did his noviceship in Tullabeg, and in 1896 was sent to Clongowes as Infirmarian and Sacristan. In the early years he used to go each summer vacation to St. Vincent's Hospital for training and experience in the work to which he devoted his life, and which he was carrying on, despite declining strength, up to a fortnight before his death.

An Appreciation :
“Br. Brennan's services to Clongowes were so great and so constant that it is difficult for any individual to summarise them. When I first went to the school he was already a legend to me, for he had won the life-long affection and gratitude of my brother, while nursing him through a rheumatic fever which should have killed him. To me in those still pre-First-World-War years he seemed already a veteran, one of the ‘Big Three’ into which he fitted so smoothly that there seemed a natural link between Dr. O'Connor, Miss Elison and ‘The Brother’. We are often reminded of the feeling of security that buttressed our dated childhood, but, looking back in nothing does it seem more remarkable than in the confidence these three good people inspired. School life might be disturbing or anxious, exams, places on teams, ‘Reports’, all loomed up with the exaggerated importance youth can give trifles, but illness, and particularly serious illness gave one no worry, you just surrendered, responsibility ceased, they did the Test, and you knew they would do it perfectly. I really think they did.
Of course there was another side of Br. Brennan's activities. In healthy life you knew him not only as a member of the Big Three, but as an outstanding figure of the big Five or Six of which Br. O'Grady was the mystery man, and Br. Brady the most familiar, and of which most happily for Clongowes Brs. Corcoran and Fennell survive. With them you saw him in the distance sharing walks and duties, or just occasionally on the touch-line at an outmatch. He carved, he was sacristan of both chapels - clean linen and lace became him and floors as shinning as a good hospital, and a freshness and flowers and light, and a most unobtrusive figure with deft, swift movements of Monstrance, vase or cruets. He had that very rare gift in an Irishman, wonderful taste in the arrangement of flowers.
And of course in the surgery he presided twice daily over the oddest kind of club. While he worked away with pill, mixture and tonic, while the bandage unrolled and the scissors snipped and the sticking plaster was sparingly used and denied to urgent beggars, ‘The Brother’ was surrounded by a score of boys, all talking, squabbling, idle, but by some miracle, well-behaved and fairly happy. He never raised his voice, he never threatened, no never punished or invoked authority, he used no sanctions, either of privilege or affection, he was kind to all and the universal friend, but no boy could boast of intimacy or favours, yet he was everyone's favourite. He did not strike one as remote or aloof, but rather as armed with the invulnerable dignity of a soul completely self-possessed, dedicated and in harmony with his own way of life. It was a lesson and example invaluable to boys tacking and veering and jockeying for position, restless as yachts or race-horses before the face of life. So marked was this unruffled calm in Br. Brennan that it could be on odd occasions intensely irritating to an impatient nan at what be believed a crisis calling for action. But, looking back, it must be granted that ‘hasten slowly’ got Br. Brennan there every time.
The passing years of course affected this picture. He lost Miss Elison and The Doctor, but he found new and happy partnerships with Dr. Fay, whom he had treated in the Lower Line, and with every one of the succession of young and active Matrons with whom in recent times Clongowes has been so singularly blessed. A succession of Ministers valued him at his worth, and that meant highly. For the rest, years added to his status. He never laid down his arms, like Mr. Chips, but he became a tradition. It was not just the hospitality which in an unrationed age he dispensed on Union Days that made a little chat with him one of the first requests of all returning O.C.s. It is no disparagement of any man or his work to say that among the Old Boys of the dispersion there were more inquiries for Br. Brennan than for any of the masters or prefects whose role might once have seemed more conspicuous. More than one wrote annually or bi-annually for a score or more of years during which the friends had scarcely ever met.
So the years went by, more than fifty of them, in Clongowes, with perhaps diminishing external activity but quietly increasing affection, esteem, and even pride. And always that constancy of service to boy and man and God. Was Br. Brennan ever late of a morning ? Did he ever miss spiritual reading or Litanies? Well, certainly not to the observation of anyone. That we could all see. God alone, I think, saw the inner life of one, who was in such intimate touch with Fr. Fegan and Fr. Sullivan and a score of ‘saints’, who helped each one, and went his own sure way to God. Now he has, with characteristic lack of fuss and delay, gone home at last. He leaves us, poor and mourning his absence but rich in memory and proud to have known and admired him”.

◆ The Clongownian, 1949

Obituary

Brother John Brennan SJ

Brother Brennan was born in Drumcollogher in December, 1872, so that according to the Calendar he was an old man when death visited him last February in the Meath Hospital. But he was not really old; his slim, figure, his youthful alertness of mind and speech and manner and movement, his readiness to do a good turn for anyone at a moment's notice, his spontaneous enjoyment of any bit of fun, all forbade the suggestion of age.

He had been destined for a business. career, and one cannot doubt that he would have made a success of it, had he not abandoned it after a few years, to offer himself to the Society. He came to Tullabeg in the autumn of 1893, and began his formal novitiate in the following March. I was a novice there then, and among my fellow-novices were Brothers Corcoran and Fennell; so that I can claim. to have been, from those early days, the associate and friend of the Triumvirate which was, one may say, to rule Clongowes for half a century.

It was, I think, in 1896, at the end of his noviceship, that Br Brennan came to Clongowes to be infirmarian, and infirmarian at Clongowes he remained to the end. He was very keen on his work, and during the vacations attended courses at Vincent's Hospital. A venerable Father, who was a young Scholastic at Clongowes in 1896, has told me of the delight of Br Brennan at getting a shin battered on the football field, to be disinfected and bandaged.

During those fifty-three years, 1896-1949, innumerable Clongownians have known and loved him. Indeed, to know him was to love him. I have never heard him spoken of but in terms of affection and praise, and I have never heard him utter an unkind or even depreciatory word of anyone else. A conversation with him seemed to promote in one a certain kindly hopefulness; not on account precisely of anything he said, but of the kind of atmosphere that was about him.

During the last few years he had much to suffer physically and he endured it. with unfailing cheerfulness and courage, and welcomed a joke or a funny story as if there was nothing in the world to trouble him. Just before the last operation, when he knew that he might probably be facing death (as in effect it turned out that he was), I had an intimate conversation with him, and I treasure the memory of it. Here, I felt, is a soul very clear to God.

The operation was quite successful, but unfortunately, pneumonia set in and exhausted his last resources of strength. The chaplain, who was called in, in haste, to administer the Last Sacraments, told me of the intense joy with which he received them, and told me also how much he was loved by everyone who had to do with him in the hospital. God be with his soul!

MFE

-oOo-

May one whose good fortune it was to have known and worked with Brother Brennan for half a century pay a sincere tribute to a man who by his kindness, skill and loyalty has endeared himself to countless generations of Clongownians. No one who has ever come under his care will forget his genuine sympathy for suffering, or his humourous method of treating “foxes”, and he had an uncanny knack of distinguishing the “real” from the “Malade Imaginaire”' as the writer has cause to know. Still one forgets the “Black Jack” and remembers only the subsequent doses dispensed so graciously in the Castle at close of Union Day. His interest in, and knowledge of, Clongowes Past and Present was amazing, and he remembered only their successes. His death has left a gap that it will be difficult to fill. His name and fame will endure as long as there is a Clongowes. May he rest in peace.

T B

Born: 16 July 1869, Charleville, County Cork
Entered: 29 October 1890, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final vows: 15 August 1901
Died: 08 March 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 19th Year No 2 1944
Obituary :
Brother William Canty SJ (1858-1943)

Brother Canty died a happy, peaceful death at Milltown Park, on March 8th. He was born at Charleville, on July 16th, 1869, and entered the Society on 29th October, 1890. He came into touch with the Society through the instrumentality of Mrs. O'Mahony, two of whose sons, after having studied in Clongowes, became Jesuits.
Nearly all Brother Canty's work for God was confined to the tailor's shop, where he was not only a model of tireless work, but also very expert. He valued highly the quiet of such a scene of activity : “It's so much easier” he would say, “to get in a fair amount of prayer when you have no one disturbing you”. He was for a time Sacristan in Galway, looking after the altar boys as well as the Church. The best comment on his good influence on these lads was the visit that two of them, now living in Dublin, paid to Milltown to visit the remains.
His was a quiet, unobtrusive figure. He was the servus bonus et fidelis to whom the rich reward is promised. One felt in him, as the years went by, the growth of the spiritual deeper and simpler. It was another example of what Fr. Martindale has so truly said of St. Alphonşus, the type. “It may be that old men of this type I will not say the complete expression of the type, like Alonso are not so seldom to be met with in the ranks of lay-brothers of religious Orders. Perhaps anyone who has lived in a larger house of some such Order a house of Studies, for instance, will remember more than one of these gentle old men, full of profound spiritual insight expressing itself often in acts of the most pathetic childlikeness or downright childishness”. Again he says, and we should like to make his words our own, “Let so much, then, be said in homage of Alonso, and in affectionate recollection of not a few of his brothers, still, or not long since, among us”.
Some of this simplicity in Br. Canty's character appeared in his love of the birds. Twice or oftener in the day one might see him come with a few crusts from the Refectory, which he crumbled for the sparrows, finches and even blackbirds. They had got so used to his kindly ministrations and quiet ways that he could walk among them without disturbing them unduly.
One of the gifts he had received from God was that of unfailing good health. He said he had not ailed for 17 or 18 years. On this account he may have been a trifle rash in ignoring the bronchitis that attacked him and which developed into pneumonia, and carried him off after a few days illness. He said, just after the anointing, that he was glad to die in Milltown above any other house in the Province, his reason being that in no other house would he find so many Priests who would speed him on his way with the gift of the three Holy Masses. There were over 50 Priests in the house at the time,
He has left a kindly, holy memory behind him. May God give him the eternal reward of his temporal labours in His House,
He worked in many Houses of the Province : Tullabeg, Clongowes, Galway, Mungret and Milltown Park. He had celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit. The details of his years of service being : Tullabeg 10, Clongowes 12, Galway 9, Mungret 6, and Milltown 16, R.I.P.

Born: 12 July 1830, Trim County Meath/Loughanure, Clane, Co Kildare
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare
Professed: 15 August 1868
Died: 29 March 1911, Mungret College, County Limerick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was born at Trim but brought up at Loughanure, on the Meath and Kildare border.

At the time of Entry he had good knowledge of carpentry and building. In the 50 years he spent in the Province, he is in nearly all the houses, wherever a trusty man was needed to oversee and tale charge of a building project, or some important structural change safely through. So, he was at Crescent for the building of the Church there. He was also in Galway during the building of the Church there. Later he went to St Beuno’s in Wales during the construction of the new library there.
1887 By this time he began a special relationship with Mungret. He taught carpentry to a number of young men who came to the house to be trained as Brothers for the Missions. Later he went to Milltown as clerk of works for the building of the chapel there, and then back to Mungret to supervise the building of a new storey on the old buildings of the former Agricultural College.
Even though age had begun to undermine his strength he was still able to do a fair share of work by overseeing the work of others. He was a man of reflective and contemplative style, and his conversation often gave evidence of true insight and good judgement. Among the football and cricket students he was their oracle for the weather!
He was an observant religious, peaceful in his dealings with all, never querulous, and he bore the increasing infirmities of age with great patience. Winters became more taxing, but he always seemed to emerge from this season hale and hearty. Even toward his end, there had been hopes by all that he would be seen strolling thought the grounds and corridors. He said “If the east wind holds it will carry me off, if it changes I shall pull round again for a bit, please God”.
He died peacefully 29/03/1911, and after the Requiem Mass he was brought to the small cemetery and buried between William Frayne and David MacEvoy, and close to the grave of William Ronan.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. he took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were Christopher Coffey, John Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Christopher Coffey 1830-1911
Christopher Coffey was born in 1830 at Loughanure, on the borders of Meath and Kildare. In 1858 he entered the Society as a coadjutor Brother. He had a good knowledge of building and carpentry, so during the half century he spent in the Society, he resided in those houses where building or structural works were necessary.

This he was at Crescent for the building of the Sacred Heart Church. Similarly he was in Galway for the building of the Church of St Ignatius. He was actually sent across the water to St Beuno’s for the erection of the library there. In 1887 his special connection with Mungret began.

In Mungret he taught a class of young men who had come to be trained as coadjutor brothers for the foreign missions. He interrupted this task to go to Milltown Park for the building of the chapel, but was soon back in Mungret to assist at the building of the new storey to the original house.

He was an observant religious “just before God, walking in all the Commandments of the Lord without blame”. In his old age he was remarkably edifying and cheerful under his disabilities.When hopes were expressed by his friends of seeing his familiar figure round the grounds and corridors for many more years, he used say “If the east wind holds it will carry me off; if it changes I shall pull around again for a bit, please God”.

He retained his faculties to the last, and fortified by the Rites of the Holy Church, he passed away peacefully on March 29th 1911, and he was buried in the cemetery at Mungret, close to the grave of Fr Ronan.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1911

Obituary

Brother Christopher Coffey SJ

Another of the old familiar faces has vanished from our midst. Few of our past students but will remember Br Coffey. On and off he had lived some twenty years in the college. During that time he had ever the cheery “good-day” for all, the big and the little, the young and the old.

Born at Trim in 1830, and brought up at Loughanure, on the borders of Meath and Kildare, Christopher Coffey entered the Society in 1858 as a Lay Brother. He had at the time a good knowledge of building and carpentry, During the half century he spent in the Society he resided in nearly all the houses of the Irish Province, wherever a trusty man was needed to take charge of a rising edifice or to see some important structural change safely through. Thus he was at the Crescent House, Limerick, for the building of the Church of the Sacred Heart some 46 years ago. Similarly he was at Galway, when the Church of St Ignatius was built, and he went later on to the College of St Beuno's, N Wales, for the erection of the new library there.

His special connection with Mungret began about 1887, when he taught carpentry to a number of young men who had come to this house to be trained as Lay Brothers for the foreign Missions, under a plan which was in trial for a couple of years. Later on he was at Milltown Park, as clerk of the works for the building of the chapel, and back here again when the new storey was being added to the old buildings or former Agricultural College.

As age undermined his strength he could still do his share for the general good by overseeing the labours of others. He was of a reflective and even a contemplative turn of mind, and his conversation often gave much evi dence of true insight and sound judginent. Among the football and cricket enthusiasts of the school he was looked up to as their trusted oracle of the weather.

He was an observant religious, and we may say of him that he was “just before God, walking in all the Commandments of the Lord without blame”. Peaceful in his dealings with all, he was in no wise querulous, bearing, the increasing infirmlties of old age with admirable patience: Last winter had tried him severely; but in spite of the ups und downs he would re-appear seemingly hale and hearty as ever. Even to nearly the end, hopes were entertained of again seeing his familiar figure stroll about the corridors and grounds. . But In his own philosophic way; he said - “If the east wind holds it will carry me off, if it changes I shall pull round again for a bit, please God”. He retained his faculties to the last, and fortified with the rites of Holy Church he passed away peacefully on Wednesday, the 29th of March. . On the following Friday, after Requiem Mass and Office, his re mains were borne to the little' cemetery, and were there laid to rest between those of Brs Frayne and MacEvoy, and close to the grave of Fr Ronan, where with them and some other fellow-workers he awaits the final trumpet-call. RIP

Born: 06 November 1861, Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, County Dublin
Entered: 30 July 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 02 January 1916, Mungret College, County Limerick

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was raised at Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin , on the site where the Presbyterian Church stood later. He had been a soldier in the English army, and had spent some years with them in India and Malta.

He was by trade a shoemaker, and this was his work in the Society. He also had a wonderful gift of taking care of the sick. This he did at Tullabeg, where he watched over the venerable Charles Young who died in his 98th year.
He was also a shoemaker at Mungret, where he worked until his peaceful death 02 January 1916, and was buried at Mungret.
Owing to the somewhat sedentary nature of his work, he became quite stout, which hindered his work somewhat!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Patrick Rickaby SJ 1861-1916
Br Patrick Rickaby was born in Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, on the site where the Presbyterian Church now stands, on November 5th 1861. In his early life he was a soldier in the English Army, and saw some years of service in India and Malta. He became a Jesuit in 1891. He was by trade a shoemaker and worked in that capacity in the Society. He also had a wonderful gift of nursing the sick and devoted some years to that work in Tullabeg, where he nursed the venerable Father Charles Young, who died in his 98th year.

He had a subtle sense of humour. On one occasion when Fr Young had rung the bell previously rather often and needlessly to summon Br Rickaby, the later started to strop Fr Young’s razor. “What are you doing that for” said the patient from the bed. “Well” replied the Brother, “at the rate you’re calling me, you don't seem long for this world, and it will be easier to shave you now than when you’re dead”. The hint was taken and he was not summoned so often.

After joining the Society Br Rickaby grew enormously stout, perhaps owing to his sedentary life as a shoemaker. He spent the last years of his of at Mungret College, where he died on January 2nd, 1916, and was buried in the College Cemetery.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1916

Obituary

Brother Patrick Rickaby SJ

A large number of our recent Past must have. heard with regret of the death of Bro Rickaby SJ, which took place at the beginning of January, 1916. His death could not be said to be unexpected; in fact, it was not anticipated that he would have lived to see the new year. For a long time. past he had not been in good health, but in spite of frequent sickness and growing infirmities he went about his work cheerfully and uncomplainingly. At the beginning of last November, his malady grew rapidly worse. For two months he lingered on, often in great pain, but always cheery and patient. He passed away on January 2nd, perfectly resigned to die, having received the last Sacraments of the Church, and having given a fine example of what the death-bed of a Christian and a Religious should be.

Bro Rickaby was 55 years at the time of his death, and had entered religious life in the year 1891. Of the quarter of a century which he spent in the Society of Jesus, over fifteen years were passed at Mungret. In Mungret certainly he was happiest, and he had come to regard the College as his home.

For the boys who came to Mungret since 1901 he will remain one of the most distinctive memories. His work of shoemaker and infirmarian always gave him more than enough to do, but he was never too busy to interchange a cheery word with those that came to visit him. But the most vivid memory will remain with those who came under his care when he was infirmarian. His cheery disposition and kindness of heart made him an excellent nurse.

Among his brother religious his loss was deeply felt. He was a man whom all respected for his spirit of work and his exact observance of his rules. May he rest in peace!

Born: 10 March 1784, County Longford
Entered: 02 December 1812, Palermo, Sicily, Italy - Sicilian Province (SIC)
Final vows: 08 September 1837
Died: 10 July 1868, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

In Clongowes 1817 - infirmarian O’REILLY

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He was a model religious.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
When he had finished his Noviceship in Sicily, he was sent back to Ireland with many book and some marble. His ship was wrecked at Dundrum Bay, Co Down, and he was kindly received there by the Russells of Killough. Finally reaching Dublin, he was sent to Clongowes, and worked there for many years.
1834 He was sent to Gardiner St, and worked there until his death 10 July 1868.
He was much esteemed by all who visited the Church at Gardiner St.
Note from John Nelson Entry :
He took his Final Vows 02 February 1838 along with eleven others, being the first to whom Final Vows were given since the Restoration in Ireland. The others were : Philip Reilly of “Palermo fame”; Nowlan, Cleary, Mulligan, Michael Gallagher, Pexton Sr, Toole, Egan, Ginivan, Patrick Doyle and Plunkett.

◆ The Clongownian, 2009

The Origins of the Clongowes Library : The adventurous journey of Br Philip Reilly SJ from Palermo to Co. Kildare

Father Michael Sheil SJ

There is a marble plaque, still in existence, which recalls the beginnings of the 'Higher Line Library' in Clongowes. Dated 1837, it records:

Ad
horas subsecivas
amoeniter ac literate
decurrendas
hoc aperuit conclave
coll. cluen.
MDCCCXXXVII

“The Clongowes Record” speaks of the initiative of Fr Henry Rorke “who filled many offices in his long and serviceable years in Clongowes - Minister, Prefect of Studies, and more” and who equipped the Higher Line Library:

“...so used till 1886, it has long been the Rhetoric classroom; but its original purpose as a place of true recreation and relaxation is finely shown in Fr Paul Ferley's inscription, still there on the mural tablet”. The record further adds that “Historical reading was especially cultivated in close connection with the Clongowes Debating Society”.

But the story of a library in Clongowes goes back much further, as seen in the letters of Br Philip Reilly, whose account of his perilous sea voyage from Palermo in 1815 with the nucleus of a library in the newly-opened college of Clongowes Wood makes for fascinating reading. In one letter, sent to Fr Peter Kenney from his ship in Youghal on 10th October 1815, he gives a marvelous description of sea travel in those far-off days. He had left Palermo on 26th July on the schooner “Mary”, registered in and bound for Belfast “with all the books on board” and two weeks later called in at Girginti to take on board a cargo of sulphur. After seven days there “we set out for old Ireland” and, fifty-four days later put into Youghal “in distress”. His graphic account continues:

This is but little of my sufferings. The captain, who is a drunken rascal, had put to sea without laying in scarcely any provisions, and we have been reduced to the utmost misery. These six weeks we had not a morsel of bread but that which could walk with vermin, Our tea and sugar were ended before we reached the Straits of Gibraltar, and for twelve days we have been on a miserable allowance of bread and beef. All this will appear nothing when I tell you I have twice been on the brink of eternity, with all hands on board, once in the Mediterranean, and last night on the mouth of this harbour, by drunken fits of the captain. Last night the ship struck twice or thrice on the bar here; and, if God had not spared us, we should all have settled our accounts in eternity. I do not know if we shall be allowed to ride our quarantine here, or whether we shall be sent to Belfast; of which I shall give you the first notice, that you may send me the amount of the freight of the books, which will be from £16 to £20, as I believe that they measure three tons. I am of the opinion that, should I get the books free of duty into any of these harbours, I ought not to trust them again by sea to Dublin. If you could make interest with the Commissioners, it would be well; of all which you will inform me after my next. Pray much for me, I do not know what yet may happen to me. Give my love to all. Your affectionate son, PM Reilly

In a second letter to Fr Kenney about a fortnight later, Br Reilly recounts how, aided by fair winds and clear weather, the Mary reached Dublin safely by noon the following day and then continued its way northwards up the Irish Sea. “We were, as I have mentioned, bound for Carlingford to have the books taken out”. However, the captain said that with night drawing on, he could not put in there as he did not know the harbour; so he put up helm and steered the course for Belfast. But, to our great surprise, after suffering all the horrors of a stormy night, we found ourselves surrounded by land on all sides in this Bay of Dundrum (near Newcastle, Co. Down). At the instant our ship struck and I thought that she was in a thousand pieces. Providence of God! We were not ten perches (c 50m) from a whole shoal of rocks, on which, if she had struck, all the world would not save us.

But the Mary had struck on fine sand and Br Philip and his precious books were safe.

Books of account
In a third letter, from Killough, he continues to enquire if the books have been insured, for on the next day they were due to be taken ashore. From Dundrum Bay they would have to be transported to Killough for storage (at a rate of five pence per cwt) and thence on to Dublin. He requests money, £20, to have the books plus “polished stone, prints and private papers” released into his keeping, saying that “I intend going to Strangford as soon as I have the books assorted, to know if they there will make me any allowance for the damaged part of the books”.

In an old account book belonging to Fr Kenney one finds reference to charges incurred for

• books, marbles and crosses of agate from Sicily by brig to Belfast, stranded in Dundrum Bay near Killough on the night of 23rd October 1815 e.g.
• books bought = £161 4s 8p
• carriage of books from the Sand Bank to Killough
• and then from Killough to Grand Canal Harbour, James's St, Dublin – £10 14s 6p

Included also are some interesting items, such as:

• cash for extraordinary trouble caused to Mr Hamilton, officer
• Mr Reilly's first expenses waiting to see the books removed
• expenses attending three memorials to che Treasury Board of Customs and
Lord Lieutenant

and, finally, a real gem of an entry:

• To a new hat spoiled with rain and snow, and expenses incurred by illness caught by cold, also chaise to bring Mr Reilly to town, when suddenly called for...

• to make up a grand total of £234 0s 5p.

Eventually, the much-travelled consignment arrived safely at destination to form the foundation of the College Library. Its custodian also found himself in Clongowes, where one of his duties was 'the management of a certain important institution called "The Shop Some things never change!

Br Reilly was born in Longford on 17th March 1784 and had entered the Society of Jesus in December 1812. He made his last vows on 8th September 1837 and died in St Francis Xavier Community, Gardiner Street, Dublin, on 10th July 1868, after many years spent as Sacristan in the church there.

Thus, from the tiny mustard seed of that precious cargo on its perilous journey from Sicily to Kildare, has come the splendid state-of-the-art Library in the former Refectory-then-Theatre in the first House of the restored Society in Ireland. The spirit of both Br Reilly and Fr Rorke must surely bless the endeavours of all who enter this
place of true recreation and relaxation

• ad horas subsecivas amoeniter ac literate decurrendas.

Born: 01 October 1887, Loughrea, County Galway
Entered: 05 May 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 21 August 1953, Our Lady's Hospice, Dublin

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

Brother of Timothy McEntee - LEFT 1921

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Draper before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 28th Year No 4 1953
Obituary :
Brother Hugh McEntee
When Brother McEntee went to hospital no one imagined that his health was to deteriorate the way it did. After a period of convalescence, he returned to Clongowes for a short time. We were surprised to see the great change in him. Clearly he had lost his customary vigour.
During this brief period, he could be seen making his way slowly along the corridor, trying to exercise himself that he might regain some of his previous energy to fit himself once more for his work as Sacristan, The boys, who always held him in high esteem, noticed his weakened condition and to members of the community they expressed their hope that Brother McEntee would soon be hale and hearty once again and be back in the Sacristy. But it was not to be, for despite further medical attention, he continually failed in health, finally in the Hospice of the Dying, on August 21st, he passed peacefully away, having received the Last Sacraments.
He was born at Loughrea on October 1st, 1887, and was educated there. As a young man he set up his own drapery business in the same town. After some time he sold out and came to Dublin where he was in employment at T. Lyons and Co., Wholesale Drapers, Chathan Row. Here he was remarkable for his piety and zeal, chiefly manifested by a striking devotion to the sick, as well as his constancy in assisting in the enrolment of large numbers of boys in the Brown Scapular. As regards. the latter devotion, he had great faith in the revelation to St. Simon Stock, namely, that those members of the Brown Scapular who died in the proper dispositions would be released from Purgatory on the Saturday following their death. Hence, it was that he prayed that he would die on a Friday, and his prayer was answered.
On May 5th, 1920, he entered the novitiate at Tullabeg. He remained at this house until 1927 when he was transferred to Clongowes. With the exception of the period 1938-1944 when he was in Mungret, Brother McEntee spent the rest of his religious life at Clongowes.
As Sacristan of the Boys' Chapel and the People's Church, he was a model of order, neatness and efficiency. He had a constant loyalty and an abiding interest in his work, and was always most obliging and charitable. The local boys, whom he had instructed in Mass-serving and as Benediction acolytes, were very devoted to him. The boys in the college looked upon him as a necessary part of Clongowes, where he was erroneously but affectionately known as “Brother McGinty”. A past pupil, now a priest in the Dublin Diocese, said that as a boy he was most impressed by the brother. This good priest confessed that in his public request for prayers to his congregation he unconsciously reverted to his student days and referred to “Brother McGinty”. No doubt, the good brother appreciated the slip.
Brother McEntee's earlier devotion to the sick revealed itself in is religious life by his thoughtfulness in sending Catholic booklets, leaflets and holy pictures to hospitals and orphanages, and these undoubtedly brought consolation and assistance to many souls.
May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1954

Obituary

Brother Hugh McEntee SJ

Many Clongownians will regret the passing of Brother Hugh McEntee SJ. He was born on October 1st, 1887, and died on August 21st, 1953, having given the greater part of a holy life to Our Lord's service in the Society.

Both as refectorian and sacristan, he was most painstaking and efficient. His desire to diffuse happiness and pleasure in others, especially young boys, was ever : active ; his keen sense of humour was at call whenever occasion demanded; his manner was friendly, genial. and kind. But more than all his other commendable qualities, one may recall his practical devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He never spared himself in order to have the Boy's Chapel and the People's Church always spotlessly clean and ornate. Every sacred vessel and even the least candlestick seemed, with the perfect lustre of each, to tell the Hidden God really present in the tabernacle, the true story of his own heart's adoration and love.

His piety did not begin merely when he entered the Society. Even as a young man, when he owned a drapery business in Loughrea, Co Galway, he had a remarkable zeal for the sanctification of souls. He was an active and eager auxiliary of the local clergy in the work of enrolling boys and young men in the Brown Scapular of the Blessed Virgin.

He first came to Clongowes in 1927, when he was appointed refectorian and here he remained until July, 1938. After six years in Mungret College, he returned to us as sacristan. His last illness was long and painful but his resignation to God's will was most exemplary. RIP

Born: 22 October 1901, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Entered: 30 April 1971, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Final Vows: 08 September 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 14 March 1982, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 57th Year No 3 1982

Obituary
Br Edward Maher (1901-1971-1982)

Although Br Ned was granted four score of years, his life as a Jesuit spanned little more than a decade. Before becoming “Brother” he had already filled the roles of father and grandfather. The present writer first made the acquaintance of Mr Ned Maher when he (Ned) came to have a chat with Fr Cecil McGarry about entering the Society. A very dapper man with a thin Ronnie Colman moustache; alert, brisk, humorous, at once affable and serious. All these adjectives could be applied to him twelve years later, right up to the time of his last (and really first) illness when it saddened e to see the alertness and humour fading into an almost puzzled resignation.
Ned was born in Philadelphia on 22nd October, 1901, was educated at Belvedere, Clongowes, UCD and Georgetown University. After a short spell working in a bank he took up business, in which he remained for the rest of his lay life. He entered the Society on 30th April, 1971, took his first rows on 29th April, 1973 and pronounced final vows on 8th September, 1981.
A jumble of memories comes to me as I remember Ned; his love for operatic works on stage or radio. The only holiday he allowed himself was a few days every year at 35 lower Leeson Street from which he could, with chosen companions, easily attend the operas at the Gaiety theatre. He was one of the few men I know who appreciated the works of Wagner.
Chess was a game he liked. I cannot say whether he was a skilful player, but he would take on any of the novices who knew how to play. Reading he loved, though within a rather restricted field. Surprisingly (though maybe not in a person of Wagnerian tastes) he focused his reading on the war histories and the memoirs of famous commanders. For one form of recreation he felt no attraction at all ... walking. We used joke him about never having seen the other end of our property, “Walking” for Ned was a purely functional exercise; to get to a bus or bank or post-office; and he hadn't any inclination to look at the birds of the air or the lilies in the field; they hardly existed for Ned.
Maybe I am remembering only the marginal things about Ned, the mere phenomena, as the existentialists would say. But surely it was in and through these “marginals” that one got to know and love the whole essence, flavour, tang and colour of the personality that was Ned. Devotion to crosswords, Curly Wee, Verdi and Puccini were always “in place”, in the place where “desipere” is the mark of a wise man.
So much for play. What about his work? Apart from one short and unsuccessful period as staff-manager in Mungret he was Bursar in Manresa House and secretary of the Retreat House. He really loved work; figures and account books were his delight. Being secretary to the Retreat House involved a huge correspondence especially with regard to booking-in retreatants. Since he was not too familiar with all the permutated titles of religious congregations, many an LSA sister would find herself on the list as OLA or vice versa. One day about five years ago I dropped in to see Ned and found him typing away in his tiny room, Thinking of the lovely house he had left I asked him to tell me honestly if he ever had moments of regret at leaving all that. He simply said “I would not want to be. anywhere else”.
It might be a bit too facile to write that Ned was a man close to God. He was of a generation that did not easily unburden the secrets of the heart. He belonged to the dutiful, carnest type of religious and was definitely conservative in his views on religious practice. But the surprising element in his make-up was his ability to combine these conservative attitudes with a marvellous and spontaneous capacity for getting along splendidly with younger people, especially with the novices. Because he was given the grace of living close to the young in the Society he was able to love them while rejecting, through incomprehension, or even antipathy, some of their tastes in music, clothes et cetera. The same was true on the part of the younger people. Love and respect in the Society goes beyond personal tastes in external things. The presence of the old and the young can be a blessing when both find the presence of the Lord in each other. It was this way with Ned and the novices.
Of course he never lost touch with the young of his own family and it was a source of great joy to him that his son Paul and daughter-in-law Mary kept in such close touch with him. His daughter Judith with her husband Michael were most attentive to him. It was a lovely sight on some Sunday afternoons to see the three generations of the Maher family strolling around the Manresa grounds:
Finally, just to remind those who knew him well of two familiar sayings of Ned: On being addressed at breakfast “How are you this morning, Ned?” his invariable and jocose reply was “Poorly, thank God”. And when a novice would tease him, as they constantly did, Ned would be heard to say in mock seriousness “Go away, BOY”.
Ned himself went away very peacefully at 4 am on the morning of 14th March with Fr Rector, his son Paul and his daughter Judith there to bid him a last farewell.

◆ The Clongownian, 1982

Obituary

Brother Ned Maher SJ

Although Br Ned was granted four score of years, his life as a Jesuit spanned little more than a decade. Before becoming a “brother” he had already filled the roles of father and grandfather. He has been described thus: “A very dapper man with a thin Ronnie Colman moustache; alert, brisk, humorous, at once affable and serious”. All these adjectives could be applied to him right up to his last (and really first) illness.

He was born in Philadelphia on 22nd October 1901, educated at Belvedere, Clongowes and UCD and Georgetown University. After a short spell working in a bank he took up business, in which he remained for the rest of his lay life. He entered the Society of Jesus on the 30th April 1971, took his first rows on 29th April 1973 and pronounced final vows on 8th September 1981.
Apart from one short period as staff manager in Mungret Br Ned was bursar in the Jesuit house in Dollymount and secretary of the Retreat House there. He really loved work; figures and account books were his delight. He had a great love of opera and reading and related very well indeed to the novices who live in Doilymount.

Of course he never lost touch with the young of his own family and it was a source of great joy to him that his son Paul and daughter-in-law Mary kept in close touch with him. His daughter Judith with her husband Michael were most attentive to him. Ned left this world peacefully at 4.00 a.m. on the morn ing of the 14th of March with his Rector, his son Paul and his daughter Judith there to bid him a last farewell.

Born: 29 January 1835, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 22 December 1862, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1873
Died; 02 January 1904, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent for a year as Sacristan to Galway.
He was then sent to Tullabeg, and the rest of his life in the Society was spent here or at Clongowes, normally in the role of Sacristan or Dispenser. He is probably best remembered in the latter capacity, as he was anything but extravagant!
He was considered to be a quietly loyal and faithful brother who have edification by his manner and his religious life. He died at Clongowes 02 January 1904.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Cooper before entry

◆ The Clongownian, 1904

Obituary

Brother Peter Kehoe SJ

The photograph of Brother Peter Kehoe SJ, which we reproduce in this number, will recall a familiar face to many past students of Clongowes · and Tullabeg. After a laborious and saintly life, Brother Kehoe quietly passed away on January 2nd, 1904. He had been long suffering from asthma, but he would never allow it to interfere with his daily work. Indeed, during the last days of his illness, he could not be persuaded to give up the keys of his office. The saintly old man always answered that he was determined to die in harness. On the very morning before his death he ascended with difficulty the stairs, heard Mass, and received Holy Communion. His strong will overcame all obstacles, and led us to believe that his end was not so near.

Brother Kehoe was born on January 28, 1835, and was baptised in the Cathedral of Enniscorthy by Father James Roche. He entered the Society in 1862, and came to, Clongowes. On the 20th April, 1863, he left Clongowes for Milltown Park, · About 1864 he went to Galway, but only remained there a short time - his services as land steward were needed in Tullabeg. Here he remained for many years, and few can tell the enormous good he did in his own modest way. His success on the farm requires no comment, it is known to all - wonderful economic principles ruled his whole life. He remained for two years in Tullabeg after the amalgamation, and then went to Milltown Park. In 1889 he came back to Clongowes as dispenser, and remained there until his death. For three years (1897-1900) he filled two important posts - he acted as land steward and dispenser. There are many stories about success gained through love of holy poverty. Those who saw the wan, emaciated face of Brother Kehoe felt that, though most generous in dispensing to others the good things of this world, he was a hard master to himself. A noble emulator of the sainted Brother St Alphonsus Rodriguez, and now his companion, we hope he will not forget us.

Born: 23 November 1900, Rosses Point, County Sligo
Entered: 08 June 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 06 February 1984, North Infirmary Hospital, Cork

Part of Clongowes Wood College SJ community, County Kildare at time of his death.
Grew up Carrigaholt, County Clare

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 59th Year No 3 1984
Obituary
Br William Glanville (1900-1919-1984)
Br Glanville's father was a lighthouse keeper who married twice. Of the first marriage there were two children, our Br William being one of these. The first wife was an O’Malley from Co Galway, whose brother was MP for East Galway - not that Br Glanville ever imparted this piece of information. He was born at Rosses Point outside Sligo. In the second family there were sixteen children, and apparently the second Mrs. Glanville was very kind to all the children, and remembered by Br Glanville with deep gratitude and affection.
They moved to Carrigaholt, west Clare, when he was very young, and it was from there that he entered the noviciate at Tullabeg in 1919 at the age of nineteen. Early in his Jesuit life he spent ten years at Rathfarnham Castle from the mid-twenties, when the Australian Jesuits were attending the university. He acted as cook in other houses until the early 'fifties, when he was assigned to Clongowes as sacristan, a position that suited him and which he really loved. He remained at Clongowes for the last thirty-one years of his life in the Society; thirty-one happy years for him and for Clongowes.
His sudden death, while not unexpected by the community, has nevertheless left them with a genuine sense of loss, because they liked him and respected him for his qualities and his admirable example as a Jesuit. To the Clongowes community he is naturally associated with the sacristy and floral decorations with his own peculiar touch fitting for the occasion. They still remember his footsteps in the early morning about 4.30 on his way to the People's church; they remember him day after day in his own corner in the domestic chapel quietly saying his prayers; they remember his quips and asides during the early dinner; but above all they remember his quiet, unassuming, gentle manner. He was a very shy man, and yet a man who thoroughly enjoyed life - after his own fashion.
He kept a few letters all his life including one from Br Kevin Bracken (brother of the famous Brendan Bracken) who wrote to him from Australia in 1923. Two letters he treasured were from Captains of the school who wrote thanking him for all his trouble in making the altar so beautiful for some celebrated occasion. His three remaining sisters who live in the United States were his regular confidantes about his health and Irish affairs of interest to them.
For a man so timid and shy it's amazing how many friends he made over the years. These friends wrote to him constantly; he visited them from time to time, and never forgot their birthdays. . He enjoyed meeting people on his weekly train journey, and would often on the following day recall with a chuckle remarks that had been passed. The ticket-collector, for example, on the Dublin-Cork train always presented him with tea - gratis. More than once this same man drove him to his home at Mallow, and arranged that on his days off his substitute would have tea ready for Br Glanville. Towards the very end he found the train trips hard, but was determined to keep on his feet as long as possible. On Friday, 2nd March, he selected Cork as his journey's end and took the train there. After arriving at Glanmire station, he was walking slowly towards the city centre when he collapsed on the side walk. A number of people came to his assistance, one of them being a nurse, who noticed that his heart had stopped, Some time later an undertaker arrived on the scene and managed to get the heart going again. An ambulance took him to the North Infirmary hospital (near the bells of Shandon). However, there in the coronary care, unit the staff were convinced that damage had already been done to the brain. The Daughters of Charity, who run the North Infirmary, were very kind and attentive. He never regained consciousness, and died peace fully about 7 pm on Tuesday, 6th March.
The large gathering at his requiem Mass at Clongowes on the Thursday was certainly a tribute to Br William, Practically all the Brothers of the Province arrived, and particularly notice able was the number of priests who con celebrated. Br Glanville would have loved it all. It was a beautifully fine day with good sunshine, and with their guard of honour the boys did him proud. It was a fitting finale to sixty-five years' service as a Jesuit in the Irish province. May the What does it mean to be a Jesuit? The Lord be good to him.

◆ The Clongownian, 1984

Obituary

Brother William Glanville SJ

On Friday, 3 May 1984 a phone call from a hospital in Cork gave the disturbing news that a Brother Glanville had collapsed on the street and was brought unconscious to the hospital. For some years back Brother availed himself of the free ticket for the old to take a trip every Friday north, south, east or west. As the mood or a very definite purpose took him such a call on the odd friend. In spite of very bad arthritis, in defiance of most inclement weather every week he boldly “sailed” out, and oniy on his return did we learn he had been in Limerick, Galway, Dundalk or Cork, having on some of these visits just time to take a sandwich before having to board the train for the return journey. What he really loved I think, was the movement of the train, the passing ever changing panorama of the countryside, and the chats with chance acquaintances on the journey. For though shy enough with his brethren, he was quite unin hibited with passing strangers, possessing, as he did, a rare and quiet sense of humour that he preserved till his death.

The collapse on the street ended in a few days with his death, never having regained consciousness. His passing from our midst was felt deeply by all the community, and lay staff. His attachment to his duties as sacristan to both churches was most edifying, remembering the real pain and struggle he had to get round at all. He's unfailing humour made his company a thing of pleasure. While he had been in Clongowes for many years, and had been always a devoted servant of his duties, profane and religious, he had shown the same qualities in the three or four other houses where he had been stationed. It was at his funeral here that his real popularity, and the deep appreciation for the man himself was seen by the presence of most of the Brothers of the province, and the very large number of priests, who concelebrated the funeral Mass. We, and they, felt we had lost for a time some one, whose absence would be felt, and whose company could not be easily filled. RIP

G O'B SJ

Born: 01 August 1928, Hellensburgh, Dumbarton, Argyll, Scotland
Entered: 10 August 1956, St Mary's College, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows 15 August 1966, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 07 June 1970, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 45th Year No 3 1970

Belvedere College
On June 7th we were saddened and shocked by the sudden death of Br. Arthur McAnulla. He had been in good health the previous day working in his office. He went for his usual afternoon walk. When he was found on Sunday morning it appeared that he was preparing for bed when he died. For many years he presided in the school office quietly and efficiently so efficiently that on his death all the exam papers were printed and stencilled. Br. McAnulla was normally sparing of words but on occasion in the best Scots tradition could quip and jest with the best. He served us well in his years here and it was touching to hear the tributes paid him by our lay staff and neighbouring shopkeepers. At his funeral the boys and an impressive number of our recent past were present. Brother's life was saddened in recent years by the sudden deaths of his father and mother and brother. He was a true Scot and loved. his native land and it must have demanded heroism to sever his ties with Scotland and enter the Irish Province.

Obituary :
Br Arthur McAnulla SJ (1928-1970)
Br. Arthur McAnulla died suddenly on the morning of Sunday: June 7th. His untimely death was a great shock to us all.
A native of Hellensburgh, Scotland, he entered the Society just fourteen years ago, at the age of twenty-eight. After his novitiate at Emo Park, he spent two years at Milltown Park, taking charge of the domestic staff, and the next ten years at Belvedere College.
It was at Belvedere he really came into his own as secretary to the Prefect of Studies. Having come from a surveyors office in Glasgow, his wealth of experience was a great asset to the college. Doing all the typing of reports to parents, examination papers, etc., and many other duties which a big school entails, he was never heard to complain. Neat, methodical, and most efficient, he seemed to love his job. One lay-master said he did more work than any master in the school.
Of quiet disposition, he had the ready wit of a Scot, and a great sense of humour. He was an excellent card-player - just about a month ago after a long-table I remember he scooped the pool at cards I can still hear the echo of his broad Scottish accent saying, “Wait, I have not played yet”, and with his genial smile proceed to take the kitty.
The high regard which both lay-masters and the boys of the school had for him was significant by the large attendance at his obsequies. May his gentle soul rest in peace.
B.C.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1970

Obituary

Brother Arthur McAnulla SJ

Brother McAnulla's was a late vocation. He entered the Society when he was twenty eight in 1956, and came to Belvedere in 1960. His office training before he became a Jesuit made him an invaluable assistant for the Prefect of Studies. All the office machines from the typewriter to the photostat copier under his skilful handling produced work of the highest professional standard.

He was of a quiet disposition and never raised his voice. Yet he had a very good eye for spotting a humorous situation which he would point out to you in his soft Scots accent.

He had a weakened heart following a sharp attack of flu shortly after he came to Belvedere. He recovered from the illness but was advised not to work under pressure, For some time previous to the fatal seizure, people were commenting on his excellent spirits. It came as a great shock when one of the community went to his room on Sunday morning, June 7th, and discovered that he had passed away during the night. Most of the senior school attended his funeral in Gardiner Street.

Born: 18 December 1853, Rhineland-Palatine, Germany
Entered: 29 July 1874, Sankt Andrä - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final vows: 03 December 1884
Died: 09 December 1926, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He remained in Australia when the Mission was handed over by ASR to HIB.
He was Sacristan at Norwood and later transferred to Xavier College Kew. He died happily there 09 December 1926
He was a Carpenter by trade - the boys called him St Joseph.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Frederick Schwarz entered the Society 29 July 1874, and arrived in Adelaide with Josef Conrath and Vinzenz Scharmer, 13 December 1883. He went to the parish of Norwood, 1889-1903, as sacristan, gardener, cook and domestic helper. Later he went to Xavier College, Kew, 1903-26, as carpenter, storekeeper and other general duties.
His life was a busy but happy one of constant routine. At Xavier College, it was noted that he only left the school once in 24 years, on the occasion of an accident, and superiors decided he should have a rest.
Each morning, at 5.30 am, he would be in the chapel for meditation and then serve Masses. After breakfast, he went to his workshop where he worked as a cabinet maker. He worked slowly, but well. He hated slip-shod work. Between his workshop and jobs around the school, he spent his day. At 5 pm he locked the chapel and spent more time in prayer. On occasions, he would draw up plans and design work in his room. He was very careful to save the college as much money as possible - his designs involved minimal expense.
Towards the end of his life, because of trouble with feet, he was confined to his room. This gave him more time for prayer. He died a man of great faith.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927
Obituary :
Br F Schwartz
He was born in 1853, and entered the Society (Austrian Province) in 1874. He remained in Australia when the Austrians left in 1901. For two years he was sacristan at Norwood, and was then transferred to Kew. There he remained, doing carpentry work, until his death on the 9th December. Owing to the nature of his work, he was known to the boys as “St Joseph”.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1926

Obituary

Brother Friedrich Schwarz SJ

(At XC 1902-26).

“Grave on the stone ye give to me: “Faith once was mine; lo! now I see”

Brother Schwarz was born on the 18th of December 1853. He entered the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus in 1874. In 1883 he came to the Australian Mission which was then in the care of the Austrian Fathers, and was stationed at Norwood, Adelaide, for nineteen years. In 1902 he came to Xavier College where he prayed and worked and worked and prayed till God called him home to his big reward on 9th of last December. The portion of this long life of 73 years that naturally falls into these pages is the part led at Xavier, thougtı indeed his whole life was all of a piece since those who knew him sum up his younger days thus: “Brother Schwarz in the making!”

Rut and routine is one of the things that most people cannot stand. They must have change - usually given by means of a holiday - or else they'd go mad. Yet here was a man who for four and twenty years led a most routinary yet very active life and was the soul of happiness and contentment in and through it all. Only once can we remember his leaving Xavier and that was when, having slipped and fallen from a ladder, Superiors said he must go with the Community for a little change to the seaside. He did what he was told and was quite as happy as if he was hammering in his carpenter's shop. Two litle things occurred during his one and only seaside visit, and as they illustrate his cliaracter they are worth recording. The first showed his childlike joy in a joke: the second his great and simple faith. The villa or community vacation was at Clifton Springs and the last part of the journey was by coach. The Scholastics gathered round the dear old man on his arrival and asked him how he came, hoping to hear him reply: “I came by ze buzz”. However, contrary to expectations he said: “I came by the Cab!” At that there was a roar of laughter which no man enjoyed more than the old Brother himself, especially when he learned the trap that had been laid for him. “Yea, Father, Thou hast hidden it from the wise ones and revealed it to the little ones!” Into the other scene there came no less a personage than the late Archbishop Carr, God rest his kindly soul. His Grace was staying at the Clifton Springs Hotel and was wont to say Mass each morning in the little chapel of the Villa house. Well, the morning after his arrival Brother Schwarz met his Grace returning to the hotel and right or wrong, he was for going down on his knees on the public road and getting the saintly Archbishop's blessing. The latter however wouldn't have the kneeling part at all. It was a struggle between humilities and authority alone finally won the day. Shortly after he returned and thus ended the only time, as far as we know, that Brother Schwarz ever left Xavier during his 24 years of life there. It was that

“Here he ran his godly race Nor changed, nor wished to change his place”.

Morning by morning would see him up at half past five o'clock and along to the Chapel where he made his meditation and served Masses. After breakfast, down to his little workshop where he would put his hand to accomplish work that any cabinet maker night be proud of. He worked slowly, true, but well. It was a case of “slow to begin, but never ending”. He hated slip-shod jobs, holding that whatever was done for the Master should be done well. Between this little shop - a small Nazareth of its own - and places about the house wanting repairs, he would spend the day. With 5 o'clock gone, he would close down and come up to the Chapel to continue in the presence of the Master and with more concentration the prayers he had been saying off and on during the whole day. Beads, Ways of the Cross, and long prayers - more likely conversations - with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, these filled many an hour of his evenings. On occasions, however, he would give some of this time to planning and designing work in his room. There with his pencil and compasses he would draw things to scale with the accuracy of a draughtsman. It was at moments like these that he used (to use a word often on his lips) to “speculate”. Likewise he “would make a remark” which “remark” would be always very sound though it might and very often did, run into the plural number. The work that he did here was always very practical and the amount of money his thinking out of things saved the College would run into many figures if it were all totted up. One interesting feature about such undertakings was this. He would go to all trouble about exact measurements, prices, tenders and, that done, stop and say: “Now let us go and see the Rector”. The blessing and guidance of obedience meant everything for him and readily and uncomplainingly would he drop any work, no matter how much there was of it, if those in authority did not think well of it.

Thus passed the working day of the week and when Sunday came, well, he too went on Sunday to the “Church”, and there he stopped, morning and evening especially. In the afternoon he would sometimes go out to Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament which night happen to be in a Chapel close handy or he might go to the hospital to visit some sick friend whom he had been too busy to look up during the week. Towards tlae end he began to suffer very much from his feet and he found it difficult to get any rest at night. This only brought forth the smiling remark; “All the inore time for prayers!” Never was complaint heard from his lips though the suffering was very acute. At last he had to keep to his room - a big cross for him who had been so active all his life. However, he began on a more wholesale scale than before, the work of novenas, starting with Our Lady, to whom he had a childlike devotion, and going the round of his special saints in heaven, Finally, Superiors decided that it was wisest for him to go to hospital where every care could be given to him. To this he acquiesced, just as he did to the going to the seaside, saying with a smile as he went off “If I don't come back, I'll meet you in heaven”. Thie saintly old man spoke more truly than he thought. He was never to come back for, despite all the skill and care that was bestowed on him day and night, sickness and old age had their way and his saintly soul passed to his Master very peacefully on December 9th - the day following the feast of Our Lady's Inmaculate Conception,

Thus ended a life of great love and great faith, and straigiitway for him at least, came the “vision splendid”. His heart was always “God's alone”. Hence has he gone straight to where “No need to chase away the hour of sadness, No fear of disappointment or of moan. But only thrills of that ennobling gladness That live in hearts that are but His alone”.

Born: 12 May 1859, Draperstown, County Derry
Entered: 07 December 1885, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia (HIB)
Final Vows: 02 February 1897, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 25 November 1936, Mater Hospital, Sydney, 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

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Note from Patrick Muldoon Entry :
Ent at the new Irish Novitiate in Richmond, and it was then moved to Xavier College Kew. He went there with Joseph Brennan and John Newman, Scholastic Novices, and Brother Novices Bernard Doyle and Patrick Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He was born in Ireland, but entered the Society at Richmond Australia in 1885.

1887-1888 After First Vows he spent a year at Xavier College Kew
1888 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview and was to spend the rest of his life there.
He was at various times cook, buyer and storekeeper, but not involved in what was referred to as “domestic duties”. In his latter years he was in charge of the farm and the dairy, and in all his work he was considered efficient and kindly.
Sometime during the 1930s he paid monthly visits to St Michael’s Orphanage, Baulkam Hills, taking bags of potatoes and some trays of mince meat to supplement the poor diet of the orphans. The funds for this food came from the Riverview boarders.

Although Irish, he had emigrated to Australia before he entered the Society. Almost all of his 50 years in the Society were spend at Riverview, where he made a wide circle of friends, not only among boys, Old Boys and parents, but also in the business world of Sydney which his work as buyer for Riverview brought him into close contact with. The East Wing of the College, the organ in the Chapel, and the showers in the Second and Third Division buildings were all paid for by “friends of Brother Doyle”.

His community remembers him especially for his piety, his unfailing charity and affectionate interest in the students.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1935

Golden Jubilee of Brother Bernard Doyle

Golden Jubilees seem to rush upon us. It is not very long since Riverview celebrated its fiftieth birthday. Even the “Alma Mater” is putting a flower in its buttonhole this year. On Sunday, October 6th, Brother Doyle celebrated his fiftieth year as a Jesuit amidst surroundings that have been his home during the greater part of his life.

For the boys it happened to be a Home Sunday. But for all that, they were the first to raise their voices in honour of Brother Doyle's Jubilee, when, as early as 7.15 a.m. in the Memorial Chapel, they sang, as one big choir, the entire High Mass. Father Rector celebrated the Mass, having as his assistants Father Frank Connell (deacon) and Father D O'Connell (sub deacon). Rev J McNamara SJ, was Master of Ceremonies.

To Brother Doyle had been left the choice of what friends he desired to in vite to join the Community at the Jubilee Dinner later in the day. It cannot have been easy for him to compose his list. For the countless Old Boys of Riverview are all his friends. There were about thirty guests, then - old Boys of various generations and some other personal friends of the Jubilarian, who sat down to table with the Community that afternoon.

After the Toast of the Pope and the King, Brother Doyle thanked in a few words those friends of his who had accepted his invitation to be present, and hoped that they would all enjoy their afternoon. Father Rector also thanked in his name and in that of the Community everyone who had come to do honour to Brother Doyle.

Father Gartlan SJ, in proposing the Toast of Brother Doyle, said that from the first day he had met him, he always looked on him as a very shrewd man, But he never suspected him of being shrewd enough to make his speech before his dinner, as he did to-day! He also admired his simplicity in thinking that his early speech would absolve him from making another later on!

He (Father Gartlan) was the first to receive Brother Doyle upon his arrival at Riverview from Melbourne so very many years ago. On that distant day, he considered that he was receiving a simple, alert and inoffensive-looking man, and he saw at once that in the case of Brother Doyle, it was a case of love at first sight between himself and Riverview.

Even in those days, he could see that this was no ordinary man - and that for three reasons .... his activity, his popularity and his regularity. He had been immediately appointed to the control of the supplies and the domestic arrangements of the College. He was soon as well known in Sussex Street as he was in Riverview. In general, he might say that there was scarcely any improvement made in Riverview, right down through those years, in which Brother Doyle did not have an active part. Very many valuable additions to the College, too numerous to mention in detail, came through his direct instrumentality. Even the Orange Groves, which contributed to the predatory instincts of so many generations of Riverview boys, owed their existence to him!

One thing, however, that always stood out in the character of Brother Doyle was his regularity as a Religious and a Jesuit. He was always first to the Chapel in the morning. There too he might be found in the late afternoon and at night, hidden away in some dark silent corner. It was this religious energy that gave him cour age and strength for his other activities outside and for that life-long service of others that had distinguished him so markedly. He wished Brother Doyle many more years of successful work for Riverview and for those to whom the school means so much.

Mr A A Rankin (OR) seconded the toast. He had been at Riverview, he said, even before Brother Doyle whom he regarded as a mere youngster. He wished him many more happy
years of activity in his present sphere of action, and he fully intended to be present at all Brother Doyle's future Jubilees! There are two sorts of popularity, he said: the kind that some seek and never get, and the other kind that others never seek but invariably get. Brother Doyle's popularity was most decidedly in the latter class.

Much against his inclination, but amidst the greatest enthusiasm, Brother Doyle was persuaded to speak again. (Father Gartlan was right after all!) This he did in a few well-chosen words, thanking once more his many friends-Old Boys and others, whether present or absent, for all their kindness to him to-day and in the past. He wished them every happiness and success in whatever walk of life they had chosen, and he was particularly grateful to Father Rector and the Community for their good wishes.

A message of congratulation with an offering of 60 Masses for his intention, was received by Brother Doyle from the Father General of the Society of Jesus, through the Very Rev J Fahy SJ (Mel bourne), Provincial Superior of the Australian Jesuits. Many other telegrams of congratulation had come the previous evening, one that gave Brother Doyle very special pleasure being from the Hon J H Keating and family (Melbourne) of whom he has very kindly memories.

In the evening there was Solemn Benediction, again sung entirely by the boys, and at which the Celebrant was Father C McKillop SJ, with Father Stone SJ (deacon), and Rev L Lachal SJ (sub deacon).

The day will live long in the memory of Brother Doyle. It will not be soon forgotten by the Old Boys and others who were privileged to be present on such a memorable occasion. For Brother Doyle and Riverview are names that go “hand in hand” for a longer period than many of us here now can remember. Indeed those names will never be separated, even when Brother Doyle and all his friends of to-day have passed away.

AD MULTOS ANNOS!

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1936

Obituary

Brother Bernard Doyle

All Riverview boys of the past 47 years will be sorry to know of the passing of Brother Doyle who died at the Mater Misericordiae Private Hospital on November 25th, after an active and laborious career.

Entering the Society of Jesus as a lay brother on December 7th, 1885, he was within a week or two of completing 52 years of religious life. He spent his first four years as a Jesuit at Xavier College, Melbourne. Coming to Riverview at the beginning of 1889, he took over the commissariat department and was steward in charge of the indoor employees of the College.

Old Boys will bear witness, as for years and years they have already done, to his efficient and kindly management. In later years he had charge of the farm and the dairy, which he directed with his usual energy. But the brightest memories of him will always be his sterling piety, his kindly ways, his affability, his unfailing charity and affectionate interest in every boy who passed through the school. Individuals and institutions that have experienced the unobtrusive practical charity of Brother Doyle, will specially mourn his loss.

Requiem Mass was celebrated at River view on November 26th by Rev Father Rector, the Chapel being filled to overflow ing, despite the short notice, by the pre sent boys and large numbers of Old Boys of practically every generation. Amongst these latter we noticed the President of the Old Boys' Union (Mr Geoffrey Hughes), Dr H Oxenham, Dr G H McElhone, Dr P M Curtis, Dr C King, Messrs G Oxenham, J W Hayes, J Hayes, C Bryant, J Brett, C Wilkinson, J Downey J Collins, A W M d'Apice, J Coyle, J Coen, J J Kinkead, E H Cox, J Donoghue, B Mc Phee, J Boylan, K Kelly, B P McEvoy, A Dougall, D Hughes, R Dunstan, H Broinowski, K Young and several others.

Among the Clergy present were Rev. Father McGuire, Parish Priest of Lane Cove, Rev Father Paschal OFM, Rev T Gartlan SJ, Rev R O'Mara SJ, Rev P McGrath SJ, Rev J Magan SJ, Rev T A Walsh SJ, Rev A Perrott SJ, Rev R Murphy SJ, Rev A Kelly SJ, Rev Brothers Louis, Fabian and Gerard.

Others present in the Chapel and at the cemetery were three Sisters of Mercy from the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, two Sisters of St. Joseph with some of the children from the Orphanage, Gore Hill (for which Brother Doyle always had a strong affection), Mr Harry Thomas, Councillor Marsh (Mayor of Lane Cove), Mr and Mrs King and family, Miss Lee, Mr E S McDermott, LDS, Messrs Dallas, Lambert, Stanley Warburton (2), Forsyth, Cox.

Father Rector gave a brief address at Mass stressing the outstanding characteristics of Brother Doyle - his devotion to prayer and to work. He spoke too of his life-long interest in Riverview; his work and his prayer were devoted to its welfare, and not a boy passed through the College but became immediately an object of the kindly interest of Brother Doyle, even long years afterwards.

Father Rector also gave the last absolution after Mass and recited the prayers at the graveside at Gore Hill, where all those present joined in the Rosary as a last tribute to one they had learned to know and to respect so wholeheartedly.

Riverview will not seem the same with out this familiar figure who, in the Chapel every morning soon after dawn, might be met during the day on the avenue, in the farm, in the garden - anywhere, and who seemed to us all to be such a permanent institution at Riverview that we shall find it hard to imagine it without him. RIP

Born: 15 May 1846, Banagher, County Offaly
Entered: 29 October 1884, Richmond, Australia (HIB)
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 01 July 1925, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He emigrated to Australia and worked as a labourer for a while before Ent at the new Irish Novitiate in Richmond, and it was then moved to Xavier College, Kew. He went there with Joseph Brennan and John Newman, Scholastic Novices, and Brother Novices Bernard Doyle and Patrick Kelly.
After First Vows he remained at Xavier College for 32 years until 1918. He had a strong physique and was suited to all kinds of jobs in that place, both the Community and College, and all the students who were there at that time remember with affection and esteem.
1918 Now 72 years old and his health failing he was transferred to the Novitiate at Loyola, Greenwich, Sydney, and he lived there edifying everyone with his piety, his love of the Society and his kindly disposition, until his death there 01 July 1925. He was 79 at death and almost 41 years in the Society in Australia.

He was an excellent religious, zealous and hardworking, and also notable for always seeking to do good in his conversation with all he came in contact with.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
From all human appearances, Patrick Muldoon seemed to have a very dull life in the Society that he entered at Vaucluse, Richmond, 29 October 1884. He spent his life as a brother performing general duties mainly at Xavier College, 1886-96 and 1897-1918. His main duty at Xavier was to make the beds and look after the linen of the students. He retired to Loyola College, Greenwich, 1919-25.
He was a man with a lively wit, and knew the Xavier College boys by their laundry numbers. He died suddenly, collapsing on his day out at the tram stop just near the Gore Hill cemetery.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1915

Brother Patrick Muldoon SJ

Thirty-two years of day-in-day-out toil tells on the toughest of frames, and so it did in the case of the School's old friend, “Brother Muldoon”, who left us last September for the more restful life of “Loyola”, in Sydney.

Coming to the School in 1886, he took charge of the Boys' Dormitory, and, in this trust, he faithfully laboured until superiors said the day of labour should cease, and that of rest - if possible for one of his nature - supervene. Little wonder is it that, thus occupied, he should come to be extraordinarily familiar with the names and dormitory numbers of the boys that passed through the School. Meet him anywhere, tell him your name, and, like a flash, he rould give you back your number. In addition to this, he was a living calendar for the boys going through the School, meeting thcm first with the characteristic finger to the lip for silence, and thien asking them now “How long till you go?” now - “How long till you come back?” (He was always longing for them to come back, for he held the House was never a House till the boys were in it. - Ed). He was also a living provider for the present boys, since the number of apples that he was sown under pillows would fill orchards. Thus, “toiling, rejoicing, not sorrowing, but telling the “beads”, onward through life ine went, till health said “Warrior, rest”. The gratitude and good wishes of both the Old Boys and the Now go to him.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1925

Obituary

Brother Patrick Muldoon SJ

(Born May 15th, 1846; died July 1st, 1925)

Boys of the closing eighties and thic early nineties will learn with regret that kindly old Brother Muldoon is no longer a dweller on earth. His health began to fail in 1918 and in consequence he left Xavier for the whore restful life of. the noviceship at “Loyola”, Sydney. He was not long here, however, when he had a stroke. From this he slowly recovered but suffered another one on July Ist, 1925 on which day the kindly old soul peacefully passed to liis great reward, “Brother Mul”, was really the first person to make an impression on the new boy. The newcomer, of course, met the Rector and the Matron at his coming, but he was too excited at starting the new life; too sorrowful at breaking with the old, to pay any attention to them. However, when, having had a good sleep and taken a good breakfast, he went to his place in the dormitory, he there met a tall, grey-bearded man with a kindly look on his face, who stopped spreading the sheets (he had charge of the dormitories) and said, “What's your number?” Here was somebody who hailed him not as an individual Tom or Dick but as an officially recognised member of the School - “What's your number?” The answer was readily given and as readily committed to memory with a completeness that withstood all ousting. Rectors and boys might come and Rectors and boys inight go, but “Brother Mul” always held on to your number, Years after, when boys of the School would return as grown men and fathers of a family themselves, they would meet him and say to him - “Do you remember me, Brother?” The old man would stop, look at them and say - “Yes, you're number so and so”. As you grew in the School and passed him by in the dormitory, he would first characteristically put his finger to his lips for St Alphonsus silence and, that done, ask you, now - “How long till you go?” - now “How long till you come back?” (Although he put the “going” first, know ing as he did the holiday count that was always going on, yet it was the come back that he really cared about, since he, used to hold that the House wasn't a House unless the boys were in it). But these two questions put and answered he lapsed into silence and continued his work. Not that he did not love a chat. Get him when he was taking his “cup of tay” (and tea it was. “not hot water with a spoon in it”, as he used to say), and he'd give you the history of the Colonies from the time he came out in a sailing ship in 1846, to the time when Archbishop Gould laid the foundation stone, and Father Sturzo came with the Novices, and Father Tom Brown built the Big Hall, and Father John Ryan put in the telephone, and Father Keating started the Boy Prefects and Father James O'Dwyer put in the electric light that turned the night into day all over the place. “As I was saying”, was a wonderful link phrase of his and when you leard that you knew there was much more to follow.and all interesting too. But these were talks for the Community over his “cup of tay” (with a capital T to mark its strength). To the boys (except to old stagers like John Paul McCartin - God rest his soul - who, being “a man with a beard” used to get leave to go up to the dormitory for a shave) he got very little beyond - “When are you going?”- “When are you coming back”. However, there were two days in the year when he broke this silence and that both by word and deed. These were the two “big” days - the feast days of Saint Aloysiuis and of Saint Francis Xavier - days in which, in his time there was no study or class but a Missa Cantata, followed by a Special Sermon (usually preached by someone from outside) and later on by a special dinner. On these days he used to appear in the boys' refectory and help with the serving. All through the morning, as he made the beds he would quizz the boys passing by with the chicken they were to have (the “like of which you couldn't get anywhere else”), the ginger pop (“specially prepared to make a row”) the ice-cream (”fit to inake your mouth water”) and fruit and sweets galore of which he hoped and prayed they wouldn't eat too much and make theinselves sick. That last was his preaching, but his practice in their regard was far different. After he had finished assisting he was wont to gather all the apples he could find anywhere and everywhere (these two days he regarded as privileged for pillaging any store) and, when thc night had fallen, he would take his precious burden upstairs and deposit it (or rather them, for they were rosey apples) under the pillows of the boys' beds. (NB - This pillaging for a good purpose used to occur on other days, but not so wholesale as on the two feast days). Then, his duty done, he would go downstairs light of pocket and lighter of heart, and betake himself to the Chapel there to “say the bades” for hours. Thus it was at Xavier and it was the same, mutatis mutandis, at “Loyola” a quiet filling in of the simple annals of one poor in this world's goods, but very rich in the treasures of the next. Thus “toiling, rejoicing, not sorrowing”, onward tlırough life he went till the Master said “Well done good and faithful servant. Come home and rest” And home he went fortified with all the Sacraments of the Church and dying with the peace and simplicity of a child. Home to heaven, yes, but we think not to rest, for as on carth the kind old soui knelt in the presence of the King and told the beads for the boys alive, so too is he kneeling in the presence of that same King telling Mary's beads that the boys lying or dead may one and all come home to the long, long lioliday in heaven. May his soul rest in peace,

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930

Riverview in the ‘Eighties - A McDonnell (OR 1866-1888)

No review of the old times at Riverview would be complete without the mention of the Lay Brothers. Brother Muldoon was the chief of these, he being the right hand of the Minister of the House. He was general house steward. He had charge of the providoring department, and he discharged the duties of that onerous position to perfection. He was a most genial and kindly man, and was particularly generous to those making efforts to uphold, and defend, the honour of the College in the line of sports. When the crew were in training he provided special fare, at special times, and thought no amount of extra work in this direction a trouble. He insisted upon providing us with a substantial basin of milk gruel after the Sergeant had put us through our dumb-bell drill in the hour between 9 p.m, and 10 p.m, I have cause to remember Brother Muldoon's kindness and consideration, on one occasion in particular. The Balmain Annual Regatta was a great aquatic event in those days, and it was held . on the 9th November, the birthday of the then Prince of Wales. Our crew was competing in the four-oar race, amongst the seniors of the various clubs. I was “fifth-man” at the time, and, with the other “emergency man”, attended the Regatta, with Fr. Gartlan Coxswain. The weather was threatening when we set out, and it promptly fulfilled those threats. One of the mail boats was anchored off Cockatoo Island as flagship, and we sheltered behind her lee side as much as we could. The rain fell in sheets, lashed by a first class southerly gale; judging from the temperature, it had : come direct from the Pole. We had to wait a long time for the event in which we were interested, and it was hoped that the gale would abate. At last the four-oar race was started; but our number three broke his oar at the third stroke. However, it made little difference, as all the other boats were swamped. They were "string test gigs," which were entirely unseaworthy in such weather. There was a race for ten foot dinghies, and in this forty two of those cockleshells started. They, of course, made a wide field, and in passing the flagship, on the outward reach, two or three ran inside where we were sheltering. They, of course, displayed bad seaman ship in running so close to the flagship, as, in doing so they were bound to lose the wind. These boats were manned by wild boys, and the torrent of language they directed at us, and especially at Fr. Gartlan, was enough to burn the surface of the harbour. Fr, Gartlan took it in quite a philosophic spirit, and serenely remarked: “Those are very rude boys”. Of the forty-two boats which passed us only two rounded the buoy on the return reach. Among the capsized were our linguistic friends, and Fr Gartlan remarked: “Now those boys will have an opportunity of washing away their sins”.. We were all wet through, and were so for several hours, and when we reached our boat shed, we were so stiff that we could hardly get out of the boat without assistance. When we arrived at the house, Brother Muldoon had a special hot meal, and an immense jug of hot, spiced wine ready for us. None of us suffered the slightest ill effects from that exposure. Brother Muldoon was assisted by a head waiter, Jim Flood, and when he put on his dress suit to manage matters on festive occasions, he always looked the most distinguished member of the gathering.

Born: 16 November 1923, Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, Wales
Entered: 27 September1946, Roehampton, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final vows: 02 February 1957
Died: 16 February 2007, Clogher, County Tyrone - Britaniae Province (BRI)

Member of BRI but died in Ireland

Born: 24 June 1823, Termon, County Donegal
Entered: 13 August 1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1861
Died: 10 March 1887, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 19 March 1824, Rush, County Dublin
Entered: 23 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 18 March 1894, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

by 1871 at home for health

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had been a number of years in the Metropolitan Police before Ent.

He was a Novice in Clongowes under Father Bracken.
After First Vows he was sent to Gardiner St, and worked there until he became invalided in 1870 and had to live outside the Society fro a few years.
1873-1888 He was Refectorian at Milltown.
1888 he was sent to Gardiner St again and lived there until his death 18 March 1894
He was very methodical in his work, and had a particular like of gardening, spending most of his free time at this. He was in every respect an edifying and exemplary religious.

Note from Francis Hegarty Entry :
He did return after some months, and there he found in Father Bracken, a Postulant Master and Novice Master, and this was a man he cherished all his life with reverence and affection. His second Postulancy was very long and hard - four years. He took the strain and was admitted as a Novice with seven others who had not had so trying a time as himself. He liked to say that all seven along with him remained true to their vocation until death, and he was the last survivor. They were John Coffey, Christopher Freeman, David McEvoy, James Maguire, John Hanly, James Rorke and Patrick Temple.

Born: 03 June 1877, Elphin, County Roscommon
Entered: 03 June 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1928, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 01 February 1942, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Merchant before entry
◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 17th Year No 2 1942
Obituary :
Brother Patrick Murray

Brother Murray died at Clongowes on February 1st. He had only left the College infirmary three days previously in the best of form after a fortnight's rest treatment, and was to resume work on the following Tuesday. Passing the chapel on the way to lunch at 12 o’clock, he entered to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. There while saying his prayers, he got a sudden heart attack. Fr. Rector administered Extreme Unction, and within five minutes, Brother Murray had passed peacefully away.
Though his sudden death caused such a shock to the Community the boys, and great numbers of people around the College, with whom he was a very popular figure, it was eminently the kind of death that he himself would have desired. For many years, he had been intricately associated with the chapels at Clongowes as sacristan. fact, it was almost impossible to go to any of the chapels without meeting Brother Murray there, and seeing him- and indeed hearing him - praying. His fervent ejaculations - often aloud when he thought no one was present - were an almost continual feature of his life. Whether he was working in the magazine where the boys keep their clothes, or in the sacristy, or driving the car, prayer was very seldom absent from his lips. He was indeed a men of prayer, and it was a fitting end that he should have died while praying before Our Lord in the Tabernacle.
Brother Murray in early life adopted the drapery business as his vocation. Having spent some years in Messrs. Pim & Co., Dublin he carried on a successful business of his own in Delvin, Co. Westmeath. After seven years of happy married life, his wife died. From that moment, he made up his mind to dispose of his business, and devote his life to the service of God. This resolution he put into effect a few years later when he entered Tullabeg on June 3rd, 1917 on his 40th birthday. He presented one of his motor cars to Tullabeg and a second - the Krit - to Clongowes. After five years, spent in Tullabeg and. Milltown, Brother Murray came to Clongowes where he remained for the last 17 years.
Three qualities endeared Brother Murray to all who knew him. His genial good humour, his readiness to do anything for everyone and his transparent piety. We shall miss him very much in Clongowes. His familiar figure, in the People's Church serving Mass after Mass, as he loved to do when occasion arose, doing a hundred and one jobs for the boys, rushing out to the laundry, or the garage, driving the car in his own inimitable and somewhat nerve-racking way, his hearty and utterly spontaneous laugh, his anxiety to give clothes and
boots to the poor, even his reading in the refectory - all seemed part and parcel of Clongowes life. But he has gone to the Master, Whom before all and above all, he loved and served, R.I.P.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, after Requiem Mass in the Boys chapel, in the presence of his three brothers, the Community, boys, and many people from the neighbourhood, the funeral procession led by the Community, followed by the whole school, and the public took place to the College Cemetery. The choir sang the Benedictus and Fr. Provincial said the last prayers. Very Rev. Frs. Fergal McGrath and P. Kenny were also present.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Patrick Murray SJ 1877-1942
As he passed the chapel in Clongowes on his way to lunch on February 1st 1942, Br Patrick Murray dropped in for a short visit to Our Lord, and there in the presence of the Master he had loved and served so well, he died.

It was a fitting and beautiful end to a holy and cheerful life. Having been a successful draper in Delvin County Westmeath, Patrick Murray, on the death of his wife, sold all his goods and gave the proceeds to the poor. His two cars he gave to the Society, one to Tullabeg, and the other, known as the “Krit”, to Clongowes. He was truly liked by all, the boys, the people, the Community. He was ever easy to do all kinds of odd jobs, to drive the car, or best of all to him, serve at Mass. Many Jesuits will remember him for his reading in the refectory, a task he loved and in which he was inimitable.

Truly happy both naturally and supernaturally in his life, he is to be envied in the manner of his death.

Born: 20 September 1902, Ennis, County Clare
Entered: 12 November 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 15 August 1939, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 01 May 1952, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

Part of Coláiste Iognáid community, Galway at time of his death.

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 27th Year No 3 1952

Coláiste Iognáid :
The deaths of Fr. Cyril Perrott and Brother G. Lynch, within a week of one another, on April 24th and May 1st, came as a great sorrow to us. Fr. Perrott's death, in particular, being quite unexpected. On April 22nd, he entered hospital for a duodenal operation, and, having come successfully through, as it appeared, he suddenly collapsed on the 23rd, and died the following morning. The Office and funeral, of which details appear elsewhere, were a remarkable tribute. Messages of sympathy and offerings for Mass poured into the house. The school was closed from the time we received news of his death until after the funeral. The boys gave a wreath, and each class an offering to have Mass said, whilst the entire school walked in the funeral.
Brother Lynch died in Dublin, after a long illness. His death was not unexpected, but he was sincerely mourned by the Community and the people of Galway to whom he had endeared himself by his quiet courtesy and unfailing good humour.

Obituary :
Brother Gerard Lynch
Brother Gerard Lynch was born in Ennis, Co. Clare, on September 20th, 1902. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' Schools in his native town. At that time, the Brothers were not under the National Board, and hence were free to take on suitable boys for training as teachers in their own schools. Gerard Lynch taught in this way for six years in Ennis, and when the Brothers elected to go under the National System, he was transferred to St. Mary's Industrial School, Salthill, Galway, where he taught from 1926 to 1928. It was here that he became acquainted with the Fathers of the Society, especially with Fr. William Stephenson, S.J., who was his guide and counsellor when the question of his vocation to religion arose. His characteristic unselfishness was manifested at this time by the fact that his modest savings were regularly sent to his mother.
He entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on November 12th, 1928. On taking his vows in 1931, he was sent to Manresa, Roehampton, to attend a course of training as Infirmarian in a London hospital. From 1932 to 1933 he was Infirmarian, Refectorian and Manuductor at Rathfarnham Castle, and from 1933 to 1936 held the same offices at Tullabeg. In 1936 he came to Galway as Sacristan, Infirmarian and Manuductor.
Though somewhat frail in build, Brother Lynch always enjoyed good health until Easter of last year. He then got a severe attack of influenza, from which he never completely recovered. In August, it was noticed he was losing weight, and for some months he was under the doctor's care in Galway. The cause of the trouble remained obscure, in spite of numerous X-rays and other tests. Finally, about the middle of October, he was sent to St. Vincent's Nursing Home, Dublin, where an exploratory operation revealed ulceration of the large intestine, of tuberculous origin. It was hoped that this would yield to treatment, but, in spite of every medical attention, Brother Lynch continued to grow weaker. He bore his long illness with wonderful patience and resignation, and received the Last Sacraments twice, the last time ten days before his death, which came peacefully at 6 a.m. on the morning of May 1st. The funeral took place from Gardiner St., and was attended by large numbers of the Fathers and Brothers of our houses. The remains were received on the preceding evening by Fr. T. Mulcahy, S.J., Superior of Gardiner St. The Requiem Mass was celebrated by Fr. Fergal. McGrath, S.J., Rector, St. Ignatius' Galway, and the prayers at the graveside were recited by V. Rev. J.R. MacMahon, S.J., Vice-Provincial, Fr. Provincial having just left for Rhodesia.
It is difficult to avoid superlatives in speaking of Brother Lynch, and it can truly be said of him that be was a perfect model of the Jesuit Brother. He was a most exact religious, filled with deep piety and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady and the Saints. Though his duties in Galway were many and exacting, he was most faithful to his religious duties, and often had to be urged to go to bed when found fulfilling some devotions that he had been unable to get in during his busy day. His charity was boundless. Anyone could go to him at any time for help, sure of being received with a cheerful smile and immediate compliance with any request. This charity was also strikingly manifested towards the faithful who frequent the church, and it was noted that his manner was as obliging and courteous to the poorest as to the most influential. He was highly efficient in his work, had a wonderful memory for detail, and took the greatest care to have the altar and its surroundings tastefully cared for. He will be long remembered in Galway, both by the Community, each member of which can recall some act of helpful kindness from him, and by the laity who saw in his untiring work and reverent devotion a living act of faith in the sacramental presence of Our Blessed Lord.