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Born: 09 December 1917, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 March 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 15 August 1949, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 13 March 2003, St Vincent’s Hospital

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

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
After his novitiate, Br Frankie Roe was posted to Belvedere College to take charge of the Boys Tuck Shop. A fellow Jesuit, who was a boy at the school, remembers: ‘It was there that I first met him when I was a small boy of 8. He was in charge of the Tuck Shop and was to us a person of significance. But my main memory is of his kindness to the youngest boys and how he protected us from what seemed to us to be the giant marauding 11 year olds. Never would he allow the older ones to push us youngsters out of the queue. He consoled us when we were in trouble and encouraged us at all times’.

Br Roe, born in Dublin on 9 December in 1917, was the seventh of eight children, all of whom predeceased him. Among his brothers were two All-Ireland Handball champions and he himself was no mean performer in the sport. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and after schooling worked with Independent Newspapers.

He entered the Society at Emo in 1939. For 64 years he served the Lord in the Society in many places, in Ireland and Africa and in a variety of roles. He was refectorian in a number of houses, – Clongowes, Milltown Park, Loyola House, Tullabeg – twenty eight years in all. Added to that, he was also sacristan in the houses as well.

He decided to offer himself to the missions in Zambia. He came out for two years, 1977 to 1979, at the age of sixty. He worked at Choma Minor Seminary School as minister and library assistant and then moved on to Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze, as general factotum.

In everything he did he was a perfectionist – highly competent, diligent, and meticulous in the attention that he gave to his tasks, precise in word, deed and in every detail of his manner. All of these tasks he carried out effectively and industriously but almost always with a touch of the frustration that is the lot of the perfectionist. He had great difficulty reconciling himself to be among the ‘imperfectionists’ who populate our world.

He returned to Ireland and found the ideal position and with it something approaching happiness. In 1981 he became bookbinder of the Milltown Library. It demanded the skills that he had in abundance and afforded him an environment that suited his temperament perfectly. He applied his skill assiduously and took immense pride in his work that he carried out flawlessly and generously. He did all the work himself and no longer was he at the mercy of the shortcomings of others. He was truly master of all he surveyed in the bindery. In these years, his relationships with others blossomed. He greatly appreciated the librarians and they, in their turn, positively treasured him. Within the library staff the feminine balance seemed to have pleased him significantly. His departure from the library left a gap that will not be filled.

For two and a half years he battled with cancer uncomplainingly. In Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Nursing Home, he found something approaching perfection, particularly in the staff, who were devoted to him, whom he so deeply appreciated and of whom he was so extraordinarily undemanding. He died on 13 March 2003 in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Worked at Independent Newspapers before entry

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 117 : Special Issue November 2003

Obituary

Br Francis (Frankie) Roe (1917-2003)

9th December 1917: Born in Dublin city
Early education at St. Columba's CBS School, Dublin
Worked for several years in the Irish Independent office
7th March 1939: Entered the Society at Emo
8th March 1941: First Vows at Emo
1941 - 1945: Belvedere College - Sacristan; Tuck shop
1945 - 1950: Clongowes College - Refectorian (boys)
18th August 1949: Final Vows at Clongowes
1950 - 1958: Milltown Park - Refectorian
1958 - 1962: Belvedere - Assistant Librarian, Sacristan
1962 - 1963: Loyola House - Sacristan / Refectorian
1963 - 1966: Tullabeg - Sacristan / Refectorian
1966 - 1977: Milltown Park - Refectorian
1977 - 1979: Zambia - Choma Minor Seminary: Minister; Library Assistant; worked at Kizito Pastoral Centre, Monze
1979 - 1980: Milltown Park - Sacristan; Ministered in the Community
1980 - 1981: Clongowes - Assistant to the Headmaster; Librarian
1981 - 1984: Milltown Park - Book binding
1984 - 1985: Cherryfield Lodge - Worked at Milltown Park Library; book binding
1985 - 2000: Milltown Park - Book binding
2000 - 2003: Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
13th March 2003: Died in St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.

Brother Roe was admitted to Cherryfield in November 2000, suffering from prostate cancer. His condition began to deteriorate in September 2002. He was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital on 21" February, and he died peacefully three weeks later.

Noel Barber writes:
Brother Roe was the seventh of eight children all of whom predeceased him. Among his brothers were two All Ireland Handball champions and he, himself, was no mean performer in this sport. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and after his schooling worked with Independent Newspapers. Just over 64 years ago, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Emo on March 7th 1939. Over his 64 years in the Jesuits, he served in many places in Ireland and Africa and in a variety of roles. In everything he did, he was a perfectionist - highly competent, diligent, and meticulous in the attention that he gave to his tasks, precise in word, deed and in every detail of his manner. However, he was not only a perfectionist; he was also kindly and generous. After his novitiate he went to Belvedere. It was there that I first met him when I was a small boy of 8. He was in charge of the Tuck Shop and was to us a person of immense significance. But my main memory is of his kindness to the youngest boys and how he protected us from what seemed to us to be giant marauding 11 year olds. Never would he allow the older ones to push us youngsters out of the queue. He consoled when we were in trouble and encouraged us at all times. He was a most benign presence and we were sorry to see him leave at the end of our second year. He went on to many tasks, all of which he carried out effectively and industriously but almost always with a touch of the frustration that is the lot of the perfectionist. He had great difficulty reconciling himself to the imperfectionists, who populate our world.

However, he did find the ideal position and with it something approaching bliss. In 1981 he became bookbinder of the Milltown Library. It proved to be perfect for him. It demanded the skills that he had in abundance and afforded an environment that suited his temperament perfectly. He applied his skill assiduously and took immense pride in his work that he carried out flawlessly and generously. He did all the work himself and no longer was he at the mercy of the shortcomings of others. He was truly the master of all he surveyed in the bindery. In these years his relationships with others blossomed. He greatly appreciated the librarians and they, in their turn, positively treasured him. Within the library staff the feminine balance seemed to have pleased him significantly. His departure from the library left a void that will not be filled.

For two and a half years he battled with cancer uncomplainingly. He gradually spent more and more time in Cherryfield Lodge, until he became a permanent resident. There, as in the Library, he found something approaching perfection, particularly in the staff, who were so devoted to him, whom he so deeply appreciated and of whom he was so extraordinarily undemanding

In the Gospel from St. Luke that was read at his funeral Mass, Our Lord points out to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead; or as he puts it earlier in the same chapter, “Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? No doubt the joy of discovering that Christ had risen blocked some obvious questions, such as “Why? Why should the innocent suffer? Why must Christ suffer? Why should the Passion have to precede the Resurrection?” The message of the Gospel is a stark statement of the Law of the cross. The cross is the way to glory; that cross that is a folly and a scandal, unintelligible in itself and acceptable only in the light of Faith, However, the message of Christ and the demands that it makes on us would be hollow if Christ himself did not take on the depths of human suffering. After all, the first readers of St. Luke's Gospel were facing persecution and some were prepared to die for their Faith. To those and many others who follow them to this very day Christ did not point out the narrow, difficult path while taking a different route himself.

All lives are configured to that of Christ. It is in accepting this that we mysteriously find full life. This was something of which Br, Roe was convinced and that he accepted in faith. It was this convinced faith that provided him with that serenity and calm with which he accepted his illness, the humiliating dependency on others, the enfeebled body, the weakening mind and ultimately his death that finally conformed him to his Master whom he served so loyally, unobtrusively and dutifully.

Born: 18 July 1845, County Down
Entered: 28 February 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 16 September 1886, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

2nd Year Novitiate at Gardiner St

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was sent in his Second Year Novitiate to Gardiner St as a Cook and Dispenser.
He was later sent to Clongowes to carry out the same work, and he died there 16 September 1886.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - DOB is actually Baptismal date; Killed in an accident at Clongowes

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: 11 February 1893, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 02 June 1915, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows 02 February 1926, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died:08 August 1979, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 54th Year No 3 and 4 1979

Obituary :

Br John Ronan (1893-1913-1979)

John Ronan was born in Dublin on 11 February 1893. His family had Scottish connections and John used like to take his holidays in Scotland. It may well be that it was from his father he inherited his dry wit and his gift with words. He attended National School and then a Christian Brothers school to sixth standard, and joined the novitiate at Tullabeg in the year 1913. The precise date was a subject of controversy between John and a succession of editors of the Province Catalogue: in the Catalogue he consistently appears as entering in 1915; Fathers Aubrey Gwynn and Fergal McGrath, however, recall that John was in Tullabeg in 1913; further, John's Final Vow formula is dated 2nd February 1926, which indicates that he must have taken First Vows in 1915 or early 1916.
In 1918 a young man was despatched from Tullabeg to Gardiner Street; the Minister, Father Bury, greeted the news with joy: “This is splendid: he will tempt the Fathers to eat better because of his good cooking!” John was twenty-five then, and his gift for making people happy is well attested; he was asked for by various houses, and a member of the Province who arrived in houses which Brother John had just left recalls that John was remembered with gratitude and affection. Cooks have a central place and wield great power within their domains: John cooked for his brethren for thirty years and made them happy because he was generous, painstaking and thoughtful. He worked in Gardiner Street (1918-23), Rathfarnham Castle (1923 36), Belvedere (1926-29), Clongowes (1929-31), Emo (1931-35), Mungret (1935-38), Tullabeg (1938-43), St Ignatius, Galway (1943-47), Crescent (1947-48), Clongowes again (1948-58), Manresa (1958-59) and finally Milltown Park (1959-79).
It was during the last twenty years of his life that the present writer came to know and appreciate him. He was assistant to Brother John Rogers in the bindery and ad dom. He was neat and self-contained; had a small stocky frame, large and long face, black hair, steel rimmed glasses, black chesterfield and boots which had long since seen their best days; he made an unusual figure both within and outside the house. He loved the city of Dublin and was the best known of the community on the 11 bus route; drivers used make unscheduled stops to take him aboard. They loved him more for his easy chat and good-humoured wit than for the sweets he used give them. He aged imperceptibly, for he was built of durable stuff. He seemed indestructible, as was illustrated when at the age of eighty three he came limping home after an affair with a car; he was reluctant to admit to the accident, went off to take a bath to ease his wounds and was back in action the following day. He was delightfully unpredictable in ways, and free of shyness in his relating to others. To illustrate: passing the Gas Company showrooms one day, he looked in and saw a salesgirl within who looked very gloomy. He went in: “I'd like to ask you about a gadget which you're advertising; you don't seem to have it on display”. “What is it?” she replied grumpily. “Well, you've an ad saying: Make your tea in a jiffy! I'd like to see a jiffy and know how it works!” As she tried to explain she began to smile. After a while, he said: “I know well what a jiffy is, but you look a lot happier now than when I came in!” And off he went.
John was seventy years old when Vatican II came, bringing to an end an era of stability in which regularity of practice and unswerving loyalty to authority were the characteristic of the faithful, John among them. The way was opened for new forms of religious and personal expression, with questioning and experimentation the order of the day. Like many of his generation, John found the sweeping changes in Catholic and Jesuit life hard to understand; the new forms of expression and the eclipse of the old left him confused. He was ill at ease in the new Milltown Park, and voiced his reservations with great honesty to his superiors and to the community; he was distressed that his critiques met with little effective response; he felt that a sympathetic hearing of his views was not enough. Values were at risk, as his eagle eye could see, and he loved religious life and the Province enough to do what he could to safeguard these values. Now that we as a Province are moving into calmer waters we can be grateful to John and others like him who have acted as reminders of the central qualities which must characterise any religious life worthy of the name.
Together with the difficulty he experienced in adjusting to the upheavals of aggiornamento, John went through a long period of indifferent health. For sixteen years his problem was wrongly diagnosed and treated, until finally Dr Dan Kelly brought him relief. The wit which had been so noted in him before was less evident in the latter years, though it emerged in flashes still, and brought many a smile. The younger brethren who overslept were labelled “the rising generation”; “All for me, dear Jesus!” was a remark used for a certain Father whom John thought as caring for himself a little too well. Some found it disconcerting to pass him on the corridor and half-hear a devastating remark as he shuffled away, but this may have been a device to communicate and keep in touch with those whose ways he found hard to understand. He detested beards, and persisted for quite a time with one scholastic in an anti-beard campaign until the object of his attentions asked him to ease up, whereupon to his surprise John said: “I’m only waying it because I like you”! A few years ago he fell into conversation with a lady on the front drive: he confided that he had been sent down town to buy two butterfly nets for the Rector (these were in fact intended for the removal of leaves from the swimming pool), He then launched into an incisive commentary on the Rector’s general performance, and told how the superiors of old used stay in their offices and appear mainly at mealtimes whereas the present one ... etc., etc. At the front door the lady revealed that she was the Rector's mother. Nothing daunted, he bade farewell with the remark: “See if you can't do something with him!”
Over a long lifetime John used his gifts well; he was cook, dispenser, house steward, manuductor, assistant bookbinder; he was a respected watch-mender, fiddled with radios - one of his crystal sets is still extant; he made walking sticks for those who, unlike himself, enjoyed the countryside. The present writer, more than forty years his junior, never knew him in his heyday, but considers his sixty-six years of service to the brethren a remarkable achievement worthy of the gratitude which was expressed by the wide representation of Province members at John’s requiem. What I find more remarkable, however, is the manner in which he continued his life of service to the very end. He might well have felt that by his eightieth year he had done enough, that he was no longer needed or wanted, that he could legitimately retire. Instead he took on a new role - that of postman and messenger. In finding yet one more way to serve the brethren he was typical of a great tradition of Jesuit brothers; having early on, in the words of the Kingdom exercise offered himself “entirely for the work”, he carried through to the end his promise of availability. While he was glad to have a daily task and was upset when the protracted mail-strike from February to June of this year left him with little to do, the work took its toll, and he was frequently to be seen suffering from attacks of dizziness, sitting along the corridor with his head between his hands.
What was sad in the final years was that it was hard to convince him that he was appreciated. Superiors had with doubtful wisdom allowed too much to change for him to be other than wary of well intentioned compliments. He developed the habit of blessing himself as they went by. Yet he had his friends in the community, and also among the lay-staff. He delighted in chatting with the latter and running errands for them; he continued to get cut-price cigarettes in Clery's for one woman long after she had given up smoking, for she had not the heart to tell him she no longer needed them. Moreover, he always presented the best side of community life to outsiders. I quote from a letter of his nephew: “John always spoke with great pride of your Society ... and of the wonderful work which is being done by everyone within the order”. That reticence, however, which often blocks us from speaking within the community of that pride we feel for the brethren afflicted John too. There's the story of the two scholastics who came early to supper and found John sitting down before them. “Supper doesn't begin till six!” he admonished them. “Ah”, they answered, “but we have an excuse; we're off on apostolic work. We're working for God!” “That's obvious”, said John. “If you were working for anyone else you'd have been sacked long ago!”
Of the inner life of such a man one of my generation can only guess. Surely there must have existed a deep union between God and himself to make him so consistently faithful to his religious practices, so simple and frugal in his dress and way of life, so willing to live out a life of uneventful service. He had to face the sufferings of loneliness, ill-health, confusion and perhaps even a sense of betrayal over the changes that came in the last years of his life. One thinks of the hardships of the disciple’s calling in the gospel of Luke; of Ignatius' prayer: “To give and not to count the cost”; of Hopkins sonnet on St Alphonsus Rodriguez; of K Rahner's account of the “wintry spirituality of many Jesuits”.
His death, like his life, was simple, unadorned, unromantic and without fuss. When asked about his health earlier this year, he used reply: “I'm all right, Father, you have to keep going, if you lie down they'll put you in a box?” He was moved down to the Chapel Corridor a month before he died: he had already renamed that corridor “the coffin corridor” some time before. He accepted the change with macabre humour; the door of his new room would be just the right size to get out the coffin! He sought out his friend Dr Dan Kelly at St Vincent’s, the day before he died. He knew with his quiet realism that he was dying, yet he refused to stay in hospital; he wanted to die at home. A life-long Pioneer, he took a little brandy that night; the end came peacefully about 6 am the following morning; it is hard to think that he was reluctant to go. I like to think of him now as surprised by joy at his meeting with the Lord, amazed and delighted at hearing the divine commendation for his life of service. Gone now the misunderstandings that marred the last years; if the communion of saints means anything, we at Milltown Park may confidently hope that he will keep a brotherly eye on us and on our affairs, now that he has entered into new service as God's messenger of grace to us.

A writer from the Far East would like to add the following:
A fine, warm-hearted man, whose conversation on spiritual and secular matters had the quality of suavitas. Knowing that he was from the Coombe, I associated him with a man like Dean Swift - he had that observation of people and that natural eloquence of the Dubliner. A dedicated man, he had that warm humanity so befitting a Jesuit, and which the Brothers by their prayer and simplicity have given so fully to the Society. May he pray for us to be gifted with more vocations like his

Born: 1801, Ireland
Entered: 09 November 1857, Grand Coteau, LA, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Died: 22 March 1861, St Charles College, Grand Coteau, LA, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)

Born: 25 July 1834, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 02 May 1858, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 15 August 1868
Died: 07 May 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He worked at Tullabeg, Limerick and Milltown where he died 07 May 1883.
He was considered one of Father Bracken’s best Brothers. He was a baker by trade, but also an excellent cook. His death was greatly regretted. he was a very good-natured man and kind to all on the Experiment.

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: 20 October 1819, Kilmacduagh, County Galway
Entered: 10 September 1844, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 25 November 1865, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 26 February 1918, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final vows: 15 August 1948, Belvedere College SJ
Died: 31 May 1998, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1979 at Lahore, Pakistan (MIS PAK) working

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 101 : Special Edition 1999

Obituary

Br Patrick Ryan (1918-1988)

26th Feb. 1918: Born in Dublin.
Pre-entry experience: He did a commerce course in the Technical School, Parnell Square.
He was employed as a clerk for 4 years.
7th Sep. 1937: Entered the Society at Emo.
8th Sep 1939: First vows at Emo.
1940 - 1941: Galway, Cook
1941 - 1945: Clongowes Wood College, Cook.
1945 - 1958: Belvedere, Sacristan
1948: Tertianship at Tullabeg,
He took Final Vows on 15th Aug. 1948, at Belvedere.
1958 - 1977: Gardiner Street Church, Sacristan (Assistant sacristan/Parish work since 1975)
1977 - 1978: Milltown Park, Sacristan
1978 - 1980: Pakistan, Administration, Loyola Hall.
1980 - 1993: Milltown Park, sacristan.
After that, he helped with administration: post, papers, etc.

In latter years, Pat went across to Cherryfield Lodge for an occasional rest and nursing care. He loved the place, and the nurses were very fond of him. His last stay lasted six weeks during which he showed signs that old age was catching up on him. Even when his voice went, he could converse in a whisper till the end. He died perfectly resigned and at peace on Sunday morning 31st May 1998.

Homily at the funeral Mass of Br. Pat Ryan, SJ
Pat Ryan died peacefully at Cherryfield Lodge early on the morning of May 31st, 1998 - the Feast of Pentecost. Today we gather to give thanks to God for Pat Ryan's life, and to pray that he will now enjoy God's presence for ever. Pat dedicated his life to the Lord in the Society and worked in a number of Jesuit apostolates with great dedication and fidelity - the longest of these were in Gardiner Street, where he was Sacristan for eighteen years.

Our readings today speak to us about the Christian vision that inspired Pat's life over eighty years. Brother Patrick Joseph Ryan was born on the 26th February 1918. He attended the Local National School in Phibsboro, and followed this with a commerce course at a technical school. Pat then worked for four years as a clerk before entering the Society of Jesus in 1937. His work in the Society began with some assignments that he did not like very much. He served as an assistant cook in two of our Colleges and then from 1945-1958 he was in Belvedere College as a sacristan and general houseman. From 1958 to 1977 he was a sacristan in our large public Church here, St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street. From 1975 to 1977 he trained in a new sacristan and worked as a member of the newly established parish team. In 1978 he was appointed to replace the Sacristan at Milltown Park and also to work in the Library. Providence had its own special plans for Pat at that time and I will return to that a little later!

As Pat came in recent weeks to recognize that he was nearing the end of his life, he expressed in a very peaceful and serene way his gratitude to God, to his family and relatives, to his many friends in the Society of Jesus and outside for the many blessings he had received during the course of his life. For many of us here in the Jesuit Community at Milltown Park, Pat's great appreciation for his vocation to the Jesuit way of life will be linked with a memorable celebration we had at Milltown last September as we celebrated Pat's sixtieth anniversary as a Jesuit.

Pat's faith was nourished in his family, where he received a strong sense of Christian values. This led him to join the Society of Jesus in 1937. His first assignment was as a cook in Galway - a job he didn't like too much! Pat spent long periods after this in three communities: Belvedere, Gardiner Street and Milltown. Since 1980 he has been a member of the community at Milltown, spending short times at Cherryfield Lodge when he needed some quiet and some nursing.

Pat spent two years in Lahore, Pakistan from 1978 to 1980. He enjoyed the completely different perspective on life that this stay in Lahore gave him. He wrote in a letter; “There is no other way to describe it all only that it is a completely different world out here. In six weeks here I have heard and seen things I never really knew existed. I went into a Mosque the other day and saw the Muslims at Prayer. Very devout. Indeed, I had to take off my shoes and I was provided with a very small hat to wear. If some of my fellow Irish Jesuits had seen me they would have wondered what had happened to ultra conservative Pat Ryan ... The one thing I must admit I do find hard here is the loss of the companionship of my fellow Irish Jesuits. Unfortunately I was spoiled by the friendship of the young men at Milltown during my very happy stay there. However it is a small price to pay for the opportunity to giving testimony to my belief in God and I am happy to do so”.

In his eighteen years as sacristan here in Gardiner Street, Pat worked very hard in the Parish and in the Church. In his own quiet and efficient way Pat lived out his Jesuit vocation in a life of service inspired by his love for Jesus Christ, his Lord and Master. In Milltown Pat was able to continue that life of generous service. In recent years, he knew the limits that his health put on his activities. But he paced himself well - like any good Everton player!

In the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, we are invited in the Contemplation to Achieve the Love of God, to grow in our awareness of the way God is present in all life and is giving Himself to us. Pat's life showed that sense of God's presence and he learned to find God in all things. One of the places that Pat found God was in his great love of soccer. He was a great Everton fan, with Everton colors proudly displayed on his door! That simple enjoyment of soccer, that sense of fun about life, that ability to joke with his community and friends were great gifts he brought to us all.

Pat died early on the morning of the Feast of Pentecost, at 12:20 am. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes as a gift to the Christian community. In Pat's life we have glimpsed what the fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience, self-control. Pat's faithfulness, his gift of “keeping going” (to use a phrase which Séamus Heaney uses to describe his brother going through the ordinary activities of the day) have been an inspiration to us - a breath of the Spirit. We now give Pat back to God who has given him to us. We return him to God with a profound sense of gratitude.

Frank Sammon

Entered: 1644 - Flanders Province (FLAN)
Died: 19th July 1689, Mechelen, Belgium - Flanders province (FLAN)

1649 marked at Kilkenny

Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1647 He had charge of the printing press at Kilkenny
1657 He had charge of the printing press at Évora, Portugal
He is perhaps the “Brother George” praised by Primate Plunket in 1672

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
A member of the Flanders Province was loaned to the Irish Mission in 1646 in order to work the printing press at the Jesuit College, Kilkenny. When the press was eventually seized by the Supreme Council, he remained on for some time at the College and was Dispenser there. Mercure Verdier during his Visitation of the Mission in 1649 met George and in his report to Rome paid tribute to his fine qualities of character. George returned to Flanders after the Visitation.
1657-1661 He was once more “on loan” having been sent to help with the printing press at the College of Évora in the Portuguese Province
1661 For some years he was stationed at Antwerp and then was sent to Mechelen where he died 19 September 1689
Although he was a member of the BEL FL Province, he is rightly reckoned amongst those who served in the Irish Mission.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother George Sarazen SJ ????-1689
George Sarazin was a printer and manager of the printing press in Kilkenny. He entered the Society and there operated the printing press the Society had acquired in Kilkenny, perhaps from Brother George. All the printing of the Confederation of Kilkenny, decrees, proclamations etc, were done on this press by Br Sarazen. He is mentioned by Père Verdier, the Visitor, as a good religious and a very clever man. He died in 1657?

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
SARAZEN, GEORGE. This Temporal Coadjutor is reported by Pere Verdier to be a good Religious man and a very ingenious person. He had been a Printer, and conducted the press at Kilkenny.

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 January 1892, Siġġiewi, Malta
Entered: 15 October 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly (HIB for Siculae Province - SIC)
Final vows: 02 February 1926
Died: 11 February 1979, Naxxar, Malta

by 1916 at Tullabeg (HIB) working 1914-1923

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: 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: 17 March 1818, Annascaul, County Kerry
Entered: 02 August 1851, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1861
Died: 03 May 1913, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 03 April 1836, Moyne, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1857, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 25 May 1902, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

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

Born: 21 November 1818, Pilltown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 09 June 1840, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1851
Died: 26 July 1906, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 12 March 1831, Dromore, County Down (Ballykelly, County Derry)
Entered: 16 May 1856, Sault-au-Rècollet Canada - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 16 July 1874, Fordham College, New York, NY, USA - Neo-Eboracensis-Canadensis Province (NEBCAN)

Born: 01 February 1810, Rockmills, Kildorrery, County Cork
Entered: 25 April 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 25 March 1854
Died: 13 December 1879, Osage Mission, KS, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 15 July 1811, Ballintaggart, Dingle, Co Kerry
Entered: 22 January 1842, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows:15 August 1860
Died: 08 September 1891, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 01 May 1781, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 February 1817, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 04 January 1822, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Being asked on the night before his death if he wanted anything, he replied, looking up to Heaven “What can I want but to be united to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a man of great innocence and saintliness of life, and was remarkable for his obedience and for his charity to the poor. To help them in their necessities he scraped every little fragment of food he could find and gave it to them. He was fervent in every practice of piety.
He died on the Octave of the Feast of Holy Innocents towards whom he had always manifested a special devotion.

Note from John Cleary Entry :
He took his First Vows at Clongowes 02 February 1819, and Charles Aylmer said the Mass. There were six others with him : Brothers Egan, Nelson, Plunkett, Mulligan, Bennett and Sherlock, all who persevered happily in the Society to the end.

Born: 17 March 1920, Dundrum, Dublin
Entered: 10 February 1939, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1950, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 05 November 1983, Sacred Heart, Monze, Zambia - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Transcribed : HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969

by 1955 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
“We imagine his going left many hearts empty and evoked memories of all kinds of services and kindnesses, not least his unfailing patience and cheerfulness”. With these words Fr John Fitzgerald, writing from the Seychelles, summed up well the immediate aftermath of Br Sherry's death on the night of Saturday 5 November 1983.

Br Sherry's passing was sudden. On Friday ‘Sher’ (as he was known to his friends) stayed in bed for the greater part of the day. He came to meals and evening prayer. The following morning saw him as usual at the early Mass. At about 1300 hours on Saturday he phoned the Sisters in the hospital. The Sisters and doctor came over. The crisis came at about 22.50 when Sher struggled to the door of Fr Jim Carroll’s room to say that he could not breathe. Sr Grainne arrived and started cardiac massage. But the Lord had called Sher to himself.

Br Sherry was born in Ireland on 17 March 1920. He entered the Society on 10 February 1939 and arrived in Zambia on 1 September 1953. For the next 30 years he served the young Church in Zambia selflessly and with unbounded generosity. In Chikuni he served as a kind of ‘minister of supplies’. Fr MacMahon would lean heavily on him but Sher had his little hideouts which constituted his survival kit! He finally moved into the field of mechanics and water pumps. After Chikuni he moved to Chivuna where he was engaged in the trade school and with odd jobs of maintenance. Then he started to be a sort of “move and fix it” on a diocesan level. About 1965/66 he moved into the Bishop’s house in Monze from where he continued his 'move and fix it’ campaign. He loved to colour these trouble shooting journeys with a touch of drama and life and death urgency;

”Sher is a great loss. Apart from his work, he was a great community man”, said the Bishop of Monze. “He was part and parcel of everything that went on in the community. He was interested in parish affairs. He never stinted himself in anything he did. In community discussions he often brought them back to some basic spiritual principle’.

He was a gentle, understanding, thoughtful and patient man. He was both candid and open with the ability to talk about the small things of life. People appreciated this and were greatly saddened by his death. He was loyal to the group of men who worked with him and was ready to defend them when criticism was levelled against them. They, on their part, appreciated this and made his coffin when he died, planed and varnished it, washed and shone his vanette and drove him to his grave to show the fellowship they enjoyed in his company.

Perhaps it was his generosity that shone most brightly. He had no hours. He once said, “My Philosophy of Life is to try to help everyone as best I can”. He liked praise and a pat on the back but he never worked for it. He was a self-made man. He battled with great courage against illness and disability. Without any chance of professional training, he became proficient in general mechanics, electricity and plumbing. But he specialized in water pumps where he often succeeded where more professional people failed! He had well developed hobbies, stamp collecting being close to his heart and he left behind him quite a valuable collection. ‘If you want your watch repaired, Sher's your man’ indicates his other hobby.

His religious life and Jesuit vocation were something very dear to him. He never had an identity crisis. He was a fully convinced and dedicated religious. His was a deep and direct faith, a gospel faith, which led him directly to the person of Christ in His church, in His sacraments and in His People. This faith enriched his many human qualities and his selfless service of others.

A great crowd thronged the Church in Monze for his funeral Mass. They came from every corner of the diocese to pray for Br Sher and to offer thanks for his life. Fr Dominic Nchete, the VG, at the graveside voiced the official thanks of the diocese for Br Sherry's life of service and dedication to the church in Zambia. The leader of the Salvation Army in Monze offered a prayer and thanks to God for Sher. As the 28 concelebrants left the altar, the leading priests lifted his coffin and carried it to the waiting vanette – a last gesture of closeness to him.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clerk in Pim’s of Dublin before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 59th Year No 1 1984
Obituary
Br Patrick Sherry (1920-1939-1983) (Zambia)
I first made the acquaintance of Br Sherry in the summer of 1938 when he came down to Emo to visit the Novitiate for a day or two before deciding to finalise his decision to enter. It was a fine summer's day and we were all out at recreation when we met this quiet, shy young boy sitting on the bench in the “pleasure grounds” at the back of “this ancient house”. We had many a good joke over this in later days as it was unusual (if not unique) for a “Brother” novice, in those far off days, to come to come to see what he was letting himself in for. It seems to me that Paddy Sherry remained this same quiet, shy person all the days of his Jesuit life. Officially he entered in February 1939 but actually he came as a postulant in the August of 1938. So I had about seven months with him during the Emo days and then did not live with him again for another 25 years or more.
Meantime he spent a year in Belvedere, three in Tullabeg, six in Rathfarnham one in Mungret and one in Milltown Park; always as “cook” with several “minor” offices tagged on in case he should not find enough to keep him busy in the kitchen.
Various stories are told about him in those more or less uneventful days (if one forgets the various crises the six years of war in the early forties occasioned in the running of kitchens in particular) - when some of his time to repairing watches, experimenting with the use of oil and water gadgets for cooking during the fuel shortages of the war period. Also his taking apart the Aga cooker in Mungret College to replace the defective asbestos packing and even prepare it as the future oil-burning cooker, which many came to see and admire : with the intention of acquiring a similar cooking apparatus.
Where Paddy Sherry really found his scope and outlet for his yet undiscovered talent was in what was then the Chikuni He was among the pioneering brothers in these first few years of the Irish Province entry into what is now the Province of Zambia. The need for the ability they had to offer was very real and urgent as there was much to be done and a whole structure to be built up so that the actual missionary activity could take place. Brother Jim Dunne was the precursor of such as Pat McElduff, Paddy Sherry and Charles Connor; men who left their stamp on the Mission and on whom the Mission left its stamp too. The great need tested the yet unknown talent of these men and they were not found wanting. It was a talent that the Hong Kong Mission had not given an opening to and could have remained undiscovered had not the Chikuni Mission cried out for it. At the time there was no way it was going to show itself in Province. his The variety of jobs that Paddy was called on to do after he went on the Chikuni Mission in 1953 was to reveal what great ability of mind and hands were his despite the early years of a somewhat handicapped and educationally deprived young boy; educationally deprived because of these defects of hearing and speech that were his from the cradle to his early teens. I came to know of this only in later years when he spoke to me about it to praise all that the doctors had done for him the way they cared for him in the various hospitals, the he was giving prayers that were offered by his own family and others that helped him to reach normality. He called it a miracle and I think that is what brought him to his vocation.
When Paddy went to Africa the Chikuni Mission was seething with building plans and future development in the yet undeveloped missionary area but the funds were as scarce as the plans were plentiful. At that time Jim Dunne was devoting his time to developing the manual talents of the local Africans in the “Trade School” in Chivuna; he himself was only a short time after taking his first Vows having gone out while yet a novice: to finish his second year as Novice under Fr Joe McCarthy. Many of those he trained in brick-laying, carpentry, plastering etc. were later on to become the nucleus of the many building teams of the mission. Paddy Sherry was into building from the start and his training was simply on-the-job experience, moving from the shovel, pick and wheel barrow stage, to the more skilful areas as his experience of what was needed grew and his own personal skill was given a chance to practise and develop. There were incidents too that could have been harmful to him: such as when he was on a roofing job on the great assembly hall being built for Canisius College he inadvertently stepped on the end of a loose asbestos sheet which he was laying out in groups on the roof preparatory to fixing them in place. The sheet tilted and Paddy was launched into space, coming through the roof to fall on the concrete floor some fifteen feet below. Everybody was horrified and he was rushed off to hospital but was back on the job in a few days and trotting about the roof again as if nothing had ever happened to him.
He was ten or eleven years on the Mission when it was decided to allow him to give his full time to electrical work for which he had shown a decided talent; a talent he attributed to his early home days in Dundrum when he used fill in the days with “messing' around with electrical things. He proved more than a success at this and did many highly complicated electrical jobs (apart from the routine wiring jobs on the various new buildings and teachers houses), such as making the connections in Monze Hospital for X-Ray units, Sterilisers etc. and at the same time was on call for the various bore-hole pumps (for water supplies) around the Mission area, which were often very troublesome. He had many emergency calls when the pump failed to deliver the precious water and on one particular occasion. he got an emergency call from Chivuna Girls' Secondary School. Their pump had “conked out” and the situation was serious for the following morning with such a large number of pupils and people depending on the supply, apart from the sanitary problem. He set out at 9 pm on a dark African night to go 25 miles away to settle the problem before the next morning dawned and was really pleased with himself. There was nothing he enjoyed more than an emergency call and it did not matter how long the hours were that he had already been working, he set out at once. It wasn't always realised by the recipients of his attention that he had cheerfully made such a sacrifice without fuss.
Paddy Sherry was indeed a humble person in the real sense of the word, a person with a great sense of personal dignity who while very sensitive to any sort of criticism was indeed very careful not to criticise others whatever the circumstances. He might complain of being somewhat misused but never was he inclined to make it a personal issue. What struck me about him was his innocence; he was uniquely innocent and yet very perceptive. I have never met anyone like him in this unconscious innocence and the way he would instinctively recoil from anything said or done that would seem to threaten this in any way. The Lord did indeed reveal many things to this “innocent and lowly”.

Obituary
Br Patrick Sherry : continued
Zambia, † 5th November 1983
“I can imagine his going left many hearts empty and evoked memories of all kinds of services and kindnesses, not least his unfailing patience and cheerfulness”. With these words Fr John FitzGerald, writing from the Seychelles, well summed up the immediate aftermath of Br Patrick Sherry's death on the night of Saturday, 8th November 1983. An emptiness certainly prevailed.
His passing was very sudden. He is not known to have complained of feeling unwell until the very last day of his earthly life. On Friday he stayed in bed for the greater part of the day, but came to meals and evening prayer. The following morning saw him as usual at the early Mass. At about 13.00 hours on Saturday he 'phoned the Sisters in the hospital. He is reported to have said to them that he could not go through another night of what he had gone through the previous night. The Sisters and doctors came over at least twice if not thrice between then and his death but did not detect anything serious. The crisis came at about 22.50 when Br Sherry himself struggled to the door of Fr Jim Carroll to say that he could not breathe. The doctors were again called. Sr Gráinne arrived and started cardiac but the Lord had called Br Sherry to Himself.
Br Patrick Sherry - known to his Jesuit confrères as “Br Sher” or simply “Sher” - was born in Ireland on 17th March 1920, entered the Society on 10th February 1939, made his final profession on 15th August 1951 and arrived in Zambia with Fr John FitzGerald on 1st September 1953. For the next thirty years he served the young church of Zambia selflessly and with unbounded generosity. In Chikuni he served as a kind of Minister for Supplies and store manager, finally moving into the field of mechanics and water-pumps. After Chikuni he moved to Chivuna where he engaged in the hundred and one jobs of maintenance. It was during this period that he started to be a sort of miss excurr, on a diocesan level - shooting trouble-spots all over the diocese but returning to base every Friday evening. About 1965 or 1966 he moved into the Bishop's house, Monze, still serving as miss. excurr. He loved to tint these trouble-shooting journeys with a touch of drama and life-and-death urgency.
"Sher' is a great loss. Apart from his work, he was a great community man. He was part and parcel of everything that went on in the community. He was interested in parish affairs, never stinted himself in anything he did, and at community discussions often brought us back to some primal spiritual principle. He was gentle, understanding, thoughtful and patient, candid and open. He had the ability to talk to people about the small things of life: they appreciated this and were greatly saddened by his death.
Perhaps it was his generosity that shone most brightly. He had no hours. He once said "My philosophy of life is to try to help everyone as best I can.' He liked praise and the pat on the back, but never worked for it. A self-made man, he had battled with great courage against illness and disability. Without any chance of professional training, he became proficient in general mechanics, electricity and plumbing. He specialised in water-pumps, in which he often succeeded where more professional people failed.
In another way too Br Sherry was a self-made man: he had quite well developed hobbies. I doubt if he really knew the total number of stamps in his collection or its value. He also developed a taste for music and was able to relax with it.
His religious life and Jesuit vocation was something very dear to him, His was never an identity crisis. He was a fully convinced and dedicated religious. His deep faith led him directly to the person of Christ in his Church, in his sacraments and in his people. This faith enriched his many human qualities and his selfless service to others.
A great crowd thronged the church in Monze for his funeral Mass. They came from every corner of the diocese to pray for Br Sherry and to offer thanks for his life. The Vicar-General, Fr Dominic C Nchete, voiced at the graveside the official thanks of the diocese for Br Sherry's life of service and dedication to the Church in Zambia. The leader of the Salvation Army in Monze offered a prayer and thanks to God for Br Sherry. As the 28 concelebrants left the altar, the leading priests lifted his coffin and carried it to his waiting vanette - a last gesture of closeness to him.
(From Jesuits in Zambia: News, slightly adapted).

Born: 24 June 1833, Clane, County Kildare
Entered: 14 September 1860, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1871
Died: 02 November 1887, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was an excellent cook, and he looked after the communities of Milltown, Gardiner St and Tullabeg to great satisfaction.

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

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: 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 August 1825, Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan
Entered: 07 January 1849, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Professed: 15 August 1859
Died: 28 March 1912, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 29 April 1815, La Vittoriosa, Malta
Entered: 30 December 1844, Palermo Sicily Italy - Sicilian Province (SIC)
Final vows:02 February 1855
Died: 29 April 1871, Milltown Park, Dublin - Sicilian Province (SIC)

Came to HIB in 1861

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He came to Dublin in 1861 on the expulsion of the Jesuits from Rome, Naples and Sicily. About twenty Jesuits came, with Aloysius Sturzo as their Superior.
He was a tailor by trade, and he worked at Milltown until his death there 29 April 1871

Born: 22 September 1795, Ballymacoda, County Cork
Entered: 08 September 1835, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1846
Died: 23 October 1870, Boston College, Boston MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

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: 01 May 1832, Banbridge, County Down
Entered: 21 August 1852, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1863
Died: 24 April 1889, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Died: 12 November 1773, Faenza, Italy

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ
Brother Andrew Stritch arrived in Paraguayensis Mission (PAR) in 1767 to be met by the expulsion order for Jesuits. He was deported to Italy where he died at Faenza, Italy, 12 November 1773.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Andrew Stritch ????-1773
Br Andrew Stritch, judging by his name, was a native of Limerick.

On his arrival at Paraguay, he was met with the Royal decree of expulsion in 1767, and he returned to Italy. He died there at Faenza in 1773, the year of the Suppression.

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: 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: 15 August 1800, Coolmain, County Cork
Entered: 29 August 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1856
Died: 25 June 1881, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 09 February 1933, 83 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin
Entered: 22 October 1955, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1966, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 26 July 2010, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Gonzaga College, Dublin community at the time of death.

by 1959 at Rome, Italy - Sec to President of CC. M.M.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/versatile-jim-2/

Versatile Jim
With the death of Brother Jim Sutton last week, the Irish Jesuits lost a quiet man of multiple talents. Born in Glasnevin, and schooled by the Christian Brothers in Scoil Mhuire,
Marino, he was bright enough to win a scholarship into the ESB. Having trained as an electrician he entered the Society at 22. That was his most familiar role in the Province: he wired, rewired, fixed and constructed and maintained plant in most of our houses, leaving a precious legacy behind him. His other talents were less well known. He ran with Donore Harriers, played brilliant hurling with St Vincent’s Club, and could bring a party to life with his banjo. In this last year he pulled himself back from a life-threatening sickness to brighten the surrounds of Cherryfield with its brilliant flower beds. He is remembered with great affection.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 143 : Autumn 2010

Obituary

Br Jim Sutton (1926-2009)

9th February 1933: Born in Co. Dublin
Early education in Scoil Mhuire, Marino; Ringsend Technical College;
ESB apprentice; Qualified electrician.
22nd October 1955: Entered the Society at Emo
12th January 1958: First Vows at Emo
1958 - 1959: Curia Rome - Secretary
1959 - 1970: Milltown Park Community - Electrician, Plant maintenance
1965 - 1966: Tullabeg - Tertianship
15th August 1966: Final Vows
1970 - 1983: Manresa House - Electrician, Plant maintenance
1983 - 1997: Gonzaga Community - Consultant Electrician and Painter (Province Communities and Apostolates)
1997 - 2010: Gonzaga Community - Assisting the sick and elderly
14th October 2009: Admitted to Cherryfield Lodge
26th July 2010: Died in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Myles O'Reilly writes:
It was very striking when Jim Sutton died how much he was grieved for, not only by family and friends but by the Cherryfield staff itself. A bright, intelligent, cheerful man, sparkling with life, was gone out of their lives. They had witnessed the ordeal he went through the previous 6 months with one doctor insisting that he continue to be plied with heavy doses of antibiotics to keep his knees from becoming re-infected again; and the other, his heart specialist, equally adamant that his heart and body could sustain no more antibiotics. He was between a rock and a hard place and it was only a matter of time before one would prevail over the other. During those months he was a defiant figure and a comic sight to see in a wheel chair, being pushed by Brendan Hyland and Tom-Tom around the grounds of Cherryfield, giving the orders and they digging holes and planting flowers where he wanted them planted according to his master plan! They grew the flowers from seed in Gonzaga garden and transferred them to Cherryfield when the time was right. When you go into Cherryfield grounds now, you cannot but be struck by the beauty of the flowers which are a tribute to Jim's dream garden.

Jim was born in Gardiner St., but early in his childhood his parents moved to Donnycarney, where he and his 3 elder sisters were raised. He went to Colaiste Scoil Mhuire Marino and Ringsend Tech. In his growing up years he played the banjo and sang with the “Black and White Minstrel Show” a group founded by his uncle. He loved the GAA and played in goal with the St Vincent's hurling team. He was a passionate follower of the Dublin footballers all his life and blamed their demise in recent years to their picking too many players from south of the Liffey! His father was a foreman in the docks, which gave rise to Jim wanting to be a tug-boat pilot guiding ships up the Liffey from the sea. Providentially he did not get the job on health grounds, and came to be one of two who was picked out by ESB from Ringsend Tech to become ESB apprentice electricians. This exposed him to doing a retreat in Rathfarnham Castle which in turn led to his wanting to become a Jesuit brother. He finished his training as an electrician and joined the Jesuits in 1955.

He finished his novitiate late due to a stint in hospital from a hurling injury to his knee which he acquired in the novitiate. After novitiate he was sent to Rome to be a secretary to some sodality - without any Italian, and without having ever put a page in a typewriter! A few American Jesuits there kept him sane for two difficult years. From there he was sent back to Milltown Park to be plant manager and electrician. Over the eleven years he spent there, he and Jimmy Lavin must have painted every corridor and room in the house as well as doing all the necessary electrical work. You could often hear them laughing in their practical world at us students living in our intellectual world of books scurrying to classes, puffing ourselves up with knowledge - but most of us could hardly change a plug! Next Jim was sent to Manresa for 3 years and developed the role of being electrician and painter for the whole province. This meant buying a car and hiring some lay people to do the job with him. He continued in this work throughout his Gonzaga years up to 1997 until he was forced to retire from his bad knees and other health complications.

All through all those years, Jim developed a great love of nature. He could name every tree, flower and bird. Mary Oliver's short poem said it all. “Be Attentive, Be astonished, And tell of it”. He loved to grow flowers from seed and beautify the grounds of Gonzaga and Cherryfield from the full grown flowers.

Through Br Peter Doyle, he got a great interest in fishing. Br Brendan Hyland tells a story how he and Jim went for a weekend to somewhere in the ring of Kerry to fish. They armed themselves with all the latest fishing tackle and lovely new rods, and lay them carefully out on the rocks with their packed lunches to take stock of where to first cast their rods. All of a sudden a big wave came in, swept over them and took all their gear off out to sea. Brendan shocked, looked at Jim for his reaction to their dilemma. To his surprise Jim just sat down and broke his sides laughing! He was never far from seeing the funny side of things.

Jim was inclined to quickly like or dislike people. One person he intensely disliked was Senator Norris. He and Br Hyland took a weekend off once and stayed in a B & B. To his horror, Senator Norris was staying there too. But Senator Norris's charming, witty and intelligent conversation won him over! It showed up another side to Jim; he loved a good intelligent conversation, loved people who were well informed and well-read, which he tended to be himself. Those who spent time with him outside the Society tell me that he never missed daily mass, liked to say the rosary in the car and loved to stop and pray in little well-kept country churches.

Jim loved a good joke. Even in his last 5 years, when life was just one operation after another, he kept his humour and his zest for life. Up to 4 days before he died, he was still planning how to improve the garden in Cherryfield. Most of his last 4 days were spent in a semi coma. There was one brief moment where he came out of the coma. He was awakened by the voice of Linda, the cook from Gonzaga. He opened his eyes and with a big smile gave Linda and Mary McGreer and others who were there a big hug. After that he never regained consciousness and died peacefully 2 days later. May he rest in peace.

Born: 15 August 1786, Ireland
Entered: 12 November 1812 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1826
Died: 02 June 1848, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 01 November 1795, Gorteen, Co Kilkenny or Gurteen, Co Sligo
Entered: 05 April 1818, Richmond, Virginia - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1832
Died: 23 June 1865, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

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: 30 July 1850, Hobart, Tasmania
Entered: 03 December 1881, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final vows: 08 December 1892
Died: 26 August 1927, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Originally a member of the ASR Province and he remained there at the time of HIB taking responsibility for that Mission 27 April 1901
He spent the remaining twenty years of his Jesuit life at Sevenhill up his his death there 26 August 1927

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
James Thompson entered the Society at Sevenhill, 3 December 1881. No information about him exists until 1889 when he was cook at St Joseph's, Kooringa. He remained there until 1899. His last vows were taken at Sevenhill, 8 December 1892.
He spent a few years at North Sydney, a year at Xavier College, and then worked at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1903-05, as refectorian and sacristan and performing general domestic duties. Except for a few years at the parish of Norwood, 1908-10, he worked for the rest of his life at Sevenhill, involved with general duties, which included, being gardener, cook, sacristan and infirmarian.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 3rd Year No 1 1927
Obituary :
Br James Thompson

Br. Thompson was born on the Feast of Our Holy Father, I 850, and entered the Austrian Mission in Australia on December 3rd, 1881. The formal proclamation of the Union of the Austrian and Irish Missions in Australia was made at Sevenhill and at Norwood on the 27th April, 1901, and Br. Thompson remained in Australia. He spent 20 of the remaining years of his life at Sevenhill, and died happily on the 26th August, 1927.

Born: 26 September 1938, Penang, Malaysia
Entered: 02 December 1958, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong (HIB)
Final vows: 07 November 1971
Died: 22 February 2011, San José CA, USA - Californiae Province (CAL)

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

by 1965 at Bombay, India (BOM) studying

Born: 08 July 1925, Singapore
Entered: 07 September 1963, Cheung Chau, Hong Kong (HIB)
Final vows: 29 November 1974
Died: 23 November 1993, Kingsmead Hall, Singapore - Indonesianae Province (IDO) Malaysia Singapore Region (MAS)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966; HK to IDO 1991

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: 04 March 1796, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1843, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Died: 19 July 1858, Georgetown College, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 17 March 1833, Bulgaden, Kilmallock, County Limerick
Entered: 11 April 1856, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 25 March 1867
Died: 08 January 1885, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Born: 17 April 1617, Glamorgan, Wales
Entered: 01 October 1639, - Angliae Province (ANG)
Died: 06 February 1684, Maryland, USA - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
1645 In Ireland as cook, brewer and baker (cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TURBEVILLE, GREGORY, born in Wales : at the age 22 joined the Order, and for many years rendered valuable service as a Lay-brother. He died in Maryland, 6th February, 1684, aet. 67.

Born: 11 October 1811, Markethill, County Armagh
Entered: 14 August 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1860
Died: 12 July 1866, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 1630 Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: Mexicanae Province (MEX)
Died: 10 December 1670, Santa Fe, Mexico - Mexicanae Province (MEX).

Alias Richard Walsh

Born: 31 July 1790, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 09 October 1821, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1838
Died: 20 December 1855, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare

Disappears from Cat from 1847 till death when it is said age is 70;

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
Received into the Society by Peter Kenney.
It seems he spent his entire religious life in Clongowes, apart from a few years at Tullabeg.
He suffered many trials and crosses. His death resulted from an accident, where he had a severe fall in the Chapel.
Renewing his vows he died piously 20 December 1855 and is buried at Mainham.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Thomas Wade 1790-1855
Br Thomas Wade was a Corkman born on July 31st 1790.

He spent his entire religious life in Clongowes, with the exception of a few years at Tullabeg. He suffered many crosses and trials. His death was the result of an accident – a fall in the chapel. Renewing his Vows with the Holy Name on his lips, he expired peacefully on December 20th 1855, and he is buried in Mainham Cemetery.

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: 07 February 1625, Ireland
Entered: 26 May 1669, Mechelen, Belgium - for Peruvianae Province (PER)
Died: 04 June 1672, St Paul’s College, Lima, Peru - Peruvianae Province (PER)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
Three years after entry he became ill and died at College of St Paul, Lima Peru 1672

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Ignatius Walter 1625-1672
Br Ignatius Walter was born in Ireland in 1625. He entered the Society at Lima, Peru.

Three years after he entered he fell into bad health, and died at the College of St Paul Lima on June 4th 1672.

Born: 31 December 1816, Thomastown, County Kilkenny
Entered: 23 November 1849, St John’s College, Fordham, NY, USA - Franciae Province (FRA)
Final vows: 11 February 1860
Died: 06 June 1885, St Vincent’s Hospital, New York, NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Part of the St Mary’s, Boston MA, USA community at the time of death

Born: 06 October 1849, Wingerworth, Derbyshire
Entered: 07 September 1869, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 02 February 1880
Died: 22 November 1912, County Waterford - Angliae Province (ANG)

Died in HIB but member of ANG

Born: 15 June 1935, Crumlin, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 January 1956, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Professed: 15 august 1966, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 10 August 1992, Milltown Park, Dublin

Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Br Andrew (Andy) Williams (1935-1992)

15th June 1935; Born, Dublin
Early Education; Christian Brothers Schools, Crumlin
Pre-entry: He studied crafts and was an assistant mechanic
15th Jan. 1956: Entered the Society at Emo
1958 - 1966: Emo
1966 - 1969: Tullabeg
1969 - 1970: Crescent College, Limerick
1970 - 1985: Rathfarnham, held various posts: Sub Min.; Praef fam.,Adj dir Dom Exerc., and Minister
1985 - 1989: Tabor House, Minister, Bursar
1986 1990 : Caretaker of Villa House in Rocky Valley
1989 - 1992: Milltown Park
10th Aug. 1992: Died in grounds of Milltown Park

Ni aitheantas go haontigheas it is said - if you want to know me come and live with me. As far as I can make out I never lived with Andy Williams unless it was for a year in Emo 1962-3, but still I believe I knew him quite well. Listening to Fergus O'Donoghue's homily at his funeral the pietas - or devotion - of the man came flooding back to me. Andy was a real Jesuit.

I remember his prowess as a nippy soccer forward but especially I remember his qualities as a golfer. Like all true golfers he had an abiding optimism which he shared notably with Tony Mc Shera. No matter how today's round went - and Andy had many a good round - the next round was going to approach perfection. At every outing of Saint Mary's Andy was present not only as a successful competitor also as captain for several years and unfailingly the man, along with Mattie Meade, who checked the score cards of all participants with an eagle eye. As a marathon runner he competed at home and abroad and ran a marathon in Finland not long before his death - a Jesuit first?

But there was far more to Andy than the football player, the golfer, the runner. He was a committed, available Jesuit, whether as a tailor, as a valued member of the Rathfarnham Retreat House team and in his later years in Tabor Retreat House. He was also in charge of Rocky Valley for a number of years. When Rathfarnham Castle came to be disposed of in the mid 80's I appreciated Andy's worth. The dismantling of the house, and the preparation of the contents for auction was no small feat and Andy was the man responsible for this as he lived there alone in its final year.

He knew how to handle crises without fuss, he was no fool and knew when unfair demands were being made on him by lay person or Jesuit. Above everything else, Andy was utterly reliable. The Gospel speaks of faithfulness. That was he.

In 1992 an expedition set out one May day to visit Youghal, Dominic Collins' hometown, and Andy was with us, but when the beatification journey to Rome took place in September Andy had exchanged a close-up seat at the ceremony for something far better. He had run the good race.

Frank Sammon

Born: 21 July 1814, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy
Entered: 06 September 1840, Chieri Italy - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Final Vows:
Died: 16 February 1851, Hartfield House, Drumcondra, Dublin - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Part of the St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales community at the time of deat

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
On the dispersion of the TAUR Province in the Revolution of 1848, he was sent to England and lived at St Beuno’s College.
His mind became affected and he was sent to Hartfield House, Drumcondra, Dublin for treatment.
He had a few days clarity and was able to go to Confession and Communion, but a few days later he suffered a haemorrhage, died and is buried at Glasnevin