Holden, Noel, 1920-1990, Jesuit priest

Person

Holden, Noel, 1920-1990, Jesuit priest

19 December 1920-09 January 1990

Born: 19 December 1920, Moate, County Westmeath
Entered: 20 September 1938, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 22 April 1989, John Austin House, Dublin
Died: 09 January 1990, Fuengirola, Spain

Part of the John Austin community, North Circular Road, Dublin at the time of death.

by 1979 at Toronto ONT, Canada (CAN S) sabbatical

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 77 : Summer 1994 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Noel Holden (1920-1990)

19th Dec. 1920: Born, Moate, Co. Westmeath
Educated by the Marist Brothers in Athlone
20th Sept.1938: Entered Jesuit Novitiate at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham (studies U.C.D.)
1943 - 1946: Tullabeg - Philosophy
1946 - 1949: Belvedere - teaching
1949 - 1954: Milltown Park - Theology
1954 - 1969: Crescent College - teaching
1969 - 1978: Milltown Park, engaged in Missions/Retreats
1979 - 1980: Sabbatical in Canada (M.A. Theology in Toronto)
1980 - 1989: North Circular Road, while continuing work in Missions/Retreats, Apostleship of Prayer work.
1989: Fuengirola, Spain, as Chaplain
9th Jan. 1990: Died in Fuengirola

Noel was born in Moate, Co. Westmeath, on 19 December, 1920, with Irish midlands roots on his mother's side and north English roots on his father's. He received his secondary education from the Marist Brothers, Athlone. He told me that his school-days were lonely: the lessons-conscious Moate boy among the Athlone aliens; the double cycle-ride (thirty miles); no time for school games. Evidence here of that dogged sense of duty which was to characterise his life. He was encouraged to enter the Society by the famous Moate parish priest Monsignor Langan, and he came to Emo in 1938.

He suffered (if not entirely in silence) the prickly probation of the then juniorate. There was philosophy in Tullabeg, regency in Belvedere, theology and ordination (1952) in Militown and tertianship in Rathfarnham. From 1954 to 1969 he taught in the Crescent. He became deeply interested in preaching and retreat work and it was hardly a surprise when he was appointed to the mission and retreat staff.

Except for a sabbatical year this was to be his assignment for the rest of his life and along with parish supply work it was to bring him to various parts of Ireland, to Britain, the United States, France, Spain, Israel, Jordan. His favourite mission-ground was in the diocese of Down and Connor. He felt at home in the North, he said: he found the northern temperament akin to his own. The people of Carnlough, Co. Antrim, virtually adopted him and he them. His sabbatical in Toronto gave him a Master's degree in theology and an aggiornamento that flowed into his ministry. He zealously promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart and strongly preached the unconditional love of God for us.

In December 1989 he went to Fuengirola, Spain, as Christmas time chaplain to Irish residents there. He reported that the weather was bad: “I'll have to say goodbye to the swimming”. Unfortunately he didn't. About 11 a.m. on 9 January 1990 he went swimming off the beach and was drowned.

Noel was a hard worker and was happiest when on the ministry trail. The work was often done despite some ill-health: he was subject to headaches. He did not like to be “grounded” for long. I remember a tense few days when he was house-bound following the theft of his car. Fortunately the car was found and he zoomed away to his own and everyone else's relief.

He was not averse to recounting his apostolic achievements. It would be facile to see this as just boasting: there was a certain simplicity, perhaps a sort of humility about it: surely a way of unwinding and sharing. He could irritate you and then charm you with a simple act of kindness.

He was notable in pietas towards his family: very much the parent-remembering son, the concerned brother, the interested uncle. The teaching of Tony de Mello and Billy Johnston appealed to him. There was an inherited psychic side to him. With this went a well-informed love of nature: he tended the garden, and David Attenborough programmes absorbed him.

And this nature-Noel concordance seemed to show itself remarkably on the last day of his life. Years before he had planted two trees in the John Austin garden. Just before he went to Spain it was decided with his consent to remove them. The trees were felled on the morning of 9 January. Requiescat.

Stephen Redmond

Irish Vice-Province of the Society of Jesus, 1830- (1830-)

IE IJA J/499

Irish Jesuit Archives

IE IJA