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Sheil, Leonard, 1897-1968, Jesuit priest and missionary County Dublin
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Biographical information on Fr Leonard Sheil SJ

Biographical information on Fr Leonard Sheil SJ. Includes:
– potted biography by Fr Fergus O'Donoghue SJ (Irish Province Archivist, 1986-2019), (1984, 1p.);
– biography of Fr Sheil entitled 'Who Travels Alone' by Fr Robert L. Stevenson SJ (Dublin: C. Goodliffe Neale (Irel.) Ltd.) (1975, 56pp);
– photocopies from the 'Jesuit Year Book' of an illustrated article by Fr Robert L. Stevenson SJ entitled ‘Emigrants’ Priest: Fr. Leonard Sheil, S.J.’ (1969, 9pp) and an illustrated appreciation of Fr Sheil by Very Rev. Joseph Flynn, M.S.S (1969, 5pp).
Also includes appreciation of Fr Sheil by Very Rev. Joseph Flynn, M.S.S., printed in 'Irish Province News' (April 1968, 2pp).

Correspondence between Fr Leonard Sheil SJ and Irish Fr Provincial on the content of Fr Sheil’s mission sermons

  • IE IJA J/16/4
  • File
  • 16 June 1936 - 30 July 1940
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Correspondence between Fr Leonard Sheil SJ and Irish Fr Provincial Laurence J. Kieran SJ on the content of Fr Sheil’s mission sermons. Includes:
– censors’ judgements on the manuscript of a sermon on ‘Sin’ by Fr Sheil (Jun 1936, 2 items); copy of summary of censors’ judgements (n.d., 2pp) and letter from Fr Sheil to the Irish Fr Provincial after receiving the censors’ reviews (24 June 1936, 2pp);
– letter from Fr Sheil in which he explains his delay in sending the Irish Fr Provincial the texts of his sermons, ‘My delay, and indeed serious negligence, has not been due, I think, to wilful disobedience, or to the opinion that they did not need censoring, but to this. I have eight fully written sermons in my drawer at present, but my dissatisfaction with them has caused me to cross out and amend lines and pages, so that none of them are yet in fit condition to send.…also…between missions my head is so tired that I am loathe to work.’ Also refers to the Sodality and the Legion of Mary (see J16/3) (12 Oct. 1936, 2pp);
– copy letter to Fr Sheil from the Irish Fr Provincial calling attention to Fr Sheil’s ‘want of prudence and discretion’ and warning him that if he continues ‘on present lines’ he may be ‘removed from the mission staff and given work in a College. With a view to rendering such a change unnecessary I forbid you in future to speak in the pulpit on questions of sex or, on general, matters relating to the VI commandment, without having first submitted your MS to the Socius for censorship. I wish also that you give up mentioning in public estimates or conjectures regarding the number of Irish emigrants who lose the faith or give up its practice’ (24 Jan. 1938, 2pp);
– note from Fr Sheil to the Irish Fr Provincial in which he lists the topics of his sermons that have been passed by the censor (12 Mar. 1940, 3pp);
– letter from Fr Tom Counihan SJ to ‘Fr. John’ in which he refers to Fr Sheil’s sermons, ‘You should have heard his sermons on sin, temptation, holyhour, family life & Holy Communion to feel utterly ashamed of the twaddle neither here nor there (sic.) No Scripture, no sound reasoning & abundance of crudity & naked realism…It is very unfortunate & I am not at all comfortable when I have to hand over an out-church to his tender mercies!’ (15 May 1940, 2pp) and
– copy letter from the Irish Fr Provincial to Fr Sheil in which he states, ‘I have been regretfully obliged to change you from the mission staff, and it is only fair that you should know the reason of this change. From information I have received from many different quarters it seems clear that you are greatly lacking in prudence in the things you say; and I cannot help thinking that if you were allowed to continue working as a missioner you would land both yourself and the Society into serious trouble…you allow your zeal to get the better of you with the result that you act contrary not only to the advice of your colleagues but also to that of your Superiors. I am afraid also that your knowledge of theology is very much wanting in accuracy…As to your work in Galway in the coming year, I must forbid you to preach anything in the Church without first having shown the MS to Fr Rector…’ (30 Jul. 1940, 2pp).

Correspondence between Vice-Provincial Brendan Lawler and the English Provincialate relating to Fr Leonard Sheil’s illness

Correspondence between Vice-Provincial Brendan Lawler and the English Provincialate in Mount Street, London, relating to Fr Leonard Sheil’s recall to the Irish Province due to his final illness. Includes:

  • letter from Irish Fr Provincial Brendan Barry SJ to Fr Thomas Dunphy SJ of Mount Street in which he states that Fr Sheil ‘…is beyond medical aid, since he has cancer of the liver. He is not confined to bed and – characteristically – he is all on for doing some work for God before he dies. Nevertheless it is obvious that his days at Farm Street have come to an end. I am therefore putting him in the Catalogus as withdrawn from Farm Street and stationed at the College of Industrial Relations, Sandford Road, Dublin 6. He went there from the nursing home last week and he is to stay there as long as his health allows. Please advise Father Corrigan that it seems best now to regard Father Sheil as no longer applied to the English Province or attached to Farm Street’ (19 Oct. 1967, 1p.) and
    – reply from Fr Dunphy to Fr Lawler – ‘I need hardly say how sorry we are about this, because he has been such a wonderful man. There is no doubt that he has done great work in the parish and has been deeply loved and respected by all who knew him. He was certainly a source of great edification to this community’ (22 Oct. 1967, 1p.).

Correspondence mainly between Irish Fr Provincial, Fr Leonard Sheil SJ and the English Provincial, relating to Fr Sheil’s Mission work in England

  • IE IJA J/16/9
  • File
  • 18 May 1949 - September 1967
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Correspondence mainly between Irish Fr Provincial, Fr Leonard Sheil SJ and the English Provincial, relating to Fr Sheil’s Mission work in England. Includes:
– incomplete letter from Fr Sheil to the Provincial referring to a Mission he and Fr Robert L. Stevenson SJ are to give in Peterborough, ‘We will run one mission in a hostel, and another in the church at the same time. There are 180 Irish in the hostel; and there are believed to be about 400 in lodgings around the town. We may, or may not, be able to get at them.’ Also describes his recent travels on the Continent (third page of letter is missing) (12 Sep. 19--, 2pp);
– letter from Fr Sheil to the Provincial describing a ‘country mission in Northampton’ where he “was told to take a different village every day, say Mass in some Catholic house, visit every house – Catholic or no, and ‘hold a service’ on the village green in the evening” (2 September 19–, 7pp);
– covering letter and note (January 1953, 2pp) from Fr Sheil to the Provincial enclosing a memorandum entitled ‘Relations between Irish and English Jesuit Missioners’ (n.d., 3pp);
– covering letter from Fr Sheil (13 April 1953, 1p.) to the Provincial, enclosing a letter he received from the Archbishop of Cius and English Apostolic Delegate following Fr Sheil’s report to him of 1952 Mission work. The Archbishop writes ‘I have read with deepest interest the reports sent to me by the Reverend Father L. Sheil, S.J. and I have informed the Holy See of all the splendid work that has been accomplished. For this most necessary apostolate, certainly the Delegate of the Holy Father must send a cordial blessing in the name of His Holiness and he is confident that, with God’s help, more and more will be achieved for those who stand so much in need of the ministry of their own priests’ (9 April 1953, 1p.);
– copy letter from the Irish Fr Provincial Thomas Byrne to the English Fr Provincial Desmond Boyle SJ, regarding Fr Boyle’s ‘wishes concerning the activities of the Irish Mission staff in England’. States ‘I have…instructed Father Leonard Sheil to confine his activities in future to Camp Missions during the autumn months, and, once he has fulfilled his programme in London this autumn, to approach no parish priest about a parish Mission nor to accept any parish Mission without a specific request from Father Farrell.…I think he (Fr Sheil) has done good work for the Irish in England, some of which, such as the Confraternity in Birmingham, may be of permanent worth. But whatever good he has achieved is due in no small measure to the co-operation of the English Province and the support he received from the English parish clergy’ (22 Apr. 1953, 1p.);
– Fr Boyle’s reply thanking Fr Byrne for his co-operation and stating ‘I only hope that we of this Province have not seemed too difficult or dog-in-the-manger-ish. The position was getting rather confused and it seemed desirable to regularize it. Your mission Fathers have done wonderful work in England, and I am quite sure that Fr Sheil will be approached either directly or through Fr Farrell for further missions’ (29 Apr. 1953, 1p.);
– letter to Fr Sheil from Dr James Staunton, Bishop of Ferns in which he remarks ‘I was glad to know that you are going to St. Wilfrid’s York, and I hope your Fathers and yourself will be invited to give many missions in the secondary modern schools, and pioneer in this sphere’ (20 Aug. 1958, 2pp);
– letter to the Provincial from Fr Sheil describing the work of two Irish chaplains in London – Fr Cullen in Warwick Street and the chaplain in Bayswater (Sep. 1967, 2pp).
Also includes list drawn up by Fr Sheil of Jesuits who ‘should give a very good priests’ retreat’ (n.d., 2pp).

File entitled Missions in Britain 1950s

File entitled Missions in Britain 1950s containing eleven sections: Introductory letter from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ (20 February 1960, 5pp);

  • report for Irish Fr Provincial (8 January 1958, 8pp);
  • list of places and dates of Irish Missions in Britain 1949 - 1959 (19[59], 6pp);
  • copies of commendatory letters (7 November 1953 - 24 November 1958, 3 items);
  • Report for Irish Fr Provincial on Missions 1958 - January 1959 and cuttings from the [Irish Independent] on the Mission Campaign in Britain by Fr Leonard Sheil SJ (20 January 1959, 3 items);
  • three ‘typical’ reports on three 1959 Missions for the Bishop of Ferns (1959, 4pp);
  • ‘Account of an Ideal Mission for the Bishop of Ferns’ by Fr Sheil (n.d., 7pp);
  • press articles by Fr Sheil describing the Missions (September - October 1958, 6 items);
  • photographs of Birmingham and Westminster Cathedrals, Brompton Oratory, photographs of ‘children of the Irish’ (13 items) and
  • map of England indicating the routes of Fr Sheil’s motorcycle travel (1 item).
    Also includes booklets and advertising leaflets for the Missions (7 items) and memorandum for Irish Fr Provincial by Fr Sheil containing suggestions for better organisation of the Missions (1959, 2pp).

Leonard Sheil's entrance into the Society of Jesus

  • IE IJA J/16/2
  • File
  • 6 March 1919 - 4 October 1920
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Documents relating to Leonard Sheil's entrance into the Society of Jesus. Includes:
– introductory letter from Leonard to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ seeking information on the Society (6 March 1919, 2pp);
– note from Dr. J. Redmond to Fr George Byrne SJ, [Novice Master] following his medical examination of Leonard Sheil (22 July 1920, 1p.);
– letter from Mrs Helen Sheil, Leonard's mother to ‘Father Rector’ describing Leonard’s education and state of health. Remarks ‘I hope…that you will not discourage him – his whole heart is set on things spiritual & I know that he has it in him to do great things for God. He is so shy that he will perhaps have difficulty in speaking to you…’ (6 August 1920, 2pp) and
– letters from Mrs Sheil to Irish Fr Provincial on financial matters, following his acceptance of her son into the Society, (28 August - 4 October 1920, 3 items).

Letters and notes, mostly from Professor Patrick Fitzgerald concerning Fr Leonard Sheil’s’ cancer

  • IE IJA J/16/15
  • Item
  • 20 January 1966 - 24 February 1967
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Letters and notes, mostly from Professor Patrick Fitzgerald to Fr Leonard Sheil’s Superiors, concerning Fr Sheil’s’ cancer. Includes:

  • letters from Prof. FitzGerald (Fr Sheil’s surgeon) to Irish Fr Provincial Brendan Barry SJ, informing him of Fr Sheil’s condition (4 items);
  • letter from Fr Sheil (St. Mary’s Open-air Orthopaedic Hospital, Finglas, Dublin 11) to the Irish Fr Provincial, quoting Prof. FitzGerald’s opinion that it would ‘be better’ for Fr Sheil to get back to work, ‘physically, psychologically and morally!’ (2 Mar. 1966, 1p.) and
    – letter from Fr Sheil to Fr Brendan Lawler (Irish Fr Provincial’s Socius) seeking help in arranging his trip to Dublin to see Prof. FitzGerald (9 Feb. 1967, 1p.)

Fitzgerald, Patrick Alexis Martin, 1911-1978, surgeon

Letters and report to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ concerning missions in Spain

  • IE IJA J/16/10
  • File
  • 7 September [1961] - 30 November 1965
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Letters and report to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ concerning missions in Spain, comparisons with missions in Britain and Ireland and the possibility of Fr Sheil’s working in South America. Includes:
– letter from Fr Sheil to the Irish Fr Provincial seeking permission to go to Spain to study Spanish missions in order to adapt certain practices for use in Britain (7 September. 1961, 4pp);
– copy of a ‘Report on Missions in Spain’ following a visit by Frs Shiggins and Sheil who attended five missions around the country (n.d., 4pp);
– letter from Fr Sheil to the Irish Fr Provincial in which he discusses certain Spanish customs which could be used on Missions in Britain. Remarks that he will send the Provincial a report ‘on the meetings I now hold with Protestant clergymen after missions in Ireland’ and that he has sent in ‘full reports on our missions in Britain’ ‘almost every year for ten years’. Also mentions a new member of the mission staff, Fr Kevin Laheen SJ – ‘You will be glad to know that Fr Laheen on this his first mission did very well. He preaches well and his musical voice was a help to O'Beirne and I. I need not tell you that O'Beirne preaches very well, and is a wonderful companion on a mission. He sleeps badly’ (Fr Gerry O'Beirne) (23 March 1963, 3pp) and
– letters seeking permission to go to Spain (and Italy) as a supply priest (25 May 19?? – 30 November 1965, 4 items).

Letters from Jesuits volunteering to serve as chaplains

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial Laurence J. Kieran SJ from various Jesuits volunteering to become military chaplains following the outbreak of the Second World War. Includes letters from: Frs Michael J. Morrison SJ (See CHP2/29), Arthur Little SJ, Fr Edward J. Coyne SJ, Joseph Garland SJ, Thomas Shuley SJ, Richard Kennedy SJ (See CHP2/23), Leonard Sheil SJ, James McCann SJ and Michael Pelly SJ (See CHP2/33).

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, various Jesuits and others relating to Fr Sheil’s work

  • IE IJA J/16/5
  • File
  • 7 November 1941 - 8 August 1943
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, various Jesuits and others relating to Fr Sheil’s work in the Jesuit church in Galway. Includes:
– letters from Fr Sheil and the Secretary of the International Catholic Girls’ Protection Society (Veritas House, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin) regarding radio broadcasts for Irish emigrants in England and an appeal for funds for the I.C.G.P.S. (see also J16/6) (7 November 1941 - 6 June 1942, 3 items);
– letters from Fr Hugh Kelly SJ (Rector, Rathfarnham Castle) and Fr Patrick O'Kelly SJ (Director of the Pioneers Association) reporting complaints about Fr Sheil’s behaviour with regard to the content of his lectures to secondary school girls, his running of the Sodalities in Galway and his comments to a young girl who came to him for religious instruction (17 November - 20 December 1942, 4 items);
– letters from Fr Sheil, Fr Hugh Kelly SJ and the Superior of the Presentation Convent, Dundrum, County Tipperary requesting permission for Fr Sheil to give various lectures and retreats and to act as Special Confessor to the nuns of Dundrum Presentation Convent (26 January - 24 May 1943, 3 items) and
– letter from Fr Sheil enclosing a list of his sodality work in Galway, to help his successor, ‘I have tried all these two years to get these works into such order that anyone could carry them on, but I have not had the time. Many details of organization have still to be put into practice. The walls are built but the roof is not yet on. However there is plenty of brains and holiness among the men and women engaged in the work. If I could have any wish where obedience is concerned, I would wish to stay with them’ (8 August 1943, 3pp).

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial, mostly from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, relating to his Mission work throughout Ireland

  • IE IJA J/16/6
  • File
  • 24 Nov. 1943 - 18 May 1949
  • Part of Irish Jesuits

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial, mostly from Fr Leonard Sheil SJ, relating to his Mission work throughout Ireland. Includes:

  • letters concerning a Retreat given by Fr Sheil in Killorglin, County Kerry, a lecture in Cashel, County Tipperary and Missions in Cobh, County Cork and Harrington Street, Dublin (24 November 1943 - 7 August 1945, 6 items);
  • letter from Fr Sheil offering to ‘go to any country where…I would be of use in the service of God, Africa, Australia, China or the Continent.’ Also seeks permission to become the Spiritual Director of the International Catholic Girls’ Protection Society (see also J16/5). ‘Their work (they are some thirty years in existence in Dublin) was chiefly the meeting and protecting of girls travelling, especially to England. Now it includes a registry office of which the object is to find work for girls in Ireland and so obviate the necessity of going to England.…They hope to start a small training hostel for domestics. The Archbishop is very favourable.…I have given their radio broadcast for the past five years, bringing in £100 more or less each year. The work of the Spiritual Director would be to attend the monthly meeting of the Committee…and on these occasions to give what assistance he can as a priest.…In favour of it,…it offers a field of work for youth; and…perhaps no class of youth needs help more than the young country girl, perhaps from a convent orphanage, who comes to Dublin to domestic service…’ (21 Feb. 1946, 3pp);
  • letter from Socius Fr John Coyne SJ to the Irish Provincial relating to a report in the 'Irish Press' of a lecture on ‘Friends of Soviet Russia’ given by Fr Sheil to the Ringsend C.Y.M.S. in which Fr Sheil referred to Dáil Éireann members as ‘frightful loafers’. Encloses clipping of report (2 Dec. 1946, 1p.) and letter from Fr Sheil to Fr Coyne explaining the circumstances of the lecture (n.d., 2pp);
  • letter from Fr Sheil reporting on a number of young men who wish to join the Society and his activities on a recent visit to the North of Ireland (2 Apr. 1947, 4pp) and
  • letter to the Irish Provincial Fr Thomas Byrne SJ from Dr Edward Doorly, Bishop of Elphin stating ‘Father Sheil did not give any offence worth mentioning and further…he gave a splendid Retreat to the priests’ (18 May 1949, 1p.).

Material from Sr Mary Regis, Mercy Convent, Doon, County Limerick, following Fr Leonard Sheil’s death

Letter to Irish Fr Provincial Cecil McGarry from Sr Mary Regis, Mercy Convent, Doon, County Limerick, following Fr Leonard Sheil's death. Encloses letters sent to her from Fr Sheil over a number of years and press-cuttings relating to him, in the hope they might be useful to the Society when writing Fr Sheil's biography. States ‘I thought I would like to do a little for him after all he did for me.…When he started his missions in England I used to make pictures & pieties to help him & send them to the different addresses. He sent me accounts of these missions…He never thought of himself, his aim was to use everything he could to bring souls to God… I have kept letters of his since 1939 & all the years of the war & until he wrote before Christmas to announce his illness’ (Aug. 1968, 4pp). Encloses seven letters from Fr Sheil, thanking her for sending badges and medals and discussing her health and his missions. Includes letter in which he remarks ‘…thanks so much for all your lovely pictures and things. They are immensely valued over here. Sometimes indeed religion is not valued, but I hope that these pictures etc. will make it impossible for them to forget the lovely things of Our Faith. One little boy brought five Protestant pals, mostly bigger than himself, to the mission at West Hartlepool. I have had many conversions of people years away from Mass and the Sacraments. Many others have rejected me. The [leak]age of the children when they leave school, & have no Catholic school, and no good parents, is frightful. I start missions again on January 8th at Coventry and near Northampton. They will be very tough, so help me with your prayers. I bless each house I enter, put them on their knees, if they don’t refuse, and instal (sic.) a holy picture’ (28 Dec. 19--, 2pp). Also includes photocopies of clippings on Fr Sheil from various English newspapers (n.d., 4 items).

Material on the promotion of 'Catholic Action’

Documents relating to a report prepared by the Irish Fr Provincial for Fr General on the activities of the Irish Province for ‘the promotion of Catholic Action’. Includes covering letter and questionnaire sent out by the Irish Fr Provincial to Jesuit houses and individuals with detailed replies from: St Francis Xavier’s, Upper Gardiner Street; Milltown Park, Dublin; Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin; St Stanislaus’ College, Tullamore; St Mary’s, Emo Court; University Hall, Hatch Street; Belvedere College; Clongowes Wood College; St Ignatius’ College, Galway; Sacred Heart College, Limerick; the editors of the following periodicals: 'Madonna', 'The Messenger of the Sacred Heart', 'An Timire' (The Gaelic Messenger), and 'Studies'. Also includes handwritten draft report entitled ‘The Society of Jesus in Ireland and Catholic Action’ (Summer 1936) and final printed Latin version 'De Actione Catholica in Hibernia'.

Will of Vincent Bede Shiel, Catholic priest

Will of Vincent Bede Shiel, Catholic priest, late of No. 14 Oxford Street, Rozelle, Sydeny, Australia, but now residing in Dublin (1942), found in the papers of Fr Leonard Sheil SJ. Connection unknown 'Left by L Sheil nothing to do with house property P Kenny SJ, however, the will is witnessed by Fr Kevin O'Sullivan SJ and Fr Pádraic Ó Brolcháin SJ, Milltown Park, Dublin.