- IE IJA ADMN/36/74
- Eitem
- 1 June 1894
Letter from Fr General Luis Martin SJ to Irish Fr Provincial Timothy Kenny SJ. Writes with regard to the compilation of a history of the Society. (Printed; in Latin).
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Letter from Fr General Luis Martin SJ to Irish Fr Provincial Timothy Kenny SJ. Writes with regard to the compilation of a history of the Society. (Printed; in Latin).
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Rhan oIrish Jesuit Missions
A file relating to the establishment of a foreign mission to China and the foundation of a school for higher studies in Hong Kong.
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Number of Sunday Masses, St Ignatius, Galway
Correspondence between Irish Fr Provincial Laurence Kieran SJ, Fr John MacSheahan SJ, Rector, St Ignatius, Galway and Thomas O'Doherty, Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh relating to the authority of the Bishop in insisting that the acts and five minutes sermons are connected, and limiting the number of Masses said at St Ignatius. Refers to the university sodality question, and Fr O'Dea mentioned that he didn't bring it to the Bishops attention (Canon Davis).
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Female students from UCG attend Mass and the Children of Mary Sodality at St Ignatius, Galway
Correspondence between Fr John MacSheahan SJ, Rector, St Ignatius College, Galway and Fr James O’Dea, Dean, University College Galway over concerns of Fr O’Dea, that pressure was applied to female students to attend Mass and attend the Children of Mary Sodality at St Ignatius Church, instead of the university, ultra vires the authority of St Ignatius Church.
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Dance in aid of Penny Dinners and postponement
File of letters and copy of letters related to the postponement of the Penny Dinners in Galway at Columban Hall and its eventual re-establishment. Correspondence between Irish Fr Provincial Laurence Kiernan SJ, Fr John MacSheahan SJ, Rector, St Ignatius Church, Galway and Thomas O'Doherty, Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, relating to Bishop O'Doherty’s pastoral letter in which he indirectly refers to the Penny Dinners and the Jesuits, when he condemns dances organised in aid of Penny Dinners by non – Jesuits, ‘I have the strongest possible objection to the means of raising money employed last January…who can control the evils perpetuated in motor cars' (6 April 1926). Includes correspondence between Fr John MacSheahan SJ, Rector, St Ignatius Church, Galway and M. O. Lainn, Clerk, Galway Urban District Council, relating to the re-establishment of Penny Dinners.
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Documents, mainly letters to Irish Fr Provincial reporting on works in progress by various Jesuits, to be published during the fourth centenary year of the foundation of the Society. Includes letters from Frs John Ryan, Timothy Mulcahy, Charles Scantlebury, Henry Gill, Joseph Canavan, Michael McGrath, Patrick Gannon, Stephen Brown, Arthur Little, John MacErlean, Edward Coyne (See also ADMN/3/37; 39; 42; 57), Timothy Corcoran, Aubrey Gwynn and Seán Ó Catháin. Also includes lists of titles and authors and a memorandum on historical publications of the Irish Province by Fr Aubrey Gwynn SJ (See also ADMN/3/18; 37; 40).
Rhan oIrish 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).
Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial concerning the celebrations for the fourth centenary of the foundation of the Society. Includes:
Part of a letter from Fr Patrick O'Kelly SJ, St Ignatius College, Galway
Part of a letter from Fr Patrick O'Kelly SJ, St Ignatius College, Galway regarding the acquisition for the library in Tullamore, an old parchment bound folio volume entitled ‘Defensio Fidei Catholicae a Francesco Suario Soc. Iesu Coimbra 1613’.
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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);
Rhan oIrish Jesuit Missions
Many Jesuit Provinces had missions in China before 1926 when the Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong, Fr Henry Valtorta (1883-1953), invited the Irish Jesuits to his vicariate. In October 1926, Frs George Byrne (1879-1962) and John Neary (1889-1983) left Dublin for Hong Kong, which became a Mission for the Irish Province. They were joined, in early 1927, by Fr Daniel Finn (1886-1936) from Australia and later by Frs Richard Gallagher (1887-1960), Patrick Joy (1892-1970) and Daniel MacDonald (1891-1957).
The initial work of the mission concentrated in Hong Kong, with some teaching in Canton and Macao. Their works involved: reviving the Catholic journal, ‘The Rock’; the opening of a hostel (Ricci Hall) for Chinese Catholic students at the University of Hong Kong (1929-); their involvement in the Regional Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong (1931-1964), Wah Yan College, Hong Kong (1932-) and Wah Yan College, Kowloon (1952-). Some lecturing occurred in the university, in areas such as archaeology, education, engineering, and geography. In Canton, Frs Michael Saul (1884-1932) and Joseph McCullough (1892-1932) died from cholera. Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation 1941 - 1945. The Irish Jesuits organised a school for refugees from Hong Kong in Macao and the Regional Seminary was also moved to Macao. Wah Yan College was closed in 1941 and reopened in 1945. Fr Thomas Ryan’s account “Jesuits under Fire in the siege of Hong Kong 1941” deals fully with this time.
After World War Two, the Irish Jesuits established a language school, student centre and parish in Canton. They were expelled by the Communists in [1953]. Wah Yan College grew and developed and further works included the foundation of a university hostel at Kingsmead Hall, Singapore and at Xavier Hall, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Other works of note that Irish Jesuits had a hand in establishing and running in Hong Kong include: the Hong Kong Housing Society (1938); Wah Yan Relief Association (1938); Shoeshine Boys Club (1952-1962); the Credit Union Movement (1962); Rehabilitation Centre for the Handicapped (1962); Catholic Marriage Advisory Council (1963); Road Safety Association for Schools (1964); Industrial Relations Institute (1968); Chinese Opera in English (1960s); Fisherman’s Children School (1960s) and Welfare for Police in the Training School. In 1966, Hong Kong became a Jesuit Vice-Province and in 1985, the Province of Macau-Hong Kong was established. Today, Hong Kong is a unit within the Chinese Jesuit Province.
Over a hundred Irish Jesuits have served in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore - 30 of whom are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Hong Kong and two in mainland China.
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