Fr Jean-Baptiste Janssens SJ was a Belgian Jesuit priest who served as the twenty-seventh Superior General (Father General) of the Society of Jesus (1946-1964).

Fr Giovanni Paolo Oliva SJ was a Jesuit priest who served as the eleventh Superior General (Father General) of the Society of Jesus (1664-1681).

Member of Irish Mission, and last Rector of the Irish College, Santiago de Compostela. He died 16 April 1790, Bologna, Italy.

Born: 23 August 1819, Ballyellen, County Carlow
Entered: 06 November 1839, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM for HIB)
Ordained: 1851
Died: 07 December 1854, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)

by 1844 in Rome studying
by 1847 at Vals (LUGD) studying
by 1851 at New Orleans College LA, USA (LUGD)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1847 Studied at Vals with Joseph Dalton, Joseph Lentaigne and John Grehan.
c 1851 He was loaned to the New Orleans Mission, and had as a companion the famous Theobald Butler.
He died suddenly while preaching at Louisiana 07 December 1854.

Fr Mutio Vitelleschi SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest who served as the sixth Superior General (Father General) of the Society of Jesus (1615-1645).

Born: 27 February 1851, Valetta, Malta
Entered: 09 May 1871, Milltown Park (HIB for Siculae Province - SIC)
Ordained: 1881
Final vows: 15 August 1890
Died: 29 March 1907, Sfax, Tunisia - Siculae Province (SIC)

Rector of the Infirmary in Piazza Ammalati, Catania, Sicily, Italy at the time of death

Born: 03 May 1627, County Waterford
Entered: 29 October 1649, Vienna, Austria - Austriacae Province (ASR)
Ordained: 1658/9, Graz, Austria
Died: 06 September 1667, Gorizia, Italy - Austriacae Province (ASR)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Philosophy, probably in Rome, before being admitted to the Society at Rome and Ent 29 October 1649 Vienna
1651-1655 After First Vows he spent four years Regency at the ASR Colleges
1655 Sent to Theology at Graz where he was Ordained 1658/59
1659 Sent to Gortz (Goritz / Gorizia?) to teach Mathematics, in which he was reputed to possess considerable ability.
1665 Fr General gave permission for him to be sent to Ireland, but he was detained by his Austrian Superiors. He died in an epidemic at Gorizia 06 September 1667

Born: Ireland
Entered: 20 June 1738, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained:, Rome - pre Entry
Died: 17 January 1741, Teramo, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Edmund studied at the Irish College in Rome and was Ordained before Ent 20 June 1738 Rome
After First Vows he was sent to Leghorn (Livorno) and then Teramo to teach, and he died at Teramo 17 January 1741

Born: 04 October 1584, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 18 July 1614, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 10 April 1611 Salamanca, Spain - pre Entry
Died: 16 October 1624, At Sea off the Belgian Coast - Flanders Province (FLAN)

Had studied 5 years Humanities; 2 years Philosophy and 2 years Theology on entry (Ord 10 April 1611); then studied 2 years Theology in the Society
1617 at Rome
1622 at Bourges College for preaching and Mission
1624 Killed in naval battle

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1617 Appears to have been in Rome (Irish Ecclesiastical Record, August 1874)
Had been stationed at Cork and Rome.
He was a Navy Chaplain; A man of great piety and courage;
Killed by a canon ball in a naval battle between the Spaniards and the Dutch; He was “the soul of the fight”, and there Spaniards, when he was shot, blew up the ship.
(cf An Account of his heroic death in “Imago Primi Saeculi” and “Historica Societatis”)
Catalogue BELG (FLAN) reports his death in “Missione Navali”
Cordara calls him “Strenuus in paucis et praelii quasi fax atque anima”.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son John and Ann, née Whyte
Had already studied at the Irish College Salamanca where he was Ordained 1611 before Ent 18 July 1614 Rome.
1616-1618 After First Vows he completed studies at Naples, Italy
1618-1621 Sent to Ireland and to Clonmel to work with Nicholas Leynach (or Cork with Edward Cleere?), but only spent three years there due to ill health
1621-1623 Stationed at Antwerp, he served as a military Chaplain
1623 Richard Conway (Rector of Seville) asked for him to be sent to Seville. The General agreed but asked that he be detained at Flanders until he should have a travelling companion as information had been received that Bray had discussed affairs of state with the Duke of Buckingham in England on his way from Ireland to Flanders. Bray was also advised by the General to decline respectfully any request from O'Neill to conduct political business. By Summer 1624 Bray had not yet set out for Spain and in the event never returned there. He was killed in a naval engagement between the Dutch and Spanish off the Belgian coast in October, 1624.
According to the eulogy of his career, circulated in the Flanders Province after his death, Francis Bray was reckoned as eminently fitted for his work as a chaplain as he had a ready mastery of Irish, English, French, Flemish, Spanish and Italian, all of which languages were spoken by the different nationalities in the Spanish army. To his gift of tongues he joined a remarkable zeal for souls and was able to bring the consolations of religion even to the most dissolute of the soldiers. During his three years at Antwerp he received some 600 Protestants into the church.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Francis Bray 1584-1624
Fr Francis Bray was born in Clonmel on October 4th 1584, the son of John Bray and Anne White. Already a priest, he entered the Society at Rome in 1614.

He was sent to Antwerp, where he became Chaplain to the soldiers who were pouring into the Low Countries on the expiration of the truce between Spain and Holland, April 19th 1621. He received a special message of congratulations for the General Fr Mutius Vitelleschi on the marvellous success of his ministry with the troops. Here he came in contact with the Irish Brigade under Owen Roe O’Neill, and became a fast friend of the future Irish Leader. He received an offer for the foundation of a Jesuit College in Ireland.

In 1624 he became Naval Chaplain to the Spanish Fleet. As a result of a naval engagement the Spanish Fleet got tied up in the “Roads of the Downs” between Dover and Ramsgate. Fr Bray made valiant attempts to get help, going twice to London and once to Brussels. Finally on October 15th, the Dutch attacked. Fr Bray was on the flagship. He held aloft the crucifix, crying “It is for King and the Faith”. He rushed to the assistance of the Captain who had been wounded, and both fell dead, killed by the same cannon-ball.

Born: 15 June 1801, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered; 08 October 1823, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 24 September 1836, Stonyhurst, England
Final Vows: 15 August 1841
Died: 15 May 1888, Beaumont, Old Windsor, Berkshire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Born: 12 October 1817, England
Entered: 21 May 1846, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1853
Died: 24 September 1903, Brescia, Italy - Angliae Province (ANG)

Came to work at Clongowes Wood College, SJ 1878-1880

Born: 24 April 1719, Ireland or Carcassonne, France
Entered: 24 October 1737, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: c 1748, Rome, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1755
Died: 07 December 1781, Rome, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)

1740 College Maximo Naples
1743 At College Theatino (Chieti) NAP - good talent but a fiery temper
1754 At Barletta College, now a Missioner
1758 Not in NAP Catalogue
1757-1758 AT Bordeaux College
1761 At Chieti College teaching Mathematics and preaching - has very good talent. Minister, Concionator, Lector, Missionarius
1767 Expelled from Benevento into the Roman States with 600 Neapolitan Jesuits
1775 Is still alive

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Four Entries : Joseph Malgan (1&2); Florence McEgan (2&3)
(1&2) Joseph Malgan
Died in Rome the same day and is probably identical with Florence McEgan (cf John Thorpe’s letter in Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
(3&4) Florence McEgan
Had been a Captain in the Neapolitan army and had a distinguished bearing before Ent
Rector of Benevento College at the Suppression.
He was reputed and excellent Preacher (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS and Hogan’s List)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
All Catalogue entries described Florence as Irish, except the NAP one which suggested that he had been borne at Carcassone, in France. It is certainly true that he had been educated in France
After First Vows sent for studies in Rhetoric and Philosophy at Naples and then Regency at Chieti
1745 He was sent to Naples for Theology. At the end of his first year he was transferred to Rome and continued his Theology studies and the Roman College and he was Ordained there c 1748.
1749-1750 After completing his studies he was sent to the Professed House in Rome as a Secretary to the French Assistancy
1750-1754 He was sent back to Naples, taught Humanities for two years and then sent to Barletta on Mission work.
1755-1758 Sent teaching to AQUIT, including two years teaching at the Irish College Poitiers.
1758 Sent to Bordeaux as Minister.
1760 Back in NAP he was a Missionary in Chieti and Barletta.
Little is known about his life after the Suppression, and he was in Terracina on the eve of that Suppression, when he wrote in French to some priest colleagues 29 April 1772 of the trials they were dealing with. According to later authorities he died in Rome 07 December 1781

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAC-EGAN, FLORENCE, was born on the 4th of April, 1719, and was admitted into the Order of the Province of Naples, on the 24th of October, 1737. He was raised to the rank of a Professed Father, on the 2nd of February, 1755, and died at Rome, on the 7th of December, 1781. He had the reputation of being an excellent preacher. See p. 60 of the Second Supplement Bibliothecae Scriptorum Soc. Jesu, Romae. 1816.

MALGAN, JOSEPH. This Irish Father, as I find in a letter of F. Thorpe, died suddenly at Rome, on the 7th of December, 1781; but I can glean no further particulars, and am almost inclined to suspect that this is the same person as F. Mac-Egan.

Born: 1600, County Cork
Entered: 25 October 1626, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 31 May 1639, Kuttenburg (Kutná Hora), Czech Republic - Austriacae Province (ASR) - described as "Martyr"

Studied Rhetoric and Philosophy
“Gio Meagh of the city of Cork in Ireland. 27 years of age more or less, entered Soc on 25/10/1626” (written by himself, Naples Novice Book)
1628 In NAP
1632 Sent to Bohemia
1639 Martyr RIP 31/05/1639 at Kuttenburg BOH. So it is stated in Annals of Kuttemburg for year 1639. According to corrections made with pencil, hardly had he pronounced the salutary names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for Ireland. A man of very great zeal and some with pious curiosity took notice of him while celebrating the sacred mysteries, and because they had observed his devotion they assisted attentively at his Mass. With externs his conversation was of God and he spoke with such unction and if permissible they would enjoy his conversation a whole day without weariness. He was much grieved when required to speak of common subjects. Known for his integrity of life and spirit of prayer.
Studied 1st year Theology at Rome and 2nd at Naples. 1632 went to Germany and Bohemia
“Shot 30/05/1639”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of William Meagh or Mede, a celebrated citizen of Cork, who died in exile 1614.
Sent as a Missioner to Bohemia, he was shot out of hatred of religion by Swedish soldiers near Kuttenburg and was on his way to Ireland. (cf Tanner’s “Martyrs” and Drew’s “Fasti SJ”)
Imprisoned in Naples on a false accusation; Of great zeal and piety; A good Scholar, and knew Virgil and Imitation by heart;
He had knowledge of his Martyrdom twelve years previously

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Ordained before Entry without having done the usual studies in Theology
1628-1629 After First Vows he was sent to study Rhetoric in the Novitiate
1629 He was then sent for Theology successively to Naples, Roman College and Vienna. His transfer to Vienna was affected in order to enable him to make temporal provision for his niece, who was a member of a Religious Order which had been dissolved by Papal authority. She was shortly married, but it turned out her husband had severe mental health problems. So, he was able to get his nice taken under the wing of the Queen Of Hungary. Meanwhile his nieces’ husband starting issuing defamatory statements about Meagh, but his integrity was upheld. At this time he had also inherited a sizeable sum, and he got permission from the General to sign over most of it to his brother, but also he was planning to allot part of this inheritance to found an Irish Jesuit House in Austria.
1634 While in Vienna he was allowed by the General to serve as a Military Chaplain in the Imperial Army until he could go to Ireland. When he was asked to go his Colonel refused to part with him, and over the next four years he was stationed mostly at Prague but he saw service also in Pomerania and Saxony. By 1638 he was stationed at Guttenburg and eventually given permission to go to Ireland. But as he set out he was killed by Calvinists 31 May 1639
The cause of his beatification with that of the martyrs of Bohemia is before the Holy See

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father John Meagh 1598-1639
In the neighbourhood of Guttenburg, near Prague, Fr John Meagh died a martyr at the hands of some Swedish soldiers, out of hatred for the faith.

While in the service of the Duke of Ossuna, Viceroy of the King of Spain John Meagh had been converted from a worldly life through reading the life of St Dympna. During his preparations to enter religious life, he was wrongly accused and cast into prison. Observing therein a statue of St Ignatius, he recalled how that Saint had also been wrongfully imprisoned. He invoked him and soon after was set free. His devotion led him to visit Rome during the Jubilee, and there he met with an accident, seriously injuring his leg. The Jesuit Fathers kindly received him into their house, and recalling that St Ignatius had also been injured in the leg, he came to the conclusion that he was called to the Society. He applied and was admitted at Naples in 1625.

After his ordination he was sent to Bohemia. He was on the point of returning to the Irish Mission, when the Swedes, in the course of the Thirty Years War, invaded Bohemia. The Fathers thought it wise to remove to the College at Guttenburg, and it was on the road thither that Fr Meagh fell into the hands of the heretical Swedes and was killed by a bullet in the chest.

This happened on the 31st of May 1639, when he was 41 years old, having been born in Cork in 1598.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MEAGH, JOHN, made his Noviceship at Naples. As a preparation for the Irish Mission, he was ordered to cultivate the vineyard in Bohemia. There he was massacred “odio Rcligionis” by some Swedish soldiers, on the 31st of May, 1639, aet. 41. See the life of this Irish Father in Tanner, also his notice in F. John Drews Fasti, S. J.*

• This posthumous work was printed in 1723, at Brunsberg, and contains 516 pages.

Born: 25 November 1638, Craddockstown, County Kildare
Entered: 01 December 1658, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1669, Palermo, Sicily
Final Vows: 02 February 1676
Died: 30 January 1700, Irish College, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1675-1686 at Fermo College (ROM) teaching Philosophy and Grammar - and 1681 teaching Theology at Macerata College
1693-1700 At Irish College in Rome taught Theology, Philosophy and Humanities : Rector 1695-1698

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1692-1695 Rector at Rome. While there in 1692, he received letters from Fathers Relly and Wesly at Poitiers. He sought and procured for the “meritorious and afflicted Irish Mission” 50,000 reales from Fr Emmanuel de Sylva SJ, Lisbon. In 1693 he received a further letter from Father Relly, which was directed to the Greek College, Rome. On 05 February 1695, he received from Father Ininger of Ingolstadt, 500 scudi, or 1,000 florins for the Irish Mission.
In 1690 he was at Poitiers when his nephew William, a lieutenant Sir Maurice Eustace’s infantry writes to tell him that his brother has been killed at the siege of Limerick, “riding as a volunteer”. He also asks him to get him transferred into Tyrconnell’s Horse, in which regiment he would have less work and more pay.
1697 There is a petition against him by his sister-in-law, Mrs Eustace at Craddockstown.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of William and Jane née Whyte (daughter of Nicholas Whyte at Leixlip)
Had already studied Philosophy at Antwerp before Ent 02 December 1658 Rome
After First Vows he was sent for Regency at Fermo, and then studied Theology at Palermo where he was Ordained c 1669
1669-1671 Sent teaching at Ascoli
1671-1672 Tertianship at Florence
1672-1678 Taught Philosophy and Theology at Fermo, and also spent one year during that time as Penitentiary at Loreto
1679-1681 Sent to Macerata College to teach Philosophy
1681-1683 Sent to Irish College Rome as Prefect of Studies
1683-1684 Sent to Fermo College again to teach Dogmatic Theology
1684-1690 Sent to Ireland and was appointed Superior of the Dublin Residence and school, and was also made a Consultor of the Mission, and was though to be a very suitable candidate for Mission Superior. He remained there until the Williamite conquest, and the Mission Superior Lynch sent him to Rome as Procurator of the Irish Mission. On the way he spent a year at Poitiers to attend to urgent financial business of the Mission in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Dublin.
1691 Arrived in Rome and proved himself a tower of strength of the mission during the darkening years that preceded the penal times acting as procurator of the Irish Mission.
1694 Appointed Rector of Irish College Rome 10 October 1694 and died in office 30 January 1700.

Died: 10 March 1701, Genoa, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)

◆ In Old/15 (1)
◆ CATSJ I-Y has a “Nassius”; RIP 10 February 1701 Genoa

Born: 29 August 1629, Co Kilkenny
Entered: 07 September 1658, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 07 September 1653, Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1669
Died: 13 November 1697, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1665 In English College in Rome, Minister and Procurator
1675 ANG Catalogue Was in Rome
There was a “Chris Grene” Penitentiary of the Holy House, Loreto 1674-1686 and 01 November 1686 to July 1692

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of George and Jane née Tempest - who had retired to Kilkenny from their native land (England?) due to persecution. Younger brother of Martin
Early education was in Ireland, then Humanities at St Omer. Went to English College Rome for higher studies 20 October 1647, and Ordained there 07 September 1653 , and sent to England to work 08 April 1654
After First Vows he was English Penitentiary at Loreto and St Peter’s, Rome, living mostly in Rome.
1692 Appointed Confessor at English College Rome, where he died 11 November 1697
He rendered great service in the cause of the English Martyrs by collecting and handing down the scattered record of their sufferings, as the Stonyhurst MSS testifies.
He also carefully investigated and confirmed the truth of the tradition regarding the tender love entertained by Philip Neri towards the students of the English College Rome (cf his biography “Records SJ” Vol iii pp 499 seq, and Vol vi p 369)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
GRENE, CHRISTOPHER, a very intelligent Father, and brother to F. Martin Grene, of whom more hereafter. For some time Christopher was Penitentiary at Loretto; where I think he was admitted to the Profession of the Four Vows, on the 2nd of February, 1669; but he chiefly resided at Rome, where he was Penitentiary at St. Peter’s. There he died in 1697.

Born: 11 June 1800, Cabinteely, County Dublin
Entered: 10 May 1818, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 22 Aeptember 1832, Stonyhurst, England
Final Vows: 15 August 1838
Died: 29 March 1853, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities at Stonyhurst before Ent.

1820 Sent to Italy for health reasons, and studied Rhetoric in Rome.
1822 Philosophy, Regency and Theology at Stonyhurst, where he was Ordained by Bishop Penwick
1836 Sent to Preston as Missioner and Superior of St Aloysius College
1842 Appointed Master of Novices at Hodder 01 March 1842
1845 Appointed Rector of English College Malta 11 September 1845
1850 Sent to England with physical and mental health utterly broken, and died at Stonyhurst 29 March 1853 aged 52

Born: 10 December 1890, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 24 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 05 June 1914
Final vows: 15 August 1937
Died: 20 November 1970, St John of God Hospital, Ballarat Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William O'Collins was educated at CBC Parade, and for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Manly, and Propaganda College, Rome. He was ordained a priest of the Melbourne archdiocese, 9 June 1914, and served in the parishes of Essendon, Geelong, Seymour and South Melbourne, in addition to work as an army chaplain.
O'Collins entered the Society at Tullabeg, 24 September 1926, revised philosophy and theology at Milltown Park, 1927-29, and worked in the Gardiner Street parish, 1929-30
Tertianship was at the Piazza del Gesu, Rome, 1930-31.
He returned to Australia in ill health from consumption, and while officially attached to the parish of Richmond, 1931-34, spent much of this time in the diocese of Geraldton with his
brother the bishop,
From 1935-46 he was director of retreats at Loyola College, Watsonia, becoming the rector in 1939. Then he did parish work in Hawthorn, 1947-53, being superior in 1947. During this time he lectured in pastoral theology to the diocesan seminarians at Corpus Christi College, Werribee. He also organised an apologetics course for non-Catholics. His last residence was the parish of Richmond. 1954-70.
O'Collins was a devoted and methodical worker, assiduous in parish visitation and in the confessional. He died in hospital in Ballarat after a short illness

Born: 1622, Castlegregory, County Kerry
Entered: 20 January 1641, St Andrea, Rome, Italy (ROM)
Ordained: 1647, Rome, Italy
Died: 31 March 1687, County Cork

Alias Henriquez

1649 was at Ross in Ireland
1652 Catalogue M Conauld of Kerry and Rome 1641 or 1642 on Mission 1649 is a formed Spir Coad.
1666 Catalogue M Connelle is near Cork catechising and assisting in missionary work. He was once arrested but soon set free.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Moral Theology for two years. Knew Irish, Italian and Latin.
Taught lower school for three years.
1649 Sent to Ireland and was teaching at New Ross. (HIB Catalogue 1650) Was a great Preacher and “thaumaturgus” (Miracle worker).
1666 Living near Cork working as Missioner, Catechising etc. He was also imprisoned for his faith. (cf Foley’s Collectanea) He had then been on the Mission 17 years.
Eulogised in the Annual Letters 1671-1674, and styled the “Thaumaturgus” of the island. Kerry seems to have been the chief base for his apostolic works. He was cruelly outraged and persecuted, and died at Cork 31 March 1687, aged 72.
No doubt that he was of the “Liberator” family - Daniel O'Connell. He is called “nobilis” in the contemporary account sent to Rome

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Cornelius of Cahir (a townland of Corcoguiney, Killiny parish near Castlegregory) and Maria née Watre (sic).
Three of Maurice's uncles were priests; Richard, afterwards Bishop of Ardfert, Maurice, an Augustinian and Donough a diocesan priest of Ardfert
Had studied Humanities at Bordeaux 1638-1640 before Ent 20 January 1641 Rome
1643-1647 After First Vows he was sent to study at the Roman College and was Ordained there c 1647.
1647-1648 Sent as Minister at Sezze College
1648 Sent to Ireland via Bordeaux and New Ross. He was appointed to teach but as he does not seem to have known any English, it can only be supposed that the schoolboys at New Ross used Irish or spoken Latin as the languages of the classroom. He himself was known to speak Irish, Italian and French. In Mercure Verdier’s Report to the General (1649), he speaks of his zeal and industry.
During the “Commonwealth” period he moved to Kerry, and then after the restoration moved to Cork working there until he died 31 March 1687
While working in Cork he won the veneration of the poor and persecuted amongst whom he was commonly regarded as a “Thaumaturgus” /Miracle Worker”
During the Oates Plot his name appeared on a list of Priests sent to the Government.
A kinsman, Daniel - in religion, Robert, O. M. Cap.- and collaborator in writing the Commentarius Rinuccinianus mentions Maurice in that work.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Maurice Connell SJ 1615-1687
Fr Maurice Connell was born in the Kingdom of Kerry in 1615. He entered the Society in Rome in 1641.

On his return to Ireland he was stationed fors at New Ross, and then at Cork, where he laboured as a missioner and catechist. In the Annual Letters of 1671-1674, he is spoken of as “the Thaumaturgus of Ireland” Fr Oliver says of him “he was truly an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame and a true father to the poor”.

Like his Blessed Master he went about doing good, and like Him, was cruelly outraged and persecuted. He was for some time imprisoned for the faith.

He died on March 31st 1678 at the age of 72.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
CONNELL, MAURICE, “genere nobili oriundus”. The Annual Letters from 1671 to 1674, shew how powerful this Father was in word and in work, insomuch that he might be called “hujus Insulae Thaumaturgus”. Kerry seems to have been the theatre of his Apostolic labors. He was truly an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame, and the Father of the poor. Like his blessed Master, he went about doing good; and like him he was cruelly outraged and persecuted. He was living in July, 1675, “sexagenario major”.

Born: 04 September1729, Borja, Zaragoza, Spain
Entered: 30 March 1749, Seville Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)
Ordained: 23 December 1755
Died: 20 January 1772, Bagnacavallo, Italy - Philippine Province (PHI)

Deported from the Philippines 12 May 1768

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
1752 Left for Philippines and after completing studies went to work in Tubig and other places among the natives, especially the Tagulos.
1769 Expelled along with other Jesuits and arrived in Italy - worn out by hardships he had endured he died in 1772 at Bagnacavallo, Italy.

Born: 29 October 1706, Belcaire, Alets-les-Bains, Occitanie, France
Entered: 14 December 1753, Madrid, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 December 1758
Died: 22 December 1773, Genoa, Italy - Toletanae Province (TOLE)

1757 Socius to the TOLE Novice Master

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick (a colonel in the Spanish Army who was killed at the siege of Barcelona 1714, who called himself Lord of Pobblegalvan, and was professed cavalier of the Order of Calatrava) and Leonora née O’Keeffe both originally from Cork.
Its is possible that he was born in Cork and brought to France at an early age, and that the record in the Novice Entry Book records the family property rather than place of birth.
Already Ordained before Ent 14 December 1753 Madrid

1755-1758 After First Vows he was sent to act as Socius to the Novice Master at Madrid.
1758-1762 He was then sent as Procurator for TOLE at the Imperial College Madrid. He was eminently qualified for this position, as before entry he had studied civil law.
1762-1767 He as appointed as an Operarius at the Church in Madrid.
1767 He was exiled at the expulsion of the Society in Spain, and found refuge at Genoa, Italy, where he died 22 December 1773

Born: 28 May 1743, Mexico
Entered: 18 March 1764, Tepotzolán, Sinaloa, Mexico - Mexican Province (MEX)
Ordained: 22 September 1770, Italy
Died: 07 April 1788, Magdalena Church, Bologna, Italy - Mexican Province (MEX)

Studied and novitiate at the College of Tepotzolán
Arrested 25th June 1767
Was a member of MEX on the day of the suppression

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
1767 Repeating some of his studies at the time of the arrest of all Jesuits. Deported to Italy, where he was Ordained.
A close relative of Br Thomas Arsdekin

Born: 19 June 1794, Tramore, County Waterford
Entered: 10 October 1814, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 12 June 1824, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1833
Died: 10 November 1885, St Francis Xavier, Upper Gardiner St, Dublin

Vice-Provincial of Irish Vice-Province of the Society of Jesus: 19 March 1850-1856
in Clongowes 1817

Ordained at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, 12 June 1824, having studied Theology at Clongowes

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”:
His father was a very prosperous master cooper. His sister was an Ursuline of Waterford, and also an authoress.
He has written interesting memoirs of some of his contemporaries of the Irish Province, which are in the HIB Archives. He published a book on the Spiritual Exercises

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Ordained at Maynooth 12/06/1824 by Dr Murray.
1834-1842 Sent as Rector to Tullabeg
1842 Appointed Superior of Gardiner St
1850 Appointed Vice-Provincial
1856 Sent as Operarius to Gardiner St
1864 Appointed Superior of Gardiner St again
1871 He worked as Operarius at Gardiner St Church until his death there 10/11/1885
The last few years of his life saw great suffering. He bore it all with great patience and died with a reputation for great sanctity.
He had published a book on the Spiritual Exercises, and was preparing another before he died.

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Curtis, John
by Patrick M. Geoghegan

Curtis, John (1794–1885), Jesuit provincial, was born 19 June 1794 at Tramore, Co. Waterford, second son among eight children of Stephen Curtis and Fanny Curtis (née Evers). Blind until the age of 3, he claimed that he was cured after a priest prayed over him, although he remained partially blind in one eye for the rest of his life. The priest told Curtis that God had restored his sight for His own glory; this was to be an important determinant in his life. Educated in Tramore, in 1810 he went to Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He received an injury while playing football there, which was to cause him great pain throughout his life. Believing he had a religious mission, in 1814 he joined the Jesuits. The order sent him to Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare, where he acted as prefect and later master. He had a reputation for being strict but fair. Ordained in 1824, he left Clongowes in 1829 and spent two years in Dublin, before spending a further two years in Rome. He made his solemn profession of final vows 2 February 1833 in Dublin. In May 1834 he was appointed rector of Tullabeg College in King's Co. (Offaly), and was first to assume the office of superior. From there he began a series of church retreats that proved very successful. He became rector of the Jesuit residence in Gardiner St., Dublin, in 1843, and provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland.

Curtis was an enthusiastic supporter of the apostleship of prayer in Ireland, and may even have been its central director for a period. When John Henry Newman (qv) went to Dublin in 1854 to investigate the possibility of a university, the first person he met was Curtis. Pessimistic about the scheme, Curtis informed Newman that the class of youths did not exist in Ireland who would come to the university: the middle class was too poor, and the upper class would send their children to TCD. He argued that the whole idea was hopeless and should be given up. Newman does not appear to have taken this criticism kindly, and later disputed just how good a man Curtis was. A tour of the country, however, convinced Newman that Curtis had a point and that there was no natural class in Ireland from which to draw university students in great number.

Curtis was noted for his strong moral character and his formal, if rather stiff, manner. Archbishop Paul Cullen (qv) of Dublin held him in high regard and is reported to have remarked that Curtis had a free rein to do what he liked in the diocese. In his spare time he enjoyed both cricket and football. He died 10 November 1885 and was buried at Glasnevin cemetery. Two of his sisters, Mary and Ellen, became Ursuline nuns. His niece, Fanny, also became a nun.

Edward Purbrick (ed.), Life of Father John Curtis (1891); Ian Ker, John Henry Newman: a biography (1988); Louis McRedmond, Thrown among strangers: John Henry Newman in Ireland (1990); id., To the greater glory: a history of the Irish Jesuits (1991)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Curtis 1794-1885
John Curtis was born in Waterford in 1794, and he entered the Society only shortly restored in 1814.

From 1834-1842 he was rector at Tullabeg, and then Superior at Gardiner Street until 1851. He was nominated Vice-Provincial in 1850. After six years in office, he returned to the ranks and worked as an Operarius in Gardiner Street, till his second periodf of Superiority in 1864.

He laboured earnestly in the Church for the rest of his life, the last few years of which were years of great suffering. He died on November 10th 1885, leaving a reputation for great sanctity.

He published a book on the Spiritual Exercises and wrote interesting memoirs of his contemporaries, which have proven very useful towards the history of the Province.

Born: 11 July 1707, San Sebastián, Spain
Entered: 23 May 1723, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 30 November 1732, Valladolid, Spain
Final Vows: 06 January 1741, Bergara
Died: 24 March 1772, Castel San Giovanni, Piacenza, Italy - Castellanae Province (CAST)

Younger brother of Dominic RIP 1772

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John and Julia née Cruise (de la Cruz) brother of Dominic
After First Vows he studied Philosophy at Palencia and Theology at St Ambrose, Valladolid where he was Ordained 30 November 1732
1737-1740 After Tertianship he held a Chair of Philosophy at Bilbao and later at Orduña.
1744-1750 He held a Chair of Philosophy at Santander.
1750 He lost his memory completely and had to be cared for in the community, yet notwithstanding this infirmity he accompanied the exile of his Spanish brethren in 1767
He died at Castel San Giovanni 24 March 1772
The superior of the Irish Mission, Ignatius Kelly, asked the General to have the Meagher brothers assigned to the Irish Mission but Spanish Superiors determined to hold on to these brilliant brothers

Died: 20 February 1728, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet

Born: 08 December 1841, Benevento, Campania, Italy
Entered: 03 December 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1874
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 11 April 1908, Catholic Church, Conejos CO, USA - Neapolitan Province (NAP)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Born: 24 November 1910, Laragh, Swatragh, County Derry
Entered: 02 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 03 February 1953
Died: 12 August 1987, St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia Province (ZAM)

Part of the Namwala Catholic Church, Narwal, Zambia community at the time of death

Transcribed : HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969

Early education at St Columb’s College Derry

by 1948 at Rome Italy (ROM) - editing “Memorabilia”
by 1952 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fourth wave of Zambian Missioners

Tertianship at Rathfarnham

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Bernard Collins (known to his friends as Barney) was born in the north of Ireland at Laragh, Co Derry. He entered the Society in September 1929. His course of studies was the usual one followed by members of the Irish Province. After the novitiate, a degree at the university in Dublin in humanities and a Higher Diploma in Education, philosophy in Tullabeg, and theology in Milltown Park where he was ordained on 31 July 1943.

At the university he took a classics degree, Latin and Greek, and when he did the Higher Diploma, he got a certificate to enable him to teach through Irish. He went to Rome for a number of years after his tertianship as an assistant secretary to the English Assistant. He added an extra language to his store, namely, Italian.

In 1951 he accompanied the first two scholastics, Bob Kelly and Joe Conway, and Br. Jim Dunne, on their way to the then Northern Rhodesia. The ship's doctor diagnosed heart trouble in Barney so that he spent most of the voyage immobile in the prone position including when going through customs. At the Blue Sisters hospital in Cape Town, he was pronounced healthy and free from any heart ailment. It must have been the sea air that cured him as they were at sea for two weeks!

From 1951 to 1960 he was parish priest in Chikuni. It was here his renowned proficiency in Tonga showed itself. His earlier linguistic studies stood him in good stead as he composed several booklets. In Tonga, he produced 'Lusinizyo', his pamphlet against the Adventists; ‘Zyakucumayila’, 61 Sunday sermons for harried missionaries; a Tonga grammar (now used in schools); a short English/Tonga dictionary; a translation of a pamphlet on the Ugandan Martyrs; and ‘A Kempis' which was written but never published. His knowledge of the villages and people of his time is legendary and he was always willing to give of his time to any willing ear that might wish to know the Chikuni people and their relationships. Towards the end of this period in Chikuni, he founded the first Pioneer Total Abstinence Centre.

From 1960 to 1966, he worked in Chivuna as parish priest and Superior and also taught the language to the scholastics, who delighted in relating stories of far off days when they struggled to master the prehodiernal past.

Barney moved to Namwala parish from 1968 to 1973 with Fr Clarke as his companion in the community to be joined later by Fr Eddie O’Connor (and his horse). From 1973 to 1977 he was parish priest at Chilalantambo and returned to Chikuni in 1977 to be assistant in the parish to Fr Jim Carroll. He went back to Namwala as superior and parish priest with Fr Piekut as his assistant. The scene changed in 1984 when Fr Frank 0'Neill became superior and Barney was the assistant in the parish. This was his status at the time of his death
It was during lunch at St Ignatius, Lusaka, on Wednesday 12th August that Barney began to show signs of not being well. By five that evening he had gone to his reward. The funeral took place at Chikuni with 29 priests concelebrating. Fr Dominic Nchete, the principal celebrant, paid tribute to the long years that Fr Collins had mingled closely with the Tonga people. Bishop Mpezele in both English and Tonga re-echoed the sentiments of Fr Nchete.

Fr Collins, a very unassuming man, had a deep knowledge of the Tonga people and was truly an incarnation of becoming all things to all people. With his fluency in Tonga, it was a delight to listen to him preach which he did in the grand manner. He had a sympathy and understanding of the mentality and customs of the Tonga that few from overseas have achieved. Here are the concluding remarks of the funeral oration: "We pray that Fr Barney may have eternal rest where we are sure he will be able to sit and speak with so many from Tongaland that he had sent on before him"

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 62nd Year No 4 1987

Obituary

Fr Bernard Patrick Collins (1910-1929-1987) (Zambia)

The following obituary notice has been adapted from the one printed in the newsletter of the Zambian province, Jesuits in Zambia.

Fr Bernard Collins, born on 24th November 1910 in northern Ireland, entered the Society on 2nd September 1929. His course of studies was the usual one followed by members of the Irish province: noviciate (at Tullabeg and Emo, 1929-31), juniorate (at Rathfarnham, 1931-34) with university degree in classics, philosophy in Tullabeg (1934-37), regency in Belvedere (and Higher Diploma in Education: 1937-40), theology in Milltown Park (1940-44, with priestly ordination on 29th July 1943), and tertianship in Rathfarnham (1944-45). After two more years' teaching in Belvedere (1945-47) he was sent to the General Curia in Rome, where he worked as substitute secretary for the English assistancy (1947-51). There he also edited the Latin news-periodical, “Memorabilia Societatis Iesu”, which was a forerunner of the present-day “SJ news and features”.
In 1951 he accompanied the first two scholastics, Bob Kelly and Joe Conway, and Br Jim Dunne on their way to Northern Rhodesia (as Zambia was then called). En route the ship's doctor checked Barney's medical condition and diagnosed heart trouble, so that for most of the voyage and the passage through customs he lay flat and immobile. At the Blue Sisters hospital in Cape Town he was pronounced healthy and free from any heart ailment.
From 1951 to 1960 Barney was parish priest of Chikuni, and it was here that he developed his renowned proficiency in Tonga and wrote his Grammar, also “Lusinizyo”, his pamphlet against the Adventists. His knowledge of the villages and people of the Chikuni area were legendary, and he was always ready to give of his time to any hearer wishing to learn about the Chikuni people and their interrelationships. It was in April 1958, towards the end of his first time in Chikuni, that he founded the first Pioneer Total Abstinence centre.
From 1960 to 1966 he worked in Chivuna parish and was vice-superior of the community. He also taught the language to newly-arrived scholastics, who still entertain us with stories of those happy far-off days when they struggled to master the intricacies of the pre hodiernal past. During this time he was also a mission consultor.
From 1969 to 1974 Barney worked in Namwala parish with Frs Arthur Clarke and Edward O'Connor as his companions in the community. In 1975 for a short time Barney was parish priest at Chilalantambo. In 1976 he returned to Chikuni to be parish assistant to Fr Jim Carroll. During this his second spell in Chikuni, he had for some time Frs Joe McDonald and T O'Meara as collaborators. In 1983 he went to Namwala as superior and parish priest with Fr Antoni Piekut as his assistant. In 1984 the scene changed, with Fr Frank O'Neill becoming superior and Barney becoming parish assistant: this was his status at the time of his death.
It was during lunch at St Ignatius (Lusaka) on Wednesday, 12th August, that Barney began to show signs of illness. By five o'clock that evening he had gone to his reward. His funeral took place on the Friday (14th), with 29 priests concelebrating Mass. Fr Nchete as principal celebrant paid tribute to Fr Collins for mingling so closely with the Tonga people for long years. Bishop Mpezele in both English and Tonga re-echoed Fr Nchete's sentiments.
Fr Collins, a very unassuming man, had a deep knowledge of the Tonga people, and was truly an incarnation of the Pauline ideal of being all things to all people. He had a sympathy and understanding of Tonga mentality and customs that few from overseas have achieved. We pray that Fr Barney may have eternal rest where, we are sure, he will be able to sit and speak with the many from Tongaland that he had sent on before him.

Born: 04 July 1844, Siracusa (Syracuse), Sicily, Italy
Entered: 23 December 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1875
Professed: 15 August 1877
Died 13 September 1888, St Ignatius College, Las Vegas NM, USA - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Born: 10 September 1724, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain
Entered: 07 September 1741, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1748
Final Vows: 02 February 1759
Died: 25 August 1802, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

1772 ROM Catalogue At English College Rome Spiritual Father of Church, Repetitor, Consultor

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Born El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain of Irish parents
Probably a kinsman of Nicholas Porter, merchant and Mayor of Waterford in 1689.
1754 Missioner at the College of the Holy Apostles, Suffolk
1763 Spiritual Father at English College Rome briefly and then Valladolid (ANG Catalogue 1763)
1767 Banished with his brethren from Spain 14/ April 1767
1771 At English College Rome as Spiritual Father
Minister at Ghent; Prefect at St Omer

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
PORTER, NICHOLAS, born at Porto S. Maria, near Cadix, the 10th of September, 1724. His Father was English : his Mother was Spanish. In 1741, he entered the Novitiate, and 18 years later became a Professed Father. For a short time he lived in the English College at Rome; thence departing for Spain, was involved in the storm that burst on his brethren, the 4th of April, 1767, and was banished from that kingdom. Previous to the general suppression of the Order, this good-natured little man settled himself in Rome, and for a short time was Spiritual Father in the English College there, but subsequently accepted the situation of Tutor to the sons of Mr. Denham, the Banker in Strada Rosella. When that Banker failed, F. Porter retired to St Carlo : and strange to say, got himself initiated in the Third Order of St. Francis. Soon after this, he quitted Rome for Naples, and attached himself to the Family of Palomba, wealthy Merchants in that City. In 1797, he returned to Rome, and was admitted into the Giesu, where he was a fixture until his pious death, on the 25th of August, 1802, set. 78.

Born: 03 May 1736, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1754, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1761
Final Vows: 02 February 1772
Died: 01 March 1779, France - Angliae Province (ANG)

Son of Thomas
Younger brother of James RIP 1788

1757 was in 1st Philosophy at Liège
“An ex-Jesuit ‘Power’ was Professor of Moral Theology at Leghorn in 1777” (Dr Troy’s Diary)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Thomas Power, MD at Clonmel and Tallow, who also had property near Avignon. His uncle, Canon James Power was Chaplain to the French Ambassador in Rome. His brothers Peter and John were in the Irish Brigade. His brother Francis was the first vice-President of Maynooth, and his first cousin was Archbishop Bray of Cashel. (Cf Dr Troy’s Diary)
Probably younger brother of James Power RIP 1788 ???

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
POWER, EDMUND, was born on the 3rd of May, 1734, (another catalogue incorrectly says 1736) and entered the Novitiate at Watten on the 7th of September, 1754. For several years he served the Mission in England. His letter now before me, dated Weston, March 14th, 1769, proves, that he had then been Chaplain there at the very least two years, and that he was, with the permission of his Provincial, F. Elliott, preparing to visit his Father in Ireland. He died in France March, 1779.

Born: 07 June 1968, Wong Tai Sin, New Kowloon, Hong Kong
Entered: 08 January 1993, Singapore, Sinensis Province (CHN)
Ordained: 26 August 2006, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong
Died: 19 May 2015, Marquette University, Milwaukee WI, USA - Sinensis Province (CHN)

by 2013 came to Manresa (HIB) making Tertianship
by 2014 at Leeson St (HIB) teaching ISE

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Society of Jesus diaconate ordination

Lúcás Chan Yiu-sing, a scholastic of the Society of Jesus, will be ordained as a deacon on the 31 July 2005 by Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.

Lúcás comes from a Catholic family in Wong Tai Sin and, as a child, was a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul’s parish. He received his primary education at a nearby Franciscan school and completed his secondary education and matriculation at Ying Wa College. At the same time, he joined the Legion of Mary and was an active member until he joined the Society of Jesus.

Upon completing his tertiary education, Lucas started his teaching career, first as a student teacher at St. Paul’s Co-ed Secondary School, then as a full-time mathematics teacher at Wah Yan College, Kowloon.

He began seriously discerning his Jesuit vocation after participating in a three-week-long Jesuit South East Asia & Oceania Secondary Schools Administrators’ Programme, held in Manila in the summer of 1991. He was much impressed by the lifestyle and example of the Jesuits and other religious. After another one-and-a-half years of teaching, Lúcás applied to and was accepted into the Jesuit novitiate in Singapore.

Upon finishing two years of noviceship, he began philosophy training at the Holy Spirit Seminary College in Aberdeen. Two years later, he was sent to England to pursue a masters’ degree in educational management. In 1999，he went on mission to Cambodia and Macau for ‘regency’ where he was involved in both educational and social apostolates. In May 2002, he was assigned to Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University in The Philippines to do theology and a masters’ in pastoral ministry.

After diaconate ordination, Lúcás will leave for Boston, in the United States, to begin a licentiate programme (STL) in moral theology.

The Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus cordially invites you to join our liturgical celebration at 3.30pm at St. Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 July 2005

Two to be ordained to the priesthood

Reverend Peter Lo Pak-wing and Reverend Lúcás Chan Yiu-sing, will be ordained priests on August 26 at the Cathe­dral of Immaculate Conception by Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.

Lúcás Chan Yiu Sing, 38, was born to a Catholic family and was a parishioner of St. Vincent’s church, Wong Tai Sin, where he was a member of Legion of Mary until he joined the the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). After completing his tertiary education, worked, first as a student teacher at St. Paul’s Co-ed Secondary School, then as a full-time mathematics teacher at Wah Yan College, Kowloon.

He joined the Jesuits towards the end of 1992 and entered the novitiate in Singapore. After two years, he returned to Hong Kong and studied philosophy at the Holy Spirit Seminary College. From 1997 to 1999 he pursued a masters degree in education management in the United Kingdom before being sent on mission to Cambodia and Macau. He was then assigned to the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University in The Philippines, where he studied theology and obtained a master’s degree in pastoral work management.

Following his diaconate ordination, Reverend Chan took up a licentiate programme (STL) in Moral Theology and Scripture in Boston, the United States of America. Over the past year, he has been involved in academic research on HIV/AIDS and was on the planning committee of The First International Cross-cultural Conference for Catholic Theological Ethicists, held in Padua, Italy last July.

Following his ordination to the priesthood, he will continue his studies in Boston and work at a children hospital. He will celebrate his first Mass at St. Ignatius Chapel at 9.00am on August 27.

Hong Kong-born Jesuit builder of bridges crosses to the eternal

Hong Kong born Jesuit Father Lúcás Chan Yiu-sing died unexpectedly on 19 May 2015 after collapsing at Marquette Hall, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the United States of America (US), where he had been an assistant professor of theology, He was 46-year-old.

Born on 7 June 1968, Father Chan was born to a Catholic family and was a parishioner of St. Vincent’s Parish, Wong Tai Sin, where he was a member of Legion of Mary. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1993 at the Loyola House Novitiate in Singapore and was ordained a priest on 26 August 2006 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Caine Road, Hong Kong (Sunday Examiner, 20 August 2006 and 3 September 2006).

The Jesuit publication, America, reported on 22 May that Father Chan received his PhD in theological ethics at Boston College in 2010. He also received of post-doctoral fellowships from Yale and Georgetown universities and was a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America as well as the Society of Christian Ethics.

Father Chan served as a consultant to the Bioethics Committees of two Catholic Hospitals in Boston, and as Asian Regional Director of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church.

Prior to joining the Marquette faculty he held academic appointments at Trinity College and the Jesuit European Tertianship Programme in Dublin, Ireland; the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley at Santa Clara University, California; and at The Chinese University of Hong Kong .

In his homily during the funeral Mass in Milwaukee, Father Stephen Tong, Jesuit superior for Hong Kong and director of the Xavier Retreat House, Cheung Chau, called him a bridge builder. He noted that in his two books - The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes: Biblical Studies and Ethics for Real Life and Biblical Ethics in the Twenty-first Century: Developments, Emerging Consensus, and Future Directions - Father Chan spoke of building bridges.

“Lucas Chan wrote about building bridges because he was a bridge builder,” said Father Tong. “The man whose spiritual and intellectual formation, began in Hong Kong and ended in Milwaukee, had built bridges as he moved to England, Singapore, Cambodia, Macau, the Philippines, the US, Ireland, as well as Italy and Germany.”

Father Tong noted that he built other bridges, “He wrote and spoke around the world on the bridge between Christian and Confucian ethics. He and I, for instance, wrote an essay on it for the Jesuit, Macau-based Chinese Cross Currents. He constructed this bridge out of the virtues and he knew how important these bridges were… He also built bridges between the Old and New Testaments, by teaching us that the 10 Commandments and the eight Beatitudes are the two moral pillars of our religious tradition.”

He said, “Most of all he built bridges among us. In this congregation today, there are his Irish friends, his Cantonese friends, his Boston friends, his California friends and, most importantly, his new found Milwaukee friends. He has friends everywhere…” He went on to say, “Because of his bridge building among us, we are not isolated but connected. Many of you know me through Lucas, as I know you. He ushered us across bridges to meet one another…”

Father Tong concluded, saying, “Now as before, he goes before us again, building bridges for us. He has not left us, he never will, he is just ahead of us, building bridges.”

May he rest in peace.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 21 June 2015

◆ Jesuits in Ireland https://www.jesuit.ie/news/warm-tributes-paid-to-lucas-chan-sj-rip/

Warm tributes paid to Lúcás Chan SJ, RIP
Warm tributes have been paid by noted academics and theologians from Ireland and around the world to Fr. Lúcás Chan SJ (46), a Hong Kong native and Jesuit of the Chinese Province who died suddenly on Tuesday 19 May after collapsing at Marquette University, Wisconsin, USA, where he was Assistant Professor of Theology. Prior to joining the faculty of Marquette in 2014 Lúcás spent a number of years in Dublin. He was the Michael Hurley SJ, Postdoctoral Fellow for 2013-14 at the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College, and during that time he lived with the Jesuit Community in Leeson Street in the city-centre. He also lived in Dublin from 2012-13 while completing his Jesuit tertianship in Manresa.
Lúcás is fondly remembered in the Leeson Street Community. Superior Brian Grogan SJ paid this tribute:- “Lúcás was a delightful man and a good community member. A beam of sunshine on dark days, he never seemed to lose his inner happiness, and radiated good humour. Kind and considerate, he looked out for the older members of the community in unobtrusive ways. Since leaving us, he continued to correspond with me and ask for details of the brethren. I think of him as a prodigious worker, rising at an ungodly hour, to pray, have breakfast and get to work. He would cycle to Trinity College where he lectured in the Irish School of Ecumenics. He was highly conscientious with students, taking hours over marking scripts and giving helpful feedback. Saturdays and Sundays found him in his office. His was a 24/7 pace: I often tried to get him to slow down, take time out, etc. But he couldn’t stop. And of course he was a rising star in the academic world. His writings form a rich legacy. Yet he could find time to become more proficient in Irish (Gaelic), and we had good fun in helping him to master it. We were quietly proud that a native of Hong Kong esteemed our native tongue so much! We have a well-known phrase in Irish: Ní bheidh a leitheidí arís ann. ‘His like will not be found again’. He was, perhaps more obviously than most of us, unique!”
Linda Hogan, the vice provost and chief academic officer for Trinity College, said it was a “tremendous privilege” to have known and worked with Lucas. She said that while he was only beginning to gain recognition in his area of work, “it was already overdue since his publications were significant and profound.” Marquette University President Michael R. Lovell described Lúcás as being “dedicated his life to serving God and being a man for others around the world.” Robert Masson, the department chair in theology at the university, said the community were “still reeling” from his death.”We anticipated that he would be a leading voice in the next generation of moral theologians and we were delighted to have him join our faculty”, he said. Fr. Jim Keenan SJ of Boston College who worked with him as part of a global network of moral theologians known as ‘Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church’ (CTEWC) explained how Lúcás was in deep gratitude for the work he was involved with, “more than anything he was very happy that he could be a part of something that meant the world to him and to others and he was excited by the way this work brought him into connection with others in his parishes, his classrooms, his conferences or his friends and family.” Fr Jimmy Hurley SJ has now returned to Ireland from Hong Kong where he was missioned for many years and where he met Lúcás for the first time. At a special event in Trinity College to mark the life of Lúcás and his work, he paid warm tribute to him as a friend, Jesuit brother and academic.
A pioneer in the field of theological ethics, Lúcás focused his work in the still-emerging area of biblical ethics left a strong imprint in the field. The young theologian was to the fore in the academic effort to translate biblical teachings to the moral lives of ordinary Christians. At the time of his death he was editing a text that brought together 24 biblical scholars and ethicists from 17 countries and planning a conference in Bangalore, India, for July that is to see dozens of prominent academics across Asia gather to discuss doing theology in a cross-cultural and interfaith context. Lúcás was a high school teacher before studying for bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and management, and later a master’s degree in international management. After completing a Bachelor of Sacred Theology at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines he earned his licentiate in theology at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and completed a Ph.D. in theological ethics at Boston College. He was a recipient of post-doctoral fellowships from Yale and Georgetown universities and held other appointments at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley; Santa Clara University; and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Outside of his work in theology, Lúcás had an avid interest in photography, and he regularly captured images from the many theological meetings that he was part of around the globe. He spoke fluent Cantonese, English and Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. He is survived by his parents, brother, sister and niece and nephew. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a ainm dílis.
Niall Markey is a former Irish Jesuit novice and former teacher at Belvedere College SJ. He first met Lúcás in the Jesuit Novitiate in Birmingham and that was the beginning of a lasting friendship that transcended geographical borders. On returning from his funeral last week, Niall wrote this moving tribute to his dear friend.
“I am neither a scholar nor a writer. But what you read here is a very humble tribute to my late, great and dear friend, Fr. Lúcás (Yiu Sing Luke) Chan, SJ, who died May 19, 2015.
Believe or not, I learned of Lúcás’ death through a posting on Facebook. I will never forget the sense of shock as my heart sank into despair and disbelief. Lúcás and I were born in the same year with our birthdays only five days apart. He was the youngest. In the early days of our friendship, Lúcás told me that we would always be brothers, no matter where we went or however our lives turned out. That was true. When he told you something, he meant it.
I first met Lúcás at the Jesuit Novitiate in Birmingham, England, in September 1996. On the day he joined the community, he sought me out after supper that evening, and introduced himself as Lúcás, an “Irish/Chinese” Scholastic from Hong Kong. In the course of our conversation, he talked very affectionately about Fr. James Hurley and the other Irish Jesuits who were residing in Hong Kong at that time. As he spoke, it was very evident that he loved them dearly and attributed his Jesuit life to them. Later on that evening as I ascended the stairs to my room on the top floor, I noticed a black and white Irish Road sign on the wall outside my room. The sign read; “Ireland” with the pointer pointing towards my door and beyond. I felt quite elated in thinking that someone was trying to make me feel at home. Turned out, it was Lúcás and he was my new next door neighbor! Within a very short space of time we became good friends and I began to feel a sense of mutuality between us.
In the year that followed, new novices arrived at Manresa House. One in particular was a Scotsman named Mark. Within a short space of time, Mark and I became good friends, through Lúcás. As our friendships grew, Lúcás christened us “The Trinity”. Throughout the years we managed to stay in touch with each other, but not collectively. Lúcás was very instrumental in maintaining contact. Eventually in September, 2012, Lúcás managed to reunite all three of us in Dublin for what he called “The Reunification of the Trinity”.
In late 2001, I left the Society and relocated to New York. About a year after that I received an email from Lúcás informing me that he would be taking up a residency at Boston College. This is where he began his studies in Moral Theology. Over the years of his time in Boston, we stayed in touch. He came on visits. Sometimes for a couple of hours, other times he came for a few days. Nonetheless, they were precious. Last year, on my birthday I received a phone call from Lúcás informing me that he was at Kennedy Airport awaiting a connecting flight to San Francisco. His flight was waylaid and he wondered if I could join him for lunch in the airport. That was one of the greatest birthday surprises I ever received. It done my heart the world of good to see him.
The last time I saw Lúcás was December 30, of last year. I loved our meetings. This time we met up at the beautiful Church of St Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in Manhattan. Prior to our meeting he told me to make sure I found a suitable place for us to dine as we would be celebrating Christmas and New Year. Like the food, the conversation was rich and wholesome. Lúcás was in great form – he was actually quite ecstatic. He spoke lovingly of his dear friend, James Keenan, SJ., being eternally grateful to him for believing in him as a moral theologian. I could see that Lúcás had finally come into his own as a Jesuit.
At Lúcás’ funeral in Milwaukee, the congregation consisted of family, friends, colleagues and Jesuits – all suspended in a state of disbelief. Fr. James Keenan, SJ, very appropriately began his homily by referring to Lúcás as a Bridge-Builder. His brother, Charles in his eulogy, described Lúcás as a ‘Gift From God’ to their family. When all was said and done, it was consoling to know that in our gathering, we were all commonly connected through Lúcás’ love for each of us. As I descended from the Church of the Gesu onto West Wisconsin Avenue, I was overcome by a great sense of grief and abandonment. As the evening light cast it shadows upon the churches magnificent facade, I decided to take a walk along the avenue in memory of Lúcás. Upon reaching the entrance door to Marquette Hall, in gratitude, I said a heartfelt farewell to my dear brother and friend.”

◆ The Jesuits of Canada and the US https://jesuits.org/profile-detail/Lucas-Chan
Luke) Chan, S.J., who died at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., on May 19, 2015. He was 46 years old, a Jesuit for 22 years, and a priest for 8 years. May he rest in peace.
Lúcás was born in Hong Kong, China, on June 7, 1968, where he spent his childhood and young adult years. Before entering the Singapore novitiate of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus in 1993, Lúcás attended Sir Robert Black College of Education (Hong Kong). Following philosophy studies in Hong Kong, Lúcás pursued degrees in education at the University of Birmingham (UK). He completed his first and second cycles of theology at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Boston, Mass. Lúcás was ordained to the priesthood on August 26, 2006, and made tertianship in Dublin, Ireland.
Assigned to regency with the Jesuit Service in Cambodia, Lúcás was the first Chinese Jesuit to be missioned to apostolic work outside the province. He served as the acting director for Banteay Prieb, a vocational training school for the handicapped, near Phnom Penh. He completed a final year of regency at Matteo Ricci College in Macau. After completing doctoral studies in biblical ethics at Boston College in 2010, Lúcás held various fellowships and visiting professorships: visiting fellow, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn.; international visiting fellow, Woodstock Theological Center, Washington, DC; adjunct assistant professor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong; international visiting Jesuit scholar, the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif.; and Michael Hurley, S.J., Fellow, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. In 2014, Marquette University hired Lúcás for a tenure track position in its Theology Department. During his doctoral studies and teaching, Lúcás stayed involved with pastoral work, particularly with Chinese Catholics. He loved presiding and preaching.
Through his formation, studies, and teaching, Lúcás participated in the Jesuits' work in several different countries; this gave him a broad sense of the Society and its universal mission. Being comfortable with a simple lifestyle and possessing a keen intellect complemented his availability to go where he was called and where the need was greatest. A gifted academic, Lúcás was diligent, disciplined, and prodigious in his work. Veteran scholars in his field regarded him among the world's top ten moralists of his generation. At the time of his death, Lúcás had published two books and numerous journal articles. Perhaps it was his being a virtue ethicist that gave him the ability to gently blend intelligence with empathy. He possessed the admirable qualities of patience and understanding, easily formed friendships with people from different cultures, and had a natural
inclination to connect with older people. He always respected the other and was a faithful friend and strong colleague.

Born: 31 March 1864, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 12 November 1886, Xavier Melbourne, Australia
Ordained: 1900
Professed: 15 August 1902
Died: 12 July 1951, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1895 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1896 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1901 at Sartirana, Merate, Como, Italy (VEM) making Tertianship
by 1902 returned to Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
Older brother of Dominic - RIP 1933

His early education was at St Patrick’s College Melbourne, and then he Entered the Society at Xavier College Kew

1888-1889 After First Vows he did his Juniorate at Xavier College
1889--1890 He was sent for a Regency to St Aloysius College Sydney
1890-1892 He continued his regency at St Ignatius College Riverview. Here his singing at the boy’s concerts was popular. He was also Director of Rowing, and in 1891 he welcomed the Governor and his wife Lord and Lady Jersey to a rowing regatta.
1892-1894 He finished his Regency at Xavier College Kew
1894-1897 He was sent to Leuven Belgium and Stonyhurst England for Philosophy.
1897-1900 He was sent to Milltown Park Dublin for Theology
1900-1901 He made Tertianship at Merate Italy
1901-1904 He was sent teaching at Mungret College Limerick.
1904-1905 He was sent to St Aloysius College Sydney as First Prefect.
1906-1914 He was then sent for a long experience of teaching at St Patrick’s College Melbourne, where he was also President of the Men’s Sodality (1906-1912)
1917-1921 He was sent to work at the Norwood Parish, where he was involved with the choir and taught catechism at local schools.
1921-1947 He then began a long association with St Ignatius College Riverview.
1947-1951 He spent his last years praying for the Church and Society at Canisius College Pymble

His reputation among his students was that of a very kind and thoughtful man. He was a gifted linguist in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and a respected teacher in his earlier years. He wrote many poems that appeared in the Riverview “Alma Mater”.

The above said he was also cursed with a strong temper which he never really conquered. The turning point in his life came at the Norwood Parish in 1920. There was a problem which resulted in his being moved to Riverview, where the Rector was instructed to keep a close eye on his correspondence and movements. He took this very badly himself and allowed himself to become embittered against all Superiors, and even against the Society itself. He did not conceal this bitterness, even from the boys at Riverview. This, of course, only strengthened the Superiors in their resolve to monitor him. He remained an unhappy man and was never reconciled with his Superiors.

His final move to Pymble was a happier one and he ended his life in greater peace.

At the time of his death he was the oldest man in the Province.

Born: 02 February 1693, Cadiz, Spain
Entered: 20 December 1709, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1719
Died: 17 September 1719, Ghent, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Plowden

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of John an Irish gentleman and Frances née Plowden ( a daughter of Francis Plowden, who in turn was a son of Edmund Plowden of Plowden Hall, Shropshire, Comptroller of the Household of James II, and who followed his Royal master into exile at St Germain-en-Laye, near Paris)
Sent to the English College Rome for Humanities, and admitted then in Rome.
Dominic Deane of Cong and Dean of Galway were adherents of James II (cf D’Alton’s “Army List of James II; Foley’s Collectanea)
Tobias Dean :
Note attached to Thomas Dean’s Entry about Tobias Dean, said to be a younger brother, DOB 26 October 1700, Ent English College Rome 21 October 1717 in the alias Benedict Plowden, and then left there for Spain 18 September 1718 (Records SJ, Vol vi, p 468)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
PLOWDEN, THOMAS, (alias Dean) born actually in Spain : and admitted an Alumnus of the English College at Rome, in 1706. In vain I search for other details than his death at Ghent, the 17th of September, 1719.

Born: 02 February 1640, County Dublin
Entered: 20 June 1667, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1666, Rome, Italy, - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1677
Died: 24 August 1707, Irish College, Poitiers, France

Superior of Mission 2 October 1684-1690

1672 At Loreto College
1678-1693 At Irish College Rome teaching Grammar and Philosophy (M Phil), Prefect of Studies, Penitentiary and Spiritual Father. Distinguished in his Philosophy and Theology studies. Capable of teaching the higher subjects.
1693 Had been Superior of Irish Mission
1691-1700 Rector of Irish College Poitiers and again in 1703 and remained at Poitiers where he died

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1668 In pen : Taught at Viterbo
1678 In pen : Irish and Greek Colleges Rome, Prefect of Studies
1684 Superior of Irish Mission 02 October 1684, residing in Dublin.
1697-1699 Rector of irish College Poitiers.
“An indefatigable labourer in the vineyard” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
A very distinguished scholar; Exiled; Rector of Poitiers; Talents are praised by Dr Peter Talbot; Had defended theses “ex universa theologia” in the Roman College in 1667 (cf de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ” and his article “Rome; Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Humanities at Lille (1656-1660) and Paris graduating MA. He then went to the Irish College Rome 25 September 1662, and was Ordained there February 1666, before Ent 20 June 1667 St Andrea, Rome
1669-1671 After First Vows he was sent teaching Humanities at Viterbo.
1671-1672 He was sent as Penitentiary at Loreto.
1672-1674 He was sent Teaching Philosophy at Perugia.
1674-1676 Prefect of Studies at the Greek College Rome.
1676-1681 He was sent as Prefect of Studies at the Irish College Rome.
1681-1682 He was sent to teach Theology at Siena
1684-1690 Sent to Ireland, arriving October 1683. He was appointed Irish Mission Superior on 26 August 1684. His years in office coincided with the Catholic revival under James II. He trued his best to satisfy the many requests for Colleges of the Society.
1690-1691 Remained in Ireland
1691-1700 Appointed Rector of Irish College Poitiers. He remained there after Office and was a Consultor of the College. He died there 24 August 1707
To Father Relly we are indebted for a History of the Irish College, Rome, and the many interesting letters he wrote illustrating the persecution of the Church in Ireland in the early years of the regime of William III

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
James Relly (1684-1687)
James Relly was born in the county of Dublin on 2nd February, 1640. He went to Belgium in 1656, and studied humanities at Lille till 1660, when he went to Paris and took out his degree of Master of Philosophy there in 1662. He accompanied the Archbishop of Armagh, Edmund O'Reilly, to Rome, and was admitted into the Irish College there on 25th September, 1662. In February, 1666 he was ordained priest, and celebrated his first Mass on the 14th of that month in the Church of S Maria Maggiore. He entered the Novitiate of the Society at Sant' Andrea on 20th June, 1667.
After teaching grammar at Viterbo, he acted as Penitentiary at Loreto for one year (1671-72). He then taught a course of philosophy at Perugia; acted as Prefect of Studies at the Greek College in Rome for half a year, when he was transferred in the same capacity to the Irish College in April, 1676. He made his solemn profession of four vows on 15th August, 1677. In 1681 he was appointed Professor of Theology at Siena. Two years later he was sent to Ireland, where he arrived in October, 1683. On 26th August, 1684, he was appointed Superior of the Mission. His years of office fell during the Catholic revival. under James II. Fr Relly tried to satisfy as best he could the many requests for colleges of the Society, and he opened a chapel in Dublin. At the end of his term as Superior he remained in Ireland till 1691, and on the 9th of June of which year he was appointed Rector of the Irish College of Poitiers, a position he held for nine years. He passed the last seven years of his life there as Consultor of the College, and died on 24th August, 1707. To Fr Relly we are indebted for a history of the Irish College in Rome and many letters illustrating the persecution in Ireland during the early years of William III.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father James Relly 1640-1707
James Relly, a Dublin man was the 24th Mission Superior of the Irish Mission from 1684-1687. He was already a priest with his Master’s degree in Philosophy when he entered the Society at Rome in 1667.
His Superiorship fell within the brief period of the Catholic Revival under James II, and thus he was able to open a chapel in Dublin.

His term of office over, he remained in Ireland until 1691, when he was appointed Rector of the Irish College at Poitiers. This post he held for 9 years. He died at Poitiers on August 24th 1707.

We are indebted to him for a history of the Irish College at Rome and also for many letters dealing with the Persecution in Ireland during the early years of William and Mary.

Born: 20 July 1844, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Entered: 05 November 1859, Palermo, Sicily, Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)
Ordained: 1872
Final vows: 02 February 1900
Died: 04 February 1913, Palermo, Sicily, Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Born: 07 March 1655, Co Cork
Entered: 18 February 1677, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: c 1688, Naples, Italy
Final Vows: 15 August 1695, Bavaria, Germany
Died: 17 February 1732, Amberg, Bavaria, Germany - Germaniae Superioris Province (GER SUP)

1683-1685 Theology at Naples
1685-1686 Not in Catalogue
1689-1691 Procurator at Irish College Poitiers
1695 At Louvain 16/08/1695 and then left that Province
1699-1700 In Poitiers

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
1683-1688 Studies in Germany
1689 Intended for the Scottish Mission this was prevented by the Revolution and consequent persecution, so he spent the next 10 years at Colleges in Europe
1699-1702 Accompanied Fr John O’Daly to the West Indies and was stationed at St Kitts until English occupation in 1702
1702-1732 Returned to Europe

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
GALWEY, JAMES. I read in a letter of the Superior Anthony Knoles, dated Waterford, the 21st of November, 1695 “I have written to F. James Galwey to continue in Belgium until I can be a better judge of the state of the times, as to his disposal”. In consequence of the dangerous illness of his brother, a merchant of St. Sebastian, he was allowed to quit the College at Poitiers to visit him in the beginning of the year 1697. Two years later, Pere Garganel, Superior of the Mission at Martinique, made application for some Irish Father to assist in that Mission and the neighbouring islands : he represented that there was a great number of Irish in his district that an abundant harvest of souls was opened to the view, and that he and his brethren would cheerfully provide a maintenance for one or two Irish Jesuits, who would assist these souls, together with the French population. It is an historical fact, that with Cromwell’s usurpation began the system of transporting the Irish, as slaves, to the West Indies : for a long time, says the letter, dated the 16th of April, 1699, almost every year, and sometimes often in the year, the English convey from Ireland shiploads of men, boys, and girls, partly crimped, partly carried off by open force, for the purpose of their slave-trade, and thus in process of time, an immense multitude of Irish has been scattered in these islands, but destitute of spiritual succor. This Mission was proposed to F. Galwey, and how it was received the following letter of F. James Kelly, the Rector of the College of Poitiers, the 6th of August, 1699, will best demonstrate. “With the most intense delight F. James Galwey embraces the Mission of Martinique, offered by your Reverence, and he does so with the more confidence in God, as the lot has fallen upon him not in consequence of any expressed wish on his part (for though he wished it, he durst not apply for it); but now he is solely guided by the spirit of obedience. With alacrity he is getting ready for the voyage. F. Garganel, who from his arrival from Martinique, has been on intimate terms with him, is desirous of having him for his companion. In the meanwhile, we cannot but humbly request, that you will not give up, but merely lend F. Galwey to the Martinique Mission; for should our affairs lift up their head again in Ireland, he will be very necessary for us”. Whether F. Galwey ever returned, I have yet to learn.

Born: 1527, Glastonbury, Somerset, England
Entered: 03 June 1562, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained by 1562
Final Vows: 08 September 1577, Rome
Died: 05 July 1586, Naples, Italy - Angliae Province (ANG)
1570 Returned from Ireland to Louvain

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Came to Ireland with Dr Creagh 1564-1569

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father William Good 1527-1586
William Good, scholar and fellow of Corpus Christi Oxford in 1552, received great preferment in the Church under Mary of England. On Elizabeth’s accession, he resigned all for conscience and betook himself to Tournai, where he was one of the first Englishmen to offer himself for the Society. This was in 1562.

His noviceship over, he was appointed chaplain to Archbishop Creagh to accompany him to his new Diocese of Armagh. The Archbishop however was captured in London, but Fr Good proceeded to Armagh. Here he met with a chilly reception from the Irish Chiefs, being an Englishman and knowing no Irish. So, he betook himself to Limerick where he put himself under the obedience of Fr David Wolfe.

Fr Wolfe put him teaching in the newly opened classical school at Limerick. It is related of Fr Good, that once, returning from a missionary journey he was waylaid and stripped of all his belongings. The robbers however, discovered from the Mass kit that their victim was a priest, pursued him and threw themselves on their knees before him. Fr Good did not understand what they said, but one of them took his hand and moved it in sign of absolution over himself. They wanted to be absolved from their sin of robbery.

Fr William was driven from Ireland by persecution, the same persecution which broke up the school in Limerick and sent Edmund O’Donnell to the continent. He laboured in Flanders and Rome, dying finally in Naples in 1585, aged 56, having been born at Glastonbury in 1527.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
GOOD, WILLIAM, of Glastonbury. Soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he resigned all his ecclesiastical preferments, and united himself to the Society at Tournay, in 1562. When he had completed his Noviceship, he was ordered by Superiors to accompany Dr. Richard Creagh, Abp. Armagh,into Ireland a Prelate most cordially attached to the Society, and for about four years the good Father laboured with the zeal of an apostle, to confirm the faithful in the ancient Faith. On quitting Ireland he proceeded to Belgium, and was stationed at Louvain for some time. In 1577 he was enrolled amongst the Professed Fathers at Rome, and received instructions to attend F. Possevinus to Sweden and Poland. On his return to Rome, in December, 1580, he was appointed Confessarius to the English College in that city. This appointment gave special satisfaction and delight to Dr. Allen, as I find in his letter to F. Agazzari, dated 1st of June, 1581. “Quod R. P. Gul. Good, vere vir bonus, sit Collegii Confessarius, lector non mediocriter : est enim imprimis nostrorum moribus formandis, ac in omnem partem moderandia, idoneus”. A pithy elogium this! He was truly a saintly and prudent man, and ready to give his life for the name of Christ. Retiring to Naples, he closed a life of pious labour, on the 5th of July, 1586, and was buried in the Jesuit s College there. Two years before his death he published at Rome a Folio with engravings, entitled “Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea”. F. More adds, p.14, that he left in MS. “An Abstract of the Lives of the British Saints”. See also his life in Tanner.

Born: 1545, Cloyne, County Cork
Entered: 24 June 1570, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Provine (ROM)
Died: 23 July 1586, Cork

Alias MacMuiris

1574 General Catalogue Aged 27 in Rome 24 June 1570. Made vows 6 months later. Studied 2 years Theology at Roman College (1573-1584). A prisoner on parole and practising medicine. In Ireland was teaching under the Bishop of Cork

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Dr Morris Lea
Educated at Paris, Oxford and Cologne
Taught School in Youghal in 1575
Was imprisoned for the faith; Was a Physician and Surgeon who gave great relief to Archbishop O’Hurley, who in June 1584 had been tortured by having his legs broiled in a fire.
Perhaps he was “Mauritius”
(cf "Hibernia Ignatiana" p28 and O’Sullivan Beare’s “Hist” p 125)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Charles Leae SJ 1545-1586
The fellow labourer of Fr Rochfort in the school at Youghal was Fr Leae.

He was born in Cloyne in 1545. His father was a doctor of medicine, Charles Morris Leae. Charles studied at Paris, Oxford and Cologne, and finally entered the Society on June 24th 1570. Rome was the scene of his activities for some years. Then in 1575 he came to Ireland with Bishop Tanner of Cork,

He taught in the school at Youghal till 1579, in which year Bishop Tanner died. Fr Leae was captured and put in prison in Dublin. Hence he was released on account of his skill in medicine and was allowed a certain amount of freedom to move around the city. He was known by his fathers name Charles MacMorris.

In the course of his official duties he attended Archbishop Hurley after his torture by the English : A worthy priest names Charles MacMorris of the Society, skilled in medicine, found access to the archbishop and treated his wounds with such skill that in a few days, he was enabled to sit up in bed”. Fr Leae continued to work in Dublin for some years after the execution of the Archbishop.

His death in 1586 brought to an end the Second Mission of the Society of Jesus to Ireland.

◆ Rev. Edmund Hogan SJ : “Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century” - London : Burns and Oates, Limited, New York, Cincinnati : Chicago, Benzinger Brothers, 1894 : Quarterly Series : Volume Ninety

Father Charles Leae

Father Rochfort's fellow-labourer in Youghal was Father Charles Leae; he was born in the town of Cloyne, co. of Cork, in the year 1545; his father was Morris Leae, a doctor of medicine, and probably the same whom Stanihurst called “Leie a learned and expert physician”. His mother's maiden name was Mary Sheehy or Hickey; he had studied literature from his early years, and was educated at Paris, Oxford, and Cologne. He became a Jesuit in Rome on June 24, 1570; in 1575 he came to Ireland with Bishop Tanner and Father Rochfort, and taught school, and preached at Youghal and in the surrounding districts up to the year 1579, when Dr. Tanner died, after having endured great sufferings in prison for eighteen months. Father Leae remained in Ireland, and was captured and imprisoned, as we may gather from the following narrative, if we remember that an Irishman was very often called after his father's Christian name, and that Charles the son of Morris Leae would be named Charles McMorris. On the 4th of June, 1584, Diarmait O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, was hanged in Dublin for the profession of the Faith. Some days before his execution, his feet and legs were forced into boots filled with oil and salt, and a fire was put under them. The oil heated by the flames, penetrating the soles and other parts, tortured him in an intolerable manner, and “his skin fell from the flesh and portions of the flesh from the bare bones”. There happened to be then at Dublin a priest of the Society of Jesus, named Charles MacMorris, who had much experience in medicine and surgery, and who had been himself confined in prison by the English, but was released on account of the skill with which he had treated some noblemen who were dangerously ill. This Father visited the Archbishop and applied some remedies which gave him great relief. The hideous details of the roasting are confirmed by the State Papers, and must for ever brand with infamy the names of Loftus and Wallop. I lose sight of Father Leae after this; I know not whether he was able to remain in Ireland for some time going about under various disguises, and instructing and consoling the Catholics of that country, or whether he was driven away by the fury of persecution, and was sent by his Superiors to teach in the Continental Colleges - a task for which he was well fitted by his University training. He was certainly dead before the year 1609. I was fortunate enough to find the following entry, written by him in the Roman Novice Book on the 24th of June, 1570 : “I was born in the town of Cloyne, diocese of Cork; my father and mother are dead; my father was Maurice Leae, a Doctor of Medicine, my mother's maiden name was Mary Chihi. From my earliest years I have devoted myself to learning; I have studied one year at Paris, then I went to the University of Oxford, and lastly I have read Logic and Philosophy during three years at Cologne, when I took the degree of Master of Logic and Philosophy. I promise to observe all the rules, constitutions, and mode of life of the Society, and to do whatever the Society shall order. In witness of which I subscribe this with my hand, CHARLES LEAE”. In the same book I found these items : Charles Leae, an Irishman, made his first vows. in the Professed House on January 17, 1571, on the 24th of

Born: 1685, County Galway
Entered: 21 November 1709 - Braziliae Province (BRA)
Final Vows: 15 August 1722
Died: 16 February 1761, Rome, Italy - Braziliae Province (BRA)

Provincial Braziliae Province (BRA)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
A relative of Br William Lynch - RIP 1774 - probably
1738 In Brazil (in pen)
“The celebrated Father Thomas Lynch, ex-Provincial of Brazil, and greatly esteemed for learning, sanctity and apostolic labours, was imprisoned with his brethren of Bahia, put on board a man-of-war and their own ship (a fine vessel built by order of Father Lynch under the direction of a Scotch Temporal Coadjutor, an excellent mariner”. So says Father Thorpe in a letter from Rome, August 6. He met Father Lynch in Rome and heard from him all the horrors through which he and 260 Jesuits passed on their way to Europe. They were stowed away under deck and otherwise treated like Guinea slaves. (Father Thorpe’s letter at Stonyhurst and a contemporary copy at Milltown Park)

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
Early studies in Lisbon
Very distinguished career as Professor at Pernambuco and Bahia
1733-1740 Socius to 2 Provincials
1741-1746 Rector of Olinda College (near Recife)
1746-1750 Rector of Rio de Janeiro College
1750-1754 Provincial of Brazil
1759 Pombal ordered expulsion of Jesuits and travelled to Rome arriving in 1760

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Thomas Lynch SJ 1685-1761
Father Thomas Lynch was born in Galway in 1685 and did his early studies in Lisbon.

In 1709 he entered the Society for the Brazilian Province. He had a very distinguished career as a professor at Pernambuco and Bahia. He acted as Socius to two Provincials, 1733-1740, then became Rector of the College of Olinda and also Rio de Janeiro. Drom 1750 to 1754 he was Provincial of Brazil. When by order of Pombal the Jesuits were expelled from Brazil in 1759, Fr Thomas shared the sufferings of his brothers. He survived the almost incredible hardships of the voyage and landed in Italy in 1760, but died the following year in Rome.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LYNCH, THOMAS, one of the 260 Jesuits, and victims of Portuguese tyrannical iniquity, who arrived at Civita Vecchia, from the Brazils, in the summer of 1760. In a letter of F. John Thorpe, dated Rome, the 6th of August, that year, he mentions the arrival of 20 of these Confessors of Christ, the evening before, in the Eternal City, and says, “I found one, who spoke English. He proved to be the celebrated F. Thomas Lynch, formerly a Provincial in the Brazils, and greatly esteemed for learning, sanctity and apostolical labours amongst the English there, as well as the Indians. He is 75 years old, and had retired to the College of Bahia, where he was spiritual Father, when he was suddenly seized with his brethren, by the Portuguese Government, and hurried on board a ship, bound to Lisbon:. They were all kept under the hatches during the voyage, like so many Guinea slaves!

Born: 1591, Naas, County Kildare
Entered: 05 April 1625, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae province (ROM)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Died: 17 January 1647, Unknown

1626 ROM Catalogue Novice in Rome
1637 Catalogue Mediocre in all and choleric - has experience
Kildare Arch Journal Vol III p190

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Of the Morristown-Lattin family (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
1627 Came to Irish Mission
1642 Living and working in Dublin in disguise.
1643 Imprisoned
Named in two letters, Waterford 10 October 1642 and Galway 03 August 1643
Though many Priests and Religious had been seized and executed by Puritans, James Latin and two of his Brethren braved every danger and were indefatigable in consoling and assisting suffering Catholics.
In the postscript, of the first letter the writer had just received intelligence of Latin’s arrest and committal to gaol. In the second letter it says he was still in prison, and had been arrested in the street while on his way to administer the Sacrament of the Sick. (cf Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Already Ordained on Ent 08 April 1625 Rome
1627/28 Sent to Ireland and Dublin Residence after only eighteen months in Novitiate. He arrived in Rouen to get a passage to Ireland, but while there the Mission Superior Christopher Holywood asked him to head for Paris on some Irish Mission business. So it was probably around 1628 by the time he arrived in Dublin. Once there he stayed in Dublin and along with Thomas Quin and John Purcell, survived the expulsion of clergy there by the Puritans of 1641-1642. However, he was then arrested and thrown into prison, Autumn 1642 or Spring 1643, and was still in prison a year later. For a while in prison he was able to say Mass and receive visitors, but these privileges were eventually revoked.
He was still living 10 June, 1647 when he managed to say Mass but was after the consecration stripped him naked and scourged him in the presence of bystanders by parliamentarians who profaned the Sacred Species, but the bystanders out of compassion prevailed on the torturers to spare him further ill treatment.
It is likely that he died soon after. He is not mentioned in Verdier’s report 'of the mission in 1649
About ten years after his arrival on the Mission he came into a sizeable fortune, sufficient to found a Residence and support two Jesuits at Naas.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
LATIN, JAMES. All that I can gather concerning this zealous Father is from two letters, one dated from Waterford, (Manapia) 10th of October, 1642, the other from Galway, the 3rd of August, 1643. The first informs me, that though many Priests and Religious had been seized and executed by the Puritans, yet F. James Latin, and two of his Brethren braved every danger, and were indefatigable in assisting and consoling the Catholics groaning under Puritanical despotism. In the Postscript the writer says, he had just received intelligence of F. Latin s apprehension and commitment to gaol. The second States, that he was still a prisoner, and that he had been apprehended in the street in the act of proceeding to administer the sacraments to the sick.

2021 notes:
3 July 1614 James Lattin, youngest son of John Lattin & Alson Ashe from Morristown Lattin, Co. Kildare, was ordained in Rome. He joined the Jesuit order in 1625 and became a coadjutor in Dublin. He was arrested & deported in 1642 #localhistory

Born: 25 June 1844, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Entered: 05 November 1859, Palermo Sicily Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)
Ordained: 1873
Final vows: 15 August 1878
Died 08 November 1919, Collegio Pennisi, Acireale, Sicily, Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Born: Ireland
Entered: 01 October 1616, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 09 June 1629, Graz, Austria - - Romanae Province (ROM)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
DOB Ireland; Ent c 1615; RIP post August 1621
He was at the death bed of Jan Berchmans, and asked him to “pray for his poor country”.
A full namesake of his was Rector of the Irish College Rome a century later.

◆ “St Jan Berchmans died 13 August 1621. The day before he died Fr Nicholas Radkaï and Alexander Rocca (Roche an Irish Jesuit) entered his room. When he perceived them he said eagerly : ‘Come in, Come in my very dear brother Rocca. I want to bid you farewell as it is probable that I shall depart tomorrow. Take good care to prove yourself a true son of the Society and to defend vigorously the Holy Roman Church against the heretics of your northern lands’. ‘I earnestly wish you to do so, but you for your part obtain for me from heaven the virtues and qualities necessary for the missionaries in this region, and do not forget the immense needs of my poor fatherland, you know them well enough.’ ‘Yes, yes, very well’ said the dying man ‘we will remember all that in heaven’” Vanderspeetens on the life of Jan Berchmans p 255

◆ In Old/15 (1), Old/16 and In Chronological Catalogue Sheet
◆ CATSJ I-Y has “Alessandro Rocha" A pupil of the German College Age 20

Born: 10 December 1619, Cork City
Entered: 09 April 1641, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1649, Bologna, Italy
Final vows: 11 October 1654
Died: 11 June 1667, Irish College, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Alias della Rocca

1645 At Montesanto College ROM teaching Grammar
1649 At Roman College studying Philosophy and Theology
1651-1657 Prefect of Irish College Rome teaching Grammar, Philosophy, Casus and also at Bologna
1658 Rector of Irish College Rome (suggests that in 1659 he was a “Consultor” and Fr Young was Rector)
1661-1667 Rector of Irish College Rome (signs himself Rocheus) - sold the vineyard at Castel Gondolfo to Fr O’Holini

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1664 Rector of Irish College Rome

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
He had studied Humanities in Cork and then went for Priestly studies to Belgium. Initially he offered himself for the Society, to be received as coadjutor Brother to serve on the Indian Mission. He was accepted for the Society but sent to Rome not as a brother but as a scholastic novice and then Ent 09 April 1641 St Andrea, Rome
1643-1644 After First Vows he was sent for a year of Regency at Monte Santo
1644-1650 He was then sent to Bologna for Theology and was Ordained there 1649, after which he then returned to Rome for more studies
1650-1651 Spiritual Father at Irish College Rome
1651-1658 Sent to teach Philosophy and then Dogmatic Theology at Bologna
1658 Sent to Irish College Rome as prefect of Studies. In spite of his efforts during the next few years to be sent either to Ireland or the foreign missions, but, for one reason or another, he was detained in Rome.
1664 Vice-Rector of Irish College Rome 29 July 1664 and shortly afterwards Rector. He died in Office 11 June 1667

Born: 1530, County Wexford
Entered: the Society 05 December 1564, Professed House, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Final Vows: 1575
Died: 19 June 1588, at Sea in The Armada - “in classe quel ibat in Angliam” - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)

1567: He is being sent by Fr Borgia to Canisius “as he is one of the most talented of the pupils of Fr Pereira, Prof Philosophy at the Roman College, and advanced in virtue” (Letters of Borgia Vol III p510).
1567: “Robertus or Rochford Hibernus” at Dillingen in November (Richard Fleming there at the same time) - his talent at Rome having been noteworthy
1576: At Paris College Age 30.
1587: At St Anthony’s College Lisbon, Age 44, Soc 22, teaching Latin and Catechism. Said to be teaching Ireland under the Bishop of Cork -Tanner, an ex Jesuit) VAT Arch Inghilterra 1.308)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
Probably a brother of Charles - who only gets mentioned as being in Youghal 1588.
He was a great linguist; Prisoner; Missioner.
His name often appears in the Anglo-Irish State Papers.
He died on board a Spanish man-of-war; “a Martyr of Charity”; Had taught school in Youghal in 1575.
It is probably he of whom Stanihurst describes “born in the county of Wexford, is a proper divine, an exact philosopher and very good antiquary”.
In 1581 Matthew Lamport of Waterford and Matthias Lamport a Dublin PP were hanged for harbouring Fr Rochford; Robert Meiler, Edeard Cheevers, John O’Lahy and two sailors were hanged, drawn and quartered for bringing him from Belgium to Ireland; Richard French, A Wexford Priest, for harbouring him, was imprisoned in Dublin and died of misery in prison (IbIg).
Mentioned in a letter of Edmund Tanner, Cork 11 October 1577, as keeping a school at Youghall with Charles, spreading on every side the good odour of the Society of Jesus (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS).
Highly spoken of in a letter from Henry Fitzsimon in a letter in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, March 1873 p 262, and is frequently mentioned in "Hibernia Ignatiana".
We know of his death 19 June 1588 from an entry in “Bibl. de Bourg. MS n 6397, liber primus defunctorum SJ in variis provinciis, Brussels” : “Balthazar de Almeida (died) in a ship which was proceeding to England, 17 June 1588. P Robertus Rocheford (died) on the same ship, 19/06/1588”. They were probably Chaplains in the Spanish Armada.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Robert Rochfort 1530-1588
After the departure of Fr David Wolfe from Ireland, there were two Jesuits left there, Frs Charles Leae and Robert Rochfort. The latter was born in Wexford in 1530 and entered the Society at Rome in 1564. St Peter Canisius was his Professor at Dilingen in 1567.

Having come to the Irish Mission, he succeeded in maintaining a school in Youghal, in spite of continual persecution until 1575, with the aid of Fr Leae. This school was highly praised by Edmund Tanner, Bishop of Cork and former Jesuit.

Fr Rochfort was closely associated with Viscount Baltinglass in the rebellion of 1581. On his account many people suffered imprisonment and death for harbouring him. The English seem to have had a great dread of him and his name is constantly mentioned in State Papers of the time. Finally, seeing how dangerous it was for people to harbour him, he withdrew to Lisbon in 1532.

In Lisbon he laboured for some years to the great spiritual advantage of Catholics from Ireland and England and other nations, and whom his skill in many languages enabled him to instruct and assist. According to common report, he died in Lisbon in 1588. However, in a list of Defuncti of the Society we find the following “Balthazar Almeida died in a ship which was proceeding to England June 17th 1588. P Robert Rochford died in the same ship, June 19th 1588. He had been a prisoner for the faith and died a victim of charity”. It would seem that he had been a chaplain to one of the ships of the Spanish Armada

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
ROCHFORD, ROBERT, is mentioned with honour in the Epistle Dedicatory of Father Fitzsimon’s Treatise on the mass, printed in 1611. In a letter of Father Edmund Tanner, dated Cork, the 11th of October, 1577, I read, “Rev. Father Charles and Master Robert Rochford spread on every side the sweetest odour of the Institute of the Society of Jesus. They keep a school in the town of Youghall, in the Dioceses of Cork, Munster : their auditors and the townspeople are daily trained in the Christian doctrine, and the frequentation of the Sacraments and good Morals, as well as the miserable circumstances of the times will permit, but not without molestation; yet God gives them perseverance and great benefit to their Hearers”.

Born: 22 March 1843, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Entered: 31 October 1859, Naples Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1875
Final vows: 15 August 1877
Died: 14 June 1908, Albuquerque NM, USA - Neapolitan Province (NAP)

Part of the St Ignatius College, Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA, community at the time of death

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

Born: 08 September 1516, Toledo, Spain
Entered: 15 August 1534, Paris France
Ordained: October/November 1537, Venice, Italy
Final Vows: 22 April 1541, Rome, Italy
Died: 13 May 1585, Naples, Italy - Neapolitaniae Province (NAP)

◆ The English Jesuits 1550-1650 Thomas M McCoog SJ : Catholic Record Society 1994
With Paschase Bröet and Francisco Zapata, Salmerón stopped in unspecified English ports on their trip to Ireland via Scotland 1541.

Entered: 21 August 1564, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 27 September 1586, Chambéry, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)

David Dinnis, Maurice Halley and Edmund Daniel were received in the Roman Novitiate 11 September 1651
David Dinnis may be “David Stackpoole” son of Denis Stackpole

1577: Age c28 at Paris studying Theology
1584: At Billom (LUGD) on Tertianship
Did 4 years Theology and taught Grammar for some years in Germany. Was Minister and Confessor
At Mayence “promotus artibus”. Not a formed Coadjutor. Age 40, not a strong man

“Mr David Stackpoll on 22 April 1577 asks to go to Ireland to dispose of his inheritance. Give him a companion, a letters patent and good advice for so distant a journey. When he has done his business he shall go to Charles and Robert who are in Ireland and give them the enclosed letters”

Died: 28 August 1682, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A Jesuit of this name is recorded in a Catalogue of Deceased SJ, in the Library of Louvain University, as dying in Rome August 28, 1682. We do not identify him in the Catalogues as a member of ANG.
There is a suggestion that Gilbert was in fact a brother of Peter’s, who had been a colonel in the Irish army in the “Forty-one Wars”, and says that Clarendon looked upon him as a man of courage, “having fought a dud or two with stout men”

◆ The English Jesuits 1650-1829 Geoffrey Holt SJ : Catholic Record Society 1984
RIP 28 August 1682. Not found under this name in the records on the English Province

◆ In Old/18

Born: 31 July 1623, Drogheda, County Louth
Entered: 13 December 1647, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1647, Rome, Italy - pre Entry
Final Vows: 22 April 1658
Died: 15 October 1699, Roman College, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Alias Tellin

Had studied Philosophy and Theology before Ent. Talent for teaching Philosophy and Mathematics
1649 At Roman Seminary
1651 At Sienna College teaching Philosophy
1655 In Roman College teaching Philosophy, Prefect of Studies. Excellent talent, very proficient in letters. Talent for teaching Mathematics and other speculative subjects
1657-1660 Came from Roman Province to Ingolstadt
1660 Sent to Venice Province VEM
1660-1665 At Bologna teaching Mathematics, Ethics, Philosophy, Theology and was Prefect of Studies
1665-1675 At Naples College Teaching Physics, Theology, Scripture and Prefect of Studies
1678 At Roman College teaching Ethics, Theology, Casus, Doctor of Philosophy and Revisor
1694 By this date Fr Relly assumes he has returned to Rome, where he remains as Revisor (had been Revisor for Germany 15 years.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He was a Writer and Littérateur (de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”)
1660 Professor of Theology at Ingolstadt
Peter Talbot says of him “a miracle of learning”
“Vir omni disciplinarum genere exultus; ingenio acri et amaeno, inque omnia promptissimo” (cf Poems of Nicholas Pathenius Giannetasi)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had previously studied and was Ordained at Irish College Rome before Ent 13 December 1647 St Andrea, Rome. he was considered to be a brilliant student in both Philosophy and Theology.
1649-1653 After First Vows he was sent to take a Chair of Philosophy at Siena, but was recalled to Rome 1653
1653-1657 Sent to Rome as Prefect of Studies at the German College
1657-1675 Loaned by ROM to teach in other Provinces : Philosophy at Ingolstadt 1657-1660; Dogmatic Theology at Bologna 1660-1665; Theology at Naples 1665-1667
1675 Sent to Rome as “Censor Librorum” at the Roman College, and remained there until his death 15 October 1699

Born: 19 October 1844, Naples, Italy
Entered: 26 September 1859, Naples, Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)
Ordained: 1872
Final vows: 02 February 1878
Died: 05 December 1934, Naples, Italy - Neapolitan Province (NAP)

2nd year Novitiate at Milltown (HIB) under Luigi Sturzo following the expulsion of Jesuits from Naples and Sicily

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932
At our College S. Luigi, Posillipo, Naples, there lives an old Jesuit who has had an interesting connection with the Irish. Province. Father Raffaele Tummolo was born in 1844, entered Society in 1859, and was one of the band of Neapolitan and Sicilian novices that were sent to Ireland in 1860. Father Sturzo and his Sicilians were the first to reach Ireland, and were soon joined by the Neapolitans. These latter travelled from the south of France to Dublin in safely, though not one of the party knew a word of English. As Milltown was not ready they went to Tullabeg, the boys being away on vacation. While there one of them gashed the billiard cloth with a cue, and this gave rise to a novitiate cyclone that still lives in the aged Father's memory.
When Milltown was ready they went there, and were joined by the Irish novices, some seven or eight in number, from England. Father Tummolo remembers well the “long table” on St. Stanislaus Day, 1860, to celebrate the erection of Ireland into a Province. The Fathers from Gardiner St. dined at Milltown, and the General's letter was solemnly read. Father Tummolo left Ireland in 1861, took his vows at Avignon, and returned to Naples in 1894, He has to his credit “Gury - Tummolo Compendium Theologiae-Moralis”.

Born: 15 July 1921, Abtei (Badia), Südtirol, Italy
Entered: 09 October 1951, Austriae Province (ASR)
Ordained: 29 June 1947
Final vows: 02 February 1966
Died: 23 May 1981, Innsbruck, Austria - Austriae Province (ASR)

by 1965 came to Wise Mansion Hong Kong (HIB) working

Born: 24 February 1739, France
Entered: 07 September 1756, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1767
Final Vows: 15 August 1773
Died: 22 October 1822, Durham, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

1767 At Pont-à-Mousson in 2nd year Theology
Called “Hibernus” in ANG Catalogue 1771 and this gives most dates about him.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Born in France of Irish parents
Taught Humanities at St Omer and Bruges and published one or two of his sermons.
1767 Graduated MA at Pont-à-Mousson 20 July 1767.
1769 The FRA Notebook says that, on the authority of the the FRA Provincial Fijan, dated Nancy 21 June 1679, that he was examined for FV, by special licence of General Ricci, and passed with universal assent.
1771 He was in Rome with a noble pupil.
He served the Durham Mission for many years, and died there 22 October 1822 aged 83. He had not renewed his Vows in the Society.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WALSH, EDWARD, of Irish extraction, but born in France, on the 24th of January,1739 : embraced the Institute on the 7th of September, 1756 taught Humanities for a short time at St. Omer and Bruges. On the 20th of July, 1767, was admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, in the University of Pont a Mousson : was examined for his degree in the Order at Nanci, by the special permission of Ricci, the last General; and past his examination with entire satisfaction, as I collect from the letter of F. André Fijan, dated 2lst June, 1769. For very many years F. Walsh was the incumbent at Durham : he was an amiable polite, and clever gentleman, but of a roving and restless disposition, even in advanced life. At length, on the 22nd of October, 1822, aet. 83, he died at his house in Durham, very peaceably; and much regretted by a numerous acquaintance.
F. Walsh published a sermon delivered to his flock, on the occasion of King George the Third’s recovery, in 1789, and dedicated by permission to the Right Honourable William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, (4to. London, 1789, pp. 17) It is a well meant but meagre performance. He refers in p.13, to his former discourse “On the propriety and necessity of taking an Oath of Allegiance”. Of this publication we have not seen a copy; but for the Author’s credit, we trust it possessed more intrinsic merit than its successor.

Born: 27 April 1872, Preston, Lancashire, England
Entered: 07 September 1889, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1905
Final Vows: 02 February 1908
Died: 16 December 1936, Rome, Italy - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1922 came to Tullabeg (HIB) Tertian Director 1921-1923

Born: 1575, Hampshire, England
Entered: 30 October 1605 Rome - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 18 Decembr 1604, Rome, Italy
Died: 10 September 1606, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet
◆ CATSJ I-Y has Irish

Born: 1632, Ireland or Carnarvonshire, Wales
Entered: 4 December 1658, Ireland or Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 21 May 1657 pre entry
Died: 26 February 1688 England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Son of John and Mary (Eswards) of Neigwl, LLandegwwning, Caernarvonshire, Wales

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He is mentioned in Fr Morris’s Louvain Transcripts.

(Note the William White who Ent 1601 and was “valetudinarius” in 1621.)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WHITE, WILLIAM, is said to have died in England on the 26th of February, 1688.

Born: 04 January 1673, Ireland
Entered: 27 August 1691Bologna, Italy - Venetae Province (VEM)
Ordained: c 1701, Mantua, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1709
Died: 29 October 1748, Bologna, Italy - Venetae Province (VEM)

Alias de Lupis

1724 Went to Rome 24 March 1724

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1693-1700 After First Vows he was sent for studies in Rheotoric and Philosophy to Parma, and then to Mantua for Theology, and Ordained c 1701. After Ordination he was not sent to teaching due to frail health,mainly his eyesight, but became known as a prudent Spiritual Director in Bologna
1701-1714 Sent as Minister to Ravenna, Brescia and the Noviciate at Novellara.
1714-1724 He was sent as Operarius at the Church in Bologna.
1724-1731 Sent to Scots College Rome as Prefect of Studies
1731-1732 Sent to Spain for health reasons and became Spiritual Director at the Irish College Salamanca. Rector at Irish College Salamanca where he was able to restore some peace in the College after the deposition of John Harrison, not least because he was seen as something of an outsider. he remained in this job for about eighteen months,
1732 He returned to Bologna and ministered in that city until his death while visiting one of the Churches 29 October 1748. His was considered to be an excellent Spiritual Director.

Born: 20 September 1647, Madrid, Spain
Entered: 18 February 1668, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 09 April 1678
Died: 22 August 1711, Dunkirk, Hauts-de-France, France - Angliae Province (ANG)

Son of Sir Benjamin and Jane (Williams) of Cranham Hall, Essex

◆ Came with three others (Charles Petre, Joseph Plowden and Andrew Poulton) under former ANG Provincial, John Warner, in 1689-1690 and was a Missioner in Ireland, Fr Warner as Confessor, the others in schools, and preaching in the country
(Cousin of Charles Petre??)

◆ The English Jesuits 1650-1829 Geoffrey Holt SJ : Catholic Record Society 1984
1684-1687 St Omer
1689-1690 Ireland
1691-1692 Ghent

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
WRIGHT, MATTHEW, admitted on the 18th of February, 1668: was rector of Watten from 1694 to 1698 : occurs Prefect of Studies at St. Omer s College in 1704 : for the Four last years of his life was Rector of Ghent, but actually died at Dunkirk, on the 22nd of August, 1711, aet. 64.

Born: 26 February 1724, El Puerta de Santa Maria, Cadiz, Spain
Entered: 29 August 1748, Seville, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)
Ordained: c 1754,
Died: 19 June 1783, Ferrara, Italy - Peruvianae Province (PER)

1751 or 1754 He went to Peru certainly there in 1754 and already ordained.
Procurator in several colleges.
At the time of the expulsion he was acting as Prefect of the Houses of Retreats and the Confraternity of Loreto at Arequipa. He survived a journey, and landed in Italy, where he joined other Spanish exiles. He died at Ferrara in 1783.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father James Woulfe 1724-1783
Fr James Woulfe was born in Puerto de Santa Maria in Spain of Irish parents, in 1724, and entered the Society at Seville in 1748.

By the year 1754 he was in Peru and already a priest. At the time of expulsion he was Acting Prefect of Houses of Retreat at Arequipa. He survived the horrors of the voyage home and landed in Italy, where he joined his exiled Spanish brethren.

He died at Ferrara in 1783.

Born: 15 August 1589, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 13 May 1610, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1621, Louvain, Belgium
Final Vows: 14 July 1633
Died: 13 July 1664, Irish College, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Had studied Rhetoric before Entry then at Douai and Louvain
1655 In Irish College Rome (Fr Ferri being Rector)
1656-1660 Rector Irish College Rome (Bellarmino and Philip Roche are Consultors)
1662 John Young and William St Leger ask and obtain a papal indulgence for 100 Irish Jesuits (Arch Ir Col Rom XXVI 6)
Taught Humanities, Greek was Preacher, Superior, Master of Novices and Tertian Instructor
He wrote “Relationem de Civitate Corcagie et de Civicate Kilkennie” and “Libros Tres Militia Evangelicae” and “Vitam St Patrick Apostoli” and many other books.
His portrait was published in 1793 by William Richardson, Castle St, Leinster Sq, London

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Robert Yong and Beatrice née Sall or Sallan (Sallanus)
Studied Humanities in Flanders before Ent, and then in the Society two years Philosophy and four years Theology.
1624 Sent to Ireland. He knew Latin, Greek, Irish, English, French and some Italian.
He taught Humanities and Greek for eight years; Preacher and Confessor for thirty years; Director of BVM Sodality twenty years; Superior of various Residences eighteen years; Master of Novices at Kilkenny and Galway five years; Consultor of Mission five years; Vice-Superior of Mission one year. (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI) also Master of Tertians
He devoted himself to the Irish Mission for thirty years, chiefly in Cork, Waterford and Galway. During the persecution, he frequently went to people’s houses disguised as a miller.
He laid the foundation for the Novitiate at Waterford (should be Kilkenny?). He had to move this Novitiate to Galway, on account of the advance of the rebel Parliamentary forces, and was soon compelled to go with his novices to Europe.
He was then made Rector of the Irish College in Rome, and he was in office for eight years, and died in Rome 13 July 1664 aged 75 (Tanners “Confessors SJ”)
Several of his letters are extant and interesting. Several to Fr General dated Kilkenny, 30 January 1647, 30 June 1648, 31 December 1648, 08 February 1649, 22 June 1649 describe the situation relating to the history of this period. Later there are two letters from Galway to Fr General, 20 April 1650 and 14 August 1650 (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS).
A Writer; A very holy Priest; He took a Vow to observe the Rules.
Mercure Verdier (Irish Mission Visitor reporting in 1649) described him as “a distinguished Preacher, and remarkable for every species of religious virtue”
Father General ordered his portrait to be taken after death and his panegyric to be preached in the Roman College

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Robert and Beatrice née Sall
Had made his classical education in Flanders before Ent 13 May 1610 Rome
1612-1617 After First Vows, because of ill health, he was sent to Belgium and Courtray (Kortrijk) for Regency where he taught Greek.
1617-1621 He was then sent for Philosophy at Antwerp and Theology at Louvain where he was Ordained 1621.
1621 Sent to Ireland and Cashel, Clonmel and Kilkenny - to the great regret of Lessius who had wanted him appointed as a Chair in Philosophy - where he devoted himself to teaching young people and giving missions.
For many years he was Superior at the Cork Residence
When the Novitiate opened in Kilkenny he was appointed Novice Master
1646-1647 During the inter-regnum that followed the resignation of Robert Nugent as Mission Superior he acted as Vice-Superior of the Irish Mission
1651-1656 When the invasion of Cromwell resulted in the closure of the Novitiate he went back to Rome, initially as Procurator of the Irish Mission (1651) and then sent as Spiritual Father of the Irish College (1652-1656) as well as Tertian Instructor in Romanae Province (ROM)
1656 Rector of Irish College Rome 24 February 1656 where he remained until he died in Office 13 July 1664
He died with the reputation of a Saint. Wonderful stories were told of the favours he received from God in prayer, and information as to his virtues was gathered in Ireland and forwarded to Rome as if it was intended to prepare his cause for beatification.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962
John Young (1646-1647)
John Young, son of Robert Young and Beatrice Sall, was born at Cashel on 15th August, 1589. Having finished his classical studies in Flanders, he entered the Novitiate of Sant' Andrea in Rome on 13th May, 1610, but had to return to Belgium two years later on account of ill-health. In Belgium he taught Greek at Courtray, studied philosophy at Antwerp and theology at Louvain and distinguished himself so much that it was with great regret that Fr Leonard Lessius, who hoped to have him appointed to a chair of philosophy, learned that he was ordered to Ireland. Returning home in 1621, he devoted himself to the instruction of youth, and worked as a missioner in Cashel, Clonmel, and Kilkenny, and was for many years Superior of the Cork Residence. He was admitted to the solemn profession of four vows on 14th July, 1633. When the Novitiate was opened at Kilkenny he was appointed Master of Novices, and during the interregnum that followed the resignation of Fr Robert Nugent he acted as Vice-Superior of the Mission (1646-47). When the triumph of the Cromwellian arms dispersed the noviceship he was sent as Procurator of the Mission to Rome (1651). At Rome he was made Consultor and Spiritual Father of the Irish College (1652-56), and Instructor of the Tertians of the Roman Province. He became Rector of the Irish College on 24th February, 1656, and continued in that office till his death on 13th July, 1664. He died with the reputation of a saint. Wonderful stories were told of the favours he received from God in prayer,
and information as to his virtues was gathered in Ireland and forwarded to Rome, as if it was intended to prepare his cause for beatification.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father John Young 1589-1664
Fr John Yonge or Young was born in Cashel in 1589. He was the son of Robert Yonge and Beatrice Sall, being thus on his mother’s side a relative of the two Jesuits Andrew and James Sall. He became a Jesuit in Rome in 1610.

He was an accomplished linguist, numbering Latin, Greek, Irish, English, French and Italian among his languages. He taught Humanities for eight years and was a preacher and confessor for thirty, Director of the Sodality of Our Lady for twenty, Superior in various houses for eighteen, Master of Novices for five, Consultor of the Mission for five and Vice-Superior of the Mission for one year.

He laboured mainly in Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway. It was he who founded the noviceship in Kilkenny, reporting in 1647 that he had eleven novices, of whom four were priests, six were scholastics and one brother.

He used often penetrate into the houses of Catholics at the height of the persecution disguised as a miller. For him we are indebted for may letters on the state of the Mission. He also wrote a life of St Patrick.

In 1649 he was forced to move the novices to Galway and thence to the continent. He became Rector of the Irish College at Rome for eight years and finally died in 164 with the reputation of a saint and a thaumaturgus.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
YOUNG, JOHN. For thirty years this apostolic man devoted himself to the Irish Mission. The Counties of Cork, Waterford, and Galway, were the principal theatres of his labours. We learn from p.871 of Tanner’s Lives of the Confessors of the Society of Jesus, that this good Father frequently contrived, during the rage of persecution, to penetrate into the houses of the Catholics, in the disguise of a Miller. His spirit of discretion and experience, his eminence as a Preacher, his profound learning, his solid interior virtue, recommended him as the fittest person amongst his Brethren to lay the foundation of the Novitiate at Kilkenny; and no wonder, that under so great a master of Spiritual life, such Ornaments to their Country and Luminaries of Religion as FF. Stephen Rice, William Ryan, &c. &c. should have come forth. Pere Verdier reported him in 1649, to the General of the Order, as “Vir omnium Religiosarum virtutum genere insignis, et concionator egregius”. Obliged by the successful advance of the Parliamentary forces to remove his interesting Establishment from Kilkenny, he conducted it to the Town of Galway; but thence also he was compelled to emigrate with them to the Continent, where he saw himself under the necessity of drafting these dear children in various houses of the Society. Retiring to Rome, he presided over the Irish College there for eight years, and was rewarded with a happy death in that City, on the 13th of July, 1664, aet. 75, as I find it written under his beautifully engraved Portrait. A few original letters of this meritorious and saintly Father are still extant : some Extracts may afford pleasure to the reader.

1. Dated from Kilkenny, the 30th of January, 1647 OS.
   “Our long expected Superior, P. Malone, by the blessing of God, is at last arrived. His coming was indeed welcomed by all; but, above all, by me, who have been sustaining the double burthen of the Novitiate and the Mission. Now, blessed be God, I am relieved of the care of superintending the Mission. With regard to the Novitiate, we have eleven Novices, of whom four are Priests, six are Scholastics, and one a Temporal Coadjutor. Domestic discipline and regular observance proceed in due course, as I flatter myself. I do trust in the Lord, that they will not degenerate from the primitive spirit of our Fathers. They are trained in the simplicity of obedience, in the despising of themselves and the World, in subduing their passions, renouncing self-will, in the practise of poverty, in the candid and unreserved manifestation of Conscience, in inward conversation and familiarity with God : and of these things, praise be to God, they are very capable and most eager. Nothing is omitted which the Rules prescribe for their formation in the spirit of the Society of Jesus”.

The 2nd is dated from Kilkenny, the 30th of June, 1618.
“The letters of your Rev. Paternity, bearing date the 24th of August, 1647, did not reach me until the 23rd of last month. Never since the memory of man have the affairs of this kingdom been in a more turbulent state than at present, by reason of the discord now prevailing between the Supreme Council and the Nuncio”.
He then states that the Supreme Council, in consequence of severe reverses of fortune during the Campaign, and the great want of ways and means, had concluded a Treaty for six months with Inchinquin, the General of the Enemy’s forces : that some of the Conditions were judged unfavourable to Ecclesiastical rights by the Nuncio, who signified his utter disapprobation, and threatened an interdict, unless the Truce was recalled within the space of nine days; that the Supreme Council appealed to the Holy See; but notwithstanding such appeal, the Nuncio had proceeded to carry his threat into execution; and that confusion and the worst species of civil hostilities were engendered between the parties.

In this and other letters, dated from Kilkenny, the 31st of December, 1648, the 8th of February, 1649, the 22nd of June, 1649, he enters into many details relating to the history of this sad and eventful period, and gives proof of his own quiet and meek spirit, of his tender regard for Charity and the interests of Religion.

From Galway the Rev. Father addressed two letters to the Gen. Piccolimini.

The first is dated the 20th of April, 1650 : he remarks on the bright prospect there was for the Irish Mission of the Society in Ireland but seven years ago; what a wide field was opened for extending the glory of God, and procuring the salvation of souls; that several cities had petitioned for Colleges of the Order, and that competent foundations* had been offered and some accepted; that the small number of labourers for such an abundant harvest of souls (for they hardly amounted to sixty for the whole of Ireland, nam vix sexayinta in toto regno fuimus) induced them to apply for powers to admit Novices at home, who being instructed in virtue and afterwards in learning, might succeed us, most of whom are advanced in years, in the work of the Ministry. The necessary permission was obtained; it was confirmed and increased afterwards, and the Novitiate had prosperously maintained its course during the last four years “et Novitiatus hoc quadriennio prosper suum cursum tenuit”. But as nothing is stable in human affairs, during the last year the Establishment was disturbed by the din of arms and by the assault of the Parliamentary forces, insomuch that a transmigration to Galway had become necessary. Every day the political horizon grew darker, and the panic and despair of the confederated Chiefs portended the worst consequences to the Country. He adds, “For the more advanced of our Brethren we are not so concerned; for they are prepared by age and the long exercise of virtues to meet the brunt and storm of Persecution : but for the Juniors, as for so many unfledged young from the hovering Kite, we are all solicitude”. After earnestly consulting Almighty God, and deliberating with the Fathers of Galway and its neighbourhood, he states, that it was unanimously resolved to send the young men abroad as soon as possible, trusting in God and in the accustomed charity of the Society, that provision would be made for them. He finishes by saying, “My bowels are moved with the danger impending on those whom I have begotten in Christ; for, as their Master of Novices, I have brought them forth with the anxiety of a mother. I now commend and commit them to your Rev. Paternity, that they may be distributed and accepted through the Provinces; hear, I implore you, my good Father, this first petition of their very poor Mother; I do not say, my Petition; but of this declining Mission; because Satan waxes fierce and cruel, intent on extinguishing the spark which is left, and on leaving us no name or remainder upon the earth”. (2 Kings, xiv. 70.)

The second letter is dated the 14th of August, 1650. After briefly adverting to the successes of the Puritan Factions, and the atrocities and sacrileges which marked their triumphant progress, he says, that he will take the first safe opportunity of shipping off his dear Novices to the Continent, and conjures the General to exercise his tender charity towards these interesting Exiles.

• Amongst these benefactors (we have already noticed the greatest, Elizabeth Nugent, Countess of Kildare, who died on the 26th of October, 1645) we must particularize Dr. Thomas Dease, Bishop of Meath; Mr. Edmund Kirwan and his relation Francis Kirwan, Bishop of Killala (his Lordship had obtained to be admitted into the Society “pro hora mortis”, and was buried in the Jesuits Church at Rennes); and Thomas Walsh, Archbishop of Cashell, who died in exile at Compostella. The Supreme Council had also engaged in 1645. to erect a new University, to be under the charge of the Jesuits, as also to found a College under the name of Jesus.

Born: 05 August 1812, Castle Ffrench, County Galway
Entered: 06 December 1830, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: by 1847
Final vows: 15 August 1850
Died: 31 May 1873, Professed House, Rome, Italy

Vice Provincial of Irish Vice-Province of the Society of Jesus: 1855-1858
Substitute English Assistant to Father General: 1858-1863
English Assistant to Father General: 1863-31 May 1873

by 1834 in Clongowes
by 1841 at Namur (BELG) studying Phil 2
by 1847 Clongowes
Vice Provincial 24 June 1856
by 1858 Substitute English Assistant Dom Prof Rome Italy
by 1863 English Assistant

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
1847 He was a Teacher in Tullabeg
1850-1855 Rector at Tullabeg
1855-1858 Appointed Vice-Provincial
1858 Appointed Substitute English Assistant to Fr General in Rome
1865 Appointed English Assistant to Fr General in Rome and he died in office there 31 May 1873. He had been 43 years in the Society.
He was a Priest of great holiness, very mortified, and he died with the reputation of a saint.
A special memoir of him was published, and a painting of him at Milltown Park.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Ffrench 1812-1873
John Ffrench was born at Castle Ffrench County Galway on August 14th 1812, the second son of Charles Austin the 3rd Baron Ffrench. He entered the noviceship from Clongowes in 1830.

He became Rector of Tullabeg in 1850, Rector of Belvedere for a short while before being appointed Vice-Provincial in 1855. Three years later he was made Acting Assistant for the English Assistancy, and finally in 1865, full Assistant. He was the first Irishman to hold this position.

His last days were spent amid the alarms and turmoil of the Italian Revolution. The Gesù, where he lay dying, was partly occupied by Piedmontese troops. His illness seems to have been on longstanding, an infection of the lungs, declared by the doctors as incurable. He died in the odour of sanctity on May 31st 1873. As intramural burial was forbidden in those days, his body was conveyed after the solemn obsequies at the Gesù, to the Campo Verano, or the cemetery neat the Church of St Lawrence. Two years later the body was exhumed for reburial in a special vault. On the coffin being opened the body was found incorrupt.

In 1886 it was desired to place in the common charnel-house, the remains of those, dead some years, whose bodies supposedly must now be reduced to dust. However, on opening Fr Ffrench’s coffin the body was found still in a state of preservation, with no offensive signs of decay. The records of the Society contain this encomium of Father John :
He was a man of singular holiness, humility, patience and charity. He was very mortified and died with the reputation of a saint”.

Born: 30 March 1644, Madrid, Spain
Entered: 07 September1670, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 04 April 1678
Final Vows: 02 February 1688
Died: 29 August 1719, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1685 Missioner in the Hampshire disctrict
1692 Succeeded Christopher Grene as English Penitentiary at St Peter’s Rome (ANG CAT 1704 shows him still there)

He is named in several letters of ANG Mission Superior John Warner, written to Rome, and in one dated 14 June 1680, he informs the General that John Baker had escaped from England. (Father Warner’s Note and Letter-book)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
BAKER, JOHN, admitted a novice at Watten 7th Sept 1670. He succeeded F. Christopher Green, July, 1692, in the office of Penitentiary in St. Peter s at Rome; and died at Watten, 29th Aug. 1719, at. 75.

Born: 01 September 1812, Camerino, Macerata, Italy
Entered: 27 November 1833, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1843
Final vows: 02 February 1845
Died: 04 December 1874, Lyon, France - Venetae Province (VEM)

Came to HIB in 1861 working at St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin.

Born: 14 August 1619, Wales
Entered: 24 August 1640, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1649 Bordeaux
Final Vows: 25 April 1658
Died: 27 July 1680, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Appears in Old/15 and CATSJ A-H

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
BUCKLEY, ROBERT, of Wales, was appointed to the Penitentiary, at St. Peter’s, in October, 1672; died at Rome, 6th July, (another account says 27th of July) 1680, aet. 61, Soc. 40.

Born: Ireland
Entered: 1699 - Venetae Province (VEM)
Died: 01 March 1760, Parma, Italy - Venetae Province (VEM)

CATSJ A-H has a “Ciamberlani (Chamberlain) Irish?”; RIP Venetian Province 1760

Born: 1518, Embrun, France
Entered: 15 August 1535
Died: 29 August 1541, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Born: 05 November 1850, Wigan, Lancashire, England
Entered: 10 July 1880, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1889
Final vows: 15 August 1897
Died: 18 July 1939, Linden Convalescent Home Blackrock, Dublin

Part of the St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1888 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1896 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Darlington, Joseph
by Bridget Hourican

Darlington, Joseph (1850–1939), Jesuit and academic, was born 5 November 1850 in Wigan, Lancashire, second son of Ralph Darlington (occupation unknown). He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford (2 December 1869) and graduated BA (1874) and MA (1876), after which he took orders in the Church of England. At Oxford he had been profoundly influenced by the leaders of the anglo-catholic movement, and, because of his advocacy of certain catholic doctrines, had to resign his parish. After a summer spent wrestling his conscience in the Rhineland, he was received into the catholic church in 1878, and came to Ireland as tutor to a catholic family in Tralee, Co. Kerry, where he met and was influenced by the Jesuit Isaac Moore. In 1880 he entered the Irish Jesuit noviciate and in 1885 was on the staff of UCD, teaching Latin and Greek and acting as assistant prefect of studies. He spent the rest of his career in UCD.

Appointed dean of studies and university examiner in English literature in 1890, he was for the next nineteen years (until the absorption of the old college into the new UCD) ‘the linchpin of what was at times a somewhat ramshackle conveyance’ (Gwynn, 36). He was professor of English until 1901, when he transferred to the chair of metaphysics (1901–9). Idiosyncratic, energetic, and a talented organiser, he was famous for his involvement with every phase of college life, and his concern for students’ welfare. His mannerisms – staccato speech, brisk rubbing of hands – became legendary, as did his perpetual refrain ‘Capital! Capital! Just my idea!’, which signalled his propensity to agreement. His eccentricity, pliancy, and good nature are illustrated by two stories that found their way into a number of memoirs: when a student informed him he was to be married, Darlington allegedly replied: ‘Just the very thing, just the very thing, I was about to do the same myself’; and when John Marcus O'Sullivan (qv) applied for a chair in philosophy, Darlington asked if he had any other subject, and on hearing that he had studied history in first year, said ‘Capital! Capital! You apply for history.’ O'Sullivan did, gained the professorship, and proved a great success. Darlington's students set traps to get him to agree indiscriminately and so contradict himself – possibly he played along, as he had a droll sense of humour. Most appreciated his interest in their welfare and his ‘almost miraculous power of radiating his own cheerful optimism’ (Howley, 504), but this view was not shared by his most famous student, James Joyce (qv), who immortalised him as the dean of studies in Portrait of the artist as a young man (1916). Joyce's dean is indeed brisk, chatty, interested, and courteous, but he is also unsaintly, with pale, loveless eyes, a hard, jingling voice, and a face like an unlit lamp. In one of the book's most famous scenes, his querying of a peculiarly Irish word makes Stephen Dedalus reflect bitterly on Ireland's subordination to Britain. Other students, however, thought Darlington the best assimilated of the English Jesuits in UCD – ‘though he had English eyes, he wore Irish spectacles. He could see our point of view and agree with it’ (Howley, 501–2). Later in life he was a strong supporter of Sinn Féin.

Darlington published little – most notable was probably The dilemma of John Haughton Steele (1933), a biography of the convert son of the Rev. William Steele (qv). An exponent of the theory that Shakespeare was catholic, he wrote between 1897 and 1899 a number of articles on this subject in the Irish Ecclesiastical Review, the Irish Monthly, and the New Ireland Review. His contribution to the history of the college, A page of Irish history (1930) was droll and lively, exhibiting his excellent memory for detail and grasp of the absurd. It was with characteristic humour that he suggested the volume be called ‘Whigs on the Green’, after the political tendency of UCD president William Delany (qv), SJ. Outside the college he played an important role as director of the Archconfraternity of St Joseph in Ireland and as editor of its newsletter, St Joseph's Sheaf. This confraternity, founded in France, focused on educating young priests. A Galway woman, Olivia Mary Taafe (qv), set up the Irish branch and persuaded Darlington to become involved. Shortly after the first issue of St Joseph's Sheaf (1 April 1895), Darlington was transferred to England for his tertianship (the year's course required before the taking of the final Jesuit vows) and his colleague, Fr Henry Browne (qv) took over the editorship, but Darlington remained involved with the society until 1923 and contributed regularly to the newsletter.

On the establishment of the NUI (1909) Darlington stepped down as dean and professor but was put in charge of Winton House and later University Hall, students' halls of residence, where he continued to work until a few years before his death in Dublin on 18 July 1939, aged 88.

Arthur Clery, Dublin essays (1919), 54–6; Society of Jesus, A page of Irish history: the story of University College Dublin 1883–1909 (1930); IER, xlii (July 1933), 109–10; Ir. Independent, 19 July 1939; John Howley, ‘Fr Joseph Darlington, S.J., 1850–1939: an appreciation’, Studies, xxviii (1939), 501–4; Alumni Oxonienses; J. F. Byrne, The silent years (1953), 33–5; Aubrey Gwynn, ‘The Jesuit fathers and University College’, Michael Tierney (ed.), Struggle with fortune: a miscellany for the centenary of the Catholic University of Ireland, 1854–1954 (1954); Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (1982); Thomas J. Morrissey, Towards a national university: William Delany S.J. 1835–1924 (1983); J. Anthony Gaughan, Olivia Mary Taafe, 1832–1918 (1995)

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 1 1934

Leeson St :
Monday, November 20th, was a red-letter day in the history of Leeson street, for it witnessed the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the House's foundation. In November, 1833. the Community came into being at 86 St Stephen's Green, where it remained until 1909, when the building was handed over to the newly constituted National University. The Community, however, survived intact and migrated to a nearby house in Lesson Street, where it renewed its youth in intimate relationship with the Dublin College of the University.
Its history falls this into two almost equal periods, different, indeed, in many ways, yet essentially one, since the energies of the Community during each period have been devoted to the same purpose, the furtherance of Catholic University Education in Ireland.
A precious link between the two eras is Father Tom Finlay, who was a member of the Community in 1883, and ever since has maintained his connection with it. His presence on Monday evening, restored to his old health after a severe illness was a source of particular pleasure to the whole gathering. It was also gratifying to see among the visitors Father Henry Browne, who had crossed from England at much personal inconvenience to take part in the celebration. Not only was Father Browne a valued member of the Community for over thirty years, but he acquired additional merit by putting on record, in collaboration with Father McKenna, in that bulky volume with the modest title " A Page of Irish History," the work achieved by the House during the first heroic age of its existence. It was a pleasure, too, to see hale and well among those present Father Joseph Darlington, guide, philosopher and friend to so many students during the two periods. Father George O'Neill, who for many years was a distinguished member of the Community, could not, alas. be expected to make the long journey from his newer field of fruitful labor in Werribee, Australia.
Father Superior, in an exceptionally happy speech, described the part played by the Community, especially in its earlier days of struggle, in the intellectual life of the country. The venerable Fathers who toiled so unselfishly in the old house in St. Stephens Green had exalted the prestige of the Society throughout Ireland. Father Finlay, in reply, recalled the names of the giants of those early days, Father Delany, Father Gerald Hopkins, Mr. Curtis and others. Father Darlington stressed the abiding influence of Newman, felt not merely in the schools of art and science, but in the famous Cecilia Street Medial School. Father Henry Browne spoke movingly of the faith, courage and vision displayed by the leaders of the Province in 1883, when they took on their shoulders such a heavy burden. It was a far cry from that day in 1883, when the Province had next to no resources, to our own day, when some sixty of our juniors are to be found, as a matter of course preparing for degrees in a National University. The progress of the Province during these fifty years excited feelings of
admiration and of profound gratitude , and much of that progress was perhaps due to the decision, valiantly taken in 1883 1883, which had raised the work of the Province to a higher plane.

Irish Province News 14th Year No 4 1939

Obituary

Father Joseph Darlington

Father Joseph Darlington died at Linden Convalescent Home Blackrock, on the 18th July. His health and his memory had been failing for some years-he was almost 89 when he died - but his sunny and unselfish cheerfulness remained to the very end undimmed, and made everyone who had to do with him his friend.

He was born in Wigan in 1850, and educated at Rossall School, and at Brasenose College, Oxford. When at Oxford he came in touch with the leaders of the Anglo-Catholic movement, and was profoundly influenced by their ideas. He decided to take Orders in the Church of England, but before doing so he spent a year or more at the seminary which the Anglo-Catholics had established at Cuddesdon, in order that clerics might have some more instruction and training in their duties than were required for a University Degree. He always retained a strong and affectionate regard for his colleagues and teachers of this period. I remember someone saying in his presence that these “Ritualists were only interested
in externals. vestments and incense and candles and so on is not so," said he (it must have been almost the only instance in which he was ever known to contradict anyone) “I knew these men well, I was one of them, We wondered why it was that when we preached Catholic doctrines, the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Real Presence, the power of the Sacraments, and so on, nobody listened to us, while the Catholic churches. in which these same doctrines were preached, were crowded, We went to see, and we saw that everything in the Catholic Church, the vestments, the lights, the altar decorations, the pictures and statues, all spoke to the people of the supernatural and divine meaning of the doctrines. So we went and did the same.
His father, a well-to-do lawyer, secured for him a prosperous living, and his prospects in the Church of England were rosy. But his advocacy of Catholic doctrines brought him into conflict with his flock, who reported him to his Bishop. The young parson defended his beliefs, and the Bishop replied with much kindness : “I will not argue with you about the truth of your ideas. But I will put this to you - you are being paid a salary to teach the doctrines of the Church of England as set forth in the Thirty-nine Articles. And the doctrines you are teaching, whether true or not, do not seem to answer to that description.” Whereupon the young divine promptly resigned his benefice, and prepared to face the world penniless.
Not long after this he was received into the Church, and obtained a position as tutor in an Irish Catholic family. He had already, at the time of his reception, offered himself to the Society, but he was then too recent a convert to be received at once. It was largely the impression made upon him by Father Isaac Moore, S.J., that decided him to enter the Irish Province, which he did in 1880, two years after his reception into the Church.
Not very long before, while he was still in the Ministry of the Church of England, a colleague had said to him : “I can't go on as I am. I must be either a Jesuit or a Cowley Father.” Darlington had answered, horrified at the danger his friend was running : “Put the idea of being a Jesuit out of your head. That is a temptation straight from the devil! ” So the friend became a Cowley Father, and remained one to his death, having in the meantime written one of the best books in English on the Spiritual Exercises.
After his novitiate he did three years Philosophy at Milltown Park, and was assigned in 1885 to University College, which Father W. Delany was struggling valiantly and with success to put on its feet. He helped in the teaching and studied for a degree in Philosophy. He was already M.A. of Oxford, but he took his B.A. in the old Royal University in 1886 and his M.A. in 1887, the latter with First-Class Honours and a special Gold Medal. Then he went to Louvain for Theology, and after his ordination returned to University College. Here he remained, with the exception of his Tertianship at Chieri, until the Royal University ceased to exist, in 1909. He was, one may say, the mainspring of the College, and its wonderful success during those twenty years was more due to him, probably, than to any other one man. He was Professor of English first and of Philosophy afterwards, and Prefect of Studies the whole time. His energy was unremitting, and he had a wonderful power of taking a real personal interest in every person and thing he had to deal with. He was not a great organiser, but every teacher and every student knew that he had in Father Darlington a personal friend to whom he could turn in any difficulty or trouble, and who would spare no trouble to help him. His kindness was unbounded. Apart from his duties at the College, every student in Dublin who had got into trouble with his parents or with his scholastic superiors, or even with the police, turned to him as a matter of course, and never in vain. Not only was he helped, but he was made to feel that by appealing for help he had conferred a great favour on Father Darlington.
During these years, too, and indeed until in the last days his feebleness made it impossible, he helped numbers of non-Catholics to find their way into the Church. They came to him, sure of a sympathetic and understanding listener. His habit of agreeing with practically everything one said was a source of amusement to his friends, but it had a solid basis, and it served him well when dealing with the difficulties of others. His principle was that, just as there is an element of good in everyone, so there is an element of truth in almost every statement; and his plan was to seize on that and build upon it. A Protestant said to him once: “If I knew what is in the Blessed Sacrament, I think I could become a Catholic”. He replied: “You don't know, and neither do I. But Our Lord said, 'This is My Body,' and I believe Him. And if He says anything to me about it on the Last Day, I shall say, I didn't know what was there, but You told me it was Your Body, and I believed You.” That difficulty was settled. Another time an Anglican, engaged to a Catholic girl, explained that in his view the Church had three branches, the Romani, the Eastern, and the Anglican. "And now," said Father Darlington, “ suppose a bird is sitting on a branch of a tree, and he sees his mate sitting on another branch, what does he do? “Hop over beside his mate, of course”. This principle of fastening on what is good and true in any person or statement, and working on that, is of course entirely accord ing to the mind and practice of St. Ignatius. But what above all else gave Father Darlington the remarkable power he had over souls in trouble or difficulty was his absolute self-forgetfulness and self-devotion ; that he was, in fact, so completely a man of God.
When the National University was founded in 1909, he did not apply for a chair. So it fell out that of all the Professors of the old University College (not due for superannuation), he, who had done more than any of the rest to make the new College possible, was the only one not to figure in its Faculty-list. He devoted himself to the students at Winton House and afterwards at University Hall, with the same generous energy that he had shown at Stephen's Green for so many years.
He was Spiritual Father to the Community for something like thirty years. His exhortations were often a delight to listen to for their freshness of outlook and presentation. I remember the first one he gave, in Stephen's Green, He was the most genuinely humble of men, and really felt for the Community, condemned to listen to such a person as himself. He did not say this in so many words, but he told us that the Spiritual Father was appointed for the humiliation of the Community. “Among the Fathers of the Desert”, he read out of his manuscript, “it was the custom, for the humiliation of the Community, to appoint its most stupid member as Spiritual Father - and we have only to look around us to see that the same heroic practice still obtains in all its pristine vigor”.
His whole life was generously given to God and his neighbour and he has left a fragrant memory to his many friends. May he rest in peace (M Egan SJ)

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Joseph Darlington 1850-1939
According to Fr William Delaney, Fr Joseph Darlington was the mainspring of the old Royal University and its success during those years 1889-1909, and indeed this was due in no small way to him. His energy was unremitting and he had a special gift of a personal interest in every person and thing he had to deal with, from his duties at the College, every student in Dublin who had got into trouble with his parents or scholastic superiors, or even police turned to him in a matter of course, and never in vain.

On retiring from the Royal University he became Spiritual Father in Leeson Street, an office he held for thirty years, giving exhortations that were a delight to the community.

He was born a Protestant at Wigan England in 1850, and while in Oxford came under the influence of the Oxford Movement. He took Orders in the Anglican Church, but entered the Catholic Church in 1878, becoming a Jesuit two years later.

He died at the ripe age of 89 on July 18th 1939.

Born: 1599, Ireland
Entered: 17 November 1621, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Ordained: 1629, Rome, Italy
Died: 03 November 1635, Killaloe, County Clare

1622 Studied 3 years Philosophy
1625 Was at Perugia College teaching Grammar 2 years
1630 Goes to Ireland from Rome in September, leaving some books belonging to the Irish Mission in the Chiesa del Gesù.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had already completed his Philosophy studies at Douai before Ent 17 November 1621 Rome
After First Vows he was sent on Regency to Fermo and Perugia.
1629-1629 He was sent to Rome for studies and was Ordained there 1629
1630 Sent to Ireland, but did not arrive until Spring 1631. He was sent to the diocese of Killaloe, where he was befriended by Bishop John O’Molony, and he died there 03 November 1635.

Entered: 1626, St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 13 March 1651, Perugia, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

◆ CATSJ A-H has
Ent St Andrea 02 December 1626
1628 CAT age 25 - unclear if this is age then or at Ent
1628 ROM CAT Called “Anconitanus”
1636 ROM CAT In Catalogue

Died: 27 September 1608, Recanati, Italy - Romamae Province (ROM)

◆ In Old/15 (1) and CATSJ A-H

Ordained: St Andrea, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 13 August 1682, Douai, France - Gallo Flanders Province (BELG)

◆ CATSJ A-H has
a “George Ford”
“Scotch juxta Foley, most probably Irish juxta Hogan”

Died: 17 April 1730, Genoa, Italy - Mediolanensis Province (MED)

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Old/17

Born: 1598
Entered: 1607
Died: 10 November 1621, Loreto, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

◆ CATSJ I-Y has
DOB 1598; Ent 1607;
Studied Philosophy and Theology
1611 Not in ROM CAT
1616 At Loreto College - judgement and prudence good, much experience. Fit to hear confessions or be Superior
1619 Not in ROM CAT

◆ In Old/15 (1) and Chronological Catalogue Sheet

Born: 14 February 1816, County Longford
Entered: 25 April 1835, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: by 1851
Final vows: 15 August 1857
Died 12 May 1877, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1844 in Nice (LUGD) studying philosophy
by 1847 in Rome Studying
by 1857 in Rome Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1865 in San Francisco College CA, USA (TAUR) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He received a great part of his early and Priestly education before Ent. he was received into the Society by Peter Kenney 25 April 1835.

1847 he was studying Theology at Rome, and he was considered a rival to the great Passaglia.
1851-1856 He was sent Teaching Classics at Belvedere, and was also a Professor and Examiner at the Catholic University.
1856-1857 He was sent to St Eusebia’s in Rome for Tertianship.
1857-1861 He was made Superior of the new Theologate at 28 Nth Frederick St, but as this house only lasted one year, he was made Rector of Belvedere in August 1858, and held that post until 1861.
1861-1864 he was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius.
1864 He was sent to Santa Clara to preside over the English Department at the College there.
1868 He was appointed Socius to the Visitor in California.
1869 He returned to Ireland and was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius. He remained at Gardiner St until within a few months before his death, when he moved to Milltown and died there 12 May 1877.
He was eminent in Theology, Literature and Science. He had a reputation as a poet, his most famous piece was entitled “The Triumph of the Just”. A man of extensive knowledge, he was held in high esteem by the learned.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael O’Ferrall SJ 1816-1877
Fr Michael O’Ferrall was born in Longford on Feb 14th 1816. He had received a great part of his education before he was received into the Society by Fr Peter Kenney in 1835.

He studied Theology in Rome in 1847 where he was considered a rival of the great Passaglia. He was Professor and examiner in the Catholic University, and then in 1857 he became Superior of the new Theologate at 28 Great Frederick Street. This house only lasted a year and he then became Rector of Belvedere until 1861.

He was sent to California in 1864 where he presided over the English Department at Santa Clara College. He then became Socius to the Visitor in California in 1868.

Returning to Ireland he was stationed at Gardiner Street until a few months before his death, which took place at Milltown Park on May 12th 1877.

He was eminent in Theology, Literature and Science and was a poet of no mean order, his finest piece being “The Triumph of the Just”.

Born: 30 September 1878, South Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 25 April 1895, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 28 July 1912, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1915
Died: 11 December 1949, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australia Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1907 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1913 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1914 in Florence, Italy (ROM) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Wilfred Ryan was educated at St Patrick's College, and Xavier College, Kew, before entering the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich 25 April 1895. After his juniorate there, he taught at St Aloysius' College, Bourke Street, 1901-06, before philosophy studies at Stonyhurst, 1906-09. Theology followed immediately at Milltown Park, Dublin, and at Innsbruck, 1909-13.Tertianship in Florence followed.
During his studies he continued to pursue his special interest in geology, studying in Germany, Spain, and Italy For his discoveries, especially a fossil hitherto undiscovered in Europe near the Dargle, he was admitted, upon the recommendation of professors of Cambridge, to a fellowship of the Geological Society.
Ryan returned to Australia and Riverview in 1914, where he taught, directed the choir and orchestra, and was, at various times, assistant director of the observatory, and lecturer in
philosophy at St John's College, University of Sydney.
From 1919-30 Ryan was a tutor in philosophy, geology and sociology, as well as minister and dean at Newman College, University of Melbourne. He was awarded an MA and a Dip Ed from the university. Ryan became a haven of hope for the many young men returning from their disillusioning experiences of the First World War. He had a great capacity for friendship, and the students enjoyed his bright and cheery personality He could understand their difficulties, and was approachable as an equal. Never for a moment did Ryan ever give the impression that he gloried in his learning or holiness, His modesty was obvious. He, with Jeremiah Murphy and Dominic Kelly, set the tone for Newman College of the future.
Then he became involved in parish ministry, 1930-48, at Norwood, and was superior and parish priest, 1940-48. He also lectured in philosophy at the University of Adelaide.
Ryan's final missioning was to Xavier College in 1948, where he was spiritual father until his death. He enjoyed these years, as he was much at home among the young. He was a very gentle, courteous, land, and learned priest, everyone's friend, and died suddenly when on a Sunday parish supply.

Note from Edward Pigot Entry
His extremely high standards of scientific accuracy and integrity made it difficult for him to find an assistant he could work with, or who could work with him. George Downey, Robert McCarthy, and Wilfred Ryan, all failed to satisfy. However, when he met the young scholastic Daniel O'Connell he found a man after his own heart. When he found death approaching he was afraid, not of death, but because O’Connell was still only a theologian and not ready to take over the observatory. Happily, the Irish province was willing to release his other great friend, William O'Leary to fill the gap.

Born: 15 May 1902, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 30 March 1919, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1934, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1937
Died: 10 October 1988, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

by 1925 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying
by 1929 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Matthew O'Brien was baptised at the Immaculate Conception Church, Hawthorn, 11 June 1902, by Peter O'Flynn. His secondary education was at the CBC College, South Melbourne, and Xavier College, Kew, 1913-18.
He entered the Jesuit noviciate at Loyola, Greenwich, Sydney, 30 March 1919, and after his first vows, went to Ireland in October 1921 to begin his juniorate studies at Rathfarnham, during which he studied classics at Dublin University. In his second year he won the classics prize. He became ill and he was unable to finish his degree, but he was sent to the Gregorian in Rome for philosophy and was awarded his doctorate in 1927. He completed his classics degree and was able to sit for exams in 1925, obtaining honours.
From 1927-31 he did regency at Xavier College, where he taught English, Latin and Greek at the intermediate level and was involved with boarding. He went back to Ireland and Milltown Park for theology; 1931-35, and was ordained, 31 July 1934. The next year he did his tertianship at St Beuno's. North Wales. and then returned to Australia to be Socius to the master of novices for the remainder of 1936.
Remaining at Loyola College, Watsonia, he became minister of Juniors, teaching Latin, Greek and ancient history until the end of 1940. From 1940-48 he was the headmaster of Kostka Hall Brighton, and from 1949-52, prefect of studies at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne.
He taught religion and Latin at St Ignatius' College, Norwood, 1953-57. The next year began his long association with St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, first as prefect of studies for
eleven years 1958-68, and then as a teacher. Throughout this long and varied career, a spirit of generous labor distinguished O'Brien, devoting all his energies to the task in hand with complete thoroughness.
He guided St Aloysius' College through the educational changes of the Wyndham System without any confusion or apparent difficulty, thanks largely to his own wisdom and organisational ability.
Humility always characterised him, together with a true community spirit and hospitality He was a friendly man, a good administrator, punctual, exact, and exhibited good order and neatness. He worked long into the night, frequency falling asleep at his desk where he remained until it was time to rise and say Mass the following morning. Former students recalled his memory with pride and gratitude.

Born: 05 February 1902, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1922, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 15 August 1939
Died: 19 April 1979, Campion College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1928 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying
by 1930 in Australia - Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Stan Kelly was educated at Xavier College and was a gifted student who showed signs of dogged determination in the face of opposition. He entered the noviceship at Greenwich, 1 February 1922. His Jesuit studies were undertaken overseas, first in Dublin, where he earned a classics degree. Then he was sent to Chieri, Italy, for philosophy. The fluency of his Italian during these years never left him, and helped him in later years with the Italian migrants in Melbourne.
His regency was spent at St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, and he was in residence when the Harbour Bridge was opened, 19 March 1932. From Sydney he returned to Milltown Park, Dublin, for theology and was ordained, 31 July 1936. Kelly indicated that he did not enjoy his time in Dublin.
Upon his return to Australia he had a wide range of priestly ministry He lectured at the regional seminary at Werribee on two different occasions, 1938-42 and 1952-59. He lectured in dogma at the Jesuit theologate, Canisius College, 1945, and the following year was a chaplain to the Italians in Melbourne. He spent two years at St Leo's University College, Brisbane, 1963-65, school mastered at Riverview, 1943-44, and at St Aloysius' College, 1960-62, taught religion, Latin, English and social studies, and did parochial work in North Sydney and Richmond.
It was believed that Kelly enjoyed best his years teaching the Jesuit scholastics theology at Canisius College. During his seminary years he taught Latin, Greek, English, Italian, Mathematics, Church History, Psychology Ethics, and Dogmatic Theology.
He was a most meticulous person, well ordered and disciplined in his lecturing and preaching. He enjoyed a passionate love for John Chrysostom and translated his sermons. He was disappointed when he was unable to find a publisher.
With all his learning and his very precise mind, there was also a very simple piety, a deep devotion to So Joseph and a genuine readiness to help anyone in need. One virtue that he showed was his great obedience, especially to the Holy Father.
He had a great love for people and he loved visiting them, especially when he was involved in parochial ministry. He was also kind to the scholastics at Riverview - he would offer them cigarettes after recreation in his usual staccato-like voice “filtered or non-filtered”, packing cotton-wool or not at the end of the cigarette in the cigarette-making machine. Stories of encounters with Kelly usually produced much mirth. His “way of proceeding” was not always the most expected or usual.

Note from Walter Logue Entry
When teaching ethics to Jesuit scholastics, first at Watsonia, 1937-38, and then at Canisius College, Pymble, 1939-40, he was famed for his views on hunger striking. Stan Kelly sparked off the issue with an article in the December 1939 issue of The Canisian, in which he contended that hunger striking as an abstinence from necessary food, was intrinsically wrong. Logue contended that it had not been proved that abstinence from necessary food was intrinsically wrong. Kelly replied, but Logue was still unconvinced by the arguments proposed. It was suggested that this dispute contributed to Logue having a breakdown, disappearing one day and coming to himself confused, at Gosford.

Born: 30 January 1904, Campbell Town, Tasmania
Entered: 10 March 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 07 September 1939, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 15 August 1946
Died: 18 September 1987, Newman College, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1930 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Phillips received his early education in Tasmania before entering the Jesuit noviceship at Greenwich, Sydney, 10 March 1924. He did his university studies at University College,
Dublin, where his interest in history was enkindled. He then studied philosophy at Chieri, Turin, Italy.
Regency was at Riverview, where, with Gerald Lawlor, he produced a notebook called “Notes on European History”, designed to remedy deficiencies in the presentation of Catholic aspects of history. He is also credited for being the first Riverview debating master to admit that the GPS competition was the most important phase of the Debating Society. In this aim, Phillips was the first “team coach” of Riverview debating in the modern sense. It was during his term of office that the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition was established. In all three years of his leadership Riverview reached the final of the GPS competition and won two of them, 1935-36, and it also won the oratory competition.
It was during his theological studies at Heythrop College in England that his predilection for scriptural studies appeared. However, he was not able to return to Australia immediately after ordination because of the war. En route to Australia, a German torpedo hit his ship but it did not explode.
He began to teach scripture, but had no special training for it. He spent many years at Werribee and Glen Waverley. His grasp of biblical studies eventually became quite encyclopaedic, and he was rated highly among professional scholars.
In 1954 Phillips was asked to take over the Catholic Central Library after the death of William Hackett. Under his management it became more a bookshop than a lending library.
After his retirement from teaching, he gave his full attention to the library, working long hours into the night, catching the last tram home to the Jesuit Theological College. He became notorious for preparing his own meals, and eventually from malnutrition. His contemporaries had always respected his learning and zeal. As he aged, he mellowed, and a wide circle of friends genuinely mourned him.

Born: 11 May 1906, Northcote, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 08 March 1925, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained 30 June 1940, Liverpool, England
Professed: 02 February 1979
Died: 19 March 1991, St Xavier’s, Bokaro Steel City, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India - Ranchiensis Province (RAN)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05-April 1931; ASL to RAN 12 March 1956

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :

Note from Francis Keogh Entry :
His death was keenly felt by those who served under him, especially at Sevenhill. Mr Lachal there wrote “He was the kindest of Superiors, a real father to the Novices, keeping a particularly keen eye on their health. I wish I had Father Rector’s ticket to heaven, Father Master once said to his Novices.’

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Lou Lachal received his early education at the local parish school and his secondary education at Xavier College, Kew, where his father had been before him. Though he excelled perhaps more in sports than in studies, he graduated in 1924 with honours in French and Latin in the final examinations.
In March 1925 he joined the Jesuits at Greenwich, Sydney, and in 1927 he went to Rathfarnham for his juniorate studies, gaining a BA from the National University of Ireland. Philosophy studies followed in France, and he did regency at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, from 1933. He was rowing master among other things, and received a reprimand from the general for allowing the boys to mix with non-Catholics in the rowing sheds!
Theology studies followed at Naples, Italy, but World War II broke out and he moved to Liverpool in 1940 with a letter of commendation to any bishop to ordain him. He was ordained in Liverpool, completed his theology at Heythrop, Oxford, and then spent a few months caring for the needs of working class people in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
Towards the end of 1941 Lachal returned to Australia via the Panama Canal. He was once again sent to Riverview. Tertianship at Loyola College, Watsonia, followed in 1945, after which he taught for two years at St Patrick's College. He worked in the parish of Richmond in 1948. He enjoyed his time there, and they appreciated the tall, strong, modest, pipe-smoking priest who could he relied upon for service at any time of day or night.
Lachal was among the first Australian Jesuits assigned to the mission in the Hazarihag region of India in 1951. He was 45 years old at the time, and was to spend another 40 years in India. He found Hindi studies difficult, but could generally make himself understood. His good humor and friendliness did the rest. Soon after arrival in India he became involved with direct missionary work at Chandwa, then one of the two parishes in the district of Palamau.
Later, he became parish priest of the Chechai region, which stretched for 130 miles, and then at Mahuadanr, followed by Hazaribag, Chandwa, Bhurkunda and Bokaro Steel City
Wherever he worked, his constant aim was first to provide an adequate education system, followed by health and other development projects to uplift poor people.
One of his greatest triumphs was setting up the Christian Centre at Bokaro Steel City in the vanguard of the ecumenical movement, Lachal proposed the Christian Centre as his
solution to the problem of how to share one small piece of real estate allotted by the Steele Authority to no less than ten groups all claiming to be Christian.
He was a caring father to all Jesuits in the Hazaribag diocese and to religious and lay people all over the Daltonganj diocese. Many sought his wise advice, encouragement and
companionship. People meant much to Lachal. He was a great conversationalist with a quick wit. In addition, he wrote thousands of letters, especially to the mission's friends and
supporters in Australia, assuring them of his interest and concern.
Lachal, commonly known as 'Lou', was greatly loved, respected and trusted by everyone, Jesuits and lay friends alike. He had a strong, outgoing personality, a man of immense charm, wisdom and optimism. His life was characterised by his availability to people anywhere at any time. He was rarely seen alone, he always had people around him. He had a solid, simple spirituality with a great devotion to Our Lady. He was regularly seen saying the Rosary, or heard singing Marian hymns during Mass. He regularly said two public Masses a day, even when he could only travel by rickshaw. When asked what he had been doing, he jokingly said that he had been “witnessing”, a constant feature of his long and happy life.

Born: 17 February 1912, Shipley, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 25 February 1928, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 26 July 1942, Heythrop, Oxford, England
Final vows: 02 February 1945
Died: 15 September 1992, St Joseph. Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
Brother of Charles - RIP 1993

At age seven his family of two brothers and two sisters emigrated from England to Australia. His early education was at Footscray and Ascot Vale, and then at St Patrick’s College, Melbounre, where his father was a music teacher

He joined the Society in 1928 and after First Vows his studies took him to Ireland where he gained a BA at University College Dublin, then Philosophy at Chieri Italy and then England where he was Ordianed. General Ledochowski described Chieri as the most austere house in the Society, and Frank agreed but said it did not upset him as much as some other Australians.

1946-1953 He was sent to teach English, History, Economics and religion at St Ignatius College Riverview, and he was also in charge of debating and the Choir. His keen interest in History resulted in his publishing a textbook “Europe a History” which revealed his conviction that the Church had nothing to fear from a dispassionate examination of the facts of its history.
1954-1965 He taught English at St Patrick’s College Melbourne, and was also Prefect of Studies (1962-1965). He edited the “Patrician”, and his editorials were always full of wisdom, wit and grace.
1966-1967 He was sent teaching at St Ignatius Riverview
1968-1970 He was sent teaching St Ignatius College Athelstone, but his primary mission here was to look after his health.
1971-1973 He was sent to Canisius College Pymble, again paying attention to his health and caring for the grounds.
1974 He was appointed province Archivist and moved to the Provincial Residence in Melbourne

All during his long life he was a very faithful man and at peace with himself and the world round him doing the most humble of tasks. At the same time he was a scholar and well versed in Jesuit Spirituality, and this was demonstrated when he gave the Spiritual Exercises and in his writings, which were always clear, precise and informative. His memory for detail added richness to the narrative. For example, when writing on devotion to the Sacred Heart at a tie when it was becoming neglected he was able to capture it with a modern freshness of style and expression enkindling a greater devotion among younger Jesuits and understanding of this traditional Jesuit devotion. He also wrote “The Spiritual Exercises in Australia”, poems and historical articles. His eye for historical detail was meticulous and his knowledge and memory were prodigious.

He enjoyed the work as a Province Archivist, as it gave scope to his historical scholarship and precision. He was helpful to research scholars. His knowledge of the contents of the archives was also prodigious, as was his memory of the people and events of his own lifetime. With the assistance of Austin Ryan he compiled a short biography of every Jesuit who had lived and worked in Australia. His comments on each man were precise and accurate, frequently dispelling oral myths. His last major task was to catalogue the Archives so that others would be easily able to find material in the future.

It would be difficult to find anyone more regular in his life than Frank Dennett. He worked in the basement of the Provincial Residence seven days a week during three sessions, morning, afternoon and evening, broken only by an irregular outside visit to a bookshop,. He died at his desk.

He was a man with a strong sense of the frailty of the human condition and compassion for people. He bore his long illness with enormous courage and patience. He was a quiet retiring man, whose interests varied from the most serious intellectual subjects to sport. He was close to his family and corresponded fairly regularly with his siblings, especially his Jesuit brother Charles. His tasks as a Jesuit Teacher, Historian and Archivist, Cook and Administrator were accomplished with a great sense of obligation and responsibility, and each was performed as perfectly as possible. In his younger years the scholastics admired the way in which he sung the Easter ceremonies at Newman College Chapel, a task he performed most exactly and with obvious enjoyment. He had a fine singing voice.

He was a man who thought very little of himself and served the Society with great thoroughness.

Born: 25 July 1911, Port Adelaide, South Australia
Entered: 21 February 1930, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 15 August 1947
Died: 03 January 1981, Rome, Italy - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, Dunedin, New Zealand community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Ted Gryst received his secondary education with the Christian Brothers at Rostrevor, and entered the Society 21 February 1930, at Greenwich. His juniorate followed at Loyola, Greenwich and Watsonia, with a BA from The University of Melbourne in English and Latin. His regency was at Watsonia, 1938-40, teaching rhetoric. Theology was at Canisius College, Pymble, 1941-44, and tertianship at Watsonia, 1946, under John Fahy.
Gryst had a very strong will that turned itself inwards to inflict a stern self-discipline. Sometimes this was pushed too far and it affected his health. After theology at Pymble he taught scripture at Canisius College, Pymble, 1945. This meant that he spent seventeen years continually in a house of formation that undoubtedly intensified the simplicity of an obviously simple soul. From 1947-61 Gryst was a professor of philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Werribee. He also taught Latin, and was prefect of discipline and assistant librarian. For the next four years he was teaching philosophy and was minister at Loyola College, Watsonia. He also edited Province News. In 1966-72 he was rector at Werribee, teaching philosophy and scripture. It was at this time diet he developed a special bond with the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny. His association with seminary formation then continued for six years at the Holy Name Seminary, Christchurch, New Zealand. Later he moved with the seminary to Holy Cross, Mosgiel, and lectured in scripture. For 21 years he associated with the academic and spiritual formation of seminarians for the province of Victoria and Tasmania. He wrote a book on philosophy, “Talk Sense”, serialised in the Madonna. He loved working in the garden, His spirituality seemed to be an embodiment of the sacrament of “the present moment”. Gryst had three main careers-professor of philosophy for seminarians,. rector, and lecturer in scripture. He received no special training for these tasks, yet carried them out with his usual faith and shy grin. He believed in what he did. He was a man of obedience, a man of faith. Even in his last year of life, in his visit to the Holy Land, he was still seeking insight into the life of Jesus. He was also an Ignatian man - his whole life pointed unambiguously to Jesus. Finally, he was essentially of and for the Society. With a tendency to scrupulousness at all times, he was most particular about the food and drink he consumed. He would walk for hours in the heat, thirsting rather than risk drinking the water of river or stream beside him. He died suddenly in Rome on a Saturday afternoon. He had gone to the Blue Sisters to give a slide talk on his trip to Egypt, and while talking to the sister at the door, collapsed and died. The day before he had visited Monte Cassino, walking up and back the 10 kilometers required.

Born: 15 November 1935, Dalystown, County Westmeath
Entered: 07 September 1954, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 10 July 1968, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 10 September 1981, Luján, Argentina
Died: 07 December 2019, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1969 at Jerusalem, Israel (PRO) studying and teaching
by 1974 at Larkspur. CA, USA (CAL) parish and teaching
by 1975 at Millbrae. CA, USA (CAL) parish and teaching
by 1975 at Auriesville. NY, USA (NYK) making Tertianship
by 1976 at San Francisco. CA, USA (CAL) working and studying
by 1977 at Quito, Ecuador (ECU) teaching
by 1978 at Arica, Chile (CHL) teaching
by 1979 at Asunción. Paraguay (PAR) and Buenos Aires, Angentina (ARG) teaching
by 1992 at Genoa. Italy (ITA) writing

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/putting-the-priestly-ministry-first-james-kelly-sj/

Putting the priestly ministry First: James Kelly SJ
At the funeral Mass for Fr James Kelly SJ, celebrant Fr Bill Callanan SJ respected the wishes of the deceased and refrained from delivering a eulogy. James’s “frequently expressed desire” for this, Bill explained, did not derive from a false humility. He explained: In my view it stemmed rather from James’ deeply felt sense of his priestly ministry, and of the central place held by the preaching of the Word of God in it. All too often, in James’ view, in funeral allocutions the preacher places his or her main emphasis on the merits or demerits of the deceased. This approach has often resulted in dwelling on the biographical details of their life history, singling out their successes and lauding their accomplishments. The result tended to be that little time was given to the message of the gospel which related most directly to those present, – What is the meaning of death for the Christian? Faithful, then, to James’s wishes, Bill’s homily took the Gospel reading about the resurrection of Lazarus and reflected on the meaning of death for the Christian, especially under the sign of hope in the resurrection. You can read the full homily here » A few words of biography – and indeed of eulogy – are in order. A Westmeath man by birth and upbringing, Fr James became something of a citizen of the world in the course of his Jesuit life. After entering the Society in St Mary’s, Emo, in Co Laois, he studied Classics in UCD and Theology in Milltown Park. But shortly after his ordination at Milltown Park in 1968 he began an itinerant academic career, studying and lecturing in Biblical studies in various parts of the world. He firstly studied scripture at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and then the Franciscanum in Rome. Over the following years he lectured and did parish work in various Californian cities before, in 1977, beginning a lengthy period, mostly as a lecturer in Scripture, in Latin America. He worked in Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina during this time. After his return to Ireland in the mid-1980s, James lectured in biblical languages in the Milltown Institute, but he also spent periods as a writer in Genoa, Italy.
In all of this active life of scholarship, James took very much to heart the call to bring the good news to all who came his way. He had a deeply apostolic vision of priestly life. In all respects he was a good scholar, a fine priest, and a faithful Jesuit.

Early Education at Ballinagore NS, St Jarlath’s, Tuam, Co Galway; St Finian’s, Mullingar, County Westmeath

1956-1959 Rathfarnham - Studying Classics at UCD
1959-1962 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1962-1965 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Regency : Teacher; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1965-1969 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1969-1974 Jerusalem, Israel - Studied Scripture at École Biblique; Studies and Lectures at Pontifical Biblical Institute; Prepared for STD at Franciscanum (Jerusalem and Rome)
1974-1975 Larkspur, CA, USA - Assists in St Patrick’s Church
1975-1976 Millbrae, CA, USA - Assists at St Dunstan’s; Lectures one course at University of San Francisco
1976-1977 San Francisco, CA, USA - Parish work and Studying Spanish at Saint Veronica’s, Alida Way
1977-1978 Quito, Ecuador - Lecturer in Scripture at Catolica Università del Ecuador
1978-1979 Arica, Chile - Courses in Religion at Arica Antofagasta
1979-1980 Asunçion, Paraguay & Gesu Nazarone, Corrientes, Argentina
Mendoza, Argentine – Pastoral Work at Residencia, San Martin (Summers)
1980-1983 Asunción, Paraguay & Buenos Aires, Argentina - Lectures in Scripture in Asunción, Paraguay; Lectures for half year in Collegio Maximo de San José,Buenos Aires, Argentina
1983-1992 Milltown Park - Teacher of Hebrew & Greek in Milltown Institute; Chaplain in Milltown Parish, Dublin
1992-1996 Genova, Italy - Ministers in Church; Writer at Chiesa del Gesù
1996-1998 Gardiner St - Writer (6 months in Gardiner St; 6 months in Genoa, Italy)
1997 Orlando, FL, USA - Assists in Parish at St James Parish (3 months)
1998-2005 Crescent Church, Limerick - Assists in Church; Director of Sodalities BVM & St Ignatius
1999 Teaches Italian (adults) at Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, Dooradoyle; Writer
2003 Assists in Church; Teacher of Hebrew to adults;
2005-2019 Milltown Park - Teacher of Biblical Languages at Milltown Institute; Writer

Born: 01 July 1810, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Entered: 16 December 1832, Nivelles, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1843
Final vows: 28 August 1849
Died: 07 September 1881, St Kilda College, Sydney, Australia - Neerlandicae province (NER)

Archbishop of Auckland, died at St Kilda College on way to Europe for medical treatment.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had studied at Amiens and Fribourg, Switzerland before Entry
His Entry to the Society caused some stir in Holland because of the social position of his father, a well known merchant in Amsterdam.

After First Vows he got permission to go on the Borneo Mission. However, Providence or otherwise meant he ended up not in Borneo, but in Bombay India. After years of hard work there he was made Bishop of Bombay in 1861. He made great progress here, and he managed to persuade the local Governor to match any funding for a College he wanted to build. The said Governor was astonished at how much he raised, as he got money from Protestants, Muslims and Hindus as well as his own flock! The College was superb and named after St Francis de Sales
1867 He was translated to Calcutta as Bishop there. The he founded another College attached to a University, founded the Daughters of the Cross Nuns, and founded the Refuge of St Vincent’s Home, along with a large number of schools and orphanages. Under his rule began the successful Bengali Mission, as well as Missions to the Southals and Koles tribes living in the mountains. Once when returning from a missionary journey, he suffered injuries from a fall and the doctors recommended he return to Europe. He did so in 1878, but improved so rapidly that he applied to the Holy See for fresh work. He was appointed to the vacant See of Auckland, New Zealand, and he headed off immediately.
While in Auckland he won universal respect and endearment among the people there, but his health began to suffer from over exertion. On St Patrick’s Day he preached a sermon in three languages - English, French and German, and was so exhausted he retired to bed. It was the start of a fatal illness.
1881 Acting on medical advice he set sail for Europe on May 1st, but suffered on the voyage. So, when he arrived in Sydney he went straight to the house in St Kilda. his condition deteriorated, but he managed to say Mass in his room up to June 30th. After that others said Mass in his room for and with him. On August 4th, William Kelly, the Superior said the Mass assisted by the Archbishop. When Mass was over he sat in his armchair and received the Last Rites. Later that day he expressed gratitude to the community for the loving care they had taken of him, adding that they would soon assist in another more solemn ceremony for him. During his illness, though in severe pain, he showed great resignation. At times his mind wandered, but mostly he was clear minded. He gradually declined and died 07/09/1881.
William Kelly preached a fine Oration, and the Archbishop, assisted but four other dignitaries did the Final Commendation. He was buried on the North Shore Cemetery, an excellent Bishop and remained a true Son of the Society.

Note from John J O’Carroll Entry
William Delaney SJ : “Being in Rome in the year 1866, I was present on many occasions at conversations between JJ O’Carrol and a Dutch clergyman named Steins and also a Dalmatian named Jeramaz, with whom he conversed in the Dutch and Slavonic languages. I know these gentlemen intimately, and they assured me that Father O’Carroll spoke their languages with extraordinary ease and correctness.”

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Walter Steins did studies in Amiens and Fribourg before joining the Society in 1832 for the Dutch province. At final vows in 1849 he volunteered for overseas mission work and was sent to Borneo, but was derailed to Bombay (Mumbai) on the way. After many years of successful ministry he was appointed bishop of that city in 1861. In 1867 he was raised to an archbishop and moved to Calcutta where he founded numerous schools and orphanages, an order of nuns and began the famous Bengali Mission.
His health finally failed and he resigned and returned to Europe in 1878. At home his health recovered so quickly that he asked the Holy See for another appointment and was sent to Auckland. Here he quickly won the respect of everyone in the city but again his health failed and after preaching three sermons on St Patrick's Day (English, German and French), he collapsed. Under medical advice he sailed for Europe on 4 May, but was forced to break his journey in Sydney, and went to St Kilda House. Here his condition became worse, and on 4 August, William Kelly said Mass, administered extreme unction and gave him viaticum. Steins held on for a few more weeks until he finally died.

Born: 20 December 1898, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 11 March 1917, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1929, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1939
Died: 10 June 1947, Holy Name Seminary, Christchurch, New Zealand - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger brother of Thomas (Tom) - RIP 1955

by 1923 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Noel Hehir was a meticulous scholar with a profound respect for humane learning. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and at Xavier College. He entered the Society 11 March 1917, studied in Dublin, gaining first class honors in Greek and Latin. He studied philosophy in Louvain, spent a year teaching at Clongowes, and read theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he showed a special taste for Greek petrology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1929. He also gained an MA in classics during this time, specialising in the history of Roman colonisation.
After tertianship at St Beuno's, Wales, Hehir's first appointment was minister of juniors at Loyola, Greenwich and Watsonia, 1931-36. He directed the first group of Australian scholastics who did their humanities studies at home, either internally or at the university. He had very high ideals about the meaning of education, and was very strict in applying the Ratio Studiorum. He strongly fostered intellectual life, giving the scholastics an appreciation of current Catholic culture. To this end he built up the college library with Catholic literature, and kept the scholastics in contact with the literary side of Catholic Action.
Hehir spent 1937 as prefect of studies at Xavier College before serving two years as rector of St Aloysius' College. He was appointed rector of Riverview, 1940-45. He spent one year,
1946, as a lecturer of fundamental theology at Canisius College, Pymble, as well as lecturer in scholastic philosophy at St John's and Sancta Sophia Colleges, University of Sydney, before his last appointment as rector of the Holy Name Seminar Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1947. He died of cancer that year after a brief illness .
Other Jesuits described Hehir as a good religious, a classical scholar, hard on himself and others, and setting an example of Jesuit life as he had experienced it in Ireland and Belgium. His early death was a disappointment to many He was a highly respected lecturer, teacher, preacher and retreat-giver, as well as administrator and educator. The headmaster of Shore, L.C. Robson, in a tribute in the “Sydney Morning Herald” wrote of the respect and affection of the Headmasters Conference for him. He admired Hehir's scholarship and wise counsel, and the influence of his personal character and outlook on education, shown through his spiritual quality and resoluteness in standing for his conviction, but not less by his tolerance and breadth of sympathy. They enjoyed Hehir's company and conversation.
It was while he was rector of the two Sydney colleges that Hehir made his mark in education. He was a very active and influential member of educational organisations. He was instrumental in reviving the Classical Society of NSW, and was its president for two years, being a powerful advocate of the importance of the classics in secondary education. He was prominent on the Catholic Secondary Teachers Association, the NSW Teachers' Guild, and the Headmasters Conference. His colleagues appreciated his geniality and simplicity, his power of sympathy and his utter unselfishness.
During his short stay at St Aloysius' College, Hehir was totally involved in the life of the college, especially by teaching and coaching sport. He purchased property at East Willoughby
for the college sporting ground. As headmaster he was involved with every aspect of the boys education. He taught senior classes and coached junior boys' sport. Some found him over severe in his discipline procedures and even unjust. He had no secretary, and the administration of the college was generally done late at night. Yet this did not interfere with his strict religious regime. Prayer was very important for him.
Six years at Riverview made it possible for Hehir to have an influence on the college. He was probably the most scholarly-minded rector since Patrick Keating, and combined intellectual gifts with practical wisdom. He coached cricket and football, taught English and arithmetic to the lower grades, and tutored boys privately outside class. The number of day boys at the college increased during these years and he wiped out the college debt in 1943-a remarkable achievement.
In educational discourses he stressed the importance of character training and good discipline He warned students to beware of self-indulgence, and the need to practice self-sacrifice. Hehir wanted education to extend to the wider population, not just to the upper social classes. For this reason he introduced technical and rural subjects into the curriculum at Riverview. He believed that “happiness is an essential means for all truly effective education”.
Hehir was a scholar who thought deeply about how to make important Christian values and Jesuit ideals relevant. Non-Jesuits praised him for being a good companion, for his charm, goodness and learning. Some Jesuits found him less friendly and even austere, but nevertheless respected his spirit, intellect and hard work. They praised him for his personal charm, his amazing industry, and great readiness to be of service to anyone at any time. Many priests and religious appreciated him for the zeal and asceticism that he showed in his retreats. Hehir was a sound educationalist who expressed his ideas clearly and forcefully His style of leadership was fundamentally one of example-he expected people to do as he did. Ultimately, his gifts of nature and grace were considerable, and his influence during his short life was substantial.

Note from Tom Hehir Entry
He was devoted to his younger brother, Noel, and after his death, Tom seemed to lose his own grip on life.

Note from Johnny Meagher Entry
As Vice-Provincial he clashed with the Rector of Riverview, Noel Hehir, over his expulsion of members of the Meagher clan. Meagher overruled Hehir, an action Hehir never forgot. When the latter was dying he did not want to see Meagher.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 2 1932

Australia :

Fr. N. Hehir and Br. V. Moran (scholastic novice) sailed for Australia towards the end of last year. An interesting experience was waiting for them at Naples, which we tell in Fr. Hehir's own words “We found ourselves booked to take part in a remarkable ceremony at Naples. A printed programme announced that I was to say Mass in the Gesù coram Cardinali. Fortunately the boat was late. The Provincial said the Mass. On arriving, the two of us were led down the Church (in white soutanes) in the middle of a stirring sermon delivered by the Cardinal Archbishop. Then came a sermon by one of the two scholastics who were being farewelled. Then an embarrassing ceremony - a Neapolitan tradition - apparently followed. All the clergy, led by the Cardinal, kissed the feet of the four missionaries. Lunch followed in the novitiate. Finally we were raced back to catch our boat just before sailing hour.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 3 1947

Obituary :
Fr. Noel Hehir (1898-1917-1947)
Fr. Hehir was born in Melbourne and received his secondary education at Xavier College, Kew. He entered the Society in 1917 and made his noviceship in Loyola, Greenwich. He then proceeded to Ireland, where he took his M.A. degree in Classics at the National University. He pursued his philosophical studies at Louvain, and then returned to Ireland, where he taught at Clongowes Wood College, Theological studies followed at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1929, and then tertianship in St. Beuno's. Returning to Australia after tertianship, his first appointment was that of Master of Juniors attending Melbourne University from “Loyola”, Watsonia. From there he went to Sydney to be Rector of St. Aloysius' College 1938 and 1939, after a year at St. Ignatius'. From 1940 to 1945 he was Rector of Riverview. For many years Fr. Hehir was Director of Retreats in New South Wales and Queensland. Last year he lectured in philosophy to students of Sancta Sophia College and St. John's College, within the University of Sydney.
Fr. Hehir possessed outstanding scholastic attainments, and, besides the sphere of education, was prominent in contributing papers to conferences, schools, etc. He was at one stage president of the Teachers' Guild of New South Wales and the Classical Association. For a period he was a member of the standing committee of the Headmasters' Conference of Australia, and was a leading member of various educational bodies.
Last year Fr. Hehir was professor of dogma in Pymble. Early this year he was appointed Rector of the newly-established National Minor Seminary (Holy Name Seminary) at Riccarton, Christchurch, New Zealand, which the Hierarchy decided to confide to the Society, and which was opened by His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate, Dr. Panico, on February 2nd.
Fr. Hehir died in New Zealand on June 11th. . The following tribute was paid to Fr. Hehir in a letter to the secular press by Mr. L. C. Robson, Headmaster of Sydney Church of England Grammar School :
“It would be a pity if the death of the Very Rev. Noel Hehir, S.J., were to pass without a public record of his great services. . . He was a man of the most rare quality, and few have won as deep respect and affection. He is best known here as a former Rector of St. Aloysius' and as Rector from 1940 to 1945 of St. Ignatius' College, Riverview. Two years ago he was appointed to Canisius College, Pymble, and last year was translated to take charge of the new College, known as the Holy Name Seminary, then being founded at Riccarton,
Christchurch.
As a headmaster, he left his mark on each of his schools in New South Wales. However, by his high scholarship and wise counsel and above all, by his personal character and outlook, he influenced educational life far beyond the limits of the Order to which he belonged.
Those who were associated with him in the Teachers' Guild, in the Classical Association, in public committees, in the headmasters conference and in the general life of the Great Public Schools were profoundly impressed and influenced by his spiritual quality and by his resoluteness in standing for his convictions, but not less by his tolerance and breadth of sympathy. Withal, he was a most delightful and stimulating companion, whether at a meeting of a learned society or at a football match or boat race.
It is difficult to do justice to the influence of such a man upon his contemporaries. It is certain that his old boys and his educational colleagues will feel the most profound sense of loss.

Fr. T. Mulcahy Kindly contributed the following appreciation :
“Fr. Noel Hehir had the unusual privilege of being escorted to Ireland by his master of novices, Fr. George Byrne, who was returning home to assume the same responsible post here, The route travelled was also perhaps unusual because it included the U.S.A. On his arrival in Rathfarnham, Noel Hehir was welcomed with the customary invitation to have a swim in the lake. He always said afterwards that he thought he would never come up alive from that plunge, so great and so unexpected was the difference in temperature between the water of the lake and the warm waters of his native Australia.
But he did come to the top. It was a habit he had and which he developed assiduously. Whether it was a question of a new language to be learned, a new subject to be fathomed or a new position to be filled, he had a way of winning through - not just surviving, but coming out on top. In the acquisition of human wisdom, as in the science of the saints, Noel Hehir worked hard, and no one merited success more.
He had the gift of ‘fitting in’ easily. No Junior was more popular in Rathfarnham, no philosopher was more popular in Louvain, no chaplain to the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Donnybrook, showed more understanding of the temperaments of the patients. His Belgian contemporaries at Louvain will sorely miss him. With them his cheer fulness, his diligence and his love of metaphysics were proverbial. Indeed, speaking from a natural point of view, I suspect that, for one with such a flair for philosophy, it must have been a trial that the calls of obedience summoned Noel in after years to tasks other than the keeping of essence and existence in order.
Like most Australians he was good at games. One recalls in particular his prowess at tennis. He was also very fond of walking. In his company the present writer has explored the Dublin bills and tramped across the plains around Louvain discussing the years that were yet to be. And should the walks on occasions be not too far but only to join parties at Sruthan or Glendhu, Noel Hehir with accustomed self-sacrifice would always be the first to stack up the fire or ‘lay the table’.
It was a privilege to have known one who was so admirable in religious observance and so loyal a friend. He died when not so old, but he has accomplished much for God and Australia.
May he rest in peace”.

Born: 31 December 1877, Preston, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 08 September 1894, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia
Ordained: 26 July 1911, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 17 December 1960, St Vincent's Hospital, Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission : 29 June 1923-1931.
Part of the Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia community at the time of death.

Transcribed : HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931

by 1906 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1910 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR) studying
by 1912 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online :
Sullivan, Jeremiah (1877–1960)
by J. Eddy
J. Eddy, 'Sullivan, Jeremiah (1877–1960)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sullivan-jeremiah-11800/text21111, published first in hardcopy 2002

Catholic pries; schoolteacher

Died : 17 February 1960, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Jeremiah Sullivan (1877-1960), Jesuit priest and philosopher, was born on 31 December 1877 at Preston, Melbourne, tenth of fourteen children of Irish-born parents Eugene Sullivan, farmer, and his wife Mary, née Doran. Jeremiah attended the convent school at Heidelberg and St Patrick's College, Melbourne. He entered the Society of Jesus on 8 September 1894 at Loyola, Greenwich, Sydney, and was a novice under Fr Aloysius Sturzo. After studying literature and classics, he taught (1899-1905) at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, where he was prefect of discipline, debating and rowing.

In 1905 Sullivan sailed via Ireland to England to read philosophy (1905-08) at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He proceeded to theology, first at Milltown Park, Dublin (1908-09), then at Innsbruck, Austria (1909-11)—where he was ordained priest on 26 July 1911—and finally at Posillipo, near Naples, Italy. 'Spot' (as he was nicknamed) was back in Ireland, at Tullabeg College, for his tertianship (1912-13). Returning to Sydney and Riverview, he was prefect of studies (from 1913). In 1917-23 he was rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, where he was also prefect of studies (from 1919). During this period the college acquired Burke Hall in Studley Park Road, Kew.

In 1923 Sullivan became the first native-born superior of the Jesuits' 'Irish Mission' in Australia. He visited Rome and Ireland several times. As a superior, he consistently showed good judgement; he was mild and generous, but could be firm when necessary. The last superior before Australia was raised to the rank of a Jesuit vice-province at Easter 1931, Sullivan was better liked by his men than either his predecessor Fr William Lockington or his successor Fr John Fahy. He again spent some months at Xavier, as headmaster in 1931, and was the sole Catholic member of the fledgling Headmasters' Conference of Australia, which was founded that year. In 1931-34 he served as superior at the parish of Hawthorn. From 1935 to 1946 he lived at the regional seminary, Corpus Christi Ecclesiastical College, Werribee, as administrator, consultor, and professor of pastoral theology and philosophy. His students regarded him as a genuinely humane Australian priest. While rector (1946-52) of Loyola College, Watsonia, he continued to teach and became a father-figure to the many young men in training.

A handsome and striking-looking man in his prime, with a stately walk and a sonorous voice, Sullivan was all his life a prodigious reader. He was hampered from early manhood by indifferent health. His great power and breadth of mind, his joy in work and his capacity for doing almost anything well, drove him in his earlier years to attempt too much and do too many things. Spot was never narrow or petty in any of his actions, but kind, understanding and sincere. His peers and subjects respected him as a good leader. He was very reserved, a gentleman in every sense of the word, and deeply spiritual. Sullivan died on 17 February 1960 at St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, and was buried in Boroondara cemetery.

Select Bibliography
D. Strong, The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography, 1848-1998 (Syd, 1999)
Society of Jesus Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Jeremiah Sullivan, one of fourteen children, attended school in Heidelberg and St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne, and entered the Society, 8 September 1894, at Loyola College, Greenwich. After his juniorate at the same place, 1897-98, he did regency for six years at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, before leaving Australia for Stonyhurst, where he studied philosophy, 1905-08. He studied theology for one year at Milltown Park, Dublin, then two years in Innsbruck, Austria, and one year at Posilipo, Naples. Tertianship was at Tullabeg.
He returned to Australia in 1913, and was appointed prefect of studies at Riverview until 1917, before becoming the first Australian born rector of Xavier College, Melbourne, until 1923. lt was during this time that the college won the football premiership, two cricket premierships and a dead heat at the head of the river. Burke Hall was also acquired.
Sullivan was afterwards appointed superior of the mission until 1931. He was later superior of the parish of Hawthorn till 1934, then professor of classics and church history at the
regional seminary, Werribee. His final appointment was to Loyola College, Watsonia, where he was rector, 1946-50, and lectured the juniors in Latin.
Commonly called “Spot”, he was a very handsome and striking looking man with a stately walk and rich, sonorous voice. He had a remarkable memory and was a prodigious reader. He was capable intellectually, a good superior with sound judgment, mild and generous, but firm when necessary The province liked him more than either his predecessor, William Lockington, or his successor, John Fahy. He had a great capacity for work, “was a gentleman in every sense of the word” and a deeply spiritual man.
He did everything in a big way. He was a man who was never narrow or petty in any of his actions. He was always kind, understanding and sincere, judicial and courageous in all his dealings, and one who was accepted by his peers as a good leader. As rector of Xavier College, his wisdom and understanding were much appreciated.
He was a learned priest, historian, classicist, and mathematician. He was also a reserved person who spent little time in strictly pastoral work. His end came suddenly, but he had been in poor and declining health for his last four years .

Born: 26 December 1876, Pakenham, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 10 October 1896, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 28 July 1912, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1914, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 27 August 1969, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to AsL : 05 April 1931

by 1908 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1912 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He came from a very large family and had innumerable relatives all over Australia.
He was educated at St Patrick’s Melbourne and spent a year on his father’s farm before entering at Loyola Greenwich.
1898-1901 Juniorate at Loyola Greenwich
1901-1907 Regency at St Ignatius, Riverview as teacher, Prefect of discipline, junior Librarian, junior Debating Prefect, working with boarders and also rowing.
1907-1909 Philosophy at Stonyhurst, England
1909-1911 Theology at Milltown Park, Dublin
1911-1912 Theology at Posilipo, Naples and Ordained at Milltown Park
1912-1913 Tertianship at St Stanislaus, Tullabeg
1913-1916 He returned to Australia and firstly to St Patrick’s, Melbourne
1916-1921 He was sent to Xavier College, Kew
1921-1931 He returned to St Patrick’s, Melbourne as Rector (the second Old Patrician to hold this office). In 1922 he issues the first school magazine the “Patrician”. He built some new classrooms in the north wing of the College, restored the front entrance hall, adding a mosaic floor.
In the 1930s he failed to establish a Preparatory School at Caulfield.
He won the hearts of his students with his good natured humour. He taught English, Religion and Latin, and especially communicate this love of the poetry of Scott, Coleridge and Longfellow. He never neglected the Australian poets, especially Lawson and O’Brien. He also produced a play “The Sign of the Cross”, in which most boys in the school had a part.

After St Patrick’s he was appointed to the Richmond parish, where he was Socius to the Provincial for 15 years, kept the financial books, directed retreats and was Minister and procurator of the house. He also engaged in priestly ministry in the parish.
1934 As Minister at Richmond he set up the new house of studies, Loyola College Watsonia.
1934-1969 He spent these years in parish ministry at Richmond and Hawthorn. It was mainly at Richmond where he was most valued and appreciated. He was both Superior and Parish priest at both locations at various times.
His last days were spent at Loyola College Watsonia, suffering the effects of a stroke.

At almost 90 years of age he was invited by the Berwick Shire Council, within whose jurisdiction his birthplace Packenham lies, to write a history of the Bourke family of Packenham as a contribution to the shire’s centenary celebrations. He undertook this work with zest and thoroughness, researching, interviewing and travelling. He also wrote a similar book on his mother’s side of the family.It was facetiously said of him that he suffered from “multiple consanguinity”. The Bourkes were no inconsiderable clan with deep family attachments. he never overlooked a relationship, no matter how tenuous. Beyond these he had a vast army of friends towards whom he displayed an almost extravagant loyalty.

He was a genial, slightly quick-tempered type of man whose work in both schools and parishes was appreciated. He received the cross “pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” for his work in organising the National Eucharistic Congress at Melbourne in 1934.

One of his outstanding characteristics was an astonishing gift for remembering names and faces. This came from his love of people and God’s world in general. He was always warm and gracious to all who knew him, He had a spirit of optimism and was a practical man of affairs. He showed clarity of mind, singleness of purpose and a remarkable orderliness of disposition that marked his life. St Patrick’s College and the parish of Richmond could not be remembered with recalling the considerable influence that he had on the people he served.

Born: 22 July 1879, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
Entered: 07 September 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 27 July 1913, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1916, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 21 July 1945, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

by 1902 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying
by 1903 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1904
by 1927 at Prescot, Lancashire (ANG) working

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His early education was at St Macartan’s College, Monaghan, Ireland, before he Entered the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg 1898

1900-1903 After First Vows he was sent to Chieri Italy and Kasteel Gemert Netherlands for Philosophy
1903-1904 He was sent to Clongowes Wood College for Regency, teaching Latin and English
1904-1908 He was sent to Australia and St Ignatius College Riverview to continue his Regency.
1908-1910 He finished a long Regency at St Patrick’s College Melbourne
1910-1914 He returned to Ireland and Milltown Park for Theology
1914-1915 He made Tertianship at Tullabeg.
1916-1917 He returned to Australia and St Aloysius College Sydney teaching
1917-1919 He was sent to work at the Hawthorn Parish
1919-1922 He was sent to work at the Richmond Parish
1923-1928 He returned to Ireland and was appointed assistant Director of the Retreat House for working men which had just opened.
1928--1932 he was sent teaching to Mungret College Limerick
1932 he was sent to St Stanislaus College Tullabeg to minister in the People’s Church. He was virtually an invalid for the rest of his life.

He was well known as an amateur radio expert. He was a kindly, amiable man, but inclined to be hypersensitive which created some problems for himself and others. He found it therefore hard to settle in one place for very long. He was also a man of deep and simple piety.

He had been sick for about 10 years and his last six months were very painful. he demonstrated a great deal of patience during this illness.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 20th Year No 4 1945
Obituary :
Fr. Peter Dwyer (1879-1898-1945)
Fr. Dwyer died on the evening of Saturday, July 21st, on the eve of his 66th birthday. To any one who had kept in touch with him his death could not have been unexpected. In the early part of this year the doctor who attended him said that he had not much more than six months to live. About ten years ago he had undergone a very critical operation and had been suffering more or less constantly since. Within the last few years he had had to go into hospital several times.
In May his sufferings became more intense and more constant. He bore them with patience and resignation and gave much edification to all who had to do with him. He dreaded a long drawn out agony and had prayers said that God would take him soon. The prayers were answered. In the early part of July he began to grow visibly weaker, and those who saw him at intervals of a few days noticed the change.
On Saturday, July 21st, he was evidently near death, and the doctor said he would not live through the night. At eight o'clock the Rector of Rathfarnham Castle anointed him and gave him Viaticum and said the prayers for the dying, and a few minutes later he died without any struggle, having been conscious almost to the last. His body was brought to St. Francis Xavier's Church, Gardiner Street, on Monday evening, and on the next morning Office and solemn Requiem Mass were celebrated for him. The Rector of Rathfarnham Castle was Celebrant of the Mass, and Fr. Provincial said the prayers at the graveside. As the Theologians were on retreat, we could not call on them to do the chanting, but a composite choir, under the direction of Fr. Kevin Smyth, sang very impressively.
Fr. Dwyer was born at Carrickmacross on July 22nd, 1879, and after receiving his secondary education at St. Macartan's College, Monaghan, he entered the Society on September 7th, 1898. He studied philosophy at Chieri and at Gemert, and was then sent to Australia where he taught in our colleges at Sydney and Melbourne. He was ordained at Milltown Park in 1913, and in 1917 returned to Australia, where he did parish work at Richmond and Hawthorn. In 1922, he returned to Ireland and was appointed assistant director of the Retreat House for workingmen which had just been opened. In 1928 he went to Mungret and in 1932 was sent to Tullabeg as operarius in the People's Church. About four years later he under went the operation already referred to, and remained more or less an invalid henceforth,
Fr. Dwyer was a very amiable character who made friends wherever he went. He was a man of deep and simple piety. The last years of his life were filled with suffering, which he bore with resignation and hope and fortitude. May he rest in peace.

Born: 24 January 1879, Crough, Kilmacthomas, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 30 June 1915, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 11 December 1951, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1905 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1908
by 1913 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1917 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR) making Tertianship
by 1918 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR-HUN) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
After novitiate, juniorate and philosophy, and a year teaching at Clongowes, 1907-08, Halpin arrived at Xavier College, Melbourne, in September of that year. He had an effective but not spectacular career as a teacher, and hall prefect, 1911-12.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 2 1952
Obituary :
Father Timothy Halpin
Died December 11th, 1951
A sturdy figure, shod with galoshes and protected with a reliable umbrella against possible vagaries of even a fine June day, is a picture that would readily present itself to those who have lived with the late Father Halpin. To a word of friendly banter he would reply : “the Irish climate is uncertain, we must be prepared for eventualities”.
Small, as this detail may seem, it is characteristic of the man, and it reveals a trait in his character which goes far to explain the success which crowned Fr. Halpin's priestly work - consistent attention to detail.
Born in Kilmacthomas in 1879, he felt an early attraction to ecclesiastical life. In 1893 he entered the junior scholasticate, Blackrock, but, on his return for the summer holidays, his parents were opposed to his continuing there. Instead, he went to Mount Melleray with the fixed idea, in his own words, “of preparing himself for the Jesuit priesthood”. The urgent need of Australian dioceses was brought to his notice, so he offered himself to Dr. Maher for Port Augusta. The Bishop arranged that, on completion of his Philosophy at Melleray, he should go to the Collegio Brigoli, Genoa.
In 1898, having finished philosophical studies with 2nd place, he was admitted to theology. At the end of three years - theology, scripture, canon law - his examination mark was “optime”, but the old determination of the “Jesuit priesthood” came back, and, with Dr. Maher's full approval, he returned to Ireland, and entered the noviceship at Tullabeg, September 7th, 1901.
From his novice-master, Fr. Michael Browne, he learnt above all the value of obedience. One who worked much with him said : “once he knew what his superiors wanted, he just set aside his own will and did as directed”.
In spite of previous studies, Superiors allowed him the full course of philosophy, at Jersey 1904-1907; after which he taught for one year at Clongowes, and four at Kew College, Melbourne.
In 1912 he went to Innsbruck for theology, where he was ordained in 1915. His first Mass was served by the late Fr. Dan Finn and Fr. John Coyne, scholastics at the time. The war upset the normal course of studies. His fourth year theology was done in private at Kalksburg College, near Vienna and for his Ad Grad, he appeared before a board from Vienna, which included the veteran Fr. Straub, author of a tract De Ecclesia. He made his Third Probation at Starawies in Galicia, a house of the Polish Province. The long period abroad made him a master of many languages, and gave him an insight into Church problems, and Society methods of organisation, which remained a permanent inspiration for his later work.
Vienna was noted for the Sodality movement. Of this he made a careful study, applying the principles in the post of Sodality Director, which he held for some years, when he had returned to his Province. Indeed our Lady's Sodality always seemed to him the best guarantee of fruitful missionary work, if well established in a parish.
A former Superior of the Mission Staff paid this tribute : “I always felt sure that he would give his best, and was never disappointed. He would write to P.P.s for details of the coming work, which he would, then send on to his fellow missioners. Nothing would be left to chance”. The trait with which we opened “consistent attention to detail” was carried out in the big things of his life, because it ruled the little programme of each day. The same fellow-labourer said : “I could never think of him as missing a spiritual duty, His views on everything were supernatural”.
“The Jesuit Priesthood” was the tessera of Fr. Halpin's life, reading into the words, of course, all that the Kingdom of Christ involved : the special service of the Ignatian volunteers. So it was that an intense application to work followed him to the end of his life. He has left behind in neatly labelled envelopes a whole series of notes for mission sermons, proof positive of his thorough preparation.
“Inquisitive” is an adjective that might easily be attached to him. He seemed happy extracting information. But, the information thus gleaned entered into the wide array of facts to be used, some way or another, for the interests of the Church and the Order. Generals' letters. foreign mission Publications, Province News and Letters, from all these he had accumulated a vast stock of information. This he was ready to put at your disposal. Originality was not one of his characteristics, but he knew how to turn to best account what he had assimilated from other sources. This he did to the full in the mission field and the retreats. His life was spent at these works. He is still remembered as a forceful preacher and a stimulating retreat giver. Only God's Angel could tell the souls won to God by the kindly spirit incorporated in the pamphlet “Heaven Open to Souls”. To the end this was the consistent inspiration of Fr. Halpin, and we are sure that the welcome of many souls awaited him, when the Master's summons “Well done, good and faithful servant”, came.

Born: 25 December 1890, Grange, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1906, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 17 May 1955, St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin

Part of St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois community at the time of his death.
by 1911 at Cividale del Friuli, Udine Italy (VEM) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 30th Year No 3 1955

Obituary :
Father Stephen Bartley 1890-1955
Born on Christmas Day, 1890, at Grange (Boher), Co. Limerick, Fr. Stephen Bartley was educated at the Crescent and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1906, where he also did his juniorate before going to Cividale in Italy for philosophy. His years of regency were spent in Clongowes and in 1922 he was ordained at Milltown Park. With the exception of one interval as Minister in Milltown his whole priestly life was to be spent in Tullabeg, where he was Minister, Procurator and Rector, and in Emo, where he was Procurator for the last eleven years of his life. He died in St. Vincent's Hospital on May 17th.
Many of the qualities that went to make the man as we knew him came with the boy Stephen Bartley from the Co. Limerick farm: a traditional Irish Catholic faith, simple and undemonstrative though rooted deep; a loyalty to men and causes that, once given, was unwavering; a reserve shy to the: verge of secretiveness; an asceticism which had much of stoicism; a memory retentive of facts and a keen mind to order them; an eye for the best in man and beast and soil and a shrewd sense of money which, while never mean, had the millionaire's conviction of the value of a farthing. Those were talents out of the ordinary and within the limits of chronic ill-health-and at times beyond Stephen Bartley traded with them to the full. As Minister, Rector and Procurator he served the Province and the three houses in which his life was lived with devoted loyalty; and few, if any, excelled him in the heroic art of reading the greater glory of God from the prosaic pages of journals and ledgers. His antique battered fountain-pen has the quality of a relic. Barred from the pulpit by ill-health he was to find in the Confessional the spiritual outlet for his zeal. For 17 years his “box” in the People's Church in Tullabeg was a place of pilgrimage; and it would be hard to overestimate the veneration and esteem in which people of every walk in life held him. In Emo he became the valued confessor and confidant of the local clergy and he directed and consoled by letter many of the clients of his Tullabeg days. Many too are those in his own communities who must bear him lasting gratitude for his prudent and kindly guidance. Heroic in the quality of his hidden service to the Society and to souls, he was no less heroic in his acceptance of almost constant discomfort and suffering, Only in the last years of his life was it possible to get round him to make any real concession to his needs. His fire was a community joke; the few medicines he bothered to take were asked for with the simplicity of a novice; he had to be forced to take a holiday. It is probably true to say that no one ever heard him complain - certainly not of anything that concerned his personal requirements.
His very deep love for the Society found a suitable expression in his devotion to community life. His pleasure in recreation was a pleasure to see and save, when overwhelmed by numbers, he took full part in it. Secretly addicted to the reading of P. G. Wodehouse and Curly Wee, he had an unexpected turn of humour that stood him in good stead when parrying the recreational thrusts of his brethren or avoiding coming to too close quarters with some importunate query or request. His answers in such dilemmas have become part of the Province folk-lore. To a Father commiserating with him on the poisoning of a cow he replied gravely: “As a matter of fact, Father, we had one too many”. And after 20 years, one must still chuckle at the discomfiture of the scholastic who asked leave to go to a hurling match : “It wouldn't be worth it, Mr. X. All the best hurlers have gone to America”.
His peaceful and undemonstrative death was utterly in keeping with his life. The humour perhaps was in grimmer key when he begged his Rector not to allow an operation: “I'm not an insurable life, Father”. But his life's dedication to obedience's appointed task was all of a piece. Almost the last words he spoke were: “Everything will be found in order. I have brought the books up to date”. We cannot help being convinced that they are echoed in eternity.

Born: 17 October 1892, Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 31 October 1910, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained 26 July 1925. Posilopo, Naples
Final Vows: 02 February 1929, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, Australia
Died: 19 March 1970, St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1916 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1921 in Australia - Regency
by 1924 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1928 at St Andrä, Austria (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert Peterson was educated at St Ignatius, Richmond, and St Patricks College, East Melbourne, and was in the public service briefly before entering the Society at Tullabeg, 31 October 1910. He was a university junior, 1912-15, and then studied philosophy at Jersey, 1915-18. He taught at Mungret for a few years before returning to Australia in 1920, where he taught at St Patrick's College, 1920-23. Theology studies followed at Posilopo, Naples, 1923-27, and tertianship at St Andra, Austria, 1927-28.
When he returned to Australia he went to Corpus Christi College, Werribee, and remained there until 1967. During these years he professed at various times fundamental theology, dogmatic theology, church history, psychology, biology, and taught French and Italian, He also instructed the students in liturgy and rites from 1935. He was consultor, 1930-66, prefect of studies, 1931-64, dean of discipline, 1939, editor of the “Jesuit Ordo of the Mass”, 1943-61, and in the last two years, professor of the history of culture and Western civilisation.
He was a good musician and amateur carpenter. His room contained gramophone records, fishing tackle, art reproductions, and carpentry tools. Each of his activities required special garb, such as overalls for carpentry, gumboots for fishing and an old coat for using the Gestetner copier.
In his early days he was a member of the college choir and the college orchestra. There was one piece in which he played half a dozen notes solo on his clarinet. This participation was at great cost to the player, but provided much entertainment to the students. His life was full of earnest activity and work, but he cherished a secret passion for listening to the wrestling on the radio.
He was the perfect secretary This was due not only to his tidiness, but above all to a humility by which he regarded himself as only suitable for doing the hack work while more talented men made use of him.
His last few years were lecturing in Christian art at Loyola College, Watsonia. All his life he spoke in clipped sentences. He peered at people benignly through rimless glasses, and displayed black, disciplined hair above a high, scholarly forehead. He winced at the Australian accent, and deplored the students' delight in Gilbert and Sullivan.
Peterson's work was solid and painstaking; he wasn't over-imaginative and his classes weren't exactly scintillating, but they were clear and precise. His lectures were punctuated now and again with an awkward sort of flight into poetry He was black and white in his opinions. He was also a man of culture who liked the fine things in life. He loved the classics both in literature and music. He produced drama, such as “Murder in the Cathedral”. It was a great success, and a good vehicle for a professor of eloquence to demonstrate his art!
Peterson also had a great love for cricket. He enjoyed watching games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was not good in company, finding it hard to mix with others. but he did make some close friends and especially among families.
He was a very learned man and a hard worker. His spirituality was classical and austere, and a gentle melancholy was part of his temperament. Yet he had the Ignatian capacity for fun, and enjoyed his participation in college musical concerts. Those who did not know him well might have thought him a poseur, especially in regard to the fine arts. This was due to his desire always to say and do the right thing.
He sustained a stroke in the latter years of his life and his powers were very much reduced. He died on the feast of St Joseph after being a patient at St Vincent's Hospital for half a year.

Born: 07 July 1907, Edinburgh, Scotland
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 15 February 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1929 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1940 in Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 35th Year No 2 1960
Obituary :
Fr Edward Hannigan (1907-1960)

Fr. Hannigan died very suddenly on 19th February, shortly before 10 o'clock. He had said Mass and had his breakfast and gone through his post. He went down the corridor to use the telephone and on the way back to his room felt weak, sat down and died a few ininutes later. He had however time to make his confession before he lost consciousness and was anointed before he expired.
He had been educated in Mungret and did his noviceship in Tullabeg and juniorate in Rathfarnham. He went to Pullach for philosophy and then taught in St. Ignatius' College, Galway. After theology in Milltown Park and tertianship in St. Beuno's he was sent to Rome to do a biennium in Moral Theology in 1939. His work in Rome was interrupted when the war became active and he sailed for Ireland in May 1940 on a Japanese liner from Naples, possibly the last boat to reach England from the Mediterranean that year,
He was not given an opportunity to complete his studies after his return to Ireland but was asked to teach both Moral Theology and Canon Law in succession to Fr. John MacMahon who had just been appointed Provincial, and it was not until 1949 that he was able to return to Rome to present and defend his thesis. The thesis was a model of method and precision. The subject was: “Is it ever lawful to advise the lesser of two evils?” Fr. Hannigan carefully summarised all the recent and many ancient opinions of this difficult topic and then his own conclusions. The thesis was accepted and praised by his examiners; but what really impressed them was the brilliance of his Lectio Coram and his oral defence of the thesis. His ten years of teaching in Milltown had made him confident and self-possessed in his exposition; his command of Latin came as a surprise to them and he showed exceptional skill in dealing with the objections and difficulties which were urged against him, never allowing himself to be cornered or led into a false position. As a result not only did he receive the doctorate summa cum laude but negotiations were begun to have him assigned to the staff of the Gregorian. It was not due to any lack of earnestness on the part of the authorities of the Gregorian that these negotiations did not succeed.
It is not easy to form a just estimate of his work as Professor of Moral Theology at Milltown Park. It was widely felt that he did not do complete justice to his very great abilities. However he did bring to his work some very useful qualities. In the first place he spoke Latin fluently and accurately and so reduced to an absolute minimum the difficulties which inevitably arise from the use of Latin in teaching Theology. He was able to do this because of his remarkable gifts as a linguist. These gifts appeared at other stages in his life in the Society. He had an extremely good knowledge of Irish. As a scholastic he had proved that he was fully competent to teach through Irish, which he had done for three years in Galway; and although he did not frequently speak Irish he never lost his command of grammar and idiom. So too he brought back from Pullach a very good knowledge of German, which was still accurate and idiomatic when he came to Rome to defend his thesis twenty years later.
Again he planned his course carefully and finished it at the appointed time omitting nothing. Indeed one of the points of which he was often criticised was that he treated in class matter that anyone with intelligence could have made up for himself; but perhaps some of the weaker members of the class were grateful to him for this. However, he was unwilling to expand the matter contained in the textbook. This was a pity because his comments would have been interesting and reliable. He preferred to illustrate Genicot with quotations from other books. But when consulted in private on a case his opinions were very good indeed, clear and accurate and well supported. Priests who made retreats or days of recollection in Milltown Park were very loud in their praises and grateful to him for the help he gave them.
An account of Fr. Hannigan cannot omit to mention his very narrow escape from a tragic death during the fire at Milltown Park. He was living on the top storey of the Finlay wing and must have been slow in getting up after the alarm had been given. He was trapped in his room with the roof on fire and the corridor impassable with dense smoke. Fr. J. Johnston who was in the next room was similarly trapped, but opened the door of his room in a vain attempt to reach the fire escape, was overcome by the fumes and perished in the fire. Fr. Hannigan wisely stayed in his room and kept the door shut and waited for the fire brigade to run a ladder up to his window. The ladder was found to be too short so the fire-man handed him up a supplementary ladder which he hooked on to the window sill and so climbed down the twelve feet which separated him from the safety of the fire-brigade ladder. He must have been the last man to have left the top storey alive, saved by his own courage and self-possession.
Fr. Hannigan could give a good retreat although he could not often be persuaded to undertake this work. As procurator he will be remembered for his unfailing courtesy and for the quick and efficient way in which he did business with those of the community who had to visit him. He made the same impression on all with whom he came in contact especially on the tradesmen with whom he had to deal and with his assistants in organising whist drives for the building fund. The very numerous letters of sympathy received by Fr. Rector gave ample proof of this.
Fr. Hannigan had a very intense interest in life. He was a keen follower of almost all sports, rugby, soccer, golf and racing; also of politics national and international and of the obscure workings of the stock exchange. But above all he was remarkable for his charm and friendliness as a member of the community. Those who lived with him will be conscious of a deep sense of personal loss for a long time to come. We extend very sincere sympathy to his brother and sister.

Born: 09 July 1907, Ballina, County Mayo
Entered 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
Died: 20 August 1990, John Austin House, North Circular Road, Dublin City

Early education St Patrick’s De La Salle BNS, Castlebar and Mungret College SJ

Chaplain in the Second World War.
Hong Kong

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946
Frs. Guinane, Pelly and Perrott C. have been released from the Army. Fr. Guinane is now Minister at Mungret, Fr. Perrott is posted to Galway, and Fr. Pelly is awaiting travelling facilities to go to our Hong Kong Mission. Fr. Martin, a member also of the Mission, was to have been released from the Army on December 12th, but on the 11th be met with a serious accident in Belfast (see letter below). Fr. Provincial went to Belfast on Wednesday, January 9th, to visit him at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Fr. C. Murphy hopes to start on his homeward journey from Austria on January 14th and to be released from the Army by the end of January.

Irish Province News 22nd Year No 1 1947

Departures for Mission Fields in 1946 :
4th January : Frs. P. J. O'Brien and Walsh, to North Rhodesia
25th January: Frs. C. Egan, Foley, Garland, Howatson, Morahan, Sheridan, Turner, to Hong Kong
25th July: Fr. Dermot Donnelly, to Calcutta Mission
5th August: Frs, J. Collins, T. FitzGerald, Gallagher, D. Lawler, Moran, J. O'Mara, Pelly, Toner, to Hong Kong Mid-August (from Cairo, where he was demobilised from the Army): Fr. Cronin, to Hong Kong
6th November: Frs. Harris, Jer. McCarthy, H. O'Brien, to Hong Kong

Born: 08 January 1902, Kilmainham, Dublin
Entered: 07 March 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 February 1942, Manresa House, Roehampton, London, England
Died: 14 January 1979, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin

Chaplain in the Second World War.

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

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

General :
Seven more chaplains to the forces in England were appointed in July : Frs Burden, Donnelly, J Hayes, Lennon and C Murphy, who left on 1st September to report in Northern Ireland, and Fr Guinane who left on 9th September.
Fr. M. Dowling owing to the serious accident he unfortunately met when travelling by bus from Limerick to Dublin in August will not be able to report for active duty for some weeks to come. He is, as reported by Fr. Lennon of the Scottish Command in Midlothian expected in that area.
Of the chaplains who left us on 26th May last, at least three have been back already on leave. Fr. Hayes reports from Redcar Yorkshire that he is completely at home and experiences no sense of strangeness. Fr. Murphy is working' with the Second Lancashire Fusiliers and reports having met Fr. Shields when passing through Salisbury - the latter is very satisfied and is doing well. Fr. Burden reports from Catterick Camp, Yorks, that he is living with Fr. Burrows, S.J., and has a Church of his own, “so I am a sort of PP”.
Fr. Lennon was impressed very much by the kindness already shown him on all hands at Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh and in his Parish. He has found the officers in the different camps very kind and pleased that he had come. This brigade has been without a R.C. Chaplain for many months and has never yet had any R.C. Chaplain for any decent length of time. I am a brigade-chaplain like Fr Kennedy and Fr. Naughton down south. He says Mass on weekdays in a local Church served by our Fathers from Dalkeith but only open on Sundays. This is the first time the Catholics have had Mass in week-days

Irish Province News 17th Year No 1 1942

Chaplains :
Our twelve chaplains are widely scattered, as appears from the following (incomplete) addresses : Frs. Burden, Catterick Camp, Yorks; Donnelly, Gt. Yarmouth, Norfolk; Dowling, Peebles Scotland; Guinane, Aylesbury, Bucks; Hayes, Newark, Notts; Lennon, Clackmannanshire, Scotland; Morrison, Weymouth, Dorset; Murphy, Aldershot, Hants; Naughton, Chichester, Sussex; Perrott, Palmer's Green, London; Shields, Larkhill, Hants.
Fr. Maurice Dowling left Dublin for-Lisburn and active service on 29 December fully recovered from the effects of his accident 18 August.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Frs. Guinane, Pelly and Perrott C. have been released from the Army. Fr. Guinane is now Minister at Mungret, Fr. Perrott is posted to Galway, and Fr. Pelly is awaiting travelling facilities to go to our Hong Kong Mission. Fr. Martin, a member also of the Mission, was to have been released from the Army on December 12th, but on the 11th be met with a serious accident in Belfast (see letter below). Fr. Provincial went to Belfast on Wednesday, January 9th, to visit him at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Fr. C. Murphy hopes to start on his homeward journey from Austria on January 14th and to be released from the Army by the end of January.

Irish Province News 54th Year No 2 1979

Obituary :

Fr Conal Kieran Murphy (1902-1979)

Born on January 8, 1902 Conal entered the Society on March 9, 1929 and was ordained priest on July 31, 1939.Final vows 7 February, 1942. He died on the 14th of January 1979.
He was educated at CBS Synge St and at St Mary’s College, Rathmines; trained as a Primary Teacher at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra and taught in St Peter’s National School, Phibsboro. After noviceship he completed his BA degree in 1932, did philosophy in Tullabeg, one years regency in Clongowes, theology in Milltown Park and Tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle.
After Tertianship he served as chaplain to the British Forces in England, Scotland, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, Syria, Egypt and finally Austria. After demobilization he taught in Crescent College Limerick 1946-51 then to Milltown Park where he was Director of the short-lived juriorate for Brother postulants and also Director of Missions and Retreats from 1951-67.
In 1967 he came to Manresa House as Adj Dir Exc Spir and Praef Spir NN.
That is the bare record. But what of the man? Conal K (he always used the “K” and liked to use it) was a friendly, quiet and most companionable man who loved a bit of gossip, especially if it had a political or educational flavour. He was interested in sketching and could pass a summer afternoon trying to get on paper his vision of the West Cork scenery. he was a vigorous walker but a problem for his companion; as his Master of Novices said, “he careens, dear and good brother” with the result that the companion found himself being forced into the ditch or on to the roadway.
Fidelity, loyalty, conscientiousness, honour are the words that spontaneously come to mind when thinking of Conal; superiors realised that he was literally “paratus ad omnia”; there was no demand on his time or services but would be met willingly and cheerfully. He was a voracious but selective reader and probably one of the best read men in the province in modern theology, dogmatic and moral. His great difficulty was in expressing what he knew and we lovingly recall his “what-you-may-call-it”: a phrase which took the place of nouns, common and proper, or verbs, adverbs, adjectives and indeed of most parts of speech. Unwary listeners sometimes found themselves utterly confused. However when he wrote out his thoughts he could and did write quite exceptional sermons and conferences. If he read the text, well and good.
Can I add much to the above jejune biography? Not very much, I fear, for Conal did not easily talk about himself, least of all about his war-time experiences. He had to be trapped into recalling even trivial reminiscences.
We who entered in September 1929 found him already there, our senior in the Society by some five to six months; our senior in age by some eight or nine years. He was helped somewhat in bridging the generation gap by the presence in the noviceship of another senior citizen, Fr Liam McElligott. Conal was our Beadle during the Long Retreat communicating by quite illegible notes which he either showed or handed to you. His years did not prevent him taking part, a rather ungainly part, in our football and drill. One of his rare disclosures about himself took place, I recall, when we were novices together. He admitted that at the fateful election of 1922, when he was in teacher training, he voted SEVERAL times AGAINST the Treaty.
Whatever were his political opinions in 1922, after 1942 he was a totally establishment man and British establishment at that. I think, however, that this was an expression of his sincere loyalty to his war time comrades rather than any political bias. Memories of his visits home on leave as chaplain are of the ceremony of opening a bottle of Jameson so that it could appear as for personal use to the Customs Officials, though its real destination was the officers mess. He had it in for the Arabs who stole his Mass kit; that was a sore memory.
Conal was invited to preach on Remembrance Day at the service in St Patrick’s Cathedral, an invitation which it gave him great joy to accept. In his sermon he made some references to the Christian ideals which inspired so many of his old comrades in the war. Subsequently, he heard with great satisfaction, I’m sure, that the Soviet Ambassador had formally complained about such references.
His loyalty to friends, in the Society, in the army and the many who met him in his retreat work especially members of the Diocesan clergy, the members of the Praesidium of the Legion of Mary to which he was devoted, the members of the Victualers section of St Joseph’s Young Priests Society was met with an answering affection and devotion. They will miss him. So too will his only sister Ursula to whom he was a most devoted brother. So, too, his brethren, young and old, in Manresa, did and do miss him.
May he be in the glory of his Lord to whom he gave loyal and dedicated service, and, one day, may we all be merry with him in Heaven.

Born: 09 January 1908, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Entered: 07 September 1927 - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1947, Rome, Italy
Final Vows: 05 May 1944
Died: 30 May 1951, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland - Angliae Province (ANG)

Part of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin community at the time of death

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 26th Year No 3 1951

Obituary :

Died May 30th, 1951 of heart trouble in the Leeson Hospital in Dublin.
Fr. Henry Milner, or Fr. John as the Russians called him, was the youngest son of a big Yorkshire Catholic family. One of his brothers entered the Vincentians and went to China, where he was accidentally drowned near Peking just before the war. Henry and his brother Edward studied at Osterley and entered the Society, but Edward had to leave during Philosophy for reasons of health. Fr. Henry entered the novitiate at Roehampton on September 7th, 1927. Previous to going to Osterley he had earned his living as a carpenter and packer, and both these acquisitions proved most useful to him in later life. His third year of Philosophy was spent at Jersey, and it was during this time that he was accepted for the Russian Mission. In 1934 he went to Rome for Theology with a group of others from various Provinces studying for that Mission. Of those who were with him four are now dead, but Fr, Milner is the only one who died in more or less normal circumstances. His great friend Fr. Walter Ciszek of the Maryland Province died heroically on his way back from Siberia with a group of his parishioners at the end of the war. Another was gassed in Buchenwald. A third was killed on the Soviet frontier. The fourth is presumed dead in Russia. Another companion is probably still alive in a Soviet prison camp.
After his Theology in 1938 he spent a year doing special studies at the Russian College in Rome, and then was sent to a Russian parish at Esna in Estonia. He had not been there long when the Soviet troops entered the country and the British consul ordered all Britishers to leave the country. The only possible route was through Russia, so he joined a group which went to Moscow and down to the Black Sea and eventually to Palestine. Here he stopped to find out the wishes of superiors, suggesting that he might enlist as an army chaplain. Orders came from Rome that he should make his way to Shanghai and join Fr. Wilcock and make his Tertianship. After many adventures he managed to get to Bombay and board a Japanese ship which took him to Shanghai.
Although it was already January, 1941, and the Tertians had long ago finished the Long Retreat, superiors decided he should join them at Wubu and make his Long Retreat alone. When he returned to Shanghai in July, the building of St. Michael's College was well under way, and his experience as a carpenter and general constructor proved most valuable. He kept a vigilant eye on the contractor and his work men, who were amazed (and dismayed) to find that the Padre knew more about their jobs than they did. He would not allow any slipshod work. He himself made the altar and other things for the oriental rite chapel. There seemed to be nothing that he could not make or repair. His room was always like a workshop. Things awaiting repair were piled up everywhere which made it look rather untidy. Once when Admiral Boyd visited him he burst out laughing at the sight of the room and said he would like to get Fr. Milner for a time on board a navy ship to train him how to keep things stored tidily in a minimum of space.
When the College opened in January, 1942, there were only three Fathers, so Fr. Milner was Prefect of Studies, Minister, Procurator, full time teacher, Infirmarian, Chaplain of the nuns and doing a hundred other jobs. I have never met a man who could do so much work and seem to enjoy every moment of it. He was always cheerful and cheering up others. He had an inexhaustible fund of jokes and anecdotes, and certainly knew how to tell a good story. Often visitors would come to the College in a hurry on business, intending to stay just a few minutes, but once they got talking to him they simply could not tear themselves away. Up to five minutes before his death he was amusing the nurses with some of his wonderful stories about China.
In 1943 the Japanese put all our community into concentration camps, so Fr. Milner was sent first to Yanchow and then later to Ash camp in Shanghai. Those who were with him tell how he was the most popular man in the camps. They tried to get him to become the official representative of the camps to the Japanese, but he wisely refused. It was the strain of these two and a half years in camps which presumably caused the heart trouble which resulted in his death.
At the end of the war he took up again his old work at the College. He noticed that he had frequent light pains in his chest, but the doctors thought it was caused by stomach trouble. He took some stomach pills and carried on hiş heavy programme of work, always cheerful and never complaining. It was only in 1948, when he went to hospital on account of his pains, that the heart trouble was recognised. He was still there under treatment when the communist troops approached Shanghai. In May, 1949 superiors decided that he had better be evacuated, so he was sent with Fr. Brannigan on one of the last planes to Hong Kong. He was in hospital there for three weeks and then went by ship to England and eventually to Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin. The Columban Sisters in Ireland were training some of their Sisters for Russian work, and they had asked to have Fr. Milner near to advise them. Apart from that he was supposed to rest and recuperate, ready to join the other Fathers in the new work in America. Typical of him was that he could not just sit in his room and rest. He decided to print some badly needed music of the Russian rite, so he copied out about 600 pages by hand and had them lithographed. As a relaxation from writing music he translated from the Italian the latest book on the oriental rites, over 800 pages, helped some Russian D.P.s and did many other things for the Russian work. In his last letter to me he wrote that the music and the book were nearly finished and he could not bear the thought of having nothing to do. He had hopes that he would soon be well enough to travel to New York and help in the new Russian Centre. His health seemed to be improving, but suddenly on May 30th he had a sudden severe attack and died within five minutes.
The character of Fr. Milner is best summed up by the following incident. When plans were made for our Russian Centre in New York, Fr. General decided to put off Fr. Milner's appointment to it, for reasons of health. I consulted the other Fathers of the community and they all agreed that we should propose to Fr. General that we wanted to have Fr. Milner with us even though he were to spend the rest of his life in bed. His mere presence in the house would greatly help the morale of the community. It had become natural to us to take our problems to Fr. Milner and his solid Yorkshire common sense and good judgment usually solved them. His cheerfulness, piety, humility, devotion to the Russian work and simple obedience made his presence invaluable. He was one of the first to enter the Russian rite, at a time when it was all new and there were many serious questions as to how far we Jesuits. could adapt themselves to such a big change. We were required to drop all the customary devotional practices of the Society and take on new ones without changing our spirit. It required great adaptability and sound judgment concerning what are accidentals and what essentials, and a genuine indifference even in the intimate expressions of one's spiritual life. It was here that Fr. Milner excelled. He took no half measures and really adapted himself to the Russian customs. It is not surprising that all the Russians loved him and considered him one of themselves. One of his Shanghai companions writes: “His death is a grave loss. Fr. John was one of the most universally liked men I have ever known a wonderful personality.an endless store of energy and a tireless worker”. The Sisters of St. Columban write : “He was a model of cheerfulness. The two and a half years of invalid life must have been very trying, but he never complained. He was entirely given to souls, and his generosity combined with humility and true priestliness will always be an enduring inspiration to us”.
F Wilcock SJ, 12th June 1950

Born: 23 November 1885, Messercola, Caserta, Italy
Entered: 01 October 1900, St Joseph’s, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)
Ordained: 29 September 1915
Final vows: 13 April 1921
Died: 20 October 1974, Gesù, Naples, Italy - Neapolitanae Province (NAP)

by 1922 came to St Ignatius, Melbourne, Australia (HIB) working

Provincial of Neapolitan Province (NAP) 1935-1938

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
He Entered the Society at Villa Melancrinis, Naples, Italy 01 October 1900.
After he had completed his studies in literature he went to Acireale for Philosophy.
He was then sent for Regency to Collegio Sozi-Carafa di Vico Equense, on the island of Ponza
He then went to Posillipo, Naples for Theology
1919-1920 He was engaged in military service and then made his tertianship at Posillipo
1920-1931 He was sent to Australia and arrived on 23 October 1920 and went to the Richmond Parish. During his time here he had special responsibility for the Italian community in Victoria and he also did some parish work..

He had been lent to the Australian Mission and was a man of great strength and vitality, untiringly energetic, unfailingly cheerful, greatly loved and trusted by the Italians. He was a tall thin man, had big gestures, a soft voice, and was sincere, talkative and happy. Young people especially enjoyed his company, engaged by his simple statements and affectionate manner. He was like an old friend who converses with ease.
The Italian community in Melbourne spoke little or no English, was not well educated, had no welfare agency and was isolated from the larger Melbourne community. At first, Vincente was not welcomed by the community who treated him both with suspicion and indifference. The did not want to be reminded of their religious obligations by a priest. However, this did not last and they began to understand that he was an asset to them. He wrote a booklet “A Little Guide for Italians in Australia”, which contained prayers and useful information for newly arrived immigrants.
In 1922 he estimated that there were 300-400 families in his care. In 1925 he helped organise a Mission, and about 400 people attended, many then returning to religious practice. Many of these people also became followers of Mussolini, and were involved in some fascist activities, and Vincente joined in with them. Among them grew a more extreme group of anarchists and communists, and the “Clob Matteotti” began to cause Vincente some concern. While trying to remain neutral to non-extreme political groups, he was primarily concerned with the pastoral needs of the Italian community. For this work he was awarded the “Knighthood of the Italian Crown” (Ordine della Corona d'Italia) in 1933.

He was so successful that later he was appointed Provincial of Naples (1935-1938). When asked for “informationes” by Father General, the Vice-Provincial of Australia, John Fahy wrote that he was “a man of great edification, given to prayer, obedient, humble, willingly listens to the advice of others, loving to all, mortified, loving poverty; above all he labours strenuously for the salvation of souls.....He exercises sound judgement, does not hesitate; and is endowed with practical wisdom......., gifted and both prudent and discreet; circumspect in speaking.....He understands the Institute well and loves it dearly. His love of the Society is outstanding........He is a man of rectitude with the greatest sincerity and candour”. This must have been someone close to human perfection as John Fahy rarely gave such praise!

His profile in Naples was that of a man with little understanding of men and things, and Vincente considered that perhaps he was not the best man to take up the office of Provincial. With his frank and open character and happy disposition, it appeared that he might not have the carefulness, discretion and diplomacy that might be required of him. He was anything but a failure. His administration was in order and he fulfilled the role with the qualities ascribed to him by John Fahy. The Italians admired his common sense, good heart and strong spirituality. He seemed to be a man united with God. He did not enjoy his term of office and asked to be relieved after three years. he was then appointed to the Neapolitan church of Santa Chiara - Basilica Santa Chiara, Via Santa Chiara, Naples.

1938 He was happy to return to pastoral work, and then the war years began. Naples was one of the cities that suffered most. They lived with the constant sound of the air-raid siren. The windows in Santa Chiara were all shattered, whole nights were spent in shelters and provisions became more difficult to come by.. Vincente did not know where to turn, though he remained calm and retained hope.

1943 On 04 August 1943 part of Santa Chiara was bombed. Ultimately he welcomed the arrival of the allies and he did much pastoral work among them because of his command of English. Reconstruction of the Church became an important priority for him

1948 His parish work was interrupted in 1948 when he tended to the needs of workmen at “Ritiri di Perseveranza” (Workers Retreats). Returning to the Parish he then focused especially on hearing confessions. All classes and types of people visited him and he visited the sick. he was hardworking and full of understanding. During this time he was also given the responsibility as Vice-Postulator of the cause of Venerable Giuseppe Moscati for canonisation.

1955 After seventeen years in Naples he was sent to Puglia. He visited Bari and Taranto first, and later went to Grottaglie.
1960-1965 He was Superior at Puglia and left this office in 1965 when he was aged 80.
1965 He returned to Naples and to Parish work, helping the sick and suffering. He even visited his home town of Messercola to help villagers in Santa Maria a Vico.

In his later years he suffered from sclerosis of the brain which affected his mental condition and caused him great pain. As such, death was a release for the man who had given so much for so long to those he served.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 3rd Year No 1 1927
Richmond, Australia :
Fr de Francesco continues to do splendid work amongst the Italians. He meets the boats as they arrive from Italy, and presents each newcomer with a little guide book that helps him to learn English, and also contains a good deal of religious instruction, He gets work for them, advises them as to the best localities for farming, etc. Every first Sunday of the month he holds a special service for the Italians in our Church. He goes round the various Churches in Melbourne to hear their Confessions. He made a tour of Australia, preaching in many places, priests speak highly of his splendid work.

Born: 10 June 1778, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1805, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Final vows: 27 September 1832
Died: 24 May 1836, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare

In Clongowes 1817

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied at Stonyhurst and Palermo, where he was Ordained.
For some years he was an assistant to a PP in Dublin.
He was eventually appointed Procurator at Clongowes where he died.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was very remarkable for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, for his love of the Society and his care for the poor. His death was a source of wonder and edification to all on account of the heroic fortitude he had displayed during his illness. On one occasion, holding out his hands all swollen with dropsy, he said to someone “Look at these hands, how unsightly and shapeless they are! But what does it matter, seeing that I am going to God”.

◆ Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ Past and Present Notes :
16th February 1811 At the advance ages of 73, Father Betagh, PP of the St Michael Rosemary Lane Parish Dublin, Vicar General of the Dublin Archdiocese died. His death was looked upon as almost a national calamity. Shops and businesses were closed on the day of his funeral. His name and qualities were on the lips of everyone. He was an ex-Jesuit, the link between the Old and New Society in Ireland.

Among his many works was the foundation of two schools for boys : one a Classical school in Sall’s Court, the other a Night School in Skinner’s Row. One pupil received particular care - Peter Kenney - as he believed there might be great things to come from him in the future. “I have not long to be with you, but never fear, I’m rearing up a cock that will crow louder and sweeter for yopu than I ever did” he told his parishioners. Peter Kenney was to be “founder” of the restored Society in Ireland.

There were seventeen Jesuits in Ireland at the Suppression : John Ward, Clement Kelly, Edward Keating, John St Leger, Nicholas Barron, John Austin, Peter Berrill, James Moroney, Michael Cawood, Michael Fitzgerald, John Fullam, Paul Power, John Barron, Joseph O’Halloran, James Mulcaile, Richard O’Callaghan and Thomas Betagh. These men believed in the future restoration, and they husbanded their resources and succeeded in handing down to their successors a considerable sum of money, which had been saved by them.

A letter from the Acting General Father Thaddeus Brezozowski, dated St Petersburg 14/06/1806 was addressed to the only two survivors, Betagh and O’Callaghan. He thanked them for their work and their union with those in Russia, and suggested that the restoration was close at hand.

A letter from Nicholas Sewell, dated Stonyhurst 07/07/1809 to Betagh gives details of Irishmen being sent to Sicily for studies : Bartholomew Esmonde, Paul Ferley, Charles Aylmer, Robert St Leger, Edmund Cogan and James Butler. Peter Kenney and Matthew Gahan had preceded them. These were the foundation stones of the Restored Society.

Returning to Ireland, Kenney, Gahan and John Ryan took residence at No3 George’s Hill. Two years later, with the monies saved for them, Kenney bought Clongowes as a College for boys and a House of Studies for Jesuits. From a diary fragment of Aylmer, we learn that Kenney was Superior of the Irish Mission and Prefect of Studies, Aylmer was Minister, Claude Jautard, a survivor of the old Society in France was Spiritual Father, Butler was Professor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology, Ferley was professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Esmonde was Superior of Scholastics and they were joined by St Leger and William Dinan. Gahan was described as a Missioner at Francis St Dublin and Confessor to the Poor Clares and irish Sisters of Charity at Harold’s Cross and Summerhill. Ryan was a Missioner in St Paul’s, Arran Quay, Dublin. Among the Scholastics, Brothers and Masters were : Brothers Fraser, Levins, Connor, Bracken, Sherlock, Moran, Mullen and McGlade.

Trouble was not long coming. Protestants were upset that the Jesuits were in Ireland and sent a petition was sent to Parliament, suggesting that the Vow of Obedience to the Pope meant they could not have an Oath of Allegiance to the King. In addition, the expulsion of Jesuits from all of Europe had been a good thing. Kenney’s influence and diplomatic skills resulted in gaining support from Protestants in the locality of Clongowes, and a counter petition was presented by the Duke of Leinster on behalf of the Jesuits. This moment passed, but anto Jesuit feelings were mounting, such as in the Orange faction, and they managed to get an enquiry into the Jesuits and Peter Kenney and they appeared before the Irish Chief Secretary and Provy Council. Peter Kenney’s persuasive and oratorical skills won the day and the enquiry group said they were satisfied and impressed.

Over the years the Mission grew into a Province with Joseph Lentaigne as first Provincial in 1860. In 1885 the first outward undertaking was the setting up of an Irish Mission to Australia by Lentaigne and William Kelly, and this Mission grew exponentially from very humble beginnings.

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.from the Government.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father William Dinan 1778-1836
At Clongowes Wood College on May 11th 1836 died Fr William Dinan. Born in Waterford in 1778, he entered the Society in 1805, making his studies first at Stonyhurst, then in Palermo, where he was ordained.

On his return to Ireland he worked for some years at St Michan’s parish in Dublin. He then became Oeconomus in Clongowes, a post he held for a long time.

He was remarkable for his love of the Blessed Virgin, for his love of the Society and for the poor.

His death was a source of great edification to all on account of the heroic fortitude he displayed during his last illness. On one occasions, holding out his hands all swollen with dropsy, he said “Look a these poor hands, how unsightly and shapeless they are. But what does it matter, srring as I am going to God”.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DINAN, WILLIAM, was born at Waterford on the 10th of June, 1778, and joined the Society with several others at Hodder, in 1805. He commenced his Theological studies at Stonyhurst, and finished them at Palermo in Sicily, where he was ordained Priest. On his return to Ireland, he was for several years Assistant to a Parish Priest in Dublin; but eventually was employed as Procurator at Clongowes Wood College, near Dublin, and during a lengthened period discharged the duties of that office with exemplary zeal and punctuality. He breathed his last at Clongowes on the 24th May, 1836, with the greatest calmness and resignation, Prof. 4.

Born: 23 March 1903. Killorglin, County Kerry
Entered: 31 August 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1934, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1938, Chiesa de Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 13 December 1977, Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin

Part of the Belvedere College SJ, Dublin community at the time of death

Youngest brother of John C - RIP 1950, Patrick - RIP 1970

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ; Studied for BA in Classics at UCD

Father General's Assistant English Assistant

by 1936 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1937 at Rome, Italy (ROM) working with Propaganda for Faith Secretariat and then Substitute English Assistant
by 1938 at Rome Italy (ROM) Sub English Assistant

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 53rd Year No 2 1978
Obituary :
Fr Francis Joy (1903-1977)
On December 13th, 1977, Father Frank Joy died in Jervis Street Hospital. He had been brought there after collapsing in Dorset Street.
Born in Killorglin, Co, Kerry, on March 23rd 1903, he entered the Noviceship in Tullabeg on August 31st 1920. After the normal course of studies he was ordained priest in Milltown Park on July 31st 1934. His Tertianship was at St Beunos (1935-1936), and he pronounced his Final Vows in Rome, in the Church of the Holy Name, on February 2nd, 1938. They were received by the Vicar General.
Father Joy spent the years 1936-1946 in Rome in the varied works assigned to him. On his return to Ireland in 1946, after some time in Gardiner Street, and Belvedere, he was appointed Rector in Mungret College, in which office he remained from 1950 to 1956. After four years Superior in Manresa Retreat House, he was Rector in the Crescent, Limerick from 1960 to 1965, and then Rector in Clongowes from 1965 to 1968. father Joy spent some years at Retreat work in Leeson Street (1968-1970) and Milltown Park.
Father Joy went to Belvedere in 1971 and remained there in the Office of Bursar and Assistant Bursar until his death in 1976.
Father Frank Joy was very well known and liked in the Province, a thing which emphasises the friendliness and religious spirit that belonged to him. This is significant, for the successive works that were assigned to him were such as would - for the most part, - have drawn little attention to him from his fellow Jesuits in Ireland. Thus his early years in Rome were taken up with jobs that brought no attention to himself: e.g., he was, for a time, Editor of 'Lettres de Rome'. He was successively Rector or Superior of various houses over many years: and then as now a Rector of a College tended to be better known by parents and friends of the students than to other members of the Province outside his own Community. And it was, very fittingly, - in the rather hidden though important work of Bursar that he spent his last quiet years in Belvedere.

◆ The Clongownian, 1978

Obituary

Father Frank Joy SJ

Frank was the youngest of the six members of the Joy family of Killorglin who were educated in Clongowes. He spent four years here form 1916 to 1920. On leaving school he entered the Jesuit Noviceship at Tullabeg, where he had been preceded by his two elder brothers John and Paddy. At the end of his noviceship he went to UCD and took an honours degree in the classics. He then proceeded to Milltown Park to do his philosophical studies, after which he came back to Clongowes and taught classics between 1927 and 1931. His theological studies followed, again in Milltown Park, and he was ordained priest there on July 31st 1934, A spiritual year followed in St Bueno's College, North Wales, and at the end of that year he was summoned to Rome to work at the headquarters of the Jesuit Order, and remained there for nine years from 1939-46.

On his return to Ireland, he was engaged in retreat work in Gardiner Street and Belvedre College. In 1950 he went to Mungret College as Rector. From 1956-60 he was superior of Manresa the Jesuit Retreat House in North Dublin. In 1960 he went back to Limerick as Rector of the Crescent Church and College. In 1965 he returned to Clongowes as Rector, and held that office for three years. In 1968 he moved into Belvedere College, filling the responsible office of school bursar. And so, Frank spent most of his life in administration, and a very capable administrator he was. For the last few years his health had not been good. He went out for a walk in Dublin on December 13th 1977, and suffered a heart attack in the street. He was taken off to hospital and died that night. He was 74 years of age.

Born: 03 January 1880, Sunday's Well, Cork City
Entered: 07 September 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1915, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1921, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 07 July 1960, St John of God’s Hospital, Stillorgan, Dublin

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

Francis Mary Hegarty Browne

by 1902 at Chieri Italy (TAUR) studying
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 1st Battalion Irish Guards, BEF France

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Browne, Francis Patrick Mary
by James Quinn

Browne, Francis Patrick Mary (1880–1960), photographer and Jesuit priest, was born 3 January 1880 in Sunday's Well, Cork, youngest of eight children of James Browne, flour merchant and JP, and Brigid Browne (née Hegarty; 1840–80), who died of puerperal fever eight days after Francis's birth. The family was well-off and owned a large house at Buxton Hill; Brigid's father, James Hegarty, was a wealthy tanner and a JP, and served as lord mayor of Cork. Francis attended the Bower convent, Athlone (1885–92), the Christian Brothers' college, St Patrick's Place, Cork (1892), the Jesuit college at Belvedere, Dublin (1893), and the Vicentian college at Castleknock (1893–7). He excelled in the classics and modern languages, enjoyed sports, and played on the Castleknock first rugby XV. On leaving Castleknock he made a tour of Europe with his brother William (1876–1938) (also a priest and photographer), and took many photographs, which even at this stage showed considerable talent. On his return in September 1897 he joined the Jesuits, and served his noviceship at Tullabeg, King's Co. (Offaly). After his father drowned while swimming at Crosshaven (2 September 1898), his education was overseen by his uncle, Robert Browne (qv), president of Maynooth College and bishop of Cloyne (1894–1935). Francis took his first vows 8 September 1899, and studied classics at the Royal University at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, graduating with an honours BA (1902). At university he was a contemporary of James Joyce (qv), and ‘Mr Browne, the Jesuit’ makes an appearance in Finnegans wake. He studied philosophy (1902–5) at Chieri, near Turin, travelling throughout Italy during the summer holidays and studying Italian painting. Returning to Ireland in 1905, he taught at Belvedere (1905–11), where he founded a cycling club, a camera club, and the college annual, The Belvederian, which featured many of his photographs.

In April 1912 he sailed on the first leg of the Titantic's maiden voyage (10–11 April) from Southampton to Queenstown (Cobh) via Cherbourg. Friends offered to pay for him to complete the trip to New York, but the Jesuit provincial in Dublin refused him permission. He took about eighty photographs on the voyage, including the last one of the Titanic's captain, Edward Smith, and the only one ever taken in the ship's Marconi room. The Titantic's sinking catapulted his work to international attention, his photographs appearing on the front pages of newspapers around the world. His name forever became associated with the Titanic and he assiduously collected material relating to the disaster, which he used to give public lectures.

He studied theology (1911–15) at Milltown Park, Dublin, and was ordained 31 July 1915. Early in 1916 he became a military chaplain in the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, with the rank of captain. Present at the Somme and Ypres (including Passchendaele), he showed great courage under fire, tending the wounded in no man's land and guiding stretcher parties to wounded men. He himself was wounded five times and gassed once, and won the MC and bar and the Croix de Guerre. His commanding officer, the future Earl Alexander, who became a lifelong friend, described him as ‘the bravest man I ever met’ (O'Donnell, Life, 46). During the war he took many photographs, now held in the Irish Guards headquarters in London. He returned to Ireland late in 1919, completed his tertianship (July 1920), and was again assigned to Belvedere. On 31 October 1920 he cycled to the viceregal lodge to make a personal appeal for the life of Kevin Barry (qv), an Old Belvederean.

He took his final vows (2 February 1921) and was appointed supervisor of St Francis Xavier's church, Gardiner St. (1921–8). Because of the damage done to his lungs by gassing during the war, he spent the years 1924–5 in Australia, making a 3,000-mile trip through the outback, where he took many memorable photographs. By now he and his camera were inseparable and he used it widely on his return trip through Ceylon, Yemen, Egypt, and Italy. Returning to Dublin in late 1925 he resumed his position at Gardiner St. and began regularly to photograph inner-city Dublin life, taking about 5,000 photographs of Dublin over thirty years. In 1926 he took flying lessons and took many aerial photographs of Dublin. He became an important member of the Photographic Society of Ireland and the Dublin Camera Club and was vice-president and a key organiser of a highly successful international exhibition of photography (the First Irish Salon of Photography) during Dublin's ‘civic week’ in 1927; further exhibitions were held biennially until 1939. Appointed to the Jesuits' mission and retreat staff, he was based at Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare (1928–30), and Emo Court, Co. Laois (1930–57).

Many of these were of the great cathedrals of England, which had a particular fascination for him. With war looming, in 1937–8 he was commissioned by the Church of England to photograph the churches of East Anglia to enable their accurate restoration should they suffer bomb damage. In 1939 his offer to serve as chaplain to the Irish Guards was accepted, but he was refused permission from the Irish Jesuit provincial.

Travelling throughout Britain and Ireland, he continued to photograph and assiduously to practise the technical aspects of photography and build up an impressive array of photographic equipment, including his own developing laboratory at Emo. Most experts believe that his talent matured fully in the 1930s. Given a Kodak 16mm cine-camera by his uncle Robert, he shot a film of the eucharistic congress in Dublin in 1932, and made several subsequent films for state and educational bodies. In 1933 he visited the Kodak works at Harrow, north-west of London, and afterwards received a supply of free film for life and regularly contributed articles and photographs to the Kodak Magazine.

In the 1940s and ‘50s he photographed almost every aspect of Irish life – pilgrimages, ruined monasteries, great houses, and leading religious, political, and literary figures – and his photographs featured regularly in Irish publications. Much of his work dealt with new industries and technology, especially his fascination with transport: aircraft, shipping, and trains. A booklet issued by the Department of Health on the ‘mother and child’ scheme in 1951 was illustrated with his photographs. All his earnings from photography (c.£1,000, 1937–54) were forwarded to the Jesuit provincial treasurer and used for the education of Jesuit students.

As his health faded, he resided at Milltown Park from 1957, and many of his photographs from the late 1950s recorded the themes of old age and death. He died in Dublin 7 July 1960, and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

He took an estimated 42,000 photographs throughout his life, but his fame as a photographer was largely posthumous: most of his work lay unnoticed in a trunk in the Jesuit archives until 1986. His photographs were neatly captioned and dated but were mostly on deteriorating nitrate film, and a major restoration effort was required to transfer them to safe film. Photographic experts were astounded at the quality of the work, generally considering it the outstanding photographic collection of twentieth-century Ireland. Fr Browne had all the attributes of a great photographer: a natural eye for line and balance in composition (a talent developed by his study of Italian art) and an ability to anticipate the decisive moment. In photographing people his lens was never intrusive or exploitative, and his sympathy with his subject is always evident. Scenes involving children, in particular, are captured with a natural ease and dignity. He has been described as ‘one of the great photographic talents’ (O'Donnell, Life, 123) of the twentieth century, and compared favourably with the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Since 1986 his work has been regularly exhibited, published in various collections compiled by E. E. O'Donnell, SJ, and featured in television documentaries.

Rudyard Kipling, The Irish Guards in the great war (2 vols, 1923), i, 136, 141, 145–6, 170, 182; ii, 173; Ir. Times, 18 Nov. 1989; E. E. O'Donnell, SJ, ‘Photographer extraordinary: the life and work of Father Browne’, Studies, lxxix (1990), 298–306; id., Father Browne's Dublin (1993); id., Father Browne: a life in pictures (1994); id., Father Browne's Titanic album (1997)

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/who-are-the-jesuits/inspirational-jesuits/francis-browne/

Francis Browne
Few can claim to have seen as much in their life as Francis Browne, sailing on the Titanic, serving in World War I, travelling the world. Not only did he live it but, as an amateur photographer, he also recorded his life and experiences, allowing us today immeasurable insight into that period in our history.
Born in Cork in 1880, Francis Browne was the youngest of eight children. His mother died of puerperal fever not long after his birth and his father died in a swimming accident when he was nine, so Browne was taken care of by his uncle, Robert Browne. After finishing school in Dublin in 1897, Browne went on a grand tour of Europe, seeing France and Italy. For his travels, his uncle bought him his first camera as a present, and this began Browne’s lifelong interest in photography.
Upon returning to Ireland, Browne entered the Jesuit noviciate in Tullabeg. He studied at the Royal University of Ireland in Dublin, where he was classmates with James Joyce. In 1911 he began studying theology in Milltown. The following year, his uncle gave him a ticket aboard the newly built ship Titanic, to sail from Southampton to Queenstown, now Cobh. Browne brought his camera, as was his hobby, and took many pictures. When he arrived in Queenstown he would have continued on the crossing to America, but was told in no uncertain terms by his superior to return to Dublin. When word arrived days later of the sinking of the Titanic, Browne realised how valuable his photographs were and sold them to various newspapers leading to the publication all over the world.
Browne was ordained in 1915, and the following year was sent to Europe where he served as chaplain to the Irish Guards. During his time in the service, Browne was at the Battle of the Somme, at Flanders, Ypres, and many other places at the frontline of the war. He was wounded on five occasions, and was awarded a military cross and bar for valour in combat. During this time too he took photographs, recording life at the frontline.
Returning to Dublin in 1920, Browne experienced recurring ill health from his time in the war, and was sent to Australia in 1924. Never parting from his camera, he took countless photos of the places he saw on his way over, as well as in Australia. After returning, he was appointed to the Retreats and Mission staff, and travelled all across Ireland. By the time of his death in 1960, Browne had taken photographs in nearly every parish in Ireland. When his negatives were discovered, twenty five years later, there were in the order of 42,000 of them. Twenty three volumes of his work have now been published and the importance of his work has been recognised internationally.

https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/damien-burke/the-last-parting-jesuits-and-armistice/

The last parting: Jesuits and Armistice
At the end of the First World War, Irish Jesuits serving as chaplains had to deal with two main issues: their demobilisation and influenza. Some chaplains asked immediately to be demobbed back to Ireland; others wanted to continue as chaplains. Of the thirty-two Jesuits chaplains in the war, five had died, while sixteen were still serving.
Writing on 13 November 1918, Fr Frank Browne SJ describes the day of the Armistice:
Isn’t it grand to think that the end has come & come so well for our side: please God it will come for us at home soon, & equally well. Here all is excitement and rejoicing. I happened to be in Dieppe at the fateful 11 o’clock Monday last. I was at the Ordnance store outside which is a great railway siding... Eleven o’ clock was signaled by every engine furiously blowing its whistle. Then nearly all of them proceeded to career up & down the hacks – still whistling. On several of them men sat astride the boilers waving flats & ringing bells. This lasted for 20 mins. On the other side of the quarry Co. of Engineers burst a charge displacing several tons of rock, & then fired Verey lights & flares. But all this was nothing compared with the French outburst in the town. As I drove into the town our car was pelted with confetti by girls, all of whom were gay with tricolor ribbons. The Belgian emigres organised a march through the town with their military band and all the soldiers & Officers present. The bugles were blowing as they entered the main street, which was crowded with rejoicing people. Suddenly, the bugles stopped, & the Band struck up the Marseillaise. For a moment there was a kind of silence, then with a roar, the whole crowd of people took it up. Woman appeared at every window waving flags, & singing: assistants rushed to the doors of shops & joined in the great chorus: children shouted & sang & wriggled through the crowd. It was one of the most inspiring spontaneous demonstrations it has ever been my fortune to witness.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 4 1932

China :

The Seminary Aberdeen :
The Seminary is now in full working order. We have all the ordinary exercises of our houses of studies circles, tones, etc. The students take kindly to the tones and are frank in their criticisms. A variant of the ordinary tones is a sermonette on the Life of Our Lord, We are using the Epidioscope and the beautiful slides which Father Frank Browne so kindly sent us. Thus a more vivid picture of the Gospel scenes is impressed on their minds. They have also given lectures to the village-folk with a Synoscope which Father Bourke brought out.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 35th Year No 4 1960

Obituary :

Fr Francis M Browne (1880-1960)

The song has it that “old soldiers never die, they only fade away”. Fr. Frank Browne was an old soldier who never said die. He just faded away for a few months until the King whom he served so long and so faithfully called him to the eternal colours on 7th July, 1960, in the 81st year of his life.
Francis Mary Hegarty Browne was born in Cork on 3rd January, 1880. He claimed two Alma Maters - Belvedere and Castleknock - and never lost his affection for both. There must have been militarism in his blood, and the instinct for noble deeds and daring exploits. He went the Ignatian way, entering the noviceship at Tullabeg in 1897. At the completion of his noviceship he was one of a group of brilliant scholastics studying for the Royal - Edmund Power, Patrick Gannon, Austin Hartigan and others. In after years he sometimes mentioned his ability to equal and even surpass in classical lore some of these literary geniuses. After three years philosophy in Chieri, Northern Italy, he spent seven years teaching in Belvedere and Clongowes - mostly in Belvedere. During this period Mr. Browne was the life and soul of Belvedere. The college was small in those days, numbering about 250 boys. There he endeared himself to many who in later years reached the top of their professions. It was there, too, that he became wedded to his camera. While doing full teaching he had cycling club, camera club and every kind of outdoor activity except games.
At the conclusion of this long period of colleges came theology at Milltown Park and Ordination in July 1915 at the hands of his uncle, Most Rev. Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. During his theologate he rarely missed opportunities of long treks over the mountains. It was all a preparation for his duties as military chaplain. World War I broke out in 1914 and in 1916 Fr. Browne became chaplain to the Irish Guards in France and Flanders. He was wounded several times, returning home to hospital with severe shrapnel injuries to his jaw, On his return again to the front he served in the same Irish Division as Fr. Willie Doyle, and was close to Fr. Doyle until the latter was killed in August 1917. From then onwards until the war ended in 1918 Fr. Browne was with the Irish Guards and received several distinctions. As well as frequently being mentioned in despatches he was awarded the Military Cross and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
Tertianship was in Tullabeg, 1919-1920, and then Belvedere College for two years. A visitation of the Irish Province took place just then and two appointments made by the Fr. Visitor - Fr. W. Power, U.S.A. were Fr. John Fahy as Provincial and Fr. Browne as Superior of St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street. Both were, in a sense, as a bolt from the blue. The advent of a young priest as Superior of Gardiner Street - especially one so dynamic as Fr. Browne-was quite unusual. He was the youngest member of the community. The quiet hum of church work became a loud buzz during his six years as Superior. He was a great churchman. As well as a very eloquent preacher, he was devoted to the confessional, Moreover he was a man of great taste and made many improvements in administration. But he worked himself to a standstill and had to go on a long rest. The long rest was a trip to Australia. It provided Fr. Frank with plenty of shots for his camera and matter for many illustrated lectures in which he was a specialist.
From 1928 until a few years before his death Fr, Browne was on the Mission Staff of the Irish Province. He was stationed in St. Mary's, Emo from the time it opened in 1931. This life gave him ample scope for his unbounded energy. He loved his rest periods in Emo and his camera provided a helpful and lucrative relaxation. His photographs of places of historic interest in every part of Ireland were eagerly sought after by papers like the Irish Tatler and Sketch. In his scholastic days he had made a reputation for himself as Editor of The Belvederian. Anyone who scans the volumes of that magazine will find some wonderful photographs. It was while there he accepted the invitation to go on the first leg of the maiden voyage of the famous Titanic, later sunk by an iceberg in the Atlantic. Fr. Frank's photos of the inside of this luxury liner were about the only ones extant.
It is hardly to be expected that younger members of any religious order could have a correct view of older members, seen and known only in their decline. It is for that reason possibly that these obituary notices appear. It is only fair that a man's life should be seen in its entirety, God does not look at the last decade of a man's life, or indeed at any one decade. God views the whole span, and so should we. Else we miss much that we ought to know for our encouragement. The Society has its menologies, and wants the lives of Jesuits to be known by succeeding generations. For this purpose the menology is read every day. In this rapid and complex world our dead are too soon forgotten. The Irish Province has had many devoted sons to whose favours we of today owe much.
What were the outstanding qualities of Fr. Frank Browne? They are here outlined in order of priority as the writer sees them after forty, if not more nearly fifty, years of acquaintance.
He was a most priestly man. To see Fr. Frank at the altar was most impressive. There was no sign of slovenliness, speed, distraction. From his ordination till his death he put the Mass first. This had one rather amusing aspect. The pair of shoes in which he was ordained he preserved to the end, and only wore them at the altar. They were known to his colleagues as “The Melchisedeck Shoes”. This, in itself, shows his anxiety to preserve the fervour of his early priesthood. There was always a dignity about Fr. Browne whenever he functioned in the church, A man of fine physique and carriage, he looked magnificent in priestly vestments. But there was no shadow of affectation, no over-exaggeration. It was simple, honest and devout.
This priestliness he carried into the pulpit. He was never cheap, witty, frivolous. His preaching was always impressive, his words well chosen, his examples apt. He had a very friendly and sympathetic approach to his congregation. His confessional was always crowded and never hurried. There was the kindly word for everyone. With the secular clergy he was extremely popular, yet always reserved and dignified. It is the truth that he never forgot he was a priest and a Jesuit. He might at times be demanding, but always in a pleasant way,
He was a brave man-brave in every sense of the word. As chaplain he was rewarded for his courage under fire. The soldiers admired him and the officers revered him because of his calmness under fire. An Irish Guardsman, still alive, wrote of Fr, Browne :
“We were in a church somewhere in Belgium and Fr. Browne was in the pulpit. Shells began to fall all around. We began to look around and up at the roof already with many holes in it. Fr. Browne thundered out : ‘What's wrong? Why don't you listen? Which are you more afraid of - God or the Germans?”
In the home front, when he was in Belvedere College, 1920-1922, many a time when the crash of a bomb, thrown at British lorries passing down North Frederick Street, was heard, Fr. Browne was down to the scene at once to minister to any injured. People scattered in all directions, but he remained firm. In October 1920, because he considered it his duty, he made a personal appeal to the military authorities on behalf of Kevin Barry.
He feared no man and feared no man's views. He never gave in an inch on a matter of principle even to the point of being irascible. One can imagine the influence he excited on non-Catholics in the British Army, A high-ranking officer, later a Field Marshal and a Viscount, had the greatest veneration for Fr. Browne and always wore a medal of Our Lady that Fr. Frank gave him.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Francis (Frank) Browne 1880-1960
Fr Francis Browne was a colourful character, full of life and go. He was famous as a Chaplain in the First World War, being decorated many times for gallantry under fire. A soldier wrote of him “We were in Church somewhere in Belgium, and Fr Browne was in the pulpit. Shells began to fall all around. We began to look around and up at the roof which already had many holes in it. R Browne thundered out “What’s wrong? Why don't you listen to me? Which are you more afraid of, God or the Germans?”
Through the good offices of his uncle the Bishop of Cloyne, Fr Frank travelled in the Titanic, on her voyage from Belfast to Cork, where luckily he disembarked. Being an excellent photographer, he had taken snaps of the interior of that famous ship, which are the onl;y ones extant to this day.
As a chaplain he was equally popular with Catholic and Protestant, and counted among his friends the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VII and later again Duke of Windsor. A high ranking Officer, a Field-Marshall and later a Viscount had the greatest veneration for him, and always carried a medal of Our Lady round his neck, which he had received from Fr Frank.
His outstanding devotion was to the Holy Mass. The pair of boots in which he was ordained he kept apart to the end, and in no others did he ever celebrate Mass.
During his period as Superior of Gardiner Street he was responsible for many improvements in the Church, mainly the fine porch and new system of lighting.
The latter part of his life he spent as a most zealous and successful missioner
He died on July 7th 1960.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2002

Farewell Companions : Dermot S Harte

Fr Francis Patrick Mary Browne SJ

If Fr J M O'Connor SJ had a rival for the “Mr. Belvedere” title, it might probably be Fr Frank Browne SJ - another distinguished Alumnus.

Frank was a good friend of mine. I cannot honestly remember where I first met him for he was the sort of person who seemed to have been around forever. He was so unique that everyone who met him felt that they had always known him. From his adventures aboard the “Titanic” and from his days in the hell of the trenches of World War I, when he was a Chaplain in the Irish Guards, he probably became Ireland's most prolific photographer. He was likely to turn up absolutely anytime, anywhere and very often in the strangest of places! I once encountered him on the footplate of a newly acquired locomotive (”The Maeve”) on the Dublin-Cork run covered from head to toe in coal-dust and sundry grime, having made the total journey in company with the driver and fireman and, no doubt, the inevitable camera!

The story of Frank Browne and the 'Titanic' is legendary. He travelled Southampton-Cherbourg-Queenstown (now Cobh) on the vessel during which time he and his camera did noble work! Not too surprisingly, he was prevailed upon to remain on board for the trip to New York. After all the unsinkable! Titanic was the newest and finest ship ever to sail the seven seas! Who wouldn't give their eye teeth for such a once-in-a-lifetime trip? He radioed his Provincial for permission and hoped for the best! The Provincial's return telegram contained five words: “Get off that ship! Provincial”. So an unhappy Frank remained on land whereas the “Titanic” never reached its destination but instead sank off Newfoundland taking with it some 1500 souls.

But there is another side to the saga of Fr Browne and the Titanic! My grandparents' home was in Sandymount directly across the road from the Star of the Sea Church. Early in the twentieth century the then PP prevailed upon my grandmother to accommodate the “Missioners” who arrived twice each year to conduct the Women's and the Men's Retreats. This was to be on a “one-off” basis but like so many “one-offs” the arrangement became permanent and scores of missioners were accommodated over the next 50 or so years. My grandparents died in the 1920's and early 30's and a number of my unmarried aunts and uncles remained. In particular, I refer to my Aunt Moya!

Eventually there arrived on the scene none other than Fr Frank Browne SJ. The main bathroom was immediately commandeered by Frank where all sorts of apparatus were set up by him to ensure that his photographic pursuits remained unhindered. 1 stayed in the old homestead in order to serve his Mass each morning.

One fine morning he and I set off for his Mass as two of my uncles were having breakfast in the nether regions to which they had been banished when a strange spreading “something” was observed oozing under the breakfast room door. The basement was flooding! Loud crashes were heard as ceilings fell down and chaos ensued! The dreaded Frank had put the plug in the bath on the third floor, connected the water to his Developing Tank - and taken off for the Church! So the unhindered water flowed down with fearsome results. How the priests were not banished for ever more - together with my Aunt Moya - must be the greatest miracle since Moses struck the rock! It did nothing to pacify my uncles and their wrath fell on the shoulders of my unfortunate aunt.

But it didn't all end there, for Moya composed a little ditty that started “Father Browne, he didn't go down”. After the retreats, and overcome by remorse for her disrespect to a man of God, she decided that she must be in a state of mortal sin and took herself off to confession. She told me that in confessing this dreadful sin she said to the priest, “Father, I had bad thoughts about a Missioner!” I'll bet that made her confessor sit up and take notice as he was a particularly close family friend! The poor man was convulsed with laughter when he discovered the nature of her “sin” and she was sadly disappointed at receiving a penance of only one “Glory Be”! But she immediately gave up smoking to atone for her temporary lapse from grace - as she saw it!

The last time I saw Fr Browne was on the platform at Limerick Junction station as he returned from one of his many adventures having immortalised on film whatever caught his attention at the time. Whenever I pass through this station, in my mind's eye his Great Spirit still stands there as it did a lifetime ago. I never forget to remember, and to offer a prayer of gratitude for his friendship. Fr Browne was called to his Heavenly Home on 7 July 1960 where no doubt he is still taking photographs, this time, I would imagine, in glorious Technicolour!

After his death over forty-two thousand of his negatives were discovered in Loyola House by Fr Eddie O'Donnell SJ. So the Great Frank who didn't go down, didn't go away either! With the aid of sponsorship from Allied Irish Bank all were restored and three of AlB/Ark Life calendars, including this year's, featured his photographs. I was amazed to see a photograph of myself in one of the earlier calendars taken, I believe, sometime during the '40's.

Seventeen volumes of his photographs have been published and exhibitions in the Guinness Hop-Store, throughout the country, and in the Pompidou Centre in Paris have featured his Dublin Photographs. His 'Titanic' photographs have been exhibited in places as far apart as Hiroshima, Seattle, Chicago, Lisbon, Bruges and Budapest.

I have a feeling that, somehow, he will still be around on the Last Day. What marvellous opportunities for really spectacular photography will then present themselves! I'll bet he is ready and waiting for the off - and is already champing at the bit!

◆ The Clongownian, 1918

Clongowes Chaplains

We should have liked to be able to give a series of letters from Army. Chaplains, Past Clongownians, and former members of the Clon gowes Community, describing their professional experiences. We made considerable efforts and received promises not a few. But in the end, all found that their life was too busy and too irregular to make formal composition of that kind possible, and they one and all shrank from the task. Very often, too, no doubt, there was the fear of the Censor in the background. But notwithstanding this we thought it would be of interest to many readers of the “Clongownian” if we pieced together from these letters the scattered fragments of news coll tained in them. And this is what we have done. We begin with Father Corr, who for several years most worthily filled the position of Editor to this Magazine, and to whom is due the magnificent Centenary Number, 1914

Father F M Browne SJ

Father Browne, who was a master here some years ago, but not a Past Clongownian is with the anc Battalion Irish Guards. He has certainly had considerable variety during his time at the front. He was within the salient of Bourloi Wood when it had its neck cut and barely managed to escape On this occasion he got the bar to the MC. Of this experienc he writes : never went
through any thing like it and I wish there had bee another Lady Butler to pair another Roll Call of th 2nd I G after Bourlon Wood It was one of the saddest sights have ever see Imagine a fair dark night, deep sunken road lined with tiny excavations, some of them covered with oil sheets, etc, and in the middle the wreck of our Battalion. I cannot tell you how many we were when we started nor how many when we ended, for it would be a crime against interfering DORA”. Of his bar to the MC he writes:-“The only thing by which I can account for it was my very narrow escape from walking into the German lines during or rather just before Bourlon”.

During his wanderings Father Browne has not been unmindful of the wanderings of St Brendan, the story of which he has told in his illustiated guide to Lough Corrib. He tells us that he came by accident on an early French poem on this subject, with a commentary, in a Flemish farmer's cottage. This, no doubt, will be an interesting and, we hope, valuable addition to his booklet on this subject.

One little tit-bit of information which he gives us shows how great a change the presence of Irish soldiers must make to a French parish from the religious point of view. “We had a great ceremony on Sunday last - 2,500 Irish, soldiers gathered for Mass in the Cathe dral of --- to honour the new Bishop who presided at the Mass. I said Mass, Father W Doyle preached. Several Generals and big people - all impressed with very great solemnity. We had a guard of honour for the Elevation and trumpeters to play the General's Salute from the organ gallery. Father Doyle preached a very eloquent sermon though he was strictly limited to 15 minutes”. What a sight for the poor French Catholics - the old ones amongst them, no doubt, were brought back in memory to the ages of Faith in the fair land of France!

Born: 26 May 1886, Kune-Khandala, Maharashtra, India
Entered: 07 September 1904, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1923, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome Italy
Died: 25 January 1950, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1909 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1922 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1923 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

Fr. Canavan, who, as briefly recorded in our last issue, is attending Congresses, at San Sebastian and Barcelona, writes on 12th-13th September from the former place:
"The trip out was pleasant and rapid. Señor Don Jose Arnau, who leaves for Dublin tomorrow, met me at the frontier, saw me through the customs and drove me to San Sebastian, a perfectly lovely place. I had hardly arrived at the Residence when I was called on the phone by the Irish Loreto nuns at Las Arenas, near Bilbao, asking when I was going to them. They had received permission from the Bishop for me to give them a couple of talks and to hear the confessions of the community! I fancied I was back in Milltown Park. Our Fathers have been extremely kind, in fact everyone goes out of his way to do me services. On Saturday last I got up at 4 o'clock, caught an early train and said Mass at Loyola in a chapel all silver, the altar silver, the very flooring of silver. To-day some Spanish friends are driving me to Pamplona and Puente la Reina, and I shall try to see Xavier, and that will take in most of Navarra..
We opened the Conversaciones with Mass and Breakfast at the Episcopal Palace. The Nuncio presided, flanked by a Bishop on his right and left. The Council then set up three Commissions, and I am or one. We speak French and English and Spanish to a lesser extent. The resolution on Liberty of Education adopted practically entire the account I had given of the Irish outlook and system, and has recommended it to the general body. We have Spaniards, Portuguese, Brazilians, English, French, Italians, Swiss, Belgians and Dutch on our committee. We meet twice a day for two hours or so each time, and now and again we have a plenary session in the evening. Yesterday we were invited to a reception given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which I refrained from attending, as I had had a long day already, what with my trip to Loyola and my attendance at the Conversaciones in the afternoon. I forgot to mention that at Loyola I offered Mass for the Province and its needs”.

13th Monday :
“Yesterday I drove to Pamplona through the mountains of Guipuzcoa and Navarre, saw the spot where St. Ignatius was wounded, had dinner with some friends at Puente la Reina and then went on to Xavier. One of the Fathers there had been at Milltown, and another knew Fr. Joy at Rome. It was a wonderful day spent in a country vibrating with the memory of St. Ignatius and St. Francis, On Wednesday I go to Bilbao, then to Oña, Burgos, Valladolid, Salam anca and Madrid. The Minister for Foreign Affairs (a former President of Catholic Action in Spain) has presented me with a Kilometrico, a document which entitles me to travel first-class and free over 5,000 kilometers in Spain. The climate here is rather like Ireland's : plenty of rain, some storms, but much hotter when the sun shines. The other side of the Sierras, in Navarre there is little or no rain, the land is dry and rather parched, and the vine and olive flourish. Loyola is in a pleasant green valley, Xavier is a hard, severe, austere barren, opening in the hills. Spain is a country of sudden violent contrasts, but the people, at least here in the north, are splendidly Catholic...!”

Irish Province News 25th Year No 2 1950

Obituary

Fr. Joseph Canavan (1886-1904-1950)

Father Joseph E. Canavan. Born Khandalla, India, 26th May, 1886. Educated St. Mary's High School, Bombay and Clongowes Wood (1901-1904).
At. C.W.C. he gained high priase for his maiden speech in the Higher Line Debating Society in his last year.
Cricket : On the House XI, second in batting averages and first in bowling averages. Soccer : On the House XI. Athletics : Easter Sports, 1904 won the Higher Line 100 yards and 2nd in the 440.
Entered Novitiate 7 September, 1904. Juniorate, got B.A., Philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1908-1911.
Taught at C.W.C. 1911-1917. Theology at Milltown, 1916-1920. Taught for a year at C.W.C., 1920-1921. Editor Clongownian. Tertianship - Tronchiennes, 1921-1922.
Biennium, Rome, 1922-1924.
Prof. Philos. at Milltown, 1924-1931 and at Tullabeg, 1930-1933.
Prof. Theol. Milltown Park, 1933-1949. Praef. Stud. Milltown Park, 1947-1949. Elector at General Congregation, September October, 1946. Died, St. Vincent's Nursing Home, 25th January, 1950,
“I was taught here to accept success without arrogance and defeat without repining. I was taught here, by precept and example, the lessons of truth, of chivalry and of manliness”. This extract from John Redmond's speech at the Clongowes Centenary Celebrations is quoted with approval by Father Joseph Canavan in an article which he wrote for the Riverview College Magazine in 1948.
It is revealing in a two-fold manner. It shows directly something of what Father Canavan thought of his Alma Mater, and it shows indirectly and unconsciously something of the man himself. The revelation, limited as it is, is valuable because he was not one who opened his heart readily, fearless in expressing his convictions, he kept his sentiments to himself. Bearing in mind the words, we may review the chief activities of his life as a Jesuit.
After his Biennium in Rome - which gained for him the coveted degree of Magister Aggregatus of the Gregorian University - he returned to Ireland to begin the unbroken course of teaching which ran from 1924 to 1949 : Philosophy for nine years and Theology for sixteen years. One of his students has kindly supplied the following impression of Father Canavan as a Professor of Philosophy :
“I was lucky enough to have Fr, Canavan for my three years of Philosophy and to have him as my professor for three of the six main subjects, i.e., for Critica, Cosmology and Ethics. The years were 1929-1932, the heyday of his professorship. He was clear and incisive in exposition, cutting away irrelevancies. He never went in for spoon feeding - his students had to make a considerable personal effort. There were no such things in those days as polycopied pages handed round, each philosopher had to make up the theses for himself. This system was excellent for the averagely intelligent - though it must be admitted that the weaker brethren found it rough going. Fr. Canavan lectured, in the true sense of the word. When the main point of the thesis had been dealt with clearly, succinctly, he sat back, as it were, and began to open up larger horizons - allied questions in the same subjects, the interconnection of the various disciplines, the points of contact with modern thought (how often he brought into class articles from contemporary reviews, cuttings from newspapers and the like!). In the light of his future activities, which seem to have been connected mainly with ethical and moral questions, it is interesting to note that his first and deepest love was metaphysics. (Later on, in Louvain, I was reminded of him time and again by the professing of Pere Pierre Charles.) He took a great personal interest in his students, and this was especially evident in his dealings with them outside class. Always at their service in his room, he was affable and stimulating. One of his most outstanding traits was his way of talking to you as man to man - he never condescended. Even - or perhaps particularly - in his treatment of the least philosophically minded was this true. It was ever his habit to speak to you on his own level of intelligence. For him you were a grown-up, not a school-boy, and an intelligent grown-up, at that. He gave you confidence, drew you out of yourself, made you face difficulties, both philosophical and personal. A true educator”.
When Father Canavan came to teach Theology, his method and his manner did not change and his classes were almost to a man as enthusiastic about their Professor as his classes in Philosophy had been. And a point not mentioned in connection with Philosophy, he was an ideal examiner. His questions were clear and fair. He put the candidate at his ease with a sympathetic courtesy which, without impairing the rigour of the examination, did much to diminish its nervous strain.
Without ever neglecting his main work - that of Professor - he contrived to meet, to a great extent, the demands that were made for his services by the many externs who were not slow to recognise his ability. He had a masterly grasp of business, and a fund of tact and patience which made him an excellent committee-man and chairman, and won for him many tributes, of which the following is an example :

An Appreciation :
“I had not set eyes upon Father Canavan for ten years, but my brief encounters with him in 1938 and 1939 when I served with him as a member - under his chairmanship - on the Citizens Housing Council are so clear that they might have occurred yesterday. There was more than one man of character on that Council, and more than one man of high distinction. I met none who was not proud to serve under Father Joseph Canavan.
As one in charge of a major social programme, he had the ideal qualifications - of tenderness, of incisiveness, and of what, for want of a better phrase, I may call social conscience. He possessed also, in very high measure, that courtesy which, above all else, is desirable in the controller of a committee. I am not in fault, I think, in saying that at least one very high ecclesiastic of the Church of Ireland would second my weakness in this respect. As a layman, Joseph Canavan would have proved himself eminent in this or any other State. To his capacity for the leadership of men he added the finest qualities of a priest of God. Such at least is the sentiment of one who admired and loved him”. W.A.N. (Irish Times, 26/1/50).

In addition to the Housing Council just referred to, he served on the Governmental Commission on the Civil Service. His work for the Civics Institute won an expression from that body not only of grief at his death, but also of grateful appreciation.
His many lectures to externs on a variety of subjects, from Medical Ethics, Miracles, Church and State, to Matt Talbot were marked by thorough knowledge and clear expression. His writings ranged from poetry for instance, the Clongowes Centenary Ode to the scientific prose of his Biennium Thesis, entitled : “De Iure Proprietatis ; Sententia Hodiernorum Collectivistarum comparata cum Doctrina S. Thomae et Doctorum Scholasticorum”. And in all of them, the standard was high - nothing that he did was second-rate.
His interest in Social Science found early expression when as a young priest in Clongowes he was appointed director of the Leo Guild, and manifested itself soon after in his choice of the subject for his Biennium Thesis. That interest was maintained all his life and it was not merely the theoretical interest of a detached observer, it was the practical interest of one who had at heart the welfare of those in need and who did not spare himself trouble when there was question of helping them. The full extent of the services rendered by him in the sphere of practical sociology cannot be estimated, for they were as unostentatious as was his practice of private charity.
There were, I think, several stages in getting to know Father Canavan. And for those who did not go the whole way it would have been easy to misjudge him. Speaking in a general way, it may be said that the first impression was that one had met a brilliant thinker, a witty conversationalist, a man of the world, polished and thoroughly competent to hold his own in any company. This impression was followed often enough by another, less favourable. An element of vanity, of cock-sureness, of cynicism, seemed to emerge and become conspicuous. At this second stage, the effect of the brilliance and the wittiness wore off, and the views expressed - and still more the manner of their expression - became irritating. How was it then that Father Canavan enjoyed the high esteem and the warm and loyal friendship of so many people, both inside and outside the Society? The reason was because there was a third stage, reached by those who recognised the truth : that the cock-sureness was but the incisive expression of views clearly formulated and sincerely held; that the vanity, such as it was, was the product of a childlike simplicity; that the cynicism was a defensive armour, hiding and protecting a profound sensitiveness. And, making fair allowance for these mannerisms, one had not to know him for long to detect his extraordinary kindliness. This is the trait which made the deepest impression on those who knew him best.
His judgements on men might be severe (though never unjust), but whenever he could do anyone a good turn, he did it, generously and graciously. He could not abide humbug or pretensions, but he could and did sympathise with misfortune, with weakness, with lack of ability. Of malice or meanness, there was not a trace in him. If he was sensitive, and I believe he was, he did not betray it. If he was disappointed, he did not complain. I fear that Superiors were sometimes tempted to overburden him with work, because of his readiness to accept any task and his prompt and efficient discharge of it.
He did not make a parade of personal piety, but the solidity of his religious life was proved by his religious regularity, his obedience, his punctilious care in asking for leaves, and his loyalty to the Society. I never made a retreat under him, but I am told that, when giving an eight-day retreat, he used to devote two full days to the study of the character of Our Lord.
It is not surprising that, in his last illness, after months of unrelenting pain, his patience should have occasionally worn thin but a remark made by him not long before the end was an eloquent revelation of the real man - his nurse was about to give him an injection to relieve his agony, but he refused to accept it, saying: “I want to die in pain”.
If I were to suggest that he was faultless, he himself would be the first to protest - and with vigour. But, I do firmly hold that, if chivalry be understood in the Ignatian sense of the word, those lessons of truth, and chivalry, and manliness, which he learned as a boy, remained ever deeply impressed in the heart and were consistently and nobly followed in the life of Father Joseph Canavan.

◆ The Clongownian, 1950

Obituary

Father Joseph Canavan SJ

A friend writes :

On that cold, bleak day last January when So many assembled in Gardiner Street Church to pay a last tribute to Father Canavan perhaps the most remarkable feature of a poignant morning was the number and variety of those present who regarded him as their own most intimate friend and who felt his death as a loss peculiar to themselves and themselves alone. This thought threw a vivid light on one of the many facets of Father Canavan's enchanting personality. He truly had a genius for friendship and an ability to enter wholly and with complete understanding and sympathy into the lives of those who were fortunate enough to be included in that circle; a circle which he always, half-humourously, like to consider an eclectic one. What were the most prominent features of that many sided character which won the l'espect and admiration of all who met him, even casually, and the love of those who were admitted to his friendship?

The clear and comprehending intellect fortified by a robust and unsentimental common sense gave him a rare mental equipment. His approach to a subject and later, his considered view on it had a diamond-like clarity and outline which was most stimulating in these days when views and opinions are so often more remarkable for wooliness than for clarity. This intellect expressed itself with an Addisonian pungency and, very often, a searing and Sardonic wit. The latter was reserved for the exposure of pretentiousness, cant and humbug in all their varied forms. To him
Truth and Justice were supreme and in their defence the feelings of individuals counted for nought. Anyone endeavouring to obscure the one or obstruct the other swiftly had cause to regret their temerity for they were instantly assailed by the exposing probe of that clear brain and razor tongue. How often were pretentions and intellectual dishonesties killed by one vivid shattering phrase? He operated skilfully on petty vanities with a scalpel and often without an anaesthetic. The exercise of these gifts on such occasions and on such persons was, at times, the cause of resentment and even anger but later a realisation of the essential truth and justice of the cause was borne in upon the sufferer, respect and admiration overcame the emotions earlier aroused. To those, and they were legion who sought his aid and guidance in difficulty he gave upstinted sympathy and understanding but clear, detached and impersonal advice which was uniformly and admirably effective even if, at times, the recipient found it unflattering. This detachment and lack of sentiment made his opinion much sought and being treasured for what it was it was the source of much Platonic “right action”. His influence was vast and his views were widely canvassed for be possessed a unique gift for resolving the abstruse problems which beset the modern world demonstrating that they were of mere passing interest and importance when brought into perspective and proportion with the eternal verities.

Father Canavan's spiritual life was strictly private to himself but was obviously illuminated by a faith simple, sincere and powerful and was the source of spiritual strength and refreshment to those who realized its simple vigour. A full appreciation of his inner life could be experienced only by a religious and a mysticma layman could but stand in awe and refresh himself in its effulgence.

Lest this brief memoir should have created an impression overwhelming in its accumulation of virtues but slightly super human and chilly the portrait must be completed by recalling the warm courageous humanity and the tolerant enjoyment of life which were his most endearing traits. So many other facets spring readily to mind - the scintillating conversationalist who held a rapt table effortlessly - the dashing batsman who wooed gracefully a fifty or a century from the panting but admiring bowiers - the urbane, cultured gentleman - the poor but cheerful bridge player - the pleasant companion and above all the steadfast friend. To everything he did he brought enthusiasm and skill and in most he excelled. To some, his proper and just realization of his gifts was counted arrogance but to those who knew and understood it was but simple justice and a refusal to indulge in false modesty.

The last months of his life were lived in great pain and, often, agony harrowing to those who witnessed them but here again he rose superbly to his full stature for he displayed during all those months a Roman courage, a fortitude, a gentleness and a faith so magnificent that one friend, at least, can face the future strengthened and ennobled and secure against many fears.

No coward soul is mine;
No trembler in the world's stoem troubled sphere;
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal arming me from fear

-oOo-

A Jesuit who had studied philosophy and theology under Fr. Canavan, sends this appreciation of him as a professor :

With Father Canavan, you knew, as you listened, that it was a good lecture. For one thing, he had the supreme power of bringing out the dominant ideas of a tract; he could talk for an hour on those ideas, sometimes he spent a week on them but he was never tiring on them. By metaphors, popular asides, topical illustrations and well-told stories he held your interest but he fixed your attention ultimately and surely on the fundamental notions of the matter.

Not that he did not give you detailed matter also. He supplied all the mechanism of the Schools, the tidy definitions, the exact syllogisms, the neat distinctions. He was meticulous about preparation and whether he lectured on theology, philosophy or pedagogy his work bore the stanıp of reading and thinking and showed the noble pride of a craftsman in doing his work well. In detail, as in general, his point of view was as clear to his class as to himself,

His voice was more of a help to him than most people recognised. At first its metallic ring was all that one noticed but it had more flexibility and expression than was at first apparent. On one occasion, dealing with the promise of the Blessed Eucharist in the sixth chapter of St John, he came to the end of the scene where Christ turns to the Apostles and asks; “Will you also go away?” To this day I can remember Father Canavan giving the answer “Domine, quo ibimus?” In a way which brought out the perplexed and almost pathetic loyalty of a St Peter who always loved Christ and still loved Him even when he no longer understood Him. Father Canayan was well endowed with all the gifts of a teacher.

But, at least in dealing with philosophy and the philosophical questions connected with theology, he was more than a mere teacher. He created intellectual enthusiasm : the great questions of being and knowing, of causality and finality, took on an almost poetic excitement. These problems, over which Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas had brooded, appeared as the root problems of humanity; even poetry, drama and science seemed ancillary to this supreme use and expression of the mind of man; philosophy lay spread before us as sky of majestic clouds and infinite deeps. I suppose that you could hardly call Father Canavan's intellect massive but it was brilliant, nimble and inspiring.

Born: 24 April 1874, Roscrea, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 October 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1904, Petworth, Sussex, England
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia
Died: 14 May 1940, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Younger Brother of Timothy Corcoran - RIP 1943

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1895 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1903 at Petworth, Sussex (ANG) health
by 1904 in San Luigi, Napoli-Posilipo, Italy (NAP) studying
by 1905 at Petworth, Sussex (ANG) health
Came to Australia 1905

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280 :
His parents were Irish, and whilst they left Australia to return to Ireland, he later joined the Society at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg.

His studies were in Dublin and Jersey, Channel Islands, and then he was sent to teach mathematics at Mungret College Limerick and Belvedere College Dublin. He then became ill and was sent to Petworth, Sussex, England where he made Theology studies. He was Ordained there in 1904 and then sent to Australia.
1904-1906 He arrived in Australia and was sent to the Norwood Parish
1906-1913 He was sent to St Ignatius College Riverview
1913-1914 He returned to Ireland and St Stanislaus College Tullabeg to make his Tertianship.
1915-1919 He came back to Australia and Riverview
1919-1940 He was appointed Novice Master and remained in that position at Xavier College Kew until his death in 1940. He was highly regarded by the Jesuits whom he trained.

When he was at Riverview he was given the task of Minister and so had responsibility for the wellbeing of the boarders. He was considered very adept in catching any boy who returned later after leave in the city, or in posting or receiving letters in an unorthodox way. He was known as the “Hawk”, but this name was given with the utmost respect for him, as the boys experienced him as a most charming man who went about his duties very quietly and thoroughly. They also liked his sermons.

His Novices appreciated his thirty days Retreat. He addressed them four times a day, sometimes speaking for an hour without the Novices losing interest. He spoke with considerable eloquence and feeling, slowly, pausing between sentences, and from time to time emphasising something dramatically. While Novice Master he hardly ever left the house. He lived for the Novices. His life was quietly and regularly ascetic. He went to bed around midnight at rose at 5.25am. He loved the garden, especially his dahlias.

His companionableness was memorable. The Novices enjoyed his company on their walks. He was unobtrusive and yet part of it, a most welcome presence. He was an unforgettable person, a wise and gentle director of souls. He taught a personal love of Jesus and was deeply loyal to the Society. he considered the rules for modesty to be among the great treasures of the Society, and gave the Novices true freedom of heart to make wise decisions.

He was a cheerful man, optimistic in outlook and easy to approach. People at once felt at home with him. He was experienced as a striking personality, a kind man with a sense of fun who spoke little about himself.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 15th Year No 3 1940
Obituary :
Father John Corcoran
1874 Born 24th, near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary Educated Clongowes
1891 Entered. Tullabeg 7th October
1892 Tullabeg, Novice
1893 Milltown, Junior
1894-1896 Jersey, Philosophy
1897-1900 Mungret, Doc
1901 Belvedere. Doc
1902 Petworth. Cur. Val
1903 Naples, Thel.
1904 Petworth, Cur. Val. Ordained 1904
1905 Norwood (Australia) Cur. Val
1906-1907 Riverview, Adj, proc, Doc. Stud. theol. mor.
1908-1912 Riverview, Minister, Adj. proc., etc.
1913 Tullabeg, Tertian
1914 Richmond (Australia), Oper
1915-1918 Riverview, Minister &c.; Doc. 17 an. mag
1919-1940 Mag. Nov. First at Loyola, Sydney; then at Victoria. For a time he was. in addition. Lect phil. in Univ., and for a great many years Cons. Miss. Sydney, as well as lending a hand in many other ways.

Fr Bernard O'Brien, one of Fr Corcoran's novices, kindly sent us the following :
Half the members of the Australian Vice-Province have done their noviceship under Fr Corcoran, and it seems strange to think that the noviceship is no longer under his kindly care.
His health was always weak, and his heart gave him trouble, he used to chuckle as he recalled how his ordination had been hastened for fear that he might die at any moment.
He could be extremely stern. He had no patience with deliberate wrong-doing, with irreverence or contempt of holy things. The novices sometimes' received electric shocks, as when after retreat points on sin that grew more and more heated he turned back from the door and burst out “There is no omnibus marked Jesuit for heaven”.
He kept himself, however, remarkably under control. Though at times the blood would rush to his face, he would say nothing at the moment, but sleep on the matter before acting, a practice he frequently recommended to his novices. Often nothing came of it at all, but the dead silence and the suspense of anticipation was a punishment severe enough to sober any culprit.
He became more and more kindly and sympathetic as time went on. “Gently Brother!” was a favourite remark of his.
He came to rely less and less on external regulations and reproofs, and to form his novices by personal contact and encouragement. In his first years he used to check all trace of slang, but later it became common to hear a novice who had received an order leave him with a cheery “Good-O Father!”
He gave and aroused great personal affection. The timid first probationer, whatever his age, was at once called by his Christian name and adopted among his “babies”. As the noviceship was usually small, he could give each novice individual attention. Even the candidates who left remained strongly attached to the Society.
Fr Corcoran was a man of strong emotion and imagination. He disliked giving the more abstract exercises of the long retreat, and was happiest when he came to the early life of Our Lord. He had made a thorough study of historical Palestine and one heard much about the Vale of Esdraelon and Little Hermon. Some of the other Fathers in the house were shocked to see coloured pictures of camels crossing the sandy desert appear at this time on the novices' notice board.
United with this imagination and emotion went a deep spiritual life. He may not have supplied very clear notions of Church and Society legislation, but he gave his novices strong draughts of the true Jesuit spirit : devotion to Our Lord, constant striving to give God greater glory and better service, love of the Passion and zeal for souls.
One Christmas he gave a remarkable series of points for meditation. He took as subjects the crib, the straw, the cave, the star and so on. The points began with homely remarks and simple reflections, but almost imperceptibly the objects described became symbols and we were on a high level of contemplation.
In his deep and gentle affection, his preference for the concrete and his high spirituality there was much to remind one of St. John, whose name he bore.

◆ The Clongownian, 1940

Obituary

Father John Corcoran SJ

Father Corcoran was born near Roscrea, in Tipperary, on the 24th of April, 1874. In October, 1891, soon after leaving Clongowes, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg, where he had been preceded by his brother, Rev T Corcoran SJ, whose fame as an educationalist is world-wide. Ill-health. limited Father John's literary studies at Milltown Park to a single year, and from 1894 until 1897 he studied philosophy with the French Fathers at Jersey. The next five years were spent in teaching-four at Mungret, and one at Belvedere. His great understanding of boys, and his bright, genial sympathy made him a great favourite with all.

It was now time to study Theology (1902). His health had been seriously impaired by tuberculosis, which was to give rise to grave fears for a number of years, and Theology requires hard work and strength. But, to quote a phrase which Father Corcoran loved to repeat in later years, “difficulties are things to be overcome”, and at Petworth, in England, and at Naples, he overcame them sufficiently to be ordained priest in September, 1904.

The following year he was sent to Australia, and under its sunny skies he regained the health and strength required for his future work. After recuperating for a year at Norwood, he spent the years 1906-1913 on the staff of Riverview College.

In 1913 he returned to Tullabeg for his Tertianship; and twelve months later said a last good-bye to his native land, whose green fields and limpid streams lingered in his memory, and gave him “heartaches”, as he put it, even during his last years. After a year at Richmond, he once more became the Father Minister at Riverview, in 1915. In May, 1919, he was given the responsible position of Master of Novices at Loyola, Sydney, a position which he filled for the remaining twenty-one years of his life. Henceforth all his energies were to be devoted unsparingly to the religious formation of Jesuits. He used laughingly to speak of his novices as his “babes”, and he was in truth the spiritual father of the whole generation of post-war Jesuits in Australia.

His genial simplicity and kindness won the veneration and deep affection of all with whom he had to deal. He had the happy gift of making people feel at once at home with him; but perhaps his strong influence over others came mainly from his intense but child-like spirit of faith, which made him converse as familiarly with the Holy Family as with his novices, and which transformed the world for him into a temple of God. He was an enthusiastic gardener who loved weeding his flower beds, and tending his dahlias - but a gardener who could describe the garden as one of the best teachers of the spiritual life. It is often said that Christ's life was full of sorrow from the beginning; but, for Father Corcoran, “the rafters of the Holy House must often have rung with the sweet laughter of the Boy Christ” characteristic illustration of the joyful spontaneity of his own character and outlook.

He could be stern when occasion required; but those he trained treasure the memory of his remarkable gentleness - a trait which became more and more pronounced during the last years of his life. A prominent Jesuit remarked of him that he was an outstanding example of the transforming power of the Jesuit rule when it is lived and sincerely loved in all its fullness; and those who knew him during the latter part of his life were astonished at the constant mellowing of his sanctity. The Society of Jesus in Australia has suffered a great loss by his death, but he himself has surely passed to the happy state which he delighted to think of as “home”.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1939

Obituary

Father John Corcoran SJ

As we go to press a cablegram from Australia announces the death of Father Corcoran at the age of sixty six. Of these years forty-eight had been spent as a Jesuit. For the last twenty-two years he fulfilled the important office of Master of Novices and had given retreats to the clergy both in Australia and New Zealand. Father Corcoran's connection with Mungret was not very long - 1897-1901 - but the boys of these years never forgot the kindly scholastic who played with them and who prayed with them and who always found time to give them a word of encouragement in their trials. He was always ready to smooth out their difficulties and to lighten their load. He treasured to the end of his life, a kindly message from Florida that reached him through the “Annual” in 1907. It was as follows:

“If Father John Corcoran is still in this vale of tears, let him rest assured that the lads of 1900 loved him. In him we ever found a sincere sympathiser in our little troubles and I could not restrain my tears when I grasped his hand for the last time at Naples in 1902”.

Father Corcoran said that since the day of his ordination he never forgot these “boys” in his daily Mass. They are now priests and we ask them and indeed all Mungret priests, to pray for the repose of the kindly soul of Father John Corcoran. May he rest in peace,

Born: 04 June 1835, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
Entered: 20 January 1856, Amiens France (FRA)
Ordained: 1866
Final vows: 02 February 1869
Died: 17 February 1924, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin

by 1866 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1866 at Rome, Italy (ROM) Making Tertianship
Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus : 05 August 1909-22 October 1912

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had studied Philosophy and one year of Theology at Maynooth before Entry.

1858-1866 He did Regency at Clongowes as a Teacher and later at Tullabeg, and then went to for Theology at Rome.
1870-1880 Rector of Tullabeg. Here he completely changed the method of studies. Introduced exams at London University and was mainly responsible for the Intermediate Bill.
He then went on a trip to America with Fr John Moore SJ of ANG.
1873 The Jesuits were asked to take charge of St Patrick’s House which began under Thomas Keating, James Tuite and Robert Carbery. When this house closed, a new one was opened on Temple St with William as Vice-Superior.
1881-1888 He was appointed Vice-Rector of UCD.
1892 He accompanied the Provincial Timothy Kenny to the General Congregation at Loyola which elected Luis Martin as General.
1897-1909 He was appointed Rector of UCD
1909-1912 He was appointed Provincial. When he finished he went to Leeson St as Spiritual Father and died there 17 February 1924.

“He was one of the most remarkable and distinguished Jesuits of the 19th and 20th centuries. Balfour said he was the most cultivated Priest of his time. He was called ‘Doctor’ having been awarded his LLD.

Paraphrase of Excerpts from an Appreciation published on his death :
“The death of ..... deserves more than the usual notice.... No man ever served the people better. Nation-builder........Pioneer in educational reform.........along with Archbishop of Dublin can be regarded as founders of Irish National University Education. Even before the Universities Act, the Intermediate Bill, he developed as a young Priest, standards at Tullabeg which have become an idea for Catholic public schools.
He worked with the O’Conor Don to encourage the Government to endow Secondary Education in Ireland, and this before it was done in England. Then came the Royal Universities Act. Concentrating on Newman’s old buildings in St Stephen’s Green.......they gathered honours and prizes......His success was the final argument needed to win equality of educational endowment and opportunity.
Aside from the political success, those who came to know him as a Priest as well, were touched by his spirituality. His key gift was that of choosing the best men to teach and giving them encouragement and freedom. His short sermons (20 ins) were models. His religious zeal was the source of his public service. It was not a narrow zeal, and he worked with all sorts and conditions for the Glory of God and Ireland”

Paraphrase of excerpts from the Irish Independent article 19 February 1924 “A Pioneer In Irish Education” :
“As the ruler of a great College, whether Tullabeg or UCD, he was chiefly remarkable, I think, for his quickly sympathetic spirit and readiness to accept new ideas. He was neither conservative nor cautious - the refuge of the weak - nor the tenacity of ideas once formed - the defect of the strong. This was equally true of the young man who made Tullabeg the leading College in Ireland and the old man who led his team to victory at UCD over three state supported rivals. He transformed Tullabeg through introducing London University Exams. His encouragement of the Societies at UCD was not only financial but borne of liberal tolerance, best exemplified in his attitude towards Irish Studies. He gathered round him very talented Jesuits and laymen. He also gave money liberally to ‘Irish” things such as “Irish Texts Society”, the Oireachtas and the Dublin Feis.
He managed to publish in his limited free time, his best being a series of Lenten Conferences “Christian Reunion” and “A Plea for Fair Play”. He could be impetuous, but had a quick mind to save himself from many blunders! He was both decisive and inspirational, and could also be very reflective, and he possessed a very generous heart.
Enough to say that the energy which inspired his untiring labours, the patience with which he gently endured trials and misrepresentations, the charity which sought to give help to all the needy, were alike drawn no more from excellence of nature, though that indeed was his, but from an intense spirit of prayer, an abiding realisation of the invisible world, a devout piety which he seemed to retain through life, the simple fervour of a ‘First Communicant’.”

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Delany, William
by Thomas J. Morrissey

Delany, William (1835–1924), Jesuit and president of UCD, was born 4 June 1835 at Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow, second of ten children (of whom five survived) born to John Delany and Mary Delany (née Brennan). As with many Irish catholic families of farming stock, there was an eviction in the background: John Delany had been evicted from the family farm just ten years before William's birth. He moved to Leighlinbridge and set up a small bakery business, which, with the assistance of his strong-willed, resourceful wife, began to prosper. William attended school (1845–51) at Bagenalstown; at home, during the bleak famine years, he assisted in handing out bread and soup to a starving people. At the age of sixteen he requested that he be sent to Carlow College to study for the priesthood. After two years he moved to St Patrick's College, Maynooth. His parents were pleased to learn of his academic success and good general conduct, but considered him extravagant and over-particular in his requests for new clothes. God's ministers should dress carefully and well, he claimed. The lavish use of materials in pursuance of lofty ends was to prove a characteristic feature, which added both to his influence and his troubles.

In January 1856 he joined the Society of Jesus. His noviceship commenced at Saint-Acheul in France and concluded at Beaumont Lodge, near Windsor, in England. Two years followed at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, teaching junior classes, and then (August 1860) he was transferred to St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, near Tullamore, King's Co. (Offaly), where (apart from three years at Rome) he was to be stationed for the next twenty years. In this unlikely location he achieved the reputation as an educationist that paved the way to his appointment to the presidency of UCD. After his ordination at Rome (1866) he served for a while as a chaplain of the Irish brigade formed to defend the papal states against the forces of Garibaldi. Soon after his return home (1868) he was reappointed to Tullabeg, this time as prefect of studies and rector. He embarked on an elaborate programme of building, updating facilities, raising academic and cultural standards, tightening discipline, and expanding games activities. His criteria were the more celebrated English public schools, but he placed more emphasis on academic excellence. Some of his fellow Jesuits, highly critical of the expenditure, complained to the general of the order. For a while Delany's hopes and prospects were dimmed, but all was changed when he entered the senior class for the London University examinations and 100 per cent success was achieved. The results received wide acclaim. A feeling of inferiority about academic standards in catholic schools was widespread; Tullabeg's success was seen as justifying claims for equal educational opportunity with the endowed protestant schools. Delany became noted as an educationist, and he was closely consulted by Randolph Churchill, then secretary to the lord lieutenant, his father the duke of Marlborough (qv). Delany's influence was said to be considerable in shaping the two government bills that, as the intermediate act of 1878 and the Royal University act of 1879, changed the face of Irish education; and he was instrumental, together with William Walsh (qv) (1841–1921) of Maynooth, in establishing the Catholic Headmasters’ Association in October 1878.

The success of his college in the London University examinations (and subsequently in the intermediate and RUI examinations) made him an obvious person to be president of the catholic hierarchy's University College, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, the unsuccessful heir to John Henry Newman's (qv) Catholic University. The Jesuits took over the college as it stood in 1883, which meant that the fellows of the RUI were to be among its lecturers and also examiners of the university. This form of monopoly later led to hostility from some other competing colleges and from Walsh, subsequently archbishop of Dublin; but Delany and the senate of the Royal University of Ireland held to the original agreement, arguing that the only hope of obtaining a university for the majority population was by strengthening one college so that it might do outstandingly well and the catholic case for a university prove unanswerable. Delany, moreover, sought to have as many Jesuits as possible as fellows, provided they were fully qualified and the best suited for the advertised posts. By this means the fellows’ salaries would be ploughed back into the college, which was seriously under-funded. The college, under his presidency, proved so successful that it eventually achieved more honours in examinations than the three queen's colleges (Cork, Galway, Belfast) combined, although these were subsidised by the government. The talented staff of the college included Gerard Manley Hopkins (qv), Edmund Hogan (qv), Eoin MacNeill (qv), Tom Finlay (qv), and Thomas Arnold (qv); while among the brilliant student body were James Joyce (qv), Tom Kettle (qv), W. P. Coyne (qv), Arthur Clery (qv), Éamon de Valera (qv), Patrick McGilligan (qv), and John A. Costello (qv). Not surprisingly, Coyne was to remark in 1900: ‘The real work for Ireland is being done over there [University College]’ (Jesuit Fathers, A page of Irish history (1930), 244).

The achievements of UCD and Delany's close links with members of the Irish catholic hierarchy, with key politicians, and with successive chief secretaries and lord lieutenants, all played a part in the eventual solution to the Irish university question in the national university act of 1908. Delany's role was widely praised, yet within a short time he was to be lampooned as anti-Irish and his great services almost forgotten, because he let it be known that he did not approve of making the Irish language an obligatory subject for matriculation in the new university. He had done a great deal to promote Irish historical studies and Irish language and culture, but he did not wish to close off the university to many by having Irish as an entry requirement.

At the age of 74 Delany was appointed Jesuit provincial. He held the office for just three years, yet his was not a mere holding operation. He opened a new residence in Leeson St. for Jesuits lecturing in the university, and a hostel for students in nearby Hatch St.; and he served on the senate of the new university and on the governing body of UCD. Ahead of his time, he advocated the scientific study of agriculture at university level, pressed for education in the areas of industry and commerce, and proposed that UCD move from Earlsfort Terrace to more spacious grounds outside the city, a proposal publicly acknowledged by a later president, Michael Tierney (qv), on the occasion of the college eventually moving to an extensive campus at Belfield. Delany lived for another twelve years. In those years of dramatic change in Ireland, he became an almost forgotten figure: in the words of Cyril Power, SJ, who knew him, ‘a great man who had outlived his reputation’. He died 17 February 1924 at the age of 89.

Thomas Finlay, ‘William Delany, S.J.’, Clongownian (1924); Fathers of the Society of Jesus, A page of Irish history: story of University College, Dublin, 1883–1909 (1930); Thomas J. Morrissey, Towards a national university: William Delany, S.J. (1835–1924) (1983)

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 9th Year No 1 1934

Leeson St :
Monday, November 20th, was a red-letter day in the history of Leeson street, for it witnessed the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the House's foundation. In November, 1833. the Community came into being at 86 St Stephen's Green, where it remained until 1909, when the building was handed over to the newly constituted National University. The Community, however, survived intact and migrated to a nearby house in Lesson Street, where it renewed its youth in intimate relationship with the Dublin College of the University.
Its history falls this into two almost equal periods, different, indeed, in many ways, yet essentially one, since the energies of the Community during each period have been devoted to the same purpose, the furtherance of Catholic University Education in Ireland.
A precious link between the two eras is Father Tom Finlay, who was a member of the Community in 1883, and ever since has maintained his connection with it. His presence on Monday evening, restored to his old health after a severe illness was a source of particular pleasure to the whole gathering. It was also gratifying to see among the visitors Father Henry Browne, who had crossed from England at much personal inconvenience to take part in the celebration. Not only was Father Browne a valued member of the Community for over thirty years, but he acquired additional merit by putting on record, in collaboration with Father McKenna, in that bulky volume with the modest title " A Page of Irish History," the work achieved by the House during the first heroic age of its existence. It was a pleasure, too, to see hale and well among those present Father Joseph Darlington, guide, philosopher and friend to so many students during the two periods. Father George O'Neill, who for many years was a distinguished member of the Community, could not, alas be expected to make the long journey from his newer field of fruitful labor in Werribee, Australia.
Father Superior, in an exceptionally happy speech, described the part played by the Community, especially in its earlier days of struggle, in the intellectual life of the country. The venerable Fathers who toiled so unselflessly in the old house in St. Stephens Green had exalted the prestige of the Society throughout Ireland. Father Finlay, in reply, recalled the names of the giants of those early days, Father Delany, Father Gerald Hopkins, Mr. Curtis and others. Father Darlington stressed the abiding influence of Newman, felt not merely in the schools of art and science, but in the famous Cecilia Street Medial School. Father Henry Browne spoke movingly of the faith, courage and vision displayed by the leaders of the Province in 1883, when they took on their shoulders such a heavy burden. It was a far cry from that day in 1883, when the Province had next to no resources, to our own day, when some sixty of our juniors are to be found, as a matter of course preparing for degrees in a National University. The progress of the Province during these fifty years excited feelings of
admiration and of profound gratitude , and much of that progress was perhaps due to the decision, valiantly taken in 1883 1883, which had raised the work of the Province to a higher plane.

◆ Fr Joseph McDonnell SJ Past and Present Notes :

Later the performance of the Jesuits in managing UCD with little or no money, and then outperforming what were known as the “Queen’s Colleges” forced the issue of injustice against Catholics in Ireland in the matter of University education. It is William Delaney who headed up the effort and create the National University of Ireland under endowment from the Government.

◆ The Clongownian, 1924

Father William Delany SJ : Rector of Tullabeg 1870-1880

Father Delany’s career was much too big a thing to be even sketched out in outline in such a magazine as this. Scores of his friends have written emphasising this or that side of his great work, and their testimony is undeniable. His life-work was for Catholic Education. It began when, after his studies in Carlow, Maynooth and St Acheul, he went to teach in Tullabeg and Clongowes during the years 1859-1865. It was in Rome that he received his ordination, and he was chaplain to the Papal Zouaves in the critical year of 1869-70. But, returning to Ireland at the early age of thirty-five, he took command at Tullabeg, where he was destined to rule for ten years. In 1889 he came to Dublin, and from that time on, till the passing of the University Act in 1909, he was, in one capacity or another, the soul of the hard fight for that fair play in University studies which was the ambition of all far-seeing Catholics. That that fight was won so triumphantly is due in part to him. The policy which he followed for forty years was ever the same. He took whatever material he could obtain, first the small school of Tullabeg, then the limited numbers of University College, and he showed that, handicapped for funds, equipment, and even staff, these students of his could meet and overcome the far more numerous and more favoured sons of Protestant institutions. It was an ambitious and difficult task. It depended on never failing success, on inspir ing generation after generation of students, on persuading generation after generation of statesmen, on commanding the absolute devotion of generation after generation of helpers. This Father Delaney did, step by step, now using the London Matriculation, now the Intermediate System, now the Royal University, he made good his proposition, that Irish Catholics were capable of profiting by and desirous of the best education possible. It had been considered an absurdity in forty years Father Delany made it an axiom. Clongowes is proud to have shared with Tullabeg and University College in that work.

When the National University was achieved Father Delany became from 1909-1912 Provincial of the Irish Jesuits, and in that capacity did much to help the youthful University. In 1912 his health broke down, and from that time he lived in ever growing retirement. But to the last his keen intellect and tender heart never changed, and to many, many people the death of this old man was the loss of an intimate friend. We have said little of Father Delany's greatest quality, his charity, the tributes which follow, tributes of friends who knew him intimately must bring home to our readers how altogether lovable was this greatest of our Rectors.

-oOo-

Father Delany as I Knew Him : M McD Bodkin KC

Father Delany’s death was a great blow to me. It was the severance of a friend ship that lasted from the days of my boyhood. I had the good luck to have him for my master in 1st of Grammar class at Tullabeg, and the recollection of his tuition is one of the pleasantest of a long and happy life. Few school-boys will credit the statement that the hours spent in Father Delany's classroom were the happiest of our school life, but I confidentiy appeal to my old class-mate, Father Tom Gartlan, one time Rector of Riverview College, Australia, for confirmation. Father Delaney was an ideal master; he made study adelight. From every boy he evoked what was best in him. His influence inspired us. To the driest subject he could impart interest, and he could always find time for pleasant talk during class hours. Father Delany anticipated Pelman in the cultivation of memory. He taught us to remember by constant mechanical repetition, without thought of the meaning that might come before or after; his object was to get the words indelibly impressed on the memory. One of the feats he accomplished in this way was a bit out of the common. When he first suggested the test his amazed class unanimously declared it impossible. But the thing was done all the same. At the annual “conversatio” at the College, attended by a crowd of visitors, three of the class presented themselves without books, and in reply to the Rector repeated from, translated, parsed, and scanned passages selected at random from the second book of Virgil's Æneid.

My friendship with Father Delany, begun in my school days, stretched out into my after-life. I frequently visited my old college during the years of his preeminently successful rectorship, when it headed the schools of Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, under the Intermediate Education, Act (an Act, by the way, which I helped him to draft into legal form, clause by clause, nearly fifty years ago, in one of the parlours of Tullabeg). He ruled not by fear, but by affection. Physical punishment was almost unknown; he trusted to the honour of his boys. One little incident may be cited to illustrate the working of his system. It hap pened when I was present as a guest at the annual athletic sports: of the College. The most popular - if not the most important- event of the day was a blindfold race, to be won by the boys who passed first: through a pair of goal-posts about a quarter of a mile distant from the starting post. It was open to the entire school, for in such a race, it was plain that speed or endurance counted for nothing: the tortoişe had just as good a chance as the hare. I was beside Father Delany when he walked down the long line of boys, their eyes bound up in variegated handkerchiefs. Like a general reviewing his troops, Father Delany passed down the line. About the middle of the line he stopped and cried out in that clear voice of his that carried like a bell, “Now, boys, mind you are on your honour that none of you can see”. At the call there was a wavering and breaking up of the line. A score or so of the boys quitted the ranks and with self-convicting certitude went straight back yo the Prefect to be re-bandaged. So long a it was a trial of skill between the Prefect who did the bandarino and the boy it was lawful to best the enemy, but honor, once invoked there was a self-imposed master whose orders could not be evaded. In that short story there is perhaps more of the spirit that made Father Delany's Tullabeg such a success than many commissions and printed reports could give.

From the time I first met him to the date of his death. Father Delany always looked at least twenty-years younger than his age. He told me of an amusing incident which occurred when he was elaborating a system of Irish secondary education in conjunction with the Duke of Marlborough, then Lord Lieutenant, and Lord Randolph Churchill. After a good deal of correspondence, it was arranged that they should meet the Rector at his College. When they were shown into the Library, where Father Delany awaited them, there was an awkward silence for a moment. Then the Duke asked Father Delany if they might soon hope to see the Rector. In the explanation which followed, the visitors confessed that they thought the young man was a divinity student.

I frequently met Father Delany in later years, when at a further stage in his great campaign for higher education to Catholics he found himself President of the old University College Stephen's Green To him more than any man alive or dead, Ireland, owes the National University, and I am glad to think that I helped little in the good work by articles in “The Fortnightly Review”, setting out the overwhelming successes of: the students of University College in the examinations of the Royal University. It was only a little part in a vast work, but Father Delany showed as much interest and enthusiasm about my “inspired” controversial articles as if they were the main machinery of his scheme, and not a mere detail. It was thus he could command every man's best work.

In still later years I had many delightful conversations with Father Delany, even after he was confined to his own room in Leeson Street To the very last, his brilliancy of conversation, his indescribable fascination of manner, ranging from grave to gay, from serious to serene was maintained. Here is a story he told me only a few weeks befor his death. A member of the Order was constrained to make a journey alone through (I think) some un explored part of Northern Canada. He lost his way. On one occasion he returned after a day's journey to the camp he had set out from the night before. On another he was captured by a band of Indians. While he was pondering on his probable fate the leader approached him. “Don't be the laste taste afeared, yer Reverence”, he said, “sure we wouldn't hurt a hair of your head”. It was a Tipperary man who, for his skill in shooting, trapping and trailing had been promoted to the chieftainship of the band. Part of Father Delany's charm was that he could appreciate the very simple humour of such a story. He told it, if I remember rightly, as an interlude in a long discussion on the nature of duration in Eternity.

Having written of those frivolous recollections of a man so distinguished as my old master, I am ashamed of them, But they may serve to illustrate one of the many sides of his character. His learning, his piety and his incalculable services to Irish education must be recorded by a far abler pen than mine.

-oOo-

Father Delany as I Knew Him : T A Finlay SJ

A great many years have passed since Father Delany was a member of the Clongowes staff. But his name and his work deserve to be remembered enduringly in the College. What he accomplished in a wider field has profoundly affected the School in common with all the Secondary Schools of Ireland. The course of studies and the examination tests as they now stand are part of a system which he did much to bring into being. He was a notable figure in that movement for reform in education which has resulted in so many changes, and the force of which is not yet spent. His share in that move ment may be left to others to record in detail; it belongs to the chronicle of public events. In these pages a brief account of his life, as his intimate friends saw it lived, will be more appropriate.

Father Delany was born eighty-nine years ago in Leighlinbridge, a small village oil the Barrow, some miles below the town of Carlow. This village has been the birth place of more than one man of eminence. Not to mention contemporaries still living. Cardinal Moran was born here, and here, too, Professor Tyndall, of scientific fame, first saw the light. Father Delany received his early education in Carlow College, whence he passed to Maynooth. In the latter institution he had advanced to the second year of his theological course, when his vocation to the Society of Jesus came to him. He entered the Society in the year 1856. After a two years' noviceship at St Acheul, near Amiens, he was appointed to the Clongowes staff, and subsequently to that of St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore. In 1865 he was sent to Rome to complete his theological studies. On his way to the Eternal City he made acquaintance with the scenery of the Rhine, of Switzerland and of the Italian Lakes, as well as with the architectural wonders of Cologne, Strasbourg and Milan. In letters to his relatives, still preserved, he gives account of his impressions. The great mediæval, cathodrals fill him with reverent awe. Crossing the Alps in a diligence was one of the excitements of travel in the days before the mountains were tunnelled. He writes appreciativuly of his experience: “Fancy going for miles along a road cut in the face, of a cliff 1,600 feet high, about half way up, the rocks overhanging the road in many places-looking down over a little wall into a mountain torrent 600 to 800 feet below, and facing you on the other side a wall of rock so close that the daylight can hardly steal down to you”.

In the lecture halls of the Roman College Father Delany had as his professors men whose names and works were known throughout the Catholic world - Perrone, Franzelin, Cardella, Ballerini, and others. He is enthusiastic in his praise of them. His enthusiasm takes in the hall in which the lectures are delivered. The students of the College number some 1,600. Of these about 320 are in the school of theology “in the very room where Bellarmine, Suarez, Lessius and a host of others no less able, if less known, held out to similarly crowded audiences”. The very “air of the place ought to be saturated with learning of every kind. And still more ought it, as I really think it does, breathe of sanctity”.

Father Delany was ordained priest in 1866. This was an anxious year for Papal Rome. The defeat of Austria cleared the way for the unification of Italy, and the hesitating policy of Napoleon III withheld the armies of Victor Emmanuel from an invasion of the States of the Church. The anxieties of the time are reflected in Father Delany's letters to his friends. In the following year Garibaldi invaded the Papal States, but was defeated at Mentana, and fled, leaving an embarrassing number of prisoners in the hands of the Pope's soldiers. Of this event Father Delany sends home a vivid account. In the year 1867 he passed his final examination. He also served for a time as Chaplain to the Irish Zouaves in the Pope's service, and in the course of his duties came into unpleasant collision with the Zouave commander, de Charette. He returned to Ireland in 1868, and in 1870 was appointed Rector of Tullabeg. There began his activities in the cause of educational reform. To make clear the desire of Irish Catholics for opportunities of higher education, and to demonstrate their capacity to utilise that provided he prepared some of his more advanced pupils for the examinations of the London University and of the higher grades of the Civil Service. The experiment opened a career of distinction to more than one among them. Of the fortunate number were the late Sir Joseph McGrath, the late Mr Michael Crowley, Commissioner of Inland Revenue at Somerset House, and Sir Michael O'Dwyer, late Liutenant-Governor of the Punjab.

During the ten years of his Rectorship at Tullabeg the educational claims of Catholics were pressed vigorously and unceasingly, by none more vigorously than by Father Delany. Toward the end of the period the first concession was made to these demands: the intermediate system was established and modestly endowed. The foundation of the Royal University followed soon after. Father Delany was now transferred to Dublin and appointed Rector of St Ignatius College, which was to work in connection with the new University. The University, modelled upon the Intermediate scheme, was a mere examining body; it made no provision for the education of its students. To prepare for its examinations Catholics who declined to avail themselves of the endowed Queen's Colleges were obliged to maintain teaching institutions of their own. This injustice Father Delany denounced by voice and pen. He adopted a still more effective means of fixing public attention on the: Catholic grievance. In University College, St Stephen's Green, of which he became President in 1883, he devoted himself to the task of preparing his students for competition in the University examinations with the students of Queen's Colleges. Year by year the list of distinctions awarded to University College grew longer and longer, till at last it exceeded in length the combined list of the three endowed institutions. The situation thus created was more than inequitable, it bordered on the grotesque. Mr, Birrell put an end to it by establishing the National University, and endowing the Dublin College.

With the close of the long struggle in which he had taken so strenuous a part, Father Delany's participation in affairs of public import may be said to have ended. Old age was creeping on, pressing on his attention issues more vital than those which parlia ments discuss. After three years given to the duties of Provincial of the Irish Province of his Order, he devoted himself almost exclusively to his priestly functions and to the religious exercises which sanctify personal life. He undertook a treatise designed to confute some of the current forms of unbelief; but this task, too great for his failing powers, was eventually abandoned. In continuous communion with God, he waited through the evening of life for the Master's summons. When it came he received it obediently, humbly trusting that he had put to profit the talent entrusted to him.