Born: 1 February 1872, Aglish, County Waterford
Entered: 22 August 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 11 May 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1899 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1913 at Linz Austria (ASR) making Tertianship
by 1919 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Had studied for 5 years at St Patrick's College Maynooth before Entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 3 1926

The Irish Sodality : This Sodality is directed by Fr Michael McGrath. It grew out of the first week-end retreat in Irish at Milltown Park in 1916. After the retreat, steps were taken with a view to the formation of an Irish-speaking Sodality for men. Success attended the effort, and the first meeting was held in Gardiner Street on Friday in Passion Week. The Sodality soon numbered 400 members. In 1917 a second Irish-speaking Sodality, exclusively for women, was established. In a short time it was found advisable to amalgamate the two branches. The Sodality is now in a flourishing condition, and has every prospect of a bright future before it. In addition to the Sodality, there is an annual “open” retreat given in Gardiner Street to Irish speakers. The first of these retreats was given in 1923 by Fr Coghlan, he also gave the second the following year. The third was given by Father Saul.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 3 1946

Obituary :

Fr. Michael McGrath (1872-1896-1946)

Fr. Michael McGrath was born at Aglish, Co. Waterford, on February 1st, 1872. Educated at Mount Melleray, then at St. John's College, Waterford, and lastly at Maynooth, he entered the Society at Tullabeg on August 22nd, 1896, and later went to Vals for philosophy. He taught in the Crescent 1901-5. He was ordained with Fr. William Doyle and Fr. John Sullivan in Milltown Park by Archbishop Walsh in 1907. He made his tertianship at Freienberg in Austria, and then taught for five years at Belvedere. A course of Canon Law under Pére Choupin at Ore Place, Hastings, completed his long formation, and the rest of his life was spent at Milltown Park, where he was Professor of Canon Law from 1920 to 1932, Lecturer in History of Philosophy from 1924 to 1930, Professor of Patrology, Christian Archaeology, Liturgy and Ascetics from 1932 to 1946. The Irish language always remained Fr. McGrath's favourite study. He established the Irish Sodality of the Blessed Virgin at Gardiner Street in 1916, and continued to direct it until 1935. His edition of Amhlaoibh Ua Suilleabháin's Irish Diary for the Irish Texts Society (1936-8) will be a lasting testimonial to his mastery of Irish and English. He was, at the time of his death, engaged on the preparation of many other Irish works, some of which were nearing completion. Among these were an Irish translation of the New Testament (apart from the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles) with a detailed commentary, the Irish Missal of O'Hickey brought up to date, the Life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and the Lives of Distinguished Celtic Scholars. During his long years in Milltown his encouragement and advice were highly appreciated by many a theologian, and his hard. work and cheerfulness were a model to all.

Fr. Garahy has kindly contributed the following personal appreciation :
My acquaintance with Michael McGrath began at Mount Melleray in 1888. He had been there a year or two before my arrival. We soon formed a friendship which lasted during the year and a half I spent in that romantic retreat at the foot of Knockmealdown Mountain. I left Melleray at the end of the Christmas term for Mungret College. Michael McGrath remained on for another couple of years and then passed to St. John's College, Waterford. Later still he was sent to Maynooth, having won a free place in the National College. He had finished two years of his theology course when, with the leave of his bishop, he offered bimself as a candidate for the Society in 1896.
In Melleray Michael McGrath was of the quiet type, rather shy and retiring, but a sincere friend when one had succeeded in breaking through his reserve. He was a painstaking student, eager to absorb all the knowledge offered us boys in classics, the sciences and history. One advantage he had over the rest of us he had a fair acquaintance with the Gaelic. It was spoken freely in his native townland of Aglish, Co. Waterford. It was also the language of the little mountaineers who attended the National School at Melleray. I used to envy Michael McGrath when I heard him exchanging jokes in Irish with those youngsters on their way home from school. Irish was not taught in the College in those days, though we were living in the heart of an Irish speaking district. Melleray was not singular in that matter. The Gaelic revival did not come till several years later. When it did come Michael McGrath threw himself with all the ardour of his soul into the movement.
He and I met again in the Crescent after fourteen years. I was so taken with his enthusiasm for the language that I accepted his offer of instruction and within a few months found myself appointed to teach the first couple of O'Growney's booklets to & class of small boys in the Crescent. During the year I spent with him in Limerick he held the office of Prefect of Studies although still a scholastic. His whole hearted devotion to the duties of his office during that year was to be expected of the Michael McGrath I knew at Melleray—with his passion for study and his earnestness of character. What I did not expect and what was always a wonder to me was his unsparing self-sacrifice in helping the more backward boys to succeed in the examinations. What this cost him in time and in strain on his nerves only himself knew. We, his fellow masters, knew that he regularly sacrificed the couple of hours so badly needed after a hard day's work in the school room to this work of charity; and the wonder was how he escaped a nervous collapse.
At the end of the year he and I left Limerick for Milltown Park to begin our theological studies. The Gaelic revival was then in full swing. Milltown Park had caught the infection ever before our arrival, Fr, Lambert McKenna, Fr. J. F. X. O'Brien and Mr. Tomás Ó Nualláin were, I think, the pioneers of the movement in Milltown. It was natural that those of us who were anxious to master the difficulties of the spoken language should turn to Mr. McGrath for help. He had what we all lacked, a rich sonorous Déisi blas. I well remember his patience in helping us to acquire the correct sounds of the broad and slender vowels. Fr. B. Coghlan, one of our really great Irish scholars to-day, was an enthusiastic pupil, and so was Fr. Dominick Kelly, now for many years a distinguished professor in Newman College, Melbourne.
When Fr. McGrath returned to Milltown as a professor, I had already been transferred to the Mission staff. From that time forth I had few opportunities of meeting him. May he rest in peace”.
It is hoped to include an account of Fr. McGrath's Milltown career in the October issue.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael McGrath 1872-1946
Fr Michael McGrath, while yet a scholastic, was Prefect of Studies at Crescent from 1901-1905.

Born in Aglish County Waterford on February 1st 1872, he was educated at Mount Melleray. He passed on to Maynooth and from there entered the Society in 1896.

Having studied Canon Law for a period after his ordination, the rest of his life was spent in Milltown Park, as professor in various faculties, Canon Law, Patrology, Liturgy and Ascetics. Normally a most kindly and lovable man, he could be most vehement in argument. For example, as Professor of Ascetics, when lecturing on the vice of curiosity, especially in religious, he used to refer to a Father (unnamed) notorious for this fault, and would almost have a stroke, so vehement would be his effort to convey his scorn for such pettiness.

He was a great Irish scholar, with a vast enthusiasm for the revival of the language. He edited the Diary of Amhlaoimh O’Sullivan for the Irish Texts Society. At the time of his death he was engaged in a new translation of the Bible, an Irish Missal, a life of St Aloysius Gonzaga and the lives of distinguished Irish scholars. He founded the Irish Sodality in Gardiner Street in 1916, and he continued to direct it until 1935.

His retreats were famous, being based on John Oxenham “Bees in Amber”, and there was hardly a convert in Ireland that had not heard his opening words : “Yo every man there openeth, a high way and a low”.

He was a model of observance, kindly in advice both as professor and confessor, and many generations of Jesuits owe him a deep debt for his faithful and patient service in their formation. He died on May 11th 1946.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Michael McGrath (1872-1946)

Was born at Aglish, Co. Waterford and educated at Mount Mellary. He was accepted by the Bishop of Waterford for his diocese and commenced his ecclesiastical studies at St John's, Waterford. From Waterford he was transferred to Maynooth where he completed two years' theology. With the permission of his bishop he applied for admission to the Society and began his noviceship at Tullabeg in 1896. His higher studies were made at Vals, Milltown Park and in Austria. He was ordained in Dublin in 1907. Father McGrath spent six years regency at the Crescent and was the first scholastic since Father Tom Finlay to be entrusted with the onerous duties of prefect of studies. After the completion of his studies, Father McGrath was employed in teaching for five years at Belvedere College, when his superiors bade him once more return to his own studies: he was sent off for higher studies in Canon Law to prepare him for a professor's chair at Milltown Park. He held the chair of Canon Law from 1920-32 but remained a member of the theological faculty until his death. He was a native Gaelic speaker and deeply learned in the language.

Born: 30 June 1910, Aglish, Cappoquin, County Waterford
Entered: 01 September 1927, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 03 April 1989, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Early education at Mungret College SJ

Nephew of Fr Michael McGrath SJ (1872-1946).

Born: 02 July 1870, Nenagh, County Tipperary
Entered: 14 August 1895, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1908, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1913, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 09 February 1948, St Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05/04/1931

by 1900 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1911 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1911

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick McGrath was educated at the Crescent, Limerick, and worked for some years with Pim Brothers, drapers, in Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 14 August 1895, and after the juniorate studied philosophy at Vals, did regency at the Crescent, Limerick, 1901-05, studied theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, 1905-08, and again taught at the Crescent, 1908-10, before tertianship at Tronchiennes, 1910.
He came to Australia on the ship Ormuz in August 1911, worked in the parishes of North Sydney and Richmond, and taught at St Aloysius' College, 1915-18, but his main work was
chiefly in the parishes. He was superior at Sevenhill, 1918-20, and Richmond, 1920-31. He also worked at Lavender Bay, 1932-43, as parish priest, then at Canisius College, Pymble, for a few years, before his final placement at the parish of Richmond, 1944-47. He was a consulter of the vice-province from 1939-44.
He had, according to Albert Power, “a deep sympathy, wide knowledge of human nature, practical common sense, and great kindliness, and large-hearted generosity. He was totally devoted to his people. He was, moreover, a man of shrewd business talent, and, at the same time, a man of vision and resolution”. He was remembered in the Richmond parish for building the spire on the church, and in Lavender Bay for the parish schools. His main recreations in later life were his violin and his pipe. He practised his violin every morning for a short time before breakfast. He finally died from heart disease combined with high blood pressure.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 7th Year No 3 1932

Richmond Parish
Father Patrick McGrath, S.J., who had been P.P. of Richmond for twelve years, also bade farewell to his parishioners at a public meeting. Amongst the crowd of distinguished people assembled to say good-bye was Mr. J. H. Scullin, ex-Prime Minister. He was the chief speaker on the occasion. He said that they had assembled to say good-bye to Father McGrath. They would much prefer to be welcoming him back again. There was no one in Richmond who had endeared himself more to his people than Father McGrath, who was part of the whole city and the forefront of the parish. He had left an indelible mark on the parish, and the completed church would ever be associated with his name. Not only did he leave monuments in bricks and stones, but he had won a lasting place in the affections of the people by his fine qualities of heart and mind, and his readiness to share the sorrows and joys of his parishioners. Father McGrath would never leave the parish. He had won the respect of all classes in the community.
There were several other speeches, and when Father McGrath had made a moving reply, he gave his blessing to the great crowd that had assembled to say farewell.

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Extracts from a letter of Fr. Patrick McGrath, S. J., St. Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne, to Fr. Finucane, 10-9-945. Fr. McGrath is an old Crescent boy who while stationed at the Crescent 34 years ago volun teered for the (then) Australian Mission. :
“Your letter arrived just in time for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee. Besides the House celebration there was a Parish celebration in our Hall. I knew nothing about it till three days before. Since I came to Australia I have spent most of my time between Melbourne and Sydney as Parish Priest. I did some six years' teaching in St. Aloysius, Sydney, twelve year's Parish Priest there, and the rest of my time in Melbourne as assistant, but mostly as Parish Priest. I broke down in Sydney. The hilly land there was too much for my growing years, and after a rest of a few months in our Theologate at Pymble I was sent back here as a Curate and I was very glad of it. I certainly never regretted coming to Australia.
Our Parish here is a very large one, and on the whole a very Catholic one, made up almost entirely of working people, for the most part very sincere and practical Catholics and most generous and easy and pleasant to work with. The same may be said of our Parish in Lavender Bay, North. Sydney,
The church of St. Ignatius in this Parish is a magnificent one, pure Gothic, in a commanding position, with a spire 240 feet high, the most perfect and beautiful spire in Australia. The stone of the church is Blue Stone but the upper part of the spire is white.
Looking up the Irish Catalogue a few days ago I was surprised to find that I know so few there now. Here in Australia the Irish Jesuits are dying out. The Vice-province is going on well. It is fully equipped with everything, novitiate, scholasticate with Juniors and Philosophers, and a special house for Theology, and we have this year a tertianship with 14 Australian Tertians. We want more novices, but there is good hope that there will be an increase this year. Our colleges here are doing very well. Both in Sydney and Melbourne there is a day-school and a boarding-school. The buildings in both places are first class”.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 2 1948

Obituary

Fr. Patrick McGrath (1870-1895-1948) – Vice Province of Australia

Perhaps the first thought of his friends, on hearing of the death of Fr. Patrick McGrath, was “we have lost, indeed, an Israelite, in whom there was no guile”. For though the call to religious life came to him much later than to his fellow-novices, the business career in the world, which he had mapped out for himself, left no trace on his soul, which remained childlike to the end.
Born in Nenagh, he received his secondary education at the Crescent College, Limerick. He went through the classes with the quiet, solid perseverance which characterised his whole life. He was then apprenticed to a Dublin draper (Messrs. Webb), and he persevered at the trade until his 25th year, when the ‘Leave all and follow Me’ won his unhesitating assent. He entered the noviciate, Tullabeg, in 1895. With him he brought no worldly relic, inimical to noviceship harmony, unless perhaps his fiddle, for fiddle it was, not a Stradivarius, no more than he was a Kreisler. A tribute to his character is the tolerance of his companions to the instrument, won by the geniality of the kindly strummer.
The noviceship routine was hard for one who had enjoyed the liberty of some seven or eight uncontrolled years. In fact, they had been controlled by his genuine spirit of Catholic piety, which ultimately made a religious of him, and which set him in the midst of the younger novices as an example of cheerful endeavour at tasks which often must have sorely tried him.
Hosiery was no preparation for Latin and Greek, which awaited him in the Juniorate. One of the relaxations was boating on the Grand Canal and adjoining rivers. Others took to the oars in relays. Mr. McGrath never relinquished his. If his hands were blistered at the start, the constancy would harden them - it did, and it carried him through those years, fitting him with the baggage needed for later years as a successful master.
In 1899 he set out for Vals. The country is a beautiful one - the Cevennes run into it. Long walks, which he loved, were alluring: often the way lay over mountain paths. Climbing was stiff, but not as stiff as the Metaphysics, which nonetheless he bravely faced, and it was amusing to see him frowning, in the library, over the hard nut difficulties to be cracked. His mind was not made for the abstract, but perseverance gave him a sufficient grasp of the principles which dogmatic theology, later, would require.
We next find him a master in his old school, the Crescent, where for five years, his good humour, his patience, and his sympathy made him an excellent teacher. After his theology and tertianship he returned again to the school. Not for long. The vision of Australia, crying out for workers of all kinds, appealed to him, and he set sail in 1911.
To an old fellow novice he wrote in 1945 : “I certainly never regretted coming to Australia, and since I have come I have never had any desire to go back, not that I have lost interest in Irish affairs, for I am always rejoiced when I hear that Ireland is going ahead”.
With the exception of six years teaching at St. Aloysius' College, Sydney, the rest of his work in Australia was in the parishes, either as curate, or, for a considerable time as P.P, partly in Melbourne and partly in Sydney. That he fulfilled the function happily is best told in his own words, written at the time of his Golden Jubilee, in 1945, to a friend. They are a good reflection of his simple, straightforward character : “The people organised a great celebration for my Golden Jubilee in our parochial ball. I knew nothing about it till three days befcre, when Fr. Lockington told me to be ready for it. The people kept it a secret from me, wishing in their kindness to give me a pleasant surprise, and they succeeded beyond measure.. I knew from my many years living and working amongst them that I was popular, but I had no idea that I was so popular until that night”. Fr. McGrath spent thirty-six years in Australia. It was indeed fitting that his Golden Jubilee should be celebrated where his untiring devotion reaped so many sheaves for the Master's golden harvest.
By a curious coincidence, Fr. Wilfred Ryan, S.J. (Superior of Norwood, S.A.), who entered the Society in the same year as Fr. McGrath happened to be in Melbourne at the time of his death and preached a touching and beautiful panegyric at the Requiem of his old comrade in arms. R.I.P.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Patrick McGrath (1870-1948)

Was born in Nenagh and received his education at Sacred Heart College. On leaving school he entered on a business career and was twenty-five years old when he felt called to enter the Society. He received his higher education at Vals and Milltown Park. He spent his regency in his old school from 1901 to 1902 and returned as a priest in 1908. He remained only two years when he was transferred to the Australian mission. His first six years in Australia were spent as master or prefect in the colleges. But the greater part of his religious life was spent in church work in which he became one of the most respected and loved priests in the land of his adoption. He died on 9 February, 1949 in Melbourne.

Born: 25 January 1841, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1867, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1874, Laval, France
Final vows: 02 February 1887
Died: 23 May 1927, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia

by 1870 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1871 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1875 at Laval France (FRA) studying
by 1878 at Holy Name Manchester - Holy Cross Bedminster (ANG) working
by 1878 at Holy Name Manchester - St Helen’s (ANG) working
by 1885 at Mariendaal, Osterbeek Netherlands (NER) making Tertianship
Went to Australia with John McInerney 1885

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After his Novitiate he was sent for Philosophy and some Theology at Louvain, finishing his Theology at Laval, after which he was sent to Mariendaal, Holland for Tertianship.
1884 He was sent to Australia and he spent most of his years there at St Aloysius Sydney, and was Minister there for many years.
1919 His health gave way and he was moved to the Novitiate at Loyola, Greenwich, and remained there until he died 23 May 1927

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas McGrath entered the Society as a priest, 23 September 1867. He completed his juniorate studies at St Acheul, France, 1869-70, and studied one year of theology at Laval, France, 1874. He taught at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, Galway, Limerick and Mungret, during the years 1875-84, before tertianship at Mariendaal, Holland, 1884-85. Then he left for Australia, arriving in December 1885 .
For the rest of his apostolic life, McGrath spent his time at St Aloysius College, 1885-1919, teaching French and bookkeeping, as well as being a thoughtful minister for a number of years. As a teacher he was recognised by all as kind and considerate, though a strict disciplinarian.
At Milsons Point he was mainly involved with pastoral work at the Star of the Sea Church. Because of failing health, he retired to Loyola College, Greenwich, from 1919 until his death.
For many years he was confessor to the Jesuit novices and the Josephite novices at Mount Street, North Sydney, He was considered a likeable man by those who knew him. He was bearded, and in later life nearly blind and almost deaf. He continued saying a special Mass for priests with poor sight until the end, even though he practically had to be held at the altar by the novice servers.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Had spent several years at business in Dublin before entry. Had been St Stanislaus student

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 2nd Year No 4 1927
Obituary :
Fr Tom McGrath :

On 8th May Fr Tom McGrath the senior in age of, our Province, died at Loyola, Sydney.

He was born on the 25th January, 1841, in Dublin, and entered the Novitiate, Milltown, in 1867. He had a year's rhetoric in France, and made philosophy and theology at Louvain, with the exception of the last year, which was passed at Laval. 1875 found him Prefect in Tullabeg, and from that date to 1884. he did excellent work at Galway, Crescent, Mungret, and on the Mission in England. In 1884-85 he made his tertianship in Mariendaal, Holland, and immediately afterwards sailed for Australia. Until his health broke down he worked at St. Aloysius' College, First at Bourke Street, Sydney, and then at Milson's Point. He was for sixteen years Minister. In 1919 his health gave way, and he was moved to the Novitiate, where he remained until he died. On the evening of his death the Master of Novices selected as the subject of his points the life of the good old man. He dwelt on his patience under pain and humiliation, which were intense as the end drew near, on his great faith, on his charity--he was never heard to say an unkind word of anyone-on his respect for superiors, and on his exact observance of spiritual duties. The impression made on the youthful community was deep, for they knew that the Master's words were not a. mere formula, that the virtues he put before them found a living realisation in the holy life and death of Fr. Tom McGrath.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Thomas McGrath (1841-1927)

Was born in Dublin and admitted to the Society in 1867. He made his higher studies in France and Louvain and was ordained at Laval in 1875. For the next nine years he was prefect or master in Tullabeg, Galway, the Crescent and Mungret. He spent one year as master and worker in the Sacred Heart Church. Transferred to Australia in 1885, he continued his work in the colleges and in spite of delicate health carried out for many years the onerous duties of minister of the house.

Born: 1591, Burgess, Doon, County Tipperary
Entered: 1605, Coimbra, Portugal - Lusitania Province (LUS)
Ordained: 1616, Évora, Portugal
Final Vows: 1638
Died: 01 November 1651, Limerick Residence, Limerick City, County Limerick

Alias Da Cruz

1606 Age 16 in Soc 1 year
1609 4 years in Society
1611 In Coimbra College studying Philosophy 12 years in Soc
1614 at Évora (LUS) 1st year Theology
1619 Teacher In Seminary
1622 Teacher Arts 3 years and Theology 3 years
1625 Tertianship at Lisbon
1628 Came to Mission; Superior in different residences over many years;
1637 Catalogue “Is good in everything, capable of teaching Theology and Philosophy
Was Rector of Irish College at Lisbon
1649 Cashel

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
McCrach or Magrah or Magrath or Da Cruz (Portugal)
Rector in Lisbon and Professor of Philosophy and Theology
1628 Came to Ireland; Superior in Cashel (1640 aged 70) and other Residences
A man of great virtue and learning; A good Preacher.
“Vir sane primarius et egregius concionator” (Mercure Verdier) (cf Foley’s Collectanea, Magrath)
William De L Cruce or Cross (alias Chroch)
1634 Professor of Theology at Lisbon
Became Bishop of Cashel (Irish Ecclesiastical Record August 1874)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1607-1613 Before First Vows he was sent to study Rhetoric at Lisbon and Philosophy at Coimbra. He then had one year Regency at a LUS College
1613-1616 Theology at Évora where he was Ordained c 1616
1616-1622 Taught Philosophy and Theology at Irish College Lisbon
1622-1625 Rector at Irish College Lisbon. he was the last Irish Rector during the Spanish domination, which did not allow foreigners to hold positions of authority in Portugal.
1625 After Tertianship he was sent to Ireland, but it is unclear if he got there before 1629
1629 He became Superior of the Limerick Residence in the 1630's. The General instructed the Mission Superior - Robert Nugent - to receive William’s Final Vows, but this was seemingly ignored, and it was not until 1638, eight years later that this happened. It probably had more to do with the Old-Irish/Anglo-Irish issue, rather than his ability and standing in the Society.
1640 became Superior of the Cashel Residence. He was a supporter of the Nuncio Rinuccini, and publicly defended the observance of the censures. In his 1649 Report to the General, the Visitor Mercure Verdier recommended that William be appointed a Consultor of the Mission.
On the approach of the Cromwellian forces he withdrew to Limerick where he died 01 November 1651

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAG RATH, WILLIAM. This Professed Father had taught Theology for many years in Lisbon. He was Superior at Cashel, in 1649; and though nearly 70 years of age, was of a robust constitution, renowned for virtue and learning, and an admirable preacher.

Born: 11 May 1887, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1905, Tullabeg
Ordained: 15 August 1920, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1923, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 05 September 1925, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, Naas, Co Kildare community at the time of death

by 1910 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Belvedere - a conspicuous member of the gymnastics team which had won the Shield so often there.

After his Novitiate he did his Philosophy at Stonyhurst, then Regency at Clongowes, and then he went to Milltown for Theology.
After Ordination he went to Clongowes as Study Prefect. He was very devoted to his work, even in times when he was suffering much from his health.
He had been ill for a number of years and doctors had though an operation could be successful. Within a month he underwent three operations, all very severe, and he died 05/09/1925 at the early age of 38. his sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of his nurses had to be withdrawn, being unable to witness such suffering. All through this he was very patient and resigned to the will of God.
He was a pious man and very devoted to Our Lady. He was simple, unostentatious, kindly and generous in making sacrifices for the convenience of others. He prepared very carefully for everything - which his careful copious notes show - and this brought him remarkable success as a Preacher and Director of Retreats.
On the 1925 status he had been appointed Minister at Mungret, a job which he would have done admirably. But before he could take up that post he became very ill and died.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926
Obituary :
Fr Thomas McGuinness

Fr T McGuinness had been ailing for about three years, and finally the doctors decided to attempt an operation. Within a month he underwent three operations, all extremely severe, and he died on September 5th, 1925, at the early age of 38 years. His sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of his nurses had to be withdrawn, not being able to bear seeing him in such great pain. All through he was patient, and entirely resigned to the will of God.

He was Belvederian - as a boy he was a conspicuous member of the gymnastic team which won the Shield so often for the College. He did his philosophy at Stonyhurst, his teaching at Clongowes, his theology at Milltown. After the Tertianship he returned to Clongowes as Study Prefect. He was efficient and devoted to his duty, being often at his post when he was
suffering much.
He was very pious, especially toward Our Lady, very simple and unostentatious, kindly and generous in making sacrifices for the convenience of others. These qualities, coupled with careful preparation - how careful his copious notes show - brought him remarkable success as a preacher and director of retreats. On the last status he was appointed Minister at Mungret a post which he would have filled admirably. But before he entered on his duties there, God called him to his reward.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Thomas McGuinness 1887-1925
Fr Thomas McGuinness had been ailing for three years, so, finally the doctors decided on an operation. Within a month he underwent three operations, all extremely severe, to no avail, and he died on September 5th 1925 at the early age of 38 years. His sufferings during his last illness were so acute that one of the nurses had to be withdrawn, not being able to endure seeing him in such pain. All through he was patient and resigned to the will of God.

He was a Belvederian, and as a boy was conspicuous as a member of the gymnastics team which won the Shield do often for the College. He entered the Society in 1905.

After his tertianship he was sent to Clongowes as Study prefect. He was very efficient and devoted to his monotonous duty, being often at his post when he was suffering a great deal.

He was deeply devoted to Our Lady, simple and unostentatious in manner, generous in making sacrifices for others.These qualities, coupled with careful preparation, his copious notes augured remarkable success for him as a preacher and director of retreats.

On the 1925 Status he was appointed Minister at Mungret, but before he entered on his duties there, God called him to his reward.

◆ The Clongownian, 1926

Obituary

Father Thomas McGuinness SJ

Tom McGuinness died in hospital after a series of severe operations. He had been in Clongowes for five years as a scholastic, and for five more of his short life as a priest he had presided in one of our study halls. As a Belvedere boy he was a wonderful athlete and gymnast, and to the last he was capable of marvellous feats, but those who knew him in the days when as a young man he coached the Gym, team and made runs freely for the Community, would scarcely have recognised the gay and light-hearted leader of boys in the worn and emaciated man years of terrible suffering made of him. Yet few knew what he suffered, for with characteristic pluck he concealed it all, and often he dragged himself to the Study when he could scarcely walk, And his natural gaiety and a kind of delight Tul simplicity of heart, school boyishness it seemed, complimenting schoolboys for such is the Kingdom of Heaven-never lessened. At the same time, there grew up in him in an evident way a stronger spirituality which made him, young but very carefully prepared as he was, a most valued giver of retreats from the very first. Small wonder, then, that the loss of such a personality, guessed at and felt rather than known though he was, left us all with a sense of deep and even irreparable loss.

Born: 07 May 1918, Murroe, County Limerick
Entered: 14 August 1937, St Andrew on Hudson NY, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)
Ordained: 18 June 1950
Final vows: 15 August 1954
Died: 27 June 1997, Philadelphia PA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

by 1952 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 10 April 1836, County Monaghan
Entered: 29 July 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained - pre Entry
Final vows: 15 August 1875
Died: 13 April 1910, Mungret College SJ, Mungret, County Limerick

Master of Novices 1874-1882

by 1872 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) teaching
by 1874 at Drongen France (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Msgr John McKenna, Dromore, County Tyrone

He made his priestly studies at Maynooth, and became a distinguished member of the Dunboyne Establishment (the original postgrad house of Maynooth). Some of his fellow students there were Dr William Walshe, Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Edward T O’Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, and many other remarkable men.

After First Vows he was sent as a Teacher to Galway and then as a Teacher and Operarius at Limerick, as a form of Regency.
1872 He made further studies in Theology at St Beuno’s and became “Professor of the Shorts”.
1873-1874 He was sent to Drongen fr Tertianship.
1874-1882 He was appointed Master of Novices at Milltown.
1883 He was sent to Galway again as a Teacher.
1885 He spent time at Tullabeg caring for his health.
1891 At the opening of the Theologate at Milltown, he was appointed Professor of Logic and Moral Theology.
1908 He retired to Mungret in failing health. He attended the 1910 Provincial Congregation, and when he got back to Mungret he had a bad cold. This brought about his death with great speed, and he died there 13 April 1910.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Charles McKenna SJ 1836-1910
Fr Charles McKenna was already a priest of the Clogher Diocese when he entered the Society in 1865. His career at Maynooth had been brilliant, his fellow students in the Dunboyne being the Archbishop Walsh of Dublin and Bishop O’Dwyer of Limerick.

He became Professor of the Short Course at Milltown and from 1874 to 1882 was Master of Novices in the same house. When Milltown Park was inaugurated as a Collegium Maximum in 1891, he was appointed professor of Logic and Moral Theology.

In 1908 he retired to Mungret in ill health, and he died there two years later on April 13th, having given 45 years of solid and outstanding service to the Province.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1910

Obituary

Father Charles McKenna SJ

Within less than a year after the death of Walter Colgan, the Angel of Death has again visited Mungret, not now to call one of the boys, but one of the Fathers. Fr Charles McKenna, notwithstanding his advanced years, seemed to be in his usual health till about the 8th of April last when he had a weakness from which he appeared to recover, but which returned the same day. For some time he held his own, but finally we were grieved to hear that pneumonia had developed, and on the 13th he passed quietly away, having received the last sacraments. Fr McKenna was born in 1836 in Monaghan. Having entered Maynooth College he was ordained for the diocese of Clogher anal became a member of the Dunboyne Establishment. In 1865 he entered the Society of Jesus. Besides, holding other offices, he was for some years Professor of Moral Theology and Canon Law, and was much consulted for his opinion. His health becoming enfeebled, he was attached to this house about two years ago. Though his duties here did not relate directly to the school, his bright look and cheerful inanner were well known to all and will be missed for many a day. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Charles McKenna (1836-1910)

Was a secular priest of the Clogher diocese when he was admitted to the Society in 1865. After his noviceship, he came as master to the Crescent where he remained for four years. Father McKenna was a man of fine intellectual gifts and was in due course appointed to the chair of moral theology and canon law at Milltown Park, where he remained until the year before his death. He was a member of the Mungret community for the last few months of his life.

Born: 18 September 1929, Drumcondra, Dublin
Entered: 01 October 1947, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1962, Milltown Park , Dublin
Final Vows: 08 December 1976, John Austin House, Dublin
Died: 21 January 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Early Education at O'Connell Schools, Dublin

1949-1952 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1952-1955 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1955-1956 Crescent College SJ, Limerick - Regency : Teacher
1956-1958 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Teacher; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1958-1962 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1962-1963 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1963-1964 Belvedere College SJ - Teacher; Chaplain Belvedere Newsboy’s Club
1964-1974 Rathfarnham - Teacher & Chaplain at Bolton St College of Technology, Dublin
1969 Sabbatical
1970 Province Social Survey
1974-2010 John Austin House - Teacher & Chaplain at Bolton Street College of Technology, Dublin
1987 Vice-Superior
1991 Bolton Trust - Development Director & Secretary; Sabbatical
1995 Vice-Superior
1997 Chair of Co-operative Development Society
2010-2014 Gardiner St - Chair of Co-operative Development Society; Vice-President of Bolton Trust; Writer
2014-2020 Milltown Park - Chair of Co-Op Development Society; Vice-President ‘The Bolton Trust’; Writer
2015 Researching Ecology
2018 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/bolton-trust-at-25/
Dermot McKenna, just turning 84, is celebrating the silver jubilee of the Bolton Trust. He traces his interest in cooperatives to Maggie Thatcher. In 1987 Dermot was a chaplain in Bolton Street College of Technology,… and teaching management and industrial psychology to engineers, showing how people can achieve a lot if they organise in small groups.
In the terrible recession of the 1980s (not as bad as the one we are suffering now) he and his colleagues saw their graduates snatched off to jobs in the offshore island by interviewers sent over by English companies.
“After all our labours, off they went to work for Maggie Thatcher. A group of us used to meet over lunch, and eventually came up with the idea of setting up a kind of co-op, a company limited by guarantee. 25 years ago we formed the Bolton Trust which started in Bolton Street and spread to the other DIT colleges. Its mission is to foster entrepreneurship and grow sustainable indigenous enterprises. A lot of teachers joined in, salaried by the DIT but giving their services freely to the Trust. A key figure in the development was Rea O’Neill, who has put enormous work into it and is highly regarded in all the colleges.
“The ESB gave us an old hotel down on the docks where we could bring in people and they could set up their own companies. At first we used that as our centre – about 20,000 square feet, which was rather small. In 1999 the Bolton Trust took over the East Wall Enterprise Centre from the IDA, renamed it the Docklands Innovation Park (DIP) and formed a long-term plan to upgrade the extensive facilities and create a hub for enterprise and innovation.”
The DIP is now home to some 40 established companies, and it “incubates” a further 40 start-ups every year. Its tenants employ some 350 people. It is central, connected by road and rail in all directions, with excellent online and phone services in its modern and secure offices. It is well described as a dynamic entrepreneurial environment. In its meeting rooms you sense a buzz of young, technically sophisticated people whose horizon is the globe.
The Bolton Trustees still remember with gratitude the support of Dermot McKenna throughout its life (he is still Vice-President), and the financial help of the Irish Jesuit Province at a time when the DIP was just a bright idea, a sign of hope. It is an example of two of the three dimensions which Fr General seeks in our ministries: the promotion of justice and collaboration with others.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/dermot-mckenna-sj-animated-by-vatican-ii/

Dermot McKenna SJ: animated by Vatican II
It was Vatican II above all that gave Dermot McKenna SJ, who passed away on 21 January, aged 90, the freedom to live out his Jesuit life fruitfully, according to Gerry O’Hanlon who gave the homily at the requiem Mass on 24 January.
The council brought with it “a retrieval of the mystical, more emotionally charged, and experiential version of Ignatian spirituality, the opening to finding God in all things and an understanding of the faith that does justice”. It was all of this that allowed Dermot to “breathe in a way that wasn’t so easy beforehand, despite his idealism, his love of God”.
Fired by this new spirit in the Church, Dermot became engaged in technical education, especially in Bolton Street College of Technology. According to Gerry, Dermot threw himself into “direct analysis and dialogue around the world of work and all it demanded”, studying urban sociology and social psychology. Eventually he set up the Bolton Trust to help fund and support the cooperative movement in Ireland, his great passion in life.
Dermot passed away on 21 January 2020. You can read Gerry O’Hanlon’s homily notes here » Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

https://www.jesuit.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Dermot-McKenna-Homily-notes-GOH.pdf

REQUIEM MASS FOR DERMOT MCKENNA SJ 24 JANUARY 2020
Homily notes by Gerry O’Hanlon SJ
After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.” A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” A third time Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” and so he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep. When you were young, you used to get ready and go wherever you wanted to: but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you up and take you where you don’t want to go’
— John 21: 15-18
You can sense Simon Peter a bit impatient and uneasy as Jesus asks him three times, do you love me? Well, those of you who knew Dermot so well can imagine how blunt he might have been in his reply!
But as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for him, to mourn his passing, I think those words of love and of being young and old say a lot about someone we have all known, will miss so much, and of whom we have our own particular memories.
When you were young: I think first of his time as a young Jesuit, joining in 1947 – not so easy: a pre-Vatican II church that saw the modern world as its enemy, a Society of Jesus that had a tough, of its time, emotionally illiterate formation, a spirituality that focussed on an ascetic reading of the Spiritual Exercises, and a notion of obedience that often bypassed consultation and discernment. The camaraderie that existed among the foot soldiers was often accompanied by an anti-authority hostility and even anger.
And then the climate changed. The Church in the modern World of Vatican II, a retrieval of the mystical, more emotionally charged, and experiential version of Ignatian spirituality, the opening to finding God in all things and an understanding of the faith that does justice
– all this meant that Dermot could breathe in a way that wasn’t so easy beforehand, despite his idealism, his love of God. He found Paddy Doyle in Rathfarnham to be a kindred spirit in the 60s and 70s, and he became engaged in the main apostolate of his life, Bolton Street College of Technology, later to become the Dublin Institute of Technology, now part of a University.
It’s almost as if those changes in title – reflecting a struggle for parity of esteem on behalf of technical education, taken for granted in continental Europe but always somewhat second-class till then in Ireland – mirrored the kind of project Dermot and his colleagues were engaged in. In retrospect it seems to me that he – and they, including Brendan Duddy who is still with us today – were kind of unsung heroes, in first touch with the secularisation and secularism which we take for granted in Ireland today but which then was new, with a group of students who were often viewed as second best by wider society, and, as priests, in a role was really very un-clerical, demanding new responses.
Dermot and his colleagues had different ways of going at this challenge. Some preferred a more traditional, chaplain and pastoral/sacramental role, while others, Dermot among them, preferred a more direct analysis and dialogue around the world of work and all it demanded. Dermot studied in urban sociology, in social psychology, and with apprentices, students of professions, trades and crafts, taught and ran groups which took into account their experience of the world about them and tried to point to the values they might otherwise have missed. Above all, with the help of many staff members, and through his study of the Mondragon Cooperative project in the Basque Country in Spain, he eventually set up the Bolton Trust to help fund and support the cooperative movement in Ireland, his great passion in life – more of this later in the mass.
He was a great walker, hill walker, as well, and he often joined staff and families on walks on weekends. And so, over decades, this often hidden work, took shape: a real option for the poor, with Catholic Social Teaching at its core, but always in the humble guise of service, for believer and unbeliever alike, far from the critique of clericalism and entitlement which Pope Francis sees as such an obstacle to the gospel proclamation in these days.
And so at the banquet at the end – see Isaiah (25: 6-9) – this unsung work, these seeds scattered without apparent much fruit – need to be celebrated and told about.
And his family: his five brothers, Kieran, Padraic, Gearoid and Tome, all of whom are here today, as well as John who is in Canada and whom I got to know through Dermot, with Pat his wife, both of them wonderful people who would love to be with us today – would be part of this celebration, with their wives and children, and their children, as well as his cousin Angela. Dermot was a quiet and thoughtful presence in his family – well, they will admit themselves that it’s sometimes hard to get a word in edgeways when they’re all in full flow! – but he enjoyed the banter and slagging, often spoke about them, was proud of their achievements.

I had an email from John and Pat in Hamilton, Ontario, last night in which they wrote that they are with us in spirit today and that “Dermot was a special person and we all have great memories of him. We saw him in November and said our goodbyes to him then. His caregivers in the nursing home were caring and compassionate and gentle with him”.

1. When you are older.... like many of us, Dermot found it hard to transition into older age, to leave his beloved NC road for Gardiner Street and then later Milltown and here in Cherryfield. As he said, close enough to his death, how come the birds outside Cherryfield were so happy and free and he was locked into his chair? He knew then, and also earlier in life, through his own insecurities and weaknesses, that he needed God’s mercy, the experience of the First Week of the Spiritual Exercises. He could be grumpy, stubborn, blunt, not mincing his words. One of my last conversations with him, familiar to many of you I’m sure, began with me asking how are you, and he replying, awful! But then, before too long, even with some confusion and fading memory, he was smiling and there was even the old familiar laugh. His traditional faith would have helped him: he did love Jesus, he knew that if God is for us nothing can be against us (Romans, 8: 31-35, 37-39). He knew, with Rahner, that all life is a giving-back to God of what God freely gives to us and that death is the last big gift we give, of our own life, like a little child jumping from a high wall into the arms of his mother or father.
2. Life is changed, not ended –
   Our great hope of course is the resurrection, based on our faith in Jesus Christ. This is where the sophisticated Athenians walked away from Paul at the Areopagus, the Public Square – this was too much to believe! And yet Paul himself says we are the most foolish of people as Christians if there is no resurrection. There is a natural human longing for life and its continuance. And so we speak of heaven, sometimes in terms of eternal life, sometimes as the beatific vision, and sometimes – as I prefer – beatific life, a changed life, the fullness of life, in communion with God and all those we love. And so Dermot, we hope with a sure hope, has gone before us into this new life, with his virtues celebrated and his weaknesses healed, enjoying a table of good food and wine, getting more than the odd word in!
   Conclusion:
   It was a kind of running joke between Dermot and myself that when we ran into one another (we had first met when he trained the U-16s rugby team of which I was a member in 1964 in Belvedere!) he would greet me with something like, “Do I know you?”, with a twinkle in the eye and the smile and then laugh. And so it requires no great leap of my imagination to see that scene between Jesus and Peter now unfolding between Jesus and Dermot, as Jesus asks “Do I know you” and Dermot smiles, at rest, seeing, sensing the fullness of life that is before him.
   Amen.

Born: 16 July 1870, Clontarf, Dublin City
Entered: 13 September 1886, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 30 July 1905
Final Vows: 2 February 1910, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 26 December 1956, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Editor of An Timire, 1912-19.

by 1897 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
by 1898 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1909 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach)
by Vincent Morley

McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach) (1870–1956), Irish-language scholar and catholic social thinker, was born 16 July 1870 in Clontarf, Co. Dublin, son of Andrew McKenna, accountant, and Mary McKenna (née Lambert). Having attended Belvedere College, Dublin, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1886 and studied at the order's novitiates in Dromore, Co. Down, and Tullabeg, King's Co. (Offaly), before graduating with a BA in Irish and classics from the Royal University (1893) and taking an MA (1895). After further study in scholastic philosophy and theology he was ordained in 1905 and subsequently taught at Belvedere College, Dublin, and Mungret College, Limerick.

Lambert McKenna's English–Irish phrase dictionary was published in 1911, but it was the classical bardic language rather than the modern vernacular that principally engaged his attention, and from 1916 onwards he published numerous editions of bardic poems in Studies and the Irish Monthly – a journal that he edited in 1922–31. McKenna's edition of Iomarbhágh na bhfileadh (the ‘bardic contention’) was published in 1918, and his editions of the poetry of Aonghas Fionn Ó Dálaigh (qv), Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh (qv), and Philip Bocht Ó hUiginn (qv) followed in 1919, 1922, and 1931 respectively. He spent four years compiling the state-sponsored Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge (1935), but the dictionary's scope was largely confined to the colloquial language of the Gaeltacht and it failed to provide Irish equivalents of many modern terms and concepts. His Dioghluim dána (1938) and Aithdhioghluim dána (1939–40) were substantial anthologies of bardic poems by various authors.

McKenna was an advocate of the social principles of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum. Lenten lectures that he delivered in Limerick in 1913 were published by the Irish Messenger in its ‘social action’ series of pamphlets under such titles as The church and labour and The church and working men. In The social teachings of James Connolly (1920), McKenna argued (p. 7) that James Connolly's (qv) voice was ‘ever the voice of Tone or Fintan Lalor, though his words are often the words of Marx’. During the 1920s he wrote in the pages of Studies about such recent events as the Russian revolution, the short-lived communist revolutions in Hungary and Bavaria, and the Mexican revolution. In 1925–6 he chaired a national conference on the use of Irish in the schools, convened by the Department of Education, and its recommendations on the increased use of the language as a medium of instruction were accepted by the minister, John Marcus O'Sullivan (qv).

McKenna retained his intellectual vigour at an advanced age, and three works that he edited were published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies when he was in his 70s: Bardic syntactical tracts (1944) and two bardic duanairí (poem-books) – The book of Magauran (1947) and The book of O'Hara (1951). He was awarded the degree of D.Litt.Celt. honoris causa in 1947. McKenna spent the latter part of his life in the Jesuits' house of studies at Lower Leeson St., Dublin, and died in Dublin on 26 December 1956.

Ir. Independent, 25–7 Dec. 1956; Hayes, Sources: periodicals, iii, 499–500; Austen Morgan, James Connolly: a political biography (1988), 59; Beathaisnéis, ii (1990), 50–51

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925

Fr. Lambert McKenna is Chairman of a committee appointed by the Ministry of Education for the purpose of reporting on the National Programme of Primary Education. During the meetings of the Committee, very valuable evidence was given by Father T. Corcoran

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 2 1927

Towards the close of last year the School Inspection Committee sent, with the approval of the Free State Government, Fr Lambert McKenna on a visit to Great Britain and the Continent for the purpose of getting First-hand information on the working of various systems of Primary School Inspection. He spent two months at this task, Visiting England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

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, 1883. 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 32nd Year No 2 1957
Obituary :
Fr Lambert McKenna (1870-1956)
Fr. Lambert McKenna died in St. Vincent's Nursing Home on 26th December, 1956, after a prolonged illness. He was born in Dublin on 16th July, 1870, and was educated at Belvedere College, of which to the end he was a very loyal son. In 1886 he entered the Novitiate, then at Dromore, Co. Down, and having taken his first vows, he studied for the Royal University at Tullabeg, Milltown Park and 86 St. Stephen's Green. He took his B.A. in classics and Irish in 1893. He taught for one year at Clongowes and having studied for another year at Milltown Park he took his M.A. in 1895. He taught the Juniors at Tullabeg for one year and went to Philosophy, first at Jersey and for the third year at Louvain. He taught for two years at Mungret before beginning his Theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1905. From 1906 we find him for three years at Belvedere, first as Doc., then as Adj. Praef. stud, and finally as Praef, stud. In 1909 he went to Tronchiennes for Tertianship. From 1910 he taught for three years at Mungret and for one year at the Crescent, In 1914 he was stationed at 35 Lower Leeson St. as Director of the Leo Guild. He was Praef, stud, and Dir. Leo Guild at Rathfarnham from 1915-1918, being in addition during the last year Editor of the Irish Monthly. In 1919 and 1920 he taught at Belvedere, being Praef. stud. in the latter year. He was Adj, Ed, Studies at Leeson St. for two years. From 1923 to 1934 he was back at Rathfarnham teaching the Juniors, being Praef. stud. for two years and Ed. Irish Monthly for several years. In 1935 he was assigned to Leeson St., where he was to remain until his death.
Fr. McKenna was, even as a student, strongly influenced by the work of Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill in the newly founded Gaelic League, He combined an exact knowledge of Irish idiom and poetical diction with an eagerness to see as many Irish texts as possible published and annotated with critical notes. He made his name in 1911 by publishing a short, but excellent, “English-Irish Phrase Book”, which he had compiled himself from the works of the best contemporary writers of living Irish speech. In the same year, as editor of Timthire Chroidhe Naomhtha Íosa, he began to print a series of unpublished Irish bardic poems, which were later continued in the Irish Monthly and in Studies. His edition of the “Contention of the Bards” - a work which had been begun by his friend Tomás Ó Nulláin, but had been left incomplete - appeared in 1918; the poems of Aongus Ó Dálaigh in 1919; the poems of Philip Bocht Ó h-Uigion in 1931; Dioghluim Dána in 1938; Aithdioghluim Dána in 1939-40; poems from the Book of Magauran and Bardic Syntactical Tracts in 1944; poems from the Book of O'Hara in 1947. He was awarded the degree of M.Litt.Celt. in 1914, he was elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1932 and he was given the degree of D.Litt.Celt. (honoris causa) in 1947.
Fr. McKenna took an active part in organising the Irish College at Ballingeary in its early years, and he was in close touch with Pearse when he was headmaster of Scoil Éanna. The success of his phrase book, which passed through several editions, caused the Irish Government to appoint him as editor of a more ambitious Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge, which was published in 1935. But this volume has less of Fr. McKenna's personal sense of idiom, and less also of his early enthusiasm for the spoken Irish language.
Apart from his life-long devotion to Irish studies, Fr. McKenna took a keen interest in what was - before 1914 in Ireland - the new study of Catholic social principles. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild during the first World War and during the post-war years. He thus came into personal contact with many young Irish Catholic laymen, who shared his interests and who looked to him for guidance. About this time he published several pamphlets, of which his “Social Principles of James Connolly” was the most notable. In the early years of the Irish Free State he was appointed chairman of a commission, which in 1925 made a report on the first (1922) national programme of primary education and laid the foundations of the present scheme.
In 1924, he published “The Life and Work of Fr. James Cullen, S.J.” He strove to make the Irish Monthly, during his years as Editor, an organ of Irish Catholic social and educational thought. He was also active as adviser to more than one Dublin charity. Those who knew him well in his last years can testify that to the end of a long life he maintained an active interest in a surprisingly wide range of Catholic activities, and especially in every form of the lay apostolate. He was for many years keenly interested in the Legion of Mary, and Mr. Frank Duff was one of the group which stood around his grave at Glasnevin.
Those who lived in community with Fr, McKenna at any time, and very specially in his last years, will remember him as a priest who was also an admirable community man. He had a wonderful memory for anecdotes of Irish Jesuit life, many of them stretching back to days that lie now in a very distant past for most of us; and his gifts as raconteur and mimic made his conversation a constant pleasure for all who were present. He suffered much throughout life from his health, and his infirmities were a great trial to him in his last years, But he bore them all with a wry sense of humour, which won sympathy from all his brethren. Few members of the Province have done as much for practical social work in Ireland as well as for the promotion of Irish studies. Suaimhneas síorrai dé anam.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Lambert McKenna 1870-1956
Fr Lamber McKenna was a great Irish scholar. His Irish Phrase Dictionary and the Larger English-Irish Dictionary are monuments to his name.. He also edited numerous Irish texts for the Irish Texts Society, In his early years he took an active part in the Irish College at Ballingeary, and he was in close touch with Padraic Pearse as Headmaster at St Enda’s.

His other great interest was Social Studies. At a time such interests were not so popular as they are nowadays. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild for years. His pamphlets on Social Questions were well appreciated in his day, and continued so, especially his “Social Principles of James Connolly”. He also published the Life of Fr James Cullen, the Founder of the Pioneers.

As a community man he was invaluable, and Leeson Street community, where he spent his last years, is still rich with his anecdotes of Irish Jesuit Life.

He retained to the end an amazing influence with a wide range of Catholic activities, especially those of the lay apostolate.

He died on December 26th 1956, a first class scholar, a thorough Jesuit, and an inveterate enemy of anything that was false or pretentious.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Lambert McKenna (1870-1956))
A native of Dublin and educated at Belvedere College, entered the Society in 1886. He pursued his higher studies in Dublin, Jersey and Louvain and was ordained at Milltown Park in 1905. His teaching career ended in 1920. He spent one year at Crescent College, 1912-13. Father McKenna's gifts did not include teaching ability although he was a brilliant classical student and had carried off high honours in the old Royal University. With the growth of the Gaelic League he became absorbed in the study of the Irish language, and by 1911 published his English-Irish Phrase Book. His name appears frequently in the list of learned editions of Irish works issued by the Irish Texts Society. For many years he published with translations a series of hitherto unprinted bardic poems. These may be read in the past numbers of the Irish Monthly (at present, dormant) and Studies. His scholarship in Irish studies was recognised by the degree of MLittCelt from the NUI (1914), the membership of the Royal Academy (1932) and the degree of DLittCelt (honoris causa) of the NUI (1947). Father McKenna took an active part in organising the Irish College in Ballingeary in its early years. His government-sponsored Foclóir Bearla agus Gaedhilge appeared in 1935.

Yet, Father McKenna's high attainments in Irish scholarship are not his only claim to remembrance. He was a pioneer in the study of Catholic social principles. From his pen came also a considerable number of pamphlets, most notable among which was his Social Principles of James Connolly. To the end of his long life he took an active interest in a wide range of works of the lay apostolate.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1957
Obituary
Father Lambert McKenna SJ
Fr Lambert McKenna died in St Vincent's Nursing Home on 26th December, after a prolonged illness. He was born in Dublin on 16th July, 1870, and was educated at Belvedere College, of which to the end he was a very loyal son. In 1886 he entered the Society of Jesus Novitiate, then at Dromore, Co Down. After taking his degree at the old Royal University he taught for a year, and took his MA in 1895. After finishing the Philosophy course be taught for two years at Mungret before beginning Theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1905. From 1906 we find him for three years at Belvedere, first as teacher and then as Prefect of Studies. From 1910 to 1913 he taught again at Mungret and spent the year 1914 teaching at the Crescent, In 1914. he was stationed at 35 Lr Leeson Street, as Director of the Leo Guild. In 1919 and 1920 he taught at Belvedere, being Prefect of Studies again in the latter year. From 1923 to 1934 he was in Rathfarnham Castle teaching the students attending University College, and for most of that time editing “The Irish Monthly”. In 1935 he returned to Leeson Street, where he was to remain till his death.

Fr McKenna was even as a student strongly influenced by the work of Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill in the newly founded Gaelic League He combined an exact knowledge of Irish idiom and poetical diction with an eagerness to see as many Irish texts as possible published and annotated with critical notes. He made his name in 1911 by publishing a short but excellent “English-Irish Phrase Book”, which he had compiled himself from the works of the best contemporary writers of living Irish speech.

Fr. McKenna took an active part in organizing the Irish College at Ballingeary in its early days, and he was in close touch with Pearse when he was headmaster of Scoil Éanna. The success of his phrase book, which passed through several editions, caused the Government to appoint him, editor of a more ambitious “Foclóir Béarla agur Gaedhilge”, which was published in 1935. But this volume, according to the critics, has less of his: personal sense of idiom and less also of his early enthusiasm.

Apart from his life-long devotion to Irish studies, Fr. McKenna took a keen interest in what was-- before 1914 in Ireland - the new study of Catholic social principles. He was Spiritual Director of the Leo Guild during the first World War and during the post-war years. He thus came into contact with . many young Irish Catholic laymen, who shared his. interests and looked to him for guidance. About this time he published several pamphlets, of which his “Social Principles of James Connolly” was. the most notable. In the early years of the Irish. Free State he was appointed chairman of a Commission which in 1925 made a report on the first (1922) national programme of primary education and laid the foundations of the present scheme. He was also active as adviser to more than one Dublin charity and those who knew him well in his last years can testify that to the end of a long life he maintained an active interest in a surprisingly wide range of Catholic activities and especially in every form of the lay apostolate.

Born: 12 August 1921, Ballybunion, County Kerry
Entered: 07 November 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1957, Catholic Workers College, Dublin
Died: 02 March 2013, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's community, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin at the time of death.

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1970 at Southwell House, London (ANG) studying and the London School of Economics

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-liam-mckenna-dies-at-91/

Fr Liam McKenna dies at 91
Fr Liam McKenna died on 2 March in Cherryfield, having moved there from his community in Gardiner Street five days earlier. He was 91, but was alert and engaged to the very end of a full and fruitful life. Liam (as he was known in his family – Jesuits tended to call him Bill, with which he was happy) was born in Ballybunion and grew up in Listowel, though with long periods away from home as a boarder first in Kilashee, then in Clongowes, where in his last year he was captain of the school.
He had an early interest in economics, but was put on for a classics degree in UCD. It was only after several false starts that he was launched into the work which was to occupy most of his life, as a mentor of trade unionists in public speaking and in negotiation – but a mentor who was himself learning every step of the way. In a rambunctious partnership with Fr Eddy Kent he helped to found and develop the Catholic Workers College. It was not an academic setting, though the team (McKenna, Kent, Hamilton, Kearns, Des Reid, Michael Moloney) included some of the brightest in the Province, who would spend their summers upgrading their expertise in European countries.
Back in Sandford Lodge, where money was scarce, they would spend their afternoons putting out the chairs and preparing the classrooms and canteen for the evening sessions. They gradually built up a trusting relationship with the unions, and a clientele of up to 2000 adult students. Bill spent 35 years training shop stewards and foremen in the sort of speaking and listening skills that would empower them for their work in the unions, shaping their own destiny.
In the mid-1970s Bill moved to work for the Province, then for the Centre of Concern, the conference of Religious, and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. He paid the penalty for heavy smoking in a serious heart attack, but lived life to the full, aware that he could drop dead at any moment. In Gardiner Street he would join in concelebrated Masses twice a day. On 24 February he acknowledged his need for full-time care, and moved to Cherryfield, after arranging daily delivery of the Financial Times.
He was alert until shortly before his peaceful death, as his curious, questing mind moved to explore the ultimate mystery of God.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 152 : Summer 2013

Obituary

Fr Bill (Liam) McKenna (1921-2013)

12 August 1921: Born in Ballybunion, Co. Kerry:
Early education in Kilashee Prep, and Clongowes Wood College
7 September 1939: Entered Society at Emo
8 September 1941: First Vows
1941 - 1944: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1944 - 1947: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1947 - 1950: Mungret College - Teacher
1950 - 1954: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31 July 1953: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1954 - 1955: Rathfarnham: Tertianship
1955 - 1969: College of Industrial Relations - Studied Economics / Sociology at UCD; Lectured in Sociology, Economics and Industrial Relations at CIR
2 February 1957: Final Vows
1969 - 1970: Tavistock Institute, London - Research
1970 - 1976: CIR – Lectured in Sociology, Economics and Industrial Relations
1976 - 1979: Loyola - Member of Special Secretariat
1979 - 1980: Milltown Park – “Centre of Concern' Office”, University Hall & Heythrop
1980 - 1982: Director “Centre of Concern” Office (moved to Liverpool Jan 1982)
1982 - 1984: Espinal - Secretary to Commission for Justice CMRS (Justice Desk)
1984 - 1989: Campion House - Secretary to Commission for Justice CMRS
1989 - 2005: Belvedere College
1989 - 2002: Assisting in Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
2002 - 2003: Assistant Guestmaster
2003 - 2005: Assisted in SFX Church, Guestmaster
2005 - 2013: Gardiner Street: Assisted in SFX Church, Assistant Librarian (since 2011)

By mid-February, Bill was becoming weaker and eating very little. He was still concelebrating Mass twice daily in the church and in the house chapel. On Sunday 24" February, he agreed that he needed full time care, so he moved to Cherryfield Lodge the following day. Bill appreciated the care and was alert until very shortly before his peaceful death at 7.35pm on Saturday 2nd March.

Liam McKenna died only eleven days before the election of Pope Francis, having taken a great interest in the resignation of Pope Benedict. A Jesuit Pope would have provoked many a question from Liam and many a conversation. His mind remained lively until the very end of his long life, so his deep love of the Church and his commitment to prayer and to the Eucharist would have informed anything he might have said about having a Pope from his own Order. His breviary and missal were well used, and he had spare copies of each.

There is a photograph, taken in the mid-1920s, of Liam, as a very small boy, with his mother and his elder brother: Mrs McKenna is a slim, elegant and very well-dressed woman; Liam and Jack wear expensive clothes. The image is one of comfort and security, as might be expected from a very successful merchant family in a Kerry town, but Jack's health was so precarious that his mother sent him to Switzerland for a year; he is still in good health at 95. Liam became a Jesuit and his two sisters (who predeceased him) became Ursulines, so Jack was the only one of the four siblings to marry.

Listowel was not a town where Catholics were universally welcomed: one of Liam's sisters wanted to join the local tennis club, which was reserved for Protestants, so Mr McKenna was forced to enlist the unwilling help of the bank manager by the simple threat to move his account elsewhere. Liam's attitude to everything was influenced, and positively so, by being a younger brother all his life.
Liam (as he was known in his family - Jesuits tended to call him “Bill”, with which he was happy) was born in Ballybunion and grew up in Listowel; his Kerry roots remained very important throughout his life, despite long periods away from home as a boarder in County Kildare, first at Kilashee, and then at Clongowes, where he was captain of the school. Bill went to the noviceship at Emo just a few months after leaving school.

He had an early interest in economics, but was told that the topic was “of no use”, so he was sent for a classics degree in UCD. Bill followed the normal Jesuit formation of the period and, in a time of European war, it had to be entirely in Ireland, up to his completion of Tertianship at Rathfarnham in 1955. His formidable brain helped him to see that many aspects of Jesuit formation were outmoded, and over stylised. Bill emerged from Tertianship with a great love of the Society, a deep commitment to his priesthood and a great ability to recognise nonsense when he saw it.

Until that point, Bill's Jesuit career had been like many of his Jesuit contemporaries, until he was assigned to the Catholic Workers College in 1955. He was based there for twenty-one years. Bill had finally managed to study economics and sociology at UCD, so he lectured in sociology, economics and industrial relations. Significantly, Bill was launched into the work which was to occupy most of his life, as a mentor of trade unionists in public speaking and in negotiation - but a mentor who was interested in everything and who himself was learning every step of the way. In a rumbustious partnership with Fr Eddy Kent, he helped to found and develop the College. It was not an academic setting, though the team (Kent, Tim Hamilton, Lol Kearns, Des Reid and Michael Moloney) included some of the brightest in the Province, who would spend their summers upgrading their expertise in European countries. Back in Sandford Lodge, where money was scarce, they would spend their afternoons putting out the chairs and preparing the classrooms and canteen for the evening sessions.

They gradually built up a trusting relationship with the unions, and a clientele of up to 2000 adult students. Bill spent 35 years training shop stewards and foremen in the sort of speaking and listening skills that would empower them for their work in the unions, shaping their own destiny. The Catholic Workers College evolved into the National College of Industrial Relations and now, on a different site) is the National College of Ireland.

The three-man Special Secretariat was set up in 1972 following the McCarthy Report on Province Ministries. Liam joined it in 1976, when it was no longer quite so centered on Jesuit Province administration, leaving its members free to work elsewhere. Liam gave great help to the Holy Faith Sisters as they produced new Constitutions.

Liam's passion for social justice was based on calm analysis and passionate commitment. It was the focus of his work from 1979 until 2002, no matter where he was living, be that London, Liverpool, Gardiner Place, Hatch Street, Belvedere College or Gardiner Street. He helped set up, with Ray Helmick (New England) and Brian McClorry (Prov. Brit.), the Centre for Faith and Justice at Heythrop, then in Cavendish Square in London. The 1970s and early 1980s could fairly be described as 'strike-ridden'; in or about 1982, Liam and Dennis Chiles, Principal of Plater College, Oxford, were joint authors of a 91-page pamphlet Strikes and Social Justice: a Christian Perspective, but it may have been for private circulation.

In all those years of activity, Liam made many friends. He was especially kind to anybody who was ill, but very impatient if he detected excessive “self-absorption”. Liam's style of talk was unique, with every word well enunciated and with a regular, almost rhetorical, pause as he gathered himself to declare a supplementary opinion. Was he disappointed at never becoming superior of a Jesuit community? Being highly intelligent, he may have realised that his gifts would be wasted in such a role. Liam always admired those who did any job well; he was very proud of his niece who became a forensic scientist.

Liam gave the impression of being very serious, and he did some very serious reading, but there was a lighter side. He kept all the novels of Dick Francis; he had boxed DVD sets of every television series that starred John Thaw. Videos, DVDs and his own television entertained him when it was no longer easy for him to leave the house. Liam was the only member of the Gardiner Street community to have a small coffee bar in his room. He became a familiar figure on Dorset Street, as he walked briskly along, pushing his walking frame.

Liam paid the penalty for heavy smoking in a serious heart attack, but lived life to the full, aware that he could drop dead at any moment. In Gardiner Street be would join in concelebrated Masses twice a day (one in the church and the other in the house chapel). On 24 February 2012 he acknowledged his need for full-time care, and moved to Cherryfield Lodge, not permanently, after arranging daily delivery of the Financial Times. He was alert until shortly before his peaceful death five days later, as his curious, questing mind moved to explore the ultimate mystery of God.

Born: 29 August 1908, Omagh, County Tyrone
Entered: 15 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 25 November 1992, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh, County Tyrone

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 74 : Autumn 1993 & Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary
Fr Gerard McLaughlin (1908-1992)

29th August 1908: Born, Omagh, Co. Tyrone
Early Education: Christian Brothers' Schools
15th Sept. 1926; Entered the Novitiate, Tullabeg
1928 - 1931: Rathfarnham - studying Arts, UCD.
1931 - 1934: Tullabeg - studying Philosophy
1934 - 1937: Belvedere - Regency - Teacher and Rugby Trainer
1937 - 1941: Milltown Park - Studying Theology
31st July 1940: Ordained, Milltown Park
1941 - 1942: Tertianship, Rathfarnham
1942 - 1944: Belvedere - Teacher and Assistant Prefect of Studies
1944 - 1955: Crescent College, Limerick - Prefect of Studies
1955 - 1960: Belvedere - Prefect of Studies
1960 - 1969: Mungret College, Limerick - Teacher
1969 - 1973: Crescent College, Limerick - Teacher
1973 - 1976: Crescent College Comprehensive - Teacher
1976 - 1979: Crescent Church Limerick - Assistant Admin. Comprehensive College
1979 - 1991; Belvedere - Teacher, Chaplain at St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society
1991 - 1992: Milltown Park, Chaplain at St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society
25th Nov, 1992: Died, St. Vincent's Hospital

I remember two Gerry McLaughlins - the martinet who was Prefect of Studies in Belvedere from 1955 to 1960, the first five years I was in the Senior House, and the movingly gracious old man (though he was never really old) who shared the community with me there from 1979 until his slightly quixotic move a year before his death in 1991.

Belvederians of the 1950s had all heard of Fr Coyle, the Rupe as he had been known to generations. Those like me, who had not known him, were unsure how to interpret that nickname but thought we were probably glad not to have to test its precise connotations when we crossed the Yard from the Junior House in September 1955 and found a new man in occupation of the office.

He was small of stature (which seems almost de rigueur for Prefects of Studies and Headmasters in Belvederel). He had a characteristic way of turning at an angle of 45 degrees whenever he had to admonish the tall fellows and always avoided having to look up to them, delivering his comments past their noses and moving dismissively away as he did so. The features were sharp, the expression shrewd, the manner abrupt even at times waspish. He did not too readily let us see the other side of himself - the witty side, that enjoyed innocently vulgar jokes, the humane side that could make allowances and apply exceptions, the sensitive side that responded alertly to the needs and the feelings of the other person, the humble side that most rarely indulged in talk about himself and hardly ever referred to his own achievements.

In those early days, he ran what they call 'a tight ship' and we expected as much, having heard of his rather fearsome reputation in Limerick, whence he had come (bearing his nickname with him) and whose streets he was supposed to have patrolled on his bicycle in the evenings, to ensure the Crescent boys were all safely in doing their homework, a veritable one-man vigilante squad.

In the mornings, he was on the stairs to intercept the late arrival. (pupil and, I suspect, teacher alike!). Through the day- of so we thought - he patrolled corridors to encounter and 'deal with those who had not found favour inside their classrooms and been put outside. As he went, he carefully checked the exercises in the boxes, not just verifying that Mr So-and-So (or Fr So-and-So either - Gerry was no respecter of persons) had actually set homework the night before, as the schedule demanded, but also counting the copies and checking the total against the rolls for that day. Loose leaves stuck into the end of clapped out copy books were not allowed and the offending object would be marked with a large “x”, never to reappear under pain of awful retribution. (Then some genius got the bright idea of “x-ing” all the copies and Gerry and ourselves were back to square one...).

He wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time but he was not remotely a sadist and his Belvedere was not a place characterised by harsh physical punishment. The fear he inspired was caused more by the sense that the all-seeing eye would catch up with you wherever you were - creeping a minute late up the stairs, lurking in the angle of a doorway, dallying needlessly between classes in the Yard, somehow or other where you shouldn't be. Suddenly, he was sure to be there. The face was identified, the name entered in the notebook he always seem to have to hand and - after a brief moment when you thought he would make no more of it and were moving gratefully on the fatal word “detained” floated lightly on the air after you in its Northern intonation, like a verbal lasso, to stop you in your tracks.

We watched for the master-less classroom and would often take the class himself, invariably expounding what seemed his favourite subject, geography, if he could not do this but he had noted that an exercise was die to be set that day, he at least managed to send in something appropriate, picking it himself (even in Irish, which was risky for him as he did not speak the language).

As we got older, we saw a little more of his humanity and realised that he was actually shy. We saw for the first time that he saw the humour of things. There was a twinkle in his eye and an indulgent irony in the voice when he called out: “Practice today, Johnny O'Connor!” as the aforementioned passed him on the stairs, evidently having defaulted the time before. And then “Snitch” (never really a term of dislike on our lips) was gone, disappearing just as we were about to reach Rhetoric and thought we might get to know him for the first time.

The other Gerry McLaughlin was over 70 when I met him again in 1979. By then, I was a recently-ordained member of the staff, he was semi-retired. He never properly graduated beyond that status until he died. In time, classes got beyond him in the Senior School, then the groups he took in the Junior School dwindled to one to two. He knew his health was failing (emphysema and, as he said, with characteristic bluntness and, usually, his wry twinkle, “the waterworks”). He worried about this, didn't make too much of it but wanted you to know all the same!

He accepted his progressive relegation to the margins of the timetable with grace and good humour but never entirely resigned himself to being unemployed. Jim O'Connor, who was in charge of the Junior School in part of this period, remembered how touching it was to find Gerry McLaughlin constantly offering to take classes when another teacher was absent, although by then in his late seventies. He had not lost the quick bark we had known years before and the boys were still a little in awe of him. Perhaps he sensed this. Apples would appear from the gown pocket and be thrown in a sudden gesture to this boy and that, with some hurried comment they couldn't catch - and by the end of a term, one way or another every boy would have received his apple!

In community, he was touchingly anxious to be part of things. He faithfully carried his share of the early morning Mass supplies to Temple St Hospital and elsewhere. He rarely took to his bed. At table, he would try to “lead” conversation with snatches of what he had heard on the radio or the like, rather as we had all once done as novices, and, if one topic failed to take wing, he would gamely try another. He did his best to take an interest in what was going on. This came easily enough to him because he was naturally curious, but growing deafness (that scourge of the inquisitive!), to which of course he never admitted, did add a slight petulance in the very last years.

He never spoke much about himself or his childhood in Omagh, where he had been born in 1908 and educated by the Christian Brothers. Rumours of the family having been attacked in “pogroms” were current among us. They sometimes seemed to find an echo in an outburst of anti-British sentiment, but this was rare and we remained largely in the dark about his previous experiences and the make-up of his family.

In his very last year, he asked to be moved. This was almost certainly because he could no longer teach at all or see any remaining function for himself in the school and he did not wish to be merely on the shelf in the place where he had once been so active. He had spent some 52 years working in Jesuit schools. There had been three years in Belvedere as a scholastic (1934-7 - during this period, he trained a winning Junior Cup team one of the very few achievements of which he could be said to have boasted a little and of which he was clearly proud). He had come back again for two years after ordination, to teach and assist Fr Coyle, then – well and truly apprenticed! – he had gone to the Crescent as Prefect of Studies for eleven years (1844-55).

After performing a similar function in Belvedere for five years (and asking to be relieved of it, because of a policy difference with those in higher authority), he had gone back to Limerick, first to Mungret and then to the Crescent once more (both in the city and at the new site in Dooradoyle when the school became a Comprehensive), until 1979 and his final return to Dublin. Now his teaching years were over.

Gardiner St, which would have been near the scene of so many of his labours, had no rooms free so he went to the House of Studies at Milltown Park. (He was indignant at suggestions that he was living in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Province infirmary, which is beside, but not strictly part of, Milltown Park!) There, he continued the work he had taken on some years earlier in Belvedere (when no one else volunteered): chaplain to St Joseph's Young Priests' Society. He fulfilled other community functions too and took his turn on morning Mass-supplies. But the short-term spells in hospital, a feature of his later period in Belvedere, went on. He died peacefully on 25th November 1992, still “in harness” as he would have wished and truly “full of works and days”. May he rest in peace.
BB

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1993
Obituary
Father Gerard McLaughlin SJ
I remember two Gerry McLaughlins - the martinet who was Prefect of Studies in Belvedere from 1955 to 1960, the first five years I was in the Senior House, and the movingly gracious old man (though he was never really old) who shared the community with me there from 1979 until his slightly quixotic move a year before his death in 1991.

Belvederians of the 1950s had all heard of Fr Coyle, “the Rupe” as he had been known to generations. Those like me, (who had not known him), were unsure how to interpret that nickname but thought we were probably glad not to have to test its precise connotations when we crossed the Yard from the Junior House in September 1955 and found a new man in occupation of the office.

He was small of stature (which seems almost de rigueur for Prefects of Studies and Headmasters in Belvedere!). He had a characteristic way of turning at an angle of 45 degrees whenever he had to admonish the tall fellows and always avoided having to look up to them, delivering his comments past their noses and moving dismissively away as he did so. The features were sharp, the expression shrewd, the manner abrupt, even at times waspish. He did not too readily let us see the other side of himself - the witty side that enjoyed innocently vulgar jokes, the humane side that could make allowances and apply exceptions, the sensitive side that responded alertly to the needs and the feelings of the other person, the humble side that rarely indulged in talk about him- ; self and hardly ever referred to his own achievements.

In those early days, he ran what they call “a tight ship” and we expected as much, having heard of his rather fearsome reputation in Limerick, whence he had come (bearing his nickname with him) and whose streets he was supposed to have patrolled on his bicycle in the evenings, to ensure the Crescent boys were all safely in doing their homework, a veri table one-man vigilante squad.

In the monings, he was on the stairs to intercept the late arrival (pupil and, I suspect, teacher alike!). Through the day - or so we thought - he patrolled corridors to encounter and deal with those who had not found favour inside their classrooms and been put outside. As he went, he carefully checked the exercises in the boxes, not just verifying that Mr So and So (or So-and-So either - Gerry was no respecter of persons) had actually set homework the night before, as the schedule demanded, but also counting the copies and checking the total against the rolls for that day. Loose leaves stuck into the end of clapped out copybooks were not allowed and the offending object would be marked with a large “x”, never to reappear under pain of awful retribution. (Then some genius got the bright idea of “x-ing” all the copies and Gerry and ourselves were back to square one...)

He wielded the biffer in the fashion of the time but he was not remotely a sadist and his Belvedere was not a place characterised by harsh physical punishment. The fear he inspired was caused more by the sense that the all-seeing eye would catch up with you wherever you were - creeping a minute late up the stairs, lurking in the angle of a doorway, dallying Deedlessly between classes in the Yard, somehow or other where you shouldn't be. Suddenly, he was sure to be there. The face was identified, the name entered in the notebook he always seemed to have to hand and - after a brief moment when you thought he would make no more of it and were moving gratefully on - the fatal word “detained” floated lightly on the air after you in its Northern intonation, like a verbal lassoo, to stop you in your tracks.

He watched for the master-less classroom and would often take the class himself, invariably expounding what seemed his favourite subject, geography. If he could not do this but he had noted that an exercise was due to be set that day, he at least managed to send in something appropriate, picking it himself (even in Irish, which was risky for him as he did not speak the language).

As we got older, we saw a little more of his humanity and realised that he was actually shy. We saw for the first time that he saw the humour of things. There was a twinkle in his eye and an indulgent irony in the voice when he called out: “Practice today, Johnny O'Connor!” as the aforementioned passed him on the stairs, evidently having defaulted the time before. And then “snitch” (never really a term of dislike on our lips) was gone, disappearing just as we were about to reach Rhetoric and thought we might get to know him for the first time.

The other Gerry McLaughlin was over 70 when I met him again in 1979. By then, I was a recently ordained member of the staff, he was semi-retired. He never properly graduated beyond that status until he died. In time, classes got beyond him in the Senior School, then the groups he took in the Junior School dwindled to one or two. He knew his health was failing (emphysema and, as he said with characteristic bluntness and, usually, his wry twinkle, 'the waterworks'). He worried about this, didn't make too much of it but wanted you to know all the same!

He accepted his progressive relegation to the mar gins of the timetable with grace and good humour but never entirely resigned himself to being unemployed. Jim O'Connor, who was in charge of the Junior School in part of this period, remembered how touching it was to find Gerry McLaughlin constantly offering to take classes when another teacher was absent, although by then in his late seventies. He had not lost the quick bark we had known years before and the boys were still a little in awe of him. Perhaps he sensed this. Apples would appear from the gown pocket and be thrown in a sudden gesture to this boy and that, with some hurried comment they couldn't catch - and by the end of a term, one way or another every boy would have received his apple!

In community, he was touchingly anxious to be part of things. He faithfully carried his share of the early morning Mass supplied to Temple Street Hospital and elsewhere. He rarely took to his bed. At table, he would try to “lead” conversation with snatches of what he had heard on the radio or the like, rather as we had all once done as novices, and, if one topic failed to take wing, he would gamely try another. He did his best to take an interest in what was going on. This came easily enough to him because he was naturally curious, but growing deaf ness (that scourge of the inquisitive!), to which of course he never admitted, did add a slight petulance in the very last years.

He never spoke much about himself or his childhood in Omagh, where he had been born in 1908 and educated by the Christian Brothers. Rumours of the family having been attacked in pogroms were current among us. They sometimes seemed to find an echo in an outburst of anti-British sentiment, but this was rare and we remained largely in the dark about his previous experiences and the make-up of his family.

In his very last year, he asked to be moved. This was almost certainly because he could no longer teach at all or see any remaining function for himself in the school and he did not wish to be merely on the shelf in the place where he had once been so active, He had spent some 52 years working in Jesuit schools. There had been three years in Belvedere as a scholastic (1934-37 - during this period, he trained a winning Junior Cup team, one of the very few achievements of which he could be said to have boasted a little and of which he was clearly proud). He had come back again for two years after ordination, to teach and assist Fr Coyle, then - well and truly apprenticed! - he had gone to the Crescent as Prefect of Studies for eleven years (1944-55).

After performing a similar function in Belvedere for five years (and asking to be relieved of it, because of a policy difference with those in higher authority), he had gone back to Limerick, first to Mungret and then to the Crescent once more (both in the city and at the new site in Dooradoyle when the school became a Comprehensive), until 1979 and his final return to Dublin. Now his teaching years were over.

Gardiner St, which would have been near the scene of so many of his labours, had no rooms free so he went to the House of Studies at Milltown Park. (He was indignant at suggestions that he was living in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Province Park!), There, he continued the work he had taken on some years earlier in Belvedere (when no one else volunteered): chaplain to St Joseph's Young Priests' Society. He fulfilled other community functions too and took his turn on morning Mass-supplies. But the short-term spells in hospital, a feature of his later period in Belvedere, went on. He died peacefully on 25th November, 1992, still 'in harness' as he would have wished and truly 'ful of works and days'. May he rest in peace.

Born: 25 July 1705, Armagh, County Armagh
Entered: 22 October 1725, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 30 October 1735, Salamanca, Spain
Died: 05 May 1753, Limerick Residence, Limerick City, County Limerick

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1738 Sent to Ireland and was fifteen Years at Limerick

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Constantine and Honora
1727-1728 After First Vows he was sent for Regency to teach Grammar at Valladolid
1728-1731 Sent to study Philosophy at Medina del Campo
1731-1732 Sent for further Regency to teach at Bilbao
1732-1735 Sent to Royal College Salamanca for Theology where he was Ordained 30 October 1735
1736-1737 Tertianship at Valladolid
1737-1738 Sent for to teach at León
1738 Sent to Ireland and Limerick, where after a few years he was stricken with rheumatism so that the more active ministry which he desired was denied him, and he died there 05 May 1753
Thomas Hennessy, the Mission Superior, described him as genuinely religious man who bore patiently his infirmities.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MAC-MAHON, JAMES, born in Ulster, on the 24th of July, 1705; and enrolled himself in the Society in the Province of Toledo, at the age of 20. He came to the Mission in 1738. The last 13 years of his life he spent at Limerick, in a very debilitated state of health. God was pleased to release him from his sufferings in 1753.

Born: 29 September 1931, Ballylongford, County Kerry
Entered: 01 March 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1962, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 19 December 1997, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin

◆ Interfuse No 97 : Special Edition Summer 1998 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1998

Obituary
Br Patrick (Pat) McNamara (1931-1997)

29th Sept. 1931: Born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
Pre-entry experience: He worked for the Jesuits for 2 years at Mungret College, Limerick
1st March 1950: Entered the Society at Emo
17th March 1952: First Vows at Emo
1952 - 1953: Tullabeg, Cook
1953 - 1954: Milltown Park, Cook
1954 - 1955: Emo, Cook
1955 - 1984: Belvedere, Cook. He subsequently held the positions of Minister, Health Prefect, In charge of staff, House Consultor. He took a sabbatical break in 1983.
1984 - 1997: Manresa House, Minister, Prefect of Health
19th Dec. 1997: Died at Manresa House aged 66.

Pat died suddenly at Manresa House at the end of a normal working day in the evening of 19th December. May he rest in the Peace of Christ!

Homily at the Funeral Mass of Br. Pat : Jesus is the Way to Life

“O come, thou key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the path that leads on high and close the path to misery”.

These words from the hymn 0 come, O come Emmanuel express some of our Advent desires. We are a people in waiting for the coming of the Lord, but the Lord is also waiting to come to us. This time is one of preparation, of getting ready, of creating space for the Lord. We are a people in need, but we have to acknowledge that, if we are to be open to the gift of God, Jesus, who comes to us. The prophet cried in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. Like the exiled people of Isaiah, we look for a new era, a time of consolation, when the desert is in bloom, the valleys filled, the uneven ground levelled, and the crooked ways straightened. These would facilitate their journey home from exile, as well as ours. We are a people in need of consolation and joyful hope and that is even more true in our time of sorrow, in our loss, at Pat's sudden death.

We are sad on this day at the loss of a brother - a brother to his own family and a brother to us Jesuits, as well as to his many friends. His death brings up much feeling, grief, loss, sorrow, emptiness, shock ...and we need space for all that. There is an element of being stunned by Pat's hasty departure without any chance to say good-bye. He was ready, but we were not. Our hearts go out to his family on this occasion for he loved his family and was concerned about each and all of them. But as well as joining with you in the sadness of this day, we are with you in faith. Our sorrow is real and we grieve together, we share a great loss, but our hope is solidly grounded in the Lord. Because of our faith we do not grieve as those who have no hope; life has changed not ended. There is a new beginning as well as an ending. A new pathway has opened.

The Jesuit way of life might be described as a pathway of discipleship; it is a way of following the Lord, which Pat embarked on more than 47 years ago. Most of that time was spent in Belvedere, where he formed many friends with staff, parents and pupils, and did much work that served the Society and its mission. The past 13 years were spent in Manresa, where he had more space and scope for his talents with plants and flowers - he blossomed anew in that environment. His care of the lawns, the trees, and flowers evoked many favorable comments. His gentle reminder to retreatants about the flowers - to leave what is out there, out there, so that we can all enjoy them, brought smiles to many faces. His warm and caring personality was genuine and touched people. Your presence here today in such large numbers is a fitting testimony to Pat's life, as well as being a great source of support to his brothers Jimmy, George, Michael, his sister Sally and their families.

Pat was familiar with the Spiritual Exercises as a way of growing in relationship with the Lord. Two key parts of that are the Kingdom and the Two Standards. The Kingdom calls us to be generous in offering ourselves to be with and to be for the Lord, who has been generous to us; the other exercise is to help clarify our motivation so that we are not led astray, nor deceived, in our following. The Kingdom and the Two Standards are significant in the lives of any Jesuit, but it would seem that Pat to some degree reversed them. I think that he had Two Kingdoms and One Standard. He loved his native Kerry and kept regular contact with his family. Late last September he was jubilant when Sam went home after an eleven year absence. It is fitting that the funeral cortege came by Croke Park yesterday evening and that it paused for a moment there. That is the only other shrine where Pat worshipped; he liked to go there regularly and had the ability to get in at minimum cost. He loved the Kingdom, but that was not at variance with his service to the Lord's Kingdom, which was the heart of his life. His standard was clear; he was not easily deceived. He was a man of faith and of prayer, who kept the faith, who shared the faith, and who finished the race. He prayed the Rosary daily with the domestic staff. He was a man of God for others.

The Christian way of life is one of service. Pat rarely wanted anything for himself; service was key to his life. A few years ago Pat wanted a new tractor and he got it in early December - he referred to it as his Christmas present, but it was a gift for others; he loved to use it - some of the staff described it as his Formula One machine, but it was to improve Manresa for others. He was a welcoming presence and felt the place should be the same. He wanted the grounds to look well as they provided a good atmosphere for the people who came to pray. More recently he wanted to redo the Avenue. It had to wait because of some building and then because the gateway needed to be rebuilt for the safety of people who came here. Finally he got all the parts in place. The gateway was built and a new gate was designed and ordered. Arrangements for the tarmacadam were put in place. He was preparing a way for others, a safer way. The tarmacadam was finished on Friday morning last and the new gate was to be hung the next morning. But Pat was called to travel a different avenue and enter another gate that Friday evening. Christmas had come early, Christ had come to Pat to call him home; a new era had dawned as the journey was complete.

This verse might fit with this time of year and summarise his faith journey in life, a faith that led him safely home to the Lord who welcomed him at the gate:

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the Year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

Pat has travelled that known way and entered that New Year, that new era, in the Kingdom of the Lord, who welcomes him home. May he now enjoy the fruits of his labours in eternal rest, light and peace.

Mike Drennan, SJ

Born: 04 June 1931, Castletroy, Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1948, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 04 September 1962, Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus (Frankfurter Dom), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Final Vows: 02 February1966, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 09 October 2005, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

by 1962 at Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt (GER I) studying
by 1965 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1979 at Gonzaga Spokane WA, USA (ORE) teaching
by 1990 at San Salvador, El Salvador (CAM) working
by 1997 at Zomba, Malawi (ZAM-MAL) teaching
by 2001 at Cambridge, MA, USA (NEN) Sabbatical
by 2002 at Venice, CA, USA (CAL) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
James McPolin was born in Limerick and educated at the Jesuit Crescent College. In 1948 he entered the Society at Emo and followed the standard course of studies of the Irish province. After a year’s theological studies at Milltown Institute he transferred to Frankfurt a.M. for his final years of theology.

Jimmy as a scholastic always gave the impression of youth and energy. He was deeply interested in sports of all kinds and persuaded those of us studying philosophy with him to build a basket-ball court on which he tutored the ignorant among us in the rules of the game. He sailed through his Jesuit studies effortlessly and we were not surprised when he was sent to the Biblical Institute in Rome for a Doctorate in Sacred Scripture. Thus he lectured in Scripture for 23 years at the Milltown Institute, Dublin, alternating semesters for 3 years with the Biblicum in Rome. Subsequently he also taught scripture at Gonzaga University, Spokane, at the University of Central America (UCA, El Salvador) and at St. Peter’s Seminary in Zomba, Malawi. His textbook on St. John’s Gospel is still very popular with students of scripture.

He was elected as the representative of the Irish Province for the 32nd General Congregation of the Jesuits in Rome in 1975 and was deeply involved in drafting the document of that Congregation on the formation of our young men. He acted as the Irish Provincial’s delegate for formation for many years.

After serving as Dean of the Theology Faculty at Milltown Institute for four years he was appointed as President of the whole Institute. During this time he was transferred to a small community of scholastics living in poor quarters in the centre of Dublin city. During his seven years in that community he showed great concern for the difficulties of the poorer neighbours. His cycling to work every day to and from his office at Milltown, 6 km away, surprised many of his academic colleagues at the Institute.

In 1989 he moved to San Salvador in Central America where he worked as assistant priest in the Jesuit Parish, eventually becoming the Parish Priest. When he first arrived in San Salvador he was invited to visit the University community for a meal and spend the night with them because of the curfew. In fact there was some urgent business in the parish which prevented him from accepting the invitation. That was the night in which the six Jesuits in the University community together with their housekeep and her daughter were murdered by the army. Jimmy thus narrowly escaped sharing their fate.

On his return from San Salvador in 1996 he joined the small group of Jesuits who were teaching at St. Peter’s Seminary at Zomba, Malawi. He first studied the local Chi-Chewa language and then settled into teaching scripture for five semesters.

He had a very good relationship with the Malawian seminarians: he always greeted his class with the word “Wawa” which is a term of great respect in Chewa and which invariably elicited a loud response. He set himself up as coach of the football team and could be seen at half-time surrounded by a ring of players whom he harangued in a good natured way. He also endeared himself to the teaching staff by the jokingly provocative way he would express some outrageous opinion during meals at our ‘round table’ which would immediately spark a lively discussion.

His deep commitment to the Faith and Justice agenda proposed for Jesuits by GC 32 was very obvious in his homilies at the daily Liturgy – he would illustrate his point by telling stories from “a certain parish where I served”. He was referring to the San Antonio Abac parish in El Salvador where he served as parish priest and where one of his predecessors and several young people on retreat had been shot by the military a few years before.

When he returned to Ireland he joined the Belfast community for a year and contributed to their efforts in the reconciliation between opposing factions in Northern Ireland. This was followed by a year’s sabbatical at Cambridge, Mass. and then by three years in the parish at Venice, California where his fluency in Spanish was appreciated by the many hispanic parishioners.

A series of strokes starting in 2004 forced his return to the Irish nursing unit at Cherryfield and he died there on 9 October, 2005.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/remembering-james-mcpolin-sj/

In his homily at the funeral of James McPolin SJ, Michael O’Sullivan recalls a life dedicated to faith and justice in El Salvador, in Malawi and here in Ireland. He also remembers
Jimmy as a dedicated and innovative president of the Milltown Institute.
About two years ago Jimmy said to me that he felt most alive and of most use during the years he was in El Salvador (1989-96) – despite the awful suffering among the people and the deadly danger that shadowed his own life. He went there straight after his term as President of Milltown Institute (1983-89). He did so because of his commitment to and companionship with the God whose love makes the promotion of justice an absolute requirement.
Jimmy had hardly arrived in the country when six Jesuits, a woman (Elba Julia) and her daughter (Celina), were murdered by an army death squad at the Jesuit residence on the grounds of the University of San Salvador. The Jesuits were murdered because of their commitment to the faith that does justice; the women, who had taken refuge with the Jesuits after their home had been damaged by gunfire, were killed so as to leave no witnesses. Jimmy could have been among the dead that night, 16 November 1989, given that he had deferred accepting an invitation to stay with the Jesuit community at the University until he had spent more time among the ordinary people. (2) Afterwards his concern to see justice done in the case of his dead Jesuit companions and the two women was viewed by him as a way also of promoting justice for the people of the country. In a letter to members of his family in Ireland in 1990 he wrote: “The future of justice is obfuscated by the fact that the trial of the soldiers for the killings is being impeded by false evidence of the military and by the collusion of the American Embassy and Government.” (3)
You may be aware of the memorial bell on the Milltown avenue in front of the Irish School of Ecumenics building. It was put up in honour of those who were killed that night. One of the dead Jesuits, Amando Lopez, had studied theology at Milltown, and was ordained to the priesthood in this chapel. You can see him in the 1965 ordination photo on the corridor outside this chapel. Another of the dead Jesuits, Ignacio Ellacuria, had done part of his Jesuit formation in Dublin as an ordained priest. The memorial bell will also always be a reminder of the third president of the Institute and the values that took him to El Salvador at that time.
Jimmy also narrowly escaped death at a subsequent date when he found himself under the table while army bullets were sprayed around the room. He was the pastor of San Antonio Abad parish, where a predecessor, and several young people on retreat, had been slain by the army in 1979. I stayed with Jimmy and the Jesuit community at San Antonio Abad during part of my time in El Salvador in 1991 and 1992. One day he asked if I would like to see the new houses he was having built for the poor. We headed toward a four wheel drive vehicle. Remembering that Jimmy did not drive in Ireland, and knowing I did not feel like handling such a large vehicle there and then in San Salvador, I asked him who would be our driver. He told me he would drive. He proved to be a very able driver, having become such out of his desire to serve the poor more effectively.
To understand the development of Jimmy’s commitment to economically poor and politically persecuted people it is necessary to know that in 1974-75 the Jesuits worldwide committed themselves to the work of justice as integral to the service of faith and that Jimmy was one of two Jesuits elected by his Irish colleagues to represent them in Rome where that decision was taken. Then in 1980 I asked him as a leading scripture scholar to review a book that was generating a lot of interest at the time, namely, Jose Miranda’s Marx and the Bible. (4) He told me later that reviewing this book led to a quantum leap in his Jesuit commitment to what had been decided in Rome some years earlier. Viewed from the perspective of spirituality as an academic discipline it can be said that his quantum leap of faith was facilitated by the practice of an intense reading experience. Other kinds of practices would evoke, express and enhance his conversion.
In that year, 1980-81, some of us here at the Institute – students at the time – thought the Institute should take an initiative to stop the intended tour of apartheid South Africa by the Irish rugby team. We held an all night vigil at the premises of the IRFU and collaborated with others in organising and taking part in protest marches on the streets. Jimmy, who was the Dean of Theology at the time, was one of very few academic and administration staff to join us. He also went on a placement to Brixton, England, around that time to work with marginalised black people. This commitment to black people reappeared strongly after his years in El Salvador when he went to live and work in Malawi (1997-99). One of his former Malawian students told me that Jimmy was a friend of the poor and oppressed, and that he lived what he taught from the Bible. This was also true of him in Ireland.
During his years as President of Milltown Institute he accepted an invitation from Seamus Murphy, now a member of the Philosophy Faculty, to live in inner city Dublin as a member of the Jesuit community called after Luis Espinal. Espinal was a Catalan Jesuit who had been murdered in Bolivia for his commitment to the faith that does justice. The Espinal community, which had been brought into being in 1980, the year of Espinal’s martyrdom, by Seamus, Kevin O’Higgins, the former Dean of Philosophy, and myself, when we were students at Milltown, and which was joined almost immediately by John Moore, then a Professor and Head of Department at UCD, was committed to simple living, was a friend to the flat dwellers in the local Dublin Corporation estates, and was a meeting place for social action groups. Jimmy used to cycle to and from Milltown in those years. He also participated regularly in protests outside the U.S. embassy against U.S. foreign policy in Central America, protests in which some staff and students at the Institute took a prominent part.
In line with how he understood and lived his faith and scholarship a defining characteristic of his Presidency was the way he enabled the teaching of liberation and feminist theologies to progress in the Institute. He welcomed me on the staff in 1986 and I am grateful to him for the support he gave me to teach these theologies. Una Agnew, the first female head of a programme at the Institute, and now Head of the Dept. of Spirituality, remembers his commitment to improving the situation of women, while Dominique Horgan, now the Archivist, remembers how he initiated the Adult Religious Education programmes, of which she was the first Director. This commitment to adult religious education is also reflected in the fact that during his years as President he taught scripture at the People’s College, which was located near the Espinal community. He did so there in order to reach out to people who at that time would not come to places like Milltown because of their social class, feelings about the Catholic Church, or educational attainment. Jimmy was a great success with such groups.
After his years in Malawi, following his term as President of the Institute, and his years in El Salvador, Jimmy went to Belfast to be in solidarity with those struggling for peace and justice there. During that time he also wrote a series of very fine articles on scripture texts for readers of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Then, given his language skills, and feeling for Latino peoples, he went to California to be a pastor in a parish with a very large Latino population. While there he suffered a stroke, and had to return to Ireland. More strokes followed. He died on October 9th. May he rest in peace, and may we be inspired by the way he lived the Institute motto to bring scholarship to life. Amen. Alleluia!

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006

Obituary

James (Jimmy) McPolin (1931-2005)

4th June 1931: Born in Limerick
Early education at Crescent College, Limerick
7th September 1948: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1950: First Vows at Emo
1950 - 1953: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1953 - 1956: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1956 - 1959: Belvedere - Teacher (Regency)
1959 - 1960: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
1960 - 1963: Frankfurt am Main, Germany - Studied Theology
4th September 1962: Ordained at Frankfurt, Maine
1963 - 1964: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1964 - 1967: Biblical Institute, Rome -D.S.S.
2nd February 1966: Final Vows in Rome
1967 - 1976: Milltown Park -
1967 - 1970: Professor of Sacred Scripture / Rome in alternate semesters
1970 - 1976: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture; Superior of Scholastics
1976 - 1977: Betagh House - Professor of Sacred Scripture at Milltown Park
1977 - 1978: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture
1978 - 1979: Gonzaga Univ., Spokane, WA, USA - Professor of Sacred Scripture
1979 - 1983: Milltown Park - Professor of Sacred Scripture; Dean Theology Faculty
1983 - 1990: Espinal community -
1983 - 1990: President, Milltown Institute; Lecturer in Sacred Scripture, Writer
1987 - 1990: Superior
1990 - 1998: El Salvador - learning language and parish work
1998 - 1999: Malawi - Lecturer in Sacred Scripture at St. Peter's Seminary
1999 - 2000: Belfast- Ecumenical and Reconciliation Ministry
2000 - 2001: Sabbatical - Faber House, 42 Kirkland Street, Cambridge MA
2001 - 2004: Venice, California - Associate Pastor, St. Mark's Church
2004 - 2005: Gardiner Street - Residing in Cherryfield
9th Oct 2005: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Father Jimmy McPolin was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on April 5th, 2004 for respite care following a stroke in the USA. While his mobility was poor at times he was self caring for the first six months. Then he was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital on four occasions, having suffered more strokes. His condition deteriorated over this time and in the last six months to a year he needed full nursing care. In that time his mental state also deteriorated. He was unable to converse and was unaware of his surroundings. However, he did appear to know some of the staff.

Michael O'Sullivan writes:
Jimmy was a fellow Limerick man and past pupil of the old Crescent College. I did not meet him, however, until I went to Milltown to study Philosophy in 1974. I found our first meeting painful. I was struggling to come to terms with life in the Milltown of that era after three years in the company of many women friends at UCD, and he, in his role as “Superior of Scholastics”, did not understand that. But he changed. He was an architect of the Formation document at GC 32 with its focus on “the integrated character of apostolic formation”. He also got in touch with his “inner child” and would express this, for example, by dressing up as Santa Claus at the Christmas staff party in Milltown Institute in an effort to lighten up what could be an over sombre atmosphere. His preference to dress in grey rather than the customary clerical black meant that on one occasion at least he was taken for a Protestant minister. This happened when he visited my mother, who did not know him at the time. When she answered the door to him and lie asked her if she was Mrs. O'Sullivan, she replied that, yes, she was, but that she was a Catholic!

In a conversation with Jimmy about two years before he died he said to me that he felt most alive and of most use during the period he was in El Salvador (1989-96) - despite the awful suffering among the people and the deadly danger that shadowed his own life. He went there after his term as President of Milltown Institute (1983-89). He did so because of his commitment to and companionship with the God whose love makes the promotion of justice an absolute requirement. Jimmy had hardly arrived in the country when six Jesuits, a woman (Elba Julia) and her daughter (Celina), were murdered by an army death squad at the Jesuit residence on the grounds of the University of San Salvador. The Jesuits were murdered because of their commitment to the faith that does justice; the women, who had taken refuge with the Jesuits after their home had been damaged by gunfire, were killed so as to leave no witnesses. Jimmy would have been among the massacred that night, 16 November 1989, had he not chosen to spend time among the ordinary people before accepting an invitation to stay with his Jesuit companions at the University. (Jimmy shared this with me in El Salvador in 1991. He had also said this to his family in Ireland, according to his niece, Gráinne) Afterwards his concern to see justice done in the case of these companions and the two women was viewed by him as a way to also promote justice for the people of the country. In a letter to members of his family in Ireland in 1990 he wrote: “The future of justice is obfuscated by the fact that the trial of the soldiers for the killings is being impeded by false evidence of the military and by the collusion of the American Embassy and Government”. (The source for this quote is his niece Gráinne who had also spoken with other members of his extended family.)

Jimmy also narrowly escaped death on another occasion when he found himself under the table while army bullets were sprayed around the room. He was the pastor of San Antonio Abad parish, where a predecessor, and several young people on retreat, had been slain by the army in 1979. I stayed with him and the Jesuit community at the parish during part of my time in El Salvador in 1991 and 1992. One day he asked if I would like to see the new houses he was having built for the poor. We headed toward a four wheel drive vehicle. Remembering that Jimmy did not drive in Ireland, and knowing I did not feel like handling such a large vehicle there and then in San Salvador, I asked who would be our driver. He told me that he would drive. He proved to be a very abie driver, having become such out of his desire to serve the poor more effectively.

To understand the development of Jimmy's commitment to economically poor and politically persecuted people it is necessary to remember that in 1974-75 we committed ourselves at a global level to the work of justice as an integral part of the service of faith and that Jimmy was one of the two delegates elected by his peers to go to the 32nd General Congregation where that decision was taken. Then in 1980 I asked him as a leading scripture scholar to review a book that was generating a lot of interest at the time, namely, Jose Miranda's Marx and the Bible. ((At that time I was co-editing a magazine on faith and justice issues.) He told me later that reviewing this book led to a quantum leap in his Jesuit commitment to Decree 4 of GC 32. Viewed from the perspective of spirituality as an academic discipline it can be said that his leap of faith was facilitated by the practice of an intense reading experience. Other kinds of practices would evoke, express and enhance his conversion.

In the academic year, 1980-81, some theology students at Milltown Institute were strongly of the view that the Institute should take an initiative to stop the intended tour of apartheid South Africa by the Irish rugby team. We held an all night vigil at the premises of the IRFU and collaborated with others in organising and taking part in protest marches on the streets. Jimmy, the Dean of Theology at the time, was one of the very few academic and administration staff who joined us. He also went on a placement to Brixton, England around that time to work with marginalised black people. This commitment to black people reappeared strongly after his years in El Salvador when he went to live and work in Malawi (1997-99). One of his former Malawian students told me that Jimmy was a friend of the poor and oppressed, and that he lived what he taught from the Bible. This was also true of him in Ireland.

During his years as President of Milltown Institute he accepted an invitation from Séamus Murphy to live in inner city Dublin as a member of the Jesuit community called after Luis Espinal. Espinal was a Catalan Jesuit who had been murdered in Bolivia for his commitment to the faith that does justice. The Espinal community, which had been brought into being in 1980, the year of Espinal's martyrdom, by Séamus, Kevin O'Higgins, and myself, when we were theology students at Milltown, and which was joined almost immediately by John Moore, then a Professor and Head of Department at UCD, was committed to simple living, was a friend to the flat dwellers in the local Dublin Corporation estates, and was a meeting place for social action groups. Jimmy used to cycle to and from Milltown in those years. He also participated regularly in protests outside the US embassy against US foreign policy in Central America, protests in which some staff and students at the Institute took a prominent part.

In line with how he understood and lived his faith and scholarship a defining characteristic of his Presidency was the way he enabled the teaching of liberation and feminist theologies to progress in the Institute. He welcomed me on the staff in 1986 and I am grateful to him for the support he gave me to teach these theologies. Una Agnew, the first female head of a programme at the Institute, and now Head of the Dept. of Spirituality, remembers his commitment to improving the situation of women, while Dominique Horgan, now the Archivist, remembers how he initiated the Adult Religious Education programmes, of which she was the first Director. This commitment to adult religious education is also reflected in the fact that during his years as President of the Milltown Institute he taught scripture at the People's College, which was located near the Espinal community. He did so there in order to reach out to people who at that time would not come to places like Milltown because of their social class, feelings about the Catholic Church, or educational attainment. Jimmy was a great success with such groups.

After his years in Malawi, following his term as President of the Institute, and his years in El Salvador, Jimmy went to Belfast to be in solidarity with those struggling for peace and justice there. During that time he also wrote a series of very fine articles on scripture texts for readers of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Then, given his language skills and feeling for Latino peoples, he went to California to serve in a parish with a very large Latino population. While there he suffered a stroke, and had to return to Ireland. More strokes followed. He died on October 9h. May he rest in peace, and may we be inspired by the way he lived the Institute motto to bring scholarship to life. Amen. Alleluia!

From the homily by Derek Cassidy at the Funeral Mass in Gardiner Street:
I have no doubt in my heart or mind that this virtuous soul, at whose invitation we gather today in faith and prayer, is residing easily and comfortably in the hands of our God. It is also unquestionable that Jimmy's illness looked like a disaster and we watched as the person we knew and loved was leaving us over these past twelve months or so, we were stunned and amazed how one who so loved God and who was such a devoted friend and servant of His was so afflicted: God certainly put Jimmy to the test.

But in his own words, writing in his well-received and celebrated tome on “JOHN”, Jimmy reflects for us “the suffering of Jesus is an expression of love, for the Good Shepherd is on His way to lay down His life for His friends out of love” - not like the hired shepherd who would run away from suffering.

Wisdom concludes that “they who trust in the Lord will understand the truth, those who are faithful will live with The Lord in love; for grace and mercy await those He has chosen”. That is a verse that Jimmy took on as his leit motiv. He is one who trusted and who lived a faithful life, and now that Jimmy has gone home to the God who chose him, grace and mercy will embrace him. As he wrote in his book, “Jesus' death is a pass(ing) over to the Father, so that Death and Resurrection are inseparable; and the light of the Resurrection penetrates suffering and gives it meaning”.

St Paul confirms our Faith for us in the reading we have just heard. Because of the resurrection, death has no more power over us. We learn this message as we continually enter the waters of our Baptism and let the grace we received there be at work in our lives calling us ever more deeply into the Mystery of Life.

Writing in the introduction to his volume on John, Jimmy alerts us to the fact that the sign of the Fourth Evangelist is that of the Eagle, and reflects for us that this is because John had the MOST penetrating GAZE into the Mystery of God Made Man - of Jesus. We each have our own special memory of Jimmy. Mine centres around Jimmy's own gaze into my eyes - he had a way of looking into my eyes that invited trust and response in care. I often imagine to myself that this is a very Jesus-like gaze, as He (Jesus) looked at the Rich Young Man and loved him.

Born: 15 January 1915, Portroe, County Tipperary
Entered: 24 March 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1945, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 13 January 1977, Manresa, Dollymount, Dublin

Brother of Michael McShera - Ent 05/04/1931; LEFT 04/02/1943

◆ Irish Province News 52nd Year No 2 1977 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1977

Manresa
Brother Tony McShera’s heart attack and death during the weekly prayer-meeting on Thursday 13th January was a great shock to our community. He had been at the retreat house door to welcome the participants in his usual hearty manner, and he had just spoken during the meeting itself when the Lord called him. He could not have died in a more appropriate setting, at prayer and in the midst of his friends.

Obituary :

Br Anthony McShera (1915-1977)

Born January 15th at Portroe, Co. Tipperary, he was educated at the Christian Brothers School, Sexton St, Limerick, to the end of his first year Inter. Certificate. He entered the Noviceship on March 24th 1935 and pronounced his First Vows on March 28th 1937.
1937-1954: Cook: Belvedere, where he pronounced his Final Vows on August 15th 1945.
1954-1969: Cook, Milltown Park.
1969-1977: Cook: Manresa House, Dollymount. Died: January 13th 1977.

The long “innings” which he had as cook in each house speaks its own praise, both as regards his work, and as regards the satisfaction he gave to his communities.

Father James Healy, now in Milltown Park, remembers him well. “Living with Brother ‘Mac’ in Milltown was a joy and a pleasure: the pleasure of eating well and the joy of knowing that his professional skill always provided plenty, wasted nothing and cost the minimum. As a scholastic I loved to watch him in the Servery, carrying and dis hing out vegetables for a Community of 80 or more; he had been up since 5.30; had given us porridge and dished out lovely hot bacon and eggs when the mob arrived in a rush for breakfast; he'd spent the whole morning preparing for this moment and for our dinner. He was proud to feed us, so quickly, so pleasantly. His joy was in our pleasure.
‘Mac’ had a wonderful way with the boys on the domestic staff. There was competition among them to get into the kitchen. Once there you served a strict apprenticeship, and you made a lifelong friend. Here was a master craftsman, respecting his tools and materials, rejoicing in his creations, expecting you to do likewise. Be clean. Be punctual. Be methodical. Learn your trade thoroughly. Join a union. I still meet Mac's protegés and they are all proud to be imitators of him, all extremely grateful to him for the formation he gave them.
Mac was still going strong when I returned to teach in Milltown. One year I noticed his room had been changed to a worse one. How come? The Minister had to change someone and knew that Mac would take it more charitably than the alternative victim.
He was never Tony to me not I Jim to him. Titles did not matter. We played golf together. Eugene Ward and Joe Conran invited Mac and myself to make a four for a golfing holiday in Newcastle, Co Down. It must have been one of the first mixed priest-brother villas. Somehow, Mac and I formed a new bond on that villa; the golf brig comes in a variety of species and ours seemed to be - opposed? - well, 'different from that of our companions. Of course the four of us were mad, fanatical. Only we laughed at different moments. Any Christian can share your sorrows. It takes a friend to smile together-– as we did, reminiscently, in later years when I occasionally met him in Manresa. The pleasures pass, the joy remains”.

Father J. C Kelly, S.J., of Milltown Park writes: “He told me, in his inimitable Limerick accent, that one day as a young fella’ he realised with blinding clarity that his vocation in life was to be a cook, He never wanted to do anything else. At the height of his powers in the late fifties in Belvedere, he was a superb cook: and his day began at five o'clock in the morning in the Dublin market buying fresh vegetables. He went to the market on his bike”.

His recreation was golf. Father Matt Meade recalls his dedication to his pastime of golf. Characteristically Brother McShera was wholehearted in his interest in his pastime, and keen to achieve and recall his successes on the Course - which were, indeed, very creditable, although far from rivalling his prowess at his real “vocation” inside the Society of Jesus: his excellence as a cook.

Born: 31 March 1909, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 24 June 1948, Collège Sainte Famille, Cairo, Egypt
Died: 14 February 1982, Milltown Park, Dublin

Transcribed : HIB to ZAM 03/12/1969; ZAM to HIB 1980

Chaplain in the Second World War with the Royal Air Force.

Early Education at Christian Brothers School, North Brunswick Street, Dublin

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Born in Dublin on 31 March 1909 Fr Joseph Augustine McSweeney grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and completed his secondary education with the Christian Brothers in Dublin. He worked for a short time before entering the Society in 1930. He followed the normal university studies, philosophy, regency and theology, being ordained in 1943. In 1945 he was assigned to be chaplain in the Royal Air Force where he served until 1949. He enjoyed his years in the armed forces, especially the opportunity they gave him of seeing the Holy Land and the Middle East. In later years, his recollection of those years seemed to bring him real joy. After a year in Belvedere he was missioned to Chikuni in Zambia. There he taught as a Jesuit priest for 17 years, from 1950 to 1967. Because of poor health, he then returned to Ireland. He celebrated his jubilee, 50 years as a Jesuit, in 1980. Two years afterwards, he died in Dublin in 1982.

A single quotation from one of his letters will best describe the type of dedicated man Joe McSweeney was: ‘I have the normal 28 periods a week, and as these are all in Forms 5 and 6, they involve much preparation and correction of homework. During this term, I have felt bound to give 4 more periods a week to teaching hymns to Forms 1,2,3 and 4, because the singing of hymns at Mass and Benediction has become very poor. This makes 32 periods. I give 7 hours a week attending at the Spiritual Father's room; this is the equivalent of another 10 periods a week; altogether 42 periods’.

Besides being a highly competent teacher, Fr McSweeney was a most devoted spiritual Father in Canisius. Throughout his 17 years he was always concerned about providing his students with both religious and moral training, never taking the easy way out. ‘Training in responsibility needs continual supervision’ was one of his beliefs with the result that he was present at all student Masses throughout the week, being available to them in the confessional, at all times promoting among them a habit of regular attendance at Mass and reception of the sacraments.

It was he who introduced and promoted religious groups like the Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament, Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady. His serious conscientiousness was evident in all that he did. The young students appreciated his gentleness and thoroughness. In the homily in Gardiner Street at his funeral, Fr Paul Brassil, the Zambian provincial, told of the past pupils' appreciation and gratitude for all that they had received from him. “An outstanding, successful teacher” was the description of Joe that those who worked with him in Chikuni gave him.

By no stretch of imagination could Fr Joe be termed a modern, well-integrated priest. He was just an old-fashioned, slightly nervous and tense priest, but he did dedicate himself fully to the improvement of his students. And they were his students, particularly the senior ones for whom he had a great sensitivity.

Towards the end of his teaching at Canisius, Fr Joe began to suffer from his nerves, finding it more and more difficult to cope with the normal tensions of a dedicated teacher's life. Of course he had always been a perfectionist. Even in his more relaxed days he had required at least a month's notice to prepare his choir for a sung Mass. It is quite easy to imagine the agony that the more casual attitudes of today can be to a perfectionist! But even when he felt the lack of special attention in the way of food more suitable to his needs, he retained his sense of humor: ‘I hope at 57 I am not going to be asked to approach the minister, plate in hand like Oliver Twist, toties quoties, for some more’.

In Joe's case, it is now clear that in this nervous person, God provided us with a great example of care and dedication and He no doubt even now rewards Fr McSweeney’s dedicated response to this vocation.

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

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 2 1982
Obituary

Fr Joseph McSweeney (1909-1930-1982)

I have an early memory of Joe McSweeney in Emo noviceship coming out to recreation wearing a peaked tweed cap. The memory remains because the incident was unusual, yet it puts Joe in context. He was a late arrival to the noviceship (November, 1930) and a late - though not very late - vocation. Chronologically he was only a few years older than the rest of us schoolboys of the previous June, yet his experience of having had a job seemed to invest him with a maturity we didn't have.
Then as always, seriousness was his outstanding characteristic. He tackled the outdoor works, which were a real trial to him, with the determination of a man whose job depended on doing so much in a fixed time. One of the jobs the novices had to do with pick and shovel was to clear the overgrown paths of the vegetation which had spread unchecked for fourteen years. Joe applied the principle Age quod agis to every task and ministry he ever undertook, as few men have applied it.
When we moved to Rathfarnham for juniorate, Joe enjoyed the studies, and to my mind was a far happier person than he had been when using pick and shovel in Emo. Though serious, he had a good sense of humour, and responded positively to our jovial ragging with a laugh. As a junior he was put in charge of our Pioneer total abstinence branch, and when one night he grew weary of the jocose cases of conscience we were giving him, he just stood up, bowed, and with a laugh announced “The meeting is over, gentlemen” and ran.
In Tullabeg, as in Rathfarnham, he got real satisfaction in study - this time of philosophy. He never gave the impression that he ambitioned being an academic, yet in conversation he showed how thoroughly he had mastered the matter in hand, and what relish the mastering of it had given him. He played games, though he was not an athlete, and took part in everything that was going on in the scholastic community. We knew him as a very self-contained person whose prime relationship was with God. He was never late for “morning oblation”, nor did he “hit the floor” for any other faults that brought many of us to our knees in the refectory.
He was apprehensive of life in the colleges, but when the time came and he was posted to the Crescent, he dedicated himself entirely to his teaching. He showed his courage and generosity in undertaking to teach a beginners class Greek, though he had never studied it previously.
He was delighted to be sent to Milltown after a two-year regency. In those years the Second World War kept all the native scholastics within the shores of Ireland. Theology interested Joe as much as, if not more than, philosophy, and it afforded him scope for his interest in argument and discussion. Here as always he was the unobtrusive obliging one you could always rely on to do the job you could coax no one else to do.
His post-tertianship status - chaplain to the RAF - came as a great shock to most of us, his contemporaries. We thought Joe’s academic outlook and innate reserve and shyness would make a chaplain’s life a very trying one for him. He didn't seem to view it that way at all. In his simple direct approach, he took it as God's will for him, and God would see him through. So quite undaunted he donned the officer's uniform. He enjoyed his years in the armed forces, especially the opportunity they gave him of seeing the Holy Land and the Middle East. In recent years his recollection of those years seemed to bring him real joy.
My knowledge of Joe’s success as a teacher in Zambia (1950-'70) comes from those who shared the burden of the day with him there. That serious conscientiousness was as evident there as it had been elsewhere. The young Zambians appreciated and valued his gentleness and thoroughness more than their less studious Irish contemporaries seem to have done. Paul Brassil, the Zambian Provincial, in his homily at Joe's funeral Mass in Gardiner street, told us of his past pupils’ appreciation of and gratitude for all that they had received from him. An outstanding successful teacher, was the description of Joe that those who worked with him in Chikuni gave us. Yet Joe himself seemed unaware of his success and equally unconcerned about it. He rarely initiated conversation about either his teaching or his week-end parish ministry. It was part of what God's providence had brought about through him. That seemed to be the view of the truly humble, obedient, unassuming Joe.
He returned to Ireland (1970) a semi invalid, taught in Mungret for two years, but discovered that his energy was unequal to the task; moved to Rathfarnham to do secretarial work, thence to Monkstown (1974) and finally to Milltown Park (1975). Those of us who had known him as a younger man, and accompanied him in his last years in Milltown, were saddened to see how ill health had affected him so seriously. In recent years, when he felt well, he could still enjoy an argument or discussion as much as ever. However, his nervous debility dictated for him a routine pattern of living that seemed almost compulsive.
For example, he went out every afternoon and had a cup of tea: in Bewley's restaurant, if he got as far as the city centre; or in a Ranelagh tea-room if he could go no farther.
He was up at six every morning, said his prayers and offered Mass. This daily act of worship had come to be the occasion of considerable anxiety to him. He concelebrated with us frequently, but we were aware of the strain that so doing caused him. Meals were a big part of the compulsive routine that he seemed forced to follow. He found it difficult to follow the letter of the law that the doctor laid down for him, but frequently spoke of the kindness and consideration of the kitchen and refectory staff in helping him to do so. The staff in turn, despite Joe's ill-timed visits to the kitchen, his ever recurring questions and requests, saw and appreciated the gentleness and courtesy that his illness had obscured but not destroyed. They had a real affection for him.

Here is an excerpt from Fr Tom O'Brien's tribute in the newsletter of the Zambian Vice-Province (Jesuits in Zambia: News): A single quotation from one of his letters will best describe the type of dedicated man Joe McSweeney was:
I have the normal 28 periods per week, and as these are all in Forms 5 and 6, they involve much preparation and correction of homework. During this term I have felt bound to give 4 more periods a week to teaching hymns to Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4, because the singing of hymns at Mass and Benediction has become very poor. This makes 32 periods. I give 7 hours a week attending at the Spiritual Father's room: this is the equivalent of another 10 periods per week; altogether, 42 periods.
Besides being a highly competent teacher, Fr McSweeney was a most devoted Spiritual Father in Canisius (Secondary School, Chikuni). Through out his twenty years [in Zambia) he was
always concerned about providing his students with both religious and moral training, never taking the easy way out. ‘Training in responsibility needs continual supervision' was one of his beliefs; with the result that he was present at all student Masses throughout the week; was available to the students in the confessional at all times; and promoted among them a habit of regular attendance at Mass and reception of the Sacraments of confession and communion, It was Fr McSweeney who introduced and promoted religious groups like Crusaders of the Blessed Sacrament, Apostleship of Prayer and the Sodality of Our Lady, giving to this apostolic work his meager spare time.
By no stretch of imagination could Fr McSweeney be termed a modern, well integrated priest. He was just an old fashioned, slightly nervous and tense priest, who dedicated himself to the improvement of his students, for whom he had a great sensitivity, particularly for the senior ones. In reaction to some derogatory remarks made by his fellow Jesuit teachers in regard to the boy-girl mores of Chikuni, Fr McSweeney once had this to say: “If such fathers had more pastoral experience, they would have more respect; and respect is very important in affecting our words and actions towards others”. In fact it was his conviction that his students at Canisius were superior in this regard to their peers in other countries.
Towards the end of his teaching at Canisius, Fr Joe began to suffer from his nerves, finding it more and more difficult to cope with the normal tensions of a dedicated teacher's life. Of course he had always been a perfectionist; even in his more relaxed days he had required at least a month's notice to prepare his choir for a sung Mass. It is quite easy to imagine the agony that the more casual attitudes of today can present to a perfectionist?
However, even when he felt the lack of special attention in the way of food more suitable to his needs, he retained his sense of humour: “I hope that at 57 I am not going to be asked to approach the Minister plate in hand like Oliver Twist toties quoties for some more”.
In Joe’s case it is clear that in this nervous person God provided us with a great example of care and dedication, and no doubt rewards even now such a response to this vocation. We praise and thank Him, and ask Him to look mercifully on the soul of our fellow-worker. [He died on 14th February 1982.]

Born: 14 April 1896, Forkhill, County Armagh
Entered: 29 March 1921, Manresa, Roehampton, London / St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1933, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1936, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 26 October 1981, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

by 1935 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Clerk before Entry; Transcribed from ANG to HIB 05 January 1922

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 57th Year No 1 1982
Obituary

Fr Francis McSwiggan (1896-1921-1981)

Born in Forkhill, Co Armagh, in 1896. Fr McSwiggan entered the Society at Manresa, Roehampton, on 29th March 1921, and came to Tullabeg during his noviceship. We (fellow-novices of his, who had entered on 31st August 1921) understood that he had been working in England, and so joined the Society there. As he was hoping to work in Ireland, the transfer to the Irish noviceship was arranged.
He was then 25 years old, while most of us, just out of school, were 16, 17 or 18. “Mac”, as we came to know him, was quiet, not talkative, with little sense of humour. He was not amused by the fiddle-faddles which sent young novices into fits of giggles.
Noviceships are normally uneventful, the one event of his noviceship which stands out in memory was his vow-day, Easter Sunday, 1923, when he could easily have been shot dead. We novices were out on a long-table day walk to Bellair hill some eight miles away. The road from Tullabeg to Ballycumber, after passing the Island chapel, crossed the railway line from Clara to Ferbane and Banagher. The hump-backed bridge over the line has since been demolished and the railway itself is closed.)
The Civil War was on at the time, and the “irregulars” (as those of the IRA who would not accept the Free State were called) had blown up a railway bridge over a stream about two hundred yards from where we crossed the line. They had set in motion a train from Clara, with no one on it, and when it came to the blown-up bridge, it overturned and rolled down the embankment.
On their walk, several novices went down the line to inspect the wreckage. It was guarded by Free State soldiers under a jittery young officer, who was highly suspicious of several groups of young men converging on him across the bog. Someone explained that we were clerical students out for a walk: but when he saw three more standing on the bridge staring down, he yelled and signalled to them to move off. Perhaps they did not hear him. They did not move, just stood staring; “Mac” in the middle, Fr Charlie Daly (Hong Kong) and if I remember aright Jock Finnegan who later left us. Seizing his rifle and taking aim, the officer announced in lurid language that he'd soon shift them to hell out of that. An older novice prevailed on him not to fire: they were only four fellows and hadn't heard him: he (the novice) would run up the line and get them to move on: which he did. Thus Fr “Mac” could easily have been shot dead on his vow-day.
Instead, a long life of faithful devoted work was opening before him. The 1923 Status sent him to Milltown for philosophy. In 1926 he went as Doc to Belvedere for four years, going on to theology in Milltown (1930-34, ordained 1933) and tertianship in St Beuno's (1934-35). Fr Geddes, the Instructor, asked the next year's tertians where those of the previous year had gone. “Wot?”, he exclaimed, “Fr McSwiggan, Prefect of Studies at Galway! Is he then supposed to be a very learned person?”
Whatever about that, he filled the post for five years before going to Clongowes for four years teaching, when he was a very popular confessor with the boys. In 1944 he moved to the big study in Mungret for two years, then back to Belvedere teaching till 1956, when he transferred to St Ignatius, Galway, as operarius, long in charge of the Apostleship of Prayer. Of those years, those who lived with him, All of us, however, who knew him are glad to think of him enjoying at the end his Master's welcome: Euge, serve bone et fidelis ... (Mt 25:21).

Mac, as he was known to those who lived with him, was a man of his period and his North of Ireland upbringing. He grew up in the faith of the minority, a minority that had to struggle for its rights and even its existence, and whose members were second-class citizens, for the most part poor and despised. Because of this a certain amount of iron and hardness had entered his soul, a certain intolerance and dogmatism, Everything in faith and morals as taught and interpreted in his upbringing, schooling and training became de fide definita, to be held rigidly: everything was either black or white; nothing was shaded or grey. He had a touch of bigotry in him, and if by chance he had been born into the other faith, he would have been a fundamentalist, an extremist.
His views were rigid, but in application to the individual and in giving direction tempered by his innate kindness, so it is easy to understand how he was a popular confessor to the boys in Clongowes and later from 1956 onwards, in the church in Galway, till deafness first and ill-health later forced him to give up church work. He carefully prepared his sermons, but his delivery was not the best: he was inclined to rush and elide words. He was assiduous in hearing confessions and indefatigable in bringing holy Communion to the sick and housebound.
For many years he was Director of the Apostleship of Prayer, which entailed the giving of the Holy Hour month after month. To increase the attendance he tried various ways: promise cards, handbills etc.; but berated those in attendance for the shortcomings of those who did not attend and who did not respond to his efforts and appeals. As Director he visited various schools in the city to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart and to increase the circulation of the Messenger. In his earlier years, as a priest teaching in the colleges, as well as giving retreats here and there around the country, he spent a good part of what was left of his summer holidays acting as chaplain to the staff and children of Sunshine House. Balbriggan. In later years when attached to the church he spent his villa period doing supply work in Liverpool. He was a man of zeal, a hard worker and a man of prayer.
He was very competent in Irish and keen on poetry. He even made some translations of Irish poetry into English, faithfully reproducing the metre, internal shyness, assonance and other features of the original in the translations. Unfortunately he wrote these (as he wrote his sermons) on odd scraps of paper or in already-used copybooks between the lines or in the margins, so few will have survived. In his last years, when he was more or less confined to his room, he became interested in puzzles, intellectual problems and short stories. He tried out his puzzles on his friends, and often spoilt the stories by enjoying their humour so much that he would break down with laughter before his hearers could see the point. He was fascinated by the universe and awed by its vastness and complexity, so he took an interest in astronomy and space exploration. To the end his mind remained clear and sharp and he kept it so with these interests.
Being a man of a fixed mould of mind, even more perhaps than others who had received similar formation and training, he found the post-Vatican II period disturbing and found it hard to accept some of the new thinking, new developments and adaptations: some of these he criticised quite openly, and his criticisms could be quite harsh! He was a keen observer and a sharp critic of the faults and failings of Ours, for he judged us all by the yardstick of his own self, and if we did not measure up to that, he let us know. Yet while his criticism was often sharp and hurt somewhat, because of some innate human quality in the man, no one ever resented it too much: all still had an affection for “old Mac”.
His death must have been the easiest event in his whole life. On 26th October 1981 he took his lunch in his room and lay down to rest, Shortly afterwards the good nun who looked after him came and found him on the point of passing away. She called the Minister, who anointed him, and before the end of the rite he had gone to his Lord and Master without stress or strain like a child dropping off to sleep. May he rest in peace.

Born: 11 June 1861, Toomebridge, Creagh, County Antrim
Entered: 23 September 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 19 June 1887
Final Vows: 15 August 1906, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 02 July 1950, Crescent College, Limerick

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 4 1950

Obituary

Fr. Patrick McWilliams (1861-1891-1950)

Father Patrick McWilliams was born on the 11th of June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. The third youngest of eight children, be went to his father's school for his primary education before proceeding to the seminary at Armagh. After a short period in the seminary he went to Maynooth in 1883 and, in 1887, was ordained there for the Archdiocese of Armagh. He entered the Society on the 23rd of September, 1891. He was sent to the Crescent in 1895, where, with the exception of one year (1901-02), when he was stationed in Tullabeg, he remained until his death.
In his early years at the Crescent he was a member of the Mission Staff. For a few years his name figured on the roll of the College Staff. From 1912-48 he was the Spiritual Director of the Ladies Sodality of the Children of Mary. From the beginning of his stay in the Crescent he was an operarius, and he carried out that role in full, without fail and to the end. His career in the Crescent was characterised not by spasmodic incident but by rigorous attention. to duty. For generations of Limerick people he was the model priest : serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls. Many people came long distances to consult him on some intricate problem. And yet, he who was the gifted confidant of so many adults, had also the unusual and well-remembered talent for hearing the confessions of little children. It has been said often since his death that “all Limerick must have made their first confession to Father McWilliams”.
Until the end he was unfailingly exact in his attention to his duties as confessor and preacher as well as to all the duties of community life. Until the end his well prepared sermons were delivered with a verve and resonance that made them heard even by the men standing at the back of the church. He grew old gracefully : he ever retained his handsome mien and upright carriage. He grew old gracefully, without angularity of character, without laying the burden of his duties on the shoulders of others, without complaint. And he died as he had lived - serene and without fuss.

Appreciation :
Nearly all his priestly life, was spent in the rather obscure work of preacher and confessor in a provincial town. But what a life! He became one of the landmarks of Limerick, known and revered and referenced by man, woman and child in the city. Thousands sought his solace in the confessional and parlours. He was a tower of strength to the weak. He poured consolation into the hearts of the depressed. He was ever ready to help the poor and the needy and to restore peace to the harassed soul. It is no exaggeration to say that there was hardly ever a priest in Limerick who wielded such influence and always for the greater glory of God. His thoroughness, his sincerity, his all embracing charity quarried for him a way to the hearts of all.
His sermons were models of lucidity and phraseology, always carefully prepared and always delivered with grace and dignity. He never preached a bad sermon in his life and of the thousands of sermons he preached one of the most eloquent was the one he preached a few weeks before his last illness - to be exact 25th March - a sermon that excited the admiration of many of his audience and - let us say - the envy of some members of the community who heard it. He did not, however, strive after effect. He had a message to deliver - the Master's Message - and he delivered it to his hearers in a way that pleased as well as instructed. The words of the poet may very well be applied to him:
“His preaching much but more his practice wrought
A burning sermon of the truths he taught
In manner simple, grave, sincere,
In doctrine incorrupt; in language plain
As well becomes a messenger of grace to sinful man”.
He united doctrine with exhortation and thus appealed to mind and heart. He strove to make his hearers not merely wise, but good. Conscious of his mission he was anxious that his audience should feel conscious, too, that life was no sluggard's paradise into which they had wandered by chance, but a battlefield from which there is no escape.
He was a very good moral theologian - of sound and ripe judgment and quick to grasp all sides of the question. When he had charge of the Cases of Conscience his summing up at the end was often a master piece of clarity and erudition.
His knowledge of people was phenomenal. He seemed to have contacts in the most remote villages of the country. Enquiries respecting him came from the most remote places. Priests and religious had the greatest confidence in him.. And no wonder! He was a true shepherd and no mercenary. He drew all towards Heaven by gentleness and good example,
Always kind and gentle when gentleness and kindness were demanded, he could be very severe on occasions and it must be said he did not suffer fools gladly. If he had to speak he spoke fearlessly and boldly. He didn't believe in doing things by halves. He was forthright in word and action. He had ever the calm and coolness of the truly courageous man. He did not shun the hives because the bees had stings. His devotion to duty was beyond all praise. Wherever he was supposed to be, whether in the pulpit or Box or at the Altar there he was to be found. He did not choose, Beau Brummell fashion, to be always late and therefore he never deserved the sharp admonition from an Abercorn. His work was perhaps of the humdrum type, but what more beautiful, what more satisfying than the calm and resolute determination of the priest to feed the flock entrusted to his care. No wonder his passing called forth such profound grief and sorrow in the city. The Church was packed with mourners for the Requiem Mass. His Lordship the Bishop presided and about fifty priests attended in the Choir. He has bequeathed to us all his example as a legacy. The consciousness of duty well-performed and the public voice of praise that honours virtue: all that was his
The virtues of those whose faces we shall see no more appear greater and more sacred when viewed through the medium of the grave. Irving it is who says the grave buries every error, covers every defect, extinguishes every resentment. It may be truly said of Fr. McWilliams that, "taken all in all, we shall not see his like again," Full of years and merit, mourned by all who knew him, he has passed on. God rest his soul.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick McWilliams SJ 1861-1950
The name of Fr Patrick McWilliams wil ever be associated with Limerick and the Crescent.

Born at Toomebridge in 1861, he entered the Society as a priest in 1891, For the whole of his long life, one year excepted, he worked as Operarius in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick. He was known as a confessor and guide far and wide to both priests and layfolk. At the same time he was alo a favourite for children’s confessions. When he died on March 29th 1850, it was said of him “that all Limerick must have made their first Confession to Fr McWilliams”.

Shrewd, kindly, a keen and accurate judge of character, the Province lost in him one of its model priests and rare spiritual guides.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Patrick McWilliams (1861-1950)

Was born on the 11th June, 1861, at Creagh, Toomebridge. He received his early education at his father's school and in St Patrick's College, Armagh. He was ordained, for the archdiocese of Armagh, in 1887 at Maynooth where he had done his higher studies. Four years later, on 23 September, he entered the Society. He joined the Crescent community in 1895 and, with the exception of one year, 1901-02, when he was stationed at Tullabeg, he remained in Limerick until his death. From the beginning of his assignment to Limerick up to the end, he laboured as confessor and preacher in the Sacred Heart Church. In his early years, however, at the Crescent, he was engaged also as a master in the school. Within the Society, Father McWilliams was one of the most revered Jesuits of his time. Throughout his long life he enjoyed the absolute trust of his superiors and the respect and affection of those privileged to live with him. He never became a superior in the Irish Province, not that he lacked the qualities necessary for government, but simply because he felt that in the position assigned him from the beginning he could labour most for the glory of God. It was an open secret some decades before his death that he had been appointed rector of one of the Society's houses in Ireland, but the letters patent of the General from Rome were never promulgated.

For generations of Limerick people, he was the model priest: serene of temperament, a patient listener, with admirable judgment, ever ready to help others, the trusted director of souls.

Born: 18 August 1911, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1968, Sacred Heart, Monze, Zambia
Died: 14 April 1980, Mater Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya - Zambia Province (ZAM)

Part of the Chivuna, Monze, Zambia community at the time of death.

Older brother of Paddy Meagher - RIP 2005
Cousin of John P Leonard - RIP 2006

Mission Superior Lusaka Superior of the Poloniae Minoris Jesuit Mission to Lusaka Mission : (POL Mi) 11 August 1955
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Chikuni Mission: 01 January 1957

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners
Mission Superior Lusaka (POL Mi) 11 August 1955
Mission Superior Chikuni (HIB) 01 January 1957

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them’ (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night). These words in some way could be applied to Fr Louis (nobody called him 'Daniel'). In human qualities Fr Louis was very ordinary. He saw himself as a great 'chancer' (his own word), meaning that he was willing to try his hand at anything, though not highly gifted for anything in particular. In fact, he found the studies in the Society extremely difficult but he realized that they were a preparation for the works of the Society like preaching and retreat giving. His tremendous determination and great sense of mission carried him through these difficulties so that at the end of his training he was better equipped to carry on apostolic works than many others more talented than he was. He had ‘greatness thrust upon him’ as he was appointed superior of the Irish Jesuits in Zambia a few years after arriving there.

He had come to Zambia in 1950, one of the original nine Irish Jesuits appointed to come to Chikuni Mission. The appointment came as a shock to Louis but he faced up to the situation as he had faced up to all the difficulties in his life. He was also appointed Vicar General of the Monze diocese where he was so highly appreciated by all.

After school at St Finians and Belvedere, he entered the Society at Emo in 1931. For regency he taught at Clongowes Wood College and then proceeded to Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1944. Afterwards he went to the Crescent, Limerick, to teach there until he came to Zambia in 1950.

In the early 60s, he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis which crippled him increasingly until his death. It was in this that Louis ‘achieved greatness’ in the way he bore his illness for nearly 20 years. He could laugh and talk as if he had not a care in the world. He was an 'Easter person' who by word and deed reflected the good news of the victory of the Cross and of the joyfulness of the Resurrection. It is possible to resign oneself to suffering but it is a very different thing to bring sunshine into the lives of others at the same time. This calls for great faith, hope and charity. Louis retained a warm and appreciative interest in everyone to such a degree that all considered themselves to hold a special place in his heart.
He had a happy interest in the life of the secondary school at Chivuna and helped the community there through his visiting, his counselling, his concern for each one's welfare, for their academic achievements as well as their prowess in sports.

Finally when arthritis made him almost unable to walk, he made the journey to Nairobi in Kenya to see if anything could be done for his feet. While there in hospital, he was anxious to get back to Chivuna for the opening of the school term. However, cardio-respiratory failure was the final cause of his death there at the age of 68.
His remains were flown to Zambia and he was buried at Chikuni on 14 April 1980. The most noticeable thing about Louis' funeral was the manner in which the ordinary Tonga people seemed very clearly to take over the burying of their priest. It would have been unthinkable to bury Louis elsewhere, he who had lived and worked among them for 30 years

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 55th Year No 3 1980
Obituary
Fr D Louis Meagher (1911-1931-1980)
(The following piece, by Fr Socius, Zambia, is copied from the VPZ Newsletter:)
Normally I would ask someone else to write an obituary. But in this case I wish to do it myself; partly, I suppose, because my friendship with him goes as far back as 1948, when I was a schoolboy at the Crescent in Limerick.
Fr Louis died in the Mater hospital, Nairobi, on 14 April, 1980, having said Mass on the same day. Cardio-respiratory failure was the final cause of his death at the age of sixty-eight.
Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of his soul in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Family, Nairobi, with a cardinal and about 50 priests concelebrating. His remains were flown home to Zambia, and he was buried at Chikuni on 19 April. Though both Bishop Corboy and Bishop Munhandu conducted the funeral services, with nearly 50 fellow-priests concelebrating, I would say that the most noticeable fact of Louis’s funeral was the manner in which the ordinary Tonga people seemed very clearly to take over the burying of their own priest. It would have been unthinkable to bury Fr Louis elsewhere.
Ordained in 1944, Fr Louis taught for a while in the Crescent College and then came to Zambia in 1950, working principally in the Chikuni area till he was appointed Superior of the Jesuits of the Chikuni Mission in 1955. In the early 1960s he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, which crippled him increasingly till his death. His work as Vicar-General of the Monze diocese was highly appreciated by all. In recent years, as chaplain to St. Joseph's secondary school, Chivuna, Louis was the friend and inspiration to all.
At a special requiem Mass at St Ignatius, Lusaka, I was asked to preach the homily, in which I tried to highlight three outstanding characteristics of Louis - in an attempt to learn the meaning of his life. I would like to repeat these briefly:
His undiminished interest in other people: You would excuse interest diminishing through age or sickness; but in him there was none of these. Louis retained a warm and appreciated interest in everyone, to such a degree that they all considered themselves to hold a special place in his heart. And of course this deep interest enabled Louis to converse with absolutely anyone - on any subject under the sun.
His humility and freedom from conceit: In human qualities Fr Louis was very ordinary. He saw himself as a great “chancer” (his own word), meaning that he was willing to try his hand at anything, though not highly gifted for anything in particular. He would never have considered himself outstanding - a gifted preacher, an intellectual, a specialist, a famous Jesuit (!) or a holy priest. In God’s own wisdom it was the way he bore his illness for nearly 20 years that made Louis extraordinary. To listen to him talk and laugh you could easily imagine he hadn't a worry in the world, though he was largely crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. Such inspiring acceptance indicated a very deep spirituality.
“Let there be sunshine in my world together with you” are the words of a popular song today. And they apply very much to Fr Louis. It is possible for people who suffer seriously over a long period of time to find solace in the mystery of the Cross; but often such people communicate a faith which stays at the Cross. Louis however was definitely an “Easter person”, who by both word and deed reflected the good news of the victory of the Cross and the joyfulness of the Resurrection. It is possible to resign oneself to suffering, but very difficult to bring sunshine also into the world of others; this calls for great faith, hope and charity.
I think it was Louis’s remarkable ability to proclaim charismatically “Praise the Lord” with his crippled body that was his outstanding gift to us all.
In his obituary notice on Louis Meagher, Fr Tom O'Brien has rightly emphasised Louis' courage and cheerfulness in his sickness and often painful suffering during the last twenty years of his life. I would like to add that this courage and determination was something which was built into Louis's character during his years of formation and his early work in the Society before bad health came upon him.
Louis found extremely difficult not only the studies in the Society but also the preparation for many of the works such as preaching and the giving of retreats. Study for him was always a real grind, but he had tremendous determination and a great sense of mission and this carried him through, so that at the end of his training he was better equipped to carry on the apostolic works of the Society than many others who were endowed with greater intelligence and other natural gifts.
There was however one gift with which Louis was endowed to an extraordinary degree, and that was a very attractive and cheerful personality. This natural charm enabled him to make friends with people of every, age and sex. It was quite an experience to see Louis meeting strangers (sometimes unfriendly strangers) and in no time
they were at ease and enjoying his company.
When Louis came to Zambia he needed all his courage and determination. A few years after his arrival he found himself saddled with the job of religious superior of the Irish Jesuits here and that of vicar-general of their section of the archdiocese of Lusaka. These were difficult times for Louis due to lack of finance and other circumstances beyond his control. The appointment came as a great shock to Louis. I can well remember that for once he looked really down in the mouth. However he faced up to the situation as he had faced up to all the difficulties in his years as a scholastic. To a large extent he concealed all his worries and anxieties and he surprised us all by his ability to lead and to govern during those difficult years.
I would like to single out one special virtue which was very evident to me in his administration of the Mission. I was closely associated with him as a consultor for most of those years, and I can honestly say that I don't think that he was ever influenced by self-interest in any of the decisions he made. His likes and dislikes of other people (and like any normal person he had his likes and dislikes) never influenced his decisions. When he made mistakes they could never be attributed to selfish motives.
When sickness and pain came upon Louis it was no surprise to me that he bore it with courage and unselfish cheerfulness to the end. Louis was only continuing to live his life as he had always lived it.

With Louis Meagher’s death, the communities at Civuna have lost a great friend and a loyal support. The mission at large will miss him for his great enthusiasm and inspiration; but as Christ said to the Apostles, one feels that it is better that he should go to his Father because now he will help us all the more and his spirit will continue to inspire us.
“I only want to complete the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the good news about the grace of God”. In Louis’ last days in a Nairobi hospital he still had one great wish, namely to return to Civuna and continue his apostolate. That was not to be; but the tributes at his burial at Chikuni were a sign that not only at Civuna but in the diocese as a whole, his life and work made a lasting impact on the people. About 50 priests concelebrated Mass with our bishop, James Corboy, and the bishop of the neighbouring diocese of Livingstone, brothers, sisters and the ordinary people in great numbers.
Louis could have called a halt twenty years ago when he first developed arthritis and the doctors declared that he had only a few months to live. But that wasn’t Louis Meagher. He fought against his illness every day since then, never giving in and never complaining, but took all the medical attention he could get, including the hip operation. Finally, when the arthritis made him almost unable to walk, he made his journey to Nairobi to see if anything could be done for his feet.
As a community man he was always cheerful and available. He was interested in everything that was going on in the parish; the numbers at Mass in each centre, the leaders, the catechists, development work and the youth. He had a deep impact on the life of the Secondary school and helped to form both staff and pupils into a happy community through his visiting, his counselling, his interest in each one's welfare, the academic achievements of the girls and in sport. Probably one of the best tributes to his time in Civuna is the formation of the new diocesan congregation of sisters, the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, who celebrated their 10th anniversary on Pentecost weekend (24th-25th May). They now have 12 sisters, all past pupils of the school; four are teaching here and others are still in training for their future ministries. They always came to him for advice and help, and the encouragement they received is evident in the very pleasant family spirit which they have developed: each one's personality and talents are able to be brought together for the good of all.
I think if there is one single lesson that Louis's life teaches it is this, . to use whatever talents the Lord has given us, perfect them through developing them for the sake of others, until we all attain maturity, contributing to the completed growth of Christ. It is no coincidence that Louis took to the Charismatic Renewal in the Church as a fish takes to water, and in spite of his ill-health, attended the local and national conferences and inspired many people by his presence. The Spirit of the risen Lord was certainly evident in him, but it was a light shining from the daily cross of physical suffering. May he enjoy a rich reward for his life of faith and service to others and may he always inspire us to go and do the same.

Born: 11 April 1917, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 07 February 2005, Cherryfield Lodge Dublin

Part of the Manresa House, Dublin community at the time of death.

Younger brother of D Louis Meagher - RIP 1980
Cousin of John P Leonard - RIP 2006

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ : Admissions 1859-1948 - Born Ratoath, County Meath; St Finian’s Mullingar student

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006

Obituary

Patrick (Paddy) Meagher (1917-2005)

11th April 1917: Born in Dublin
Early education at the National School in Ratoath, Co. Meath and St. Finian's, Mullingar
7th September 1935: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1937: First Vows at Emo
1937 - 1940: Rathfarnham - Studied Classics at UCD
1940 - 1943: Tullabeg -Studied Philosophy
1943 - 1945: Mungret College, Limerick - Teacher (Regency)
1945 - 1949: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
28th July 1948: Ordained at Milltown Park
1949 - 1950: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1950 - 1953: Clongowes - Teacher
1953 - 1956: Mungret College - Teacher
1956 - 1960: Gonzaga College - Teacher; Minister, Assistant Prefect of Studies
1960 - 1968: Mungret College - Teacher, Sub-Minister
1968 - 1972: Loyola - Socius to Provincial
1972 - 1973: Rathfarnham -Studied catechetics at Mt. Oliver, Dundalk
1973 - 1974: Manresa House -Assistant Director; Directed Spiritual Exercises
1974 - 1975: Belvedere College - Teacher
1975 - 2005: Manresa House -
1975 - 1985: Assistant Director, Directed Spiritual Exercises
2nd February 1981: Final Vows at Manresa
1985 - 1992: Socius to Director of Novices
1992 - 1996: Directed Spiritual Exercises
1996 - 2001: Rector's Admonitor, Spiritual Director
2001 - 2004: Spiritual Director (SJ)
2004 - 2005: Assisted in the community
7th February 2005 Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Fr Meagher visited Cherryfield Lodge many times over the years for respite care. He was admitted in May 2004. He had become weak with chronic chest and circulatory problems. He was treated with antibiotic therapy and pain relief. In the last two weeks his condition weakened further and he died peacefully but unexpectedly in Cherryfield Lodge.

Paul Andrews writes:
Paddy was born in Ratoath, Co. Meath, the fourth child and second boy in a family of six. Three of the four boys became priests, and one of the girls a nun. They were blow-ins, not native to Meath. Paddy's father was from Templemore, his mother the child of a Co. Offaly farmer who had given up farming and moved to near Mulhuddert when the absentee landlord put up the rent. So strong was the anti-landlord feeling that when the family moved away from Offaly, the neighbours came in and knocked down all the buildings, Perhaps it was from this maternal grandfather that Paddy inherited the core of steel that could surprise strangers to this mild little man.

He was closer to his father, admired by neighbours and family as a gentleman of gentlemen, of small stature (all the children inherited this) and incapable of saying a rough word. Mother had the better business head, and thought her husband unsuited to the job of a Ratoath merchant, running a general store and pub. Too little interest in money, she said. He'd have been better in the bank.

Paddy was delicate as a young boy. After National School he went as a boarder to St Finian's in Mullingar. He was small like his father, and never shone at games, though he played Gaelic and carried the mark of a stray hurley in a scar under his eye. He was a bright student, and St Finian's gave him a good foundation in Greek and Latin.

His brother Louis had gone to Belvedere while lodging in Huntstown with his grandmother. There he had come under the influence of Fr Ernest Mackey, the assertive promoter of vocations (perhaps one reason why older Irish Jesuits shudder when Fr General urges us to be aggressive in our search for vocations). Ernest would dine with the Meaghers every Christmas, and exerted such an influence, first on Louis, then on Paddy, that when Tom, two years younger and less academic than Paddy, went to the Holy Ghosts, the local lads used ask him, Would the Js not take you?

Paddy followed Louis's footsteps to Emo. The parents were supportive of their multiple vocations (Maureen had become a Loreto sister). They visited Emo, and when Paddy walked tlırough the parlour door in his Jesuit gown, his mother cried, Oh, a saint! as she rushed to embrace him. That would not have been Paddy's style. He was uneasy with sensible devotion, cool-headed yet with a personal warmth that drew people to him; but the opposite of charismatic.

He eschewed scenes of high emotion. In the tempestuous seventies, the Grubb Institute led a group session for several days in Tullabeg, and explored the emotional sensitivities of the sometimes unwilling participants. Towards the end Paddy exploded: For the first time in 25 years you have made me lose my temper. No, said the Australian leader, For the first time in 25 years we have given you permission to lose your temper. Paddy did not like it.

When we were looking for a photo of Paddy for his memorial card, we wondered: What age are we in heaven – with what sort of a face? God gives you your eyes but you gradually make your own mouth. Earlier photos show Paddy's lips as judicial and stern. As a teacher he had to compensate in gravity of personality for a slight physical presence; and compensate he did. He was respected and liked, a most effective teacher in Mungret, Clongowes and (as one of the earliest staff) Gonzaga. In the councils of staff and community his voice was calm and reasonable. When Cecil McGarry became Provincial, he looked for Paddy as his Socius because he was wise and respected, easy to get on with and of good judgment.

So he was at the Provincial's side through those tumultuous years. The job suited him in many ways. He was an easy companion and could exercise independent discretion when needs be. When a rather forward Jesuit rang Loyola looking for an appointment with the Provincial, Paddy gave him a time in late morning. The visitor asked: Does that include an invitation to lunch? No, said Paddy quietly.

It was heart trouble that forced him to give up the job of Socius with its daily quota of serious business. Physically he may not have been able for high stress. When John Guiney brought him from Loyola to St Vincent's A and B with angina, they put him to bed quickly. A priest appeared and then two doctors. Paddy promptly responded by getting a heart attack. Over the years he became a model of how to live with a wacky heart. In early 2003 we worried about his stomach aneurysm which could not be mended because the operation might kill him. On the last day of 2003 he was anointed. Three days later Mary Rickard said he was sinking. Seven days later he asked about prayers for the dying. But he bounced back.

Coming from Loyola to Manresa did not mean an abdication of intelligence. Both within the community and with the many people he helped here, you could trust him to use his head, always sage, humane, insightful. The sisters seeking the Lord in Manresa liked him because he reflected assurance, a known way of proceeding, and a calm judgment. Many still remember his pithy, succinct homilies.

He did not sit lightly to the sillier aspects of media culture, such as pop music, designer stubble, or phrases like: Go with the feeling. His sense of irony carried him through such inanities – and through the bandying of religious jargon - without becoming grumpy; he could be teased about them. There were other changes which he accepted but suffered, such as the reshaping of the Manresa community chapel: he would have liked fewer windows, more pictures, a crucifix and sanctuary lamp. He did not relish the sharing of reflections and experiences at concelebrated Mass. But he was there every day.

In Cherryfield people remarked on Paddy's clarity of mind and the tenacity with which he held on to life. When one of the brethren brought over blue and orange shirts from his room, Paddy thanked him for the blue but queried the orange: I thought I mentioned a beige shirt. Up to the day of his death he was bubbling with enquiries about the Province and life outside.

In 2004 he left this note to his Rector, to be opened when I die:

Paul, I would wish that the homily at my funeral Mass be short, i.e. three and a half to four minutes - no more. I was a small man, so there is no need to make me seem bigger than I am (was). Just ask the SJs and people to thank God for whatever good I may have done, and ask his pardon for all my shortcomings.
And end with Cardinal Newman's prayer: May he support us all the day long...
Thanking you for all your caring for me in my last years. Paddy.

Alas, some of these wishes were not met, because the Rector was away when Paddy died, and the touching letter lay hidden in his safe. But Dermot Mansfield's homily at the funeral did justice to Paddy in Dermot's own way, and the back of his mortuary card carries the Cardinal's prayer.

What we miss is the smiling or laughing Paddy. It is no accident that in his reading he reverted to PGWodehouse and a light-hearted view of life. He showed how to shuffle off responsibilities in this passing life, and face the beatific vision with a contented and hopeful heart.

◆ The Clongownian, 2006

Obituary

Father Patrick Meagher SJ

Fr Patrick Meagher SJ who died at Cherryfield Lodge on 7th February 2005 at the age of 87, spent three years teaching in Clongowes from 1950-1953. Born in Dublin in 1917 he entered the Society at Emo where he took his first vows in 1935. He studied in Rathfarnham, Tullabeg and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1948. As well as Clongowes, Fr Meagher taught in Mungret, Gonzaga and Belvedere College. He also served in Manresa House where he directed Spiritual Exercises and took his final vows in 1981. May he rest in peace.

Born: 27 September 1889, Raheen, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1906, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1924
Died: 28 January 1955, St John’s Hospital, Limerick

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare community at the time of death and was on a break at Crescent College, Limerick at the time of death

by 1911 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1913 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 30th Year No 2 1955

Obituary :

Father Michael Meaney

Fr. Michael Meaney died on January 29th, 1955, in St. John's Hospital in his native Limerick, and was buried from the Crescent, where he had been at school and where he had later laboured, in Church and College, for many years. He had gone to Limerick for a short rest, hoping to find relief from a skin affection, but almost at once he took ill, and after a few weeks died. His funeral, one of the largest seen at the Crescent Church, was a remarkable tribute to a man who had spent all his working life in the class-room or the school corridor.
His career in the Society was uneventful. He entered the Noviceship at Tullabeg in 1906, and did his philosophy at Stonyhurst and Louvain. As a scholastic he taught in Mungret and Clongowes, and after his Tertianship he became First Prefect in Mungret for a year, during which he made his solemn profession. Two years as Prefect of Studies in Clongowes followed, and one in the same post in Mungret. In 1928 he went to the Crescent and soon became a full-time worker in the Church, as well as teacher. In 1943 he was transferred to Clongowes where he remained until his death.
Fr. Meaney was exceptionally gifted both as a preacher and teacher, especially the latter. His own standards were high, and he exacted a high standard of work and achievement from his classes. Many boys found his insistence on hard work and accuracy a surprise, and then, for a while, a trial, before they recognised it, as almost all did in the end, as a blessing. He could be severe in his earlier years (and as Prefect of Studies he was probably too severe) and at times it required from him a considerable effort to suffer fools gladly : but, whatever his success in this, he never, even at his mellowest, could abide slovenly work or idleness. This salutary intolerance, added to his energy and extra ordinary clarity of mind, made him the phenomenally successful teacher that he was, and won for him the respect, and, in his later years, the affection of his boys. “I had studied Latin for three years before I came to Fr. Meaney's class”, said one who left school in recent years. “After three weeks with him I began to know what it was about, within four I was becoming good at it, and in less than three months I realised that here was a subject that would never cause me trouble”. Such boys learned more than Latin and English from Fr. Meaney and their mastery of difficulties with him was a lesson for life.
He was a happy, cheerful teacher, too. Although an exceptionally gifted man, he never felt any temptation to think, as he passed from class to class among the boys, that his talents were being left to rust in such work and that he was a martyr, damnatus ad bestias. Such temptations are not unknown but he found his happiness in using all his gifts splendidly in God's service in the colleges.
His literary gifts were seen to advantage in his retreats and sermons. And here also his high standards were evident. Every sermon was perfectly prepared, perfectly learned, and delivered with confidence and conviction. Some felt that occasional sermons suited him best and that his composition and style were above the ordinary congregation : this opinion could perhaps be defended, and it is certainly true that he was characteristically impatient of the criterion of “what the people like”. The best work of the Society was inspired, he thought, by a very different standard. And yet the people did appreciate his sermons greatly and admired him a preacher.
As a confessor he had much success with scrupulous penitents, and his clear, objective, sympathetic direction won him many friends who frequently returned to seek his help and advice outside confession. This, perhaps, is why he seemed to have more and closer friends among lay people than within the Society. They sought him out, but for himself he was a man of such self-reliance and strength of mind that he seldom felt the need of help from others. Yet he was an excellent community man and a splendid companion, especially on the golf-course. Here again his high standards were seen he played an excellent game and abhorred all that was slip-shod. He had no time for those who look on golf merely as an excuse for fresh air and exercise, and who are free and easy about the rules!
In the last years of his life he was called on to endure much more than most people suspected; for he never complained or spoke about himself. Very frequently he went to class after a night of sleepless suffering, and no one was ever the wiser, and his work continued at the same high level. At times it became clear that it would be dangerous for him to teach, and then it needed all the persuasion of Minister and doctor to induce him to take a rest from work. And after each recovery he worked on, sustained by his indefatigable spirit and simple piety, especially his devotion to the Rosary. It was thought he meditated daily on Our Lord's warning of the night when no man can work. But he dreaded too the evening of life when he might not be able to continue his service in the class-room. So, when God called him to his reward after a short illness, his friends saw in this a great mercy. And if any man had earned his rest, he had. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1955

Obituary

Father Michael Meaney SJ

On January 29th Father Michael Meaney died in Limerick, where he bad gone for a short rest and change of air. By his death we lost one of the most remarkable teachers ever to stand in a Clongowes class-room, or indeed anywhere else.

His teaching career began in Mungret, and in 1915 he came as a scholastic to Clongowes, where he remained until 1919. He returned as Prefect of Studies for the years 1925-1927, and his third period here lasted from 1943 until his death,

Those who knew Father Meaney in his younger years will remember him as a teacher of extraordinary ability, but they will recall too a man who could be severe, and at times very severe. And if it is true that the large majority of those who studied under his ferule were most' grateful to him at examination times and in later life, even they in their mature years might be surprised at the great affection he inspired in his boys during the later period of his life. It was not that the passing years had taught him to suffer fools gladly - at all times that required on his part a heroic effort; it was not that he had lost his salutary intolerance of slip-shod work or any form of idleness; but his interests and affections had developed and broadened until they embraced completely the whole boy, and went far be yond the embryonic latinist or English scholar. Everything that concerned his pupils became of importance to him ; his ready laugh was heard more frequently on the galleries as well as in the class-room, and one had but to listen to him discuss the progress of some slower scholar, or meet him, blue with cold, returning from a Rugby match and hear his detailed commentary on the play afterwards, to realise how broad and deep his sympathies and affections were.

His success as a teacher was exceptional, and exceptional too the range of subjects he taught throughout the years. In one of his first classes in Clongowes a boy won the Medal for French in Junior Grade, in one of his last, another took first place in Latin and a scholarship in the University En rance; and in the intervening years he had taught English, History, Geography and Mathematics with like success. And this success was not limited to his cleverer pupils, who invariably acquitted themselves brilliantly; whole classes achieved extraord inarily high marks and occasionally classes whose ability was notoriously mediocre sur prised themselves and most others after a year or two with him. Nor was this suc cess confined to examinations : one had but to meet his boys to see that they had learned from him a real appreciation of the subjects he taught. But he imparted too something more important than this appreciation - the self-confidence that comes from difficulties faced and conquered and the sense of achievement and satisfaction that inevitably follows hard, honest work.

With his powerful mind, sharp and analytic, he had no time for catchwords and cant; and his vigorous character could not abide slovenliness or slip-shod work, or accept promise as a substitute for perform ance. “Catchwords and cant, slovenliness and sloppy work”_-how his slightly rasp ing voice would declaim the litany of what lie thought were the besetting evils of modern Irish life! And if any teacher sent out his boys well-armoured to meet them, it was he.

Towards the end of his life his health steadily grew worse. The broad athletic frame was as strong as ever, but the attacks of asthma from which he suffered becaine more frequent and painful. In class he was frequently seized with bouts of coughing that went on until it seemed that he must collapse. Physical effort became most difficult and the journey by stairs and galleries to the class-rooms and back was for him a via dolorosa that he steadfastly refused to shorten. “Poor Father Meaney!” a boy would say, as he came upon him, breathless and with bowed head, pausing to rest before the effort of the stairs that lead to the Serpentine.

Poor Father Meaney it is sad to think that the brave, hearty laugh is stilled, difficult to realise that his full, clear, accurate mind, so long at the service of his boys, is at rest. And how he merited that rest, and the contemplation of the Truth he loved and served so faithfully!

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Michael Meaney (1889-1955)

Born at Raheen, Ballysheedy, Co Limerick and educated at Sacred Heart College, entered the Society in 1906. He pursued his higher studies in England, Louvain and Milltown Park. On the completion of his studies, he was appointed prefect at Mungret College and the following year prefect of studies at Clongowes. In 1928 he was appointed to Crescent College where he remained fifteen years. During his stay in Limerick, Crescent College was in the process of renewing, with ever increasing success, its prestige of the olden days. Father Meaney contributed to this success in no small way by his devotion to duty as an efficient teacher. At the same time, he earned for himself the reputation of a priest unselfishly devoted to the administration of the sacraments and preaching. By the early 1940's, he had begun to suffer much from asthma and was transferred to Clongowes. At Clongowes his teaching hours had to be shortened but during those years he continued to get brilliant results from his classes, especially in Latin. He died in Limerick after a brief illness during the vacation, on 29 January, 1955.

Born: 04 September 1914, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 09 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1946, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 25 April 1973, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Part of the Mungret College, Limerick community at the time of death

Educated at Mungret College SJ

by 1939 in Vals France (LUGD) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Casey G., Grogan and Sullivan leave England for Hong Kong on 2nd July on the ‘Canton’. On the following day Fr. Kevin O'Dwyer hopes to sail with Fr. Albert Cooney from San Francisco on the ‘General Gordon’ for the same destination.
The following will be going to Hong Kong in August : Frs. Joseph Mallin and Merritt, Messrs. James Kelly, McGaley, Michael McLoughlin and Geoffrey Murphy.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 2 1973

Obituary :
Fr William Benedict Merritt (1914-1973)
Fr Willie Merritt was born in Limerick Sept. 4th 1914. After schooling with the Christian Brothers at Sexton St, he concluded his secondary course at Mungret and entered the noviceship in 1932, was ordained at Milltown Park 1946 and died in Galway while on a short visit to his younger brother during the Easter break on April 25th, 1973. For his years in the Society he had a very full life. As a junior at Rathfarnham his success at UCD led to his being allotted another year during which he secured an MA in History and the Higher Diploma in Education. He likewise had a bent for Mathematics and had musical talent, vocal and instrumental, which committed him to directing the choirs, coaching troupes of carol singers at later as a priest officiating at Missa Cantata and High Mass.
He made his Philosophy at Vals and after two years of Colleges at Belvedere he began his Theology at Milltown Park 1943; Ordination 1946; Tertianship 1947. In 1949 he was assigned to the Hong Kong Mission where he was engaged in the strenuous work of the Colleges. During this period he prepared and produced a text-book in History which is still esteemed and used in the schools of the colony.
Ill health now intervened and he was compelled to return to Ireland seriously indisposed. After some months of anxious convalescence he was again able to resume work and with congenial occupation soon became fully active.
He was appointed to assist Fr Martin in the Mission offices which was being set up in Gardiner St. in 1953. He worked very hard and for long hours at the new chores. Much of the method in the office, the setting up of the card index system, the schemes for collecting funds, were devised by Fr “Gully”. He was never happier than when he was organising a Sale of Work or a Garden Fete. In 1957 Fr Gully was asked to help Fr Dargan the Province Procurator, and went to live at Loyola. Later he became Bursar and Minister at CIR and taught Trade Union History there. His last status was back to Mungret in 1968 where he again acted as Bursar, answering to a variety of other calls likewise.
During the latter years Fr Merritt’s health again began to cause anxiety; he suffered several heart attacks from which he rallied and recovered but which compelled him to acquiesce to a quieter tempo than what had been his wont, in following a team, verbi gratia.
During the few days in Galway in April be suffered an attack which was followed in a few hours by a repetition from which he didn't survive.
The Requiem Mass in Mungret in April 27th was concelebrated by 36 priests among whom Fr Provincial was the principal con celebrant. There was a large attendance of personal friends from Limerick. His two younger brothers, Denis and Michael were the chief mourners together with his Aunt, Mrs Clohessey, who had been his second mother since his own mother had died during Willie's Juniorate and his father had died before he entered.
Those who new him will remember him with affection; his loss will be severely felt. If we could summarise his life briefly we would say that he loved the Society, that he was kind and good humoured towards all who came his way, and that he was a devoted priest. He was always good company and even though he had his leg pulled on innumerable occasions he never bore resentment. He was known affectionately as “Gully” and it is a measure of the affection with which he was regarded that even when he was “in foreign parts” it was sufficient (and habitual), to refer to him as Gully.
As he realised the condition of his health he was fearful that he would be compelled to abandon his work. He was a man of prayer and his daily Mass was a source of strength and consolation to him; he was a community man essentially, in whose company gaiety and a bantering good-humour spontaneously generated. He had his foibles, one of which particularly, his meticulous accuracy in his professional work of accountancy, was a source, on occasion, of annoyance but overall of fun at least in later narration.
This meticulousness was not captious or officious; it came from scrupulosity which affected his whole life and which at times caused him much mental distress.
He had a great love for his native city; he was catholic in his interest in games and the fortunes of the city soccer team he followed with zest.
He was buried as he would desire at Mungret which he loved. As I stood at the grave-side listening to the final prayers being recited by Fr Provincial I couldn't help feeling he had gone to the Lord with full hands. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1974

Obituary

Father William B Merritt SJ

Fr Willie was a Limerickman. He was born in Limerick and he is buried in Mungret. He was the eldest of three children, all boys and all three completed their school days at Mungret College.

In his younger years three influences played a part in his vocation to the Society of Jesus, family life, his participation as an altarboy in St John's Cathedral and his training in self-discipline and habits of study begun under the direction of the Christian Brothers. Mungret and later the Society of Jesus reaped where others had sown.

He entered the Society of Jesus in September 1932 and after two years novitiate, where he is still affectionately remembered as an enthusiastic “outdoor works” man he spent four years in Rathfarnham where he attended lectures in UCD. After finishing his course in UCD he left for France in September 1938 with a BA and an honours MA under his already ample belt. His philosophical studies in Vals were cut short by world war two and he finished his philosophy at St Stanislaus College, Tullamore. He then went on to teach with success at Belvedere and at that time trained some of the best junior cup teams of those years. His interest in and enthusiasm for rugby and soccer remained with him all his life; the fortunes or misfortunes of Limerick AFC were clearly read on his Monday morning face for he was the most honest and transparent of men, totally unlike the caricature of the wily Jesuit of fiction!

His ordination to the priesthood in July 1946 brought out in him that more serious side of his character which impelled him to seek “perfection” in all things. He could never be satisfied with “second-rate work” of any kind in himself or in others. He gave the next ten years of his life to the missions, working as a teacher in our college in Hong Kong. His history notes - which were clear, succinct and easily learned were published there in book form. Teachers also profited from them and a reputation for good history teaching often rested on the envied possession of Bill's notes!

Without his realising it, he made very great demands on himself. Eventually the strain of his work and the pressures of the political situation in Hong Kong under mined his health. He returned to Ireland in the early 1950s far from well, He never fully recovered his health frorn that time. Despite that, he held various posts in the Order, in St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, the Provincial's Residence, and the College of Industrial Relations, before he finally returned to Mungret College in 1967. Like the Master, whom he sought to follow, he did all things well and as a bonus was a good “community man” to boot! Serious by nature with a deep sense of responsibility which sometimes weighed upon him, he achieved a balance by his sense of humour, his deep faith and unostentatious acts of piety (he was a regular visitor to Our Lady's Shrine at Knock) and his interest in people and in sport. He loved Mungret and there is no denying that the decision to close his old school saddened his last years. May his generous soul rest in peace.

EK

Born: 20 September 1880, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1899, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 20 September 1914
Final Vows: 02 February 1917
Died: 11 August 1966, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1916 came to Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 26 January 1836, County Tipperary
Entered: 27 January 1858, Beaumont, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained; 1867
Final vows: 15 August 1872
Died: 18 April 1894, Collège du Sacre-Coeur, Charleroi, Belgium

by 1866 at Laval France (FRA) studying Theology 2
by 1867 at Vals France (TOLO studying
by 1868 at St Bueno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1870 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1875 at St Wilfred’s Preston (ANG) working
by 1876 at St George’s Bristol (ANG) working
by 1890 at Charleroi Belgium (BELG) teaching

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a Teacher at Prefect at Clongowes and Tullabeg at different periods.
He studied Theology at Laval and Vals.
1869 He was sent as Minister to Galway.
He made his Tertianship at Drongen.
He worked on the Missionary Staff for a while and was based in Limerick.
1875-1876 He was working in the ANG parish at Bristol.
He then returned to Limerick where he excelled as a Confessor.
He was transferred variously to Milltown, Tullabeg and later to Dromore.
1888 He went to Belgium, and died there at the College in Charleroi 18 April 1894

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Thomas Molloy (1836-1894)

Of Co. Tipperary, entered the Society in 1858. After his ordination, he was appointed to the mission staff and was a member of the Crescent community, as missioner, from 1872 to 1874. He returned to Limerick as member of the church staff and was prefect of the church from 1877 to 1882. He was sent on loan to the Belgian's Province's College of Charleroi in 1888 as assistant prefect and English master. Here, it may be remarked that other Irish Jesuits at the period held the same position in the same school. Father Molloy remained in Belgium until his death on 18 April, 1894.

Born: 11 August 1841, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 15 June 1870, Sevenhill, Australia - Austriaco-Hungaricae Province (ASR-HUN)
Final Vows: 25 March 1881
Died: 25 July 1925, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed : ASR-HUN to HIB 01 January 1901

Edmund Moloney, a half brother of Thomas Carroll - RIP 1938 - and Francis - RIP 1929

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had joined the Austrian Mission at Sevenhill, and spent the best part of the rest of his life there until his death there 25/07/1925.
He was refectorian at Sevenhill.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edmund Maloney, a half brother of Thomas Carroll, entered the Society at Sevenhill, 15 June 1870. After taking vows he remained at Sevenhill until 1877 as assistant tailor, refectorian and cook. In 1877 he was at Georgetown as cook and houseman, and in 1878, he performed similar duties at Manoora. From 1879-84 he was back at Sevenhill as assistant cook and doing housework. He returned to Manoora, 1884-86, was at Norwood in 1887, Kooringa in 1888, and in 1889 he was again at Sevenhill, where he spent the rest of his life, with the exception of 1907, when he was at Norwood.
Moloney was an active, zealous man with a powerful physique and equable temperament.

Born: 16 July 1910, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 10 October 1985, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin

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

◆ Irish Province News 61st Year No 1 1986

Obituary
Fr James Moloney (1910-1931-1985)

Jim was born in Dublin in 1910. His vocation to the Society came indirectly from his decision to become a quantity surveyor. This brought him to Clongowes Wood in 1929 as clerk of works in the building operations that resulted in the large castellated addition to the College. While there he thought joining the Jesuits, sought advice from some of them and entered the noviceship at Emo in 1931.Then followed his degree course in Rathfarnham castle (1933-36); philosophy in Tullabeg (1936-39); a year's teaching in Belvedere; theology and ordination in Milltown Park (1940-44); finally, tertianship in Rathfarnham (1944-45). (Of the remaining 40 years of his life, 33 were spent in Belvedere; or, put in another way, 34 (including the regency year) out of his 54 years of religious life were devoted to Belvedere).
In summer 1945 he came to Belvedere as minister. The writer remembers hearing him murmur anxiously to himself: “Oh, these supplies”, as he surveyed the Mass tabella. Jim's anxiety was understandable; “supplies” called to mind the long and complicated Milltown list. However, as minister he worked smoothly and efficiently. In addition, he taught religion, which he liked, at the technical school in Parnell square. It was during these first years in Belvedere he made himself indispensable when social occasions involving ladies' committees had to be planned times when communities tend to skulk, Jim revelled in meeting people, and became widely popular This activity however always had its apostolic side, and kept on growing. In 1951, after classroom, still in Belvedere, until 1959,when he took up again for over a decade the more congenial duties of minister.
In 1970, the blow fell: Jim was a city man and felt keenly his transfer to Mungret as minister. He referred to his year there as his penitential season. His great kindness, however, is still remembered.
Much more to his taste were his six years in Manresa (1971-77). He was back in his beloved city, and so fond did he become of his new house that he had regrets about his last posting: to Belvedere as bursar (1977-'85). An obedient man, he applied himself diligently to learning the ropes. He liked his mid morning visit to the bank just opposite the Gate theatre. There was a certain brief-case-and-rolled-umbrella formality about this excursion. Another part of his daily routine was his snooze in a chair during the early afternoon, That hour was sacrosanct and medically advised for a recurrent cardiac flutter resulting from a heart attack some years before. This palpitation was premonitory: Jim knew that he was under a sentence. Those who had known him in earlier days noted that his fussiness had all but subsided, and that his occasional testiness had become rarer. His manner showed a new mellowness and contentment. At the beginning of September 1985 he went to Wexford for a holiday. Shortly after his arrival, he had a stroke, then another, a very serious one. Transferred to hospital in Dublin, he died on 10th October 1985, still unable to communicate.
Jim's life in the Society had its centre in the community, never elsewhere. A very private person, he seldom talked about himself, and then only in a passing way. At the opening of his Jubilee Mass he made known his wish to have no interventions: in these matters he was conservative. He rarely indulged in even mild disparagement of others, and remained loyal to the rectors under whom he served. He was orderly and kept to a routine: he always appeared d well-groomed. During his years of formation, his contemporaries referred to him as the Student Prince - the nickname was both descriptive and affectionate. After his death, one came to realise that, in his own unobtrusive way, he had indeed exercised an apostolate. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1986

Obituary

Father James Moloney SJ

Jim was born in Dublin in 1910. His vocation to the Society came indirectly from his decision to become a quantity Surveyor. This brought him to Clongowes Wood in 1929 as clerk of works in the building operations that resulted in the large castel lated addition to the College. While there he thought about joining the Jesuits, sought advice from some of them and entered the noviceship at Emo in 1931. Then followed his degree course in Rathfarnham Castle (1933-6); philosophy in Tullabeg (1936-'9); a year's teaching in Belvedere; theology and ordination in Milltown Park (1940 4); finally, tertianship in Rathfarnham (1944-25). [Of the remaining 40 years of his life, 33 were spent in Belvedere, or, to put it another way, 34 (includ ing the regency year) out of his 54 years of religious life were devoted to Belvedere).

In summer 1945 he came to Belvedere as minister. In addition, he taught religion, which he liked, at the technical school in Parnell Square. It was during these first years in Belvedere that he made himself indispensable when social occasions in volving ladies' committees had to be planned and hosted - times when communities tend to skulk. Jim revelled in meeting people, and became widely popular. This activity however always had its apostolic side, and kept on growing. In 1951, after six years as minister, he returned to the classroom, still in Belvedere, until 1959, when he took up again for over a decade the more congenial duties of minister.

In 1970, the blow fell: Jim was a city man and felt keenly his transfer to Murgret as minister. He referred to his year there as his penitential season. His great kindness, however, is still remembered.

Much more to his taste were his six years in Manresa (1971-77). He was back in his beloved city, and so fond did he become of his new house that he had regrets about his last posting: to Belvedere as bursar (1977-'85). An obedient man, he applied himself diligently to learning the ropes. Another part of his daily routine was his snooze in a chair during the early afternoon. That hour was sacrosanct and medically advised for a recurrent cardiac flutter resulting from a heart attack some years before. This palpitation was premonitory: Jim knew that he was under a sentence. Those who had known him in earlier days noted that his fussiness had all but subsided, and that his occasional testiness had become rarer. His manner showed a new mellowness and contentment,

At the beginning of September 1985 he went to Wexford for a holiday. Shortly after his arrival, he had a stroke, then another, a very serious one. Transferred to hospital in Dublin, he died on 10th October 1985, still unable to communicate.

Jim's life in the Society had its centre in the community, never elsewhere. A very private person, he seldom talked about himself, and then only in a passing way. At the opening of his Jubilee Mass he made known his wish to have no interventions: in these matters he was conservative. He rarely indulged in even mild disparagement of others, and remained loyal to the rectors under whom he served. He was orderly and kept to a routine: he always appeared well-groomed. During his years of formation, his contemporaries referred to him as the Student Prince - the nickname was both descriptive and affectionate. After his death, one came to realize that, in his own unobtrusive way, he had indeed exercised an apostolate.

May he rest in peace.

Born: 25 March 1913, Abbeyfeale, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1945, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1949, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 05 June 1984, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Part of the St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1965 at Loyola Watsonia, Australia (ASL) working

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Michael Moloney on coming to Zambia wrote a short 250 word account of his life, at the end of which he put: “He arrived in Zambia in May 1967 and was attached to Mukasa Secondary School at Choma. He spent x years there. He died at xx in 19xx...May he rest in peace”. PLEASE PUBLISH NO MORE THAN IS IN THIS ACCOUNT Signed: Michael Moloney S.J. 14 April 1967.

He had had four heart attacks before this date and this might have prompted him to write his own obituary! So brief! So succinct! That was Michael! Yet he lived another seventeen years, in Zambia, fully occupied.

Michael was born on 25 March 1913 in Abbeyfeale on the border of Co. Limerick and Co Kerry. His secondary education was taken in St Michael's College, Listowel, and at the Jesuit College of Mungret. He entered the Society in Emo in 1931, pursued the normal Society studies with regency at Clongowes Wood College. He was ordained in July of 1945 at Milltown Park, Dublin and after tertianship went to Belvedere College to teach for four years. He moved to Leeson Street as minister and editor of the IRISH MONTHLY which ceased publication in 1953. From 1953 to 1959, he was attached to the College of Industrial Relations (CIR) as director of the Cana Conference which organised pre-marriage courses. These were a liberating experience for many couples whom were deeply in love and full of hope and good intentions. The spirit prevailing during courses were happy - even hilarious at times, deeply spiritual in the best sense, full of the wisest insights he could muster from wide reading and from his sympathetic and naturally optimistic temperament.

In 1959 he went to Loyola University, Chicago, USA, where he gained a degree in social and industrial relations and returned to CIR. He began to have heart attacks during these years (1961-64). For four years he went to Australia as a director of a retreat house near Melbourne.

He arrived in Zambia in 1967 to teach in Mukasa Minor Seminary for a year before being moved to St Ignatius in Lusaka. He became director in the Zambia Institute of Management and spent eleven years at Evelyn Hone College of Further Education, becoming Head of the Department of Business Studies. He retired in 1981. He was kept busy at St lgnatius helping with pastoral work, preaching, marriage counselling, writing leaflets and pamphlets on Christian values in the modern world. He was very conscientious in his work and totally dedicated to whatever work he was asked to do. He highly valued his religious life as a Jesuit and was very loyal to the Church. He loved a challenge and was always ready to take up his pen to defend the Church. He started the Kalemba Leaflets to bring out the deeper aspects of our common faith.

He was a good companion and, as well as enjoying his own talk, he could listen to others. He had certain conventions to which he held tenaciously, but he was not hidebound nor narrow. On the contrary, he loved freedom and the liberty to express every truth and facet of life as it was, or as he saw it. He was essentially logical and exact and could be impatient when undue consideration was being given to illogical and incalculable elements in human behaviour. He rejected all nonsense.

On and off during his seventeen years in Lusaka, some health symptoms occurred that slowed him up and endangered his life.

He returned to Ireland threatened with gangrene on the toe. The time he spent before and after the amputation was no more satisfactory than could be expected. There were times when he wanted to die. His lifelong sense of friendship with Christ seemed to become more vivid in that last year or so. He worked over many thoughts for the defense of the faith and these he hoped to continue publishing in Zambia in the Kalemba Leaflets. That was not to be. He was sensitively cared for in Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit Nursing Home in Dublin where, in the end, his death came unexpectedly on 5 June 1984.

Note from John Coyne Entry
Fr Michael Moloney writes:
‘Fr Coyne took a very keen interest in what Jesuits had done in Zambia since the coming of Frs Moreau and Torrend for whom he had a deep admiration. Admiration for people who did "great things for Christ" was a permanent attitude of his. His standard for a Jesuit was that he should be "a saint, a scholar and a gentleman" and he clearly tried to exemplify that in his own life. He was a kindly man yet at the same time a puzzle to many. Many wondered what "the real John Coyne was like" because externally he seemed to be set in a conventional spiritual mould and to be rather formal in much of his behaviour, so much so that one cannot escape the conclusion that he was a man with a conflict between his personality traits and what he considered Jesuit spirituality demanded of him. In Zambia he was faithful to his afternoon stroll during which he would meet people and through which he made some friends whose hospitality he was pleased to accept".

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Moloney came to Australia as director of the retreat house at Loyola College, Watsonia, and worked with Conn Finn, 1964-66.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 59th Year No 4 1984
Obituary

Fr Michael Moloney (1913-1931-1984) (Zambia)

1931-33 Emo, noviciate. 1933-36 Rathfarnham, juniorate. 1936-29. Tullabeg, philosophy. 1939-42 Clongowes, 1942-46 Milltown, theology. 1946-47 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1947-51 Belvedere, teaching. 1951-55 Leeson St., Minister, Ed, Irish monthly. 1955-59 Catholic Workers College, dir. Cana Conference. 1959-60 Loyola University, Chicago, stud sociology and industrial relations. 1960-63 Catholic Workers' College, lect and psychology. 1963-67 Loyola College, Watsonia, Victoria, Australia, dir. retreat-house.
From 1967 on: in Zambia. 1968-83 St Ignatius Residence, Lusaka, Zambia, dir Zambia Institute of Management (till 1970. then:) lect. Evelyn Hone College of Further Education/Applied Arts and Commerce. 1984 convalescing in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin, after hospital treatment. Died there on 5th June 1984.

To write about someone I knew as well as Michael is surprisingly difficult, I have little interest in cataloguing the events of his life, and no inclination, or right, to reveal the inner person I came to know so well. What then can be said? As a young man in the Society (1931-47) he was very well liked; comfortable and relaxed in a rather tense era; lively and zestful for life; stalwart in his convictions and strong in their expression. He worked hard, and was always good at mastering a subject accurately and expressing it clearly. After the years of 'formation we never lived in the same community again. Our relationship was full of absences, crowned by the final departure so well described by Jean Guitton: “From the angle of the living and of those who have not yet made the great journey, the absence of the dead is more than a sorrow. It is so incomprehensible, so ironical, to see them no more, not to be able to communicate with someone who was a substantial part of one's life, and who seems to have gone away one evening in a fit of madness leaving no address....
In the close community of the early years he would be remembered for his pleasant singing of ballads like “Ivan Skivinski Skivar” or “The garden where the praties grow” on days of celebration; and indeed how he would become voluble and expansive after one glass of the unnamed wine we used to get on rustication days! He was good company; and, as well as enjoying his own talk, he could listen. He had conventions which he held to tenaciously, but he was not hidebound or narrow: on the contrary he loved freedom and the liberty to express every truth and facet of life as it was, or as he saw it. His competence on formal occasions combined well with an unfettered and untrammelled spirit at other times.
He had an orderly mind, symbolised by his very clear and firm handwriting and the way he typed his letters, with seldom a misprint and never a faded or blurred ribbon. He was essentially logical and exact, and could be impatient of undue consideration being given to the illogical and incalculable elements in human behaviour. He threw out nonsense, We often disagreed as to what constituted nonsense.
Nevertheless, during one of the most fertile periods of his life he was dealing with what might be thought of as the most illogical and irrational area of human life - sexuality. Here his sound judgement rescued him from the then conventional attitude of clerics to marriage as essentially a legal contract with rights and duties. He knew instinctively that this was an inadequate and he could not accept the sexual apparatus as some kind of mechanical device, kept in a bedside locker, to be used or not according to a complicated set of philosophical and legalistic nostrums, devised largely by the inexperienced. Hence his pre-marriage courses in the CIR were a liberating experience for many pairs in love, and full of hope and good intentions. The courses, I understand, were happy, even hilarious at times; deeply spiritual in the best sense; full of the wisest insights he could muster from wide reading and from a sympathetic and naturally optimistic temperament.
I cannot speak with any assurance of the other long period he spent in adult education, in the Evelyn Hone Institute in Lusaka, He went through some difficult times with courage and faith, and kept working hard even when he felt some degree of disapproval and a sense of being undervalued. On the whole, though, my impression was that he got satisfaction from and gave satisfaction in his work there. He did not take too kindly to the onset of old age or the intimations of mortality: he was in fact rather disbelieving of its drastic effects. Those who die young have this advantage over us, I now realise, that they come to fulfilment when still fastened to their “own best being and its loveliness of youth” (Hopkins: The golden echo), and do not have to reverse of anticlimax and slow decay to get there. About twenty years before he died he had some trouble with heart and circulation. Then he went to Australia, where he was very active in retreat-giving, and made at least one rich and lasting friendship. Off and on during the sixteen years he spent in Zambia some symptoms occurred that slowed him up and endangered his life. When he came on holiday to Ireland he took things physical quietly, On villa in Achill he showed no tendency to climb the lovely mountains, but would kindly drive me to the foot and would stay below until I returned many hours later, on one occasion to find that he had had a very serious fall from the pier at Dugort. On the last villa we spent together at Banna Strand, Co Kerry, we took little exercise, he much less than I. He was contented to mooch about the dunes when it was fine, and look long meditatively over the Atlantic to the and setting sun.
When he came back some months ago threatened with gangrene in the toe, he was a very changed man. The time he spent before and after the amputation was no more satisfactory than could be expected. There were times when he wanted to die. His lifelong sense of friendship with Christ seemed to become very vivid in this last year or so. He worked over many thoughts for the defence of the faith: these he hoped to continue publishing in Zambia, as the Kalemba Leaflets. He was sensitively cared for in Cherryfield Lodge, where in the end his death came unexpectedly. I viewed his remains in Kirwan's funeral parlour. They did not look like remains, but like him: determined, and ready to spring into animated conversation at the right stimulus. I came by chance into possession of a record of Verdi's Requiem a few days after his burial, and will I hope always enjoy thoughts of him as I listen to its gentle and its thunderous passages. May he enjoy eternal life. the years
Michael J. Sweetman

Born: 14 April 1931, Magherafelt, County Derry
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, Chiesa del Gesù, Roma, Italia
Died: 26 January 2017, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Early Education at NS Magherafelt, Co Derry, Northern Ireland; Clongowes Wood College SJ

1952-1954 Rathfarnham - Studying Arts at UCD
1954-1957 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1957-1960 Crescent College SJ - Regency : Teacher
1960-1964 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1964-1965 Paray-le-Monial, France - Tertianship at Maison La Colombière
1965-1967 Bellarmino, Rome, Italy - Studying Theology at Gregorian University
1967-1968 Trier, Germany - Diploma Course in Liturgy at German Liturgical Institute
1968-1984 Milltown Park - Teacher of Theological Dogma & Liturgy
1977 President of Milltown Institute
1983 Sabbatical
1984-1989 Nairobi, Kenya - Professor of Theology at Hekima College School of Theology
1989-2017 Milltown Park - Professor of Systematic Theology at Milltown Institute
1993 Director of Lonergan Centre
1996 Visiting Professor at Hekima College School of Theology
2001 Professor Emeritus of Theology at Milltown Institute; Director of Lonergan Centre; Writer
2015 Director of Lonergan Centre; Writer

by 1965 at Paray-le-Monial, France (GAL M) making Tertianship
by 1966 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1968 at Trier, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1985 at Nairobi, Kenya (AOR) teaching - Hekima

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fine-scholar-outstanding-lecturer/

‘Fine scholar, outstanding lecturer’
Jesuits, family and friends of the late Ray Moloney SJ packed into Milltown Chapel for his funeral mass celebrated by Bill Matthews SJ. Ray died on 26 January, aged 85. He was born in Belfast in 1931 and raised in Magherafelt, Co. Derry. At the age of 12 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ and joined the Jesuits in 1950. Most of his life revolved around the Milltown Institute where he taught theology and liturgy. He spent five years on the missions in Kenya where he learnt Swahili so he could travel and celebrate Mass with the local people. He was the respected author of many theological books, and well known for his theology of the Eucharist.
Homilist Brian Grogan SJ noted that Ray’s writings on the Eucharist offered fleeting glimpses into his soul. Ray summarised his book Rediscovering the Eucharist not in terms of sacrifice, or obligation, or the Real Presence, but in terms of friendship. “In the Eucharist we already anticipate something of what our friendship with Christ will be when it comes to its full flowering in heaven. In the long run that friendship is all that matters,” he wrote.
Referring to his long academic ministry, Brian said that Ray was a “fine scholar and outstanding teacher.” This view was echoed widely by many of his former students who posted on the Irish Jesuits Facebook page. “Fond memories of learning theology from Ray Moloney. A scholar and a gentleman”, wrote Thomas Giblin. And US Jesuit James Pribek commented, “He combined fine scholarship with genuine humility and benevolence. In a group, he was usually on the edge, taking everything in and smiling. He radiated peace. May God be good to him”.
In his wide-ranging homily Brian spoke also about Ray’s life as a Jesuit, noting that his ministry in the intellectual apostolate was underpinned by a deep faith, committed prayer life and love of God. He said he lived an ascetic, almost monastic life, and a fitting symbol for that life was his breviary. “Ray leaned into the contrary wind and lived an orderly and predictable day. Some clerics, I have heard, sailed with the prevailing wind and eased up on the divine office, but not he... At the end his well-worn breviary was the only book beside his bed.”
Brian acknowledged that Ray held firmly to what some would call a more conservative theological position and was slow to relinquish beliefs that were dear to him. “But agree with him or not, he commanded your respect. He knew where he stood, and had a steely quality characteristic of his Northern Ireland roots.” He was also prepared to change and develop, something attested to in a few words from Provincial Leonard Moloney just before the final commendation. He said he had been speaking to Ray not too long before his death and Ray told him that his prayer had changed in recent times and was now much more affective than rational.
Speaking at the end of the Mass, Ray’s niece also told a revealing story about the man her family knew and loved. She remembered with fondness his visits to her home as a child and how he would let her put her feet on his shoes as he danced her round the room.
Brian concluded his homily with the following words: “In a little while we will say: ‘We shall become like God, for we shall see him as he is.’ Like Aquinas when asked by God ‘What do you want?’, Ray would have responded, ‘Teipsum, Domine. Yourself, Lord.’ ... Ray now sees God. He is enlightened, entranced, immortalised and divinised. Our Eucharist today is a thanksgiving for all that God has accomplished in our brother and friend, Ray Moloney”.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Born: 27 May 1880, Cashel, County Tipperary
Entered: 7 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 2 February 1917, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 24 January 1972, Campion College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1902 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Bill Maloney was educated at Mungret College, where he was captain of the school, and he entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1899, after graduating in arts from the Royal University of Ireland. After noviceship at Tullabeg, 1899-1901, he studied philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1901-04, theology at Milltown Park, 1911-15, and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1915-16.
He was sent to Australia and St Patrick's College in 1916, and remained there all his working life until 1968, teaching mainly physics. He was also minister, 1918-45, procurator, 1946-68, consulter, 1918-45, and spiritual father and admonitor, 1946-68. He retired from teaching in 1964. When St Patrick's College closed in 1968, he went to Campion College until his death. His presence there was valued by the scholastics.
Moloney was doyen of the province at the time of his death, a genial and lovable priest, unassuming, humble, kind and charitable, of regular religious observance. He was a person of
powerful frame, an active, vigorous, outdoor man in his earlier years, a champion handballer and an enthusiastic fisherman. He was a good teacher, not only because of his efficiency, but also because of his patience, kindness, generosity and encouragement. He was particularly good with the weaker students. For some years he was director of the Sodality of Our Lady, and his talks were well remembered for simplicity and straightforwardness. He had a deep and practical piety, never forced nor strained nor extravagant, but based firmly on truth.
Moloney was also well liked as a retreat-giver, being not eloquent, but firm and practical and having a vein of quiet humour. He adapted to the post-Vatican Church by concelebrating Mass and wearing a tie. His adaptability was helpful to those who found the changes difficult.
To look for something spectacular in Moloney would be to look in vain. His life was dedicated to the unspectacular, to the routine of daily life. Quietly, with perseverance and patience, he went through the regular pattern of each day and each year. His was a life of fidelity, to his vocation, to the duties of the present moment, and to his fellow Jesuits. In attitude he was young. What he could not understand he did not criticise, even though he sometimes marvelled.

Born: 26 October 1691, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 13 September 1708, Paris, France - Francis Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1723, Collège Louis le Grand, Paris, France
Final Vows: 02/02/1726, Corsica
Died: 01 December 1765, Nantes, France - Francis Province (FRA)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
In pencil top of p 65 Th De Malone Ent 17 September 1708; Prof 4

Second Entry- Thaddeus De Malone
1746 At Nantes Residence (FRA CAT 1746)
He taught Humanities for seven years, Philosophy for eight and Mathematics for twelve.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ
O’Molony

After First Vows he was sent to study Philosophy at Paris and then Regency at Rennes and Eu.
1720-1723 He began his studies at La Flèche for a year and then at Louis Le Grand College Paris, where he was Ordained 1723
1724-1725 Made Tertianship at Rouen
1725-1757 For the next thirty-four years he held important teaching posts in FRA, in Philosophy, Mathematics and Hydrography : Teaching Philosophy at Quimper, Rouen and Paris (1725-1733); Prefect of Studies for the Juniorate (1733-1734); Teaching Mathematics at Paris (1734-1735); Teaching Mathermatics at Compiègne (1735-1736).
1736-1757 Sent to teach Hydrography at Nantes.
1757 Retired from teaching and was a Spiritual Father at Nantes until the dissolution of the Society in France 1761/62. His name then disappears from records

By 1736 had had regularly been mentioned as a possible Rector of Irish College Poitiers, but his name disappears from Irish correspondence thereafter.

◆ CATSJ I-Y has
“Simon or Thady S, Molony or de Molony or Malone”; DOB 28 October 1690 or 1692 or 27 October 1669 or 27 October 1691 Limerick; Ent 15th or 3rd or 13 September 1708; FV 02 February 1725 or 1726 Quimper;
1711 At Paris College
1714-1717 At Rennes College (FRA)
1720 At Eu College FRA teaching Grammar, Humanities and Philosophy. Best talent distinguished judgement, Grammar, Humanities, speculative sciences and fit to any office in Society
1723 At Paris College teaching Humanities
1726 Teaching Philosophy at Quimper FAR
1730 At Rouen teaching Philosophy
1734 At College of Paris teaching Philosophy
1737-1757 At Nantes teaching Hydrography (Letter of Bernard Routh 1737) and Humanities

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

Born: 28 August 1796, County Limerick
Entered: 01 May 1829, Avignon, France (GALL)
Ordained: 23 December 1820, Dublin - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1846
Died: 29 September 1886, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Was already Ordained 23 December 1820 in Dublin, and had spent nine years as Priest in the Diocese, before Ent.

He Entered at Avignon, France under Father Renault.
He taught at Tullabeg and Clongowes at first.
1841-1846 He was sent to Belvedere to teach.
1846 he spent the next forty years at Gardiner St as Operarius, until his death there 29 September 1886.
He had a great reputation for sanctity, and was indefatigable in the Confessional.

Born: 26 May 1888, Garvaghy, County Tyrone
Entered: 07 September 1908, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia
Died: 10 October 1972, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL 05 April 1931

by 1916 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Montague was educated by the Vincentian Fathers at St Patrick's, Armagh, 1901-08, and entered the Jesuit noviciate at Tullabeg, 7 September 1908. He completed his juniorate at the same place, but ill health forced him to begin regency at Mungret, 1911-15, completed, 1918-19. Philosophy was studied at Jersey, 1915-18, theology at Milltown Park, 1919-23, and tertianship at Tullabeg, 1923-24.
He came to Australia in 1924 and spent 1925-31 at Xavier College, Burke Hall, and was headmaster from 1927. Here he began the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, put the boys into uniform and laid out the grounds, supervising the construction of the main oval and wide shovels and spades building up the banks that surround it.
He spent a year at St Patrick's College, 1934, and except for a further few years at Burke Hall, 1937-40, spent the rest of his life at Xavier College, Barker's Road, teaching mainly mathematics and French. He was prefect of studies in 1932, then minister from 1941-53, choirmaster, 1947-62, and director of the opera for about 25 years until 1968. He continued his work in the grounds and strengthened the banks that surround the chapel and those on the south wing. He frequently had a band of unwilling workers-boys with penals. The punishment took the form of filling up barrows with soil and wheeling them to wherever he wanted them. One of his choirs won a competition in the Melbourne Town Hall and the members took it in turn to carry the trophy up Collins Street around midnight.
Montague retired from teaching in 1969. He was keen on cricket and showed endless patience in teaching small boys how to bat. He coached teams at Xavier, and in one year, the First XI. He supervised the boarders' meals three times a day for over twenty years. He was a hard worker, always willing to substitute for someone else.
His direction of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the college were well appreciated by all associated with them. He loved the words, music, dances and stage administration. He was a good musician and knew Gilbert and Sullivan operas well. He taught the dances, and conducted the orchestra. To his opera students he was held in high esteem, even awe. He demanded high standards of the boys, and was a hard taskmaster, but the boys learnt discipline and teamwork as well as music accomplishments. The opera productions were not a lone production. For twenty years, from 1943, Montague had the assistance of the ever efficient and reliable Eldon Hogan as Opera General Manager and Stage Manager.
Basically, Montague was shy and retiring, but could be pleasant in community He was a man of few words. In the classroom he kept boys working, in the dining room he seldom spoke, except about table courtesy, at cricket practice his comments were short and clear. When he was annoyed with boys he needed few words to correct them, usually “nonsense” or “humbug” were quite sufficient to let people know his disapproval. He was certainly well respected. In the community he showed a sense of humour and enjoyed a game of billiards, but his usual terse comments were telling. In his latter years he read much, but never a newspaper, as he considered them a waste of time. Nevertheless, he always wanted to have news of the latest cricket score. He was certainly a powerful presence in the Xavier College community for many years.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 4 1972

The death of Fr Thomas Montague has occurred in Australia, October 10th, RIP

Born: 21 May 1829, Newcastle, County Limerick
Entered: 05 October 1852, Amiens France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1865, Rome, Italy
Final vows: 02 February 1872
Died: 15 September 1899, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

by 1855 in Montauban, France (TOLO) studying and teaching
by 1861 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying Philosophy
by 1864 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 2
by 1865 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying Theology 3
Early Australian Missioner 1866
by 1871 at Roehampton, London (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1877 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) Min
by 1878 at St Ignatius, London (ANG) working
by 1883 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) teaching Philosophy

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent to Clongowes for Regency. By 1858 he was First Prefect, and was the man responsible for introducing Cricket, much to the disappointment of some of the older members.
He was then sent to Stonyhurst for Philosophy and St Beuno’s for Theology, making his third and fourth years in Rome, where he was Ordained 1865.
1866 He accompanied Joseph Mulhall to Melbourne, and he was appointed Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s Melbourne. In addition to this work, he Preached and gave Lectures in many parts of Australia.
1870 He was sent back to Europe and made Tertianship at St Beuno’s.
1871 He was sent to Crescent in Limerick, and for some years we Prefect of Studies there and then Operarius and Teacher. He worked very hard and attracted great crowds to hear his Preaching.
1876 He was sent to St Beuno’s to teach Church History and also be Minister for a while. He was then sent to the London Residence, where he was engaged in Preaching, and was greatly admired there.
1881 He became Prefect of Philosophers at Stonyhurst and was much liked by the Scholastics.
1885 he was appointed dean of Residence at UCD.
1886 He was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius.
1888 He went back to Australia, and was associated with the Richmond and Hawthorn Missions. he died at Hawthorn 15 September 1899, and the Melbourne Mission lost one of its most able and energetic men. For many years he suffered greatly from eczema. His final illness however arose from a heart complaint. He had an operation which at first seemed successful but in fact advanced the problem, so that the news of his death surprised everyone in Melbourne.
He was a ready speaker and thought very impressive. His Retreats to the boys at Clongowes and Tullabeg were not easily forgotten.

He distinguished himself very much on one memorable occasion - the opening of Armagh Cathedral. One of the Preachers of the day disappointed and Isaac Moore was summoned by the Provincial. Ever after the Primate Dr Daniel McGettigan was wont to refer to his great courage, and the splendid manner in which he acquitted himself, notwithstanding the shortness of notice. He used to say “I can never forget it to Father Moore”.

Some of his Lectures he gave on Catholic Socialism, which he delivered in Melbourne were published in “Argus” and in a special form at the expense of the Parishioner’s Committee.

He was a brilliant conversationalist, and was much sought after in London, Melbourne and Dublin.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Isaac Moore entered the Society at St Acheul, Amiens, France, 5 October 1852, and then spent some years teaching and prefecting at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland. Philosophy studies followed, 1860-1862 at Stonyhurst, and Theology at the Roman College, 1864-1866.
In 1867 he arrived in Melbourne and St Patrick’s College, where he was Prefect of Studies. In 1860 he was recalled to Ireland and completed his Tertianship at Roehampton, England, 1870-1871. He taught and was Prefect of Studies at Crescent College Limerick, 1871-1876, and lectured in Church History at St Beuno’s, 1876-1879.
For the next three years he was engaged in pastoral work in London, attached to the Jesuit Church at Farm Street. From 1881-1885 he was prefect of Philosophers, also teaching modern languages and political economy at Stonyhurst. From 1885-1886 he was Minister at University College Dublin, and was Prefect of schools. The following three years were spent in pastoral work at Gardiner Street.
Late in life he returned to Australia, and spent one year as Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s College, and then for the rest of his life he was involved in parish work at Richmond and Hawthorn. He was a man of wide learning and famous in his day as a preacher. He lectured also on “Catholic Socialism” and similar subjects. His retreats to boys were reported to be remarkably good. As First Prefect in Clongowes, he was said to have introduced cricket.

Note from David McKiniry Entry
As McKiniry had not yet undertaken tertianship or taken final vows, his appointment in Australia was going to be short lived, and he left for Ireland on 11 September 1870 with Isaac Moore. He did tertianship at Roehampton 1871-72 and transferred to the New Orleans province.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Isaac Moore 1829-1899
Fr Moore was born in Limerick on May 21st 1829. Even in his boyhood, his remarkable talents attracted attention. When only nineteen years of age he was elected President of the Catholic Young Men’s Association.

His priestly career was widely varied. He was appointed Prefect of Studies at St Patrick’s Melbourne in 1866. On his recall to Ireland he was assigned to the Crescent where he was in turn, Master, Prefect of Studies, Minister, Missioner and Operarius.

He was sent on loan to the English Province where he was Professor of Church History at St Beuno’s College, and later a popular preacher at Farm Street London. Having acted for some time as Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst, he was recalled to Ireland as Dean of Residence of University College.

In 1888 he returned to Melbourne, where he laboured as lecturer and preacher till his death on September 15th 1899.

Fr Moore made his name on one very memorable occasion – the opening of Armagh Cathedral. The preacher already appointed was unable to attend. Fr Moore was summoned by the Provincial, and at very short notice undertook the task. The Primate, Dr McGettigan, ever after was wont to refer to his great courage and the splendid manner in which he acquitted himself. He used say “I can never forget it to Fr Moore”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Isaac Moore (1829-1899)

Was born in Limerick and received into the Society at St Acheul in 1852. He made his higher studies in England and Rome where he was ordained in 1865. Even in his boyhood, his remarkable gifts had begun to attract attention. Thus, at the age of nineteen and three years before he entered the Society he was elected President of the Catholic Young Men's Society. His priestly career was widely varied: He was appointed prefect of studies at St. Patrick's, Melbourne in 1866. On his recall to Ireland, he was assigned to the Crescent, where from 1871 to 1876, he was in turn, master, prefect of studies, minister of the house, missioner or attached to the church staff. In 1876 he was sent on loan to the English Province where he was first professor of Church History in the English Jesuit theologate. From his professor's chair he was summoned to the residence at Farm St., London, where he confirmed his reputation as a preacher of rare merit at the Jesuit church. Later he was appointed prefect of studies at the English Province's house of philosophy. He was recalled to Dublin in 1882 to become dean of residence at University College, Dublin. In 1888, he returned once more to Melbourne where he was engaged in mission work and public lectures on Catholic apologetics until his death.

Born: 17 August 1932, Ballina, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 18 November 2016, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1966 at Salamanca, Spain (LEG) making Tertianship
by 1978 at Wilmette IL, USA (CHG) studying
by 1984 at Palo Alto CA, USA (CAL) studying
by 1985 at Barrington IL, USA (CHG) studying
by 1987 at Menlo Park CA, USA (CAL) working
by 1992 at Chicago IL, USA (CHG) working

Early Education at NS Ballina, Co Mayo; Mungret College SJ

1954-1955 Rathfarnham - Studying at UCD
1955-1958 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1958-1961 Crescent - Regency : Teacher
1961-1965 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1965-1966 Salamanca, Spain - Tertianship at Collegio de San Estanislao
1966-1968 Belvedere - Teacher; Assistant Gamesmaster; Spiritual Father (3rd & 4th Years); “Newsboys Club”
1968-1969 Clongowes - Teacher; Lower Line Prefect; Studying CWC Cert in Education
1969-1974 Belvedere - Teacher; Assistant Gamesmaster; Spiritual Father; Career Guidance (5th & 6th Years)
1974-1976 Leeson St - Principal at University Hall, Hatch St, Dublin
1976-1977 University Hall - Community Minister
1977-1983 Chicago, IL, USA - Studies at Loyola University; St Joseph’s Parish, Wilmette, IL, USA
1982 Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Glenview, IL, USA
1983-1984 Palo Alto, CA, USA - Doctoral Studies at Palo Alto University; St Thomas Aquinas Church
1984-1986 Chicago, IL, USA - Studies at Loyola University; Parish work; Counsellor at St Anne’s Rectory, Barrington
1986-1991 Palo Alto, CA, USA - Post Graduate Training at Palo Alto University; St Raymond Catholic Church; Menlo Park
1988 Research in Family Therapy MRI at Palo Alto University
1987 Our Lady of the Rosary Rectory, Palo Alto
1991-1994 Chicago, IL, USA - Visiting Professor in Psychology at Loyola University; St William’s Church
1992 St Philip the Apostle Rectory, Northfield
1994-2016 Leeson St - Sabbatical (94-95); Lecturer in Education at Trinity College Dublin; Family Apostolate; Writer
1998 Vice-Superior
2002 Principal University Hall, Hatch St, Dublin
2003 Family Therapist
2015 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/a-man-for-others/

A man for others
friends, and fellow Jesuits bade him a final farewell at his funeral Mass in Milltown Chapel on Monday 21 November.
Jim had a wide circle of friends associated with the various ventures he undertook as a Jesuit. They were active on Facebook when news of his death broke. Despite some bad health and a twice broken leg, Jim was quite an athlete. He had a passion for rugby, which he taught with gusto to many students down the years in various Jesuit schools. Ivan Morris, one of his former pupils, posted a photo of the rugby team Jim coached, a long time ago. He wrote: “55 years ago these old geezers were quite a decent rugby team! Sadly, our trainer Fr. Jim Moran passed away yesterday. We all owe him a lot. He instilled in us the ability to focus on our goals, gave us just about the right amount of confidence and enough back bone to last a lifetime.”
Similar sentiments have been echoed by many since his death. Preaching at his funeral Mass, his life-long friend Fr John Looby SJ recalled two stories that summed up Jim’s determination and desire to win, even though he would have roundly protested that ‘it wasn’t about the winning’. One concerned the handball games they used to play as novices. John said that although he himself was the better handball player, Jim worked out a strategy and a war of attrition that always resulted in Jim being the victor.
He recalled another occasion when Jim went off to Chicago to study and offered his rugby training services to a Jesuit school there, telling them of his winning accomplishments back in Ireland. His offer however was politely declined and he was told the school was already proficient at winning rugby games. So Jim took himself off to a neighbouring Jewish school where the same offer was gratefully accepted. Some time later his rugby team took on the Jesuit school that had spurned him and won.
Jim had a number of careers in his lifetime – teacher, coach, psychologist, family therapist, and finally lecturer in Trinity College Dublin. Wherever he went he made friends. “He never forgot his friends and I was to learn that his friends never forgot him,” said John, noting that this was especially true of his Jesuit brothers. John learnt in later years that Jim’s father had died before Jim was born, and his stepfather was instrumental in cultivating the talent he had for making lasting friendships. “Providentially his stepfather was a strong influence, setting an example that Jim copied for the remainder of his life. He was given great freedom and he confidently went out to meet new people and allow them into his life.”
The Gospel read at the Mass was that of the Good Samaritan, a fitting one for Jim who was, according to John and indeed all those who knew him well, “a man for others”. He was always quick to offer any help he could to those who crossed his path. Be it the mother in difficulty with her teenage son or the former student who needed some good advice. The music at the funeral was the work of the well known composer and musician Willie Hughes who played and sang in gratitude for the influence Jim had been on his life.
When he returned to Dublin from America in the ’90s, Jim was part of the Leeson St community. They had a large garden at the back-end of the large Georgian house, and Jim spent years lovingly and patiently transforming it. He planted trees and stunning rose bushes, and made arbours and boundaries out of bushes and flowers. It was a labour of love that to this day gives endless pleasure to those who visit the community house in the centre of Dublin.
John concluded by noting that Jim was a person who never saw events in life as mere chance but rather as due to “the providence of a loving God whom he loved and trusted in all his life”.
He served Him well. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 2017

Obituary

Father Jim Moran SJ

An Appreciation by Peter Thompson

dozen of us from the Rhetoric year of 1972, welcomed in by the open door of Belvedere House, manned by the great Mick Hickey, from the year of 1973and, like Ollie Campbell, one of our great Rugby players of that era, a man who had owed the nurturing of his sporting talents to the recently-deceased Jim Moran, in honour and memory of whom we had come to celebrate Mass in the Boys' Chapel. Mick had come a long way, literally, for the occasion, a testimony to Jim, certainly, for he now lives in Delaware, the beautiful peninsular State on the eastern shores of the United States.

I hadn't been in Belvedere at all since leaving the college over 40 years previously. In the Chapel, noticed immediately the absence of confession boxes, a sign (I hope) that the Sacrament of Reconciliation has moved on from its days as “Penance” to a more enlightened interpretation of what it means to feel oneself whole again after a period of mental and emotional stress.

Also different, and a most welcome difference it was too, was Leonard Moloney's model of celebration of the Mass, we old boys gathered around in a semi-circle before a simple altar table, with the Holy Communion administered in both Kinds, after a gentle invitation from Leonard that, if any of us felt awkward about receiving, We come forward anyway for a blessing.
This was an inclusiveness I was delighted to experience, after many years of alienation from the Church, and I for one was grateful indeed for it, for its sensitivity. It expressed for me also that ritual, much criticised today, has at its best a capacity to act as a means, a fuselage, a hull by which eternal truths of love are conveyed from one generation, one time as it were, to the next.
Another sensitivity was shown by the great Ollie, my childhood friend from north county Dublin, who, gentleman that he is and always has been, had gently touched my left elbow earlier in the quadrangle and asked me discreetly if I would do one of the Readings from Scripture - St Paul to the Ephesians, 1 think it was. I deeply appreciated that invitation, which I was happy to accept.

The name Jim Moran may not mean all that much to today's young Belvederians, if anything, but in a darker, much more formal time he was a beacon of warmth to his pupils and schoolboy rugby players, whom he coached to victory in the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup in 1972. It is fitting, in a serendipitous way, that in this year's edition of The Belvederian the present generation of pupils are celebrating yet another victory in that intensely competitive of sporting challenges for Leinster schools.

Jim had had earlier success in the Crescent College (now Comprehensive) in Limerick in 1961 where, as a scholastic, he coached its Junior team to success in the Munster Schools Junior Cup. After Belvedere, both Clongowes and UCD were also to benefit from his striking ability to relate to, and inspire, young people to sporting and perhaps also personal excellence. Jim was the sort of james who became jim, if my readers follow me. From the rural west of Ireland of the now so-remote 1950s, he was bereft of that bourgeois stiffness and aloofness with which, rightly or wrongly, our college was associated in the minds of many Dubliners in the past. He would have strongly approved of the wonderful example which Belvedere has shown to other private schools in recent years by the reservation of 10% of its pupil numbers to boys whose parents, for financial reasons, would never have dreamt of having one of their sons enter the portals of James Joyce's alma mater.

When last I met him, at the most recent 1972 re-union held in Portmarnock in 2012, I, trying my best with the best of intentions, invited him to have tea with me someday in the Shelbourne Hotel, around the corner from where he was then living at the Jesuit house in Lower Leeson St. to my dismay, but not, on reflection, to my surprise, he refused, saying he could not accept the offer, however sincerely made, of such a “luxury” as tea in Dublin's premier hotel. He was instructing me still, teaching again the values which I would like to think we all have in common, however we may express them now.

After Mass, the company - minus Leonard - moved on to the congeniality of the Dergvale Hotel in Gardiner Place, a very different hostelry from the Shelbourne, but a favourite watering hole of us early Seventies OBs, where I found myself in animated conversation with the said Mick Hickey about, of all things, Dublin Gaelic football, of which his distinguished medical brother David, with three Senior All Ireland Medals to his credit, was a great exemplar.

Now maybe Mick was pulling one of my legs, or indeed both of them, but he told me that David had developed a totally new strategy in Gaelic football, which is now used also, I believe, in Rugby. As a corner right forward, he would kick the ball, not towards the net, but into the right corner of the opposition, then race ahead, before the opposing defence had cottoned on. to the move, collect the ball, Garryowen-style, and lope it back into the goal mouth for a fellow teammate to collect and pummel into the net. David, apparently, developed this following on from an idea by his coach, the late Kevin Heffernan.

Mick and I were joined by another distinguished sportsman of our generation, Neil Murphy, formerly President of the Irish Sailing Association and helmsman of a Puppeteer at Howth Yacht Club. In discussing the emollient effects of the Mass we had all just experienced, Neil made a telling remark which has stayed, and will continue to stay with me. “Age gives you perspective”, he said, which I think is a piece of wisdom, deeper, much deeper than it might seem at first glance, which I wish to share particularly with the young Belvederians of today.

The mention of another great football coach brings me back of course to Jim. He lived long enough, as a man for others, always, to live in an age when, in some quarters today, that ideal, that nobility of spirit and of behaviour seems almost reviled. Yet he achieved so much, in obscurity, by practising it. I hope up there on the Fields of Elysium he will forgive me this notoriety I pen in his memory. In the best sense, he was Old School, all right

Born: 19 March 1714, Ballykeefe, County Limerick
Entered: 03 September 1734, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Ordained: 1743, Poitiers, France
Final Vows: 04 June 1752
Died: 15 July 1785, Dublin City, County Dublin - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

Taught Humanities 6 years
1736-1738 & 1740-1741 Taught Grammar
1738-1747 Prefect of Boarders, Teaching Rhetoric, Studying Theology at Irish College Poitiers - Minister 1745-1747
1755 At least from this date in Ireland
1761 In Ireland towards end of 1761 (notice sent by Fr Corcoran & notice on an old stone, on which IHS at Limerick and Morony family
“Wonder if 1739-1740 dates are correct as original MS has 1640-1641 & 1639-1640, and the writer is very orderly”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1746-1785 A Writer and a celebrated Preacher in Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Dublin
Taught Humanities, and was Procurator at Poitiers.
1746 & 1756 In Limerick
In his book, printed in 1796, he is said to have been “lately living in Dublin.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied at Bordeaux before Ent 03 September 1734 Bordeaux
1736-1739 After First Vows he was sent on Regency teaching to Tulle and as Prefect at the Irish College Poitiers.
1739-1741 Sent on two further years of Regency at Agen and Luçon
1741-1746 Sent for Theology at Grand Collège Poitiers and he was Ordained there in 1743
1746-1747 Sent to Ireland and spent a year at Clonmel
1747-1773 Sent to Limerick where most of his working life was spent. At Limerick he proved himself not only a successful schoolmaster but enjoyed a high reputation as a Preacher throughout Munster. According to the census of 1766 he conducted his school at Jail Lane, near Athlunkard St.
1773 At the Suppression of the Society, 1773, he closed his school and went to live in Dublin. He was one of the signatories of 7 February, 1774, Accepting the brief of the Suppression. He died in Dublin 15 July 1785
Such was the esteem in which his memory was held as a preacher that eleven years after his death, two volumes of his sermons were published by the aid of the generous subscriptions of his many admirers

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Joseph Moroney SJ 1714-1785
Fr Joseph Moroney was born on March 19th 1714 at Ballykeefe, Mungret, Limerick. He joined the Jesuits at Bordeaux in 1734.

Twelve years later he was sent to Ireland, where he became famous as a preacher, in Limerick, Waterford and Munster in general, but mainly in Limerick. According to a census, he conducted a school at Gaol Lane, Limerick, but on the Suppression of the Society, the school ceased to function in 1783.

He published his sermons in two volumes. They are plain instructions without any evidence of great genius or eloquence, but then he is not the only great orator who reads rather poorly in print.

Fr Moroney ended his days in Dublin where he died in 1785.

◆ MacErlean Cat Miss HIB SJ 1670-1770
Loose Note :
Joseph Morony
Those marked with * were working in Dublin when on 07 February 1774 they subscribed their submission to the Brief of Suppression
John Ward was unavoidably absent and subscribed later
Michael Fitzgerald, John St Leger and Paul Power were stationed at Waterford
Nicholas Barron and Joseph Morony were stationed at Cork
Edward Keating was then PP in Wexford

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MORONY, JOSEPH,was born at Limerick, on the 19th of March 1714, and joined the Society at Bordeaux, on the 4th of September, 1734. Twelve years later he came to the Mission, and was placed in his native city. On the 28th of June, 1752, he was numbered with the Professed Fathers. F. Joseph Morony became celebrated as a Preacher in Limerick, Waterford, and several parts of the Province of Munster, and left 2 Vols. of discourses printed in Dublin 12mo, 1796. The 1st Vol. contains 260pp : the 2nd 309 pp. A good judge informs me they were solid instructions in a plain stile, but without any evidence of great genius or eloquence. 1 think he died in Dublin.

Born: 19 March 1714, Ballykeefe, County Limerick
Entered: 03 September 1734, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Ordained: 1743, Poitiers, France
Final Vows: 04 June 1752
Died: 15 July 1785, Dublin - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)

Taught Humanities 6 years
1736-1738 & 1740-1741 Taught Grammar
1738-1747 Prefect of Boarders, Teaching Rhetoric, Studying Theology at Irish College Poitiers - Minister 1745-1747
1755 At least from this date in Ireland
1761 In Ireland towards end of 1761 (notice sent by Fr Corcoran & notice on an old stone, on which IHS at Limerick and Morony family
“Wonder if 1739-1740 dates are correct as original MS has 1640-1641 & 1639-1640, and the writer is very orderly”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1746-1785 A Writer and a celebrated Preacher in Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Dublin
Taught Humanities, and was Procurator at Poitiers.
1746 & 1756 In Limerick
In his book, printed in 1796, he is said to have been “lately living in Dublin.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied at Bordeaux before Ent 03 September 1734 Bordeaux
1736-1739 After First Vows he was sent on Regency teaching to Tulle and as Prefect at the Irish College Poitiers.
1739-1741 Sent on two further years of Regency at Agen and Luçon
1741-1746 Sent for Theology at Grand Collège Poitiers and he was Ordained there in 1743
1746-1747 Sent to Ireland and spent a year at Clonmel
1747-1773 Sent to Limerick where most of his working life was spent. At Limerick he proved himself not only a successful schoolmaster but enjoyed a high reputation as a Preacher throughout Munster. According to the census of 1766 he conducted his school at Jail Lane, near Athlunkard St.
1773 At the Suppression of the Society, 1773, he closed his school and went to live in Dublin. He was one of the signatories of 7 February, 1774, Accepting the brief of the Suppression. He died in Dublin 15 July 1785
Such was the esteem in which his memory was held as a preacher that eleven years after his death, two volumes of his sermons were published by the aid of the generous subscriptions of his many admirers

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Joseph Moroney SJ 1714-1785
Fr Joseph Moroney was born on March 19th 1714 at Ballykeefe, Mungret, Limerick. He joined the Jesuits at Bordeaux in 1734.

Twelve years later he was sent to Ireland, where he became famous as a preacher, in Limerick, Waterford and Munster in general, but mainly in Limerick. According to a census, he conducted a school at Gaol Lane, Limerick, but on the Suppression of the Society, the school ceased to function in 1783.

He published his sermons in two volumes. They are plain instructions without any evidence of great genius or eloquence, but then he is not the only great orator who reads rather poorly in print.

Fr Moroney ended his days in Dublin where he died in 1785.

◆ MacErlean Cat Miss HIB SJ 1670-1770
Loose Note :
Joseph Morony
Those marked with * were working in Dublin when on 07 February 1774 they subscribed their submission to the Brief of Suppression
John Ward was unavoidably absent and subscribed later
Michael Fitzgerald, John St Leger and Paul Power were stationed at Waterford
Nicholas Barron and Joseph Morony were stationed at Cork
Edward Keating was then PP in Wexford

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
MORONY, JOSEPH,was born at Limerick, on the 19th of March 1714, and joined the Society at Bordeaux, on the 4th of September, 1734. Twelve years later he came to the Mission, and was placed in his native city. On the 28th of June, 1752, he was numbered with the Professed Fathers. F. Joseph Morony became celebrated as a Preacher in Limerick, Waterford, and several parts of the Province of Munster, and left 2 Vols. of discourses printed in Dublin 12mo, 1796. The 1st Vol. contains 260pp : the 2nd 309 pp. A good judge informs me they were solid instructions in a plain stile, but without any evidence of great genius or eloquence. 1 think he died in Dublin.

◆ 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.

Born: 16 January 1898, Wexford Town
Entered: 05 September 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 29 June 1938, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 10 June 1965, St John’s Hospital, Limerick

Part of the Crescent College, Limerick community at the time of death

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1927 in Vals France (LUGD) studying
by 1937 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 41st Year No 1 1966
Obituary :
Fr James Albert Morris SJ (1898-1965)
Early in the morning of 10th June 1965 Fr. Morris died rather unexpectedly at St. John's Hospital, Limerick. R.I.P. He had been removed to hospital only the day before. For some weeks he had been suffering from a series of colds and headaches but they were not considered serious until a few days before his death. In fact he taught his Religious Knowledge class up to the previous weekend. However, he never seemed quite the same since he got a fall from his bicycle in August 1964, when he was doing a supply at Wexford. The doctors could not find anything seriously wrong with him, but, very unlike his usual way, he often complained of his health later.
James Albert Morris was born in Wexford on 16th June, 1898. He received some of his primary education from the Loreto Nuns, Mullingar. To the end he remained a great friend of the Loreto Nuns, especially, of course, those in their local Wexford Convent. Indeed, he was disappointed when he came to Limerick in 1962 to find that there was not a Loreto Convent in the locality. For him they ran the best girls' schools. And so very many of them knew him! If one went to give a retreat at a Loreto Convent some nun would always be sure to ask : “How is Fr. Albert?” The Wexford people and priests, nuns, his old pupils, and all in the Society knew him by no other name but Albert. In the Society one often heard of “the two Alberts” - Albert Morris and Albert Cooney, co-novices, together in many houses, and close friends and faithful correspondents during all their years in religion.
From 1913 to 1916 he was a boy in Clongowes. On leaving, thinking of going to U.C.D., he spent a short time at Terenure College, and later with Dom Sweetman, O.S.B., at Gorey. It would seem that he was trying to decide about his vocation during these years. He entered our noviceship at Tullabeg on 5th September, 1923. For his first year Fr. Michael Browne was his Master of Novices. Albert, and he remained so to the end, was nervous when he had to appear in public before Ours, even later to the extent of finding it distressing to say Litanies or give Benediction. There is a story told, characteristic of master and of novice, when Albert had to preach in the refectory. He probably had prepared a sermon that was too short for supper, and when he found himself nearing the end of it, he made many pauses during which he turned round several times to the novices serving at table as if to say : “Why don't you finish up?” Fr. Michael Browne noticed it, realised what was happening, had one of his customary choking fits of laughter and the poor novice had to fill in the time till the end of the meal.
Having finished his noviceship under Fr. Martin Maher and taken his vows he spent a year as a junior at Rathfarnham before going to Vals, France, the House of Philosophy, for the combined Provinces of Toulouse and Champagne. For the rest of his life even in the shortest conversation he used to throw in a French phrase. On his return to Ireland he taught at Belvedere from 1928 to 1932. Then to Milltown Park, where he was ordained on 31st July 1935. Tertianship followed at St. Beuno's, Wales.
His first assignment as a priest was as Sub-Moderator, 1937-39, at the Apostolic School, Mungret. Here he took his last vows on 29th June 1938. We find him back in Belvedere on the teaching staff from 1939 to 1943. Then began the work in which he was engaged almost for the rest of his life,
In 1943 he went to Tullabeg as Assistant Director of the Ricci Mission Unit, later to be known as Irish Jesuit Missions, for our work in what is now Zambia had begun years after the Hong Kong Mission. The stamp bureau was the chief work here and aided by generations of philosophers and his co-assistant director, the late Fr. William Allen, of the Australian Province, he gave most enthusiastic and painstaking service. Nuns and teachers everywhere in Ireland, receptionists in hotels, clerical workers in shops and factories were his clients and he carried on an enormous correspondence. He opened all the parcels of stamps for it was not infrequent that in the middle would be found a box of sweets or some other present for Fr. Albert. He was always a pleasant community man and he was pleased whenever he could come in to recreation to share his stamp bureau presents with his fellow Jesuits.
He remained in Tullabeg until at his own request, he was moved to Emo in 1959, still working for Irish Jesuit Missions. Among the changes that the Visitor, Fr. J. MacMahon, made in 1962 at the Status was the assigning of Fr. Albert to the Crescent, Limerick. Here he combined his interest in foreign mission work and later taught Religious Knowledge in the junior school.
On 12th June His Lordship the Bishop, Dr. H. Murphy, presided at the Office and Requiem Mass in the Sacred Heart Church, Even though it was a Saturday, there was a large attendance of priests present, including the Administrator of Wexford, Very Rev. Fr. T. Murphy, and a companion. Fr. Albert had spent his summers for many years supplying in Wexford and often at Sunshine House, Balbriggan. He was laid to rest in the community cemetery at Mungret. May God reward him and may our missionaries abroad never forget him in their prayers.

Born: 09 October 1882, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
Entered: 07 September 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1916, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1922
Died: 10 March 1966, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare

Chaplain in the First World War.

by 1905 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1907
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 2/8 Battalion, Sobraon Barracks, Colchester
by 1918 Military Chaplain : 8 Battalion East Lancs, BEF France
by 1919 Military Chaplain : Clipstone Camp, 13 lines, Mansfield, Notts

Morris Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-model-school-jesuit-2/

JESUITICA: Model School Jesuit
The recently published history of the Model School, Enniskillen has quite an Orange flavour – many of the old boys are pictured wearing the Sash. It is a surprise to find a Jesuit
among them, Fr Paddy Morris. His father, Charles, was an independent-minded educator and the first headmaster of the Model School. He built it up against the determined opposition of the local Catholic clergy, who saw it as rivalling the national schools under their control. In 1900 Paddy entered the Jesuits with John Sullivan (also educated in Enniskillen, at Portora), served as a British army chaplain in the First World War, and later spent twelve years in Belvedere, six of them as its Rector, before ending his days, like John Sullivan, serving the People’s Church in Clongowes.

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.
Fr Patrick Morris SJ, who worked at the Clipstone Camp in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, comments: “What havoc the influenza has brought... We had a bad time in camp here... Three of my boys died, but they were well prepared”. He caught the flu himself but “went to bed immediately and nipped it in the bud”.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Morris entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1900, and after initial studies arrived in Australia and Xavier College in 1907 where he taught senior students, and was assistant prefect of discipline, and looked after the choir and debating.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 41st Year No 3 1966

Clongowes Wood College, Naas
About 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, 10th March, Fr. Morris died peacefully in the college infirmary. He had been in failing health since the beginning of the school year and kept asserting that he felt his strength dwindling. Just after Christmas he got a chill and was confined to bed in his room for some ten days or so. As soon as matron returned at the beginning of the new term he was transferred to the infirmary. The outlook seemed gloomy but bit by bit he recovered his strength and by the beginning of March he was able to sit in his room and to walk about a little. He then fell a victim of the flu and though at one point he appeared to have taken a turn for the better, the improvement did not last. Special nurses were got for him but his position deteriorated rapidly at the end.
On the evening of 11th March the remains were brought to the People's Church where all the Masses on the high altar the following morning were offered for Fr. Morris. On the morning of the 12th the remains were removed to the Boys' Chapel, the boys of the college lining the route. At 10.30 the Office for the Dead was chanted and Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated by Fr. James Casey. As it was Saturday many of the local clergy found it impossible to attend, but Monsignor Millar came from Newbridge and some priests came from other neighbouring places. There was a large gathering of the local people gathered at the graveside. (A notice on Fr. Morris' life appears at the end of this issue.)
Following Fr. Morris' death many letters of condolence were received. It was obvious that he had been widely known and greatly revered by a big circle of friends. Within the community he continued to the end remarkable for the regularity of his ways, his pleasantness of manner and his high esteem for spiritual things.

Obituary :

Fr Patrick J Morris SJ (1883-1966)

Fr. Morris was born in the town of Enniskillen in the year 1883. He was one of the youngest of a large family-five boys and five girls. His father, Charles Morris, was the first Catholic headmaster of the Enniskillen Model School, whose pupils were 80 per cent Protestant. His father was a great man in the town, and was known as Boss Morris. It was in this school that Patrick got his early education, and he never lost touch with it. He was one of the chief guests of honour when the school celebrated its golden jubilee. We read that he made the outstanding speech of the evening, and got an enthusiastic reception from all the old boys, Catholic and Protestant alike. One of his contemporaries wrote that he had a peculiar spring in his walk which always stood to him when playing football and other games - hardly the activities we associate with the staid Fr. Morris of later years, though indeed he was always a most graceful performer on the ice,
In September 1900 he entered Tullabeg as a novice, having Fr. John Sullivan and Fr. John Hannon as fellow novices. Fr. James Murphy was then at the height of his prowess as Master of Novices, and he gave the novices a very hectic time of it, which was not appreciated by all. Fr. Morris used to tell of the great relief he felt when, on the Feast of St. Stanislaus at the end of the Long Retreat, Fr. Keating the Provincial announced that the novices were about to be orphaned, as their Master of Novices had just been appointed Provincial. The novices had a far quieter life henceforth under the genial guidance of Fr. Michael Browne. Fr. Morris was the last survivor of the little band of novices who entered in 1900. After the two years noviceship, he remained on in Tullabeg for the following year as a junior. In 1904 he went to Gemert for his three years philosophy. While there he mastered the French language and became a fluent speaker, which stood him in good stead in after years.
At the end of his philosophy he set sail for Australia. He was one of a party that was brought out by the Provincial, Fr. Conmee, who was undertaking a visitation of the Australian Mission; and ever afterwards he held Fr. Conmee in the highest veneration. He used to say that he was the outstanding personality on the boat, and was sought after by all the passengers on account of his geniality, learning, and experience of life. Fr. Morris spent his six years in Australia teaching at Xavier College, Kew, where he first showed signs of that pre-eminence as a teacher which he afterwards attained. On his return to Ireland in 1913 he went to Milltown Park to begin his theology. He was ordained there on St. Ignatius Day 1916, and very nearly lived long enough to celebrate the golden jubilee of that day. Soon afterwards he was appointed chaplain in the First World War, and continued in that office for three years. He seldom referred to those harrowing years, but on a long-table day evening one would sometimes be given a glimpse of the sole Irish Padre in the Officers' Mess upholding the honour of the one true Church against all comers, in the days when the ecumenical movement was not as popular as it is now,
In 1919 we find him in Mungret as a teacher. The following year he did his Tertianship in Tullabeg, and at the same time acted as Socius to the Master of Novices. He then returned to Mungret for three years, the first as Sub-Moderator of the Apostolics, and the following two as Minister of the House. He than moved on to Belvedere in 1924 and remained there for 12 years. The first six he taught in the college; and then in February 1931 he was appointed Rector, and held that office until 1936. He than went to Emo where he was Minister and taught the novices. In 1943 he moved on to Clongowes, where he spent the remainder of his life. He took part in the teaching of the boys, and took over the care of the People's Church which he served devotedly until a year or so before his death. It was not until some months before he died that he notably began to fail. He used say that he would welcome death. It came to him finally towards the middle of March, when he passed peacefully away to his reward. .
To sum up Fr. Morris is not an easy task. There were so many facets to his character and work. A good part of his life was spent in teaching. All who came under his charge spoke in the highest terms of his ability in this line. Many have said that he was the best teacher they ever had. He was methodical to a degree, and a master of his subject, whether it be English, Latin or French. He was widely read in these languages, and was blessed with a very retentive memory a source which was often tapped to good purpose by the devotees of the Times Crossword Puzzle! He was specially devoted to Belloc and Chesterton, and knew them thoroughly. When a grammatical question turned up at recreation, he would handle the point with great clarity and exactness. He expected the boys to correspond. Anyone whom he felt was not doing his best would be given very short shrift. All held him however in high regard, and many were the expressions of gratitude to him, expressed by his former pupils at the time of his death.
Of his Rectorship in Belvedere he used to say himself that he had not been a great success. He generally referred to it half-jokingly as “when I sat in the chair of Moses!” He was probably too punctilious and exacting to make a really successful superior. Yet Belvedere made steady progress during his term in office. It was due to his foresight that the fine new playing fields at Cabra were acquired, when the ground had very nearly been disposed of otherwise. He took a personal interest in every sphere of the college activities, the studies, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the Union, and the games though his intervention here may not always have been wise or tactful. Once he had decided on a course of action, it was very difficult indeed to get him to change his mind. On the other hand, he could be very kind and thoughtful where boys were concerned. On one occasion when some of them arrived at school cold and covered with snow, he at once brought them to the refectory and got them a hot meal before allowing them to go the classroom. He was very loyal to the school and its good name, and would tolerate no conduct that would bring it into disrepute.
Perhaps one may say that his greatest work was done when he had charge of the People's Church in Clongowes. He was devoted to the work, and was ever ready to come down from his room at the top of the Castle to hear a confession at any time of the day or night. His sermons on Sundays were prepared with meticulous care; and his kindness to the sick or those in trouble knew no bounds. As his name became a familiar one in the countryside, many came to consult him and to ask his blessing. They were all received with the greatest of charity. He was frequently called out to visit the sick, often long distances away, and had a special gift of bringing peace and comfort to the dying. One of the local curates drove him the whole way down to Carlow or Kilkenny to bring consolation to his own mother when she was on her deathbed. In earlier days, he rode his bicycle for many miles on these errands of mercy. In the latter days, when people saw he was unable for this exertion, and when motor cars became more common, they came in their cars and carried him off. He was ready to go at any time and any distance. It will be many years before the name of Fr. Morris will be forgotten in County of Kildare. The amazing thing was that he suffered from very bad health himself over a number of years - low blood pressure, asthma, insomnia, and a number of other complications, but his fighting spirit triumphed over them all, so that he was very rarely confined to bed until his last illness. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1966

Obituary

Father Patrick J Morris SJ (Rector 1931-1936)

Father Patrick J Morris SJ, who taught in Belvedere for many years and was also a former Rector of the college, died in March 1966. His former pupils will remember him as a lover of the classics and a truly well-read man. He was a brilliant teacher and imparted to his pupils an appreciation of great literature. An Army Chaplain in France in the 1914-18 war, Father Morris expected a high standard of loyalty and discipline from his boys. Nevertheless he could relax on occasions and his classes laughed with counterfeited glee at his classical or literary quips. In his later years he was magnanimous enough to admit that he had been too demanding during his years at Belvedere.

It was Father Morris who gave Belvedere its ideal - “per vias rectas”. A North of Ireland man, he set a high value on integrity. He had a shrewd and sound judgment and former members of his Sodality of Our Blessed Lady will readily recall the many lectures he gave to the Sodalists in which he enumerated the qualities they should expect in the ideal wife. All this was in the 1930s when student counselling was almost unheard of in Ireland. He always stressed a virile and manly holiness and a true and sincere dedication to Christ the King.

On leaving Belvedere he spent some years at Emo Park before his transfer to Clongowes. There, in failing health, he won acclaim as a devoted and kindly confessor in the people's church and as a Christ-like lover of the sick. In his last years he made no secret of the fact that he longed to die. On 11th March he went to his reward. God rest his soul.

Born: 05 October 1908, Listowel, Co Kerry / Ballysimon, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 February 1942, Manresa House, Roehampton, London, England
Died: 07 April 1973, Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin

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

Early education at Mungret College SJ.

Chaplain in the Second World War.

by 1948 at Riverview, Sydney Australia (ASL) teaching
by 1962 at Holy Name Manchester (ANG) working

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Lol Kearns Entry
“While driving in convoy on the first stage of our journey to Brussels, my driver ran the car into a tree north of Magdeburg and my head was banged into the glove compartment in the dashboard. I saw Fr Morrison again at CelIe as he bent over my stretcher and formed the opinion that I should never look the same again.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/into-journal-remembers-jesuit-chaplain/

INTO journal remembers Jesuit chaplain
Irish Jesuit and Second World War chaplain Fr Michael Morrison features in the Irish National Teachers Organisation’s InTouch magazine for the January/February 2019 issue.
Fr Morrison was born in Listowel in County Kerry, was educated by the Jesuits in secondary school, joined the Society and taught at Belvedere College SJ in Dublin. He enlisted as a chaplain with the British army, initially ministering in the Middle East and later transferring to the Derry Regiment of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
He arrived with British and Canadian forces to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Northern Germany in April 1945, which was the first camp to be liberated on the Western Front. At that time, there were 60,000 individuals within the camp with conditions described as ‘hell on earth’ – 13,000 people died from sickness and starvation in the weeks after liberation.
While at Bergen-Belsen, Fr Morrison administered the last rights, held Mass for people of different religions and conducted a joint service over a mass grave with, for example, the Jewish British army chaplain. In a letter home, he wrote: “What we met within the first few days is utterly beyond description”, and it was reported that he spoke very little about what he witnessed in later years. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Morrison lived in his early years at Ballysimon on the outskirts of Limerick city. The Christian Brothers educated him at Sexton Street, and then he went to Mungret from 1922, where he excelled himself at hurling. In his last year at school he was a member of the junior team that won the O'Mara Cup.
He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 September 1925, and after his home juniorate at Rathfarnham, studied philosophy at Tullabeg. He did regency at Belvedere and Mungret, 1933-36, teaching mathematics and was involved with sport. He studied theology at Milltown Park, 1936-40, and was at Rathfarnham, 1940-41, for tertianship.
During the Second World War he was a military chaplain with the British Army in Egypt 1941-46, serving with the Eight Army and was present at the fall of Tunis. He was later at Belsen in 1945, working in Camp Number 1, the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were 50,000 people where typhus was raging When Morrison's unit entered the camp between 7.000 and 10,000 people were found dead in the huts and on the ground. The majority of the living were seriously ill. Many thousands died subsequently Morrison anointed about 300 people daily, helped by very few chaplains. He celebrated Mass on 22 April 1945, the first time at the camp. It was a moving experience for those able to attend.
After the war he went to Australia, teaching briefly at St Aloysius' College, and then at Riverview, 1947-48. He finally did parish work at Richmond, 1949-58.
After leaving Australia, he spent several years attached to the Jesuit Holy Name church in Manchester. He returned to Ireland later, and taught at Mungret, and then at Belvedere College as college bursar, 1963-73.
Morrison was a good listener, allowing others to speak. His quiet, matter-of-fact way of viewing things rendered him one of the most factually objective witnesses of the day-to~day circumstances of World War II. His health deteriorated in his latter years after a series of strokes. He was a man of strong principles, loyal to his duties, and, in his sickness, always unwilling to be a burden.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 16th Year No 2 1941
General News :
The Irish Province has to date sent 4 chaplains to England for home or foreign service for the duration of the war. They are Frs. Richard Kennedy, Michael Morrison, Conor Naughton and Cyril Perrott. The first three were doing their 3rd year's probation under Fr. Henry Keane at the Castle, Rathfarnham, while Fr. Perrott was Minister at Mungret College. They left Dublin on the afternoon of 26th May for Belfast en route for London. Fr. Richard Clarke reported a few days later seeing them off safely from Victoria. Both he and Fr. Guilly, Senior Chaplain to British Forces in N. Ireland, had been most helpful and kind in getting them under way.

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 4 1946

Australia :
Frs. Fleming and Mansfield (who is a member of the Australian Vice-Province) were able to leave for Australia via America in July.
Frs. Lennon and Morrison are still awaiting travel facilities.

Irish Province News 48th Year No 3 1973

Obituary :

Fr Michael Morrison (1908-1973)

Fr. Michael Morrison was born in Listowel, Co. Kerry, in October 1908, but in his early years moved to Ballysimon on the outskirts of Limerick city; he was one of three children, another boy, Jim, and a sister, whom their mother, early bereaved of her husband, devotedly brought up.
In Limerick he attended the CBS, Sexton Street, primarily and in 1922 went to Mungret, where because of his skill and vigour in the hurling team he was the object of an amount of hero worship among those who found difficulty in earning a place on one team whereas he, by natural right, had a secure billet on both senior and junior teams. In his last year at school he was a stalwart member of the junior team that won the O'Mara Cup.
He entered the novitiate in 1925 and having negotiated many a “novices' jump” proceeded to Rathfarnham in 1927 where during the next three years he was occupied with the humanities. Through no fault of his he was drafted, to Tullabeg for philosophy in 1930 without having completed his university degree - he had spent a year in the home juniorate, because of pressure for accommodation for an overflowing community in Rathfarnham.
After philosophy he spent two years of regency at Belvedere where again his athletic skill in training teams was in requisition. Apart from this particular expertise he was a good teacher especially with mathematics at which he shone even as a boy. He spent a final year of college in his Mungret Alma Mater.
He began his course in Theology at Milltown in 1936, and was ordained in 1939. In 1941 Monsignor Coughlin, the principal chaplain in the British Army, made a strong appeal to the Irish Jesuits for priests to serve with the troops. Fr Michael was one of the first appointed. Soon he was in Egypt moving back and forth with the fortunes of the army in the desert. He was in the final breakthrough of the Eighth Army and was present at the Fall of Tunis where he met Fr Con Murphy, SJ, who had come the other way with the First Army.
Fr Michael did not cross over to Italy with the Eighth Army, but returned to England with his Units in preparation for the attack on the Northern flank of the German Army.
On the 12th April, 1945, the chief of staff of the First German Parachute Army made contact with the British Eighth Corps to ask for a local armistice. He explained that a terrible situation in the POW., and civilian internment camps had arisen at Belsen. Typhus was raging, and the Germans were unable to handle it. Would the Eighth Corps take over?
A truce was immediately arranged. A neutral area was set out around Belsen. The German SS camp staff were to stay on indefinitely. The Hungarian Guard was also to remain. A section of the Wehrmacht was to guard the area but was to be returned behind the German lines fully armed after six days.
Fr Morrison was with the 32nd Casualty Clearing Unit near Belsen at the time and it immediately moved to the camps. Then began for him a period of great trial and anguish. He was principally occupied in Camp Number 1 - known now to all the world as the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were fifty thousand people. Thirty-nine huts housed the men, forty-one, the women.
When Fr Morrison's unit entered the camp on April 17th, between seven and ten thousand people lay dead in the huts and on the ground, Of the living the majority were in periculo mortis, and many thousands were dying.
The first date for which statistics were available was April 30th, and on that day five hundred and forty eight people died. It was difficult to assess the number of Catholics, but at a guess it was in the region of 30 per cent. In February, 1945, there were 45 priests in the camp but only 10 were alive on April 17th, when Fr. Morrison arrived. Of these 10, only one, a Pole, Fr Kadjiocka, was able to give Fr Morrison any help. Soon afterwards several other chaplains arrived. The number Fr Michael anointed daily during this first period in the camp was about 300. He wrote in a report :

The joy and gratitude shown by the internees at receiving the sacraments more than compensated for the difficulties. (difficulties such an understatement!) of working in the huts. One was conscious too of being a member of a living unified Church and of the bond which held us together. In the camps were Poles, Hungarians, Czecks, Jugoslavs, Greeks, Rumanians, Ukranians, French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians, and all were able to partake of the same sacrament.
On Sunday, April 22nd. Mass was celebrated for the first. time in Belsen Camp. There was a torrential downpour that morning and it was suggested that Mass be postponed until some other day, but the congregation would not hear of it ... they were drenched through but that did not diminish the fervour and enthusiasm of their singing.

Fr Michael very seldom spoke of his trials at Belsen and it would be difficult for the boys in his latter days at Belvedere to appreciate that the bowed priest who moved about so haltingly with a stick, and was nevertheless, so ready to speak with everyone, had such a distressing experience in his life.
After demobilisation, Fr Morrison went, lent, to Australia where he taught in Riverview College and served in St. Ignatius' Church, Richmond.
Michael was by disposition inclined to let others talk, it could hardly be said of him, on any occasion that he “took over”. His quiet, matter-of-fact, way of viewing things rendered him possibly the most factually objective witness of the day-to-day circumstances of the war situation summarised above. In later years he was, as noted above, averse to alluding to it and memories of it probably deepened the loneliness that affected him when his health declined.
After his return from Australia he spent several years attached to our Holy Name church in Manchester and on his coming back to Ireland after a short term in Mungret he was assigned as Economus to Belvedere, an office he retained until his health gave way; He retained his interest in games and enjoyed a game of golf.
Sadness visited him in the way of family bereavement. After his mother his sister and brother predeceased him; he retained his interest in their families but with the incapacity induced by several strokes and the consciousness of waging a losing battle a strong philosophy was necessary to buoy him up. This he fortunately possessed and the circumstances of his final seizures was characteristic : on the morning of his death he mentioned casually at breakfast that he had had another slight stroke; superiors were immediately informed but in the meantime he began to make his way, alone, upstairs to his room. The exertion brought on another and fatal attack. He was anointed and brought to Jervis Street Hospital but efforts to revive him were unavailing; he was a man of strong principle withal boyish, loyal to his duties, unwilling to be a burden. May he rest in peace.
His obsequies were carried out at Gardiner Street, April 10th; apart from his immediate relatives and a large number of ours there was a big congregation of Belvederians present and past.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1973

Obituary

Father Michael Morrison SJ (died 7th April, 1973)

Father Michael Morrison came to Belvedere late in life and was, perhaps, not very well known to its present alumni because he was not on the teaching staff. Until he be came ill he was bursar of the college. He was born in Listowel, but he went later with his family to live in Ballysimon, Co Limerick. He attended Mungret College for his secondary schooling. He was a superbly good hurler and had the distinction of being on the Junior team and of being picked for a place on the Senior team at the same time.

Michael entered the Jesuit Novitiate in 1925. Then came his humanity studies at Rathfarnham and his philosophy course at Tullabeg. In 1933 he was appointed as a scholastic to Belvedere and had charge of the Junior Rugby team which reached the final in his second year, but failed to win it. After the match there was quite a controversy about an unusual decision of the referee!

He began his course in Theology at Milltown in 1936, and was ordained in 1939. In 1941 Monsignor Coughlin, the principal chaplain in the British Army, made a strong appeal to the Irish Jesuits for priests to serve with the troops. Father Michael was one of the first appointed. Soon he was in Egypt moving back and forth with the fortunes of the army in the desert. He was in the final breakthrough of the Eighth Army and was present at the fall of Tunis where he met Father Con Murphy SJ, who had come the other way with the First Army.

Father Michael did not cross over to Italy with the Eighth Army, but returned to England with his Units in preparation for the attack on the Northern flank of the German Army.

On the 12th April, 1945, the chief of staff of the First German Parachute Army made contact with the British Eighth Corps to ask: for a local armistice. He explained that a terrible situation in the POW, and civilian internment camps had arisen at Belsen. Typhus was raging, and the Germans were unable to handle it. Would the Eight Corps take over?

A truce was immediately arranged. A neutral area was set out around Belsen. The German SS camp staff were to stay on in definitely. The Hungarian Guard was also to remain. A section of the Wehrmacht was to guard the area but was to be returned behind the German lines fully armed after six days.

Father Morrison was with the 32nd Casualty Clearing Unit near Belsen at the time and it immediately moved to the camps. Then began for him a period of great trial and anguish. He was principally occupied in Camp Number 1 - known now to all the world as the Horror Camp. Herded together in this camp were fifty thousand people. Thirty-nine huts housed the men forty-one, the women.

When Father Morrison's unit entered the camp on April 17th, between seven and ten thousand people lay dead in the huts and on the ground. Of the living the majority were in periculo mortis, and many thousands were dying.

The first date for which statistics were available was April 30, and on that day five hundred and forty eight people died. It was difficult to assess the number of Catholics, but at a guess it was in the region of 30 per cent. In February 1945 there were 45 priests in the camp but only 10 were alive on April 17th, when Father Morrison arrived. Of these 10, only one, a Pole, Father Kadjiocka, was able to give Father Morrison any help. Soon afterwards several other chaplains arrived. The number Father Michael annointed daily during this first period in the camp was about 300. He wrote in a report:

“The joy and gratitude shown by the internees at receiving the sacraments more than compensated for the difficulties ('difficulties —such an understatement !) of working in the huts. One was con scious too of being a member of a living unified Church and of the bond which held us together. In the camps were Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Jugoslaves, Greeks, Rumanians, Ukranians, French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians, and all were able to par take of the same sacrament.
On Sunday, April 22nd Mass was celebrated for the first time in Belsen Camp. There was a torrential downpour that morning and it was suggested that Mass be postponed until some other day, but the congregation would not hear of it ... they were drenched through but that did not diminish the fervour and enthus jasm of their singing”.

Father Michael very seldom spoke of his trials at Belsen and it would be difficult for the boys now at Belvedere to appreciate that the bowed priest who moved about so haltingly with a stick, and was nevertheless, so ready to speak with everyone, had such a distressing experience in his life.

After demobilization, Father Morrison went to Australia where he taught in Riverview College and served in St Ignatius Church, Richmond. He returned to Europe in 1958 and worked for some years Manchester before becoming Bursar at Belvedere.

May he rest in peace.

Born: 31 August 1874, Ardfinnan, County Tipperary
Entered: 07 September 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 01 August 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1912
Died: 12 May 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1896 at Valkenburg, Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1898 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1911 at St Mary’s College, Kent, England (FRA) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 29th Year No 3 1954
Obituary :
Father Charles Mulcahy
By the death of Father Mulcahy, the Province has lost an excellent Retreat-giver, a much sought guide for young men and one of the best language teachers known to our Colleges.
Born in 1874 at Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary, he received his early education at Rockwell College, where he fortunately found a master suitable to his bent for modern Languages, including Irish, a subject hardly known to the schools in those days. In 1890 he went to Clongowes. There he was a diligent and successful student. A contemporary describes his first impression as “of an elegant young man, strolling round the cycle-track with Mr. Wrafter and a couple of Higher liners”. A small detail, but not without its significance. Apart from tennis, he had no sportive interests.
He entered the noviceship in 1893, encouraged in his Jesuit vocation by a friend of his family, Father Healy, C.S.Sp., a former Head of Blackrock College. We may, perhaps, say that he was fortunate to have finished his noviceship at a time when the pedagogical outlook did not force every Junior into a University procrustean couch, for he was immediately sent to Philosophy; two years at Valkenburg and one year at Enghien, where the foreign diet gives a flavour to speech, not to be found at home. He returned for the long period of scholastic service common in those days; seven or eight years of unbroken teaching work. All past pupils pay tribute to the excellence of his teaching, and his power to create interest in literature.
After four years at Milltown, and Tertianship at Canterbury under Father de Maumigny, whose spirituality influenced him profoundly, he returned to Milltown, for a brief year as Sub-minister, and Master of Juniors. He taught at the Crescent, 1913 and 1914 when he was appointed Minister and Socius to the Master of Novices and Master of Novices 1918-1919 at Tullabeg. During this period he developed his great talent as choir master. Though not a singer himself, he was a good pianist, and more than one Province choir owed its efficiency to him.
In 1919 he went to Clongowes as Rector and Consultor of the Province. St. Paul is very emphatic on the diversity of gifts. Government, as both profane and religious history shows, is among the rarer talents. It does not appear to have been his particular gift. After three years he was back at the teaching work, first at Mungret, where he was in charge of the Studies, then at Clongowes, part of the time as Spiritual Father. Finally in 1940 he settled down in Milltown, at the work which gave the fullest scope to his talents : Retreat work and spiritual direction of an increasing number of men, who got to know his worth in the Retreats, and would constantly return to consult him.
A prominent Government official pays this tribute to him : “I remember well his first appearance in the chapel at Milltown Park and every time I saw him for a matter of 10 years emphasised the impression that he was essentially a man of God, a man who appeared to walk perpetually in the presence of God. He succeeded in communicating that to his hearers. He was for me the embodiment of Ignatian spirituality. There could be no doubt whatever that he had lived a long life endeavouring to carry out the precepts of the Society as perfectly as possible for him. He carried on, until his health broke down, a personal apostolate with scores of men, particularly I think young men, whom he met for the most part in connection with retreats at Milltown Park. He had a charming sense of humour which kept breaking through the seriousness of his character”.
Similar testimony comes from Mount Anville, for whose Community he worked for many years. They say that he gave the exercises a way that could be understood by the children. And the kindness and sympathy shown them enabled them to open their problems to him readily.
It has been said with truth that the measure of a man's achievement and greatness in any walk of life is the devotion and application to duty which it involves : judged by that criterion Father Mulcahy has left an example which all can envy but few emulate. “I have”, says one in a position to judge, “known him over many years and have treated with him in many different capacities : I have never yet known him to deviate by a hair's breadth from the path of duty or allow the claims of any personal interest to obtrude on those of his office. If indeed there is one of whom it can be said that he gave himself to his work without stint, that man was Father Mulcahy”.
From the noviceship days, he was a keen reader of ascetical books. He could tell one, straight off, the best books in French, German, Italian, English on any point in the spiritual life. Though highly appreciative of general literature, the book shelf in his room became, as the years went on, more and more narrowed down to spiritual books, showing that St. Paul's invitation was a living one for him : “I will shew unto you yet a more excellent way”. And the more excellent way was the “conversation in Heaven”, whose gates advancing years reminded him were ready to open wide : “they that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity”. Father Mulcahy had certainly done that for many years of self-sacrificing patience.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Charles Mulcahy 1874-1954
Fr Charles Mulcahy was born in Ardfinnan in 1874, and received his early education at Rockwell College and Clongowes.

Entering the Society in 1893, he did his studies abroad at Valkenburg and Enghien. His formation completed, he was appointed Socius to the novices in 1914, and in 1918 was made Master of Novices. The following year he went to Clongowes as Rector. Administration, however, does not seem to have been his strong point, so after three years of office he returned to the classroom, in Mungret and Clongowes.

He was a first class teacher of languages and music. From his noviceship days he was a keen reader of ascetical books, and could recommend straight off the best books in French, German, Italian or English on any point in the spiritual life.

In 1940 he returned to Milltown Park, where he gave himself to retreat work and spiritual direction, his real métier. His excellence in this line is eloquently attested by the constant stream of people of all classes who consulted him in the parlour. He had a special gift for directing young men. “They that instruct many unto justice, shall shine as stars for all eternity”. Fr Mulcahy had certainly done that right up to his death on May 12th 1954.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 27 : May 1983

PORTRAIT FROM THE PAST : CHARLES MULCAHY
Dr Leon Ó Broin
The noted Irish scholar and former. Secretary of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs has graciously contributed this vignette of Fr Mulcahy. The author's laconic title for the piece is “An Old Fraud”: you'll see why.

When you went up to the first floor of the Retreat House in Milltown Park you saw in an alcove before you the room. 15A.where Charlie Mulcahy received visitors. It was a large, high-ceilinged, rather cheerless room, with little in it beyond a table with a raft of books, a typewriter, an armchair, a plain chair, an iron bedstead and a priedieu.. It was there in August 1943 - forty: years ago - I spoke to him first, I had seen him a week or two earlier as he. entered the chapel downstairs to give the opening lecture of a week end retreat. He was 69, but did not look it... He was an “old fraud” he would tell you, for his features were those of a man in his middle years, and his light brown hair was strong and plentiful. His walk gave him away, however; though quick and purposeful he shuffled noticeably. His speech was rather like that, too, it was quick and abbreviated. He repeated himself, but that may have been the teacher's practice of stressing the salient points of a lesson.

I have good reason to remember the first lecture of his I heard, because in it he laid the basis for everything he taught me in the next ten years or so, namely the supreme importance of understanding where all of us stand before God, our essential creaturehood and its obligations, the absurdity of Independent Creature. scribbler I wrote down an outline of his lectures and sent it to him from home, with a note asking him to develop a point that seemed to affect me particularly. His speedy reply was not quite what I expected, but it was thoroughly ad rem. “What you want to help yourself”, he wrote, “is much less thinking, and as much praying as you can manage. You seem to enjoy writing your thoughts. That makes for clarity, but hardly for reality”. Reality for him, as I was - to observe, was to live perpetually in the presence of God. Who could not but notice this when he walked in the garden or along the corridor in the direction of the community chapel? He was a picture of quiet, adoring concentration.

He invited me to come to Milltown “to talk myself out” on this question of reality, and when we met I remember how insistent he was that, in the matter of assent to the truths of religions, I should understand the difference between what was merely notional and what was real. He added that I would benefit from reading Newman on the subject. That visit was the forerunner of many. We became good friends, and his interest extended to my work, my literary interests, my ageing parents, my wife and family. He told me a little about himself, very indirectly though. He had run the whole gamut of Jesuit responsibilities, teaching in various schools, being master of novices, rector in Clongowes and Provincial Consultor; now he was “retired”, his function being “to pray for the Society” (Orat pro Societate), which did not mean, I suspect, that he could not direct an occasional retreat, look after the spiritual interests of a religious community, and conduct a personal apostolate among. young men he had encountered on those enclosed week-ends. These he endearingly referred to as his “toughs” They came to see him for. advice and to hear their confessions, sometimes two or three of them in a row and my own chats had to end abruptly when he would explain ever so courteously, that he had another “tough” waiting for him outside. Among his “toughs” in earlier days, if you can call them such, had been the remarkable Father Willie Doyle; and he always spoke warmly of Father John Sullivan with whom he had lived in community.

A native of Arafinnan, Co. Tipperary, Charlie had gone to Rockwell college where he was fortunate to have a teacher who developed his bent for modern languages, including Irish, a subject hardly known to the schools in those days. In time, I gather, he became one of the best language teachers in Jesuit Colleges. He continued his study of Irish in the Balingeary Gaeltacht of which he had pleasant memories - “It had become in a way a sort of home to me”, where he was able to indulge his love of traditional music. He was a good, good pianist and had considerable success with choirs.

As a Jesuit novice he had spent three years studying philosophy in Valkenburg and Enghien, and did his Tertianship in Canterbury under Father de Maumigry whose spirituality influenced him profoundly. He worried over what was happening in Germany during the war, and has my wife praying for that country ever since. He read German, of course, as well as French and English, but more in depth than in breadth. I imagine his practice being to return the books he liked, in order to savour their quality anew. He had a real feeling for the French language; when I introduced a young friend, whom he found full of “thoughts and tastes”, he felt sure that a bookman like me would approve of trying to break him into a little French.

“France was the country of expression”, he believed, and “a country that possessed a Rene Bazin must have a sane outlook for a young Catholic”. One of the things at which he grieved was that, having read a lot of Bazin, his immediate interests meant that he would have to defer beginning on him again for some time.

He hinted on the important things that were pressing on his time. “I have a young Deacon here for a six-day retreat. He is to be ordained on Sunday next. Say a word of prayer to the Lord for him”. In another letter he said “I have one young man here in Retreat. The one is as occupying as a complete bunch of them. He is gloriously in earnest, God bless him. He has a lovely Cork accent”. So his reading of profane literature dwindled to practically nothing. When now he talked of it at all, it seemed it was some thing he had to make an effort to recall. His stock of books became smaller and smaller. Those he retained had, all of them, an ascetical character; they were what he needed for his own spiritual purposes, and those he proposed to lend to his “toughs” in the hope of promoting theirs. I notice in one of his letters - all of which I kept - that the volumes he lent me included: Meschler, Father Arthur Little, and Saint Francis de Sales, At other times it was books by the Jesuits, Coleridge and Goodier, and Saint Augustine. I would feel the uplift of certain chapters in Coleridge, he assured me, and then went on to ask if I did not think it queer how calmly we talk of an uplift? Why, it means entrance into a new world and not merely a World like what Columbus discovered?

Mentioning Augustine, he would say that there was no need to commend the great African Doctor. “You know my weakness for him. He always touches the soul in that human way of his”. From Francis de Sales he culled reams from his writings on the religious life and on pursuit of perfections and gave me a copy of his transcript. Saint Ignatius was never far away from his thought, of course; retreats and his direction of souls were strictly fashioned by the Spiritual Exercises, That, for instance, was where the obligations of the creature came from; and this, on the discernment of spirits. “Keep joy in prayer and all will be well. If you are spiritually: unhappy, then you may know the enemy is near..in The doubt increases; the soul begins to be restless; it loses its sweetness and spiritual joy. Ignatius says at once, without any reservations, that this alone is a sign that 'the light is untrue”.

He gave me once a Ballade of Distractions that a colleague of his in the Society had strung together. It had done him good, and he felt sure I, too, would find it useful. It's real prayer, is it not?. You remember St. Augustine: Lord, you were with me, but I was not with You. That was the theme of the Ballade it began : Here am I in the chapel in retreat, / Lord, at your hidden glory humbly staring, /my soul, that ought to find its joy complete, / the splending of Your Godhead to be sharing / Has found the effort just a little wearing. And off it's gone, the countryside to view./ Taking, alas, a most terrestrial airing / my thoughts are rambling though I'm here with you.

Going through his letters I find some fine things: In one he says “It was not in dialectics God saved his people”. In another “God will be generous as is His wont. I have not had such a good time of late”, (His health was beginning to break) “but that, too is a gift of God as St. Ignatius tells us”. In another still “I will make special mementoes in the Mass for the musicians (my children: Eimear and Noirin) till their troubles are over. Our Lady, the Great Mother, will guide their hands and their brains”, and, when their examinations were successfully passed, he told Eimear not to forget to thank his heavenly helpers. “How human”, he said, “is the Gospel scene with its pertinent question: ‘Where are the other nine?’” And, reminding me and my wife of an approaching feast, he assumed we had a picture of the Holy Family in the house, that the children would gather a few autumn leaves to adorn it, have a lamp burning before it, and pay some visits to it till the feast was over. That would leave an impression on their minds that would do them good.

The autumn leaves typified his passion for flowers. He planted them in profusion in a garden rockery round the beguiling figure of a petite Virgin and used reproductions of them as bookmarkers.

When my father's days were clearly numbered, his concern for him, my mother, and me was most touching. “You may be sure there were many Masses and many prayers offered for him. I offered Mass myself of course and remembered him in my prayers all the day. May God bless him when the hour comes for bringing him to a better home. It will be, I am sure, a relief rather than anything else. What a grand solemnity there is in the scene with Martha: I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me although he be dead shall live, and everyone that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever. There is no other consolation. May God bless and console yourself”. In his next letter he wrote that “the Lord has been good to the one He has called by shortening his waiting. May he rest in peace. I offered Mass for him this morning You may be sure of much spiritual help from Milltown, I did not get your message till close on 9 last evening. I hope you got my wire. I will offer Mass on Monday for the dead, yourself, and for the old lady who has been left to grieve, not too long in the Mercy of God one would hope, but God understands better than we. Is not our misunderstanding of what He does and why He does it pathetic and childlike? But you will be understanding it all better every day. May God bless you and console you”. He was very anxious about the dear old Granny, fearing that she might be unsettled; and, feeble though he was now, he went with the Rector one day to see her in her little flat. He continued to remember her in his Masses, putting her especially in God's care and guard.

The first sign that his own mortal end was not too far off appeared in his letters. They were suddenly shorter, disjointed, with words misspelt or omitted altogether. He tried to behave normally, insisting to the visitors that they should take the armchair, and, when that courtesy was refused, sitting bolt upright himself on the edge of it. He was an ascetic, of course, his only concession being a very occasional cigarette which he smoked from a holder, and which he laid aside when someone came to see him. But he could read no more, or read only without fully comprehending. It was utterly pathetic and yet somehow significant that, when the end came, all that this erstwhile lover of books had was his rosary beads and a crucifix. When speaking of the enduring patience of Christ he had said that a secret cross was a very precious thing, and that we shouldn't allow the strength of it to evaporate. It was a weakness to be always searching for a confidant, to be always blabbing out our grievances. In this matter he practised what he preached. He never spoke of his infirmities; even when he could hardly speak at all. When I last saw him he was lying awake but silent, his whole body covered in a white powder whose purpose was to mollify the burning irritation of his poor flesh.
God help us all at the end.

◆ The Clongownian, 1954

Obituary

Father Charles Mulcahy SJ

The death occurred on May 12th of Rev. Charles Mulcahy, S.J., Milltown Park, Dublin, a former Rector of Clongowes Wood College. He was aged 80, and from 1942 until failing health in recent year's compelled him to retire, he was on the staff of the Retreat House at Milltown Park, where he gave many retreats to priests and laymen.

He was a son of John Mulcahy, woollen manufacturer, of Ardindan, Co Tip perary, and was educated at Rockwell and Clongowes Wood Colleges. After a distinguished course in the Intermediate, in which he excelled in modern languages, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1893.

He studied philosophy at the German and French houses of the Order at Valkenburg, in Holland, and Enghien, in Belgium, and taught for eight years at Clongowes Wood before beginning his theological studies. A master of considerable ability, he excelled in the teaching of Irish, French, German and Italian, as well as Latin and English. He was ordained at Milltown Park in 1909, and completed his religious training under the well-known spiritual guide, Père René de Maulmigny, at St Mary's College, Canterbury, then conducted by the Fathers of the Paris Province of the Society.

Father Mulcahy was appointed Rector of Clongowes Wood College in 1919, having previously been Assistant Master of Novices, and later Master of Novices at Tullamore. He was Rector of Clongowes for three years, and afterwards Dean of Studies at Mungret College, Limerick. From 1927 to 1931, and again from 1933 to 1941, he taught at Clongowes, and for most of this time he was also Spiritual Director to the Community and boys.

Father Mulcahy was much in demand as. a director and counsellor of souls giving spiritual guidance to very many people in all walks of life, both by letter and in personal interviews in this work he was distinguished for his quiet kindly manner, and for the way in which he could bring his own wide spiritual reading to bear on the problems brought to him.

Father Mulcahy will be remembered gratefully by the many clients whom he helped in this way, as well as by those who at Clongowes and Mungret Colleges, benefited from the unusual teaching gifts which he developed by meticulous devotion to duty as well as by careful reading during the years he spent as a teacher of languages.

He is survived by his brother, Mr. William Mulcahy, Director of Ardinnan Woollen Mills.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Charles Mulcahy (1874-1957)

Born at Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary and educated at Rockwell College and Clongowes, entered the Society in 1893. He pursued his higher studies, at Valkenburg, Enghien and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1908. He was master here from 1912 to 1914. Unfortunately for the Crescent, he was transferred to Tullabeg as assistant, and later to the important post itself of master of novices. From Tullabeg he was transferred as rector to Clongowes where he relinquished office in 1922. Father Mulcahy felt more at home in a classroom and until 1940 Mungret and then Clongowes benefitted by his matchless pedagogic gifts. He retired from teaching in 1940 and until his death was a member of the Milltown Park community. Here he gave splendid service as retreat director, while many religious communities in Dublin revered him for his ability as a spiritual director.

Born: 22 April 1912, Sandymount, Dublin
Entered: 03 September 1930, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1944, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 21 April 1994, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Early education at Belvedere College SJ

◆ Interfuse No 82 : September 1995 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995 & ◆ The Gonzaga Record 1995

Obituary
Fr Donal Mulcahy (1922-1994)

12th April 1922: Born in Dublin
Education: Holy Faith, Glasnevin; Belvedere
3rd Sept. 1930: Entered Society at Emo, Co. Laois
4th Sept. 1932: First Vows at Emo
1932 - 1935: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD, BA
1935 - 1938: Philosophy at Tullabeg, Co. Offaly
1938 - 1941: Belvedere College, Teacher and H.Dip in Ed
1941 - 1945: Theology at Milltown Park
31st July 1944: Ordained a at Milltown Park by J.C. McQuaid
1945 - 1946: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1946 - 1953; Mungret College, Teacher and Spiritual Father to the boys
1953 - 1962: Gardiner Street and teaching Religion at DIT (Bolton Street)
1960 - 1962: Minister, Ministering in the Church
1962 - 1971: Manresa House, Superior
1972 - 1979; Consultor of the Province
1973 - 1977: Dooradoyle, Superior
1977 - 1983: Tullabeg, Superior
1983 - 1993: Gonzaga, Minister, Treasurer
1983-1985: Treasurer, Rathfarnham Castle
1983-1989: Milltown Institute, Financial Director
1993 - 1994: Gonzaga, living in Cherryfield
21st April 1994: Died

A perspicacious man my father would have called him - and Donal was a father to me for over 12 years. Perspicacious means: of quick mental insight, understanding, perceptive, reasoned, comprehending. The reading from the Book of Wisdom rightly celebrates Donal's wise common sense and his quality of judgement - totally caring, totally honest, never judgmental.

It was that wisdom that the boys in Mungret received when he was spiritual father, Latin teacher, Junior Cup Team trainer. The students in Bolton Street enjoyed that same wisdom during his time as chaplain there in the 50's. Those who were Province consultors or house consultors with him over the years experienced and appreciated it. It was this wisdom, deepened with prayer, that he brought to his community building, his genius for home making.

Donal's home making career began here in Gardiner Street in 1960 and it was this trade that he continued to ply as Rector in Manresa from '62, Minister in Crescent from '71, Rector in Dooradoyle, which he built from scratch in '73, Superior in Tullabeg at Rahan from '77 and as minister/bursar in Gonzaga from '83 up to last summer. In all of these places he enhanced the physical surroundings, and community facilities, with an eagle eye to financial rectitude! In so doing he freed his fellow Jesuits for their work, with confidence that there was a warm home to return to and be refreshed humanly and spiritually. The second reading could not be more apt to describe Donal's philosophy and way of life.

Let love be genuine, hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honour, never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, practise hospitality.

Communities in Donal's care lived in that atmosphere. His nephews, nieces and grand-nephews/nieces will attest to his deep interest in their well-being, academic, sporting, career prowess, his shrewd assessments and warm encouragement. We Jesuits received the same concern and help. Truly a man who overcame evil with good.

The loyalty and generosity Donal showed to everyone, high and low, is legendary. The contacts he made through the Garden Fetes in Manresa and Tullabeg, the custom he gave those who were loyal to him, the reliability of his husbandry and hospitality, reminded me of the Gospel scene, where Jesus tantalised his friends only to enrich their understanding and grasp the real meaning of life. Donal lived that hospitality that made people “stay awhile” and break bread with him.

But despite all this, Donal was not perfect, you'll be sorry to hear. And if ever you watched TV with him, it is something to hear you would get..... in the form of quite disconcerting snoring! followed by an awakening and the question...,”Did I miss much” or “tell me what has happened so far!”. I understand such a characteristic was shared with his brothers: I do not know if it is hereditary! But I'm sure his sense of humour is, and his enjoyment of the simple things in life: there was nothing he liked better than a good variety show with wholesome humour. He was even addicted to the Late Late Show, God help us, Glenroe and the Rose of Tralee, the highlight of the year, along with Tops of the Town. He enjoyed a good “who done it” novel, or his fishing when on holidays.

Donal's untiring humanity is borne out in the courage he had in overcoming his speech impediment and the crippling arthritis over so many of his later years. Can any of us remember him complaining, making demands, being inconsiderate of others? The manner of his dying typifies his character, no fuss, minimal disruption, the choir didn't even get a day off school!

Donal's last words to me Thursday evening, about 20 minutes before he died, were, “There's nothing I need and thanks very much for coming” - a typical response from him.

My last words to you, now, Donal are: “Thanks for being there, so many times, for so many of us in our need. You revealed the Lord in the hospitality of the home, in the breaking of the bread for us, may you now be "at home", as he breaks bread with you”.

John Dunne

Born: 18 April 1898, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 09 October 1916, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Belvedere College SJ
Died: 21 May 1962, Mungret College, Mungret, County Limerick

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

Educated at Mungret College S

BA 1st Class at UCD

by 1923 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1933 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 37th Year No 3 1962
St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner St.
The community was profoundly shocked by the news received on the afternoon of Monday, May 21st, of Fr. Tim Mulcahy's sudden death at Mungret. He had given the annual Triduum for the Sick, broadcast by Radio Éireann from the Ignatian chapel, towards the end of April. It was known that recurrent pains in the head had made him consult his doctor, but x-rays and cardiograph examination did not reveal anything more than usually untoward before he went to Mungret on May 14th for the rest which he regarded as his Major Villa. But the last of his typically charming letters, posted on the 21st, had not reached its destination before the fatal thrombosis struck him. One of those letters read "I shall be back on Wednesday". But he was not to return to Gardiner Street. May he rest in peace, in the shade of the ancient Mungret Abbey, near to the remains of those monks of an earlier Ireland whose faith he held so firmly and which he did so much to spread in another age.
Earlier issues of the Province News have recorded the many material benefits which Fr. Mulcahy brought to Gardiner Street while he was Superior here. His charming charity had perhaps too often been taken for granted: but he is lovingly, sorely, missed.
The Bishop of Limerick, Most Rev. Dr. Henry Murphy, presided at the Solemn Office and Requiem Mass for Fr. Mulcahy at the Crescent, on May 23rd. The Mass was sung by Fr. Andrews, Rector, and Frs. Quigley and Guinane were deacon and sub-deacon. Fr. Visitor and Fr. Provincial were present, as well as many of the Gardiner St. community and representatives of most of the Province Houses. The boys of the Crescent walked behind the funeral procession as far as the city boundary, and those of Mungret lined the avenue and cemetery there. The prayers at the graveside at Mungret were recited by Fr. Provincial. The Gardiner St. Sodalities were represented by Mr. John Monahan, President of the Ignatian Sodality, and Mr. L. S. Ó Riordáin, Secretary, and by Mr. A. Ralph, President and five members of the Evening Office Confraternity.

The Sacred Heart College and Church, Limerick

Fr. T. I. Mulcahy, R.I.P.
The community was deeply shocked when the sad news was announced of Fr. Mulcahy's sudden death at Mungret. Everyone, not only in the Crescent community, where he had been Rector, but in the city of Limerick, seemed to look on Fr. Mulcahy as a personal friend, and only the week previously, having finished his retreat, he came in from Mungret to dine with us. Fr. Rector and the community deemed it a signal honour to have the Requiem Mass in the Crescent Church, and the many priests who attended, both from the Society itself and from outside, bore testimony to the great personality of the deceased. Very many Mass Cards, letters and messages of sympathy were sent to the Crescent, and His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin wired: “Rector, Crescent. ... Deepest sympathy on death of Fr. Mulcahy - a worthy priest”. His Lordship the Bishop of Limerick presided at the obsequies and Mgr. Moloney chanted a Lesson in the Office. Together with Very Rev. Fr. Visitor and Fr. Provincial, representatives from almost all our houses were present at the funeral, The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Rector and Frs. Quigley and Guinane were deacon and sub-deacon. Fr. Provincial officiated at the burial in the Mungret cemetery.

Obituary :

Fr Timothy I Mulcahy (1898-1962)

Born: Cork, 1898; education: C.B.S., Our Lady's Mount, Cork, and Mungret College; entered Society, Tullabeg, 1916; studied, Rathfarnham and U.C.D., 1918-1922, Louvain, 1922-1925; teaching staff, Belvedere, 1925-1928; theology, Milltown Park, 1928-1932; ordination, 1931, and tertianship, St. Beuno's, N. Wales, 1932-1933.
Stationed Irish Messenger Office, Belvedere College, 1933-1947, as National Director, Sodality of Our Lady, Editor Madonna, Irish Monthly and Irish Jesuit Directory. Rector, Sacred Heart College, Crescent, 1947 1950. Superior, St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, 1950-1957. Director, Ignatian Sodality there, 1950-1959. Rector, St. Mary's, Emo, 1959-1961. At Gardiner Street to death (at Mungret College), May 21st, 1962.
On a May afternoon in 1962, while talking to a friend in the parlour of Mungret College, Fr. Tim Mulcahy was struck by the heart-attack which he survived only long enough to receive the Last Sacraments. He had been a boy in the College fifty years before. Fifty years bring big changes and to Mungret not less than elsewhere. Fr. Tim seldom spoke of his schooldays, but through those fifty years he was a constant visitor to his old school, making his annual retreat there and when ill-health came choosing that rather out of the way spot for a brief holiday or an unavoidable rest. He kept his interest in the Past as anyone who saw him welcome successive Mungret Annuals will agree, and though away from home he died among friends who had the best of reason to be proud of a distinguished pupil.
Good noviceships have as little history as happy nations. That to which Fr. Tim came had scarcely been stirred by a ripple of the Easter Rising, known only through letters from home and the very rare newspaper cuttings read aloud by the Socius. It cannot have been difficult in the lull that followed it to forget the outside world. His “angelus” was his life long friend, Fr. Tom Perrott. It was a friendship thirty years' separation by half a world never weakened and one may be forgiven if one imagines they sometimes forgot the custom-book to rendezvous as they had often done as boys under the clock” in their well-loved Cork City, to which each in his own way was to do honour,
The abolition in 1918 of a home juniorate enabled Fr. Tim to catch up, as it were, and more than one generation were his contemporaries. In Rathfarnham Castle he quickly showed what he was always to remain - he was the perfect community man. There was a triumvirate who talked a “little language” (Fr. Tim's stage-name was “factorial five”) and brightened life by their original pranks, for he had and retained a charming playfulness. Alas, Fr. Gallagher, Fr. Little and Fr. Tim are all gone, but they lived to delight in their maturity an extraordinarily wide circle and to win and hold a unique place in the affection of the Province as well as in the hearts of the innumerable souls they helped.
Rathfarnham was already proving old; the honeymoon of Fr. Jimmie Brennan's reign almost over; and Fr. Tim's university career is perhaps chiefly memorable in that he was the last young Jesuit for over ten years to conduct the affairs of the English Society in College, which - founded a decade before by Thomas McDonagh, one of the immortal sixteen of Easter Week, and the brilliant Australian student, Fr. Peterson, happily still with us - had been almost a Jesuit pocket-borough in the days when Violet Connolly, Kate O'Brien, Fr. Paddy O'Connor and Professor Gerard Murphy starred its eager assemblies.
English was Fr. Tim's subject, and though he wrote little he put his training and critical judgment to good use later. But now it was time for Philosophy, in the great university of Louvain, still staggering from the unexpected shock of its demolition in the First World War. It was not in fact a congenial posting and some were to see its influence in deepening the natural intellectual tolerance of his mind into something like indecision in speculative studies. Happily, his “colleges” were spent in Belvedere, the house in which he passed the greatest part of his working life and which he loved and which loved him. Fr. Tim was before all things urbane in the best sense of that word. A city man, the great city school found him reserved, dignified, friendly and wise. His influence would always be the result of personality and not propaganda. Indeed he seldom urged a case, never raised his voice, rarely argued, and held clear, firm, tenacious opinions without dogmatism or contradiction. A born teacher.
Perhaps in Theology at Milltown or Tertianship at Beuno's it is pardonable for a contemporary to remember chiefly the way he sweetened the last years of formation: his conversation round a fire at Glencree, the way he and Fr. Perrott would burst into their own version of the Volga boat-song to carry a weary group up the steep, stony avenue of St. Beuno's.
His work in the Society fell into two parts. For twenty years he was editor of The Irish Monthly and The Madonna. A big school is very much a closed shop, but Belvedere was well aware of what it gained by the presence of Fr. Mulcahy and his friends and co-workers in the Messenger Office, Fr. Scantlebury and Fr. McCarthy. Though his only official contact with the school was as confessor, he became in a very real sense a Belvederian whom even Fr. John Mary O'Connor would have ranked as one hundred per cent.
His editorship of The Irish Monthly was not an altogether happy story. He had not perhaps the genius of its founder, Fr. Matt Russell, to make it a nest of singing birds, but it was in that great tradition he would have liked to work and was fitted to work. Policy in an emergent nation wanted economics, civics and social theory. He did his best but the medium was a poor one. With the sodality it was different. There, too, winds of change were blowing. A long and somewhat inactive tradition had to be remodelled in a society which greeted the “Age of Mary” with fresh enthusiasm and, incidentally, a sheaf of Marian magazines. He was the perfect uncontroversial leader, never disillusioned, never unwilling to be content with less than absolute perfection, if only he could foster genuine holiness under Mary's banner.
It seemed surprising to many who knew him well that his obvious talent and graces for government were not used earlier. But the chance came and in three full, rich years as Superior of the Crescent, in as many in the delicate task of Superior of a noviceship, and above all in a never-to be-forgotten period in Gardiner Street, he did work for God, the country and the Province only he could do.
His Gardiner Street activity will be remembered for three notable elements. He was, as may be imagined, a devoted confessor with devoted penitents. It is a role upon which he would not have tolerated any comments, His predecessor as Superior, Fr. Tyndall, had incorporated in the remarkable celebrations of the Novena of Grace a special feature by which the vast and growing congregations who assembled long before the devotions were led from the pulpit in prayers, hymn-singing and a real effort to bring to the exercises that confidence and fervour which the Novena calls for. Fr. Tyndall carried through his admirable plan so well that many feared an anti-climax when his term of office came to an end. They need not have. Fr. Tim made his own unique personal contact with those great crowds and he will be remembered by them till all the generation is gone, and his is only a legend.
For a long time there the need for a renovation of the church had been admitted, but only piecemeal work was done. Fr. Mulcahy made the Gardiner Street of today, transforming an old and, it must be admitted, rather grimy church, thickly hung with inartistic pictures and meaningless decoration, into a lightsome, joyous church which seemed to blossom into a new and fundamental beauty. To execute the task he called in Michael Scott, whom he had known in Belvedere, and his namesake and co-worker, Patrick Scott. It needed courage to approve a scheme which - apart from the few last-ditch traditionalists who loved every fold of the robes of the Indian and Chinese watchers in the painting of Francis's death-bed-might not be acceptable to the great body of loyal friends who are Gardiner Street's pride and glory. Fr. Tim did not compromise. The great panels of undecorated scarlet damask stood out from white and grey walls which some would have thought more suitable to a garden city than to the faded glories of the north side of Dublin. But they filled the house of God with light and on the side-altars were statues that could not be passed with a casual glance, and if the splendid scagliola pillars of the high altar had to be painted white it was to give its lapis-lazuli tabernacle the true focal value which its Inhabitant deserves, One could stand at the lower rail of Gardiner Street and, asked for an obituary of Fr, Tim, say “Circumspice”. He has another monument to his memory in the new St. Francis Xavier Hall in Sherrard Street, for hardly had he completed the decoration of the church when he was called on to replace Fr. Cullen's famous “Pioneer Hall”, more than worn out by its forty eight years of varied activity. Despite the ill-health which was already making itself felt, he carried the new and more solid hall through its planning and building stages, leaving only the formal opening to his successor.
But a friend cannot leave monuments to speak for Fr. Tim - and how many and how good friends he had! It is sometimes said that a man who has no enemies is a poor creature. Fr. Tim was the living proof of the falsehood of this saying. He had none. His friendship was essentially that of a giver : he asked for nothing but he concealed this, and it was easy to think and indeed perhaps true that the friends meant as much to him as he to them. He fostered friendship with a long memory and a recurrent refreshment of its precious times. Separation was a minimal interference with this intercourse, as we have seen in the case of Fr. Perrott. From Mungret on the last Easter the sick man sent a charming little letter of greeting to a Dublin lady whom he had not met in many years, and by the same post to one of the community he had just left a gay anecdote of his own special brand. It is commonplace to say no one will fill his place, but perhaps it should be added that he filled it so perfectly that he can never lose it,
A handsome tribute to Fr. Mulcahy from His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin:

Archbishop's House,
Dublin 9.
23-5-1962.

My Dear Fr. Provincial,
I am very sorry--but not surprised to learn of Fr. Mulcahy's death, May be rest in peace! He was a great priest. From the year 1941 I. knew his zeal and patience and very courteous charity. I believe that I shall have in him a strong friend before God.
With kind wishes.
I remain,
Yours very sincerely,
+John C. McQuaid

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1963

Obituary

Father Timothy Mulcahy SJ

On a May afternoon in 1962, while talking to a friend in the parlour of Mungret College, Father Tim Mulcahy was struck by the heart-attack which he survived only long enough to receive the Last Sacraments. He had been a boy in the College fifty years before. Fifty years bring big changes and to Mungret not less than elsewhere. Father Tim seldom spoke of his schooldays, but through those fifty years he was a constant visitor to his old school, making his annual retreat there and when ill-health came choosing it for a brief holiday or an unavoidable rest. He kept his interest in the Past as anyone who saw him welcome successive Mungret Annuals will agree, and though away from home he died among friends who had the best of reason to be proud of a
distinguished pupil.

His work in the Society fell into two parts. For twenty years he was editor of “The Irish Monthly” and “The Madonna”. A big school is very much a closed shop, but Belvedere was well aware of what it gained by the presence of Father Mulcahy and his friends and co-workers in the Messenger Office, Father Scantlebury and Father McCarthy. Though his only official contact with the school was as confessor, he became in a very real sense a Belvederian whom even Father John Mary O'Connor would have ranked as one hundred per cent.

His Gardiner Street activity will be remembered for three notable elements. He was, as may be imagined, a devoted confessor with devoted penitents. It is a role upon which he would not have tolerated any comments. His predecessor as Superior, Father Tyndall, had incorporated in the remarkable celebrations of the Novena of Grace a special feature by which the vast and growing congregations who assembled long before the devotions were led from the pulpit in prayers, hymn-singing and a real effort to bring to the exercises that confidence and fervour which the Novena calls for. Father Tyndall carried through his admirable plan so well that many feared an anti-climax when his term of office came to an end. They need not have. Father Tim made his own unique personal contact with those great crowds and he will be remembered by them till all the generation is gone, and his is only a legend.

For a long time there the need for a renovation of the church had been admitted, but only piece meal work was done. Father Mulcahy made the Gardiner Street of today, transforming an old and, it must be admitted, rather grimy church, thickly hung with inartistic pictures and meaning less decoration, into a lightsome, joyous church which seemed to blossom into a new and fundamental beauty. To execute the task he called in Michael Scott, whom he had known in Belvedere, and his namesake and co-worker, Patrick Scott. It needed courage to approve a scheme which apart from the few last-ditch traditionalists who loved every fold of the robes of the Indian and Chinese watchers in the painting of Francis's death-bed-might not be acceptable to the great body of loyal friends who are Gardiner Street's pride and glory. Father Tim did not comprornise. The great panels of undecorated scarlet damask stood out from white and grey walls which some would have thought more suitable to a garden city than to the faded glories of the north side of Dublin. But they filled the house of God with light and on the side-altars were statues that could not be passed with a casual glance, and if the splendid scagliola pillars of the high altas had to be painted white it was to give its lapis-lazuli tabernacle the true focal value which its Inhabitant deserves. One could stand at the lower rail of Gardiner Street and, asked for an obituary of Father Tim, say “Circumspice”. He has another monument to his memory in the new St Francis Xavier Hall in Sherrard Street, for hardly had he completed the decoration of the church when he was called on to replace Father Cullen's famous “Pioneer Hall”, more than worn out by its forty eight years of varied activity. Despite the ill-health which was already making itself felt, be carried the new and more solid ball through its planning and building stages, leaving only the formal opening to his successor.

But a friend cannot leave monuments to speak for Father Tim - and how many and how good friends he bad! It is sometimes said that a man who has no enemies is a poor creature. Father Tim was the living proof of the falsehood of this saying. He had none. His friendship was essentially that of a giver: he asked for nothing but he concealed this, and it was easy to think and indeed perhaps true that the friends meant as much to him as he to them. He fostered friendship with a long memory and a recurrent refreshment of its precious times. Separation was a minimal interference with this intercourse. From Mungret the last Easter the sick man sent a charming little letter of greeting to a Dublin lady whom be had not met in many years, and by the same post to one of the community he had just left a gay anecdote of his own special brand. It is common place to say no one will fill his place, but perhaps it should be added that he filled it so perfectly that he can never lose it.

Born: 09 April 1871, Boyle, County Roscommon
Entered: 11 November 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1905, Milltown Park., Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 10 April 1948, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

First World War chaplain.

by 1898 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1907 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1916 at St Aloysius College, Glasgow (ANG) Military Chaplain
by 1917 Military Chaplain : 5th East Lancashire, Witley, Surrey
by 1918 Military Chaplain : Officers Mess Park Hall Camp, Oswestry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948
Obituary

Fr. Hugh Mulhall (1871-1893-1948)

Fr. Mulhall died on Saturday, April 10th after a few days illness. He had been visibly failing for some time before but had not been confined to bed. On Monday, April 5th, he got a heavy cold, which developed into congestion. He was anointed and received Holy Viaticum on Wednesday night and although he rallied a little next day, he was clearly dying on Friday. This was his seventy seventh birthday and he was very grateful to all the Fathers wbo celebrated Mass for him that morning. His sufferings were increasing but God mercifully put an end to them on Saturday afternoon. R.I.P.
Hugh Mulhall was born at Boyle on April 9th, 1871. His mother was a sister of The Mac Dermott, a fact which Fr. Mulhall never forgot and of which he liked to remind others. He was educated at the diocesan college of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill, Sligo, from which he went to Maynooth where he spent about four years. All his life he was proud of being a ‘Maynooth man’ and he preserved a vivid memory of his contemporaries. He could tell after a lapse of nearly half a century which of them had got ‘a first of first’, which had ‘led his class’ which had come to high ecclesiastical dignity.
He entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on St. Stanislaus' Day, 1893. In due time, he pronounced his first vows and after a short Juniorate, he spent two years in the Colleges, one year at Galway and one at Clongowes. He was sent to Stonyhurst for his philosophy which he did in two years. He was on the teaching staff in Galway again in 1900. In 1903 he did his theology in Milltown and was ordained there in 1905. He went to Tronchiennes in 1907 for his tertianship under Pere Petit and was sent to the Crescent, Limerick to teach in 1908. As his methods of teaching were original but not calculated to secure success in the examinations, he was transferred to the Church staff. After a year spent at Tullabeg as missioner and operarius in the people's church, he was appointed a military chaplain in the First World War, in 1916. He never went to the Front but served as chaplain to hospitals and camps, at Stobhill, Glasgow, at Whitley, Surrey, and at Oswestry. The four or five years which he spent as chaplain were the most active and pleasant of his life and gave him a stock of memories and stories which he never forgot.
He must have been rather an unsoldierly figure and he was certainly unconventional in manner, but he soon came to show that he was a first-class chaplain. He had an extraordinary gift of interesting people in religion. He was very intelligent, quick and subtle of mind, unusually independent of notes and books. Like Macaulay, he could be said to carry his wealth in his breeches pocket and not in the bank. He had his considerable capital under his hand and could draw on it at once. He had a rare gift of being able to expound a question or situation in a lucid, orderly and winning way. He could show to a prejudiced hostile non-Catholic that even the most ‘advanced’ Catholic doctrines, such as the infallibility of the Pope or the Immaculate Conception, were sweetly reasonable and actually demanded by the general situation. He was devoted to the men and did great good among them. At the mess and in his general dealings with the officers, he produced a deep impression. A point of morals or a question of belief would be mentioned and the Padre would be asked for his opinion. His opinion was always received with respect, if not with approval, he could give the Catholic position clearly and cogently. He undoubtedly exercised a great influence.
In 1921 he was appointed to the Mission Staff. He suffered with increasing intensity from nervous troubles and after a period in a sanatorium in Scotland, he spent some years in Rainhill in the English Province doing retreat work. But his malady got worse and he was obliged to give up active work. In 1931 he came to Rathfarnham Castle where he remained until his death.
Fr. Muhall was emphatically a ‘character’, unusual and remark able in many respects. He attracted attention at once by his great unwieldy figure, with its indication of uncommon physical strength. Almost all his life, he enjoyed good health and never knew what a headache was. For a man with his leisure, he read extremely little, but he had a most tenacious memory and never forgot what he heard from others or learned from his own experience. He loved talking and could not sit in a tram or bus or train without entering at once into conversation with his neighbour. He had great skill in starting and keeping going a conversation. He would have been quite at home in the eighteenth century when conversation was the chief recreation of civilised men. But his conversation was always of a spiritual turn, and it was a proof of his special gift that he could interest anyone in religious matters. His great interest was the conversion of Protestants. He noted every conversion mentioned in the papers, he entered into correspondence with Protestants, he got prayers said for them.
Though he endured constant mental sufferings arising from scruples, fears, inhibitions and excessive sensibility, he was usually cheerful and patient, always ready to talk with a visitor, always bright at recreation. He told a story very well, had a very fine sense of humour. He was always most interested in news about our Fathers and Brothers. It need scarcely be mentioned that his eccentricities, due for the most part to the state of his mental health, did not make religion easier for himself or for others. He was a man of deep child like piety, the Sacred Heart and Our Lady being the chief objects of his devotion.
It is hard to imagine Rathfarnham without the massive figure who sat on the seat near the exit steps, impervious to east wind or rain, or who stumped up and down on the short side walk, leaning on his stick, or who sat for hours at a time at the window of the library, looking out but not at the landscape. He was looking into himself or into the past, for he was inordinately preoccupied with self, in the phrase of the old Greek philosopher, he made himself the measure of all things! It was difficult at times to resist a feeling of pity that such gifts as he undoubtedly possessed, came apparently to so little use. But God's estimate may be very different. We do not know the value that He attached to his suffering and patience. Fr. Mulhall never said a bitter or unkind word about another, he was always studiously mild in his criticism. One who knew him well for most of his life in the Society, described him as the most charitable man he had ever met. We trust that God has given him the peace of mind for which he prayed and sought so long. In pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam. R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Hugh Mulhall SJ 1871-1948
Many of the Province will recall the huge almost unwieldy figure of Fr Mulhall which moved round the Castle during their Juniorate days at Rathfarnham.

He was born in Boyle on April 9th 1871. Having spent about four years in Maynooth, he entered the Society in 1893. During the first World War he acted as chaplain, earning for himself a reputation among the troops for his kindly interest and a special aptitude fro explaining difficulties in religion in a lucid and simple manner.

The War over, he was appointed to the Mission Staff, but the malady from which he suffered for the rest of his life soon made its appearance, and he was forced to abandon active service. He suffered from extreme scruples. This affliction he bore with great patience and humility, never heard to murmur against his lot, but grateful to God who gave him so many good friends among his brethren who tried to help him in his sickness. This cross he bore for 17 years.

He died a happy death on April 10th 1948.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Hugo Mulhall (1871-1948)

Was born at Boyle, Co Roscommon and on the completion of his education at Summerhill College, Sligo, entered Maynooth College. He was received into the Society in 1893. He pursued his higher studies in England, and at Milltown Park, where he was ordained in 1905, and, on finishing his tertianship in Belgium, arrived in the Crescent in 1908. Although a man of subtle intellectual gifts, he showed no aptitude for teaching and was soon transferred to church work at which he laboured conscientiously until 1914. After some experience on the mission staff, he volunteered as a military chaplain but never served outside England. After the first world war he returned to mission work in Ireland and was later back in England engaged in retreat work.

Born: 28 November 1575, Kilconnell, County Galway
Entered: 07 September 1607, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae province (BELG)
Ordained: pre Entry, Savoy, France
Died: 28 December 1633, Galway Residence, Galway City, County Galway

Alias O’Mulchiran

Parents Patrick O'Mulchiran and Catherine Ní Rachtican (Rhattigan or Raughtigan);
Studied in Ireland Taught Humanities in Limerick 1 year
Studied 7 years at Louvain and is an MA. Studied 4 years Theology at College of Savoy and is Bachelor of Theology
1622 onwards in Ireland

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Patrick and Katherine née Rachtican
He studied in Ireland, Humanities at Louvain, Lille (graduating MA), and Theology in Savoy
Received into the Society by BELG Provincial (cf Tournay Diary MSS de l’État, Brussels, n 1016, p 709)
1609 Came to Ireland; Esteemed and venerated in Connaught; A good Preacher

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Patrick and Catherine née Rachtican
Studied Humanities in Ireland, and taught it for a year at Limerick before he went to Louvain and then Lille for Philosophy (graduating MA) and then Theology in Savoy,where he was Ordained before Ent 07 September 1607 Tournai
1609 After First Vows he was sent to Ireland and the Galway Residence, arriving November 1609, and worked in Connaught until his death at the Galway Residence 28 November 1633

Born: 18 April 1920, Swinford, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1981, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 29 May 1986, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Bray, County Wicklow

Part of Gonzaga College SJ community, Ranelagh, Dublin at time of his death.

Born: 14 March 1853, Castleknock, County Dublin
Entered: 18 March 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1894, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 14 December 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Glazier and Painter before entry

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 7th Year No 2 1932
Obituary :
Br Joseph Mulvany
Br. Joseph Mulvany was born near Castleknock on 14 March 1853. While he was a boy, his family moved into Dublin, and he went to school at Richmond St. During his school-days, he was an altar boy in Gardiner St. He began his noviceship at Milltown Park in 1882 and finished it two years later at the newly established house in Dromore, Co. Down. During his life of 49 years in the Society, he discharged, at one time or another, nearly every duty that falls to the lot of a lay-brother. For some years, when stationed at Belvedere, he is entered in the Catalogue “Adj Dir. assoc. S. S. Cor,”. Sacristan seems to have been his speciality, for he held that important position for no less than 38 years. For 26 years he was stationed at Milltown, 8 at Belvedere, 5 at University College, Stephen's Green, 4 at the Crescent, 3 at Clongowes, 2 at Gardiner St,, and 1 at Dromore.
Most people will remember Br. Mulvany as sacristan in Milltown. He did his work in the Chapel with a regularity and fidelity to routine that were characteristic of him. Towards the end of his time, when scholastics who were helping him decorated the altar in some novel way, he would murmur disapprovingly, “more in sorrow than in anger”. It was never
done before Gradually he was relieved entirely of any work, he was becoming so weak. He used to hobble about in the garden, sit in the little kiosk saying his beads. He must have said millions of heads, His fidelity to the spiritual duties used to impress those that lived with him.
For a few weeks before his death, he complained of being very weak, but with a will to live, about which he did not mind being joked, he kept up as much as possible. He was at dinner in the refectory three days before he died. Had he lived for a few months more he would have celebrated his Golden Jubilee in the Society. He died at Milltown on Monday 14 Dec. 1931.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Brother Joseph Mulvany 1853-1931
Br Joseph Mulvany was born at Castleknock on March 14th 1853. His family moved into the city, and so young Joseph was enabled to go to O’Connell’s Schools, and to become an altar boy in Gardiner Street. He entered the Society at Milltown in 1882, and completed his noviceship at Dromore County Down.

His work in the Society was mainly as Sacristan, at which he excelled, holding that post for upward of 38 years, the majority of them at Milltown Park. When he grew too feeble to work, he used hobble around the garden and sit in the kiosk telling his beads. He was never without them, and his litany of rosaries must have run into millions.

He died at Milltown on December 14th 1931 within a few months of his golden jubilee as a Jesuit.

Mungret College, situated 3 miles west of Limerick City, was a Jesuit apostolic school (1882-1967), and a lay secondary school (1882-1974). It had previously been an agricultural college (1858-1878), and a Limerick diocesan seminary (1882-1888).

Taken from a Mungret College prospectus (c.1970): ‘Situated on the south bank of the Shannon some three miles south-west of Limerick, the College stands on the hallowed ground where, from the sixth to the twelfth century, flourished one of Ireland's most famous schools of learning-the Monastery of Mungret. There is a strong tradition that St. Nessan was its founder and first Abbot. The property was acquired by the Society of Jesus in 1882, and opened as a College in that year. From 1887 to the passing of the Irish Universities Act in 1908, candidates for the B.A. and M.A. Degrees of the Royal University took their lectures in the College.’

Rectors of Mungret College, Limerick
1882-85: William Ronan
1885-88: Jean-Baptist René
1888-91: Thomas Head
1891-1900: Vincent Byrne
1900-03: William Henry
1903-05: William Sutton
1905-08: Thomas Nolan
1908-12: Nicholas J Tomkin
1912-13: Patrick Tighe
1913-16: Edward Cahill
1916-20: James Corboy
1920-Feb.1922: John Fahy
Feb.-July 1922: John Joy
1922-27: George Roche
1927-31:Laurence Kieran
1931-36: Edward Dillon
1936-41: Joseph O'Connor
1941-47: Jeremiah Kelly
1947-50: Brian McMahon
1950-56: Francis Joy
1956-62: Gerard Perrott
1962-68: John Kerr
1968-71: Senan Timoney
1971-74: Patrick Cusack

Superiors of the Apostolic School
1882-88: Jean-Baptist René
1888-91: Thomas Head
1891-94: Vincent Byrne
1894-95: Joseph McDonnell
1895-1900: James Forristal
1900-04: Joseph McDonnell
1904-1913: Edward Cahill
1913-1919: James Tomkin
1919-20: John Fahy
1920-21: Augustine O'Kelly
1921-23: Edward Cahill
1923-May 1926: Patrick McCurtin
May-Jul 1926: Laurence Potter
1926-41: Jeremiah Kelly
1941-55: John Kelly
1955-May 1957: Daniel McDonald
May-Jun 1957: Francis Joy
1957-59: Brendan Barry
1959-67: Redmond Roche
1967-68: John Kerr
1968-71: Senan Timoney
1971-74: Patrick Cusack

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: 20 August 1862, Rathmore, County Kerry
Entered: 02 February 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 01 August 1897
Final Vows: 02 February 1899, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 20 February 1943, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales

Came to Australia 1889 for Regency
by 1898 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1902 at St Aloysius, Galle, Sri Lanka Mission (BELG) teaching at Seminary
by 1923 at St Wilfred’s Preston England (ANG) working
by 1943 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) health

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
A highly intelligent and interesting man, Denis Murphy began his career in the Society in 1882, and after initial Jesuit studies arrived at Riverview for regency in December 1888. He taught the public exam classes in Latin, Greek, French and mathematics, and was an assistant prefect of discipline until 1893. In the years 1893-94 he taught the lower classes at St Patrick's College before returning to Ireland for theology After tertianship he spent time in Ceylon and England.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 10th Year No 3 1935

Works by Father Denis J Murphy SJ :

1. “English Idioms and Pronunciation” - Written for Indian students of English. It gives in parallel columns incorrect and correct English idioms. A pamphlet of 25 pages, very helpful for schools in India
2. “Current Errors in English History” - Two booklets, of about 100 pages each, give true history of important events according to best historians, and show how false is the Protestant version.

Irish Province News 18th Year No 2 1943

Obituary :
Father Denis Murphy SJ (1862-1943)
Fr. Murphy's death occurred at St. Beuno's College, St. Asaph, North Wales, on the morning of 20th February. After spending some time in a Preston Nursing Home he had been transferred to St. Beuno's last summer and, the' unable to offer Mass since 2nd June, he kept up his former interests and maintained contact with Preston, the scene of his labours for the twenty years previous to his death, as well as with the Province. On the very morning of his death Fr. Socius received a letter from the Brother who was looking after him, reporting Fr Murphy's anxiety to give full information of the Masses he had been saying up to his illness and mentioning that he still retains his buoyancy and good spirits and begs to be kindly remembered to the Provincial and the community at Gardiner Street.
Born at Rathmore, Co. Kerry, in 1862, he entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, on February 2nd, 1862, and spent five years as master in Melbourne before pursuing his theological studies. He was ordained priest by the late Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1897, and after occupying the post of Prefect of Studies at St. Ignatius' College, Galway, for three years, volunteered for school work in Galle, Ceylon, then under the care of the Belgian Jesuits. Monsignor Van Reeth, S.J., Bishop of Galle, had come to Europe in 1901 in search of a Head for his recently established school for native boys. Father Murphy offered himself for the position. Under his tactful and talented management; the college, from being a collection of mere floorless huts, where boys were taught the elements of the three Rs, became a secondary school of distinction, St. Aloysius College, where pupils were prepared for the Senior School Certificate of Cambridge. After twenty years of unbroken service in the tropics Father Murphy was compelled through ill-health to return to Ireland in 1922. In the autumn of that year began his twenty years' association with the parish of St. Walburge's of Preston, where his priestly zeal and remarkable gentleness of disposition won him all hearts. The diamond jubilee of his entrance into religion was made the occasion last February, of remarkable popular rejoicings in Lancashire.
Fr. John Delaney has kindly set down the following details of Fr Murphy's work in Ceylon : “On his way home to Ireland from Australia for his theology, Mr Murphy's boat called at Colombo. While on shore he visited the Irish Oblate father who was then Parish Priest at St. Philip Neri’s the Garrison Church of the town. Chatting about Mission work on the Island, the Oblate father impressed so much on Mr. Murphy's mind the crying need of English speaking missionaries in such a place that he determined to apply to his Superiors for permission to return as a priest and work in Ceylon. He was strengthened all the more in his desire, as he found that the Society had two dioceses Galle in the South and Trincomali in the East of the Island, as well as the papal Seminary in the Hill Capital, Kandy, where the future clergy of India and Ceylon were being formed by the Jesuit Fathers.
During his tertianship he offered himself to the Provincial for Mission work in Ceylon, His generous offer was accepted, though Fr. Murphy heard no more about it for some time. On his return to Ireland he was appointed to Galway and asked to work up the school there. Many there are to-day who still remember and speak with admiration of the untiring zeal and the fine spirit of work he showed at St. Ignatius.
While Fr. Murphy was working in Galway the Belgian Jesuit Bishop, Dr. Joseph Van Reeth, who was in charge of the Galle Diocese Ceylon, came to Rome on his ad limina visit. While touring Europe in quest of subjects who would help him to found and work up a College in his diocese - a project very dear to his heart - he applied to the Irish Provincial, who remembering the Tertian's generous offer, placed the Bishop's request before him. Fr. Murphy packed up and set sail for the East, accompanied by as German Scholastic, who had joined the English Province for Mission work. That was in 1901. His work was to continue till 1921.
Fr. Murphy's activities in Ceylon can be placed under two heads : (1) the educational, or (2) the directly spiritual :
Arriving in Galle and taking charge of the Boys' School that had a roll of 82 pupils, he commenced his solid, persevering, self-sacrificing work that was to culminate in the great St. Aloysius' College of to-day - a fully equipped Secondary School with Elementary and Commercial Branches complete, side by side with an up-to-date Scientific Department containing a magnificent Laboratory that is regarded as one of the best in the Island.
Getting down to the very rudiments, Fr. Murphy began to lay the solid foundation of a thorough grasp of the English tongue for which the pupils of St. Aloysius' College became so renowned in later years. Parsing, analysis, rich vocabulary and correct idiom he hammered at continuously in season and out of season. People saw the wisdom of his plan and he himself was greatly encouraged when at the end of the first year he succeeded in getting his two Candidates through the Senior Local Cambridge Examination.
Then, he set about training his own pupils, first as monitors then as teachers, some of whom he sent to the Training College, gradually staffing the school with his own past pupils. During his regime he succeeded in capturing twice the much-coveted Government scholarship offered in open competition to all the Colleges of the Island. Before he returned to Ireland he had the satisfaction of seeing over 500 boys housed in a magnificent set of buildings the new St. Aloysius College-designed and completed on really oriental lines. His remarkable spirit of work had a contagious quality, too. His Old Boys testify even, to-day to that, and assert that with his great slogan "Certa Viriliter" emblazoned on the College Coat of Arms as their motto. Fr. Murphy really infused a genuine spirit of work into their lives. His directly spiritual work was equally successful. Starting off with a highly intensified spiritual life himself and remarkable for his spirit of prayer, love of poverty, penitential practises - rarely did he sleep on a bed - he gathered around him souls whose great desire was to be disciples of The Master. He was loved by the children for the wondrous charm of his simplicity. Converts reverenced him as their father. Children of Mary in the Convent and the College were anxious to place themselves under his spiritual direction. Members of religious congregations, many of whom hailed from Ireland, drew inspiration for their lives from his word and his example. His kindness, gentleness and discernment, his Christlike demeanour were an unfailing attraction for all.
For many years he crossed over regularly to Madras for the Annual Retreat of the Irish Presentation Nuns. Their first Convent in Madras was an offshoot of Rahan near Tullabeg. The former Rahan Parish Priest was a brother of the late Archbishop of Madras. These were the links between the two communities. From humble beginnings these Irish Presentation Nuns gradually developed their influence till to-day they are a power in the land through their schools, convents and colleges including the famous Training College of Madras, where the foundations of Catholic education of South China are so well laid.
The secret of Fr. Murphy's success lay in those supernatural qualities which his late Jesuit Superior in Galle discerned when he spoke of him as “a genuine religious and a very saintly man”. The same encomium as was paid twenty years after, when a late Provincial of England alluded to him as “the saint of St. Walburge's” R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Denis Murphy SJ 1862-1943
On his way home from Australia, Mr Denis Murphy – as he was then called – called in at Colombo, and was much struck by the lack of priests there. He volunteered for the Mission of Ceylon. His offer was accepted in 1900 on the appeal of the Bishop of Galle for a man to run his recently established school for native boys. Under his management, the school, from being a mere collection of floorless huts became a secondary school of distinction, the present College of St Aloysius. For twenty years Fr Murphy worked in Ceylon.

Then through ill health he returned to Ireland, and he worked for another twenty years on the English Mission at Preston. He celebrated his Diamond Jubilee as a Jesuit in 1942, having been born at Rathmore in Kerry in 1862.

He died at St Beuno’s on February 20th 1943, leaving behind a permanent monument to his zeal in the College of St Aloysius, Ceylon.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon.

A Jesuit. Father. well known to many .. of our students, and one who takes a great interest in the apostolic school, writes from Galle, Ceylon :

“Some six years ago this diocese had only six Catholic schools. Now there are thirty-six, each & source of numerous conversions and fonning the nucleus of a Chris tian community. The total number of children now attending the Catholic schools is about 2,500; six years ago it did not exceed 700,

We have, however, numerous difficulties to contend against. The Buddhists are encouraged and organised by European spiritualists, like Colonel Alcot and Miss Besant. Then there is the bitter opposition and bigotry of the. Protestants, who have plenty of money and have been in the field a hundred years before us. The Catholics are: poor, and find it difficult to support the priests or teachers. Above all, the workers are too few. Imagine thirty-six schools and forty-two churches and chapels, many of them thirty or sixty miles apart, worked by some eight priests ! Thus it happens that Catholic teachers and children are often months without seeing a priest. And it occurs again and again that schools decay and Catholics 'turn Protestant and Buddhist owing to the want of a priest to look after them.

But wherever a priest is the school fourishes and conversions multiply. Down at Matura, five years ago, there were two flourishing Wesleyan schools. Rev. Fr Standaert SJ, then opened his school of two boys in the church verandah, Now Fr. Standaert's school numbers one hundred and fifty children ; of the Wesleyan schools, one is fast dying, the other already dead.

The climate though hot, is wholesoine and invigorating, sea or land breezes nearly always blow; while our diet, dress, and houses are well adapted to a tropical climate. Hence, I feel the heat less than during an Australian summer”.

-oOo-

The same writer says in another letter :

“The Catholics, having endured a terrible persecution under Dutch Calvinists for 150 years up to the year 1800, are now fast multiplying. Their number at present is about a quarter of a million ; Trotestants are 60,000; the rest, Some 3,000,000, are Buddhists and Mohammedans. This (locese has over 7.coo Catholics scattered over an area as Targe as Munster. Two hundred converts are made yearly. In this diocese we have only twelve priests and need help Dadly. The Singhalese are a gentle loveable race, pos sessing an eastern refinement. Their modesty and humility seem to fit them admirably for the reception of Christianity. Here in Galle a higher Catholic school is sorely needed to keep our boys from Buddhist and Protestant schools. We teach from the alphabet to Senior Cambridge.

Some 'twelve months ago this (St Aloysius), school had a little over one hundred pupils, there are now over two hundred. About half are Catholics, the rest are Buddhists, Mohainmedans and Protestants. Gentle, good, ainiable boys they are. We are getting converts amongst them. About a dozen are now preparing for baptism. The scenery of Ceylon is beautiful, especially around old Kandy, the hill city of the kings, which I visited lately”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1904

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon.
“I was very glad to hear that you hope to be able soon to send help to Galle. The need is great, and the harvest is ripe. English-speaking priests are sorely needed in Ceylon and India. First, as English teachers in colleges. Second, as Preachers in churches Thirdly, because Continental priests don't well understand British character, ideas and methods, which of course permeate British Colonies. This is certainly an agreeable mission, with. many thousaud Pagans awaiting the light. Caste males no difficulty here; but is a terrible barrier in India, I am sorry I cannot write more, as I hear this eve ping the Singhalese chart of the Via Crucis in the native tongue, while our pious congregation, in many-coloured native costumes, gather in. Still we are only one in thirty-five of the population of Galle. There is great room for conversions. So pray for me with my littie Catholics and non-Catholics.

NOTE - Though Father Murphy is not a Past Student, we think his letter will interest many of our readers, es pecially those who remember him in Galway.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1905

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

A great friend of the Apostolic School, now a missioner in Ceylon, writes from St Aloysius College, Gaile

Ceylon
My dusky lads admire the Mungret photos and would like to be in such a grand college. In Ceylon, though the Protestants have built many fine Colleges, the Catholics have only one large College building - St Joseph's, Colombo, but we hope to have a fine college built in Galle very soon.

Of my 240 boys about half are Buddhists and Mohammedans, good little fellows, with the natural law writ clear and deep. Few leave us without Catholic principles and a desire to embrace the true faith, but parents oppose, and helpless boys must prudently yield now; later on we hope they will follow their convictions. We must rely for converts chiefly on the young, the old Buddhists being too corrupt in heart and mind.

Our rival colleges here are the Anglican, the Wesleyan with some 400 pupils, and the Buddhist College supported hy English Theosophists. The latter college was fast dying last year and nearly all its pupils were leaving for St Aloysius' College; but Colonel Olcott came, bought up a large building, bronght out a Cambridge MA, and now that Buddhist institution flourishes.

It is difficult to exaggerate the need of English-speaking priests in India and Ceylon. English education is now spreading rapidly. Every bishop has a college in his diocese and naturally requires as teachers those whose mother tongue is English. Amongst Europeans here, too, there is great need of priests of their own nationality,

So you see there is a splendid field of labour open to Mungret in these lands.

The bishop of Kandy and a Singhalese priest are just giving a mission here. The dialogues, in which the private lakes the rôle of a Buddhist or Protestant asking for information from the bishop, are very interesting and instructive for the people. The bishop, an Italian, learned this plan from the Jesuits in Rome,

-oOo-

The same writer, in another place, sends the following most interesting items :

The people of this country, until some three months since, were cursed by drunkenness, leading to countless murders. But a temperance movement, like Father Matthew's, has spread through the island in an extraordinary manner, and already public houses and law courts are empty; publicans and lawyers are in poverty. For a Buddhist people it is marvellous. They have watchers near every public house, and pledge-breakers are boy. cotted and macle to take on their backs stones or baskets of sand to the Buddhist temples.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1908

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon - Rev D Murphy., writes from Galle:

We need English), or still better, Irish, aid very badly here, especially for college work. We have now a nice college of some 300 dusky lads and my poor self the only Paddy! We have white boys, chiefly of Dutch descent, called Burghers, and yellow boys - Singhalese and Portuguese - with many black boys of Tamil blood, The latter are industrious when made to be, and by nature very. gentle and obedient.

The Eastern memory is very good. The mind is acute but lacks reasoning power. All these qualities of mind and character are improving under European education.

Lying and theft seem a second nature to young and old here - quite shocking at first. But our boys quickly learn that “honesty is the best policy” in word and deed; so I find them now truthful and honest when they find both esteemed and rewarded; while the opposite bring punishment and disgrace. Amongst my 300 boys I have not had for many months a complaint of loss of books (stolen), which was quite a plague formerly. Our Catholic boys have much piety.

At games we do well. The college holds the champion ship for foothall over the Buddhist, Anglican, and Wesleyan colleges - past and present. The Aloysian club holds the foolball championship of Galle: Aided by four old boys the college played an excellent team of eleven English officers and men from HMS Sealark; and after a hard hour's game the match ended in a draw; and our English opponents acknowledged that Ceylon boys can play a splendid game. Of course all this makes our lads proud of their college, and fosters esprit de corps. The evenings are quite cool enough for Association; but Rugby cannot flourish in the tropics.

An English theosophist bas revived the Buddhist College here in Galle, which was almost dead four years since, having sent nearly all its pupils to us. Our boys though Buddhist grow with Catholic ideas and principles, If we could only gain the parents' permission many would become Catholics. We must wait and pray, con tent with those we do gain.

I like Ceylon climate better than Ireland's. We have no winter, nor is the heat too great; a fresh land or sea breeze constantly blows.

I hope some more will come to us from Mungret. The Easi has greatest need of English speakers.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1909

Letters from Our Past

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Ceylon - Rev D Murphy., writes from Galle:

Very glad missionary thoughts are turning Eastward, especially to India and Ceylon where English speakers are very badly needed. We must help in English countries French and Belgians, who want our aid in a most special way for education and English preaching English Protestant Missionaries swarm over Ceylon and India, but alas ! how few Catholic. May God send us some priests and nuns froin Ireland! I gave two retreats last Xmas in Madras to two large convents of Irish nuns, over thirty in each. Without them the various bible societies with Protestant Englislı nuns in abundance would have nearly all female education in their hands. South of Madras there is not one English speaking nun in India. Very sad !

We are more fortunate in Ceylon. We have the Good Shepherul Sisters from Ireland in Colombo and Kandy, and here in Galle we have a large convent of Belgian and Irish, with threë natiye sisters, all doing excellent work and famous for their Limerick lace. A beautiful convent by the sea bas been established at Matara, twenty seven miles from Galle.

Mr Piler is coming to us next month. You cannot imagine what a change one scholastic makes here or how much good he can du, surrounded and hard pressed as we are by Buddhists and Protestants. We have nine native teachers and a school of 300 fine lads, gentle, obedient; and industrious ; but only halt are Catholics We teach from alphabet to senior Cambridge and soon to London matriculation.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Denis Murphy (1862-1943)

Born at Rathmore, Co. Kerry, entered the Society in 1882 and was ordained in 1897 at Milltown Park. He had spent his regency at Australia before his theological studies. After his ordination he was appointed prefect of studies at St Ignatius', Galway and discharged the duties of his office with marked success for three years. He then volunteered for work with the Belgian Jesuits in Ceylon and for twenty years did splendid work in building up the College of St Aloysius at Galle. He was forced by ill-health to return to Europe in 1921 and was appointed to Sacred Heart College. Here he was engaged in teaching as well as being a member of the church staff. At the end of the year, however, feeling called to do mission work in England, he was sent at his own request to the Jesuit church at Preston where he laboured to the end. He remained a member of the Irish Province, although he had spent only four years of his long life in the actual work of his Province.

Born: 16 January 1833, Scarteen, County Cork
Entered: 26 October 1848, Dôle France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1862
Final vows: 02 February 1869
Died: 18 May 1896, University College, Dublin

by 1849 in Vals, France (LUGD) studying
by 1859 at Bonn, Germany (GER) studying Philosophy
by 1860 at Paderborn, Germany (GER) studying Theology
by 1861 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) studying Theology 3
by 1867 at Manresa, Spain (ARA) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
When he was five years old the family moved to Kanturk, where he had his early education before going to Clongowes.

1852-1858 After First Vows and some studies he was sent for Regency to Clongowes as a Teacher of all years.
1859 He studied his Second Year of Philosophy at Bonn.
1860-1863 He began his Theology at Paderborn, but after one year was transferred to St Beuno’s.
Returning to Ireland he taught Humanities and Rhetoric as well as Logic at Clongowes.
1867 he made Tertianship at Manresa, Spain
1868 He was sent to Tullabeg teaching Rhetoric.
1869-1874 He was sent to teach at Crescent Limerick.
1874-1882 he was attached to the Missionary Staff, and was Superior of that Staff for seven years.
1883-1888 He taught at UCD
1888 he was sent to Milltown to teach Canon Law.
1892-1896 He was back at UCD, mainly as a Writer. He died unexpectedly during the night of 17 May 1896 in his 64th year and 48th in Religious Life.

Ten years before he died he had been appointed by the Bishops of Ireland as promoter of the Causes of those who had died for their faith during the Penal Times. His last work as entitled “Our Martyrs” which was not published until after his death, though he had seen the last sheet through the press!
His other works include : “The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell”; The History of Holy Cross Abbey”; “School History of Ireland”

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Murphy, Denis
by David Murphy

Murphy, Denis (1833–96), priest and historian, was born 12 January 1833 at Scarteen, near Newmarket, Co. Cork, the eldest son of Timothy Murphy and his wife Joanna (née O'Connell). He was educated at Mr Curran's school in Kanturk before attending Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. Entering the Society of Jesus on 26 October 1848, he made his noviceship at Dôle and then returned to Clongowes and taught history and literature (1852–8). He undertook further philosophical and theological studies in Bonn, Paderborn, and St. Beuno's in Wales and, returning to Ireland in 1863, taught rhetoric and logic at Clongowes (1863–7). In 1867 he made his tertianship at Manresa in Spain and later taught at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, and the College of the Sacred Heart, Limerick. In 1874 he was attached to the society's missionary staff. He established a reputation as an excellent conductor of religious retreats and was appointed superior of the missionary staff in 1873. He began teaching French language and literature in 1883 at University College, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and, in 1888, was appointed to teach moral theology, and later canon law, at Milltown Park. In 1892 he returned to his teaching duties at University College and also served as an examiner in Spanish for the RUI.

Best known for his historical researches and writings, Murphy was a prominent member of several learned societies including the Kildare Archaeological Society, the RSAI, and the RIA (1884), and contributed to their journals. His articles in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland include ‘Mungret Abbey’ (1894), ‘The castle of Roscommon’ (1891), ‘The ornamentation of the Lough Erne shrine’ (1892), and ‘The Irish Franciscans at Louvain’ (1893). His best known historical work is Cromwell in Ireland (1883), a scholarly and balanced account of the military campaign of 1649–51 written to refute the many myths associated with Oliver Cromwell (qv); new editions were published in 1885 and 1897. Murphy gave credit to Cromwell for his courage and military effectiveness, but condemned his religious bigotry and cruelty, and agreed with the 1st earl of Clarendon's saying ‘that he was a great, bad man’ (Cromwell in Ireland, p. ix). In 1893 Murphy translated into English and published Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh's (qv) manuscript life of Red Hugh O'Donnell (qv) with an extensive historical introduction and parallel bilingual text (The life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell (1893)). The translation, however, was severely criticised by some Irish scholars for its lack of precision. His widely used School history of Ireland (1894) gave a concise bird's eye view of Irish history from the arrival in Ireland in the 3rd century BC of Ceasair, granddaughter of Noah, ‘forty days before the deluge’, up to his own day.

At the request of the Irish bishops, in 1886 Murphy began researching a history of the martyrdom of Irish catholics since the reign of Henry VIII. He carried out extensive researches in the Vatican and other continental archives for over a decade, the result of which was the posthumously published Our martyrs: a record of those who suffered for the catholic faith under the penal laws in Ireland (1896) which he completed only days before his death. His edition of The annals of Clonmacnoise (1896), based on the translation of Conall Mageoghegan (qv), was also published posthumously.

He was elected to the RIA's committee of polite literature and antiquities (1891) and became vice-president of the RSAI (1894) and editor of the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society. He received an honorary doctorate from the RUI in recognition of his historical research. A kindly and cheerful man, he enjoyed playing the bass violin to relax from his scholarly pursuits. He died suddenly 18 May 1896 in his rooms at University College, and was buried in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin cemetery. There is a substantial collection of his papers in the Jesuit archives in Dublin which includes research notes for Our martyrs and lists of Irish manuscripts in archives in Rome and Spain.

Times, 25 May 1896; Irish Catholic, 23 May 1896; RSAI Jn. (1896); Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society, ii (1896), 81–3; Irish Monthly, xxiv (1896), 328–31; DNB; Boase, supp. iii; Cork Hist. Soc. Jn., xv (1909), 90–92; Beathaisnéis 1882–1982, i, 90; papers of Denis Murphy, Jesuit Archives, Dublin

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Denis Murphy 1833-1896
Fr Denis Murphy was born at Scarteen County Cork on the 16th January 1833. Having received his education at Clongowes, he entered the Society in 1848, making his novitiate in Dôle, France.

After his ordination and tertianship he taught in our Colleges, Clongowes, Crescent and Tullabeg. From 1874-1882 he was attached to the Mission Staff. From 1883-1896 he taught at University College, St Stephen’s Green, wit a break in between as Professor ar Milltown Park.

He had been appointed by the Bishops of Ireland as Promoter of the Causes of the Irish Martyrs. This led to his book “Our Irish Martyrs”. His other published works are “The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell”, “The History of Holy Cross Abbey”, “Cromwell in Ireland” and “The Annals of Clonmacnoise”.

He died rather suddenly on May 17th 1896, being 64 years of age and 48 years a Jesuit.

◆ The Clongownian, 1896

Obituary

Father Denis Murphy SJ

Clongowes was still lamenting the loss of one of her most distinguished sons, Dr William J Fitzpatrick, when another, of those who have won fame for their Alma Mater in the world of letters was called away to his account. Born at Newmarket, County Cork, in 1833; Denis. Murphy went first to school at Kanturk; and then came to Clongowes, so young and so clever, that he is said to have finished the class of rhetoric at the earliest age recorded except in the case of Chief Baron Palles. Before his sixteenth birthday he had entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, and after spending some years in England and on the Continent returned to Clongowes as professor of classics.

As a writer and a lecturer; Father Murphy soon made a name for himself; as an antiquary he stood in the foremost rank in this country, and in recognition of his great services to Irish literature and history, the Royal University conferred upon him the honorary degree of LLD.

Many noble tributes were paid to his memory by the Press, and we cannot do better than give our readers the notice which the “Independent” gave of his life and labours :-

The announcement of the death of the distinguished Jesuit, Father Denis Murphy, will come with tragic suddenness on his numerous friends in Ireland. Father Murphy had not been strong for some time past, but there was no premonition of the approach of his death. Last week he might have been met working among, as was his wont, the manuscript materials in the Royal Irish Academy. On Sunday, as usual, he performed his sacerdotal duties, and in the evening, apparently in the best of health, beguiled the time revising the final proofs of his “History of the Irish Martyrs”, which was promised from the printing press next month. On Monday morning he was found dead in his bed, evidently having passed quietly away in his sleep a few hours previously. By the death of the Rev Denis Murphy, Ireland is deprived of the services of an untiring, faithful-hearted son, who loved her with love “far brought from out the storied past”, used in the present and transfused for future times; and the Jesuits lose a useful member, whose work has added lustre to the Irish Province, for his name will be placed on the bead-roll with that of the Blessed Edmund Campion SJ, and those of the Bollandist Fathers.

Father Murphy was born in 1833; and shortly after the Famine Year joined the Society. He was educated: in England, Spain, and Germany, as well as at the Irish houses belonging to his Order. The little town of Newmarket, County Cork, where he was born, is famous as the birthplace of John Philpot Curran, and is hallowed by the memory that there too Thomas Davis spent much of his boyhood's years. It lies in the heart of one of the most historically interesting and romantic districts in that county which Sir Walter Scott estimated contained more romance than all Scotland. Not very far from Father Murphy's early home the brave MacAlistrum had fallen in fight against Murragh-au Theathaun, as the peasants still call the Cromwellian commander, and Phelix O’Sullivan, the vindicator of the Irish Catholics, had broken battle with the English in the Raven's Gleng, and crossed the Blackwater by dint of his long spears; in his historic march into Connaught. Such and similar surroundings possibly first formed the historic faculty which, in later years, developed and trained as it became, distinguished Father Murphy's career. Besides, lectures on side-lights of history, feuilletons and fugitive, magazine articles innumerable, he published several volumes of rare value as contributions to the history of Ireland, although dealing with periods and individual persons. His life of Hugh. O'Donnell deserves a place in every Irish home. It is a bilingual text, and side by side wish the Gaelic original of the pious Scribe O'Clery, we have an English translation copiously imitated. By this scholarly book probably Father Denis Murphy will “be best known to the future students of our country's history. The story of Red Hugh, the bright brand foretold of Fanult, is. a revelation of purity of motive and single-hearted. I purpose which teaches mighty lessons to all Irishmen, and its publication as such. apart from its historic value, was a most important event. Nothing in drama or epic of any age or country can exceed the pathos and tragedy contained in this simple record of facts which Father. Murphy was the first to render into the English tongue. Sir William Wilde used to lament that Cromwell's campaignings in Ireland were the most defective portion of modern Irish history. To remedy this Father Murphy set himself to work, and did so effectually in his book “Cromwell in Ireland”, which gives in detail an account of that memorable campaign which began in August, 1648, and ended in May, 1649. He follows Cromwell step by step in his progress through the country, and traces his march with a blood-red line upon the map. He is even at pains to rescue Cromwell's memory from some things set down in malice, but he musters facts enough to show him the great bad man Clarendon maintained he was. Among his other substantial works are his “History of Holy Cross Abbey”, “The Annals of Clonmacnoise”, and his compendium of Irish history, The work he was engaged on when death took him to his reward is entitled “Our Martyrs”, and is a detailed account of those who died for the Faith in the different religious persecutions in Ireland from the period which is styled the Reformation. This book was the carrying out of part of the work he under took a few years ago at the suggestion of the Irish bishops - viz, the promotion of the claims to canonization of those Irishmen and women who had suffered death for religion's sake. “The School History of Ireland”, which was published in 1893, fulfils a useful work, This little book, which was brought up to date from the earliest periods, contains on its last page a graceful allusion to Mr Parnell's honoured name, and the services he rendered Ireland, which is, perhaps, remarkable when we remember the position of the writer and how high party seeling ran at the year of the publication of the book. Besides faithfully discharging the duties of a missionary priest, and a teacher in several schools and colleges, Father Murphy managed to make time in his busy life to fill with credit to himself positions of responsibility in many learned societies. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Vice-President of the Royal Academy and a Council member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and of the National Literary Society. He was editor of the “Kildare Archaeological Journal”, and took a particular interest in similar publications in Cork, Waterford, and Belfast. Such are Father Murphy's services as a historical researcher and a reliable interpreter of records difficult of access as to cause abiding regret that his books are so few. His place as an Irish scholar will not easily be filled ; his place as a thoughtful, ever faithful friend never can”.

His funeral was attended by a large number of clergymen and other citizens of Dublin, the coffin being covered with numerous beautiful wreaths. One in particular calls for our notice. The staff at the establishment of Father Murphy's printers (Messrs Sealy, Bryers, and Walker), subscribed for and forwarded a costly wreath to be laid on his coffin. The gift was accompanied by a large card bearing the imprint of an open book, the left hand page of which bore the following inscription :

IN MEMORIAM.
REV DENIS MURPHY SJ, LLD,
Died May 18th, 1896
Aged 63
RIP

A Tribute of great Respect
and Affection
From the Staff of his Printers,
Messrs SEALY, BRYERS, and WALKER,
Middle Abbey Street.

The other page contained the following :

The concluding sentences of a corrected proof found at his death-bedside addressed to the Printer -

“But he chose the better part, he finished his course, and kept the faith. As to the rest, there was laid up for him a crown of justice which the just Judge gave him, and will give to all that love His coming”.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959
Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Denis Murphy (1833-1896)

Was born at Scarteen, Newmarket, Co Cork. He was educated at Clongowes and, on being admitted to the Society, was sent to France for his noviceship. He pursued his higher studies at Bonn, and Paderborn, and was ordained at St Beuno's, in Wales in 1862. On his return to Ireland he was appointed to the teaching staff at Clongowes where he remained until 1867 when he set out for Spain to make his tertianship at Manresa. On his return from Spain, Father Murphy began his long association with the Crescent. From 1868 to 1874 he was a member of the teaching staff while he was also minister of the house, and in charge of the church choir. In 1874 he joined the mission staff then resident in Limerick and remained a member of it until 1883. During his years in Limerick, Father Murphy was held in the deepest respect and affection by all who knew him. He was known and appreciated as a man of versatile intellectual qualities. But this incident shows something of his very practical bent. During his years at the Crescent, it came to his notice that the widowed mother of two Crescent boys was having trouble with a leaking roof. She had seen better days and was in receipt of an annuity just enough to cover up the poverty of herself and children. She told Father Murphy that the estimates for repairs were beyond her resources short of going deeply into debt. Father Murphy, to calm her anxiety, went off to the builders, bought the wood at wholesale and with the help of the elder son of the widow, carried out the repairs on the roof with such skill that the next repairs became necessary only some forty years after Father Murphy's death.

In 1883, Father Murphy was transferred to University College, Dublin, where he was appointed to the post of bursar and librarian. His new post gave him enough spare time to work on his historical notes, the results of his researches during his scholastic days. For during his early years, he had travelled extensively in Europe to collect historical data on the persecutions for the Faith in Ireland. His researches brought him to the archives of cities so widely separated as Madrid, Lisbon, Douai, Louvain, Paris, Vienna and Prague. In his generation, Father Murphy was probably Ireland's most informed historian. After some five years at University College, Father Murphy was transferred to Milltown Park to take over the chair of moral theology. Fortunately, for Irish historical scholarship he was released from his post and returned to University College where he spent the last four years of his life. His monumental work entitled Our Martyrs was just finished in the press, but not yet published, the day before his death. For the last ten years of his life, he held from the Irish hierarchy the post of official Postulator of the Cause of the Irish Martyrs.

Born: 08 July 1913, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 04 October 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows 02 February 1951, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 20 January 1994, Beechfield Manor, Dublin

Part of Belvedere College SJ community at time of death.

by 1979 at Coventry England (ANG) working.

◆ Interfuse No 82 : September 1995 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1995

Obituary

Fr Edmond (Eddie) Murphy (1913-1994)

8th July 1913; Born in Limerick
Secondary studies: C.B.S., Sexton Street, Limerick. Taught at primary level for two and a half years.
4th Oct. 1937: Entered the Society at Emo
5th Oct. 1939: First Vows at Emo
1939 - 1941: Lived at Rathfarnham while studying Arts at UCD.
1941 - 1944: Philosophy at Tullabeg
1944 - 1945: Regency in Belvedere College
1945 - 1949: Theology at Milltown Park
28th July 1948: Ordained a priest in Milltown Park by Bishop J.C. McQuaid
1949 - 1950: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1950 - 1965: Belvedere College, Prefect of Studies, Junior School
1965 - 1967: Gonzaga College, Prefect of Studies
1967 - 1978: Belvedere College, Teacher
1978 - 1980: Coventry, England, working in a Parish
1980 - 1984: Belvedere College, Teacher
1984 - 1985: Loyola House, Province Secretary
1985 - 1994: Belvedere College
1985 - 1991: Writer and Confessor to the Boys
1991 - 1994: Praying for the Society and the Church
20th Jan. 1994: Died at Beechfield Nursing Home, Shankill, Co. Dublin

To the believing Christian the words of St. Paul (from our first reading) “Our homeland is in heaven” give meaning to the gift of life - to our passage through life - and, finally, to our passage from life. As we celebrate this Mass in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Eddie Murphy, we rejoice in his passing from this world in spite of the sorrow that his death occasions in each of us. Such is the paradox of the Christian Faith - such is the gift of that Hope in which we live out our lives - and such are the thoughts which our love for him bring to our hearts this morning.

The life of Fr. Eddie Murphy can be traced in the footsteps of His Master and Teacher. From early childhood - and numerous are the instances recounted by his family! - by word and example he taught his younger brothers and sisters the path of rectitude and right living. After leaving school in his native Limerick, he became a Primary School Teacher, and at the age of 24, joined the Jesuits in 1937. He received the B.A. degree in English, Latin and Irish, and, apart from the period of formation, spent nearly all of his life in the classroom, most of it in Belvedere College.

He is remembered as a person with a deep love of the vocation of Teaching - with high and strict standards set and demanded - yet he is recalled as a person with a deep interest in the individual student, which extended far beyond the confines of the classroom. He is also fondly remembered for the help and advice given to many young teachers starting out on their career. For 15 years - from 1950 to 1965 - Eddie was a much respected Headmaster of the Junior School in Belvedere. He brought to his mastery of the classroom techniques a great love of music - he was an enthusiastic listener, player and even composer - witness his STRING QUARTET in E MINOR of 1982!

That, in a few short lines, is the resume of the life of this teacher, faithful both to that profession and to his Jesuit vocation. After his retirement from teaching, he spent two years in parochial work in Coventry (during which time he undertook the challenging task of translating into English the Memorial of one of the founding companions of the Society of Jesus, B1, Peter Fabre). Unfortunately, he did not live to see his work in print. He also wrote short lives of Jesuits Blessed and Saints. At the end of 1980 he returned to his beloved Belvedere to live out the last 15 years of his life.

Apart from two years spent under his guidance in regency in Gonzaga College in the 60's, it was during these last years that I knew him best. His urbane deportment and interest in all things intellectual failed to hide a quite delicious and often mischievous sense of humour, of which the brethren in the community have been recalling the most outrageous examples during these past two days.

Just over 5 years ago, Fr, Eddie suffered the first of many minor strokes, which gradually slowed him down, and eventually led him along a path which, known only to God, seemed such a mysterious vocation for one who had been gifted with such an outstanding interest in the things of the mind.

The words of Christ in St. John's Gospel in this Mass summarise very well the diptych which has been his life. When young and in his prime, Fr. Eddie enjoyed God's gifts to the full - and he shared the fruits of them with others........ but, in the evening of his life, he followed St. Peter: “when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will bind you and take you where you don't want to go”.

I think that it is in this latter living out of his vocation that Eddie made his greatest offering to God. It is not for us to pass judgement on the ways in which God deals with another, yet there were times when we were tempted to ask why the Lord did not call him home, as his bodily strength failed, as his contemporaries passed on and as he faded into silence. But we can always bear witness to the ways in which God speaks to us through others.....and it is in this faith-context that we can thank God for the gift of Eddie Murphy, the patient.

One of the pillars of the Foundation of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises is the unconditional and complete offering of ourselves to God - in such a way that, “as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honour to dishonour, a long life to a short life”. Over 50 years ago, Eddie made that offering when he pronounced his First Vows in the Society of Jesus, and how well was that young man's commitment honoured in these last years of life, unheralded and unsung in the eyes of the world, yet as precious and fruitful as any years spent in his active ministry. Of what use, the world may ask, was this life of helpless existence? Only to the eyes of Faith can the answer be apparent - for I deeply believe that Eddie was asked to “hang on”, as it were, so that God could show forth the strength of love and draw out from others the extraordinary outpouring of living care and concern of which Eddie was the recipient from those whose vocation it is to look after the sick and helpless. I can only record my unbounded admiration for the nursing and caring Staff who showed their love for an old and feeble man in such a deeply Christian way. As I welcome you here, I hope that, when you think of Fr. Eddie Murphy, you will do so with pride in your work and with a deep sense of gratitude to God for having given you the grace to love him so well! In shouldering his needs, you have shouldered the yoke of Christ - you have learned from Eddie as well - and you have been gentle and very loving in heart - and you brought him rest for body and soul. Thanks to you, he could find Christ's yoke easy and His burden light.

Eddie waited so long for the coming of Our Saviour to call him home - but now his old enfeebled body (St. Paul speaks of "these wretched bodies of ours") will be transfigured into a copy of Christ's glorious body.

Fr Eddie's passing reminds us of the gift of life and the mystery of death - of God's forgiveness and our hope in Him - of our need to count on His word and to wait for Him.

To those of you who have joined us this morning to say farewell to Eddie, we, his Family and his Brother-Jesuits, thank you for the gift of your friendship and love for him.......and we pray that God, who spoke to you through him, will reward you for your love of him, “in full measure, pressed down and overflowing”.

We cannot but rejoice with and for Eddie - even in the midst of our sadness at this parting. But, when our sorrow has eased with the passage of time, may we be able to look back and recall what we shared together - and laugh at the fun-times - and in our laughter, may we give thanks.

As we celebrate this Eucharist, we reaffirm our Faith that “our homeland is in heaven”. As we pray for Eddie, we ask God to grant us the grace to be reunited with him in that heavenly home. As we say farewell, we say may you be with God, Eddie. And we say may God be-with-you, GOOD-BYE!

Michael Sheil

◆ The Gonzaga Record 1994

Obituary

Edmond Murphy SJ

Prefect of Studies 1965-7

If only to jog the memories of those past pupils who knew Fr Eddie I shall begin my small tribute by putting him into his proper context in Gonzaga history.

He came to Gonzaga in the August of 1965 to assume the role of Prefect of Studies (the title 'Headmaster' had not yet arrived) in succession to Fr Bill White who was kicked upstairs to be the Rector in place of Fr John Hughes. He came to us after fifteen very successful years as Prefect of Studies of the Junior School in Belvedere and, when he departed again in 1967, he was sucked back once more into the life of that college, where he remained a superb teacher of English and French until the years caught up on him. He was succeeded in Gonzaga by Fr Paul Andrews.
His two years among us were significant in many ways. Apart from his own substantial contribution to the academic life of the college, these were years when the lay staff included such notable personalities as Cathal O'Gara, Ray Kearns, John Wilson, Tom O'Dea and Edmundo Volpi, while among the Jesuits on active service in the classroom were Fr Joe Veale, Fr Joe Kavanagh, Fr Bill Lee, Fr Diarmuid O’Laoghaire, Fr John O'Leary, the two Fr Redmonds (Stephen and John), Fr Fred Cull, Fr (then ‘Mr') Michael Sheil, and myself.

His arrival in Gonzaga coincided with the erection of the great steel frame that was the skeleton of the present Boys' Chapel. 1966 was also the year when a large group of our senior boys marched in the 1916 Anniversary Schools' Procession to Croke Park, proudly carrying the tricolour and the school pennant, and the Proclamation was solemnly unveiled in the school theatre by Cathal Brugha, grandson of the 1916 leader, and read aloud by the captain, James O'Rourke. It was in this year too that Barry Bresnihan got his first call-up as centre-three-quarter against England at Twickenham.

Fr Eddie Murphy was a man of many parts. Limerick-born, he received his early education at the CBS in Sexton St, but did not enter the Society of Jesus immediately after his secondary schooling. Indeed, he had already attained the ripe age of 24 and had some two-and-a-half years' teaching in a national school behind him before he appeared on the steps of Emo Park to begin his noviceship. He then followed the normal course of Jesuit formation - two years' noviciate, three years attending UCD from Rathfarnham Castle and equipping himself with his BA and HDip in Ed, three years' philosophy in Tullabeg, a year's regency (i.e. teaching) in Belvedere, and four years' theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained priest on 28 July 1948. Then began his long association with Belvedere, interrupted only by his short stint at Gonzaga.

A man of many parts, I said. Yes, a man who gave his full commitment to the task in hand and while with us he generously shared his gift for organisation, his pedagogical experience, his aptitude for making friends, his rich vein of humour, his understanding of youth, his wise counselling and encouragement, and all his other many talents. I have spoken to a number of past pupils who were in Gonzaga between 1965 and 1967 and I have found that they all remember him with affection, recognising a person who was efficient, helpful, kind and very fair. In his dealings with boys, especially seniors, there were no 'scenes’, no tirades. His own mature handling of situations seemed to call forth a reciprocal maturity. One past pupil reminded me of how he would visit a classroom and, having made whatever pronouncement the occasion required, he would move towards the door, but then, as if an afterthought, deliver himself of an exit line in the form of an apt quotation, not infrequently in Latin.

Thinking of Fr Eddie there comes naturally to my mind the passage from Goldsmith's The Deserted Village:

A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant new;
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frowned;
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault.

Yes, he was, perhaps, a trifle ‘stern to view'. His fiery top contributed somewhat to this image, and I recall now the remark of a colleague who one day caught him in a pensive mood, in a pose that had him glaring at his fingernails “as if he were daring his fingers to answer back'. In memory's eye I see him with those same fingers poised menacingly over the keyboard of a piano, an instrument he always played fortissimo and, at times, agitato: I see him with his head thrust forward like a turtle's, his nose almost pressed against the sheet of music because of his short-sightedness. He was no mean musician and among his compositions is a String Quartet which had its premiere in Belvedere.

But then, I suppose, anyone who takes on the job of Prefect of Studies must make an effort to look a bit severe, and his pupils may see only one aspect of him. As one who shared his student days and had him as a friend and colleague in Gonzaga, I can assure all who served under him that Fr Eddie was a man of infinite wit, with a loud and infectious laugh, and he was a great swopper of stories - 'for many a joke had he'.

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore for learning was in fault.

Fr Eddie was a learned man with a deep love of learning. Most of his time in Belvedere he taught English and some French, but also spoke Irish fluently. In any language he was a purist and perfectionist and was steeped in semantics. As a former Classics teacher I like to think that this derived from his profound knowledge of Latin, and here I might add that among his works was a translation of the Memoriale of Br Peter Faber SJ commissioned by the Jesuit Resources Institute in the USA. For many a year he accompanied a group of Belvedere boys to Stratford-on-Avon, and so became known to many Gonzagians who shared this experience with the sister college.

While in Gonzaga he gave no evidence of athletic prowess; he was far more at home with dusty volumes than muddy fields. Yet I remember him as a faithful follower of this College's fortunes when the Cup matches got under way. One picture I relish of him was the occasion when he had been persuaded to take bat in hand for some cricket match - it may have been Staff versus Boys, I don't rightly remember. Anyway I see him now, caparisoned in minuscule pads, standing uncertainly at the wicket and peering suspiciously towards the other end as if there was a Curtly Ambrose lurking to deliver a lethal ball.

As he neared his four-score years his health collapsed and the dimming of an already weak sight must have been a great frustration to one for whom books and learning were such nourishment. His final period on earth was spent in a nursing home where he gradually loosened his grip on this world and began to breathe the airs of eternity. He passed away quietly on 20 January 1994, aged eighty-one.

May his gentle soul rest contentedly today in the happiness of God's home.

Edmund Keane SJ

Born: 01 April 1894, Ballybay, County Monaghan
Entered: 09 October 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1926, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died :27 July 1971, Mungret College SJ, Limerick

Studied for BA at UCD

Editor of An Timire, 1930-31.

by 1918 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1929 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :

Note from Paddy Finneran Entry
With the encouragement of Michael Murphy he then entered the Novitiate at St Mary’s, Emo under the newly appointed Novice Master John Neary. Michael Murphy followed him to Emo as Spiritual Father, and then onward to Rathfarnham as his Prefect of Studies in the Juniorate.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 46th Year No 4 1971

Obituary :

Fr Michael Murphy SJ (1914-1971)

Fr Michael Murphy was born in Monaghan on April 1st, 1894 and received his secondary education at the diocesan seminary. He then went to Dublin to study engineering in the recently opened UCD. Money was not easily come by and Fr Michael would cycle from Monaghan to Dublin at the beginning of each term and back to Monaghan at the end. For good measure, he had to take his brother in tow as he had not got Fr Michael's reserves of strength. While he was the University, Fr Egan used to admire his steadying influence on the wilder members of the engineering faculty,
Before completing his course in UCD he entered the noviceship at Tullabeg in 1914 shortly after the beginning of World War I, In 1916 after taking his vows he remained on in Tullabeg in the home Junioriate before sitting for his final University examiniation in 1917. Then he went to Stonyhurst for philosophy only to return within a year to Ireland when the Conscription scare blew up and go to Milltown to finish philosophy. He taught in Clongowes from 1920 to 1923 and after theology returned to Clongowes for a year before going to tertianship in St Beuno's. After his tertianship he went to Belvedere as assistant to the editor of the Irish Messenger and the following year became a teacher in Belvedere. He was transferred in 1927 to Mungret as Prefect of studies, a position he held till he was sent in 1935 to Emo as Socius to the Master of novices, Two years later he went to Rathfarnham Castle as Minister of Juniors, remaining thus till 1941. He was next appointed as Prefect of Studies in the Crescent, and from 1941 to 1954 he occupied this position either in the Crescent or in Mungret with a one year break when he went to Belvedere to teach from 1945-46. When Fr. M. Erraught replaced him as Prefect of Studies in 1954 he remained on in Mungret teaching Mathematics till 1956 when he went to Emo Park as Procurator. When Emo was sold in 1969, Fr. Murphy, now an old man, returned to Mungret, his working days over. Two years later, he passed peacefully away in a nursing home close to Mungret College. He died July 27th.
Most of Fr. Murphy's life as a Jesuit was spent in the Colleges either as teacher or as Prefect of Studies. He taught in Belvedere, Clongowes and Mungret, and was Prefect of Studies in the Crescent and for two periods in Mungret. Moreover, he was Prefect of Studies of the Province from the institution of the post for many years.
There is no gain-saying his success as Prefect of Studies. He possessed the capacity for carrying out endlessly tedious chores on the progress of the boys in the school. He was not severe and administered very little corporal punishment, producing results by steady pressure on boys and masters. Mungret in particular had remarkably consistent success in the public examinations under his guidance.
On the occasion of his annual visit to the College as Province Prefect of Studies, the local Prefect of Studies found him understanding and helpful with little taste for dull uniformity. Scholastics were encouraged by him to improve their teaching techniques and prompt assistance given to help them become efficient masters.
In his dealings with the Juniors as their Minister in Rathfarnham he was not a success, but indeed it is hard to see how anyone could be a success if he carried out the instructions he was given. The attitude of those in charge of the Juniors had been one of trust, now it was obviously one of suspicion. Studies do not flourish in such an atmosphere. It was a great relief for Fr Murphy to leave Rathfarnham and go as Prefect of Studies to the Crescent in 1941. The problems he had to deal with in a school were familiar to him and he knew how to deal with them successfully.
Fr Murphy was a Northerner with the faults and virtues of the North. As they say up there he was very “true” and most reliable and conscientious. One could not imagine him shirking a job no matter how demanding or unattractive it was. He possessed a good sense of humour combined with the patience of Job which he practised in dealing with the bores of the Province who were sure of a sympathetic hearing from him. In his habits he was austere and allowed himself little indulgence. Smoking, drinking, novel-reading had no attraction for him and his one form of exercise was cycling.
For Mathematics he had an abiding passion. I do not think he taught any other subject during his many years in the Colleges, but even after his teaching days were over, he spent many a day happily with figures. He was a constant correspondent of Fr R Ingram after the computer was set up in UCD and many an hour of the computer was occupied in testing for him whether this or that formula would always give you a prime number..
The rising generation of Jesuits would describe him as pre Vatican II, the Society will flourish if its younger members give the ungrudging service Fr Murphy did. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1974

Obituary

Father Michael Murphy SJ

Michael Murphy was born in Monaghan on 1 April 1894 and received his secondary education at the diocesan seminary. He then went to Dublin to study engineering in the recently-opened UCD, cycling from Monaghan at the beginning of each week and back home again for the weekends. Before completing his course at UCD he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg. That was in 1914. He remained in Tullabeg after his first vows in 1916, and in 1917 sat his final university examination. He studied philosophy at Stoneyhurst in England and Milltown Park in Dublin. He was a scholastic in Clongowes from 1920 to 1923, returning that year to Milltown for theology.

His first connection with Mungret was in 1927 when he came as prefect of studies, which post he held until 1935, It is in this capacity (which he held also from the late 1940s until 1954) that he will be best remembered by Mungret past pupils. His little “black book” was the terror of all. It was the one thing he used to get the work done! Boys, under him would do anything rather than have their names entered in that dreaded book. As one Jesuit teacher remarked : “Fr Murphy would come into a ‘rowdy’ class and stand in front of it. While not looking at any particular individual, he was looking straight into each one-one could see all the past ‘sins’ of each boy coming up before the eyes of the offender. Then he would just walk out again”.

Fr Michael's greatest interest in the things of this world was undoubtedly in the area of mathematics. He taught maths in the colleges - whenever he got the chance! - and even after his teaching days, he continued his interest. He was a really enthusiastic teacher, and almost necessarily was thus a very good one.

In 1956 he moved to St Mary's, Emo, then the Jesuit novitiate. Here he had the onerous task of procurator, where his mathematical interests were somewhat concretised. He remained in St Mary's until it was closed down in 1968, when he returned to Mungret. He was now an elderly man, and was suffering quite some discomfort from a skin disease. For two further years he soldiered on, and towards the end of his life he experienced great difficulty in climbing stairways. Indeed, it was on the stairs in Mungret that early in 1970 he suffered a rather bad fall, and this accident was the beginning of the illness which ended his life in July 1971.

Only as recently as 1965 did the writer first meet Fr Michael Murphy. That was in St Mary's, Emo. For one further year, 1970-71, we both lived in Mungret. The man I knew was a very kind and considerate man; a man of obvious deep spirituality; a man who suffered in silence, without wearing that martyred expression. He was a man who was interested in others - the one question always on his lips being a simple, concerned, “Doing well?” Fr. Michael's quiet presence, despite his own personal suffering, was both an influence on the writer and an inspiration to him to endeavour to live out his Jesuit life in the same quiet, concerned, spiritual manner.

Mungret, where Fr Murphy laboured for the Lord, is soon to be very quiet : in that peace and serenity may Fr Michael enjoy the vision and peace of his Lord and Master.

Born: 21 September 1894, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 30 June 1916, ST Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1927, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 02 October 1968, St Camillus' Hospital, Shelbourne Road, Limerick

Part of the Mungret College, Co Limerick community at the time of death

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 44th Year No 1 1969
Obituary :
Br Thomas Murphy SJ (1894-1968)
On Wednesday, October 2nd at about 1.15 p.m. Brother Murphy passed peacefully to his reward. It was a happy and blessed ending to a happy and holy life, but his loss leaves us all poorer. We miss his cheerful, holy and ever helpful presence around the House.
He was a patient of the Regional Hospital, Limerick for some weeks till August when he was transferred to St. Camillus Hospital. In both hospitals the nursing staff were very fond of him. He never gave any trouble and was always good humoured. Thanks be to God he did not seem to have pain at any time. On Wednesday morning the 2nd October he failed rapidly. Fr. Rector returned to him immediately and received his last breath. He was fortified with all the rites of the Church.
The remains were removed to the Boys' Chapel on Thursday evening, The President and Secretary of the Union, other past pupils and teachers from the College were present. It was 2 memorable sight as the hearse and cars moved through the boys drawn up on either side of the avenue. On Friday morning the Chapel was packed to over-flowing with priests, brothers, boys, friends and neighbours. We had past pupils from Limerick, Tipperary and even Australia. It was a most impressive ceremony; sung lauds followed by Concelebrated Requiem Mass and a sermon by Fr. Kerr who was Rector here until July last. It is thought it was the biggest funeral ever seen here; ič is easy to believe it. In many ways it was a very joyous occasion because we all felt that Brother Murphy had gone home to God. His beloved flag was at half mast. In all, over fifty priests and brothers were present including Fr. Vice-Provincial (Fr. Provincial was in Rome his Secretary, Fr. Rectors of Belvedere, Crescent and Clongowes, and priests and brothers from Galway, Tullabeg, Clongowes, Crescent, Rathfarn ham, Milltown Park, Gonzaga, Gardiner St. and Belvedere.
The Brothers of his own Community saw him as “a humble and simple man” who had a great devotion to Our Lady and the Rosary, who was to be found either praying in the Domestic Chapel or going about his work.
May God rest his lovable soul. We all thought as much of him as he did of Mungret. Nobody who heard it will ever forget the beautiful tribute paid by Fr. Kerr when he addressed the congregation after the Gospel. We are very grateful to him for allowing us to reproduce it here :
“It is not customary to have a homily or panegyric preached at the funeral of an Irish Jesuit, but Fr. Rector suggested to me, that when a man has served one house for 48 years as Brother Murphy served Mungret it was only fitting that some tribute should be paid.
In 1962 the then General of the Society of Jesus sent a Visitator to the Irish Province. The Visitor, not knowing any of the men, asked each of us to write a brief account of what we had done in the Society. This is what Brother Murphy wrote: ‘From 1918-1919 I was in Belvedere on the house’ - one sentence ‘From 1919-1920 I was in the Crescent on the house’ - one sentence. ‘Since that time I have been in Mungret’. (And then reading on, one feels that the love and affection of the old man for this College took possession of his pen, for he continued) ‘There I was in charge of the water-supply. I looked after the wells and the pumping system. I attended and operated the electricity generator till the coming of the E.S.B. I attended to the maintenance of the house, the roofs, the chimneys and the heating system.
'All these, your reverence, thank God I was able to do’.
This was Brother Murphy's simple statement of his life's work, but it told little of the man who was one of the best known and best loved Jesuits of the Mungret Community. Each of the past, and I’m glad to see them represented here today - has his own favourite image of Brother Murphy. Some remember him as a young man flitting about the roof-tops, hanging in the most precarious positions, calling cheery greetings to the boys below. Others think of him covered with grime tending the electrical generators or servicing the bunkers. Still others see him as he strode across the Apostolics' field on his way to the pump-house at Cahir, with his little black dog at his heels; and none can forget his smile in the Boys' refectory as he slipped an extra serve to a hungry 3rd Clubber! But all of us remember him as he walked on the stone corridor at eventide telling his Beads or kneeling at the back of the Boys' Chapel during Benediction or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Which of us will ever forget the ritual with which he surrounded the hoisting of the college flag. He used it to honour a visitor, to celebrate a feast or to congratulate the Boys on a victory. That flag flies at half-mast today in his honour, but we can be certain that all the flags of Heaven are unfurled today as they welcome their faithful servant.
Every clerical student who passed through Mungret remembers one thing about Brother Murphy : his extraordinary reverence for the priesthood. Many a young man, wavering in his vocation, depressed and feeling lonely made his way to Brother Murphy to find comfort, solace, guidance and strength. Is it any wonder then that his Christmas mail from America, Australia, England, Africa and China was the wonder of the rest of the community.
How often do I remember being called to the parlour to entertain one of the Past either a priest, or layman with his family! When a brief period had elapsed and the visitor felt that he had fulfilled all the requirements of courtesy or etiquette by talking to Fr. Rector then came the moment of truth : ‘well, Father, what I really called for, was to see Brother Murphy!’
Each year as examination time and ordinations approached in Carlow, All Hallows, Thurles, St. Peters and the other major seminaries, the letters poured into Mungret asking for Brother Murphy's prayers, for all the boys revered him as a saint. The roof-tops were not the only heights he reached. He had attained the closest union with God and he had the ability to communicate his love of Him to others.
I find it difficult today to ask you to pray for Brother Murphy, for all of us know that he already enjoys the Vision of God. He always prayed for and he will continue to pray for all in Mungret, for its priests, its brothers, its scholastics, its students, its day-staff, its farm-staff and domestic staff. So I would ask you now to stand and join with me in the Prayers of the Faithful for the eternal and happy repose of his soul with the God he loved and served so well”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1969

Obituary

Brother Tom Murphy SJ

Br Tom Murphy spent only one year in Belvedere, from 1918 to 1919. It was a year, however, he was never likely to forget for he was in charge of the household staff and found that many young men in trouble with the police demanded sanctuary as national heroes in the houses of religious. The rest of his life in the Society was spent in more peaceful surroundings, forty-eight of them in Mungret College. He was part of the Mungret scene and it will take many years to fill the void his going has created.

Born: 19 April 1929, Ranelagh, Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1954, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1972, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 28 November 2016, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ZAM: 03 December 1969; ZAM to HIB : 1989

by 1960 at Chivuna, Monze, N Rhodesia - studying language Regency

Early Education at CBS Synge Street; Bolton Street DIT

1956-1959 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1959-1961 Monze, Zambia - Regency : Bursar at Charles Lwanga Teachers’ Training College; Learning CiTonga
1961-1965 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1965-1966 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1966-1972 Mazabuka, Zambia - Parish work in BMV Assumption Parish & Nakambala Sugar Estate
1972-1987 Gardiner St - Director of Mission Office; + Province Vocations Task Force
1972 Transcribed to Zambian Province [ZAM] (02/02/1972)
1977 Assists in Church
1987-1988 Sabbatical
1988-1994 Crescent Church, Limerick - Superior ; Prefect of the Church; BVM & St Joseph Sodalities; Promoting Zambian Missions
1989 President “Cecilians Musical Society”
1989 Transcribed to Irish Province [HIB] (05/12/1989)
1994-1996 Gardiner St - Promotes Apostleship of Prayer and Messenger; Ministers in Church
1996-2016 Clongowes Wood College SJ - Treasurer and Administrator; Ministers in People’s Church; 2000 Assistant Chaplain in St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Dublin
2007 Assistant Guestmaster; Assistant Community Treasurer
2010 Ministers in People’s Church: Assistant Community Librarian
2014 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Jean Indeku Entry
During this time his real solace, as he says himself, was the weekend supplies in Mazabuka where he was duly missioned together with Frs Tom O’Meara and Vinnie Murphy.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/rip-vincent-murphy-sj/

RIP: Vincent Murphy SJ
Irish Jesuit Fr Vincent Murphy passed away peacefully on the morning of Monday 28 November at Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park. A native of Ranelagh, Dublin, Fr Vincent qualified as a Quantity Surveyor and played for Shamrock Rovers FC prior to joining the Jesuits in September 1954. He was ordained ten years later, in 1964.
Vincent spent a number of years on mission work in Zambia, then returned to Dublin, where he was in charge of the Mission Office in Gardiner Street and was Chaplain in St. Vincent’s Hospital. In 1996, Vincent moved to Clongowes Community, and he remained there until 2014, when a stroke required that he move to Cherryfield.
His last few weeks were spent very peacefully, and he told his Rector that Cherryfield was a great preparation for heaven because of the care he was receiving there from the Staff who came to love him dearly.
Below is the homily given by Fr Michael Shiel SJ at the funeral Mass :
“This I know, that my redeemer lives, and, after my awaking, He will set me close to Him. And from my flesh I will look on God.”
As we gather to celebrate the long and full life of Vincent – rich in years and bearing much fruit – the above words are very appropriate to sum up the depth of faith of this follower of Ignatius Loyola and his ‘Friends in the Lord’. For if ever anyone was prepared to meet His Lord it was Vincent.
Some time last year, when I visited him in Cherryfield, he told me that his consultant had promised that he would live to see the new RWC Champions crowned. After the final, I asked him what his next deadline was. He said: “Now, I’m just waiting for Godot!” To which all I could say was: “Well, I hope you’ll have more luck than the other pair – Vladimir and Estragon!
Today we, as Christians, believe that he has. For we believe in the promise of Jesus just heard in the Gospel: “I am going to prepare a place for you, and I shall return to take you with me”.
Vincent was born in the year of the Great Depression. He went to school in Synge Street – and how proud he was of his Christian Brothers’ education there! He joined the Jesuits in 1954 as a late vocation, having qualified as a quantity surveyor in Bolton Street, DIT. Outside his professional life, he made his mark in (as he put it) the glory-days of Shamrock Rovers! His contemporaries in the Society used to recount how frustrated Vincent could become as they tried to find an approach to the beautiful game other than a Jack Charlton-like Garryowen-type hoof and follow!
The Irish Province’s mission to Zambia was still developing, and Vincent joined the growing band of Irish Jesuits for his regency there in 1959. After theology and ordination here in Milltown, and a final year of study in Rathfarnham, Vincent returned to Africa where he ministered in parish work before coming back again to Ireland to head up the Mission Office in Gardiner Street. His generous care of returning missionaries knew no limits and was greatly appreciated. He also helped out in the Church, and he was Vocations Director as well.
est of his apostolic life was spent in Dublin and Limerick, before he joined our Community in Clongowes just 20 years ago. He followed in the footsteps of Fr John Sullivan as he served in the People’s Church and then ministered as Chaplain in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. And lastly, as failing health brought him to Cherryfield Lodge, his final – and very important – mission was to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus, for his Companions who continue to carry on God’s work in many different fields.
Such, in very few lines, is the life of Fr Vincent Murphy SJ. He was unsung and unheralded in the world at large, but so too was he rewarding and fruitful in doing good and in enriching the lives of very many people and families to whom he brought the Good News of God’s saving power, as he lived it in his own life. God’s love was indeed inscribed with iron chisel (his faith) and engraving tool (his generosity) cut into the rock of people’s lives as they experienced his ministering zeal. Nowhere was this seen to greater effect than in his years as Hospital chaplain, where his patience and care for both the sick and the hospital staff bore much fruit and brought comfort and hope to those who were facing an uncertain future.
In later years, first of all in Clongowes Wood College and more recently in Cherryfield, God continued to give Vincent as a special gift to others, this time as someone in need of their love and care. It is only right, at a time like this, to pay tribute to the CWC Infirmary Nurses and Community Staff whose care allowed him bonus-years there.
For someone who, as I said at the start, was surely prepared to meet his Lord, Vincent seemed simply not to want to let go of his Cherryfield carer-friends, as I was to witness during the past week. It began for me as a simple overnight stay, and it ended as an extraordinary and privileged experience of seeing at first hand – behind-the-scenes, early mornings and late nights – the care of every single one of the staff, both nursing and support. It was fitting that the former dispenser of God’s caring love as a hospital chaplain should himself be the receiver of a quite extraordinary outpouring of care and love by the team in Cherryfield. On behalf of the CWC Community, and of the Irish Jesuits, I can only say a deep-down thanks to each and every one of you.
“I am going to prepare a place for you – and, after I have gone and prepared a place for you – I shall return to take you with me, so that, where I am, you may be too.”
It is our Christian faith which brings us to the Eucharist this morning – our Faith that Christ did indeed return to call His disciple home, when just two days ago, accompanied by George Fallon and myself, Vincent came to the end of his long and faith-filled journey. It was his dies natalis, his heavenly birthday, as the Roman martyrology called it, as his tent that we live in on earth was folded up, and he moved to the everlasting home, not made by human hands, in the heavens. Now, in his turn, Vincent has gone ahead of us to help prepare a place for us and he will be on hand to welcome each one of us to Our Father’s home.
So often in life we say good-bye. It comes from the ancient wish or prayer ‘May God be with you’. And today we say it to Vincent at this, his last Mass.
And so we pray: “May Christ enfold you in His Love, and bring you to eternal life; may God and Mary be with you.”
Be assured that we will pray for you, Vincent. May you also pray for us. And so we say farewell, and, until we meet again, good-bye.

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :

Note from Tommy Martin Entry
1974 He retired from this work of Missions Procurator and handed over to Vincent Murphy.

◆ The Clongownian, 2017

Obituary

Father Vincent Murphy SJ : A Special Gift to Others

A member of the community of Clongowes Wood College SJ, Fr. Vincent Murphy SJ, passed away peacefully last November (28th), in Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park; he will be sadly missed.

Vincent was a valued member of the Clongowes Community since his arrival here in 1996 as Treasurer and Administrator. In 2014 Vincent suffered a mild stroke and spent a weekend in Naas Hospital. He then transferred to Cherryfield Lodge where he lived very contentedly until around Hallowe'en when he began to decline. His last few weeks were spent very peacefully, and he told his Rector that Cherryfield was a great preparation for heaven because of the care he was receiving there from the staff who came to love him dearly.

Below is the homily given by Fr Michael Shiel SJ at Vincent's funeral Mass.

This I know, that my redeemer lives, and, after my awaking, He will set me close to Him. And from my flesh I will look on God. As we gather to celebrate the long and full life of Vincent - rich in years and bearing much fruit - the above words are very appropriate to sum up the depth of faith of this follower of Ignatius Loyola and his “Friends in the Lord”. For if ever anyone was prepared to meet His Lord it was Vincent. Some time last year, when I visited him in Cherryfield, he told me that his consultant had promised that he would live to see the new Rugby World Cup Champions crowned. After the final, I asked him what his next deadline was. He said: “Now, I'm just waiting for Godot!” To which all I could say was: “Well, I hope you'll have more luck than the other pair - Vladimir and Estragon!” Today we, as Christians, believe that he has. For we believe in the promise of Jesus just heard in the Gospel: “I am going to prepare a place for you, and I shall return to take you with me”.

Vincent was born in 1929 - the year of the Great Depression. He went to school in Synge Street - and how proud he was of his Christian Brothers' education there! He joined the Jesuits in 1954 as a late vocation, having qualified as a quantity Surveyor in Bolton Street, DIT. Outside his professional life, he made his mark in las he put it) the glory-days of Shamrock Rovers! His contemporaries in the Society used to recount how frustrated Vincent could become as they tried to find an approach to the beautiful game other than a Jack Charlton-like Garryowen-type hoof and follow!

The Irish Province's mission to Zambia was still developing, and Vincent joined the growing band of Irish Jesuits for his regency there in 1959. After theology and ordination here in Milltown, and a final year of study in Rathfarnham, Vincent returned to Africa where he ministered in parish work before coming back again to Ireland to head up the Mission Office in Gardiner Street. His generous care of returning missionaries knew no limits and was greatly appreciated. He also helped out in the Church, and he was Vocations Director as well. He was not destined to return to Zambia, although he retained strong affectionate links with Africa. The rest of his apostolic life was spent in Dublin and Limerick, before he joined our Community in Clongowes just 20 years ago. He followed in the footsteps of Fr John Sullivan as he served in the People's Church and then ministered as Chaplain in St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin. And lastly, as failing health brought him to Cherryfield Lodge, his final - and very important - mission was to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus, for his Companions who continue to carry on God's work in many different fields.

Such, in very few lines, is the life of Fr Vincent Murphy SJ. He was unsung and unheralded in the world at large, but so too was he rewarding and fruitful in doing good and in enriching the lives of very many people and families to whom he brought the Good News of God's saving power, as he lived it in his own life. God's love was indeed inscribed with iron chisel This faith) and engraving tool (his generosity) cut into the rock of people's lives as they experienced his ministering zeal. Nowhere was this seen to greater effect than in his years as hospital chaplain, where his patience and care for both the sick and the hospital staff bore much fruit and brought comfort and hope to those who were facing an uncertain future. In later years, first of all in Clongowes Wood College and more recently in Cherryfield, God continued to give Vincent as a special gift to others, this time as someone in need of their love and care, It is only right, at a time like this, to pay tribute to the Clongowes Infirmary Nurses and Community Staff whose care allowed him bonus-years there.

For someone whom, as | said at the start, was surely prepared to meet his Lord, Vincent seemed simply not to want to let go of his Cherryfield carer-friends, as I was to witness during the past week. It began for me as a simple overnight stay, and it ended as an extraordinary and privileged experience of seeing at first hand - behind-the-scenes, early mornings and late nights - the care of every single one of the staff, both nursing and support. It was fitting that the former dispenser of God's caring love as a hospital chaplain should himself be the receiver of a quite extraordinary outpouring of care and Love by the team in Cherryfield. On behalf of the Clongowes Community and of the Irish Jesuits, I can only say a deep-down thanks to each and every one of you.

“I am going to prepare a place for you - and, after I have gone and prepared a place for you - I shall return to take you with me, so that, where I am, you may be too”.

It is our Christian faith which brings us to the Eucharist this morning - our Faith that Christ did indeed return to call His disciple home, when just two days ago, accompanied by George Fallon and myself, Vincent came to the end of his long and faith-filled journey. It was his “dies natalis”, his heavenly birthday, as the Roman martyrology called it, as his tent that we live in on earth was folded up, and he moved to the everlasting home, not made by human hands, in the heavens. Now, in his turn, Vincent has gone ahead of us to help prepare a place for us and he will be on hand to welcome each one of us to Our Father's home.

So often in life we say good-bye. It comes from the ancient wish or prayer May God be with you and today we say it to Vincent at this, his last Mass. And so we pray:

May Christenfold you in His Love, and bring you to eternal life; may God and Mary be with you. Be assured that we will pray for you, Vincent. May you also pray for us.

And so we say farewell, and, until we meet again, good-bye.

Born: 01 August 1917, Hillstreet, Drumsna, County Roscommon
Entered: 14 September 1936, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1952, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 25 August 2007, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid, Galway community at the time of death.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 135 : Spring 2008

Obituary

Fr Bernard (Barney) Murray (1917-2007)

14 August 1917: Born in Hillstreet, Co. Roscommon
14th September 1936: Entered the Society at Emo
15th September 1938: First Vows at Emo
1938 - 1941: Rathfarnham -Studied Arts at UCD
1941 - 1944: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1944 - 1946: Mungret College, Limerick - Regency
1946 - 1950: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
31 July 1949: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1950 - 1951: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1951 - 1970: Belvedere College - Minister; Teacher (English, Religious Knowledge - Senior School)
2nd February 1952: Final Vows
1955 - 1962: Teacher in Prep. School
1962 - 1970: Assistant to Prefect of Prep School; Teacher (Religion, Maths and English)
1970 - 2007: St. Ignatius, Galway -
1970 - 1978: Teacher (Art); Ministered in Church
1978 - 1990: Parish Curate
1984 - 2004: Director of Nazareth Fund; St. Vincent de Paul and Legion of Mary
1990 - 1992: Chaplain to Scoil Iognáid
1992 - 2004: Asst. in Church; Asst. Chaplain in Univ. Hosp.
2004 - 2005: Asst. in Church; Director Nazareth Fund
2005 - 2007: Cherryfield - Prayed for Church and Society
25th August 2007: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Bruce Bradley writes:
Bernard Murray “Barney” as we often referred to him, but Bernard is the name he wished to be known by - was born on August 1, 1917, in Hillstreet, Co. Roscommon, where he spent his early years. While living in Co. Roscommon he attended Kilbride National School. When the family moved to Dublin he was at school with the Christian Brothers, Richmond St., and, as a boarder, at St Mel's, Longford, where he won an All-Ireland Colleges Football medal, of which he was very proud. In later life, he liked to narrate how the medal was lost in the Milltown fire and, long afterwards, he applied to Liam Mulvihill, general secretary of the GAA, and, to his delight, was given a replica. He entered the Society in Emo in September 1936 and was ordained in Milltown Park thirteen years later in 1949.

All his life he worked in, or was associated with, the schools. His regency was in Mungret, 1944-46, and, after tertianship, he was sent to Belvedere, where he was to spend almost twenty years. He taught in both the senior and junior schools and also functioned as minister and as assistant to Junior School prefect of studies, Eddie Murphy. The role of minister included supervision of the boys' dining room at lunchtime and Bernard kept a sharp eye on what happened there. Boys who were showing themselves less than enthused at the somewhat pedestrian fare, or who misbehaved, were apt to find themselves being brought to the phone for a pep talk with their parents at home. For those who were in Belvedere in those years, the friendship between Bernard and the much-respected Fr. Charlie Byrne, producer of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and considerably his senior, was noteworthy and they were often seen walking together in the city after school was over.

After such a long stint in Dublin, the move to Galway in 1970 was a big change but he responded by re-inventing himself as an art teacher, and staying there for the rest of his very long life, until ill-health forced him to move to Cherryfield in his closing years. It was obvious that he was happy in Galway, and someone who knew him said that he felt it was there that he really found himself. He took over Liam Greene's art classes in the lively years of transition at the 'Jes' under the headmastership of Seán O'Connor. It was a completely new world for Bernard but he quickly made himself at home and had the capacity to make others around him feel at home too. He took on the challenge of teaching art with enthusiasm and applied himself to it methodically. His colleagues enjoyed his friendship and were glad to work with him.

From the start he also worked in the church and, in 1978, he was appointed curate, a role he continued to exercise until 1992. He was particularly committed to house visitation, where his capacity to make contact and develop friendships stood him in excellent stead. He became a well-known figure in the parish, much-appreciated for always seeming to have time and an interesting word with the people he met. When he retired as curate he continued to work in the church and began to assist the chaplaincy team at University College Hospital. He continued this latter work for thirteen years. He is fondly remembered for this by patients and the team alike.

Gradually the boundaries of his parish widened and he took up supplying in a parish in California. It was there that he took up oil-painting in his spare time, a pastime he brought back to Galway. Liam Greene, who knew his work, has written of how observant he was and how aware of details. “The subject matter of his painting was often the same – the wild Pacific Ocean, with waves crashing on the rocks'. He would sometimes speak to Liam of 'the delicate moments when he tried to capture the light reflected on the breaking wave and the difficulty of doing so'. His love of the sea expressed itself in a different form in his commitment to regular swimming in Galway, even into old age.

He was chaplain to Scoil Iognáid for several years. He was director of the Nazareth Fund, which raised money to alleviate hardship for people who had known better times financially, and continued this work for twenty years. It continues to flourish. In his latest years, he began to come to Clongowes to supply for the 'incumbent of the People's Church, wholly equal to the demands of rising early, celebrating every day and preaching to the local people, many of whom he came to know, on Sundays. Towards the end he was troubled by increasing deafness and, in 2005, he suffered a stroke, which brought his hospital work to an end. Fr. Bernard Murray was very independent. He had been attending a cardiologist for a weakening heart in early 2005 and was transferred from hospital in Galway to Cherryfield Lodge on 4th March 2005. He made a full physical recovery from the stroke, but had dysphasia (could not be understood when trying to talk) which was very frustrating for him, but he remained very pleasant, gentle and mobile until 20th August, when he got weak and was confined to bed from then onwards. He died peacefully on August 25, 2007, full of good works and days.

For an Old Friend and Fellow Jesuit
That soothing phrase for "death" doth close apply
To dear old Barney Murray here today:
Just at 4.40 p.m., with quiet sigh,
He left us. He had simply "passed away”.

We'll miss his glowing cheeks and charming smile,
Though communication oral was his problem,
He, none the less, could most of us beguile
With 'buzz-buzz' noises Words? He'd simply gobble-em!

His life was colourful and his heart was large,
He painted many pictures in his day.
His “Fund” for poverty he made his special charge,
His paintings to his friends he gave away.

May God reward this “good and faithful servant”
In ways beyond the scope or need for speech.
We follow “Barney” with our prayers fervent,
Assured that he is not beyond our reach.

Thomas MacMahon SJ, Cherryfield Lodge, Sat. 25h August, 07, at 10.10 pm

Born: 28 October 1934, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 06 September 1952, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1966, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1971, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 14 March 2002, Mater Hospital, Dublin

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

by 1986 at Regis Toronto, Canada (CAN S) on sabbatical

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 112 : Special Edition 2002

Obituary
Fr Brendan Murray (1934-2002)
28th Oct. 1934: Born in Dublin
Early education at St. Joseph's, Terenure and CBS, Synge Street.
6th Sept. 1952: Entered the Society at Emo
7th Sept. 1954: First Vows at Emo
1954 - 1957: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1957 - 1960: Tullabeg- Studied Philosophy
1960 - 1962: Mungret College - Regency
1962 - 1963: Clongowes - Regency; Clongowes Cert. in Education
1963 - 1967: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
28th July, 1966: Ordained at Milltown Park
1967 - 1968 Tertianship at Rathfamham
1968 - 1974: University Hall - Principal, Bursar
15" Aug. 1971: Final Vows at Clongowes
1974 - 1978 John Austin House - Chaplain, D.I.T. Kevin St; Bursar
1978 - 1985: Campion House - Chaplain, D.I.T. Kevin Street; Bursar, Co-ordinator, Communications
1985: Vice-Superior.
1985 - 1986: Toronto - Sabbatical year
1986 - 1991: Tullabeg - Superior; Minister; Pastoral Delegate
1991 - 1993: Gardiner Street - Vice-Superior, Minister; Pastoral Delegate
1993 - 1997: Superior; Editor, Messenger; National Secretary Apostleship of Prayer; Pastoral Delegate
1997 - 2002: Leeson Street - Superior; Editor, Messenger; National Secretary of Apostleship of Prayer 14th Mar.
2002: Died at Mater Hospital, Dublin.

Brendan was taken ill at the end of February, 2002. In St. Vincent's Hospital it was diagnosed that he had had a heart attack. He suffered a second heart attack in the hospital. His condition worsened a week later. He was taken to Mater Hospital, where they performed a double by-pass operation. The doctors gave his chances of recovery as 50/50. He was kept on a life support system, but did not respond. From the early hours of March 14th his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died peacefully in the morning of the same day, surrounded by members of his family.

Michael Drennan writes....
One could wonder what Brendan might have done, had he not joined the Jesuits. With his keen intelligence, great sense of humour and his ability to mimic, many avenues could have opened up for him. He might have outdone Gay Byrne, who also did the Leaving in 1952 at Synge Street CBS. Brendan could have attained fame in many fields, but his desire was not for earthly treasure. God's fidelity and commitment met a faithful response in a life that was a nice blend of the serious and the light-hearted. Brendan had a gentle hold on life. Yet, in his life he achieved much, left us a lot to cherish and be grateful for, as he had a depth and wisdom that was too good to be forgotten.

We gathered for his funeral on the Feast of St. Joseph, who is described as a “man of honour”. The same words might be used of Brendan. There was a deep sadness evident as we bade him farewell; he was taken so quickly that we had little opportunity to say goodbye.

The Gospel of the Emmaus journey seemed relevant as a way of giving a brief summary of Brendan's life. It is a good story. Brendan was a man of story having a great abundance of them; and he could tell them well. He had the capacity to embellish and make them richer, even giving the more elaborate version back to the person who had shared it with him, originally - unknowingly? In talks and retreats, he used stories to illustrate aspects of God's story from Scripture; many appeared in his well-written editorials in the Sacred Heart Messenger. A good story can have many levels of meaning.

It is a story of good companionship, which shortens a journey and leaves lasting memories. Brendan was a good companion to many people, especially, to his own family, whose loss was great; he kept in contact with them, wherever they were, sharing their joys and sorrows. In community he could brighten up a dull day with his witty interventions. He was a companion to many people whose lives he touched in ministry, whether that was in Kevin Street DIT, or to people who came to see him, or in talks or retreats he gave, or to those he worked with. Through the Sacred Heart Messenger, he reached many who felt they knew him through his writing.

He was a good companion because he had depth as well as humour. Discussions on theology, scripture, religious life, or art, engaged him. He loved fun, also, though some of his pranks did not work out as envisaged and recovery tactics were required on occasion. His sense of humour was endearing and had the lovely ability to laugh at himself. He told me the story not so long ago, about someone overhearing two people at another table in a restaurant talking about religious magazines. Finally they came to the Messenger; one said she loved the Messenger and she particularly liked Fr Murray whose photo was inside the front cover; he had a lovely smile, but then she added, “Of course, I don't believe a word of what he says”. A phone call to him was enough to raise one's heart and bring to the fore the lighter side of life.

The journey to Emmaus was made in the company of Jesus. Being a Jesuit, being in the Company of Jesus, walking the journey of life with Him was of central importance to Brendan. He was a good companion to all of us who walked with him. He contributed much, with most of his Jesuit life spent in leadership roles, often taking on difficult tasks and carrying them through. He was a dedicated worker, who had a bright, analytic, and perceptive mind, being a good judge of people and situations. While he could make the hard decision, he had a compassionate nature. He was loyal and faithful, with a generous heart, making his many talents available to others, whether it was taking on a new project, refurbishing a house, or closing one down. He had the flexibility to adapt to new situations and was at this best when under pressure. While he could get impatient at times, and sometimes he was not especially tolerant of lesser mortals, it tended to blow over quickly and it was soon forgotten.

In the Emmaus story, the opening of the word of God is significant. Brendan had a great love and appreciation for the word of God and opened it out to many. Most of his talks were based on Scripture, with a helpful story or two to lead into them. It was a living word for him; what he shared came from his own reflection and prayer and it spoke to many who heard him.

God's story of love, lived out in Jesus, met Brendan's story; he was generous in response. The gifts that God offered were those that Brendan, behind the mischievous smile and often subtle humour, wanted. Those latter years in the Messenger gave more scope to his creative side, to write, to edit, to design, and to help continue the updating of the magazine and its organisation. He relished the task and loved it, but he was good at it. The redoing and relocating so beautifully of the Evie Hone windows in Manresa also owed much to him. His attention to detail, ensuring that were placed where they would get maximum light, was carefully thought out. It could be said that in other areas, such as ordering a meal, he tended to be less creative and adventurous, there was a consistency there as he stayed with the tested and reliable. I suppose he could not be flexible on everything! Yet, there was something more than ordinary about him. He was forty-five when he learned to drive; he is the only person I know, who, on the successful completion of his driving test, came away with a Mass intention from his examiner!

He had the openness and freedom to walk with and accept the call of the Lord, letting the Lord enter his story in a new way. In that story there is a deepening of the call, as it moved towards the final part of it. He invited the Lord in, so that the Lord could reveal himself more intimately and break bread with him. Now the Lord has issued a new invitation; the journey is completed; the story has been told, the messenger's work is done, the banquet is ready. But we are to remember that story, interwoven with God's story; we are to live in its spirit, as we continue to walk on in faith.

We weep for his untimely passing, we will miss his gentle presence, but we are the richer for knowing him. His life is a good story, narrated by a very competent messenger. We pray that God will be merciful to him for any failings and give him the rewards of life that is eternal love, which is God's desire for him and for all of us. May he rest in peace.

-oOo-

Noel Barber wrote the following “Appreciation” for THE IRISH TIMES...
Fr. Brendan Murray, who died on March 14", aged 67, ploughed what many would consider infertile soil. For the past 10 years he edited a devotional religious magazine, The Sacred Heart Messenger. Many will be surprised, however, to learn that the circulation of The Messenger is well into six figures; surprised, too, to learn the range of its readership - from the very simple to the highly sophisticated. This magazine, an extraordinary survival, bears testimony to the fact that a religious monthly can still command a place in the market.

Its standard was high when he took over; the previous editors had adapted it to the needs and tastes of changing times without sacrificing its religious thrust. Building on the work of his predecessors, he brought to his task an exceptional attention to detail, an immense care with its artistic production, and a keen financial eye. His editorials, beautifully written with wit, verve and wisdom, touched a large and devoted readership; some have already expressed their sense of loss at the prospect of The Messenger without him.

He was born in Dublin on October 28th, 1934, to Frank Murray, a Civil Servant, and Lucy Dunne, one of nine children, of whom his brothers Frank and Declan and his sisters Colette Nolan, Maureen Flanagan and Carmel Murray survive him. He was educated by the Christian Brothers, Synge Street, and entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Emo Park, Portarlington, in 1952, He was an able and serious student, obtaining a good degree in Latin and Irish, and Licentiates in Philosophy and Theology. He had the capacity to become a specialist in any one of these disciplines. His character was a quixotic mix of high seriousness and earthy frivolity. There were few who could discuss better serious matters of literature, theology, philosophy - or art, in which he had a particular interest and a discriminating taste. On the other hand, he was a joker and prankster, a raconteur and mimic, who brightened many a dark afternoon for his fellow students. His stories grew in the telling in which his mentors, academic and religious, assumed a second existence.

After his Ordination in 1966, he held a variety of positions in all of which he used his considerable ability, charm and, when necessary, his formidable determination to achieve his purpose, be it in closing down a Retreat House, as Principal of a University Residence, as Chaplain to the Dublin Institute of Technology, or as a Superior of Jesuit Communities. He had outstanding pastoral skills as so many will testify: the priests who followed his retreats, the religious whom he counselled and people of all walks of life who came to receive his shrewd, kindly and practical advice. As a preacher and retreat giver he used his talents as a storyteller to great effect but his story telling was always at the service of a deep spirituality and sound common sense. These in turn reflected his warm, rich personality. In his case, the person was very much the message.

His friends were surprised that his fatal heart attack had not happened earlier. Despite his intelligence, wisdom, understanding of others and the advice of his brethren, his style of life was almost self-destructive. He worked impossibly long hours, took no exercise, rarely, if ever, had a holiday, and sustained himself on great quantities of nicotine and caffeine. He was a man of great goodness with an inexplicable disregard of himself. He will be greatly missed and it will take an exceptional person to fill his shoes.

Born: 29 February 1912, Aughrim Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin
Entered: 26 May 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1947, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 09 January 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to ZAM: 30 July 1970; ZAM to HIB : 31 July 1982

by 1941 at Rome Italy (ROM) working at Curia

29th February 1912 Born in Dublin
Early education at CBS, St. Mary’s Place and Bolton Street Technical College
1929-1936 Worked at French Polishing
26th March 1937 Entered the Society at Emo
1st April 1939 First Vows at Emo
1939-1940 Milltown Park – Book binding and French Polishing
1940-1946 Roman Curia – Secretary
1946-1958 Crescent College, Limerick – sub-sacristan; in charge of staff and Infirmarian 15th August 1947 Final Vows at Crescent College
1958-1960 Loyola House – Provincial’s secretary
1960-1961 Manresa House – Secretary to Editor of Madonna
1961-1963 Curia Rome – Mission Secretariat
1963-1970 Zambia – Assistant Secretary : Bishop of Monze
1970 Transcribed to Zambia Province
1970-1979 Bursar – Canisius College & Community, Chikuni
1979-1984 Milltown Park – ‘Messenger’ Office administration
1982 Transcribed to Irish Province
1984-2008 St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street –
1984-1993 Bursar
1993-1995 Assistant Treasurer; House Chapel Sacristan.
1995-2002 House Chapel Sacristan
2002-2008 Cherryfield Lodge – Prayed for the Church and the Society
9th January 2008 Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin.

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Brother Christopher Murray, known to his fellow Jesuits as Christy, but always to his family as Kit, was born on 29 February 1912. He was always ready for a joke or wisecrack about the fact that he had a birthday only once every four years and so was still only in his 23rd year when he went to Cherryfield at the age of 90!. During that long life he was to live in close proximity to some of the great drama of the 20th century both in Ireland and in Europe. He was born about six weeks before the Titanic foundered in the Atlantic, and two years before World War 1 broke out. He was too young to join his elder brothers and sisters who walked a mile down North Circular Road from their Aughrim Street home to say the Rosary outside Mountjoy Jail as Kevin Barry was being hanged. As a boy he saw Michael Collins walk past the Christian Brothers' School beside the Black Church at the head of the funeral cortege of Arthur Griffith. A short week later he saw Collins' own funeral pass the same spot on its way to Glasnevin Cemetery.

He did his early schooling at the Christian Brothers School in St. Mary’s Place and got a two year scholarship to Bolton St. College of Technology but only stayed for one year. He worked for seven years apprenticed to a French polisher of furniture. He was an official in the Trade Unions. Those who knew him will not be surprised to know that he led at least two strikes! At the age of 27 he entered the novitiate (1937) having made what he said was a ‘mature decision’. Later his mother said she was surprised at the decision but he saw no problem once he made his mind up.

Shortly after he ended his novitiate, he was posted to Rome in 1940. While en route he had barely passed through Paris when it fell to the Germans. The day he arrived in Rome was the time Mussolini declared war. As long as he stayed in the house he was technically in the Vatican but if he walked out the front door he was in Italy! It was a difficult time since on arrival he was asked to type a letter in Latin. He had no idea of Latin and never typed in his life. However he soon mastered the necessary skills with his usual intelligence and determination. While he was in Rome the food shortages became desperately severe. The situation took such a toll on his health that he was on a milk diet for a whole year after the war ended. One thing that upset him very much afterwards was the suggestion that Pope Pius XII had abandoned the Jews to their fate during the war. He himself had run messages on behalf of the Holy Father to Jewish families in hiding around the city, bringing them food and other supplies. He rarely traveled twice by the same route lest he was under surveillance. Christy worked with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, the legendary "Vatican Pimpernel" who did so much for the Jews and whose life was portrayed by Gregory Peck in a major feature film. He did two stints at Rome 1940-46 in the secretariat of the English Assistant and 1961-63 at the Mission Secretariat.

Back in Ireland he did various jobs in the Crescent both in the Church and the community from 1946 to 1958, before being appointed secretary to the Provincial from 1958 to 1960. He also worked as secretary to the editor of The Madonna from Manresa House in 1960/61.

While in Rome he volunteered for the Zambian mission and for seven years (1963-70) he was secretary to Bishop Corboy, whom he had known as a novice. These were the heady years of post-independence. At the end of his life it was these years with Bishop Corboy that always came to his mind. He then was bursar at Canisius Secondary School from 1970 to 1979.

He returned to Ireland in 1979 and worked from Milltown Park in the Messenger Office up to 1984 from where he went to Gardiner Street where he spent his remaining years (1984-2002) before he went to the Nursing Unit of Cherryfield. His work always included looking after the finances and the sacristy.

Christy was gifted with a high IQ as was evident in his ease in dealing with figures and accounts. He was widely read and well informed. This led to his holding a very definite position on a variety of matters. In any discussion it was not long before this was made clear with the words ‘the facts of the matter are’. Naturally this ensured lively and occasionally heated discussions on a variety of topics. An inveterate walker, he must have known every street in Dublin. Until he was into his 90s he did a four mile walk every Wednesday up and down the North Circular Road to visit Stephanie, his youngest sister, still living in the family home. She herself categorized him as a "man of will". We, in John Austin House, noticed his pace slacken towards the end until at last he had to give it up.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/christy-murray-rip/

Christy Murray RIP
Please pray for Rev. Brother Christopher Murray, S.J. who died at Cherryfield Lodge on 9 January 2008, aged 95 years. May he rest in peace.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/from-french-polisher-to-roman-secretary/

From French Polisher to Roman Secretary
An interview with Christy Murray on Nov, 10, 2005
First published in Interfuse
Interfuse: I was amazed when I found out that you were born in 1912 – on February 29! You are one of those special people.
Christy Murray: Yes. A birthday only every four years.
That’s why you have lived so long, probably! Sure you’re only 23 years old! 1912 – that was before the First World War. Have you any interesting memories from those early days?
I can’t really say I have. I didn’t start school until I was nine.
Was the school in Dublin?
Yes. I didn’t go to Junior School. I went to a med Miss Ryan on the Berkeley Road, and only spent a year there. Otherwise I got taught until I was nine at home. And then I went to the Christian Brothers in St. Mary’s Place near the Black Church.
How many years were you there?
All my school life – until I was 14 or 15. I did the exam for Bolton Street Tech and got a scholarship there. So I was there for a couple of years, catching up on some of the things I was short on in my education. I got a scholarship for two years, but I didn’t stay the two years. I went as an apprentice to a trade. I was a French polisher.
A French polisher! That’s very interesting.
I worked for seven or eight years at French polishing before I entered the Society.
So you were a late vocation?
Yes. I was 27 when I entered. One of the things I decided was that I must qualify in something before I enter religious life. It was a planned thing, you know, and then I was interviewed in Gardiner Street by the Provincial there. When I went to Emo I wanted to feel that, if I didn’t like what I met with there, I could go back to the trade. As well as being a qualified tradesman I was an official in the trade union.
Was Gardiner Street your church, or how did you come into contact with the Jesuits?
No, Berkeley Road was my parish church. But I went down to Gardiner Street to have an interview. Since I was thinking of entering the religious order there, I had to be interviewed by a Jesuit, so that’s what brought me to Gardiner Street.
And you met the Provincial. Who was the Provincial then?
I don’t remember. I thought at that time that it was the Superior of Gardiner Street who interviewed me.
You went to Emo in 1936, and finished your novitiate about 1939. What was your first assignment?
My first assignment was to Rome. I was sent directly to our head house in Rome. I was secretary to the Assistant General – the English assistant.
So, instead of polishing wood you were writing letters.
I had to learn to use a typewriter there. When I was sent out I hadn’t any experience of doing secretarial work. So in Rome they had to give me time to learn how to use a typewriter, and so on. I remember that well because I felt very awkward then, arriving. And, you see, I couldn’t come back from Rome because I arrived in Italy the day that country entered the war alongside Germany, so there was no question of coming back.
So you spent all the war years there. And when you went there the General was Fr. Ledochowski. He died during the war.
Yes. He died the second year I was there.
I see. And then you had Father Janssens.
That’s right.
It must have been interesting knowing both of those men. Any memories of those times?
Well, I can’t say I can remember clearly now, but the fact was that I found them both very encouraging. I was doing a type of work I had never done before and they were giving me time to get used to doing it. There were fifteen assistants – general assistants. When I arrived I didn’t know anything about typing or anything like that and they gave me time to learn it. It was a Canadian brother who taught me.
You were there till the end of the war. And then in 1946 you came back to Ireland. Had you been away all seven years without coming back?
There was no question of coming back. I was locked in Italy. I was one of the enemy, so I couldn’t travel. And, of course, there wasn’t any question of Mussolini giving permission to anybody but himself. It was a hard time, because we hadn’t enough to eat. We were living on Vatican territory. The Curia of the Jesuits was on Vatican land. When we stepped outside of the house we were in Italy, but when we were in the house we were in the Vatican. And therefore, the police couldn’t come into the house to arrest anyone. Once you stepped outside the hall door you were officially in Italy, but once you remained in the house you were a Vatican citizen.
What kind of work did you do in Ireland when you came back at the end of the war? Were you in Gardiner Street?
Yes. I was in Gardiner Street. Brother Priest was the sacristan there and I was his assistant.
Brother Priest?
That’s right. A funny name, but I found him very good. He helped me along.
You were assistant there. And did you stay in Gardiner Street for many years?
To tell you the truth, I forget.
You didn’t go to any other place? Were you in Gardiner Street for the rest of your days?
I forget the sequence, but I know I volunteered to go to Zambia.
Oh, so you went to Zambia?
Yes. It was the time that Father Corboy was made bishop. I knew him in his noviceship. Later he became Bishop Corboy. I volunteered to go because I had secretarial experience.
So you volunteered to work as secretary to Bishop Corboy.
That’s right. I spent fifteen years in Zambia with him.
And that was secretarial work, too.
Yes. I was in Rome at the time I volunteered to go to Zambia. I had a chat with the General at the time that Bishop Corboy was created bishop, and I had a chat with the General about going and joining him. He invited me to go and do the same kind of work as I had been doing.
You went back to Rome on a visit and when you were there you talked to the General about going with Bishop Corboy?
Yes. I was appointed to Rome at the time. I had been in Rome a number of years. It was my second time in Rome.
Oh, you went back a second time, after the war?
Yes. I was invited back.
That was after time as assistant sacristan in Gardiner Street?
That’s right.
That was a good few years afterwards because Bishop Corboy didn’t go until well into the 50s. You had quite a few years then in Zambia, did you?
I had fifteen years there. I got leave every five years – this is how I know. I just got leave once in five years…
Back to Dublin?
I was on my third leave back to Dublin when someone else was placed in my job.
I see. And were you then back in Gardiner Street again? You didn’t have any other assignment?
No, not that I remember.
So you’ve had a very varied career – Rome and Zambia and Ireland. And of course you came here to Cherryfield from Gardiner Street, so that was your last assignment there. And how do you find it here in Cherryfield?
The fact of the matter is that I was over 90 when I came here. Actually it was my 90th birthday the day I came in here. The 29th of February. I’ve been here over a year. I’m close to two years here.
And are you comfortable here?
In fact I’m surprised I’m so comfortable, because I had some experience of being in hospital, in care, before. I was in a ward with five or six others. Then I come here and I have my own room. This place is a great idea, I think. We’re really blessed to have this place. We’re one of the few Orders that has a good organised house for the aged.
The changes that have taken place in your time in the Society are tremendous. Especially, there were a lot more brothers when you entered.
Yes. Hadn’t got the same chances, you might say.
They had larger communities of brothers in the society.
Yes. There were a bigger number of brothers then than now. The brothers did a lot of work taking care of the houses and the farms. There were far more vocations then. In fact, it was nearly a fight to get into the Society then. Personally, I think I had an exceptionally happy time in all my years in the Society and in all the different jobs I was doing, and I got a fair amount of travel done.
Would you have a word of advice or a special message you’d like to give to the Province as you celebrate nearly 94 years?
I would like to say that they should keep the Brothers’ vocations in Ireland. They shouldn’t be sent to England. And even if they are few, they’ve a better chance of increasing their number by keeping them at home. I think that parents get preoccupied if they can’t visit them. I remember the impression I got from the first visit from my family in the novitiate in Emo. When I got talking to my mother – six people came to see me – she said that she expected to be bringing me back home, that I really wasn’t a person who was a likely Religious, and she thought she’d be taking me back home. She told me afterwards, “I didn’t expect you to be so happy; I thought you’d be coming back home, that you’d made a mistake”.
But you hadn’t made a mistake.
That’s the thing. I was thinking the opposite – that I was old enough to decide at that point in my life what my future was going to be, because I had already served my time at French polishing and as a trade union official.
You never felt like giving up. You were happy in your vocation.
I thought I was deciding when I was mature enough to decide. I felt that I had made it quite clear that I wasn’t making a mistake. I was surprised when she told me that.
That satisfaction with your vocation seems to have continued over the years.
Yes. When I was working in Rome, for example, everything went so well that I couldn’t believe it.
It’s great to be able to say in your nineties that you have no regrets about the way you chose.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Polisher before entry
Quite the reverse.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 15th Year No 2 1940

Milltown Park :
Rev. Fr. Assistant (P. A. Dugré) reached Dublin 21 December 1939, and stayed with until 30 January, when he left for Scotland via Belfast. He counted on reaching Rome on 1 March. He was accompanied from London by our Brother Christopher Murray who has taken up the duties of amanuensis in the Curia at 5 Borgo Santo Spirito.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 135 : Spring 2008

Obituary

Br Christopher (Christy) Murray (1912-2007)

Homily preached by Barney McGuckian at the Funeral Mass at St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner St., on Jan. 11th, 2008
On a headstone in one of the catacombs of Rome, where Brother Christopher Murray spent a number of challenging years, there is an inscription which reads “He has completed his baptism”. This short statement reveals something of how the early Christians understood Baptism. For them it was not a simple rite of passage or a brief passing ceremony. It was the first step in a process that would only end with death. Just as in show business it takes a life-time to become an over-night success, so it takes a whole life time to become a fully baptized Christian. This completion came for our Brother Christy two days ago in the Nursing Home at Cherryfield Lodge. He was holding the hand of Rachel McNeill, and, evidently, was quite conscious right up until the end. I, exceptionally, was among the concelebrants at Mass in the chapel across the corridor. As we had been told that Christy was very low, we commended his soul to the Lord. We do so again today strengthened by the encouraging text from the book of Maccabees that it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, including even those “who make a pious end” that they may be released from their sins. cf II Maccabees 12:43-45.

Jesus Himself was baptised in the River Jordan at the beginning of his public life as we will hear at Mass on Sunday next. But this was only the first of many Baptisms that he would undergo. When Jesus referred to Baptism he seemed to become tense. “There is a baptism I must receive, and what a constraint I am under until it is completed” (Luke, 12:50). His complete Baptism came on Calvary when he finally gave up the ghost, after taking the vinegar, surely symbolic of everything distasteful in life and bowing his head in acceptance. (Cf John 19, 29-30). As his followers, who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, as St Paul puts it, we are all called to follow a similar path.

If Brother Christopher, known to his fellow Jesuits as Christy, but always to his family as Kit, had lived until February 296 of this year he would have been 96. He was always ready for a joke or wisecrack about the fact that he was still only in his 23 year while in Cherryfield. During that long life he was to live in close proximity to some of the great drama of the 20th century both in Ireland and in Europe. He was born about six weeks before the Titanic foundered in the Atlantic, and two years before World War 1 broke out. He was too young to join his elder brothers and sisters who walked a mile down North Circular Road from their Aughrim Street home to say the Rosary outside Mountjoy Jail as Kevin Barry was being hanged. As a boy he saw Michael Collins walk past the Christian Brothers' School beside the Black Church at the head of the funeral cortege of Arthur Griffith. A short week later he saw Collins' own funeral pass the same spot on its way to Glasnevin Cemetery. Shortly after he ended his novitiate, he was posted to Rome in 1940. While en route he had barely passed through Paris when it fell to the Germans. On arrival, he was in time to see Mussolini declare war. However, when in 1963 he went to join Bishop Corboy in the Diocese of Monze in Zambia, it was to the relative stability of the newly-won independence of the country. While there he was a most conscientious worker. As assistant secretary for education at Canisius Secondary School in Chikuni, he is still remembered as someone dedicated to his work, carrying it out meticulously to the last detail.

Christy won a scholarship to Bolton Street College of Technology on leaving primary school and became a French Polisher. Many of us still remember the beautiful finish of the doors in the Chapel at Emo, a testimony to the quality of his workmanship. Before entering the Jesuits he was active in the Trade Unions. Those who knew him will not be surprised to know that he led at least two strikes! After working for seven years at his trade he decided to embrace religious life. He may have been influenced in this by the example of two of his elder sisters who had joined the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and headed off for Australia and New Zealand respectively. One of them, Sister Lua is still alive at 98 in New Zealand.

Christy took his first vows on April 1st, 1939 at Emo. Realizing that he had “turned pro" that day he took the implications of what he had done with the utmost seriousness for the rest of his life. His commitment, particularly his obedience, was sorely tried very shortly afterwards. He had only arrived a few days in Rome when he was told to type an important letter in Latin. Not only did he not know the basics of Latin, he had never ever typed a word in any language in his life! The kindness of Fr, General Ledochowski, one of his great heroes, helped him survive this and other trials. While he was in Rome the food shortages became desperate. The situation took such a toll on his health that he was on a milk diet for a whole year after the war ended.

One thing that upset him very much afterwards was the suggestion that Pope Pius XII had abandoned the Jews to their fate during the war. He himself had run messages on behalf of the Holy Father to Jewish families in hiding around the city, bringing them food and other supplies. He rarely travelled twice by the same route lest he was under surveillance. Christy worked with Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, the legendary “Vatican Pimpernel” who did so much for the Jews and whose life was portrayed by Gregory Peck in a major feature film. Another of his friends was Mrs Thomas Kiernan, wife of the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, better known for her renderings of "If I were a blackbird" and “The three lovely lassies from Banyon" as Delia Murphy. Her relationship with non-Nazi German officers through the Irish Embassy, the only English-speaking Embassy in Rome after the U.S. entered the war, proved a life-saver for many endangered young Italians. Christy remembered her arriving at the Borgo Santo Spirito with the gift for the starving community of a much appreciated pig in the boot of the ambassadorial car,

Christy was gifted with a high IQ. This was evident in his ease in dealing with figures and accounts. He was widely read and well informed. This led to his holding a very definite position on a variety of matters. In any discussion it was not long before this was made clear with the pronouncement “the facts of the matter are”. Naturally, this ensured lively and occasionally heated discussions on a variety of topics. However once he entered the chapel he moved into a different mode. His recollection and silence here was very evident. Most of his life in religion was spent either in finances or in the sacristy of our churches. He is still remembered with great affection in Limerick, where he was sacristan for 12 years from 1946-58.

An inveterate walker, he must have known every street in Dublin. Until he was into his 90s he did a four mile walk every Wednesday up and down the North Circular Road to visit Stephanie, his youngest sister, still living in the family home. She herself categorized him as a “man of will”. We, in John Austin House, noticed his pace slacken towards the end until he had to give it up. Shortly afterwards, we heard that he had moved to Cherryfield. He was remarkably regular in both his religious observance and his physical exercise right up until he was confined to a wheel-chair in Cherryfield.

As a disciple of Ignatius of Loyola, Christy would have learned to begin his daily prayer with the same formula; that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed solely to the service and praise of the divine majesty. This is a prayer for holiness and one that is only fully answered at the hour of death. Indeed it could be described as a prayer for the fullness of baptism into Christ Jesus. We hope that it was fully answered for our brother Christy when the time came. Like Ignatius he was a man small in stature and, indeed, in death his features reminded me very much of the death-mask of our Holy Founder that has come down to us. As we pray today for the repose of Christy's soul there is nothing to prevent us also praying to him.

Born: 23 March 1939, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1956, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 25 June 1970, Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1978, Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin
Died: 04 October 2022, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Clongowes Wood College SJ community at the time of death

FSS
Born : 23rd March 1939 Dublin City
Raised : Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin
Early Education at CBC Monkstown, Dublin
7th September 1956 Entered Society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
8th September 1958 First Vows at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1958-1961 Rathfarnham - Studying Science at UCD
1961-1962 Vals-près-le-Puy, France - Studying Philosophy at Séminaire des Missions
1962-1964 Chantilly. France - Studying Philosophy at Séminaire Missionaire
1964-1966 Crescent College SJ, Limerick : Regency : Teacher
1966-1967 Belvedere College SJ - Regency : Teacher; Studying H Dip in Education at UCD
1967-1971 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
25th June 1970 Ordained at Milltown Park Chapel, Dublin
1971-1973 St Ignatius College, Enfield - Studying Education at Institute of Education, University of London
1973-1974 Belvedere College SJ - Assistant Headmaster; Teacher; Province Task Force on Education
1974-1982 Gonzaga College SJ - Headmaster (from Oct 1974); Teacher
1977 Tullabeg - Tertianship
2nd February 1978 Final Vows at Gonzaga College SJ, Dublin
1982-1992 Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, Dooradoyle - Headmaster; Teacher; Director of Pastoral Care
1992-1993 Paris, France - Sabbatical at Communauté St Louis de Gonzague
1993-1995 Loyola House - Delegate for Young Adults; Youth Director; National Ecclesiastical Assistant for CLC
1995-2005 Clongowes Wood College SJ- Rector; National Ecclesiastical Assistant for CLC; Chaplain Lower Line
2000 Headmaster; Pastoral Care Director; Teacher; Moderator of Academy; ARLB Centenary Record
2004 Cleveland, OH, USA - Sabbatical at Sabbatical at St Ignatius High School
2005-2006 Crescent Church, Limerick - Superior; Project Team at Sacred Heart Church; Pastoral Delegate; Young Adult Delegate
2006-2010 Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, Dooradoyle - Director of Spirituality Centre, Limerick; Ministry to Parents at Crescent College; Bursar
2010-2022 Clongowes Wood College SJ- Spiritual Director (Lower Line); Assists in Peoples’ Church; Directs Liturgical Music
2013 Assists in People’s Church
2016 Prays for the Church and Society at Cherryfield Lodge

◆ The Clongownian, 2004

Father Dermot Murray SJ : Headmaster 2000-2004

Fr Dermot Murray SJ has a rare distinction amongst his Jesuit colleagues - that of being Headmaster in three different schools. He was Headmaster in Gonzaga 1974-1982, in the Crescent College Comprehensive, Limerick 1982-1992, and in Clongowes 2000-2004. He was appointed initially in Clongowes as Rector in 1995, probably thinking that his days of serving as Headmaster were over. When Fr Bruce Bradley SJ went on a well-earned sabbatical year in 2000, the Provincial asked Dermot to step in as acting Headmaster for the academic year 2000-2001. Following Bruce's appointment to the office of Cardinal Desmond Connell, Dermot was appointed as Headmaster in Clongowes until his retirement in 2004.

The first time I ever came across Dermot was in 1978 when the late Vinny Murray and I were coaching a Junior Cup Team together. Dermot was coaching the Gonzaga team. As was his wont at the time, he expressed some opinions from the touchline about the referee (Vinny) and the fairness of some of his decisions. Those of us who remember Vinny know that he rarely lost his temper about anything but he was really quite incensed on this particular day. Suffice it to say that I was surprised by the ensuing verbal engagement. Some years later, when I had the honour of refereeing a junior match between Clongowes and the Crescent College, I discovered that Dermot had lost none of his directness when it came to advising young referees about how to do their job. (He did decline the offer to take the whistle and finish the job himself...).

I had just been appointed as Assistant Headmaster in May 2000 shortly before the announcement of his appointment as acting Headmaster was made. I had enjoyed working with Bruce during the previous months in my capacity as acting Assistant Headmaster and had found him very supportive, encouraging, and easy to deal with. What would it be like working with Dermot? I could not say that I knew him well at that time and I was apprehensive about the news initially. However, I soon learned that he was an excellent leader who made sound decisions. Being naturally inquisitive and a good listener, he learned about every detail of school-life quickly.

As I got to know him over the four years, I realised what a very complex person Dermot is. He always acts out of his faith and deep spiritual beliefs. He lives his Christianity by trying to be fair and just, caring to those who work with him and for him. He is a very human human being with a great understanding of human frailties and suffering. He accepts people as they are, warts and all; when one made a mistake, there were no recriminations, “Acknowledge the mistake, let's see if we can correct it and move on” seemed to be his motto.

He brought to Clongowes a great wealth of experience to deal with the many issues and a number of crises, large and small. Throughout it all there was a steady, firm hand, a dispenser of wise council, a man capable of being objective and detached when needed.

Dermot leaves Clongowes with a fine record of achievement. He built and maintained good relations with all staffs. I think especially of the two years of industrial relations difficulties with the ASTI when he managed to keep the College open and functioning, and ensured that good humour and good relations remained. He won genuine affection from those lucky enough to have got to know him well. He steered the College through some difficult times such as those following the illness of the Bursar, Tom Farrelly, and the shock following Eamonn Donoghue's death.

Early on, Dermot set out his aims to build a community of growth, service and faith. In the school he will probably be best remembered by the boys for establishing both Morning Prayer and school assemblies as a central feature of College life. He also introduced school assemblies, which are used to recognise achievements of all kinds by all members of the community. He brought a new perspective to bear on much of the life of the school through the assemblies by acknowledging achievements other than rugby and by raising the profile of such achievements in the College. He oversaw the change from a Board of Governors to a Board of Management, the setting up of a Parents' Council, the establishment of a new position of Director of Finance, the recruitment of a Director of Development and the revamping of the Development Office (now the Foundation Office), the drawing up of the Master Plan, the preparation for the launch of “Clongowes Towards 2020”. Many of these decisions made in the years under Dermot's direction will have far-reaching and beneficial effects on the life of the College.

However, I think that Dermot will be mainly very fondly remembered for his many kindnesses to us all; for his friendship, for his good humour for his decisiveness and sound decision making. Dermot was a good leader and a fair employer and we thank him sincerely for it. Personally, I have much to thank him for: for his friendship and his many kindnesses to me, for what I have learnt from him about my role and about life. I was lucky to have such a mentor in my early years in this position.

For his retirement, Dermot has chosen to spend the year mostly in another Jesuit school in Cleveland, Ohio to study pastoral care systems and perhaps to offer some advice on rugby refereeing...! We all hope that he enjoys his well-earned retirement, when he eventually when gets it! He leaves with our sincere gratitude and good wishes. We hope he has a wonderful retirement and the good health to enjoy it. We hope to see him back in Clongowes frequently.

Dermot: to paraphrase Shakespeare, you have done Clongowes some service and they know it.

Interfuse No 139 : Easter 2009

ANONYMOUS CLERICS

Dermot Murray

Some time ago, one of my Jesuit friends told me that he had to go to a pharmacist to get some medicine. As he had been at a liturgical function, he was still wearing his priestly collar. After serving him, the pharmacist said, You know, Father, you are the first priest I have seen for years.

This set me thinking. One of my lines of thought went like this: any product needs publicity before it will sell. In general, the better the publicity, the better the sales. Thus, for example, many people at least in this area will wear the Munster jersey or the Munster scarf or the Munster hat not just for the matches, but for ordinary wear around the town. In this way, a sense of communal solidarity is built up and the support of the Munster team builds up to an extraordinary degree. This support leads to a desire on the part of the players to play to the limits of their ability, not just for victory but also to repay their supporters for such wonderful support. In addition, every young man and many young women want to have the opportunity to be members of the team.

For a few weeks now, I have looked to see a priest in the streets of Limerick. I looked in vain. In a recent visit to Dublin, I wandered around the city for a couple of hours. Again I looked to see a priest wandering around in the streets of our capital city; again, I looked in vain. Even in Veritas, a bookshop in which one used to see priests and religious wandering around looking at the books on offer, there wasn't a priest or a nun to be seen.

I know one reason for this is the diminishing numbers of priests and religious. Perhaps a second reason might be a fear that, because of the child abuse issue and the negative publicity that appeared to attach itself to every priest, cleric and religious, they might receive a very unpleasant and unacceptable greeting if they wore their clerical clothes or religious habit. A third reason might be a reluctance to being approached by people for money and not knowing how to deal appropriately with the people involved. I pondered on all these issues as I went up by the Luas to Heuston, my Munster rugby tie carefully displayed.

For myself, a fourth reason for not wearing my clerical collar is that it can limit my freedom in what I say, where I go, what I do. For example, I find it hard to go into a pub in the evening time wearing my clerics. Indeed, sometimes I find it difficult to go down town in the evening time in my clerical garb. Even on a train I sometimes feel that I might be under siege. Yet it has to be said that, when I do go down town in my clerics, mostly in the morning or afternoon, I find that more people greet me than do when I am not wearing clerics. Of course, this might not be true in Dublin particularly if the issue of clerical abuse raises its ugly head again as it did some weeks ago. All in all, I say to myself, it might be more prudent not to wear one's clerics. So I keep displaying my Munster tie. But then, of course, one has to ask the question is prudence the determining value in this situation?

Another reason is that wearing clerical garb does separate one from the laity. The clothes one wears often put the person into a particular category. This applies not just to clerical garb but also to uniforms and to other external signs that one often sees around city and county - Gardai, ambulance crews, fire fighters and others. In Limerick on the day of a Heineken Cup match - or indeed in Cardiff or other cities - a Munster jersey distinguishes Munster supporters from supporters of other teams. The same applies to school sporting competitions in the various codes. And, of course, wearing ashes on Ash Wednesday does tell people something about ourselves, even if it is only for one day.

In the light of some of the reflections above, I decided that I would wear my clerics during Lent and I did - most of the time. Did I find it constraining? Yes, at times I did. Did I feel nervous now and again? Yes, I did. Did I have the impression sometimes that I was viewed as different, as somebody to be avoided? Yes, at times, I did. Did I sometimes get the feeling that these impressions were coming from my unease rather than the reality of the situation? Yes I did. Was I unhappy with my decision to wear my clerics during Lent? No, I wasn't. Nevertheless, it was with some relief that I left them aside at least for the time being. I have worn them since for a week at a time. It remains awkward - perhaps only in my own consciousness.

I wrote this essay while living in the Jesuit Community attached to a large High School in the United States and took the opportunity to discuss the matter in the community. The overall view was expressed as follows: “We wear our clerics when working in the school to show that we are different perhaps not in the quality of our teaching, or the expertise of our counselling, or the enthusiasm for our various athletic programmes. But we are different because we are Jesuits living in community together”.

It is worth noting that there has been a strong interest in vocations in this school for the past number of years – not just from present pupils nor even immediate past-pupils, but past pupils who have completed their College courses or other courses and who, during the last year in school had been invited to discuss, both individually and as a group, the possibility of such a vocation. Where interest was shown, this was followed up on a regular and supportive basis by the Province coordinator of vocations, a brother who, incidentally, attended the recent General Congregation at Fr. General's invitation.

I am well aware that many of us might say that it is by the work we do that we preach the Word of God. We have some very inspirational examples of such people in our Province. It may well be that those who do such work - and indeed the many who are not well known but who work very hard in their own apostolates - might be well known and in many cases loved through their work as individuals. But perhaps they are not well known, each as a Jesuit who lives in a Jesuit community. And, looking at those congregations who are attracting vocations, it seems that one motivation about their aspirants is the desire for a visible community element in their lives.

So, thinking about all this, talking to some of my friends about it and praying a bit as well, I wondered whether, as a Province, we should not look again at the way we present ourselves in public and in our ministries. It might not be comfortable; it certainly would not be popular. But it might help us to discern our way forward if our Province is to continue to exist. Of course, it would be simplistic indeed to suppose that wearing clerical dress would resolve the many problems that lead to a lack of vocations. But it may also be simplistic to suppose that not wearing clerical dress enables us to share the Word of God in a more effective way.

We the Jesuits in Ireland have been rightly criticised for the paucity of vocations to Jesuit life in our Province. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that people never see us. Even in a Jesuit school, Jesuits who form part of the teaching body or the administration of the institution, might not be known as Jesuits. And even if they are known as Jesuits, it may well be that this has no real meaning for the pupils for, after all, individual Jesuits, including myself, appear to live the exact same life-style as the lay-teachers. They teach, they wear the same clothes, they drive the same cars. They might even drink in the same pubs.

My question then is this: Is it time to affirm more publicly that we are different in some ways? Not better, no, but different and able to explain that difference with simplicity as Jesuits living in community. Could it be time for debate, time for discernment ?

Born: 31 March 1886, Strokestown, County Roscommon
Entered: 01 February 1905, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1919, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1923, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 27 November 1949, Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1908 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1909 at Kasteel Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) studying
by 1910 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1910

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Murray entered the Society at Tullabeg, 1 February 1905, studied philosophy at Stonyhurst and Gemert, 1908-10, did regency at Xavier College, Kew, 1910-16, and theology at Milltown Park, 1916-20. Tertianship was at Tullabeg, 1921-22. After ordination he taught at Clongowes, Mungret, and Belvedere for short periods, before returning to Australia in 1927.
While in Australia he worked in the parishes of Norwood, 1927-30, Sevenhill, 1930-32, Norwood, 1932-33, Richmond, 1933-40, Star of the Sea, Milsons Point, 1940-42, and Richmond, 1942-48. His final years, 1948-49, were at Loyola College, Watsonia.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 1 1950
Obituary
Fr. Michael Murray (1886-1905-1949) – Vice Province of Australia

Fr. Michael Murray, S.J., whose death in Australia occurred on 28th November, was born at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon in 1886. Educated at Clongowes Wood College, he spent a year studying engineering in the Technical College, Bristol, before entering the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus' College. Tullamore in 1905. He pursued his philosophical studies at Stonyhurst and at Gemert, Belgium, after which he went to Australia, where he taught for six years at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne. He returned to Dublin for his theological course and was ordained priest at Milltown Park in 1919. He made his Tertianship at Tullabeg.
After a period in the Apostolic School, Mungret where he was engaged in training students to the priesthood, Fr. Murray joined the mission staff and conducted missions and retreats for three years in various parts of Ireland. In 1927 he returned to Australia and worked zealously for the remainder of his life as pastor in the Jesuit parish churches at Norwood, South Australia, at St. Aloysius', Sydney and St. Ignatius, Richmond, Melbourne. It was in the latter church that Fr. Murray spent most of his years, from 1934 to 1940 and again from 1943 to 1949. Owing to declining health, he had to abandon active work during the past year. He was attached at the time of his death to St. Ignatius House of Higher Studies, Watsonia.
Those who knew Fr. Michael in the noviceship or later as a master in Clongowes or on the mission staff will retain the memory of his unassuming and affectionate disposition and quiet humour. R.I.P.

◆ The Clongownian, 1950

Obituary

Father Michael Murray SJ

Shortly after leaving Clongowes in 1903, Fr Murray entered the novitiate in Tullabeg, and passed on to the usual course of studies. As a scholastic he as a Master at Xavier College, Melbourne for six years, before returning to theology at Milltown Park, Dublin where he was ordained in 1919. After a few years in Ireland, he returned to Australia where he laboured all his life in parishes entrusted to the care of the Jesuits there.

His death occurred on November 27th, 1949. The Most Reverend Dr Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne, preaching at the Requiem Mass, spoke of two things which especially distinguished Fr Murray : his utter devotion to the sick, and his marvellous influence with men.

“His life”, His Grace concluded, “was almost wholly spent in the unobstrusive, hidden following of His Master, and it was a life of much labour and great service. His awakening surely was with Christ, and his repose was in peace”.

Born: 02 May 1922, Carrigaholt, County Clare
Entered: 07 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1978, Mazabuka, Seminary, Choma, Zambia
Died 21 July 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death.

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Seán was 49 years of age when he first came to Zambia in 1971. It was for him a new country, a new people and a new language. In the normal course of events, he would have come to Zambia thirty years earlier during regency time. As a scholastic, he spent his three years regency teaching, one year at the Crescent College in Limerick and two years at Clongowes Wood College.

He was born in Kilkee, Co Clare, a seaside resort, in 1922. His schooling was at the Christian Brothers in Limerick, at The Crescent College in Limerick and also at St Flannan's College in Ennis.

At the age of 18 he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Emo Park in 1940. After his first vows, he followed the normal course of studies: humanities, philosophy, regency and theology, being ordained at Milltown Park in 1954. Tertianship came at the end of his formation in 1956. He spent a short time in Emo as bursar, then for twelve years he was back in Limerick at the Sacred Heart Church as minister of the house and prefect of the church.

Fr Seán brought to his work as a priest a spirit of prayer, a warm personality, a spirit of hard work, a friendliness which people found easy to approach, a concern for people and a good sense of humour.

In 1971 there came a great change of life and of lifestyle for Fr Seán. He came out to Zambia. His first assignment was as secretary to the Bishop of the Diocese for six months. Then he went to Malawi to the Language Centre at Lilongwe to learn this new language called ciNyanja, followed by a few months in a parish in the Chipata diocese to practice what he had learned.

Returning to Zambia, he was posted to Nakambala to the Sugar Estate in Mazabuka where he spent the rest of his time in Zambia doing parochial work among the people on the Estate. These were workers who came from various parts of Zambia with their different languages. For this, the ciNyanja Fr Seán had learned, was ideal as it is a sort of lingua franca in Zambia, though its main location is the Eastern Province and Malawi.

Poor health took him back to Ireland for a long break but he returned to continue his work at Nakambala until 1986 when he had to return to Ireland for good. When he had recovered after a few years in Ireland he had hoped to come back again to Nakambala, as he wrote clearly to his Provincial, ‘I am keen to return to Nakambala’. But unfortunately, his health took a turn for the worse and he could not return.

For the next sixteen years until his death, Fr Seán soldiered on, working in the church, often in pain but he was always most welcoming to all who sought his services. The qualities – shall I call them virtues – which Fr Seán brought to his priestly life in the Crescent in Limerick, he brought also to Nakambala in Zambia and he also brought them back with him to Gardiner Street in Dublin. He died in Cherryfield Lodge infirmary in Dublin on 21st July 2008 at the ripe old age of eighty six years.

My fond memory of Fr Seán (known to his near contemporaries as Fr Max) is a Sunday evening in Mazabuka with two of his fellow Jesuits from other communities, meeting for a chat, a cuppa, a bar of chocolate, one of them lighting his pipe, and a game of canasta. May he rest in peace.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 137 : Autumn 2008

Obituary

Fr Seán (Max) Murray (1922-2008)

2nd May 1922: Born in Carrigaholt, Co. Clare
Early education at Crescent College, Limerick.
7th September 1940: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1942: First Vows at Emo
1942 - 1945: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1945 - 1948: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1948 - 1949: Crescent College, Limerick - Teacher
1949 - 1951: Clongowes - 1949-1950 Teacher
1950 - 1951: Prefect
1951 - 1955: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
29th July 1954: Ordained at Milltown Park
1955 - 1956: Emo - Treasurer
1956 - 1957: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1957 - 1958: Emo - Treasurer; Assistant Socius to Novice Director
1958 - 1971: Sacred Heart Church, Limerick - Minister; Prefect
1971 - 1980: Zambia - Parish Ministry
2nd May 1978: Final Vows at Mazabuka, Zambia
1980 - 1983: SFX, Gardiner Street - Minister; Assisted in Church
1983 - 1986: Zambia- Parish Ministry
1986 - 2007: SFX, Gardiner Street -
1986 - 1995: Assisted in the Church
1995 - 1997: Ministers in Church; Superior's Admonitor;
1997 - 1998: Vice-Superior; Assisted in the Church; Superior's Admonitor;Assisted in Cherryfield Lodge
1998 - 2007: Assisted in the Church
2007 - 2008: Cherryfield Lodge - Prayed for Church and Society
21st July 2008: Died at Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Homily preached at Funeral Mass by Barney McGuckian on July 24th, 2008 in St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner St., Dublin
“Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11:25)

These final words of our Gospel passage must have proved challenging to the faith of Fr Seán Murray over the last years of his life. The Lord's yoke may be easy and the burden light but to those of us looking on that's not how it appeared in Seán's case. His ordinary daily round entailed much labour with the overburdening of chronic arthritis and diabetes. Here in Gardiner Street we were conscious of the painfully slow movements, the unappetizing, indeed, bizarre diet and the self administered injections. It was truly a way of the Cross entailing several falls leading to broken limbs and on one occasion serious facial injuries. When I saw him after one fall I could not but think of Isaiah's Suffering Servant. “He had no form or charm to attract us, no beauty to win our hearts; he was despised, the lowest of men, a man of sorrows, familiar with the suffering, one from whom, as it were, we averted our gaze”. Isaiah 53: 2-3.We were blessed to be in a position to entrust him to the tender care of the staff at Cherryfield Lodge.

None of these vicissitudes, however, could wipe away that benign smile which was so much a part of him since any of us ever knew him. I'm sure that same smile was there during his boyhood in Co Clare where he was born on 2 May, 1922 just as our tragic Civil War was about to break out. Seán did not let his sufferings get him down. In his case God certainly fitted the back for the burden. During his last years it struck me that he lived out a spiritual maxim attributed to St John of the Cross, the Carmelite saint, who in his early years like Sean, also received a Jesuit education. “Adjust your cross to yourself, not yourself to your cross”. In other words don't let difficult things get you down. Stay on top of them. Seán did. Growing old gracefully isn't too demanding when we enjoy on-going good health. To do so, as Seán did, in his situation, was an indication of no small degree of virtue.

I kept a diary during a visit to Zambia over thirty years ago in 1978. The entry for January 28th refers to a journey from Chivuna to Mazabuka with the late, kindly Fr Robert Kelly. It reads “Breakfast with Joe, Frank and Bob. Said goodbye to the Ferrybank Sisters and set out. Made it without mishap to the Holy Rosary's, after having a coke with Max Murray, a photo with Vinny Murphy's roses and a meeting with Dinny O'Connell en route though the Sugar Plantation to a great rally in the afternoon at Mazabuka”. Of the six Jesuits mentioned two are still happily with us, Frank O'Neill and Vinny Murphy. The other two have gone on the slí na firinne. I mention this because it was the first time in my life that I had met Sean. He was to become a great support and anam chara to me as he was to so many others during his priestly life. Members of the family may be puzzled by the name Max Murray. So was I. It was a nickname so commonly used that I did not know that his name was Seán. When he entered the novitiate in 1940, his co-novices called him Maximus, Latin for big and strong because of his towering presence as a formidable back at football. Others have told me that that is putting it too mildly. Apparently he was anything but gentle on a football field. The two remaining novices from his own year, Michael Hurley and Stephen Redmond are still happily with us. It was Michael who has just read the Gospel for us.

What may have been characteristic of his football persona was in no way reflected in his religious and priestly life. There, he shared in the gentleness and humility of the Sacred Heart to which he was greatly devoted. Some little prayer to the Sacred Heart often featured in the penance he prescribed in the Confessional, a place where many people were touched by his kindness. It would be no exaggeration to say that he was a man who was universally loved. This would be admitted even by those who considered him to be gentle to a fault. They thought that he would do anything to avoid conflict even where a little bit of it was required. He was strongly influenced by the idea of St Francis de Sales, known as the Gentle Doctor, that you catch more flies with a little pot of honey than a big barrel of vinegar. Only God alone knows the number of souls he influenced for their good.

One of the last things I did for him after a visit to our Nursing Home in Cherryfield was to bring back to Gardiner Street the stipends he had received for the Masses he had offered for the donors' intentions. This prompted the choice of the reading from the Book of Maccabees where there is a distinct emphasis on the importance of sacrifice and atonement for sin, both for the living and the dead. Sean never wavered in his love for his daily Mass and always started his day with it. He tended to do this at such an unearthly hour that his congregations tended to be small. However those who did join him could detect the sincerity behind the somewhat mournful cadence he adopted when on the altar.

He never asked for concessions on the grounds of his health and made himself available all day for priestly duties. He is remembered affectionately for this in all the placed he served; Limerick, Clongowes, Zambia and in more recent years here in Gardiner Street. He always had a concern for the poor and the under-dog expressed in the work he has done over the years as a most conscientious Spiritual Director of the parish Conference of St Vincent de Paul. In his personal life he showed a marked detachment from the goods of this world. I have been told by one of the community with a direct interest in the matter that clearing the personal belongings from his room will take about five minutes, it is so sparse. Sean was deeply committed to religious life with all that he signed up to when he took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience upwards of sixty year ago.

He was a delightful person to have in a community. He encouraged others and believed in praising them during their lifetime. He kept abreast of events, read widely in spirituality and current affairs, spoke kindly of others and always made an interesting contribution to conversation. His very hearty laugh did not leave him even in his debilitating illness. I remember especially one story that he enjoyed telling, even using the actual French words used. In one of the French-speaking Jesuit houses on the continent, where there was a large community, two of the priests had the same name, let's call them Duval. One had a reputation for well-authenticated holiness. The gifts of the second one seem to have lain in some other direction. During dinner one of the staff came into the refectory and called out that the Père Duval was wanted at reception. “Lequel?” (Which of them?). “Le Saint” (the Saint). “Oh, j'arrive” (I'm coming), said the truly holy man as he stood up. There is a touching simplicity about goodness, a more ordinary word for holiness, something that all of us recognise.

The Gospel read today provides us with an opportunity to eavesdrop on Jesus as He prays to His Father. It provides us with a window into the ongoing conversation between Father and Son that we have been invited to join in forever. “No one knows the Son but the Father and no one knows the Father but the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”. Seán spent his life as a Jesuit praying that the Son would reveal the Father to him. Now that it has come to an end he can appreciate better than ever the wisdom of the words of St Bernard. “Life is for love and time is for searching for God”.

Just as the young man came to the refectory door to ask for one of those in that French-speaking house, so Someone came a couple of days ago on a similar errand to Seán's door. “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest." Eternal rest. Sean may have been surprised to hear himself numbered among the saints with an invitation to remain in their number forever. The rest of us would not.

Additional note: An t-athair Prionsias O Fionnagáin vouched for the authenticity of the anecdote about the two Jesuits with the same name. His source was Fr John Ryan. The “saint” in question was, in fact, Fr. Alphonse Petit, a celebrated Tertian Master in the South Belgian province, whose cause for canonisation is in process. Among his Tertians was Fr James Cullen, S.J.

Taken from an obit written in Zambia by Tom McGivern:
In 1971 there came change of life and of lifestyle for Fr. Seán. He came out to Africa, to Zambia. His first assignment was secretary to the Bishop of the Diocese for six months. Then off to Malawi to the Language Centre at Lilongwe to learn this new language called CiNyania, followed by a few months in a parish in the Chipata diocese to practice what he had learned. Returning to Zarnbia, he was posted to Nakambala to the Sugar Estate in Mazaabuka, where he spent the rest of his time in Zambia doing parochial work among the people on the Estate, workers who came from various parts of Zambia with their different languages. For this, the C:iNycl.nia he had learned, was ideal as it is a sort of lingua franca in Zambia though its location is the Eastern Province.

Poor health took him back to Ireland for a long break. But he returned to continue his work at Nakambala until 1986 when he had to return to Ireland for good. When he had recovered after a few years in 1942 he had hoped to come back again to Nakambala, as he wrote to his Provincial, “I am keen to return to Nakambala". But unfortunately, his health took a turn for the worse and he could not return. ..

For the next sixteen years until his death, Fr. Seán soldiered on working in the church, often in pain but welcoming all who sought his services. The qualities - shall I call them virtues? - which he brought to his priestly life in the Crescent in Limerick, hc brought to Nakambala and he brought back with him to Gardiner Street in Dublin. He died in Cherryfield Lodge in Dublin on 21st July 2008

My fond memory of Fr. Seán (known to his near contemporaries as Fr. Max) is a Sunday evening in Mazabuka with two of his fellow Jesuits (living in other houses) meeting for a chat, a cuppa, a bar of chocolate, one of them lighting his pipe, and a game of canasta. May he rest in peace.

Ready for the Call - July 2008
Our members dwindle as the days go by
And one by one the Father calls His sons.
Seán Murray was the very last to die -
We knew that he was one of our weaker ones.

“Oh world, O life. O time
on whose last steps we climb”
Why should we mourn our friends' decease
When our faith assures us they are in peace?

How will it be with me when my time has come,
Who should have been a true son of Ignatius?
With all my sins, shortcomings, I'll stand dumb
Before our God, forgiving and most gracious.

And may he join me to my better brothers;
I lived with them in this life, after all.
I know I am not worthy as those others,
Yet be I cleansed and ready for the call.

Thomas MacMahon

◆ The Clongownian, 2009

Obituary

Father Seán Murray SJ

Seán was 49 years of age when he first came to Zambia in 1971, a new country, a new people, and a new language. In the normal course of events, he would have come to Zambia thirty years earlier during regency time. He was born in Kilkee, County Clare, a seaside resort in Ireland, in 1922. At the age of 18, he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Emo Park in 1940. After his first vows, he followed the normal course of studies, humanities, philosophy, regency and theology and was ordained at Milltown Park in 1954, Tertianship completed his formation in 1956. (He was Third Line Prefect in Clongowes from 1949-51; Ed)

Seán brought to his work as a priest a spirit of prayer, a warm personality, a spirit of hard work, a friendliness, a concern for people and a good sense of humour, In 1971 there came a great change of life and of lifestyle for Seán. He came to Zambia. His first assignment was secretary to the Bishop of the Monze Diocese for six months. Then off to Malawi to the Language Centre at Lilongwe to learn Chinyanja, followed by a few months in a parish in the Chipata Diocese to practice what he had learned.

Returning to the Monze Diocese, he was posted to Nakambala where he spent the rest of his time in Zambia doing parochial work among the people on the Sugar Estate. He also served as superior of the Jesuit Community in Mazabuka for some of that time. Poor health took him back to Ireland in 1981 for a long break but he returned to continue his work in 1983 at Nakambala until 1986, when he had to return to Ireland for good.

May he rest in peace.

Courtesy of SJ Africa News

Born: 29 August 1852, County Limerick
Entered: 07 February 1870, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1889
Final Vows: 02 February 1891
Died: 12 June 1913, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada - Belgicae Province (BELG)

Part of the L’Imaculée Conception, De Lorimier, près Montréal, Canada community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to BELG : 1888

by 1880 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1884 at Oña Spain (CAST) studying
by 1885 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1888 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1890 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
In India for many years before Canada
1894 St Francis Xavier College, Chowringhee India (BELG) Rector
1896-1904 St Joseph’s, Darjeeling, India (BELG) Parish Priest
1904 St Francis Xavier, Liverpool
1905-1909 Holy Name Manchester ,

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Transcribed into BELG Province 1888, and went to India

◆ The Clongownian, 1914

Obituary

Father Vincent Naish SJ

Advices from Canada in the June of last year brought the unexpected announcement of the death of the above-named distinguished ecclesiastic. Although born and educated in Ireland, the greater part of Father Naish's life was passed in foreign lands. Belvedere and Tullabeg Colleges were accountable for his early education, and in the latter establishment he was fellow student with many men whose public life is familiar to our readers, and among his class-fellows was the late Mr Alfred Blake, of Cork, whose rather sudden death caused such a sensation in the Four Courts two days ago. Father Naish came from an ancient and distinguished stock well known in Co Limerick, of whom the late Lord Chancellor Naish was not the least distinguished member. Early in his career as a Jesuit, after teaching for some six years in Clongowes and Tullabeg, he volunteered for work on the foreign mission, and although Irish by sympathy and every tie, he was attached to the Belgian Province of the Order, and consequently his work lay principally in India, which is one of the mission fields of that province. For several years Father Naish was engaged in that missionary work, and directed with distinguished success the great Catholic College of Calcutta. Later on he was recalled to Europe, and was well known as a preacher of eminence all over the North of England. As a missionary in Canada he laboured among his own countrymen in almost every town of any note from Labrador to Vancouver. He was a man of remarkable presence and of most distinguished gifts, both as a scholar and a preacher, and his loss will be deeply felt by those to whom he gave the unstinted labour of his later and riper years. With his immediate relatives much sympathy is felt, and those with whom his name was familiar thirty years ago will feel a pang of regret as they breathe a prayer for the eternal rest of a friend of very noble and winning character.

“Freeman's Journal” June 19th, 1913.

-oOo-

Rev Vincent Naish SJ, a distinguished Churchman and scholar, passed away at Moncton, NB, shortly after six o'clock last night (June 12th), death ensuing after an illness of three days' duration, Ten days ago the deceased went down to that city in company with Rev Father Gagnieur SJ, to conduct a mission in St Bernard's Church. At the close of the spiritual exercises last Sunday he contracted a severe cold, which later develop into pneumonia. On Monday he was removed to the City Hospital for treatment, but yesterday his condition became such that no hopes could be held out for his recovery. He remained conscious to the end, and was attended in his last moments by Father Gagnieur, as well as by the priests of St Bernard's. During his sojourn in India he made exhaustive studies of the Buddhistic, Islamistic, and other Oriental religions, and became authority on these branches. But it was as a missionary that he excelled. A powerful speaker, lucid of argument, with an eloquent and easy flow of language, backed by a seemingly inexhaustible fund of knowledge of men and things, he had that quality which made him tower far above many engaged in mission work. A man of deep piety and religious conviction, he was an inspiration his fellow members of the Jesuit Order, as well as to all those with whom he came in contact in the course of his missionary labours. Since his arrival in Canada, some six years ago, Father Naish was engaged exclusively in missionary work, and in the course of his activities along this line he has been heard in Catholic pulpits of almost every Canadian city from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

“Montreal Gasette”, June 13th, 1913.

Born: 01 November 1820, Askeaton, County Limerick
Entered: 28 September 1859, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae-NeoEboracsnsis Province (MARNEB)
Professed: 02 February 1871
Died: 20 February 1893, St Joseph's, Willing's Alley, Philadelphia, PA, USA - Marylandiae-NeoEboracsnsis Province (MARNEB)

Born: 23 April 1902, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 01 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 21 August 1989, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin community at the time of death

by 1927 in Australia - Regency at Xavier College, Kew
by 1933 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Nash, Robert
by Patrick Maume

Nash, Robert (1902–89), Jesuit priest and apologist, was born 23 April 1902 at Cork, third and only surviving child of Robert Nash (d. Southampton, 21 November 1901) and his wife Delia (née Kearney). He was brought up in Limerick by his mother and maternal uncle Joseph Kearney, a shop worker, and was educated at St Mary's convent school, St Munchin's day school, and Mount St Alphonsus College, Limerick, a minor seminary for the Redemptorist order. Nash was heavily influenced by his mother's fervent catholicism, which had been reinforced by her unhappy childhood and adult bereavement. He subsequently thought she was over-protective but that she did not exert any undue influence on his choice of vocation; he made the priesthood his life's ambition. After the Redemptorists decided that his health was too weak for the religious life, Nash approached the Jesuit order and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, on 1 September 1919.

Nash took his vows as a Jesuit in 1921. After three years in the Jesuit training house at Milltown Park, Dublin, he was sent on the Australian mission, 1925–8, then returned to Milltown Park for four years’ theological study. He was ordained to the priesthood on 31 July 1931. He subsequently spent ten months’ tertianship at St Beuno's College in north Wales. His superiors retained him in Ireland out of consideration for his mother, who died in 1949. He soon became well known as a preacher and leader of retreats.

Nash's first article on spiritual matters appeared during his scholasticate, when his superior asked him to write up his trial sermon; he eventually published at least twenty-eight books, one of which (Is life worth while? (1949)) sold 100,000 copies, and more than 300 pamphlets. He had the gift of expressing himself in simple and direct language. Nash's world view was uncompromising: he preached a popularised version of Ignatian spirituality, with its emphasis on total commitment. Every moment was seen as participating in the fateful choice between heaven and hell; his compulsive writing reflected fear of wasting time. Even the mildest worldly pleasures came under suspicion as distractions from eternity or occasions of sin. This view lay behind his most notorious pamphlet, The devil at dances, which appeared during the clerically inspired campaign against unsupervised dance venues in the 1930s. Its opening description of a young woman at a dance hall, who notices that the attractive stranger with whom she is dancing has cloven hooves, was read literally by naive readers, producing widespread fear and scrupulosity. One of Nash's books was an annotated edition of St Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual exercises, which formed the basis for his extensive activities as a retreat master; his guides to prayer, such as The priest at his prie-dieu (1949), drew on Ignatian techniques of visualisation and were widely used in the formation of seminarians.

From 1951 to 1985 Nash wrote a weekly column on religious matters for the Sunday Press, the first of its kind in an Irish newspaper; in 1954–85 he also published daily ‘Phone calls’ (brief sixty-word reflections) in the Evening Press. During lengthy visits to Australia in 1956–7 and America in 1964 he provided the editor with a year's columns in advance – an indication of his professionalism, his fluency, and the extent to which he saw himself as preaching a timeless and unchanging message independent of day-to-day events. He calculated that he had written more than a million words for his column; in its latter years he was often accused of manipulating readers through fear of hellfire, but this discounts his utter conviction of the reality of the danger and his own duty to warn against it. He asked much of his readers, but no more than he demanded of himself; his life was so focused on its central objective that all other pursuits seemed trivial to him.

Nash's greatest popularity occurred during the 1950s, when readers could see themselves as part of a triumphant worldwide church battling uncompromisingly for the faith delivered to the saints. He was ill at ease with many developments after the second Vatican council; he acknowledged that the new relaxed approach was helpful in winning souls who might previously have been antagonised, but feared that excessive toleration of heterodoxies within the church and downplaying formal ritual might blind people to their spiritual needs. He never appeared on television: ‘the typewriter was the instrument I knew best so I stuck with it’ (Irish Times, 22 Aug. 1989). In 1980 Nash was a founder member of the third world aid group Action from Ireland (AfrI).

Nash retained a faithful, ageing readership until he ceased to write his column in 1985, declaring that it was time to say ‘What I have written I have written.’ He intended My last book (1983), a combination of autobiographical recollections and advice on prayer, to live up to its title (it concludes with meditations on death and heaven). He was lured back into print by admirers urging that if another book saved one soul it would be worth while; in 1986 he published My last phone call. Nash spent his last years in the Jesuit community at Gardiner Street, Dublin, where he continued to hear confessions until a year before his death. Early in 1989 deteriorating health led to his transfer to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin, where he died 21 August 1989.

The vast contemporary popularity of Nash's writings, whose structured and fervent certainties contrast with the colloquial soothings of later Irish religious columnists, says much about the enthusiasms and restrictions of late Tridentine Irish Catholicism. Nash lived to see the aspirations he embodied condemned, ridiculed, or forgotten by a generation with less restrictive lives, new horizons, and different aspirations; he himself was virtually forgotten within a few years of his death.

Robert Nash, My last book (1983); Evening Press, 22 Aug. 1989; Irish Press, 22 Aug. 1989; Ir. Times, 22 Aug. 1989; Irish Catholic, 24 Aug. 1989; Sunday Press, 27 Aug. 1989; Monsignor James Horan: memoirs 1911–1986, ed. Micheál MacGréil (1992)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert Nash joined the Society in 1919, and after initial Jesuit studies came to Australia and Burke Hall in 1925 as prefect of discipline and teacher. He loved his time there and was sorry to be recalled for theology in 1928.
He was later famous for his popular books on prayer, such as “Priest at his Pre-Dieu”, “Nun at her Pre-Dieu”, which caused a good deal of frustration among the intellectual professors who could not get their learned works published. His many pamphlets led Nash to being in considerable demand as a missioner and retreat director.
He returned to Australia, 1962-64, trying to start the popular Irish Mission, but it did not work. Nash gave house retreats at Watsonia, and amongst his points on one occasion he encouraged the scholastics to imagine the number of mortal sins being committed that night within a mile of the college. This taxed the imagination of the scholastics somewhat as the area within a mile of the college was still largely bush and farms. He must have considered the few farmers to be a sinful lot! Robert Nash remained productive in writing and preaching until almost the end of his life.
He was not lacking in confidence!

Born: 28 December 1900, Dromod, County Leitrim
Entered: 31 August 1918, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 25 June 1958, Mungret College, County Limerick

Studied for BA at UCD; Ordained at Milltown Park

Sent early from Regency to Theology due to failing eyesight

by 1933 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 33rd Year No 4 1958

Obituary :
Fr Anthony Naughton (1900-1958)

It is but eight years since our new cemetery was opened, under the shadow of the ancient abbey, and already eight priests are laid to rest there. Of the four of Mungret's Community - all taken from us swiftly and almost without warning - perhaps the last, Fr. Anthony Naughton, will be longest remembered and spoken of by Mungret boys, past and present, Apostolic and Lay, in every part of the world.
Fr. Tony was born in Dromod, Co, Leitrim on the 28th December, 1900. His birthday never passed, unnoticed, it became indeed part of the Christmas festivities. The year of birth, 1900, made it easy for even the poorest calculator to tell his age in any year of the century, and gave the philosophically inclined a chance of questioning which century he really belonged to! At the age of 18 he entered Tullabeg from the Apostolic School. After the noviceship and a year's “Home" Juniorate”, as was the custom, he took his B.A. degree in Rathfarnham in 1924. Three years Philosophy in Milltown brought him to 1927, and after one year's teaching in Belvedere, during which he obtained the Higher Diploma, he was allowed to start Theology, probably owing to some anxiety about his eyesight. He was ordained in Milltown in 1931, and after the final year's Theology made his Tertianship in St. Beuno's in North Wales.
The year 1933 began his connection of twenty-five years with Mungret College. At first, for four years, he was Vice-Superior of the Apostolic School, then on the teaching staff. For two periods, 1937-40 and 1945-9, he was Editor of the Mungret Annual and spared no effort to make it a success. The section on the Past received his most affectionate and accurate attention. Probably no one in our time had such a wide knowledge of Mungret boys, no one was ever more interested in their comings and goings, their sayings and doings. Poor as his eyesight was for many years, it was a joke among the Commurity that nothing could escape his systematic search of the morning - or evening - papers. Many an Editor of the Annual bad reason to be thankful to Fr. Tony for a choice bit of information that no one else could have, or might have troubled to have given him, and often a Superior was grateful to have his attention called to an Old Mungret name in the death column.
It is certain, as has often been said in these last weeks, that “Mungret will not be the same without him”. The Past returning to revisit the College will feel a sense of loss.
Here are a few comments in letters received by Fr. Rector : “I was greatly shocked to learn of the death of Fr. Naughton - you will all miss his familiar wit and good fellowship but he has gone to a far better land”. That from a boy who had left for the holidays only a few days before; and this, from a letter from a recent Past : “I was very deeply grieved to read of the death of poor Fr. Naughton - I shall always treasure the memory of his kindness to me during my days in the College - all, I am sure, will remember him for kindness and good humour”. Best tribute of all is from a Past priest, just become P.P. in an English parish : “I read with regret the report in the Universe of the death of Fr. Anthony Naughton. In company with many hundreds of Mungret men I feel I have suffered a personal loss. “Nobby”, as the boys of my time knew him, was a delightful personality, and was surely one of the best-loved teachers who ever “thundered” in the classrooms of Mungret. He was famous in my time for being audible, not only in his own classroom but in every other classroom at one and the same time. When I grew older and was ordained priest I came to appreciate and respect his saintly qualities. What a gentle and childlike man he really was underneath - Fr. Naughton must have been a delightful community man. I got a glimpse of this once when I called and was entertained to ļuncheon. Afterwards Fr. Naughton and some of the Scholastics and I went off for a swim. “I cherish the memory of that afternoon. Fr. Naughton was the life of the party with his anecdotes, reminiscences and friendly jibes at us all. I said Mass for him here on Sunday and was very glad to be able to ask my people to pray for him and speed his soul to heaven. May he rest in peace”.
The “thunders” of Fr. Naughton had no terrors for even the smallest boy; for all were quick to see the simplicity and kind heart beneath it all. “A wonderful teacher of History and Geography”, one letter says. Yes! he had a wide range, but that was his subject of preference. It was really amazing to see the confidence - boys of all ages and classes had in his ability to tip questions for the Intermediate and Leaving Certificate examinations. Fr. Naughton himself had no illusions about his supposed gift, and could often give the shrewdest opinion as to how a particular boy would do. In the weeks before the examination he would be questioned diligently by even Honour boys of classes not his own; but the final word would be left for the weaker boys an hour before the examination was due to start. Fr. Naughton would appear with his rolled up portable blackboard, full of tips; “and bring all interested into a classroom”. Everything was very short and snappy and to the point. Then half an hour before the examination all would be sent around the track to clear their heads and digest, and talk over the tips among themselves. It was now the time for the Honour boy, perhaps, to come along with his difficulty - the causes of this or the events leading up to that. There on the corridor without any preparation short and definite answers would be given with an exhortation, of course, to “have a good round of the track”. But the most astonishing thing of all was to see the rush for Fr. Naughton after the examination, all the questions “tipped”! Whatever about all this, and Fr, Tony would be the first to smile, it is certain that his results were often high class, and perhaps those of the Intermediate in his last year best of all.
Much could be said about that kindness, so often mentioned in the letters: kindness to those in difficulties; to those needing help most; to foreign students with no English at all. “No boy ever left Mungret with a grudge against Fr, Naughton. · The same kindly, and often quizzical, spirit was well known to the countryside around, chatting and advising on farming, building, health; working too for the poor through the College Vincent de Paul Society of which he was President for endless years.
Much could be written too of things more important than these, of Fr. Naughton as a Community man, rigid, we might say, punctuality for Community duties (expecting the same too from everyone), lively, and good-humouredly provoking at recreation, his interests always centring around Mungret. So the years went on until indeed he became a part of all that Mungret is.
Strange! his friends tell us that he had an idea that 1958 would bring a change of status - the Silver Jubilee year an ancient mansion in the midlands where he would have peace and quiet and perhaps rejuvenation! Yes, the change came a month before the 31st July suddenly. We would have liked to have him for many years - a “Department Pensioner” to enjoy his comments on men and boys and things, but the Lord has changed his status and called him to his “Mansion”. May he rest in peace.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Anthony Naughton 1900-1958
Fr Tony Naughton spent 1933-1958. 25 years in Mungret. He was part and parcel of the place and affectionately known as “Nobby” to generations of both lay boys and Apostolics.

He was born in Dromod County Leitrim in 1900.

From his early scholastic days he was afflicted with a weakness of the eyes, but in spite of this handicap, he managed to get through his studies, and to acquire a fund of information on all sorts of topics, and on all generations of the past.

He was editor of the “Mungret Annual” for a number of years and also acted as an Assistant in the Apostolic School, but it was as a teacher that he made his mark, in more sense than one, for he had a stentorian voice and could be heard far outside the ambit of his classroom. He had an uncanny knack of spotting questioned for the examinations which he imparted to his class in a short briefing before their ordeal.

He was completely devoted to the College and to the boys in all their activities. Their affection for him, which outlasted school, is sufficient testimony to his inner goodness and worth.

He died rather suddenly after he had retired from teaching, on June 25th 1958.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1959

Obituary

Father Anthony Naughton SJ

We regret to announce the death on June 25th of Father Anthony Naughton.

Father Naughton was born on December 29th, 1900, at Dromod, Co. Leitrim, After leaving Mungret in 1918 he entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained in 1931. In the year 1933, he began his long connection with Mungret, which was to last for twenty-five years.

For the first four years he was Vice Superior of the Apostolic School, and then on the teaching staff. For two periods, 1937-'40 and 1945-49, he was Editor of the “Mungret Annual”, and spared no effort to make it a success. The section on the Past received his most affectionate and accurate attention,

Father Naughton had an amazing ability for tipping examination questions. Prior to an examination he used to be besieged on the corridor by boys looking for the latest hints.

For many years he was President of the St Vincent de Paul Society and taught the boys to be mindful of those who are forgotten by the world.

Probably no one in our time had such a wide knowledge of Mungret boys, nor was more interested in their comings and goings. He took a deep interest in their careers.

In spite of an apparent gruffness, Father Naughton had a kindly heart. It has been said with truth that Mungret will not be the same without him. The Past returning to Mungret will feel a sense of loss. To his sister and brothers we offer our deep sympathy. RIP

Born: 06 July 1907, Galway City, County Galway
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 07 February 1942, Manresa House, Roehampton, London, England
Died: 30 January 1992, Milford Nursing Home, Limerick

Part of the Sacred Heart, Limerick community at the time of death

Early education at Coláiste Iognáid, Galway

Chaplain in the Second World War.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 2 1941

General News :
The Irish Province has to date sent 4 chaplains to England for home or foreign service for the duration of the war. They are Frs. Richard Kennedy, Michael Morrison, Conor Naughton and Cyril Perrott. The first three were doing their 3rd year's probation under Fr. Henry Keane at the Castle, Rathfarnham, while Fr. Perrott was Minister at Mungret College. They left Dublin on the afternoon of 26th May for Belfast en route for London. Fr. Richard Clarke reported a few days later seeing them off safely from Victoria. Both he and Fr. Guilly, Senior Chaplain to British Forces in N. Ireland, had been most helpful and kind in getting them under way.

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 52nd Year No 2 1977

Calcutta Province

Extract from a letter from a Jesuit of Calcutta Province, Darjeeling Region (Fr. Edward Hayden, St. Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling, Western Bengal)

I was one of the old “Intermediate” boys of the Christian Brothers, Carlow. I left off in 1910, 67 years ago, at the end of June. Yes, we learnt the Gaeilge. The Brothers - or some I met, one in particular, a Brother Doyle, was very keen on it. The others didn't teach it as it was only in the “Academy” that they began with languages: French, Gaeilge, Algebra, Euclid and of course English. (5th Book - Senior Elementary Class - was followed by the “Academy”). The Brothers had dropped Latin just before I joined the “Academy”. We were living at a distance of 5 Irish miles from Carlow, and I was delicate, so I often fell a victim of 'flu, which didn't help me to make progress in studies - made it very hard: but at that time the rule was “do or die”. There was only one excuse for not having home work done – you were dead! That was the training we had: it stood me in good stead through life; it is the one thing I am grateful for.
We had a number of Irishmen here, a handful: Fr Jos Shiel, Mayo, died in Patna. Fr James Comerford, Queen's County, died in Bihar. I met the Donnelly brothers, they were Dubliners. The one who died (Don) was Editor of the Sacred Heart Messenger. Many of his stories were about horse-racing - he must have read plenty of Nat Gould when he was a boy! (Nat wrote a number of horse-racing stories supposed to have been in Australia). There are three Irishmen in Ranchi: Frs Donnelly, Phelan and Lawlor. Fr Phelan has spent nearly his whole life in India. As a boy he was in North Point, and after his Senior Cambridge he joined the Society. At that time there was only the Missio Maior Bengalensis of the Belgian Province. The Mission took in half or more of north-east India - Patna, Ranchi and south of it, Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim - an area four or five times that of Ireland! Needless to say, there were parts of it which had no SJ within a hundred miles ...Down here in the Terai where I am “hibernating” out of the cold of Darjeeling, some forty-five years ago there was no priest. One or two of the professors of theology from Kurseong, some 40 miles away, used to visit this district at Christmas and Easter. It was very malarious. Catholics from Ranchi came here to work on the tea plantations. Then a Jesuit was sent to reside in it. Now the district has schools and Jesuits galore, also non-Jesuits. Great progress has been made. The Salesians took up Assam, the American SJs took over Patna. The Northern Belgians took over Ranchi and the Southern Belgians took Calcutta. (The Belgian Province grew till its numbers reached 1400. Then, about 1935, Belgian separated into Flemings - North - and Walloons - South). Ranchi was given to the North and Calcutta to the South. On the 15th August last year (1976) Calcutta was raised from being a Vice Province to be a full-blown Province. 100% of those joining the SJ now are sons of India. Madura in the south has been a Province for years. Nearly all the Europeans are dead: no more are allowed to come permanently unless for a very, very special reason, India has begun to send her sons to East Africa in recent years.
Fr Lawlor is Irish-born but somehow joined the Australian Province about the time it started a half-century or so ago.
Brother Carl Kruil is at present in charge of an ashram: a place for destitutes, in Siliguri. Silguri is a city which grew up in the last forty years around the terminus of the broad gauge railway and the narrow (two-foot) toy railway joining the plains with Darjeeling - one of the most wonderful lines in the world, rising from 300 feet above sea-level, 7,200 feet in about 50 miles and then dropping down to about 5,500 feet in another ten. Three times it loops the loop and three times climbs up by zig-zags. I seem to remember having met Fr Conor Naughton during the war. Quite a number of wartime chaplains came to Darjeeling. The mention of Siliguri set me off rambling. Br Krull remembers his visit to Limerick. (He stayed at the Crescent, 11th 13th June, 1969). He is a born mechanic. Anything in the line of machinery captivates him. He has to repair all the motors and oil engines – some places like this have small diesel generators which have to be seen to from time to time and all other kinds of machinery: cameras, typewriters etc. At present he comes here to do spot welding (electric welding of iron instead of bolts and nuts.
The PP, here is replacing an old simple shed with a corrugated iron roof by a very fine one with brick walls and asbestos-cement roof. Two years ago or so, the roof was lifted by a sudden whirlwind clean off the wooden pillars on which it rested. Since then he has been saying the Sunday Masses on the veranda of a primary school. In this school 235 children receive daily lessons and a small mid-day meal. The Sisters are those of St. Joseph of Cluny – all from South India. They are really heroines: no work is too difficult for them. They do all their own work and cook for us. Their Vice-Provincial is from somewhere in the centre of the “Emerald Gem”. They are growing in numbers and do great work, running a dispensary amongst other things. The church is very broad, approximately 90 by 60 feet. As no benches are used - people sit on the floor - it will hold nearly 450 people at a time. The altar is in one corner. :
Fr Robert Phelan (Ranchi Province) had a visit one night from dacoits (armed robbers), but with help managed to beat them off.
Ranchi had several of these raids last year. In nearly every case the dacoits managed to get some cash.
One night about two weeks ago a rogue elephant (one that is wild and roaming away from the herd) came to a small group of houses close by. A man heard the noise and came out. The elephant caught him by the leg and threw him on to a corn stack - fortunately. The corn stack of rice waiting to be thrashed was quite broad and flat on top! He was very little the worse for the experience. And that is the end of the news.
One more item: please ask the new Editor of the Irish Province News to let me have copies as (?) and send them by overland (surface mail). Even if they are three months coming, they will be news. God bless you and reward you handsomely.
Yours in our Lord,
Edward Hayden, SJ (born 15th October 1893, entered S.J. Ist February 1925, ordained 21st November 1933, took final vows on 2nd February 1936. Now conf. dom. et alumn. and script. hist. dom. at the above address).

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 82 : September 1995
Obituary
Fr Conor Naughton (1907-1992)

6th July 1907: Born, Galway
Education: St. Ignatius College, Galway
1st Sept. 1925: Entered Jesuit Novitiate, Tullabeg
2nd Sept. 1927: Took First Vows
1927 - 1930; Juniorate - Rathfarnham
1930 - 1933: Philosophy Studies - Tullabeg
1933 - 1936: Regency, Crescent College, Limerick
1936 - 1940: Theology Studies - Milltown Park
31st July 1939: Ordained - Milltown Park
1940 - 1941: Tertianship - Rathfarnham
1941 - 1946: Military Chaplain - England/India/Burma
1946 - 1992: Ministering in the Church - Sacred Heart,
31st Jan. 1992: Limerick Died in Milford Nursing House, Limerick

When Conor Naughton grew up in the Galway of the early part of the century, he knew a life quite different from that of today. His Connemara-born father ran a substantial business, the ownership of which by a Catholic was surely an innovation in that day. An uncle on his mother's side was a Westminster M.P. for the Irish Parliamentary party. A little later, there was the war of Independence and Conor knew a fellow school boy called William Joyce (to become Lord Haw Haw) who rather peculiarly consorted with the British Forces. There was great poverty in Galway then, and Conor, as a member of the St. Vincent De Paul Society visited houses of Calcutta-like destitution,

I once saw a photo of the school senior rugby team, which had won the Connaught Championship and which he captained. There was a marked quality of dedicated independence about the boy. Both that spirit of single-mindedness and his love of all kinds of sport were to serve him royally throughout life. From his entering the Society in 1925 to the year 1941 he did the normal training. It was the years 1941 to 46 when he was an army chaplain in England, India and Burma, that provided the most colourful period of his life. From these days he brought a fund of stories and reflections about that most difficult of experiences. Always when listening to him, one was aware of his total and most painstaking devotion to his apostolic work.

When Conor returned to Ireland in 1946 he went to work in the Sacred Heart Church: this was to be his mission until his death in 1992. He was minister here on two separate occasions.

In this long period he excelled as a confessor. Apart from his constant work at the altar, which made him very well known, he also was known to the students of the college and their families, and through his love of soccer he was recognised throughout Limerick. To the end of his life, the Sunday visit to the soccer match was his great relaxation. For a number of years he had been on the board of directors of Limerick soccer and on a famous occasion he was taken on a Spanish playing expedition by the team! A photograph of Conor from that time did indeed have a Spanish quality - reminding us of the city of the Spanish Arch. In this sporting city of Limerick Conor was accepted as a citizen and as an elder. In the subtle Irish way he became part of the culture and the landscape.

He was the priest up-in-the Crescent to whom everybody had been to confession: when you had a difficult tale to tell - in the times when tales were often so painful a part of life, he was there quietly to help you out and give you sure and gentle healing. They knew their man and his power was for them...

In community Conor was a quiet, alert and encouraging presence! Behind the unobtrusive and often humorous manner, there was a very dedicated and courageous man. Nothing could ever go far wrong when he was about. He could be absent minded at times, but he was never off-course. His spirit was honed down to the very essence of the faith for he had both a very precise and ascetical mind. His devotion was most practical. Not only was he the good confessor, but his prayers were available to everybody in trouble - to produce a good and useful outcome. His contribution to the faith of the city is Conor's unwritten memorial. People remembering their rocky journey through life wistfully and reverently recall his kind and reassuring help.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.
Dermot Cassidy

Born: 15 January 1835, County Limerick
Entered: 16 April 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1876
Died: 09 June 1911, Miss Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square, Dublin

Part of St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin at time of his death.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He entered as a Priest, having been in the Limerick Diocese, and having been lent to All Hallows as professor of the Aspirants to various Foreign Missions.
He was a Novice under Luigi Sturzo at Milltown.

1866-1867 After First Vows he was sent to Louvain for further studies - Ad Grad.
1867-1871 He was sent to Galway as a Teacher of Rudiments and Mathematics, and also prefect of the Church. He was also Director of the Sacred Heart Confraternity and Operarius. For his last two years here he also was involved in the Missionary Band.
1871-1888 He was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius
1888-1890 He was sent to Milltown to direct Retreats and Missions.
1890-1894 He was sent back to Gardiner St as Operarius and Missions.
1894-1896 He was again sent to Milltown as part of the Missions group.
1896 He finally returned to Gardiner St again, and was President of the BVM Sodality for girls, being succeeded by William Butler and Martin Maher in this role. He remained in Gardiner St until his death 09/06/1911.
He was for many years one of the best Preachers at Gardiner St, and also a favourite Catechist on the Missions. Professional men especially liked his sermons, they were so well thought out, persuasive and elegant in expression, and full of quiet humour and funny stories. He was shy and retiring in style, very quiet, gentle and kind, fond of children, fishing and the sea.
For the last year of his life he was in failing health, and about 10 days before death he was moved to Miss Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square, where he died peacefully. Fathers Matthew Russell and Timothy O’Keeffe were with him at the time.

Note from John Bannon Entry :
On the evening of his death the Telegraph published an article on him headed “A Famous Irish Jesuit - Chaplain in American War” :
“The Community of the Jesuit Fathers in Gardiner St have lost within a comparatively short time some of their best known and most distinguished members. They had to deplore the deaths of Nicholas Walsh, John Naughton, John Hughes and Matthew Russell, four men of great eminence and distinction, each in his own sphere, who added lustre to their Order, and whose services to the Church and their country in their varied lines of apostolic activity cannot son be forgotten. And now another name as illustrious is added to the list. The Rev John Bannon....

Born: 03 November 1931, Damascus, Syria
Entered: 07 September 1951, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 15 May 1965, Saint Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Final Vows: 03 January 1971, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Died: 04 October 2018, Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK: 03 January 1971; HK to CHN : 1992

by 1961 at Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - Regency studying language
by 1962 at Bellarmine, Baguio City Philippines (ExOr) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
The four members of the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission; Theresa Kung, Father Stephen Tam, Sister Laura Watt and myself, had the opportunity to make a follow up visit to the Studium Biblicum run by the Hong Kong Bible Society on June 12. We had already been able to look at the books of bible stories, which are presented in beautifully printed and strikingly attractive cartoons, but on this occasion, the topic under discussion revolved around what type of cooperation the Studium Biblicum could offer to the commission in terms of enhancing ecumenical relations in the diocese.

Father Placid Wong Kwok-wah spoke of the decades it took the staff at the Studium Biblicum to translate the scriptures into Chinese and the endless hours that went into producing the first, one-volume Catholic Chinese Bible, which was published in 1968. On the wall of the conference room, portraits of seven Franciscans, who had laboured over the production of that historic publication and now have been called to their eternal reward, are hung. Father Placid is the last of the team still alive.

However, he noted that a translation of the bible is never finished and requires constant updates, as in the past decades, there have been changes in both the written and spoken language.

“People just write and speak differently from what they did 50 years ago,” he told the visiting ecumenical commission. He explained the ins and outs of the extensive revision necessary to update the four gospels, as well as the Old Testament, which he described as long and meticulous work, probably taking at least 10 years.

Periodic checking is also necessary and suggested updates are sent to Catholic scholars in Taiwan and more recently in southern China for comment. Material is also sent to the Orthodox authorities for double checking on the accuracy in the translation.

However, even with limited resources in both personnel and computing, efforts still continue to make the Chinese translations faithful to the original texts, as well as comprehensible and acceptable to modern readers. Father Wong also had high praise for the quality of downloading of texts onto MP3, which he described as being common today and acceptable.

For me it was a worthwhile day out, as the last time I was there was to visit Father Theobald Deiderick in 1979!
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 27 June 2010

Wah Yan mourns the death of teacher par excellence

A Jesuit educator par excellence and one of the most endearing figures of the Jesuit Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Father Harold Cosmatos Naylor passed away on October. 4. As a dedicated educator, he has inspired generations of students at the Wah Yan College with his innovative teaching methods.

According to Father Stephen Chow Sau-yan, head of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus in Hong Kong, Father Naylor will be remembered for his commitment to ecological education and Christian Ecumenism. “His creative pedagogy was way ahead of his time. Father Naylor was very committed to a simple lifestyle, caring for the poor, protecting the environment, and fostering Christian ecumenical dialogue,” said Father Chow.

Father Naylor was born in Damascus, Syria on 3 November 1931 and was baptised in the Anglican Church in Jerusalem. After the elementary education in Jerusalem his parents moved to Dublin in 1942. After becoming a Catholic at the age of 18, in 1951 he entered the Society of Jesus in Ireland.

Father Naylor came to Hong Kong in 1960 and studied Cantonese while staying in Cheung Chau for two years. He then moved to the Philippines for his Theology studies at Bellarmine College, Baguio and returned to Hong Kong in 1965 and was ordained a priest on May 15 at St. Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College by Bishop Laurence Bianchi, late Bishop of Hong Kong.

Father Naylor had his illustrious career as an educator and a champion of green movement at the Wah Yan College from 1967 to 2016. In the meantime, in 1968, he co-founded Hong Kong’s first conservation group, together with Lindsay Ride, former vice chancellor the University of Hong Kong, and vice-president of Chung Chi College Robert Rayne. During this period, he also served as a promoter and member of Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, and a chaplain at Kwong Wah Hospital.

His Autobiography, No Regrets ends with these words:

What then could be my last word? It is of gratitude to the students whom I have taught, thanks to the teachers who have put up with me, and indebtedness to Hong Kong, which has given me such a wonderful life.

I have lived in the same room in Wah Yan College for forty years. My fellow Jesuits have been supportive and friendly. I have enjoyed living in the greenery and good air in ten acres of King’s Park. No wonder I have no regrets, but only happiness and joy in my heart.

Then I have to add all those I have known as a priest outside the school, and they are in the hundreds. And all this happens in my adopted home of Hong Kong, so thanks to Hong Kong and all its people who have harboured me and made my life so happy.

A Funeral Mass for Father Naylor was celebrated on October 11 by Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-Cheung, Bishop of Hong Kong at St. Ignatius Chapel, where Father Naylor was ordained a priest 53 years ago.

He had donated his remains to Hong Kong University (HKU) for medical studies. HKU received his remains on October 12.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 14 October 2018

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/harold-naylor-sj-a-wonderful-life-in-hong-kong/

Harold Naylor SJ: A “wonderful life” in Hong Kong
Fr Harold Naylor SJ died peacefully in Hong Kong on 4 October, 2018 at the age of 87. He is the third Irish Jesuit missionary to have passed away this year. His funeral takes place at Saint Ignatius Chapel, Wah Yan College secondary school in Hong Kong on 11 October, 2018.

Background
Fr Naylor was not born in Ireland; it was his adopted homeland and, he said, “the only place I ever felt welcome and wanted”. He spent the first 19 years of his life in the Middle East, in cities including Damascus, Cairo, and Jerusalem, and attended boarding school in Beirut. He felt out of place in these places, because of his unusual heritage. His mother was from a Greek family who lived in Egypt and his father was an Englishman who arrived in the country as a dispatch rider for the army at the start of World War I. His parents married in 1929. They lived a happy life in the Middle East, but things changed in 1948 when his father died. His mother became engaged to an Irish man who was in the Palestinian police, and when the Jewish state of Israel came into being he brought the family to his homeland, Ireland.

Joining the Society of Jesus
Fr Naylor attended Trinity College Dublin as a medical student but he knew that he wanted a spiritual life, and left after a year. In January 1950 he knocked at the door of the Jesuit Superior at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Dublin and this interview was the first step to join the Jesuits. He was accepted and so began his journey with the Society of Jesus. The Irish Jesuits planned to send many men to develop Jesuit service in what was then known as Northern Rhodesia – Zambia – to expand missionary work. Fr Naylor was excited to become a missionary, but felt that his lifelong delicate constitution prevented him being of best service in the harsh environment of Africa. He was asked to become a missionary to China, and the thought of following Jesuits Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci gave him great joy.
In an interview with Maurice O’Keeffe from Irish Life and Lore, Fr Naylor stated: “So, after a year in college my mother took me away”. “I can see where your heart is. Go ahead,” she said. “And I became a Jesuit... It took me two years to make the decision”. He also spoke about his early days in the Society: “When I joined the Jesuits, I didn’t feel Irish. I’m an Englishman... I was the only foreigner in the Jesuit house.” He commented that many of the Jesuits were pro-nationalist who only spoke in Irish. However, when he got the call later to go to Hong Kong, he was told it was better to be English.

Wah Yan College, Kowloon
He first travelled to Hong Kong in 1960 to begin his mission, and spent an interim four years (1962 – 1967) in the Philippines to better prepare him for his work in China. He recalls these years as among the happiest of his life. He took a post in the Jesuit-run Wah Yan College in Kowloon in 1967, and remained there for more than forty years. Fr Naylor was a year-three English and Biology teacher, but his commitment to the students of the college was in more than just teaching.
In 1968 he took over from fellow Irish Jesuit Fr Joseph Mallin SJ (who died earlier this year) as the Director of the Wah Yan Poor Boys’ Club and was delighted to have the opportunity to help young boys who had no opportunity of schooling. The club members were living in huts or on rooftops. Some of them were apprentices. He attributed the idea behind the club as coming from Belvedere College, where he had studied in Dublin. There was a Newsboys Club for young boys who sold newspapers and were not able to go to school. The club became, after several years, the Wah Yan Childrens’ Club and Fr Naylor remained as Director from 1968 to 1994.
Speaking with The Shield about teaching ethics at Wah Yan College, Fr Naylor noted: “A teacher is to help a person to grow and develop”. It’s not only biological growth. It’s also emotional growth; it’s intellectual growth; it’s imagination growth; and it’s moral growth.
In the South China Morning Post, Civic Party chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit, who studied at Wah Yan College from 1971 to 1978, said Father Naylor was an unconventional teacher who conducted a lot of field trips even in the 1970s. “He was well liked by his students and I am sure he will be remembered as an enlightening mentor to many,” Leong said. The long list of Naylor’s pupils at the college includes Leong, lawmaker James To Kun-sun, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu and Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung.

Conservancy and ecology
In 1968 Fr Naylor received a letter from Chung Chi College, Hong Kong inviting him to join its prestigious Conservancy Association. Botany and ecology were lifelong interests of his and after joining the association he began the Secondary School Conservancy Clubs and studied Ecology at the University of Hong Kong.
His involvement in ecology attracted the attention of the South China Morning Post and he wrote a column on environmental matters for over two years. Environmental news was a hot topic in the 1970s, and Fr Naylor went on to become a delegate representing Hong Kong at the United Nations Conference on The Human Environment, in Stockholm, June 1972. He had a commitment to what is now known as sustainable living and enjoyed living a simple life. Wah Yan College Kowloon is an ideal of sustainable living and is unusual in having vast areas of greenery in low-density building, where parts of Hong Kong have the highest residential population per square kilometre in the world.
Reflection on his life
In a 2007 interview, Fr Naylor reflected on his decades in Hong Kong and concluded that his life there had been a happy and fulfilling one.
“What then could be my last word? It is of gratitude to the students whom I have taught, thanks to the teachers who have put up with me, and indebtedness to Hong Kong, which has given me such a wonderful life. I have lived in the same room in Wah Yan College for forty years. My fellow Jesuits have been supportive and friendly. I have enjoyed living in the greenery and good air in ten acres of King’s Park. No wonder I have no regrets, but only happiness and joy in my heart. Then I have to add all those I have known as a priest outside the school, and they are in the hundreds. And all this happens in my adopted home of Hong Kong, so thanks to Hong Kong and all its people who have harboured me and made my life so happy.”

◆ Biographical Notes of the Jesuits in Hong Kong 1926-2000, by Frederick Hok-ming Cheung PhD, Wonder Press Company 2013 ISBN 978 9881223814 :
He was at school with Ciarán Kane in Belvedere College Dublin, but joined the Society two years after him. He joined after four years of deliberation.

After First Vows he was sent to University College Dublin where he graduated BSc in Natural History, Geology, Botany and Zoology, intending that this would be helpful in understanding the relationship between Christianity and Science.
After this he was sent to study Philosophy for three years, and he was encouraged to consider the issues of handing the faith to non-believers.
He was sent to teach Science at Mungret College SJ Limerick for Regency.
1960 In August he was in Hong Kong and spent two years at Cheung Chau with a private tutor learning Cantonese.
1962-1966 He was in the Philippines at Bellarmine College, Baguio, along with 65 other Jesuits destined for work in China. The College was mandarin speaking, and so he had chosen to go there deliberately with mainland China in mind. By 1964 there were 15 Jesuits who had learned Vietnamese and knew no Chinese, and the young Chinese were gravitating towards Taiwan
1966-1967 He made Tertianship in Dublin
1967 He was back in Hong Kong teaching at Wah Yan College Kowloon, and encouraged to also work with Alumni. He engaged in ecumenical work and was active in the environmental movement. he also spent the weekends on priestly ministries.
1981 He was offered a sabbatical at the age of 50, but he declined it as he was convinced of the value of teaching and wanted to keep his work commitments.
1991 He retired from the salary scale, but he opted to keep teaching, seeing it as the vehicle for his Jesuit life.

Note from Séamus Doris Entry
He was good friends with Harry Naylor, Joe Mallin and Dan Fitzpatrick.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1966

Our Past

Father Harry Naylor SJ

Fr Harry Naylor SJ was ordained by the Bishop of Hong Kong in the chapel of Wah Yan, Kowloon, on 15th May, 1965. He said his first Mass in the chapel of the Hong Kong College.

Fr Naylor was born in Damascus in 1931, of a Greek mother and an Irish father, He finished his secondary education in Dublin, to which his family returned after the war. He then studied medicine, but after two years entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1951. He did a science degree in University College, Dublin, and after a year's teaching in Mungret went to Hong Kong in 1960.
Greetings and all best wishes to Fr Harry from his friends at Mungret.

Born: 8 March 1879, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1917, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 27 August 1962, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Older Brother of Denis - RIP 1958

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1905 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Nerney entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1901, and after his juniorate there, studied philosophy at Valkenburg, 1904-07. He taught at the Crescent, Limerick, 1907-09, and at Clongowes, 1909-11, before studying theology at Milltown Park, 1911-15. Tertianship followed at Tullabeg, 1915-16. He taught at Mungret for a few years before going to Australia in 1919.
He taught for a few years at Xavier College, before going to St Patrick's College, 1921-23, where he was editor of the Messenger and Madonna. He did parish work at Norwood, 1923-33, and went back to St Patrick's College, 1934-38, continuing his work with the Messenger, and doing spiritual work with the students. At the same time he directed sodalities, including the very popular men's Sodality in Melbourne. Later, he was stationed at Richmond, doing similar work, and at Loyola College, Watsonia, 1940-43 and 1946-59. He also gave retreats at this time. His last years were at the parish of Hawthorn.
For most of his life in the Society Nerney suffered from a form of anaemia which made work difficult, but he contrived to get through a great deal of work all the same, and lived to a good age. His chief interest was in spreading devotion to Our Lady, and one of his chief instruments in doing so was the professional men's Sodality which was centred on St Patrick's College. Nerney directed this Sodality for 25 years as a benevolent despot. He had a great capacity for making friends. He took a great interest in people and their problems. Those who lived with him saw another side of him, a man with very definite views. He had a keen mind and could discuss theological questions in a subtle way.
He was also a regular visitor to the prisons, visiting 'Old Boys', as he used to say He was spiritual father at Loyola College, Watsonia, for many years, and his domestic exhortations were awaited with some expectation. They were learned, well prepared, devotional, and yet idiosyncratic. Scholastics were able to mimic his style, much to the mirth of their colleagues. Novices were regularly so amused that they had to be removed from the chapel! He rarely attended meals in the early days, preferring to eat alone at second table. He always had a simple, special diet. He was also a collector of sheets! When he left his room for any reason, the minister was able to collect many sheets that had been stored. Yet, for all that, he was much loved and respected in the community.
At Hawthorn he took an interest in the midday Mass, regarding it as his own, and keen to build up numbers. He died unexpectedly of a coronary occlusion.

Born: 23 May 1726, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 31 July 1747, Lisbon, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: pre 1754
Died: 29 June 1795, Killaloe, County Clare

Son of Elinor Nihill née Hackett

Nihill or Nihell is a variant of O’Neill

1757-1759 Prefect of Boarders at Irish College Poitiers

There were three other Nihell’s SJ. One was the brother of the Bishop, and John and Edward who was born at Antigua, and entered the Society at Ghent in 1768 and 1769. Edward died a victim of charity attending negroes at Trinidad in 1826 (cf Foley’s Collectanea). His Nephew was Father McShee SJ.
Ferrar’s “Limerick” :
Of a very ancient and respectable family names O’Neill. He was a near relative of Baron Harrold, Colonel of the Regiment of Königsfelt, of Colonel Nihell, of Dillon’s Regiment at Fontenoy, and of Brigadier-General in Naples, and Colonel of the Regiment of Limerick. He was also a brother to Dr James Nihell, a medical writer, and a nephew of Sir John Higgins, first physician to the King of Spain.”
1770 He published a work on “Rational Self Love”.
1778 The Archbishop of Dublin tried to get him made Bishop of Limerick, while the Bishop of Cashel and his friends supported Thomas Butler (later Lord Cahir), another ex-Jesuit.
1784 He was made Bishop of Kilfenora
1787 He was completing and preparing for press his brother James’ “Life and Doctrines of Christ” and was engaged in writing a “History of the Redemption of Man”. (These MSS are in the Milltown Park Library).
J Roche, author of “Memoirs of an Octogenarian” says “Dr Nihell was a cousin of my father’s, at whose table I well recollect him as a most welcome guest, for he was distinguished as a Priest, a scholar and a gentleman. I was present at his consecration in Limerick in 1784, when Mr Kirwan OsF was Preacher, and Lord Dunboyne, Bishop of Cork, one of the assisting prelates. Kirwan preached on apostasy, and he and Dunboyne later apostasised!” (cf O’Renehan’s “Collections” p 370)
His tomb is in the old Cathedral of Kilfenora.
Brother of Bishop Nihell. The Nihill’s were related to the Harolds, Arthurs, Macghees, McNamaras, Butlers, Woulfes and Calcutts of Limerick and Clare (in pen)
After the Suppression he was PP of Rathkeale. As he was of decided literary tastes, he resigned his parish and lived in Limerick. He died there some time post 1780. (Father Denis Murphy’s Collections)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Laurence Nihell and Alice née Arthur
His early life in the Society is hard to determine. he is mentioned only once in the LUS Catalogue 1749, which tells nothing of his studies before Entry. It seems certain that after First Vows he was sent to Coimbra for studies.
1752 In the Spring of 1752 he wrote to Fr General for permission to study Mathematics and Theology before he should return to Ireland. The General in his reply, dated 30 May, informed him that the permission asked for would be granted only if Superiors decided that such studies were necessary
1754 It is also uncertain if he was Ordained when he arrived at the Irish College Poitiers 15 December 1754 - there is no record of him in the AQUIT Catalogues of 1754 and 1758. His name at Poitiers has survived only in the Procurator's books down to 1758 when he left the Society.
1758 LEFT the Society and returned to Ireland where he was incardinated in Limerick, and succeeded Fr David Burke as PP of Rathkeale in 1762.
1767 Moved to St Mary’s Limerick as senior Curate
1783 Ordained Bishop of Kilfenora, and he died 29 June 1795 and was buried in the chancel of the old Cathedral Church of his Diocese

Born: 25 March 1874, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1891, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1909, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 08 March 1948, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Educated at belvedere College SJ

by 1895 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1903 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1908 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948 & ◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1948

Obituary

Fr. Patrick Nolan (1874-1891-1948)

Fr. Patrick Nolan, whose tragic death occurred on the 8th March as the result of an accident on Rathgar Road, was born in Dublin in 1874. Educated at Belvedere College, he entered the Society at Tullamore in 1891. He studied philosophy at Valkenburg, Holland and at St. Mary's College, Stonyhurst, and before proceeding to theology, taught at Belvedere and Clongowes for six years. He was ordained a priest at Milltown Park in 1907 and had among his Ordination companions, the late Fathers Willie Doyle and John Sullivan.
Fr. Nolan's life as a priest may be comprised under three main headings : teacher, preacher, confessor and Director of souls.
As a teacher for fifteen years (1910-1925) in St. Ignatius' College, Galway, his principal subject was History and Geography. Many of his old pupils can bear testimony to the skill with which he reconstructed ancient battlefields, mapped out the exact position of the opposing forces and made the dead pages of history live again. His interest in historical research, especially concerning Old Dublin, remained with him during his whole life and there were very few of the ancient streets and landmarks of his native city with which he was not familiar.
During his five years (1925-1930) on the Mission Staff, he was particularly conspicuous for his forceful and telling sermons and, but for a serious breakdown in health, would certainly have continued much longer at the arduous work of conducting Missions and Retreats.
But it is as a Confessor and Director of Souls, especially during his sixteen years (1930-1946) at Gardiner Street, that he will be best remembered. The many regrets expressed on his departure from Gardiner Street some eighteen months ago, and the many messages of sympathy that followed on his untimely death bear witness to the large and devoted clientele which he had established at St. Francis Xavier's. As a confessor, his ‘patient angling for souls’ was reflected in his patient angling for fish on the rare occasions when he found an opportunity to indulge in his favourite hobby. There were very few fish, great or small, in the box or in the lake, that he missed, for he always knew exactly when. to strike. As a Director of souls, too, he was singularly successful and knew the pitfalls to avoid, as well as he knew the rocks and shoals that might wreck an outrigger on Lough Corrib, of which, in his Galway days, he was reckoned one of the best navigators.
Above and beyond all his external work, however, Fr. Nolan was a man of deep religious fervour, known only to his intimate friends, He was never appointed Superior, but the fact that he was asked for by his brethren and appointed to undertake the office of ‘Master of the Villa’ for several consecutive years is sufficient indication of the esteem in which his affability was held by all. Charity and cheerfulness were the outward expression of his inward life, a great forbearance with others and toleration of their opinions and a very deep love of the Society. With such genuine traits of Christian and Religious Perfection, this contemporary of Fr. Willie Doyle and Fr. John Sullivan was well prepared to meet his death and hear from the lips of his Master : ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, as often as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it unto Me’. R.I.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Nolan SJ 1874-1948
Father Patrick Nolan was an expert fisher of souls. From 1930 to 1946 as Confessor in Gardiner Street he plied his skill, and thanks to his zeal and patience he made many a kill of of inconsiderable size.

He was born in Dublin in 1874 and educated at Belvedere and entered the Society in 1891.

He taught for fifteen years in Galway, then spent 5 years on the Mission Staff, and then the rest of his life practically as an Operarius in Gardiner Street.

He met his death tragically, being killed in an accident on March 8th 1948. A truly zealous man with a kindly heart and amusing tongue which won him many friends.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Patrick Nolan (1874-1948)

Born in Dublin and educated at Belvedere College, entered the Society in 1891. He made his higher studies in Valkenburg and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1907. With the exception of his last year, 1923-24, at the Crescent, as master in the colleges, Father Nolan's teaching career since his ordination was passed in Galway. Failing eyesight forced him to relinquish this work to which he brought enthusiasm and zeal. On leaving the Crescent, Father Nolan joined the mission staff for some five years when he was appointed to the church staff at Gardiner St, where he worked zealously for the next sixteen years (1930-46). He retired to Rathfarnham where he continued as a spiritual director to the end. He was killed in a street accident on 8 March, 1948.

Born: 23 September 1904, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 November 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1935, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 25 March 1967, Gonzaga College, Dublin

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 42nd Year No 3 1967
Obituary :

Br Patrick Nolan SJ (1905-1967)

Br. Patrick Nolan was born in Dublin on 23rd September 1905 He received his early education at the National School, Haddington Road, and then went on to the Christian Brothers at Westland Row. A young boy at the time of the 1916 Rising, he could give you a pretty full account of the doings around Mount Street Bridge, and the Haddington Road area in general. He came to have strong views on the political upheaval of those times, but it was always interesting to hear him relate his experiences of his childhood in Dublin. For five years, 1919-24, he was an apprentice in the business of Messrs P. Conway & Co., Exchequer Street, Dublin. He entered the Society on 1st May 1924 at Tullabeg. After his First Vows he remained on at Tullabeg as Manuductor from 1928-31. He was then sent as cook to Clongowes Wood where he had a long spell, from 1931-45. These included the war years which was a very trying time for anybody grappling with the problems of fuel and food, and hungry boys.
We next find him at the Crescent College, Limerick, where he was cook and dispenser from 1945-52. His next appointment took him to St. Ignatius' College, Galway, where he was cook, dispenser, and in charge of staff from 1952-60.
In 1960 he went to Gonzaga College, where was cook and in charge of staff until his death on 25th March 1967.
What most struck one about Br. Patrick was probably his versatility. He had a very enquiring mind and many interests. Dealing with the domestic staff can be a very frustrating experience. He had long years of it. It must be very disheartening to take a boy who knows nothing, train him as a cook for several years, then watch him move on to a higher paid job, and begin all over again with somebody else. This is a regular pattern in our houses. To his great credit Br. Patrick never tried to hold a domestic staff member by any argument of gratitude. He liked to see them move on to a job where they could afford to marry and settle down to a normal life.
In spite of the time-consuming nature of his job. Br. Patrick managed to cultivate side-lines. He got interested in music, and was quite capable of re-stringing a broken-down piano if need be. He had a real appreciation of classical music. Of late years he became interested in the repair of broken-down radios. He became quite an expert in this field. He often regretted the lack of technical training which forced on him a hit-and-miss method. But it is really remarkable how expert he became in the field. He was extremely intelligent and would have profited greatly from a wider education followed by technical training. One can only rejoice in the long overdue re-appraisal of the vocation of the Brothers which the Society has recently undertaken. In a rejuvenated Society with full education and proper technical training of the Brothers, one feels that Br. Nolan would have contributed outstanding service to the Society and the Church. On one issue he became rather unbalanced. He had no love for the “sons of Israel” and was inclined to see them as sinister figures behind most modern social movements. One learned to keep off the subject with him. But he could be a very pleasant companion, was a good religious, and under the most trying circumstances no community in which he worked ever saw the Minister put up a notice saying : “No dinner today”. Do we all take this simple daily routine of our meals too much for granted?
Br. Patrick had not been very well for some years. He suffered a good deal from nervous tension and exhaustion. But he learned to live with it, and carried on his full day's work. His death came as a great shock. And there is many a poor person outside the Society who will miss his cheerful arrival to fix up a radio or T.V. that has broken down. May he rest in peace.

Born: 23 September 1867, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 09 October 1887, Loyola House, Dromore, County Down
Ordained: 27 July 1902, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1905
Died: 24 June 1941, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner St, Dublin

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, 22 October 1912-21 February 1922

2nd year Novitiate at Tullabeg;
by 1897 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1904 at Linz Austria (ASR) making Tertianship
PROVINCIAL 22/10/1912

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-answering-back-2/

JESUITICA: Answering back
Do Jesuits ever answer back? Our archives hold an exchange between Fr Bernard Page SJ, an army chaplain, and his Provincial, T.V.Nolan, who had passed on a complaint from an Irish officer that Fr Page was neglecting the care of his troops. Bernard replied: “Frankly, your note has greatly pained me. It appears to me hasty, unjust and unkind: hasty because you did not obtain full knowledge of the facts; unjust because you apparently condemn me unheard; unkind because you do not give me credit for doing my best.” After an emollient reply from the Provincial, Bernard softens: “You don’t know what long horseback rides, days and nights in rain and snow, little or no sleep and continual ‘iron rations’ can do to make one tired and not too good-tempered.”

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

Obituary :

Father Thomas V Nolan

Fr. Nolan died at Gardiner Street in the early hours of the morning of the 24th June, 1941, as a, result of an attack of cardiac asthma.

Born on 23rd September, 1867, of a well-known Dublin family, the son of Edward Nolan and Mary Crosbie, he was educated at Tullabeg College, and, after a short period of University studies, entered the novitiate at Dromore, Co. Down, on 9th October, 1887. He pronounced his first Vows on Xmas Day two years later, at St. Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, whither the novitiate had in the meantime been transferred. Owing to a tired head, he was sent to the Colleges before beginning his philosophy, and spent 6 very successful years at Clongowes as classical master. He did his three years philosophy at Louvain and four of theology at Milltown Park. where he was ordained priest by the late Archbishop Dr. William Walsh, on 28th July, 1902. Third Probation he spent at Linz in Austria in company with the late Fr. Jerome O'Mahony and 18 other fellow-tertians, who included names like the later famous Innsbruck theologians Fathers Lercher and Stufler. Fr. Francis X. Widmann, the Rector and Instructor, gave them apparently the value of their money! Fr. Nolan often recalled the strenuous time he had there, and the feats of human endurance which the hospital experiment involved. On the completion of his training he was sent to Mungret, where he spent 4 years as Prefect of studies, during two of which he was Rector (1906-'8). In 1908 he became Rector of Clongowes and remained in that post till he was appointed Provincial in 1912. He continued to rule the destinies of the Province for the next 10 years amid the varied responsibilities consequent on the world-war and the post-war period. He found time as Provincial to act as President of the Classical Association of Ireland for 1917 and delivered his presidential address before that body oh Friday 26th January, 1917, in the Lecture Theatre of the Royal Dublin Society, taking' as his theme, “Aristotle and theSchoolmen” (cf Proceedings of the Cless. Assoc., 1916-17, pp. 17-46). During his Provincialate the purchase of Rathfarnham Castle was negotiated, and more adequate provision thus made for the scholastics of the Province to attend University lectures.
On the appointment of the tertian Instructor, Fr. Joseph Welsby to the office of English Assistant in Rome, Fr. Nolan was suddenly called upon to step into the breach after the Long Retreat in 1923 and carried the Tullabeg Tertians to the end of their year with conspicuous success and bon-homie. For the next 6 years he was operarius at Gardiner Street. It was during this period, in the autumn of 1920, that he was commissioned by the Holy See to enquire into the status of the Irish Franciscan Brothers of the Third Order Regular. He spent a full month (24th September-25th October) visiting their 14 houses in the dioceses of Meath, Achonry, and Tuam, without a break - a very strenuous work which included inspection of their schools and the meeting with clerical managers. Then there remained the task of revising their constitutions and drawing up his recommendations for the Sacred Congregation. As a result of his labours (to quote a prefactory notice in the Irish Catholic Directory, on the page dealing with the Franciscan Brothers ) : “Pius XI. graciously deigned to praise and recommend the Institute and confirm its constitutions by a Decree dated 12th May, 1930, thereby raising the Order to Pontifical Status.” The Brothers seem to have been extremely gratified by the results of their visitation. They certainly never lost an opportunity of extolling the charity and competence of their visitator, whose call at each of their houses they still hold in treasured remembrance. On hearing of his death this year they assured Fr. Provincial of the genuine sympathy they felt on the loss of their patron and had several Masses offered for repose of his soul. In 1930 Fr. Nolan was appointed Rector of Rathfarnham Castle and guided the destinies of the scholasticate and of the retreat house for six years.
The years of life still remaining to him were spent at Gardiner Street where in spite of failing health he continued to devote himself zealously to the works of the sacred ministry. The last months of his earthly sojourn were frequently punctuated with heart attacks of ever increasing violence, notably on St. Patrick's Day, which he bore with great courage and patience.
Fr. Nolan kept in touch with old Mungret and Clongowes boys for decades. He was always most ready to assist by counsel, influence and even material charity. where possible, those who had fallen from luck or become failures in life. His lifelong interests in the Kildare Archaeological Society, with which he made his first contacts as a young man in Clongowes, are well known, though apparently he never made any contribution to its journal nor claimed any particular competence in things archaeological. He attended regularly the meetings
of the society and was a very popular associate in the various outings undertaken by the members. On an historic occasion in the Protestant Church at Coolbanagher (near Emo) before a large gathering of archaeological enthusiasts who were viewing an ancient baptismal font, he was able to assure the audience in his suavest of manners that this relic of bygone days had only recently been filched from the grapery of St. Mary's shortly before the Jesuits acquired that property!
He was an assiduous retreat-giver. Among his papers appears an accurate list of retreats (5-8 day) given by him between 1904 and 1938. They number 90, The first on the list was given to the Patrician Brothers, Tullow, and the last to the Sisters of the Holy Child, Stamullen, 2-6 January, 1938. R.1.P.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Thomas V Nolan 1867-1941
“Thank God, now” was a phrase ever on the lips of Fr TV Nolan. He guided the destinies of the Province for ten years during the very critical period 1912-1922, taking in the First World War and the Struggle for Independence at home.

He was a classical scholar, being President of the Classical Association of Ireland for 1917, and he found time as Provincial to read his Presidential address on “Aristotle and the Schoolmen”. It was during his period as Provincial that Rathfarnham Castle was acquired and the retreat Movement started.

In 1928 he was appointed Apostolic Visitor to the Irish Franciscan Brothers of the Third Order regular. Their grateful memories of his are an eloquent tribute to the kindness and greatness of the man.

He died in Gardiner Street on June 24th 1941, an outstanding man who had left his imprint on the Province he ruled.

◆ The Clongownian, 1942

Obituary

Father Thomas V Nolan SJ

The Late Fr T V Nolan was for many years one of the most prominent members of: the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus - in fact, his personality was such that he could not help being prominent in whatever circumstances he might find himself. As a schoolboy in Tullabeg, whether it was in the classroom or on the playground, he was outstanding. Very soon, within less than a month, in fact, after leaving the noviceship, as constant headaches prevented him from following the usual course of studies, he was sent to Clongowes to teach, taking the Second Arts Class of the Royal University. Later, however, his work was chiefly confined to the Junior Grade Honours classes, which he taught with conspicuous success for many years. On leaving Clongowes he studied Philosophy in Louvain and Theology in Milltown Park. After ordination he went to Mungret - first as Prefect of Studies, and then as Rector.

In 1908 he was appointed Rector of Clongowes, and held the post until November, 1911, when he became Provincial. His long term of office (ten years) saw him engaged in many activities. He was prominently identified with the settlement in various parts of Ireland of the Belgian refugees, who came to Ireland in considerable numbers during the last war. He was a member of the Classical Society of Ireland, acting as its President during 1917, when he read a paper to the Society, entitled : “Aristotle and the School men”. He was also closely identified with the Kildare Archeological Society, of which he was Vice-President. He was also, when ever his duties did not call him away from Dublin, a very popular Confessor, especially with poorer boys who came to his confessional from all parts of Dublin.

Shortly after his term of office as Provincial was completed, he was appointed by the Holy See as Visitor to the Irish Franciscan Brothers of the Third Order. This entailed visiting all their houses, inspecting their schools, revising their constitution, and drawing up a recommendation for the Sacred Congregation. This he did to the complete satisfaction of the Brothers and of the Holy See.

Father Nolan's last position of authority was Rector of Rathfarnham College, which he himself had founded when Provincial. He held this position for six years (1930-6). When his term of office had expired, he returned to Gardiner Street and continued to devote himself zealously, as far as his failing health allowed, to the sacred ministry until death claimed him last June.

The following is an appreciation from the pen of one of his most distinguished Clongowes pupils :

The death of Father “Tom” Nolan, which came as a great personal loss to so many old Clongownians, was a particular grief for those who had studied under him as Master at Clongowes in those golden far off years from 1890 to 1896, when he taught First Preparatory and First Junior classes.

In all the fullness and variety of his manifold talents there were surely none greater than his gifts as a teacher of boys in those formative years of youth before the real taste for learning and scholarship had been developed, and when everything for success depended on the personal influence and inspiration of the teacher.

Father Tom Nolan had every gift and every grace that could attract and hold the affection, as well as the attention, of his pupils.

His splendid figure, easy dignity, and manly lucidity of thought and expression made the task of learning seem almost easy and pleasant for his class.

He had above all the teachers at Clongowes of his day the secret of making his class feel that he was one with themselves in the task to be accomplished; he was no passenger holding the rudder lines, but always a stout oar in the boat, at one with his crew.

Not one of those lucky ones who studied under him can ever forget the charm and easy firmness with which he steered their sometimes lagging steps along the rugged path of scholarship; he knew the secret of learning without labour, teaching without tears.

It was inevitable that a man of such gifts as his could not be allowed to remain long confined to the routine of class teaching, and unfortunately for the Clongownians of succeeding years Father Tom never returned to Clongowes again as a teacher after his ordination as a Priest in July, 1902, at Milltown Park,

It was fitting that his last year as a teacher should have produced the great First Junior Class of 1895-1896, which gained twelve exhibitions in a class of twenty boys ; those who were students in that class must still feel proud of having given the beloved master such a fine farewell. For Father Tom Nolan, however, was reserved a great career in the Society in which his early triumphs as a teacher may well have been obscured.

The wider sphere of direction and ad ministration, for which he had, if possible, even greater talents, took him to Mungret as Rector from 1905 to 1908, and from there back to Clongowes as Rector from 1908 to 1911, where his precious and inspiring presence as head of the College more than compensated for his loss as a teacher.

The final recognition of his powers came with his appointment as Provincial of the Society for that long and fateful period from 1911 to 1920, when the fullness and versatility of his gifts were more than ever displayed under the most critical conditions.

He had then reached the summit of his efforts for the Society, and could well look back on a splendid record of achievement, when, after six years as Rector in the serene atmosphere of Rathfarnham Castle, he joined the Community at Gardiner Street, where he died on the 24th June, 1941, at the ripe age of seventy-four years, mourned by the generation of Clongownians who had known and loved him for his great human qualities and infinite charm, but by none more deeply mourned than by those who had known his unforgettable comradeship as teacher and as a friend.

J M Fitzgerald.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1942

Obituary

Father Thomas V Nolan SJ

Although not a past student of the College, Father Thomas V Nolan, whose death took place last summer, was intimately associated with Mungret, where he was Rector and Prefect of Studies in the years 1905-1908. Mungret boys of those days will remember Father Nolan as a vigorous classical master, a fine cricketer, and a redoubtable opponent on the football field. During his period of Rectorship the National University of Ireland was established; and Father Nolan strongly urged the claim of Mungret, which had such a brilliant record of success in the Royal University examinations, to be made an affiliated College of the new University. To accommodate the growing number students, Father Nolan built the present Refectories, and added an additional storey to the original Agricultural College buildings. He became Rector of Clongowes Wood College in 1908, and in 1912 was appointed Provincial of the Irish Province of the Jesuits. Father Nolan was always keenly interested in the progress and wellbeing of Mungret; and to the end of his life despite his infirmities, he never lost his hearty good humour and, cordiality. He died peacefully at the residence of St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St., Dublin, on June 24th, 1941. RIP

Born: 20 January 1919, Mitchelstown, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1938, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1955, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin
Died: 04 January 1995, Mater Hospital, Dublin

Part of the St Francis Xavier's community, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin at the time of death.

by 1979 at Boston MA, USA (NEN) sabbatical

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 86 : July 1996

Obituary
Fr Seán Noonan (1919-1995)
20th Jan, 1919; Born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork
Education: CBS Mitchelstown
7th Sept. 1938: Entered Society at Emo, Co. Laois
8th Sept. 1940: First Vows at Emo
1940 - 1943: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD
1943 - 1946: Philosophy at Tullabeg, Co. Offaly
1946 - 1948: Mungret College, Teacher
1948 - 1949: Belvedere College, Teacher
1949 - 1953: Theology at Milltown Park
31st July 1952: Ordained Priest at Milltown Park by Archbishop J.C. McQuaid
1953 - 1954: Tertianship at Rathfarnam
1954 - 1957: Manresa Retreat House, Retreats
1957 - 1958: Clongowes Wood College, Spiritual Father
1958 - 1960: Loyola House, Mission Staff
1960 - 1963; Belvedere College, Mission Staff
1963 - 1965: Emo, Mission Staff
1965 - 1969: Tullabeg, Mission Staff
1969 - 1977: Rathfarnham, Retreat Work
1977 - 1979: Mitchelstown Parish, Supply
1979 - 1980: Boston, Sabbatical
1980 - 1985: Rathfarnham, Assistant Director, Retreats, Spiritual Father
1985 - 1995: Gardiner Street, Assistant in Church, Chaplain
4th Jan. 1995: Died at the Mater Hospital, Dublin

Homily at Funeral Mass, Feast of the Epiphany 1995

Drawn
The Gospel story speaks about the Magi, the wise men who come from the east, and who make their way to Bethlehem. They are guided by the light of a star, and drawn to Jesus who is the light of the world. There is no other way to come to Jesus. We must be drawn to him. No one, Jesus said, can come to me, unless he is drawn by the Father. Somewhere, somewhere in our experience of the world, there is a star, a light drawing us to God, Somewhere in our experience of life, there is a sign, a sign of God's presence drawing us to Jesus.

Searching
The journey of the wise men leads them towards the light. But it leads them also through darkness and danger. Because theirs is the journey of life, a journey of risks and rewards. When they reach Jerusalem, the star disappears. They encounter the person of Herod and the reality of hatred. In the darkness, they are forced to search around to find the way forward. Jesus has a special affection for those who experience the anxiety of searching He sets a high value on those who are prepared to search for Him. To them he makes the promise: Seek and you will find.

Finding
The searching of the wise men is rewarded. The star reappears and leads them to Bethlehem, where they find the child Jesus and his mother Mary. They kneel in worship and offer themselves to him, through their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The sure sign that a person has found Jesus, and come to recognise him as the Son of God, is when love responds to love, when a grateful heart moves us to worship, when our worship of God moves us to give ourselves to others.

Mission
When the wise men find Jesus in Bethlehem, their search is ended, but their journey continues. They leave Bethlehem and return home by another way, to share what they have received, to bring the light of Christ to the lands of the East. To be a light shining in the darkness. This is the meaning of Jesus' life, This is the mission of the Church. This is the vocation of every Christian. Christ can only be the light of the world, if the Church is faithful to its calling, to bring the light of Christ to those who live in darkness, to bring the love of God to those who live in fear.

Rays of Light
This morning we have joined together in the Eucharist, to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, and to commend to God his servant, Fr. Sean Noonan. There is something very fitting about this, because in many ways the light of Christ, shone through the life and ministry of Fr. Seán. Those who knew him could recognise the RAYS of this light. All through his life, be bore a great love and affection for his family and friends. For the greater part of his priestly life, he dedicated himself to his ministry in countless missions and retreats and novenas.

He was always a friendly man, who brought warmth and colour into the lives of others, He was a generous man, who gave freely of what he had received. He was a man of God, who was drawn easily to prayer, and who drew others to prayer.

Companion of Jesus
And, very important for Seán, he was a Jesuit, a companion of Jesus, a son of Ignatius. In his preaching he often told people, that after St. Ignatius was ordained a priest, he spent the following year preparing for his first Mass by praying to Our Lady that she might be pleased to place him with her Son. Let us pray now that Mary will continue to intercede for Fr. Seán that God the Father will place him in the eternal and loving presence of his Son.

Brendan Murray SJ

Born: 22 October 1909, Clontarf, Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1945, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 08 January 1955, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Part of Coláiste Iognáid community, Galway at time of his death.

Early education at O’Connell’s School

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 30th Year No 2 1955

Obituary :

Father Pádraic Ó Brolcháin

Fr. Pádraic Ó Brolcháin was born in Dublin on October 22nd, 1909. Educated at O'Connell Schools, he joined the Society of Jesus at Tullabeg on September 1st, 1928, and did his two years of noviceship under Fr. Martin Maher. There followed the usual University studies spent at Rathfarnham Castle and then philosophical studies in Tullabeg. From 1936 to 1938 Mr. Ó Brolcháin taught in Clongowes Wood College, and his third year of “Colleges” was spent at the Crescent. He was pleased in after years to have had the experience of teaching in both boarding and day schools as a scholastic. Many of the experiences of those Clongowes and Crescent days are to be found in an unpublished novel which he wrote later on, as a break during Theology which he studied at Milltown from 1939 to 1943. Ordained in 1942, he did his tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle and from there was appointed Vice-Superior of the Apostolic School at Mungret where he remained until his transfer to Galway in 1948. He was attached to the teaching staff there until his death which took place at St. Vincent's Private Nursing Home, Dublin, on the morning of January 8th last.
It is difficult to summarise a man's life under a single heading, but perhaps it was his courage that distinguished Fr. Ó Brolcháin. A man's organising ability, and Fr. Ó Brolcháin had plenty of it, will avail little if he has not the courage to overcome difficulties and for Fr. Pádraic, difficulties were obstacles to be overcome not yielded to - Plays, dancing, swimming, Tóstal and Connradh na Gaeilge activities - all having a connection with his manifold Gaelic activities for boys, presented each its own crop of difficulties, but it was typical of the man that he overcame them all in his own quiet, diplomatic way. That these spheres of activity all demanded self-sacrificing devotedness was apparent, but Fr. O Brolcháin would be the last to talk about the cost to himself.
To some who may have thought that he organised to an excessive degree, it may come as a surprise that on his own admission, he was not methodical by nature . . . he had taught himself to be so. It was not only in his extra curricular activities that he was systematic; his class-preparation was also meticulous.
Like so many busy men, Fr. Pádraic was most prodigal in giving his time to others and his “tar isteach” was always an invitation to take as much tinę as you wanted. He was always interested in new ideas, always willing to listen and, if he did not agree with you, he would tell you so and leave you none the less satisfied, for you felt you had had a sympathetic listener. In conversation one came to learn also of the Catholicity of his interests and of his literary tastes. His delight indeed, when he took a night off, was to read.
It was easy also to speak to him of things spiritual, for here was a well-ordered mind which had thought the Constitutions and Exercises over for itself. His great belief was in the necessity and supremacy of the interior law of charity and love. It was this interior law which made him such an obliging member of the community, ever ready to help out in any need.
His last year of life saw Fr. Pádraic no less active but he had not been feeling too well, and at the end of August underwent a severe operation whose chances of permanent success he knew to be slight. The month of November he spent in Galway where he was the same affable, approachable person welcomed back now by both boys and community. He could speak of his own sickness with such detachment that one imagined that a third party was being discussed. He left us at the beginning of December to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes and Loyola, but he was not destined to recover. On the morning of January 8th he gave his soul back to God.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Pardaig Ó Brolcháin SJ 1909-1955
Fr Padraig Ó Brolcháin was born in Dublin in 1909. His father was an intimate friend and collaborator of Arthur Griffith, and was by him put in charge of the educational policy on the foundation of the Irish Free State. Padraig was educated at O'Connells Schools and entered the Society in 1928.

He was a dedicated soul, dedicated to God, to the Society and to all things Irish. He was a man of tremendous enthusiasm, of great organising ability and of great courage and pertinacity in carrying out his ideas.He had a keen zest in the outdoor life, and the duty of it all was that he died so young, before all his plans and ideas reached full fruition.

He was an effective and zealous spiritual father to the boys in Mungret for some years after his tertianship, but bis best work was done in Galway, where his zeal and keenness on physical fitness found permanent expression is his swimming club for boys.

He touched everything, even writing, being a fairly steady contributor to the Timire and Madonna, and leaving behind him an unpublished novel on school-life in one of our Colleges.

Being informed that he had cancer, he accepted his fate with the same cheerfulness which he had gone through life. His last act was to go to Lourdes to seek a cure, if it were God’s will, but He called him home instead on January 8th 1955 at the early age of 46.

Ár dheis laimh Dé go faibh a anam!

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community

Father Pádraig Ó Brolcháin (1909-1955)

Was born in Dublin and educated in O'Connell's Schools. He spent one year of his regency at the Crescent, 1938-39. After the completion of his studies - he was ordained in 1942 at Milltown Park - Father O'Brolchain was appointed vice-superior of the Apostolic School, Mungret College. In 1948 he was transferred to Galway. His appointment to Galway was a source of deep pleasure for him, for it brought him to the heart of a Gaelic speaking area. Throughout his too short career in the Society, his enthusiasm for the Irish language, which he spoke from his tenderest years, was almost infectious. Yet, his enthusiasm was never aggressive. Urbanity was of the essence of the man. In Galway, his work for the language was self-sacrificing and cheerful. But as in the earlier days at Clongowes, the Crescent or Mungret, so in the later years at St. Ignatius', he was not merely their teacher, but guide, philosopher and friend for the boys with whom he came in contact.

Born: 27 May 1905, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 26 December 1989, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

Part of the Sacred Heart community, Limerick at the time of death

Had studied Medicine for one year before entry

by 1930 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 82 : September 1995

Obituary

Fr Seán Ó Catháin (1905-1989)

27th May 1905: Born in Belfast
31st Aug. 1923: Entered the Society of Jesus
1923 - 1925: Tullabeg, novitiate
1925 - 1929: Rathfarnham, juniorate: MA (UCD) in Celtic studies
1929 - 1931; Pullach bei München, Germany: philosophy
1931 - 1934: Galway, regency
1934 - 1939 Milltown Park
1934 - 1935: private study,
1935 - 1939 theology
1938: Ordained a priest
1939 - 1940: Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1940 - 1946: Leeson Street:
1940 - 1941 private study,
1941 - 1946 University Hall, vice principal, private study culminating in a PhD.
1946 - 1948: Clongowes, teaching
1948 - 1978; Leeson Street:
1949 - 1966 Lecturer at UCD's department of Education;
1966-1973 Professor of Education;
1950 - 1959 Inspector of studies in colleges of the Province.
1973 - 1978 writing.
1967 - 1973: Superior.
1978 - 1989: Limerick (Sacred Heart Residence): church work, librarian. In 1982 (also in October 1989) he suffered a stroke which impaired the memory function of his brain. After spending some time in St. John's Hospital, Limerick, he was removed to Our Lady's hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin
26th Dec. 1989: Died

The following additional details concerning Seán's academic career have been gleaned from the Report of the President, UCD, 1972-3 (section on retirements) and 1989-'90 (obituary section). Seán gained four diplomas, all with first-class honours (the middle two in Irish), from one or other of three Irish university colleges: pre-medical (UCC, 1923), BA (UCD, 1928), MA (UCD, 1929), HDip in Ed (UCG, 1932). For his PhD in Ed (UCD, 1941) his thesis was on 'The diffusion of Renaissance ideals of education in the schools of the Jesuit Order'. 'During these years (seemingly 1932-48) he acted as an Assistant Extern Examiner (through Irish) in Education for the National University of Ireland.

Seán Ó Catháin was the second son of Seán and Kathleen nee Dinneen. Seán senior was a native of Kilbeheny, near Mitchelstown, while Kathleen from Rathmore, Co. Kerry. It was in London at the turn of the century that Seán, who had succeeded in the examinations for the civil service, found himself posted for work at the department of customs and excise. Kathleen Dinneen had qualified as a primary teacher and found employment also in London. They were both the children of Irish speaking parents.

Sometime about 1904 Seán Ó Catháin was transferred to Belfast. Some day a curious enquirer may discover whether his transfer was by way of promotion or downright exile to dour Belfast, where there were fewer Gaelic Leaguers!

Here our own Seán was born, and baptised at the parish church of the Sacred Heart, Oldpark Road. In due course he was confirmed at St. Patrick's parish church, Donegall Street. After primary school he was sent to St. Malachy's college and had all but completed his secondary schooling when his father was once more transferred to a very different location of the customs and excise. This time it was to Cork, not far from his native place. It is almost certain that the transfer was scheduled for the late spring of 1921 - a very significant date. Britain was busily partitioning Ireland in the administrative sector in preparation for political partition and the opening of a new Six-county parliament on 22nd June 1921. In fact, the separation of the administrative files of government had been going quietly on even before the general election and victory of Sinn Féin in December 1918! All this underhand work was unknown or unsuspected, apparently, by the young republican politicians, the heirs of 1916!

Seán junior resumed his secondary schooling at the North Monastery CBS in June 1922. He entered the medical school at UCC, but in the event he was not destined to become a medical doctor.

In 1923 Seán senior was transferred to Dublin, In August Seán junior entered the novitiate at Tullabeg, and in due course made his first religious profession. In after years he often spoke of his privilege to have spent his first year as a novice under the direction of the saintly Fr. Michael Browne. He went to Rathfarnham Castle where he was to spend four years. At UCD he won scholarships; at home he was a live-wire in the Irish Society, and every Christmas distinguished himself as an actor in the Irish plays. He crowned his career at Rathfarnham with a first-class-honours MS in Celtic studies.

He was next appointed to the philosophate at Pullach, where he graduated DPh of the Gregorian university. Bilingual from infancy, it is not to be wondered at that he acquired an enviable mastery of the German language. Later he added Italian and French to his linguistic accomplishments.

Back in Ireland he was appointed to Galway for his regency, and it was during this period that Fr. Timothy Corcoran, professor of education at UCD, began to take an interest in Seán as a future successor in his own chair at Earlsfort terrace. These were happy years in a youthful, full and flourishing province, with only an occasional rumour of trouble trickling into Ireland from Hitler's Germany. But peace in Europe was already openly threatened when Seán was ordained priest in 1938. By the summer of 1940 he had completed his fourth year of theology and made his tertianship.

He was now appointed to Leeson Street for private study. Here under the watchful eye of Fr. Corcoran he began his studies in education that would lead to another doctorate. By an odd turn of events his prospects of eventually succeeding to the Chair of Education diminished considerably before the year was over. Fr. Corcoran's health had not been robust of late but he battled on - not only conducting his own lectures but also supplying for his assistant, Mr. W J Williams, who had recently suffered a stroke. It was anticipated that Williams, who was within a very few years of retirement, would resign, but when Fr. Corcoran himself was obliged on medical grounds to resign in September 1942, Williams declared he was going forward for Fr. Corcoran's chair. Meantime the Provincial and consultors (at the urging of members of the Hierarchy) put forward the name of Fr. Fergal McGrath as candidate. (No complaint was ever heard from Fr. Seán.) However, as soon as Fr. McGrath learned of Williams' intention, he immediately withdrew his name - and Williams secured the professorship. He had to retire in 1948. Since 1942 Fr. Seán was stationed as vice-warden at Hatch Street, where he continued work on his doctoral thesis. At the end of this study he spent the years 1946-48 as a master at Clongowes, and 1950-59 - with his characteristic thoroughness - Seán carried out the duties of inspector of our province's schools.

In 1948, when the chair of education was once more vacant, Fr. Seán allowed his name to go forward, and found overwhelming support in the electoral body. However, for the next eighteen years he enjoyed the title (and salary) of lecturer only and not professor. It was an open secret that the late Professor Michael Tierney had used all his considerable influence to downgrade the chair of education. Tierney's hostility dated from the time (1920's and 1930's) when his political views attracted strong opposition in The Catholic Bulletin, on the editorial board of which Fr. Timothy Corcoran's word was law.

In 1966 came belated acknowledgement of Fr. Seán's ability and worth when he was accorded the rank of professor. However, I always felt that the seven years during which he held the professorship were wearying if not even distasteful to a man of his sensitivity. It is enough to recall here that in 1968 student unrest in France spilled out all over Europe and across the Atlantic, and in the universities civilised behaviour, good manners and respect for any authority were the first casualties.

During his later years as professor, when he was also superior at Leeson Street, Seán's health was not robust. He suffered much from sleeplessness, yet during the thirteen years I lived with him he never missed an appointment and was exemplary for punctuality. A product of the old school, that is, brought up in the province to value the necessity of co-operation whether in teaching, church work, parochial missions etc, he lived in no ivory tower of academia. He was interested in everybody and everything connected with the Irish province, and that meant all our fathers, scholastics and brothers, and the works they were engaged in. He had an authentic apostolic bent, as could be deduced from his active interest in the work of two societies, one named after St. Vincent de Paul and the other called St. Joseph's Young Priests. He was an excellent community man, incapable of pulling a long face at table or recreation: he simply radiated a sense of fun. It was a delight to hear him enter the lists with Fr. Frank Shaw, My own impression was that if they had chosen the law for their profession, both would have gained celebrity as advocates.

As superior, Seán tended to be over-scrupulous, but against this he was particularly caring for the sick and generously sympathetic in times of bereavement. Like Fr's Fergal McGrath († 1988) and Redmond Roche († 1983) he acquired an almost legendary reputation for attendance at funerals. 1973 seemed to be the end of his active life; early that autumn he resigned from the chair of education and two months earlier had been replaced as superior of Leeson Street. The next five years he spent in quiet study and in a ministry within his capacity.

An unexpected challenge awaited him in 1978. The Provincial was faced with diminishing manpower, and one of our churches, the Crescent, rather urgently needed an operarius. The difficult proposal was made to Seán, a Dubliner of long standing, and now in his seventies. Generously, as was the custom of this province, he answered the call of duty and courageously entered on a new and unaccustomed way of life. In Limerick, while his fragile health remained, he gave of his best; but the last years must have been frustrating for a man of his once boundless nervous energy. In 1989 he seemed to rally somewhat, and twice at least attended funerals in Gardiner Street, but his years were telling against him. At length he had to go into St. John's hospital, Limerick, whence he was taken back to Dublin to spend the short time that remained to him at Our Lady's hospice, Harold's Cross. There, on St. Stephen's Day, God called him home.

Tá an tAthair Seán imithe uainn ar shlí na firinne, agus tá uaigneas orainn dá dheasca sin go bhfeicimid arís sna Flaithis é; ach idir an dá linn guímis go bhfaigh a anam dilis suaimhneas síoraí, go raibh sé faoi bhrat Mhuire i radharc na Trionóide.

Proinsias Ó Fionnagáin

Born: 21 April 1921, Caledonian Place, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1939, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1953, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 23 October 2007, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Editor of An Timire, 1949-71.

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

Born: 16 October 1916, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1934, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1949, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1953, Sacred Heart College SJ (Crescent), Limerick
Died: 04 March 2008, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Dermot Peakin - by 1985 Diarmuid Ó Peicín;

by 1967 at Handsworth, Birmingham (ANG) working
by 1968 at Erdington, Birmingham (ANG) working
by 1970 at Walthamstow, London (ANG) working
by 1971 at London, England (ANG) working
by 1975 at Dockhead, London (ANG) working
by 1976 at Redcross, London (ANG) working
by 1977 at London W2 (ANG) working
by 1978 at Rotherhithe London (ANG) working

Born: 13 April 1818, County Tipperary
Entered: 22 November 1887, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 25 January 1900, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia (HIB)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a Missioner in Australia. It is likely that he was a Missioner up country near Burrows, but later on was Administrator at St Benedict’s in Sydney for many years. It is unclear where he studied Philosophy and Theology, or was Ordained, but it is likely to have been New South Wales while it was still a Crown Colony, and before it got a Parliament and Government of its own, as he was one of the few Priests who were pensioned by the retiring Imperial Government. He had an income of £250 a year up to the end of his life.

In 1887 he was admitted to the Society and was the oldest Novice. He made his Novitiate at the North Shore Residence, and remained there until his death 25 January 1900. He was a very edifying old man, full of zeal for instructing the people. He died as he had lived, in a holy and edifying manner, and he was buried in the Garis Hill Cemetery, near the Novitiate in Sydney.
He often preached at great length, and as he spoke rather fast, he was hard to understand. However, he was esteemed by all as a holy man. In the North Shore Residence, he was charged with the duty of ringing the bells for various duties, and remarkable for his punctuality.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward O'Brien was ordained to the secular priesthood, and was an early missioner in Australia. He arrived at Sydney from Carlow, 10 July 1852, and was sent by the archbishop Dr Polding, as the first resident priest of Braidwood, which had a resident population of about 212. He built the first parish school, which was opened, 29 January 1859, followed by St Bede's church, 1862. He also built churches at Reidsdale and Krawarree and rebuilt the church at Major's Creek which had been burnt down before he left the parish is 1869. O'Brien was then transferred to Cooma. He seems to have been administrator of St Benedict's parish, Sydney at sometime. He received a pension from the Colonial government, with an annual income of £150 a year.
On 22 November 1887, at the age of 70, he was admitted into the Society at the North Shore residence, and remained there until his death. He took final vows, 15 August 1898, two years before he died. In a photo of him in the 60s he appeared as a small man with a determined mouth, a high forehead, searching eyes light in colour, a finely chiseled nose and delicate features and small hands. He was an edifying old man, and full of zeal for the instruction of the people. He often preached at great length, and as he spoke quickly, the congregation found it hard to understand him. However, he was esteemed to be a holy man.
In the residence he was charged with the duty of ringing the bells for the various duties, and was remarkable for his punctuality He was rarely, if ever, a moment late in giving the signal. At one time he was dean of the Sydney diocese, and in his last years, spiritual father to the community.

Born: 13 August 1874, Eyon, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 June 1905, St Francis Xavier, St Louis MO, USA
Final vows: 02 February 1912
Died: 18 June 1952, New Orleans, LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

Transcribed HIB to NOR : 1893

Born: 22 June 1873, Castlebar, County Mayo
Entered: 14 September 1889, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1905, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Coláister Iognáid, Galway
Died: 12 January 1920, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1899 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1900 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1901 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was the son of a well known MP, JFX O’Brien, who had been sentenced as a member of the IRB to be hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the 1867 Rising. (He had also been an Assistant Surgeon for the Confederate Army at New Orleans during the Civil War, and he also later became President of the IRB 1882-1891, and MP for South Mayo 1885-1895 and for Cork City 1895-1906)

Early education was at French College, Blackrock and Clongowes Wood College SJ.

After his Novitiate he was sent for Regency to Mungret as Prefect and Clongowes as Teacher. He also studied Philosophy at Louvain.
1903 he began the long course in Theology and was Ordained in Dublin 1905, and Tertianship at Tullabeg.
1915-1917 He was Minister at Rathfarnham.
1919 He was Spiritual Father and Editor of “Irish Monthly”.
Early in his career he was affected by headaches, suffering much through his religious life. he died peacefully at Rathfarnham 12 January 1920.
He was very talented and had a good knowledge of Irish.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John FX O’Brien 1873-1920
Fr John FX O’Brien was toe son of a well known Member of Parliament JX O’Brien who had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the ’67 Rising.

He was born in Castlebar County Mayo, on June 22nd 1873, and was educated at Blackrock College and Clongowes. He entered the Society in 1889.

He was Minister in Rathfarnham from 1915-1917. In 1919 he became Spiritual Father and editor of the Irish Monthly. From early on in his career he suffered from headaches and endured much pain during his religious life. He was very talented and very proficient in Irish.

His death took place peacefully at Rathfarnham on January 12th 1920.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1920

Obituary

Father John FX O’Brien SJ

Fr JFX O’Brien, whose death took place in January last, was born in Castlebar on June 22nd, 1873. His father took part in the ‘67 Rising, and had the unique distinction of being the last man ever sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, the sentence, however, being commuted. Fr O’Brien's mother was a sister of Fr O'Malley, of Castlebar, who played such a prominent part in the affair of Captain Boycott. By a whimsical freak of Fate, the son of such a fighting strain found himself at Belvedere the class-fellow of two future pillars of the law, Mr Sergeant Sullivan, KC, and Mr Dudley White, KC.

Fr O'Brien's life-history was an uneventful one. Full of talents and energy he was dogged from his earliest days as a Jesuit by persistent ill-health. His success as a teacher at Clongowes and in his studies at Enghien, Louvain, and Milltown Park, gave just a glimpse of what he might have been if stronger.

The tradition of active patriotism received from his parents was faithfully carried on by him - his unremitting advocacy of Irish manufactures was a proof of this well known to those who lived with him and he crowned a life of martyrdom through ill-health by a death of saintly resignation. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1920

Obituary

Father John FX O’Brien SJ

An appreciation by a past pupil

Looking back upon the years that were spent at Clongowes, one thinks of the many friends & that one made among the Jesuits of the school community as belonging to two different categories. There were those whom we regarded as our most intimate friends in the school, sharing our interests and our hopes with a closeness and warmth of sympathy that we scarcely find even among the boys of our own age. To some extent we have drifted since beyond their horizon, and their lavish sympathy and devotion is being spent upon the younger generations that have our places. And there were those who, while we were at Clongowes, seemed somewhat remote and austere, in spite of all their unfailing kindness and patience, as masters or Prefects. We regarded them with a certain feeling of awe and veneration, and it was not until the closing terms of our school days that we came to know them better and to realise the inspiration and encouragement that they had to give us.

Fr J F X O'Brien - was one of the latter kind. That he was a saint as well as an intensely human and kindly man we all knew at once from the time of our earliest acquaintance with him; but his friends were generally to be found among the older boys at Clongowes. He made an admirable President of the Higher Line Debate, and his formal dignity of manner as well as his profound interest in Irish history set a high standard at all the de bates over which he presided, and produced a spirit of emulation. But Clongowes is no more bounded by the limits of the college grounds, nor even by the age limits of those who are at school there from year to year, than Ireland is bounded by the shores of the Irish coastline. There is a greater Clongowes that stretches pretty nearly to every corner of the earth, and for both scholars and Jesuits alike the few years that ate spent at Clongowes are, in a sense, little more than the process of graduations into a wider community of Clongownians past and present.

In a very special sense, Father O'Brien life proved that he was intended for a wider scope than the school itself could offer him, It was only after he had left Clongowes that we got to know him as he really was-a deep and widely-read scholar, inspired by passionate religious and patriotic convictions, who gave to those who knew him a more actual sense of the apostolate of literary work in Ireland than they could have gained from any other man living.

The mantle of Father Matthew Russell could not have fallen upon more worthy or more devoted shoulders than Father O'Brien's when he assumed the Editorship of the “Irish Monthly”. He put his best energies into it prodigally, and determined to make it a vital and progressive magazine of modern Irish thought. “All that I can do”, he said to me once,”is to edit it to suit my own taste, and then I know that at least one of its readers will have nothing to complain of”. His personal sincerity and quiet, deliberate enthusiasm were evident in every number that he produced. But it was not in the literary merit of the magazine alone that he kept alive the traditions of Mathew Russell. No other editor that I have ever met gave quite the same generous encouragement to young writers as he did. He probably did not know how immensely big a thing it was for a young student in University College to be able to feel that there was one quarter in which any attempt at literary work, no matter how foolish or incompetent, would meet with patient and sympathetic consideration, provided only that it was sincere, He not only encouraged young writers by reading and accepting their articles, but he used to exceed his ordinary standards of payment simply to give confidence to those who were beginning.

I shall never forget the occasions when I was able to visit him at Rathfarnham Castle and we used to walk around the grounds together. His health was miserably bad and often caused him prolonged and intense pain. But he never complained nor showed any signs of the nervous exasperation that must have tormented him. I remember standing with him one bright sunny day in June, while we looked towards the wonderful purple slopes of the Dublin mountains under a brilliant sky, and I asked him if he could come for a walk up to them some afternoon. “It is a great many months since I was able to walk so far as that”, he replied sadly. The distance was, I suppose, about five miles in all.

The war placed many long miles of distance between us, and I never saw him again before the news of his death reached me this winter. He has been taken away from his friends and from all of us who owed him untold gratitude, and we can never thank him now as we would have wished to do. It is good to think that he has been released from his long physical sufferings. To the illustrious company of great sons of Clongowes whom he has now followed to their rest he can carry a message that the old traditions have been maintained unbroken.

Born: 07 March 1883, County Limerick
Entered: 06 September 1902, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1914
Professed: 02 February 1921
Died: 15 March 1945, Tonasket, WA, USA - Oregonensis Province (ORE)

Transcribed HIB to TAUR : 1903; TAUR to CAL : 1909; CAL to ORE
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Went to Rocky Mountain Mission

Born: 29 September 1927, Kilrush, County Clare
Entered: 07 September 1945, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1959, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1963, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died; 19 December 1997, St Joseph’s, Shankill, County Dublin

Part of the Sacred Heart, Limerick community at the time of death.

by 1962 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying
by 1964 at Heythrop College, Oxford (ANG) teaching
by 1979 at Mount Street, London England (ANG) working

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 97 : Special Edition Summer 1998

Obituary

Fr Michael G O’Brien (1927-1997)

29th Sept. 1927: Born in Kilrush, Co. Clare
Early education: Christian Brothers and Mungret College
7th Sept. 1945: Entered the Society at Emo
12th March 1948: First Vows at Emo
1947 - 1950: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD
1950 - 1953: Tullabeg, Studied Philosophy
1953 - 1956: Mungret College, Teaching
1956 - 1960: Milltown Park, Studied Theology
31st July 1959: Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1960 - 1961: Rathfarnham, Tertianship
1961 - 1963: Gregorian University, studied Ethics
1963 - 1967: Heythrop College, Lecturing in Ethics
1967 - 1970: Milltown Park, Lecturing in Ethics/Moral Theology
1970 - 1974: Mungret College, Teaching
1974 - 1978: Tullabeg, Retreats/work in Church
1978 - 1993: London, Farm Street Church work
1993 - 1997: Limerick, Sacred Heart Church work.
19th Dec. 1997; Died aged 70.

Michael was first admitted to Cherryfield Lodge in March 1996 following surgery. He was again admitted to Cherryfield in January 1997 in a confused and restless state. He was assessed by Doctor Cooney at St. Vincent's Hospital and diagnosed as suffering from a severe from of dementia. He was transferred to Crinken Nursing Home in July 1997, where he died peacefully on 19th December 1997. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephes 2, 10).

This text of St. Paul came to mind as I reflected on the strange contrast between Michael's early life as a professor of philosophy for seven short years (Heythrop 63 - 67 and Milltown Park 67 - 70) and the nineteen years of his later life as a dedicated Church-father first in Tullabeg (74 - 78) and later in Farm Street (78 - 93). His Jesuit superiors had judged him capable of teaching philosophy and presumably saw this as his life work as a Jesuit. But "we are God's workmanship" and God had other plans for Michael, After only seven years of faithful but stressful teaching, and after a dark-night of depression, God transformed him into the “Wounded Healer” who exercised such a fruitful ministry for four short years in Tullabeg and then for fifteen years in Farm Street. His apparent failure as a professor of philosophy must be seen as God's tempering of his chosen instrument: “Designer infinite - must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?” In the dark hours of his depression Michael must have heard Christ's words to St. Paul addressed to him: “My grace is enough for you, for my power works best in weakness”, and with St. Paul he must have found the grace to reply: “gladly therefore will I rejoice in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on me”.

There is convincing proof that Michael did have considerable academic ability. Joseph de Finance S.J. was the director of his doctoral studies in the Gregorianum (61 - 63). De Finance was the highly regarded Professor of ethics in the Gregorian University for twenty five years. In 1991 Michael presented to the Milltown library an autographed copy of his translation of de Finance's final work entitled: “An Ethical Enquiry”. This is a large volume of five hundred closely reasoned pages. In a prefatory note to the translation de Finance expresses “his deep gratitude to Fr. Michael O'Brien, SJ whose translation, faithful but not slavish, is marked by a concrete, figurative style which gives easier access to the ideas. Thus he has achieved his purpose which is and must be first of all service to the student”.

From this commendation of his director we can legitimately conclude that Michael was well equipped to teach the course of ethics assigned to him. If he proved less than successful as a teacher of ethics in Heythrop and Milltown the reason can be found in the academic turbulence that followed the conclusion of Vatican II. By now Thomistic Philosophy had lost its pride of place even in seminary schools and the “philosophia perennis” had lost its perennial vigour. In the academic supermarket it had passed its 'sell-by' date!

Michael as a product of an older tradition would have still seen philosophy (especially ethics) as the “Handmaid of Theology” - but the handmaid had become restive and even insubordinate since John 23rd had encouraged a more open dialogue with the modern world. Had Michael begun his teaching twenty or even ten years earlier I feel he might well have been a respected and successful professor.

The controversy that followed on Paul VI's Humanae Vitae with its forthright condemnation of contraception, must have made Michael's work as a regular preacher and confessor more difficult. Joseph Fuchs, Professor of Moral Theology in the Gregorian, and Jim Healy and others in Ireland had advocated a more liberal approach and felt that “legitimate dissent” was justified. Michael, on the other hand, regarded fidelity to the teaching of the Magisterium as the very touchstone of orthodoxy. He always remained a totally committed defender of the papal decisions. In his work as a preacher and confessor he must have helped wavering penitents to remain faithful to that decision even if he must also have had to share the pain of others who found the official teaching a burden too heavy to bear.

For the people of the midlands who came to him in the old church at Tullabeg as for the Londoners who came to him at Farm Street, Michael was a good shepherd and a wounded healer. Again and again they pay tribute to his gentleness, his unassuming friendly manner, and his being a good listener. He was like the Servant in the prophecy of Isaiah (50): “The Lord had given him the tongue of those who are taught that he might know how to sustain with a word him that is weary” and “had woken his ear to hear the cry of the broken-hearted”. Again like the servant he was open-hearted in his welcome for the prodigal son or daughter: “the bruised reed he would not break and the dimly burning wick he would not quench”.

To quote a few of the testimonies from grateful parishioners received by his rector after his death:
“Ten years ago my life was in a mess. Fr, O'Brien helped me to rebuild my life”. A lady from East Anglia told of his kindness to her husband who suffered from Alzheimer's for many years. A man spoke of his patient attention to his wife during her long illness and how she always felt the better of his visits. A teacher who used to prepare children for their First Communion recalled his lovely way with the children who used to look forward to his visits.

Michael was admitted to Cherryfield in January 1997 in a confused and restless state. I joined him on many walks by the Dodder or to Palmerstown or Marley Park. He showed little interest in what attracted my attention - the trees, the flowers, the ducks in the river. His interest was in the people we met, always ready to say a friendly word and get into conversation if possible. He wanted to help people. He had told me he used to spend his free days from Farm Street, in one or other of the London Parks. Though he was naturally rather shy and reserved he seemed to have developed an apostolate of friendly affability towards strangers, winning their confidence and lending them “a listening ear”. I feel sure that many of Michael's walks in the London Parks became “Emmaus Walks” when he “sustained with a word the weary or the lonely”.

I visited Michael often in his last months in St. Joseph's, Crinken. There was a profound pathos in the sensitive concern he still showed towards fellow patients only a little more in need of healing than himself. The severe form of dementia that had been diagnosed in the summer had progressively withdrawn him from normal human contact. Now Michael was finally “in the hands of God” - “the initiative was totally with God”, for he was, in the beautiful Irish expression, a “Duine le Dia” - a person plunged into the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection but like the baptised infant unaware of his life hidden with Christ in God.

He was not able to share “the deeply spiritual experience to know oneself completely in His hands” that Fr. Arrupe spoke of. But in these last mysterious weeks of Michael's life the Divine Artist was putting the final touches to the masterwork which he had begun at Michael's baptism in the church in Kilrush seventy years before.

May he rest in peace.

Edward Fitzgerald, SJ

-oOo-

During his fifteen years on the church staff at Farm Street, Michael O'Brien was loved and respected by many people for his approachability and evident care of them, his prayerfulness and regularity in the church, and his humorous homely anecdotes which were a feature of his straightforward and direct sermons. He was prepared to put himself out for people, and they sensed it. Our non-Catholic doctor spoke warmly of the many visits Michael paid some years ago to his elderly mother in St. George's Hospital before she died. Michael was very regular in his habits and that meant people in need could easily contact him. Often in the church or its environs saying his Rosary. Regularly at the church door to greet people after every Sunday Mass or Holy Day of Obligation, but standing back very modestly when the Parish Priest was around. Michael had a deep affection for the poor. It was very hard for him not to give. He gave not only money (perhaps unwisely at times) but also his time and his attention, sometimes at risk to his own safety.

Throughout my years as Superior and Parish Priest I found Michael a great and dependable support, and a wise and good friend. Farm Street was a residence made into a small parish only in the 1960's. Few Catholics actually lived within the rather grand parish boundaries. Most of the congregation, regular or casual, came from outside, and many more were tourists staying in the twenty or so prestigious hotels in Mayfair. But Michael tried to make Farm Street as much a parish as possible, organising First Communions and confirmations, catechism classes, old people's functions, days of prayer and other devotions. Much of this was for the less affluent residents, such as the families of Indian or Philippino caretakers or hotel workers, quite a few of whom were Irish and warmed to him in a special way. But Michael was blinded as far as class or nation or prestige went. All were just people to be served with respect and devotion.

Michael means a lot to me personally because it can be said that he was instrumental in saving my life, or saving me from serious injury, by happening to be in a certain spot in place of me. I was taking my turn as “duty priest” (to be called to the door on request), but had just left for the church to prepare to say the mid-day Mass. So Michael was called to the door in my place. A deranged man stabbed him in the neck. He was saved from fatal injury by his old-fashioned clerical collar. My new-fangled strip of plastic wouldn't have done the job. Michael was obviously very shaken by the incident and had several weeks of convalescence after he came out of hospital. But he remained very matter-of-fact and modest about it all.

For all his gentleness, devotion to duty and sensitive concerns for others, there was a shadow side to Michael. He suffered from scruples, especially in sexual matters. He agonised about the confessional, while being meticulous about his duties there. I think it was because of this scrupulosity that he had to give up lecturing in Ethics some years before, which was the reason for his coming to us, a welcome acquisition to Farm Street. In my time as Parish Priest he suffered from debilitating bouts of scruplosity which led to a breakdown, hearing inner voices, having to be withdrawn for several months from pastoral work of any kind and only gradually and with great care being nursed back to assisting with Holy Communion, then to saying Mass, then even to being able to preach and hear confessions again. This must have been very humbling for a man to whom priestly ministry meant so much, Incidentally, I was very impressed with the care Phil Harnett showed at this time when he visited us in his capacity of Irish Provincial and very sensitively arranged for Michael's eventual return to Ireland, but without rush or fuss, sensibly planned and monitored, respecting Michael's dignity as a Jesuit, as a priest. Michael deserved no less for the many years he had given to Farm Street.

Anthony Nye, SJ

Born: 18 September 1824, County Limerick
Entered: 20 September 1850, Avignon France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Died: 08 November 1858, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

by 1856 at Montauban France (TOLO) studying Theology
by 1858 at Palermo Sicily Italy (SIC) studying Theology

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
He had completed some of his ecclesiastical studies before Entry,

1857 He was studying 3rd Year Theology at Montauban and then moved to Palermo where he died 08 November 1858

Born: 29 November 1876, Pallasgreen, County Limerick
Entered: 13 August 1892, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 01 August 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 15 April 1957, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1898 at St Aloysius, Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1901
by 1911 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick O'Brien entered the Society in 1892, and for regency went to Xavier College in 1900 as hall prefect and teacher. In 1901 he moved to Riverview as assistant prefect of discipline, and worked with the senior students. For three years he edited the “Alma Mater”.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 32nd Year No 3 1957

Obituary :
Fr Patrick O'Brien (1876-1957)
After a brief illness Fr. O’Brien died at Milltown Park on Monday, 15th April, Though on his feet till the end, he had been feeling unwell, with a little chest and stomach trouble, for a week or so. This had not prevented him saying Mass each day, including Palm Sunday, the day before his death. Typical of his intense devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, and of his meticulous regard for the rubrics, was the earnestness with which he sought and found a way to say the Palm Sunday Mass without overtaxing his strength by the long Gospel. Years before, he recalled, when confessor to the late Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Byrne, he had been able to produce for the ailing prelate an opinion of the moralists by which a priest in bad health could say the Mass in question, by substituting a short Gospel for the Passion. The fact that the opinion had as it were been canonised by the Archbishop of the diocese did not seem enough to Fr. O’Brien, till he had traced it once more, in spite of increasing feebleness, to Ojetti and Lehmkuhl. Only then did he allow himself to make use of it for his own benefit, The next day, Monday, he felt too weak to say Mass, and sent for the brother infirmarian. A short while later, another attack of the digestive troubles which - had been a burden nearly all his life, overtaxed his heart, and he passed away quickly and peacefully. He received the last rites of the Church. He was nearly eighty-one years of age.
Fr. O’Brien was three months short of sixteen when he entered the noviceship at Tullabeg in 1892: he was born on 13th August, 1876, at Pallasgreen, Co. Limerick. His thin frail frame, especially as it appeared in later life, seemed to belie his origin in the Golden Vale, but there was a wiry energy in it which carried him through many years of indifferent health with a vigour and diligence which did honour to the rich pastures of his native heath. He had been a brilliant student at the Crescent College, and after his noviceship took up at once the task of teaching “Ours” which was to be the main occupation of his life. Having helped his fellow-Juniors with the Latin and Greek which were so signally mastered by the older members of the Province, he went on to Jersey for philosophy, and so took with him French as well as Classics on his career of teaching in Australia. Those were the days when ordination seemed to be the reward of a well-spent life, and so for six years, at Kew College, Melbourne and Riverview College, Sydney, he did his bit to set the Mission on its way to being an independent Vice-Province: He came back to Milltown for theology in 1906, and was ordained in 1909. His tertianship was in Belgium, at Tronchiennes, after which he returned to teaching Classics, for a year at Clongowes and a year once more in Tullabeg with the Juniors. He then came as Minister and Minister of Juniors to Rathfarnham, in 1913, when the Juniorate moved to within range of the University.
Fr. O’Brien returned to Milltown Park, where he was to spend the last forty three years of his life, in 1914. For four years he taught the Short Course of theology till, in 1918, he was asked to take on philosophy with the students whom the war had brought back from Stonyhurst. For the next seven years he was Minister of philosophers, and lectured in Ethics and Theodicy. In 1925, he took over the editing of the Ordo, which he continued with unflagging zeal and precision till his death. He was lecturing in psychology when, towards the end of 1929, he became director of the Retreat House, an office which he held for nine years, during which he did some of the most fruitful and far-reaching work of his life. When the late Fr. Hannon was appointed Visitor of the Irish Christian Brothers in 1938, the ever-versatile and pliable Fr. O’Brien took over the De Ecclesia tract in theology. He relinquished this office “de jure” in 1946, but except for a few brief periods, held it in fact almost continually till the summer before he died.
Methodical, precise, painstaking and utterly devoted to his duty: this is how students and retreatants saw Fr. O'Brien, and it is hard to praise too highly the self-sacrificing diligence with which he threw himself into each new task of his long and varied life. One of his pupils remembers him in the days of his youth : “His lesson was all animation. He threw all he had, gesture, expression, concentration, appeals, into the effort of getting his point across. And how delighted he was when he saw his point was grasped!” Right to the end, even in the new fields of positive knowledge to which De Ecclesia called him, after a life-time of scholastic speculation and preaching, he was labouring to master fully his new subject. Students who received from him the succinct, clarified, almost dehydrated product of his research, sometimes failed to appreciate the work that had gone into his lectures. But Fr. O’Brien was not content to repeat the text-books at second-hand. Take for instance the famous case of Pope Honorius. For his own satisfaction, as well as for the sake of scholarly integrity, he had read up the original Greek acts of the sixth General Council: he was the first to cut those pages of the Mansi edition which Milltown had acquired in 1936. He read in fact every work available to him on the treatise De Ecclesia, and if he seemed to demand almost too much precision from exam candidates, it was because he was not content with loose thought or slovenly expression on vital subjects. On the other hand, he was lavish with praise for students who had done well, and went out of his way to congratulate them on a good showing.
Some of his best work was done as Director of Retreats at Milltown. For nine years he carried the Retreat House almost single-handed, giving nearly all the priests' and laymen's retreats, even when priests' retreats lasted from Monday to Saturday, and began again the next Monday with a week-end retreat in between. Age did not wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety: he was for ever preparing new matter for the retreatants who clamoured for his services, and his clear, direct and inspiring lectures were matched by a rare quality of direction in the confessional. For many years after he had had to give up the retreats, priests and laymen returned to him year after year for confession. It is said that the praise of the Dublin priests had him named confessor to Archbishop Byrne, while one Irish bishop sent specially for him to prepare him for death. Many laymen felt they owed him so much that they could refuse him nothing, and Fr. O'Brien used their gratitude to establish many young people in business or professions, with a charity which never tired of being helpful. For the best part of twenty years, the Irish Province had the benefit of his expert services on the Ordo, and only the initiated will know the enormous extra labour which he readily undertook when nearly eighty, as the new papal decrees made radical changes in the saying of Mass and Breviary.
Though beset all his life by weak health, Fr. O'Brien was a whole-time, whole hearted worker, “as long as it was day”. In the last years of his life, when a short-handed Milltown depended so much on him, he had to husband his strength carefully. But it was always there when he was called upon; and he was a cheerful giver. He never lost his keen sense of humour, and many of his witty remarks have already passed into oral tradition. He was very gentle and kind, unassuming and retiring, a delightful conversationalist and a loyal friend, though an enemy of all that was pompous, superficial and finicky. His deep faith and warm piety were more conspicuous than ever in recent years, when he could nourish it with new developments in the theology of the Mass and Mystical Body. His many friends and indeed the whole Irish Province will hold the memory of this good worker in benediction.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick O'Brien SJ 1876-1957
In the death of Fr Patrick O’Brien, the Province lost one of its most lovable, most quote characters and an inveterate worker up to his death.

For all his life as a Jesuit, he was a professor and teacher of Ours, of Juniors, Philosophers and Theologians. For well on nine years he carried on the Retreat House at Milltown single-handed and it was there he earned his reputation as a confessor which cause him to be appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin to be his own personal confessor, and to cause another Bishop to send for him to prepare him for death.

For twenty years he edited the Ordo for the Irish Province, and never was a work done so meticulously, so lovingly and with such professional pride. It was seldom indeed that one found an error in Fr O’Brien’s Ordo.

He was extremely witty and a master of the “mot just”. His lectures and conversation were rendered the more interesting and animated by his unique gestures of face and hands.

This for 65 years as a Jesuit did Fr O'Brien devote himself ceaselessly to his work for God. He died rich in good works on April 5th 1957.

Born: 16 June 1932, Cliftonville, Ennis Road, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 06 August 1992, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin - Zambiae Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM: 03 December 1969

by 1959 at Chivuna, Monze, N Rhodesia - studying language Regency

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Tom's death was very sudden. He was acting Mission Procurator in Dublin and had just picked up his sister from the airport. He drove back to the Mission Office. While speaking to her there, he just fell from his chair, with a massive heart attack, and so he died. That was on 6 August 1992.

Tom was born in Limerick in 1932, attended the Jesuit school of the Crescent and then entered the Society in 1950 in Emo. He pursued the normal course of studies of the Society and came out to Zambia for his regency where he taught, prefected and was games master at Canisius Secondary School and Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College.

He was ordained priest at Milltown Park, Dublin on 31st July 1964 and returned to Zambia after his tertianship. He was in the Southern Province from 1966 to 1970 as minister and bursar at Chikuni, minister and assistant Parish Priest in Monze and minister/teacher at Charles Lwanga TTC. The rest of his life in Zambia was spent in Lusaka. Chaplaincy and teaching occupied his time and he also helped in the parish at St Ignatius. He taught at Munali Secondary and Chongwe Secondary. For the Advanced Primary Course at Chalimbana, he taught Religious Education as well as being involved in student counselling. Students at Evelyn Hone College also saw him for spiritual direction. Counselling was what he wished to do with third level students and so he studied at Loyola University in Chicago, USA, for his Masters in Education.

From 1978 to 1983 he became socius/secretary to the provincial, a job which took him to all the Jesuit houses. He became rector of Luwisha House in 1983 and worked as chaplain at the Christian Centre at UNZA. While there, he had a serious heart attack and left for Ireland when he was well enough to travel. It was while he was acting mission procurator, that he had the massive heart attack. As he wished, he was active to the end.

There was a history of heart sickness in the family. Tom himself had minor strokes as well as a by-pass. He was well aware that he would probably die from a heart attack but forged ahead with his life even with this in mind. He was so busy in Dublin – meetings of the Irish Missionary Union, interviewing possible volunteer teachers, traveling for Missionary Exhibitions, fund raising, bringing missionary awareness to the pupils of the Jesuit schools in Ireland – these all kept him on the go. Added to these were family functions such as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

His great talent was his ability to relate to other people, to share friendship with them. He had his own close circle of friends in the Society, yet this never interfered with his sharing his friendship with others. He was approachable and warm-hearted, person-centered. Being with others meant more to Tom than efficiency in planning and execution. On one occasion, he had three appointments in different places at the same time! He looked for the best side of others, accepting them as they were. In his own communities he would give himself as freely and as warmly to the shy and withdrawn as to the stronger members.

A 20-year friend of Tom wrote about him after his death: “He loved life; he loved people. And he did so from a base that was hidden and silent because he dreaded that anyone would think him ‘pious’. But over the years, I became more and more aware of that hidden rock in Tom – his love of Christ. It came through in his homilies to the students and his love of the Jesuits. I think he was at his most fulfilled and contented as a Jesuit during his years at Luwisha. He loved his brothers. I find myself also thinking of the contradictions in him. He was confident and proud; but he was also humble. He was contented, so contented – but he was questioning, sometimes startlingly so. He was above all compassionate but his compassion didn't let you off the hook”.

Note from Jean Indeku Entry
In 1955 he came to Northern Rhodesia with Fr. Tom O’Brien and scholastics Michael Kelly and Michael Tyrrell. They were among the first batch of missionaries to come by air and the journey from London took almost five days via Marseilles – Malta – Wadi Halfa (now under the Aswan Dam) – Mersa Matruh (north Egypt) – Nairobi – Ndola – and finally to Lusaka.

Born: 07 August 1906, Waterford, County Waterford / Merrion, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1944, Mungret College SJ, Limerick

Left Society of Jesus: 13 December 1968

Early education at O’Connells School, Dublin

by 1968 at Sir William Collins, Edgeware London (ANG) working

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1978

Obituary

Father Tom O’Callaghan

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. Tom was rarely still in life. He rarely spoke sotto voce. Pacing, pacing, up and down outside the rail in Donnybrook, chain-smoking cigarettes and matches; intense and often very individual instructions to the team at half time... Did Tom ever sit behind the wheel of a car? Little things like traffic jams and speed limits must have sent up his blood pressure if he did. An unbroken Arab horse and a wilderness would have suited him better.

Apart from being a trainer of distinction, Tom was thought to be an outstanding mathematician when we were boys. Whether the latter is true it is impossible to discover now. Boys like to invest their teachers with what they take to be Einsteinian qualities. He was certainly a very intelligent man but he was unable to take his degree. At different stages during his university studies, usually around examination time, he had to sit near the door of the refectory in Rathfarnham Castle. This was because he would suddenly, through nervousness, find himself unable to swallow, and have to run choking from the room. He could talk very interestingly on any subject, even though he might naturally gravitate to discussing rugby. He liked to consult encyclopaedias in the middle of an argument to show he was correct on a point of historical or literary fact.

Fr Tom had very many devoted friends among the Past, but, almost certainly, some who bore a grudge as well. He seemed to work off his frustrations in sarcasm against “enemies”, and, whom he took to be fools, he did not suffer gladly. The result was that those who were on the outside could not see how the devotion of the others arose. Happily the mystery of life is deep and complicated enough to encompass different types. Tom was either a stone in your shoe or a stone in your oyster; he could not be ignored.

For almost twenty years, 1946-1962, Fr Tom O'Callaghan SJ, was teacher, trainer, sometime assistant disciplinarian in Belvedere. He was moved by the Canonical Visitor to Crescent College Limerick. From what we hear, things were not the same there. He was approaching sixty years of age and his once dominant personality was losing its force. He did not have a reputation he could call on, as the pupils of Crescent had not heard of him before. In a few years he was teaching in a school in London and while there he met his future wife. At what stage he decided to leave the priesthood it is impossible to say.

When they returned to Dublin he took up teaching for a while in St. Conleth's. This did not last very long as his health was disintegrating. During a long and sporadic illness his wife took devoted care of him. He died in June of this year aged 72 years. RIP.

Every Christian life is a sad life. Every Christian life is a failure. A web of disappointments and of goals unachieved. We cannot say, and it is futile to guess, whether some things might have been better if some other things had been otherwise ... We do not know. That is all we can say. We offer our sympathy to his wife, Barbara, May the Lord look mercifully on all of us, and on the soul of Fr. Tom O'Callaghan, one-time Jesuit, sacerdos in aeter num.

BK, SJ

Born: 10 December 1910, Bohernagore, Ardpatrick, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1943, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 27 July 1969, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Abbotstown, Dublin

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

Early education at Mungret College SJ

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 44th Year No 4 1969

Belvedere College
On July 26th we were saddened to hear of the death of Fr. Alf O'Connell. For the past few years he had been going down hill steadily but his death took us all by surprise. During the latter months he was able only with difficulty to get around the house, his arthritis and other complications getting steadily worse. Two days before he died it was thought imperative that he should have oxygen and he was transferred to Blanchardstown Hospital on Thursday 24th; he survived only two days, dying on the 26th. It is no exaggeration to say that his name was synonymous with Belvedere as far as the Old Boys were concerned and he thought nothing too much trouble whether it was fixing them up in jobs, arranging retreats for them or attending their social functions. He was an encyclopaedia on their doings and many an editor of The Belvederian got invaluable help from him in compiling notes on the past. Though it was in the midst of holidays a big representative gathering of the past managed to be present at his Requiem Mass and funeral. We shall miss him in the community and class room, R.I.P.

Obituary :

Fr Alphonsus O’Connell SJ (1910-1969)

Fr. “Alf” as he was familiarly known, was born December 10th, 1910 in Kilfinane, Co. Limerick. After his secondary education at Mungret he entered the Society in Tullabeg, September ist, 1928 and saw the end of Tullabeg as a novitiate and the start of Emo. After his degree in U.C.D. and philosophate in Tullabeg he spent three years teaching in Galway. On July 29th, 1943 he was ordained in Milltown and after Tertianship in Rathfarnham he spent the rest of his life in Belvedere.
An able and intelligent man, he had a wide range of interests which he pursued during the different stages of his career. At the university he studied Archaeology and contributed a section to a life of St. Carthage. He produced the boys' plays in Galway and during his long term at Belvedere he was always on call to make up the boys for the College opera. He contributed a number of poems to various magazines in his early life. For many years he was director and confessor at the Morning Star Hostel, assisted in the running of St. Stanislaus' Boys' Club and had many a tale of the Irish courses at Gibstown. In his youth he was a fine athlete excelling in hurling and rugby. In later life he suffered so much from arthritis one tended to overlook his former prowess. Up to practically the end of his life he was in charge of rugby and cricket teams in the school. He graced many a school pavilion, trudged up and down the touch-line, umpired even when he had to use his hunting stick. He was extremely popular with his opposite number in other schools, They admired his devotion and enthusiasm and many a time quoted him as an example.
He was a first-class teacher and went to great pains to make up his course, for, in his time, he taught many subjects, Whatever he did he did well. He boasted in his own quiet way of the different subjects he had taught.
He had an extremely retentive memory, looked simple but was as sharp as a knife. Always ready to help, he never refused an appeal. Teachers, games' masters, the past, the boys knew this and appreciated it. Year after year, he filled our Retreat Houses with the past and always had his red note-book available with a surplus of names. In fact the past were never quite sure whether Fr. Alf of "Jeff" as he was affectionately known to them, came to games to cheer them on or to seek retreatants. But they did know he was interested in them. Many a Belvederian owes his present position to Fr. Alf's unflagging interest. Editors of the Belvederian readily availed themselves of his wide knowledge of the Past.
He was a good Religious in an unostentatious way and showed his love of God in his love of others - kindly, generous and a good companion. A good community man, filled with a sense of humour, he told many a story against himself. He suffered much and few of us realised that, as he said, he was working on borrowed time. We feel that Fr. Alf who never refused a call to help will not forget us now that his physical pains and distress are over, May his soul rest in peace.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1970

Obituary

Father Alphonsus O’Connell SJ

Sunday, July 27th, was a clear, bright day at Cabra Oval. Our cricket season was going well and the morale of our players was high, We were enjoying ourselves.

Suddenly, the enjoyment, the bright skies and the high morale were all overshadowed in our minds. Fr O'Connell had died at 5 am on that morning and we had just heard the very sad news. Little was said; the feelings of shock, of loss and of sadness were clear. We had lost a great friend.

Fr O'Connell came to Belvedere College in August 1946. He had been to school in Mungret in Limerick and worked as a scholastic in St Ignatius College in Galway where he obtained his HDip. From the moment he came to Belvedere his life's interest centred mainly around Belvederians and Old Belvederians. It is an understatement to say that everyone connected with sport in Belvedere and many not directly involved in Belvederian activities knew and respected him. It is unnecessary to recall the devotion and enthusiasm of Fr O'Connell for his “seconds”, for these are already well known to us.

What is perhaps not so well known is the great human personality which was behind the kind and unassuming exterior which presented to the outside world. He was kind, humble and always cheerful. He was a simple man without a trace of vanity and although he had a very heavy work load at all times he seemed to have plenty of time to listen all who approached him for help with their problems.

Few of us who attended Belvedere Colege and particularly those of us who played on his cricket or rugby teams, will forget the fantastic kindness and interest he displayed in each student in his care. His anxiety to involve as many as possible in his organised activities was typified by his appointing the writer “permanent substitute linesman” on the Second A Rugby XV. His memory for faces and facts about Old Belvederians was extraordinary and his meticulous recordings in his multiplicity of notebooks of academic achievement, business promotions, weekend retreats, marriages or deaths were the subject of many a good joke.

Fr O'Connell was a natural priest, for such was his great humanity that although his deep, simple piety was evident, one forgot he was a priest. In religious discussion with members of the St Stanislaus Boys Club, of which he was holiday spiritual director for twelve years, he was tolerant and open-minded but quietly firm. From all of these boys he earned respect and affecticion as he did in his tremendous work with the “Morning Star”. He had the great gift of winning the loyalty and confidence of people whether they were students in Belveder the less fortunate members of Dublin society for whom his devotion and work was a splendid example.

His simple and ever cheerful manner made association with him a pleasure. The fund of jokes, very often stories against himself seemed limitless. How he enjoyed telling of his difficulty in confusing a student, so he could discipline him, when the particular student labelled a parallelogram J, E F and F; or by his calling a boy by his older brother’s Christian name and getting the reply “Yes Mutt?” His most relaxing and pleasing personality ensured that “Jeff” was popular and welcome person at all social events.

We will miss Fr O’Connell greatly - his optimism and very positive views on life and on the development of our club contributed greatly to the establishment of solid foundations for us and for all organisations with which he was associated. The best tribute to his memory is to carry on his work in the many fields where he laboured.

Ár dheis lámh Dé go raibh a anam.

Tim Sheehy

Born: 07 June 1870, Umballa, Haryana, Punjab, India
Entered: 03 April 1894, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 29 July 1906, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 12 August 1952, Crescent College, Limerick

Grew up in Clonmel, County Tipperary.

by 1897 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1898 at Enghien, Belgium (CAMP) studying
by 1907 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Medical student before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 27th Year No 4 1952

Obituary :
Father Charles O'Connell
Fr. O'Connell, who had been born in India on June 7th, 1870, spent his early years in Clonmel. He studied Medicine for some time before he entered the Society on April 3rd, 1894. Having completed his Philosophy at Enghien, Belgium, be joined the staff at Clongowes, where he taught French and Irish from 1899 to 1903. He studied Theology at Milltown Park and was ordained in 1906. After his Tertianship at Tronchiennes he was again appointed to Clongowes, where he taught until he was transferred to the Crescent, Limerick in 1917. Here he worked in the College and Church for 35 years. He had charge of the Children of Mary Sodality from 1931 to 1936. He died on the night of August 12th. He was at dinner and recreation on the previous day, but did not appear at Litanies, which was quite unusual. He was found dead by the servants on the following morning.
Naturally rather retiring, but with a nice sense of humour, Fr. O'Connell was a most agreeable community man, though a good listener rather than a great conversationalist. In the Church he was an effective preacher, but it is the memory of his continued and devoted service in the confessional that will long remain with the people of Limerick and of the neighbouring counties. He was a good linguist and was frequently sought by foreigners who wanted confession.
It was quite clear that for some time he was suffering, but he was never heard to make a complaint. A great lover of common life, he did not want to be a burden to anyone. A short time before his death he resolutely refused little dispensations kindly pressed on him by Superiors. He was a soldier to the last, ever true to the kindly name of “Captain”, given to him in his early religious life.
A few days before his death he expressed a wish to see the place where he would be buried. One of the community got a car and drove him out to Mungret. After saying a prayer for the repose of the soul of Fr. MacWilliams, the sole occupant of the new cemetery, he said : “There I shall be buried”. And there some four days later, he was laid beside that other great apostle of the confessional. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953
Obituary
Father Charles O'Connell SJ
Father Charles O'Connell died suddenly on the night of August 12th last. He was born in India on June 7th, 1870, but spent his early life in Clonmel. He had been studying for his degree in Medicine when he entered the Society in his twenty-fifth year. He spent four years in Clongowes as a scholastic and later returned to Clongowes after his ordination and tertianship. He was an able teacher of French and was a pioneer teacher of Irish among the Clongowes community. His tall soliderly bearing earned him the name of “The Captain” from the boys of the period.
When he was transferred to Sacred Heart College, The Crescent, Limerick, in the summer of 1917 he was to spend the last thirty-five years of his life there. For some few years he taught in the Crescent, but the work for which he will best be remembered was his devotion to the work of confessions and preaching. A fluent speaker of French and German, he had a good command of other European languages also and was thus often called on to hear the confessions of foreigners passing through Limerick. Father O'Connell was naturally shy but possessed a delicious sense of humour. He had a remarkably clear memory of the boys he taught during his periods as a master in the Colleges. His death was sudden but not unexpected. He was last seen reading his breviary and for the first time in thirty five years was missed from the Church corridor where he always said his beads. He passed, as he would have wished it, unobstrusively to the reward of the good and faithful servant. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959
Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Community
Father Charles O'Connell (1870-1952)
Was born at Umbala, India but spent his early childhood in Clonmel. He was studying medicine when he entered the Society in 1894. On the completion of his higher studies at Enghien and Dublin, he was ordained in 1906. After his tertianship at Tronchiennes, Father O'Connell taught Irish and French at Clongowes until 1917. In that year he began his long association - thirty-five years - with the Crescent. Until the early 1930's, Father O'Connell continued to teach, but his classes were fewer as he was engaged in full time church work. The memory of his devotion to duty in the church during those years must long remain vivid for the many who sought his help and guidance. He was a good linguist and was frequently sought by foreigners who wanted confession.

Born: 16 January 1872, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1890, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg / 07 September 1898, Roehampton, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 15 August 1905
Final Vows: 02 February 1910
Died: 11 February 1949, Preston, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Transcribed HIB to ANG : 1898

Educated at Mungret College SJ

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Mungret student; Ent HIB 07 September 1890; DISMISSED; Joined ANG 07 September 1898

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1949

Obituary

Father James O’Connell SJ

It was with great regret that we heaid of the death of Father James O'Connell. Father James had been in poor health for some time before his death. He was born in Dublin in 1873 and came to Mungret in 1895. In Mungret he distinguished himself both on the playing fields and on the stage. He was the 100 yards champion and he had a beautiful tenor voice. A contemporary of Fr William Stephenson SJ, with him he joined the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus in 1898. Transferring to the English Province next year he went to St Mary's Hall for Philosophy. Later he taught at Stamford Hill and was raised to the priesthood in 1908. Returning to the colleges he taught at Stonyhurst. His next assignments were to Prescott, Wigan and Manchester, where in all three places he was engaged in parish work. In 1920 he went to South Africa and was stationed at Chisawaka for three years. Returning to England in 1923 he ministered at Richmond and his final years were spent at St Ignatius, Preston.

He often visited Ireland and did not fail to visit his Alma Mater. The last time we had the privilege of his presence was in 1946 when he stayed with us while making his retreat. By his death at the age of 76 we lose one of our oldest and most devoted past students.

Born: 14 October 1827, County Cavan
Entered: 15 September 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final vows: 02 February 1877
Died: 06 July 1903, University College, Dublin

1866 2nd year Novitiate at Galway
by 1867 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a priest of the Diocese of Kilmore. When he had completed his studies he was appointed President of St Patrick’s College, Cavan. Under his leadership he raised the status of the College as one of great efficiency. he endeared himself to his students by his courteous and friendly manner, whilst at the same time modelling the virtues necessary for Ministry.
After years of service to his Diocese he entered the Society of Jesus.

After First Vows he was immediately appointed Rector at Galway, and later Rector at Crescent, Limerick.
As a Missioner, he became known and revered in many parishes in Ireland.
He continued to be held in high regard by the Priests of Kilmore, even after he entered the Society. When the Bishop Dr Finnegan died, as names of a possible successor were sought from the Priests of the Diocese, many voted for Philip O’Connell, eve though they knew he was precluded from Ecclesiastical Office by his membership of the Society of Jesus. He was mourned greatly by the Priests of Kilmore and the Society, many of those Kilmore Priests had been students of his at St Patrick’s.
(Text taken from an obituary which appeared in “The Nation”)

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father Philip O’Connell (1827-1903)

Was a secular priest of Kilmore diocese when he entered the Society in 1864. After his ordination at Maynooth, he had been appointed to the staff of St Patrick's College, Cavan where he eventually became President. His obituary notice in “The Nation” states that “during his tenure of that office, he raised the College to a high state of efficiency”. His first association with the Crescent was from 1869 to 1870 when he was a member of the teaching staff. He returned to Limerick in 1872 as member of the mission staff and remained here until 1876. Appointed rector of the Crescent in 1882 he remained in office until 1885 when he resumed his mission work. During the years 1885 to 1896 he was stationed variously at Clongowes, Milltown Park and Tullabeg. He was appointed rector of St Ignatius', Galway in 1896 and remained there until 1900 when he returned for another year to work at Sacred Heart Church. He was a member of the community at University College and attached to University Church at the time of his death. Whether as missioner or retreat director, Father O'Connell was one of the most respected priests of his day. The obituary notice in “The Nation” says of him: “As a missioner, he was known and revered in many parishes of Ireland; and from many a peasant homestead will arise a prayer to God for the repose of his soul. Among his brother priests of the diocese of Kilmore, he was held in special veneration. This feeling found expression when, on the death of the late Dr. Finnegan, the names of those from whom the priests of the diocese judged his successor should be selected were submitted to the Holy See. Many of his old colleagues and friends voted for Father O'Connell, though it was known that his obligations precluded him from accepting ecclesiastical dignities”.

Born: 07 December 1905, County Waterford
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia
Died: 08 September 1993, John Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia-Malawi Province (ZAM)

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

Brother of Walter O'Connor - RIP 1967 (their father Peter had been an Olympic triple jump champion)

by 1937 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1939 at Rome, Italy (ROM) Assistant to President of Secretariat Marian Congregation

◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Ernest Mackey S.J. was a well known school retreat giver. The vocations of Fr Eddie O'Connor and a few years later of Walter, his brother, were influenced by him. The father of the two brothers was Peter O'Connor a local lawyer and former Olympic champion. The story has it that Peter, encountering Fr Mackey after Fr. Eddie had entered the Society, said
‘That man has taken one of my sons’. Fr Mackey's undaunted reply was, ‘And now, he is coming to take another (Walter)’.

Fr Eddie was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1905. After secondary school, he entered the Society in Tullabeg in 1923. The normal course of studies brought him to ordination at Milltown Park in 1935. He taught for a year in Mungret College and then moved out to Rome to work in Vatican Radio from 1938 to 1946, remaining there during World War 2.
He returned to Ireland and was on the retreat staff up to 1960.

He volunteered to come to Zambia and came in June of 1960, immediately setting about learning ciTonga. He worked mainly in the Southern Province where his brother Walter was. His work was pastoral, preaching, retreat work and parish work. However, he is very much associated with Namwala where he resided and administered for 17 years, 1963 to 1980.

His driving ability was not good, mainly because of failing eyesight. It is told that once when driving with his brother Walter, Walter suddenly shouted, ‘Look out for that cow’! ‘What cow’? says Fr Eddie. After that it was decided that he stop driving. How now to get around his far-flung parish? Easy. He got a horse and this worked extremely well. He became a familiar sight trotting near and far, in fact one of the local farmers used to refer to him as 'Galloping Jesus'.

Fr Eddie was deeply devoted as a pastoral priest ready to give time and attention to his people, the result being that his work was fruitful. After his stay in Namwala, he was chaplain to St Joseph's Secondary School in Chivuna as well as carrying on his pastoral work. In 1989 he moved to Monze where he did dedicated work as chaplain in the hospital there. He was dependable and always available when needed. He was a man of regular habits in his prayer life and daily routine.

In the middle of 1992, Fr Eddie weakened considerably and moved to John Chula House, the Jesuit infirmary in Lusaka. In September of the following year he suffered severe back burns while taking a bath that was too hot and was confined to bed. September 8 was a big day for four Jesuits whose Jubilee was being celebrated and Fr Eddie was one of these, celebrating his 70th year in the Society. Just as Mass was beginning in the novitiate chapel news came across from Chula House that Fr Eddie had passed away quietly. The eighty or so Jesuits, priests, brothers, scholastics and novices who had gathered for the Jubilee, moved over to the chapel of Chula where Fr Eddie had already been laid out in his priestly vestments.

For several, years Fr Eddie wrote the Monze Diocesan Newsletter. Over the years he produced articles for magazines on devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Pioneers. He wrote a pamphlet called ‘Spotlight on Matt Talbot’ which went into a number of printings.

Note from Bernard (Barney) Collins Entry
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.

Note from Walter O’Connor Entry
On July 21st 1967 he was operated on at St Anne's Hospital in Harare but when opened up, inoperable cancer was found. He died five days later on the 26 July in the company of his brother, Fr Eddie and fellow Jesuits.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - St John’s College (Seminary), Cnoc Eoin, Waterford before entry

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1947

Papal Relief during the War

Father Edward O’Connor SJ

This shall be a few of my own personal experiences of the relief given by His Holiness in Rome during the awful year of 1944. Early one morning in that year the Swiss Guard at the famous Bronze Door was amazed that a group of people calling themselves Russians wished to have an audience with the Holy Father. The priest with the group seeing the look of astonishment on the Guard's face hastened to produce an audience card. The card was in perfect order. The guard then asked the priest what they wanted and he answered : “Relief for poor pagans in dire distress”.

These thirty odd Russians who climbed up to the papal apartments had been taken prisoners and drafted into labour corps in Italy. When the chance offered they had deserted only to find themselves eventually in a Rome under military occupation. In whom could they trust in a city ridden with spies, to whom could they go for food in a city on the verge of starvation? There were hundreds of escaped prisoners of war in like condition-hungry, ill-clad, without a shelter. To aid them was to offend against military law but Christian charity imperiously dictated that they be helped, and helped they were by the aid of the Pope.

One day in the neighbourhood of St Peter's, a Russian Catholic priest that I was acquainted with stopped me to ask a favour. Shortly before I had heard that he was one of the Pope's almoners for Russians in hiding. This day I saw that he had shaved off his beard to be less easily recognisable. He wanted money urgently, he told me, for his Russians, but he had been refused admission to the Vatican to see Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty through whom the papal alms were passed on to him. Could I contact the Monsignor for him? I did, and it was not the only occasion that a Russian appealed to one to bring a message to Mungret's Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty !

A great number of these Russian refugees who had reached Rome, had deliberately avoided the allied refugee camps lest they be subjected to forcible repatriation. Hearing of the Jesuit Russian College they turned to it for help. The priests and students found Russia come to them. They took them in, fed them, clothed them, found them work with the Pope's generous aid, and at last, thanks to him, succeeded in opening a hostel of a kind for them in a bombed building (the only one they could find). One of them whom I was asked to befriend, as he had picked up some English, became a Catholic and is now going to be a priest in the United States. Think of it, he was a pure product i of the Soviet godless educational system, having been born only in the early twenties.

Up to 600 escaped British and American prisoners of war were in hiding in and about Rome in the fateful six months before the city changed hands. These prisoners were in desperate want and the Pope gave generously on their behalf. Slowly a highly secretive relief organisation for them was built up. Those engaged in this dangerous work had aliases. One of the heads of the Relief Society went by the name of “Golf”, in allusion to his ability to swing a club! After a time the secret police ferreted out his identity and prudently he lay low in the Vatican and appeared no more at Irish functions. “Golf” was Mgr O'Flaherty !

I had ample proof myself of Monsignor O'Flaherty's charity. The day the enemy pounced on the Jews and seized hundreds of them, an elderly German Jewess came to me in terror. She couldn't see Mgr O'Flaherty. Could I, as another Irishman, help her? She had had to flee from Germany owing to the persecution there. Part of her savings she had managed to place abroad but when Italy entered the war, she was left without a penny. For a time Mgr O'Flaherty managed to get her some of her money and when that failed, advanced her regularly some of his own earnings. The gratitude she felt towards him, the whole Jewish colony felt towards the Pope. At the Pope's wish, colleges and religious houses all over Rome gave shelter to Jews. This soon became a well-known fact that the Jews were the Pope's guests and so they were left unmolested. Earlier in the occupation when a gold tribute was imposed on them and they could not scrape enough together His Holiness completed the amount for them, but its paying did not long buy them immunity.

At the first solemn synagogue meeting in freed Rome, Chief Rabbi Tolli, publically expressed the thanks of the Jewish com munity to Pius XII and when he himself became a Catholic a few months later, he took Eugene for his baptismal name.

Great numbers of foreign residents and refugees in Italy were reduced. to great distress. Many who had settled down in the country to live on their savings had all their money blocked by the government and after the armiştice, they had good reason to fear arrest and deportation to Germany. A South African widow and her daughter, finding themselves in such circumstances fled from Florence to Rome and were re commended to me. They were Protestants and penniless and the nuns who took them in could not afford to maintain them free. On their behalf I interviewed the Swiss Legation, (charged to look after British interests), but it disclaimed all responsibility as the ladies had neglected to renew their British passports. Perhaps the Pope! Once more suppliant hands raised up to the Vicar of Christ!

So numerous were these appeals that His Holiness had a special office set up for the assistance of civilian foreigners, and put in charge of it Archbishop Riberi, once auditor of the Irish Nuntiature. To him I turned and not in vain. He provided money and food and clothing for them and for count less others. For the allies when they arrived, he and his office were rather an enigma. He was working apart from all the official relief agencies, mostly helping unfortunates whose loss of national rights or whose past political affiliations meant their exclusion from any official relief. Challenged about his work Archbishop Riberi replied with a disarming smile : “In the name of His Holiness, I help all those whom nobody else will help!”

The Allied bombing of the “Castelli” towns south of Rome and the evacuation policy subsequently enforced, created a serious refugee problem. Ten thousand people flocked into the Pope's villa and grounds at Castlegondolfo and some 60,000 took refuge in Rome itself, already not far from starvation point. Two big Papal relief agencies were founded to meet the situation: the Pontifical Aid Commission for Refugees, and the Vatican Food Office. Through them His Holiness succoured not only the refugees but the whole population of Rome.

One of the first gifts sent to His Holiness for medical relief was £500 from the Irish Red Cross. In token of gratitude the first clinic opened for refugee children (near St Peter's) was dedicated to Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, and was entrusted to the care of American Franciscan Sisters (whose Rev Mother, as it happened, was Irish-born).

With a population swollen to a million and a half by the refugees, and the transport of grain into the city gravely hindered by intensive Allied bombing of the roads, the municipal authorities found that they could not maintain even the miserable 31ozs of daily bread ration. They appealed to the Pope. Immediately he had all the Vatican vans and lorries switched over to this urgent work of charity. All that winter and spring of 1944 convoys of Vatican lorries flying the Papal colours faced out on the bomb-pasted roads to forage for food. Three drivers lost their lives and thirty lorries were damaged or destroyed in air attacks, but the work went on. All told, 5,000 tons of flour were brought in the equivalent of a month's ration of bread.

Through the efforts of the Pontifical Aid Commission the 11,000 poor refugees herded, in indescribable conditions in Cesano camp, outside Rome, were saved from death by famine. For Easter 1944, the Holy Father had a generous loaf of bread presented to them all in his name and on Holy Saturday he himself blessed the bread in the Vatican bakery before it was sent off.
In the last six months before the taking of Rome, the Vatican Food Office collected, stored and distributed monthly, close on 500 tons of rationed foodstuffs for religious and charitable institutions and hospitals. The “Circolo San Pietro," with the aid of Papal alms, ran twenty-six soup kitchens from which it supplied 10,750 meals between January and August, 1944.

A more serious youth problem for His Holiness was that of the “shoe-shine” boys. The majority of these were poor youngsters, deprived of a home and often of all support by the war, became hangers-on of the Allied armies as they advanced up Italy and followed them into Rome. More than 8,000 of them roamed the streets, hardened by their unnatural experiences and earning a livelihood as best they could and only too often dishonestly.

Born: 15 July 1921, Ballyorgan, Kilfinane, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1956, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1959, St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died 26 December 1971, Tullamore County Hospital, Tullamore, County Offaly

Part of the St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, County Offaly community at the time of death

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 2 1972

Obituary :

Fr John F O’Connor SJ (1921-1971)

It is hard to imagine that Fr. John O'Connor was a good athlete as a schoolboy. Those who remember him at Mungret where he spent four years, 1936 to 1940, will recall his display at football and hurling. He was born outside Kilfinnane, Co. Limerick, and though he seldom spoke about his family and home he had a deep attachment to both. Indeed in recent months his only worry about a possible cure for his arthritis at Phoenix, Arizona, was the separation from his 85-year-old mother. As he spent five years in a Sanatorium with TB after his second year philosophy it is difficult to judge his ability at his studies as a young Jesuit. There is no doubt about that ability however. Though not unduly argumentative he could follow and contribute to a good discussion on moral problems with avid interest. His reading was wide and embraced even novels which were selected with care and a critical eye. Fr John was blessed with a retentive memory,
Most of his studies as a scholastic were absolved as an invalid, but once he got the work at the Rathfarnham Castle retreat house as a priest, he really enjoyed himself. He had a strong love of the Society and could be considered a good Community man. He was certainly a fine priest and a good Jesuit. Good company was a joy to him and he was lucky with his friends in the Province to whom he was forever loyal.
As Bursar in Tullabeg again he found the work that suited him. He proved an excellent economist, methodical in his book-keeping and shrewd in his turn for business. Now he had the opportunity of doing priestly work in his own quiet way, without fanfare or trumpets. He was an excellent confessor, balanced, with sound judgment; liked by the Sisters of the seven convents he visited regularly; liked in the public church. That rare gift of objectivity he had in abundance. Some said he was occasionally negative in his approach to things. This might be true but who has not his reserves?
His unobtrusive dry sense of humour was a great blessing, because he actually kept going to the end when 98% would have thrown in the towel. He was rarely at a loss for a witty repartee, savoured on occasions with a little salt which his equable temperament saved from being resented. His sense of duty was heroic, accepting as he did the hard slogging up and down three flights of stairs so often entailed by calls to the parlour in consultations or to the church for confessions; again trying to open week-end offering envelopes was a penance with fingers stiff and unflexible.
Never one to complain about ill-health and the Lord knows there was plenty to grumble about--one lung, one kidney and a sure but certain deterioration in the arthritis, Fr O'Connor did suffer but even when asked about his health the subject was quietly changed. The last years at Tullabeg were placid and suited him. His memories of his days at Rathfarnham Castle retreat house were pleasant and the doings of the lay helpers and their families were a perpetual interest to him. Yes, he was curious but once the curiosity was satisfied he was content. It was a small weakness. Whoever sent him to Rome, after his kidney operation, with the Retreat House pilgrimage did a good day's work. That trip was an endless thrill and tiny events were often spoken of with a chuckle. Likewise his villas at Enniscrone were a great enjoyment as were the eight summers on supply at Littlehampton in Southern England.
The two and a half days at Tullamore County Hospital prior to his death were very typical of the man. Methodical as ever, everything was in order. All at Tullabeg could see that he was suffering for the five weeks before the end but little did they suspect it was active TB in the one lung that was at the root of the trouble.
He will be missed by the Tullabeg Community. We were glad of the ten years or so he was with us, of his indomitable courage, his unobtrusive co-operation. To die at fifty years of age is young in Jesuit eyes, but to live as he did and to die as he died around midnight on Christmas night was a lesson to us and we are grateful.

Born: 22 October 1898, Saint Alphonsus Terrace, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 31 August 1916, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1931, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1934, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 20 May 1972, Coláiste Iognáid, Sea Road, Galway

Educated at Crescent College SJ

by 1923 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1933 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 3 1972

St Ignatius College, Galway

Father Joseph O'Connor died in the Regional Hospital on the morning of Saturday, 20th May from a coronary attack. He had been in hospital for about six weeks. He had been a member of this Community since 1941, when he came here as Minister. Fourteen priests took part in the Concelebrated Mass on the day of his burial, Fr O'Keefe (Rector) being First Concelebrant, assisted by Fr Provincial and Fr McGrath, PP, and a very large number followed the remains to the graveside. May he rest in peace.

Obituary :

Fr Joseph O’Connor SJ

Father Joe O'Connor who died in Galway on 20th May was born in Limerick, in October 1898, and was educated at St. Philomena's Preparatory School and the Crescent College, Limerick. On August 31st, 1916 he entered the Society at Tullabeg, and at the end of his Noviceship went to Rathfarnham Castle for his University studies. Having taken his degree, he studied Philosophy for three years at Stonyhurst, and then went to Mungret College, where he taught for three years. Going to Milltown Park for Theology, he was ordained there in 1931. The following year he did his Tertianship in St. Beuno's, N Wales. Returning to Ireland in 1933 he spent three years as Higher Line Prefect in Clongowes, and was then appointed Rector of Mungret College. From Mungret he came to Coláiste lognáid, Galway in 1941 where he remained until his death in 1972. There he began a busy career, occupying the positions of Minister, Procurator, Prefect of the Church, and Director of the Bona Mors Confraternity. He continued as Pro curator, Operarius in the Church, and Director of the Bona Mors till 2 or 3 years before his death, when ill health forced him to retire. In 1942, due to his contacts with the people and the need he saw for it, he began the Nazareth Benevolent Fund and continued as its organiser till the time of his death, The aim of this fund was to assist those whose financial status had been reduced and who needed help. Through Flag Days and Xmas Raffles he raised sufficient money to keep the Fund going. By personal contact he had the gift of singling out those who stood in most need, and helped them over long periods. Besides that, he was Spiritual Director of the Ignatian Branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, for years, and came to know the very poor of the City, and was always ready and generous in helping them. Those in distress found in him a “friend in need”, one always ready to lend them a helping hand.
As Operarius in the Church, he was dedicated to his work over a period of 28 years. He wrote all his sermons in a neat hand, and preached them in a gracious way all his own, occasionally stepping back quietly but in an authoritative manner to emphasise some point. He had a fair knowledge of Irish, and read the Long Acts and the long prayer before Mass quite fluently. In his active years he quite frequently cycled to Calvary and Merlin Park Hospitals to visit patients whom he knew. Once, after a long absence, (through illness) he found the front wheel of his bicycle missing, and this put an end to his cycling career. This was 4 years ago.
At no time was his health very robust, but the first sign of serious illness came in the Spring of 1968 when he had a black-out after supper and was rushed by ambulance to the Regional Hospital. After a fairly long stay there he went to Milford House, Limerick, to recuperate. He seems to have never fully recovered from that attack, as he had to go away for treatment, on many occasions, during the last few years, and in the last year or more, one could see that he was a sick man. Even in his last years he sometimes took over, for a brief period, the office of Procurator, and helped in the Church,
His chief characteristics were, quietness, kindness, and gentleness combined with remarkable efficiency in all that he undertook. He was very interested in people and his knowledge of the Galway people extensive and, sometimes, very surprising. In his walks through the city he often stopped for a chat with one after another on his way. As a result he had numerous friends, and was very popular. When he was ill members of the community were frequently stopped in the street to be asked “How is Father Joe”. To many who had known him since the days of their childhood his death was in the nature of a personal loss. This was shown by the large number of Mass Cards and letters of sympathy that came to the house when the news of his death spread through the town. (One of these letters of sympathy was from the Mayor and Corporation of Galway City). It was also shown by the large number of mourners who followed his remains to the graveside to pay their last tribute to one they had esteemed and loved over so many years. His funeral was attended by priests from all houses of the Province and from the parishes of Galway. May he rest in peace!

Born: 26 May 1932, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 02 January 1997, Dublin

Part of the Coláiste Iognáid, Galway community at the time of death.

by 1971 at Loyola Chicago, USA (CHG) studying
by 1985 at University of Warwick, England (ANG) studying

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 92 : August 1996

Obituary

An t-Ath Seán B. Ó Conchúir (1932-1997)

26th May 1932: Born in Dublin
Early education; St. Mary's, Athlone and St. Ignatius, Galway
7th Sept. 1950: Entered the Society at Emo
8th Sept. 1952: First Vows at Emo
1952 - 1955: Rathfarnham, Arts at UCD
1955 - 1958: Tullabeg, Studying Philosophy
1958 - 1959: Belvedere: Regency
1959 - 1961: St. Ignatius, Galway, Regency
1961 - 1965: Milltown Park, Studying Theology
31st July 1964: Ordained Priest at Milltown Park
1965 - 1966: Rathfarnham, Tertianship
1966 - 1968: St. Ignatius, Galway: Teacher and MA studies
1968 - 1970: St. Ignatius, Galway: Prefect of Studies
1970 - 1973: Chicago: Doctoral studies in Education
1973 - 1977: Crescent Residence: Director, Research Project at Shannon
1977 - 1978: Crescent Residence : Lecturer in Education at New University of Ulster
1978 - 1980: Galway: University of Ulster work and Pre school project in Irish, Connemara
1980 - 1984: Resident in Connemara: Irish Project work
1984 - 1986: Warwick University Studies
1986 - 1991: Galway: Studies in Lifestart, Gaeltacht Project
1991 - 1997: Carraroe: Director of Lifestart Project and Researcher

There’s a photo in the house of Seán’s sister Mairin, deceased, in Cork, showing four army officers. They are Seán’s grandfather, father and two brothers of his father. One of them, Uncle Patrick, was a member of Michael Collins’ ‘Twelve Apostles’. The four of them played their part in the War of Independence. Sean’s mother (Mary Harper before marriage) was a member of Cumann na mBan (Fellowship of Women) and while still a child was involved in the Easter Rebellion. Sean’s pedigree, therefore, was not so different from that of the Basque, Ignatius of Loyola; a pedigree that begot loyalty, magnanimity, a large and generous heart ready for great deeds and exploits. The Son of God chose someone of that caliber – Thomas the Zealot, and perhaps also two others – James and John, the Sons of Thunder. Would you not think that Jesus has a special feel for someone who is ready to risk their life for a cause? He himself was facing into such a future: ‘I give my life for my sheep.’

That is what I say of Seán O Conchuir of the Society of Jesus; he never slackened, when younger and also in his thirty-two years of priesthood. Always he was searching for what was ‘greater’ and ‘more perfect’ until his strength, health and his very life were spent ‘for the sheep’, and especially for the sheep in the flock of his Lord and Master. In all that work, his soldier-like qualities were patience, gentleness, love, humility and humor, a humor that he could turn on himself with a delightful explosive laugh.

Seán was committed to education (was it not so with Christ?) on every level –primary, secondary and university. He educated himself through diligent study: an MA in the sixties, a doctorate in the eighties. Curriculum development, use of statistics, evaluation of teaching programmes and progression, and of the work of students or trainee teachers; psychology and child-development—he gained a mastery and reputation in all these disciplines.

His achievement, whether in founding ‘Home Education’ and the ‘Life-start Foundation’ -- his most outstanding and effective projects--is all the more remarkable when one considers that he was struck down with rheumatic fever as a child, and was a weak boy who was wheeled along the Prom at Salthill, swathed in blankets. Thus he remained until his early teens, so he could not participate in football or rowing in Colaiste Iognaid. But he began to swim and this improved his health, as did life-saving, which was being taught by Jimmy Cranny and Des Kenny. At the end of secondary school he was strong enough to join the FCA and wear a soldier’s uniform in 1949, the year when the Republic was again proclaimed. In autumn of the following year he and Padraic Mac Donnchadha joined the Jesuit Order in Emo, Portarlington.

Seán was born in Dublin: his father, Ceannphor (Commandant) Sean Ó Conchúir, was ADC to President Sean de hIde.

The family spent a while in Athlone and the father then transferred to the Cead Cath (First Battalion), which was fully Irish, in Galway. Little Seán was sent to Scoil Fhursa, managed by Bean a’Bhreathnaigh. Scoil Fhursa and later Colaiste Iognaid planted in him a love and appreciation for Irish music, dancing and song, which lasted until the end of his life. If you heard him rendering ‘An Bhinsin Luachra’ or ‘Jimmy Mo Mhile Stor’ you would understand that love and appreciation.

The experience that Seán gained of the arts of music and acting through the Feis Cheoil, and later through the Colaiste Iognaid choir, was only an extension of his family’s gifts. There is a dynamism in the family always to celebrate life, especially through close association with nature and the practice of the arts – do you remember Seán performing a solo ballet in Tullabeg? You can see this love of life in the lives and families of his three sisters too – Mairin (the bright light of God be on her), Dairine and Grainne. A permanent feature of the home life of the O’Connors were the Sing Songs. Everyone had their own song or recitation. Any Jesuit who participated in these evenings in the O’Connor home in Galway between 1966 and 1972 will look back on them with appreciation and gratitude, and will especially remember the party-piece which Sean composed and rendered with a strong Claddagh accent. Seán’s creativity blossomed: he produced plays, composed prose pieces, and wrote poetry. One of his philosophy companions in Tullabeg baptized him as ‘The Bard’.

Frequently you would notice that Seán was absorbed in deep thought. He had a great gift of focusing entirely on a person (he was an excellent listener, full of respect for the speaker whether man, woman or child), or on an object or on scenery. To the end of his life every aspect of nature gave him joy, gladness and pleasure. Wild flowers by the roadside or the bare tops of the Beanna Beola or Snowdon would give wings to his heart. Seán steadily cultivated the spirit of the Contemplatio of the Exercises of Ignatius, especially in his final years in Connemara from 1980 onward. ‘To recognize God in all things… working on my behalf’. When I study his beautiful photos of Connemara and its flora, my heart shakes with wonder: he is a man spell-bound by the beauty of creation, a silent beauty which speaks to him of the eternal and mysterious beauty of God. And in his commitment to his calling as a wise man, a teacher and a priest, whose task was to break open and divide this bread of beauty, he spoke of it in images which would take the eye out of your head. He conveyed it to the children of ‘Home Education’ in the form of jigsaws, and in the form of poems for the grown-ups.

Lord, we live out of death;
therefore I say to the animals: ‘You who were tame and gentle
In the meadows yesterday,
You nourish what is beautiful and pure
In me today.’

And I say to the fish:
‘You who were free in the water a short while ago,
You now feed the freedom and agility of my body’.

And I say to the harvest:
'The music you played to the sun in autumn
I sense now as a poem
In the cold winter of life’.

And I say to Christ:
‘The pinnacle of goodness died in your body
But now you clothe the heavens
With white flowers’.

‘And you, Host of Christ on my lips
You are the wine of blood and the seed of flesh,
You are the honey of Easter, you are the sap of youthfulness
You are the flowering branch within me
Which does not wither.’

The beauty of that poem is awesome: it leaves me rooted to the spot. God reveals his secrets to children. I believe that in all his high learning and deep study Seán kept safe within himself the heart and pure mind of a child. It was this that gave him wonderful insight into the essential stages of a child’s development. This is why the programme ‘Home Education’ satisfies the need of children from Connemara to Ballymun, from Wexford to Derry, from Barcelona to Belfast’s Shankill.

Michael Hurley gave heartfelt witness to the reputation Seán had achieved within the various strata of the Six Counties: ‘He made it easier for us to encounter one another and forge bonds of friendship’. His close friends Dolores McGuinness and Aine Downey in Derry put it incisively: ‘There was never anyone like Sean who could move among people without causing them nervousness or fear. He was full of respect for everyone, and he listened to them with total attention.’

In his final days, on his bed of sickness and weakness, I was frequently at his side. The only syllable he could articulate was his heavy breathing, regular and low. But throughout that time he made a living prayer of his hands which were stretched out before him on the bed-clothes: thumbs joined and fingers clasped, as if he had the Body of Christ within his fingers, and Seán steadily gazing on it with the eyes of his soul, constantly focussed on it, endlessly adoring: ‘I adore you, O spirit of fruitfulness, O beautiful One of the heavenly rampart’-- a quotation from ‘Adoramus Te, Christe’ by Daibhi O Bruadair (1625 – 1698): Sean learnt it at the feet of Professor Gerard Murphy in UCD. It was he who opened up for Sean the enchanting treasury of Irish literature and folklore.

And with Gregorian chant as a lullaby, to the very end he made that mysterious sign of his priesthood and his life; offering – as a child shyly offers his little fists to its mother—his labours, sweat, joys, troubles, failures, retraining, petitions, despair, despondency, love, integrity and the achievements of the years.

May the two hands of the Child Jesus enfold you forever, Seán, while He merrily teaches you the beautiful ‘Home Education’ of his own hearth and household.

Translation Brian Grogan SJ

Interfuse No 98 : Autumn 1998

VISIONARY, YES, POLITICIAN, NO

Conall Ó Cuinn

I missed Seán O'Connor's funeral. But this article is not an obituary. It's a reflection about Seán's short time as headmaster of Coláiste Iognáid in Galway for just two academic years, 1968 and 1969, the period immediately following the Prague Spring and the Paris Student Revolution. It corresponded to my own 4th and 5th Form as a student there. I write as someone who was greatly influenced by Seán's vision for education, a catalytic factor in my joining the Society. I supported him in as much as any 4th or 5th Form student was capable of supporting a headmaster.

In Seán's time I was also privileged to be a member of the first elected school council, which, like the Sunningdale Parliament, was quickly dissolved from above after a very short life, I served as a prefect in 5th year, trying to implement what I understood as Seán's vision of pupils being creative participants in their own education. I was on the editorial team of the student newspaper whose last edition never reached the newsstands, having been confiscated by the authorities. We did manage to spirit a few copies away before the police came knocking at the door and Patrick Hume tells me there is a copy in the archives. Shortly after Paddy Tyrrell took over from Seán in 1970, I was appointed School Captain, and so had a lot of contact with staff.

In many ways, even at that time, I had “insider” knowledge of what was going on above and around me (sources remaining anonymous). However, I am aware now that I didn't really understand the complexity of what was happening politically, or how delicate and fragile the whole situation was. So naive was I, that I was greatly surprised when Seán finished as headmaster after only two years. As captain of the school, I had a lot to do with his successor, Paddy Tyrrell. Like for others enthused by Seán's vision, his removal and replacement appeared to me to be a Margaret Thatcher-style takeover intent on reversing the new social order (others would say social disorder).

I now understand better what a very difficult assignment Paddy Tyrrell had been given. Seán and he were contemporaries and friends during formation. I now appreciate how Paddy managed to preserve many of the positive elements of what we might call the O'Connor revolution. For example, neither corporal punishment nor the 11-plus type streaming into A and B classes were reintroduced. The new pupil oriented attitude continued. People remained more important than system. And further developments took place under Paddy's leadership.

Seán, like Padraig Pearse, was a great visionary, but a poor politician. Seán's studies on education had been about the Pearse educational experiment at Coláiste Eanna. Only later in both cases did their vision begin to flower into political reality. In the immediate, however, Seán failed to win over the four very difficult constituencies which he needed to engage in order to succeed. These consisted of the Jesuit Community, the Lay Staff, the Parents, and the boys (especially the senior classes).

Many of the senior boys used the elimination of corporal punishment as an excuse for license, which initially gave the school a certain chaotic appearance. In his first year, Seán had welcomed a large group of repeat, but disgruntled, 6th years back to school. In general, they proved to be a very disruptive force among the senior boys and Seán's first academic year ended with a riot on the school pitch during the taking of the school photo. This resulted in all 6th years being sent home a full week before schedule, an act just short of expulsion. While the 4th and 6th year battled it out before the assembled school, with Fr. Jack Hutchinson trying to appease both sides, the lay teachers were gathered in the corner of the field to discuss whether they should go on strike. It appeared that the educational revolution had degenerated into chaos.

Owing to the suddenness of Seán's reforms, teachers had suddenly found themselves, without any real training, invited to abandon more formal teaching methods in the junior forms. Classwork was to be organised around projects whereby the teacher's role was to serve the intellectual curiosity of the pupil by providing resources and advice about topics of the pupil's interest. With no corporal punishment as the usual backup control and with little or no focus on public examinations, some of the teachers quickly found themselves bewildered and longing for the good old days of law and order.

The Jesuit staff and community lived with two unresolved tensions. Jesuits in general were divided in their reception of the new orientations of GC31, and in Galway there was the additional division between the “Gaeilgeoirs” and the “Non-Gaeilgeoirs”. Skills of community dialogue were in their rudimentary stages. Communication still tended to move vertically between the individual and the Rector. Despite the many meetings, so difficult for those not used to them, much of the political communication was beamed from one group to the other via the Rector. Our subsequent growth in ability to dialogue can now be seen more clearly when we contrast the serene atmosphere of today's province meetings to those very first acrimonious meetings of the late 60's and early 70's.

Finally, the parents, despite the importation of some high level lecturers of Lonergan leanings from Milltown Park, found it difficult to form a vision beyond the newly introduced points system for entry to University, a system necessitated by the increased number seeking university places following the introduction of free secondary education and university grants. Many parents feared the project/pupil orientated method adopted for the 1st years would spread to all classes prompting visions of their off-spring failing to progress to third-level education. The parents, like the Jesuits, were divided into two camps. The “Jes” parents saw the school as a mini-Clongowes without the boarding fees, and the “Coláiste lognáid” parents wanted an all-Irish education. I believe this division of parental motivation is one reason why Coláiste lognáid in my time never won a football match because the pool of best players was always divided between Gaelic and Rugby which was played in a club independent of the school. With divisions like this it was difficult to work with the parents as a single group. In general, however, the parents were not convinced by what they saw as a Galway version of the Paris Revolution with its sit-ins and teach-ins which were already being picked up in the Irish universities. Our having a silhouette of Che Guevara, with a clenched fist, on the cover page of the banned magazine certainly would not have helped Seán with the parents had it been circulated!

Changing metaphors, Seán was seen as the Dubcec who had gone a step too far. The hot line to the Rector and to Eglinton Road was often engaged for long periods. Both Rector and Provincial were, as far as I understand, ideologically in tune with Seán. However, they could not ignore the persistence of representation from the unconvinced part of the Jesuit Community, and many of the lay-staff and parents. Enrolment was beginning to drop too. Seán's term would have to end prematurely, without time for the fruits to show themselves. The tanks rolled in. At least it seemed like that at the time.

It was not that Seán did not know how important it was to share his vision with the four constituencies. It seems to me, however, that he confused explanation with acceptance. He made great efforts to explain ... all those meetings after school, which went on late into the night. One man, I heard, who did not see the point of all these meetings, obediently attended but spent the time correcting his copy books. However, acceptance comes ultimately with understanding. Seán may not have realised that many of the players were not convinced enough to have a team that could pull together. In fact, the team pulled apart.

Seán himself had come back to Galway after many years of openness to new ideas, both in Dublin and in the US. A small number appreciated or understood all three strands of his vision: Gaelic, child-orientated education, and Vatican II reflected institutionally in the documents of GC31. Some accepted one, or even two of these strands. But with pressure to maintain the status quo, only a few could back Seán in all three strands. Those who were still uncomfortable on any of these three areas found themselves unable to throw themselves into the project. Intellectually, emotionally, or professionally many of the teachers were ill-equipped to deal with the changes. They reacted in different ways, some by withdrawing, some with belligerent opposition to that part which seemed to be “non-sense”, some with quiet passive resistance. Weakened by this, the rope was not strong enough to carry the experiment, unraveled, and eventually snapped.

Politically, Seán might have had a better chance of succeeding if he had taken more time to introduce his changes in a slower fashion. On the other hand, the changes were the result of an intellectual and spiritual paradigm shift: none of the individual changes he introduced would on their own have made any sense without the others, Seán had not had the backup benefits of today's Ignatian colloquium, a systematic way of engaging lay-teachers and parents, and even students, in our vision. (I regard myself as having been introduced to the Jesuit educational vision through “colloquy”). It was out of experiences such as the “Galway experiment”, that the need for such methods developed.

Finally, it seems to me that Seán did have the prophet's self immolating tendency, which we see in Pearse. Say what needs to be said, even if they don't understand. Do what needs to be done, even if they don't follow. Die on the pyre of truth, for the phoenix will rise from the ashes.

But the line between prophetic word/action and railroading is often difficult to distinguish, especially when viewed from the outside. There were 'in' and 'out' groups. Invitation and command were then often perceived, and intended, as synonyms. So there might not have been the freedom to really talk through apprehensions in order to include other wisdoms in the vision. Seán may have interpreted silence as consent, and genuine opposition as belligerence.

This article is one attempt to understand what was happening in Galway at that time. I hope it can be part of the healing process which Seán is now intimately involved with in his new position in the Communion of Saints. His vision was a major stepping stone in my own journey into the Society. It has touched many people and continues to grow and develop in them. As the woman said of her husband who had walked out on her some years previously, “he was doing the best he could”: all were doing the best they could under the circumstances.

There may still be some lessons to learn from this particular phase of the history of the Irish Province. We form one Body, where each person's contribution is vital, and no one can be left out without all suffering their absence. The spirit runs, but must carry the often, as yet, unfit body. Vision must patiently wait for the slow inertia-laden swing of tradition and habit. The body lives in and needs time.

The Galway experiment was about adapting to cultural change. Genuine dialogue and inculturation are an essential part of the quality of our apostolic living and working together, not just tools of the trade or means to an end. They are movements in the continuing act of incarnation, of the Word being made flesh, of t”he entire creation ..groaning in one great act of giving birth...all of us who possess the first fruits of the Spirit we too groan inwardly ... we too must be content to hope to be saved ... something we must wait for with patience” (Rm 8:22-25).

Seán, continue to pray for us, the pilgrim Society on earth as we continue to grow/groan “till fully grown into the Body of Christ”.

Born: 14 May 1899, Kansas City, MO, USA
Entered: 27 August 1918, Florissant, MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Ordained: 16 June 1931
Final vows: 02 February 1936
Died: 27 August 1968, Limerick City - Missouriana Province (MIS)

Died in HIB but member of MIS

Born: 22 May 1910, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 01 September 1928, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1947, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 26 July 1967, St Anne's Hospital, Harare, Zimbabwe

Part of the Jesuit Novitiate, Mazowe, Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe community at the time of death

Brother of Eddie O'Connor - RIP 1993 (their father Peter had been an Olympic triple jump champion)

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1951 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, Northern Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - third wave of Zambian Missioners
by 1962 at Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (ANG) Socius to Novice Master

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
He was born in 1910 at Waterford, Ireland, into a large family of nine children, son of Peter O'Connor, a local lawyer. Walter's elder brother Eddie had already entered the Society five years before that (1923) and Walter entered the Society in 1928. He was educated by the Christian Brothers and completed his secondary education at Clongowes Wood College. Ordained at Milltown Park in 1942, after tertianship he was appointed minister at Mungret College for a year and again as minister at Rathfarnham, the juniorate. He liked what was described as practical work and he was never short of ideas as to how this, that and the other might best be done – subjectively, and often opposed by others. Still his cheerfulness remained undiminished. He had a 'stick-to-it-attitude' in the projects he undertook. His zeal and enthusiasm were qualities that stayed with him all his life. While minister at Rathfarnham, he developed an apostolate in the promotion of the family rosary in Dublin. He collected and presented films and other aids for this apostolate.

As a scholastic at Clongowes during regency, he did much to build up the athletics, perhaps inspired by the fact that his father had been an Olympic triple-jump champion. His health was never very strong but his psychic energy was never low. He was passed by the doctors to travel to Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) as one of the nine Irish Jesuits who went there in 1950. As parish priest at Chikuni he entered into the new work with the same spirit that had always characterised him. A very familiar sight was Fr Walter on his heavy motor bike either coming or going on supply. He took a great interest in the condition of the lepers in the area and did much for them. His efforts to establish a leper settlement for them bore fruit after he had left the area.

Due to ill health, he returned to Ireland for three years during which he did retreat work and lectured about the Mission. This resulted in a number of benefactors who donated churches and other benefits to the mission.

He returned to Zambia in 1960 and moved to Harare (Zimbabwe) to assist the Master of Novices when the joint novitiate was set up. He gave retreats, established the Pioneers at Harare and developed a new apostolate for the consecration of families to the Sacred Heart. He was appointed Director of Vocations for the archdiocese of Harare and traveled a lot with Fr Regis Chigweduc on vocation promotion. Fr Regis paid tribute to Fr Walter at his funeral for his holiness and his work in promoting vocations; his zeal, energy and enthusiasm in everything.

On July 21st 1967 he was operated on at St Anne's Hospital in Harare but when opened up, inoperable cancer was found. He died five days later on the 26 July in the company of his brother, Fr Eddie and fellow Jesuits.

Tributes that came in after the funeral were many and sincere and they could be summed up by what a fellow Jesuit wrote about him, ‘He was always full of charity, cheerfulness and on fire with a zeal that consumed him; he was steeped in a spirit of prayer’.

Note from Eddie O’Connor Entry
Fr Ernest Mackey S.J. was a well known school retreat giver. The vocations of Fr Eddie 0'Connor and a few years later of Walter, his brother, were influenced by him. The father of the two brothers was Peter 0'Connor a local lawyer and former Olympic champion. The story has it that Peter, encountering Fr Mackey after Fr. Eddie had entered the Society, said
‘That man has taken one of my sons’. Fr Mackey's undaunted reply was, ‘And now, he is coming to take another (Walter)’.
His driving ability was not good, mainly because of failing eyesight. It is told that once when driving with his brother Walter, Walter suddenly shouted, ‘Look out for that cow’! ‘What cow’? says Fr Eddie. After that it was decided that he stop driving. How now to get around his far-flung parish? Easy. He got a horse and this worked extremely well. He became a familiar sight trotting near and far, in fact one of the local farmers used to refer to him as 'Galloping Jesus'.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 43rd Year No 1 1968
Obituary :
Fr Walter O’Connor SJ (1910-1967)
Fr. O'Connor died in St. Anne's Hospital at Salisbury on 26th July. He had gone to St. Anne's about ten days previously because he had been having grave trouble in swallowing and eating for some time and the doctors suspected an ulcer. When he was operated on, on the 21st July, cancer was discovered, and of an inoperable kind. He was then told that his days were numbered but in the next few days pneumonia developed. He was too weak to resist its virulence and his condition rapidly deteriorated. He died at 3.15 a.m. and was quite conscious till the moment of death and participated fully in the prayers that were being said by his brother, Fr. Edward, and by Frs. Ennis and Berrell of the English Mission.
After Fr. Walter's death numerous letters of sympathy were received by the members of his family and especially by his sister, Mother O'Connor, R.S.C.J. In these letters there is presented a portrait of Walter contributed to by those who knew him well. In one of the letters a Jesuit confrere has written “Fr. Walter was one of those rare people, in a worldly age, who was a professional man of God - whose main interest always was, not studies or writing or teaching or any of our other concerns but simply the Kingdom of God”. Another Jesuit has written of him, “I can truly say that I regarded him as one of the best Jesuits I ever knew, and I am, thank God, nearly fifty years in the Society. He was always full of charity, cheerfulness, on fire with a zeal that consumed him and steeped in a spirit of prayer. I always found that even a few minutes talk with him was a tonic, and invariably the conversation would very soon turn to something concerned with God's interests. I knew well, too, that he got plenty of ‘knocks’ some of them very hard. I could never discover any vestige of bitterness on these occasions”. From these excerpts and others, Walter O'Connor emerges as a man of God, a man of zeal, and like all zealous men he had to meet the problems of clash and conflict but never lost his own integrity which was protected by his spirit of charity.
Walter was born at Waterford in May 1910, the fourth of a family of nine children. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at Waterpark and completed his secondary education at Clongowes Wood College. He entered the Society in 1928 and followed the usual course. While teaching in Clongowes as a scholastic he did much to build up the athletics. After Tertianship he was minister in Mungret for a year after which he went to Rathfarnham as minister. He liked what is described as practical work and he was never short of ideas as to how this, that, and the other might best be done, Walter's ideas of the “best” ways were often more subjectively influenced than objectively and in this he found that others could hold different views. But his cheerfulness was not diminished. He was persistent and had what across the Atlantic is called “sticktuitiveness”. He was always interested in getting a “good bargain” and took delight in pointing out the technical and practical advantages of what he was able to come by as a bargain. Again, he found that others did not quite see things the same way and their ability to unveil the disadvantages was sometimes stimulated as a counter to Walter's enthusiasm. And he was an enthusiast. His persistence and enthusiasm produced advantages for his brethren and one of them was the first swimming pool in a house of formation in the Province, at Rathfarnham. While he was minister there he developed an apostolate in the promotion of the family rosary in Dublin. With his usual zeal and enthusiasm he collected and presented films and other aids to foster this apostolate and his energy in its promotion provoked others to develop the new ways of fostering exercises of religious devotions. His health was never very strong but his psychic energy level was never low.
In 1950 despite his weak health he was passed by the doctors for work in the new mission in Zambia. After his arrival he was made “parish priest” at Chikuni. He entered into the new work with the same spirit that had always characterized him and around Chikuni there appeared many shrines of Our Lady as the fruit of his ideas and zeal. He took a great interest in the condition of the lepers in that area and did much for them. His efforts to establish a special settlement for them bore fruit after he had left the area and the nucleus of it might be said to have been in the special outdoor Mass-shrine which Walter built and where he often said Mass for the lepers.
Walter as usual lived on his nervous energy and his health was again weakened. All his life in the Society this lack of good health was a harassment to him and the tempo and intensity of his personal life are hardly without some relationship to the physical disabilities he suffered. He returned to Ireland from the Missions because of this ill-health. From 1956 till 1959, when he again went back to Zambia, he taught in Bolton Street Technical School (as it was then named). It was the same Walter who again showed his zeal and enthusiasm in his work for the students there. In addition, he did retreat work and much lecturing on the Mission and its needs and through his efforts a number of benefactors were found to donate churches and other benefits to the Mission.
When he returned to the work in Zambia he was appointed to Kasiya to assist in the work of the Parish. Later he moved to Lusaka for work at Chilimbana and Munali where there is one of the largest and best secondary schools in the country (often classed as the rival of Canisius College!). Walter's health did not improve and when the joint novitiate was set up at Salisbury he was sent there to assist the Master of Novices in 1960. In addition to the work of socius he gave many retreats in Southern Rhodesia, including Long Retreats. He established the Pioneers at Sailisbury and developed a new apostolate of the consecration of families to the Sacred Heart. But the great work in which he was engaged at the time of his death was the fostering of vocations among the Africans. This work meant so much to him that in his dying hours many of his prayers were for its success. He was appointed Vocations Director for the archdiocese. He worked with Fr. Regis, an African priest, and they went all over the country on lecture tours, visiting practically all the mission schools. Walter used his previous knowledge and experience and collected films and other visual aids which he employed with benefit in the vocations work in the mission schools. Fr. Regis who accompanied him paid a warm tribute at the funeral to Walter's holiness, zeal, energy and enthusiasm in the work of promoting vocations. Fr. Wallace of the English Mission has written “Walter will have all the outlets for zeal he could ever have desired on earth, and much more. He had that something in his soul that found expression in his energy and urgent manner, he will certainly be another who will spend his Heaven on earth doing good. And what I said about his being nearer to us, I don't at all regard as a pious wish, but as solid fact to be perceived by faith”. Letters from Jesuits in Sailisbury testify that “Walter approached his operation with complete calm and a happiness to accept God's will whatever it might prove to be. He knew the operation would be a severe strain on his system which he might not survive; he did not want the family to be caused anxiety by knowing beforehand that he had to undergo this. His courage, his devoted acceptance of God's Will, and his energetic coping with the consequences of this in his own life are, as they have been before, most impressive and I am sure he will be deeply satisfied to have this last challenge and to be given the chance to go to God - one might say with full knowledge and consent, knowing what is happening and able to offer one's life to God with full deliberation and even timing”.
When Fr. O'Connor was dead four different obituary notices, as well as the official one, appeared in the daily newspaper. They were tributes to his memory from people who knew him well. This is a quotation from one of them, “In memory of a wonderful person, a good friend, and an inspiration to all who knew him. Remembered with love and affection by ... (the signatures follow”). One of his former Rectors has written “He was my Minister at ... and I have the happiest memories of him. We worked very well and harmoniously together. He was a great help and always cheerful. Everywhere he went he did good work in spite of delicate health. He was a splendid missioner. Nothing would have pleased him better than to work for his converts to the end”.
Walter O'Connor was buried at Chishawasha - “where many of our missionaries from the pioneer times are buried ... this is what Walter wanted” - after Requiem Mass in Salisbury Cathedral. The Mass was concelebrated by Fr. Eddie O'Connor, Fr, O'Loghlen, Fr. Ennis, Fr, McKeown and Fr. James Wallace. The Archbishop of Salisbury presided and performed the absolutions at the coffin. There was a very large congregation and among them all the novices from Silveira House. The prayers at the graveside were recited by Fr. Eddie O'Connor assisted by Fr. Meagher, Vicar General of Monze, who was representing the Bishop, Very Rev. Dr. James Corboy. In many of the letters from priests the quotation “Well done, good and faithful servant” was used as their theme. May he rest in peace.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 125 : Autumn 2005
MISSIONED TO ZAMBIA : WALTER M O’CONNOR
Taken from some 50 “portraits” submitted by Tom McGivern, who works in the Archives of the Province of Zambia Malawi.
Fr. Walter was born in Waterford in May, 1910, and was ordained in Milltown Park in May, 1942. The M in his name stands for Mary and he had a great devotion to Our Lady. He used to say that he would die in May as well, and would laughingly add, “If I am alive on June 1st, you'll know I'll be with you for another year!” His wish to die in May was not granted, for it was on the 26th July 1967 that he died in Harare, Zimbabwe, at the early age of 57. He was born into a large family of nine children, the son of Peter O'Connor, a local lawyer. He entered the Society in 1928 (His elder brother, Eddie, had already entered the Society five years before that in 1923). He was educated by the Christian Brothers and completed his secondary education at Clongowes Wood College. Ordained at Milltown Park in 1942, after Tertianship he was appointed Minister at Mungret College for a year and again as Minister at Rathfarnham, the Juniorate.

He liked what was described as practical work and he was never short of ideas as to how this, that or the other might best be done....subjectively, and often opposed by others. Still his cheerfulness remained undiminished. He had a 'stick-to-it iveness' which saw projects to the end. Zeal and enthusiasm were qualities that stayed with him all his life. While Minister at Rathfarnham, he developed an apostolate in the promotion of the family rosary in Dublin. He collected and presented films and other aids for this apostolate. As a scholastic at Clongowes during regency, he did much to build up the athletics, perhaps inspired by the fact that his father had been an Olympic triple jump champion. His health was never very strong but his psychic energy was never low. He was passed by the doctors to travel to Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) as one of he nine Irish Jesuits who went there in 1950. As parish priest at Chikuni he entered into the new work with the same spirit that had always characterized him. Fr Walter was a very familiar sight on his heavy motor bike, either coming or going on “supply”. He took a great interest in the condition of the lepers in the area, and did much for them. His efforts to establish a leper settlement for them bore fruit after he had left the area.

Due to ill health, he returned to Ireland for three years, but did retreat work and lectured about the mission, which resulted in a number of benefactors donating churches and other benefits. He returned to Zambia in 1960 and moved to Harare (Zimbabwe) to assist the Master of Novices when the joint novitiate was set up. He gave retreats, established the Pioneers at Harare, and developed a new apostolate of consecration of families to the Sacred Heart. He was appointed Director of Vocations for the archdiocese and travelled a lot with Fr. Regis Chigweduc on vocation promotion. Fr. Regis paid tribute to Fr. Walter at his funeral for his holiness, zeal, energy and enthusiasm in the work of promoting vocations. On July 21st 1967, he was operated on at St.Anne's hospital in Harare, and inoperable cancer was found. He died five days later on July the 26th in the company of his brother, Fr. Eddie, and fellow Jesuits.

Tributes that came in after the funeral were many and sincere. They could be summed up by what a fellow Jesuit wrote about him, “He was always full of charity, cheerfulness, on fire with zeal that consumed him, and steeped in a spirit of prayer”.

◆ The Clongownian, 1968
Obituary
Father Walter O’Connor SJ
Salisbury - Fr Walter O'Connor, who died on July 26th worked in Rhodesia from 1960.
He first came to Africa just after the Irish Jesuit Fathers had taken on responsibility for part of the huge Lusaka Mission. He was a most energetic parish priest at Chikuni, the oldest and largest of the mission-stations between Kafue and Livingstone.

In 1960 he was appointed assistant to the Novice Master at the Jesuit Novitiate which had been established near Salisbury two and a half years earlier, and remained in this work till his death. Many will know him rather on account of the Retreats, Days of Recollection and Conferences which he gave during this time, and his work for the Pioneer Association.

He was also Promoter of Vocations for the archdiocese

He suffered much from ill-health and had to undergo major surgery at least four times during his time in Africa. He was often in a state of physical pain, discomfort, or exhaustion, but his spirit burned bright and strong and generated the sort of force that moves mountains. If on occasion some found him too insistent, it was without resentment - it was so easy to be good humoured with him.

In everything he did he was very evidently a man of God, a man of prayer and a man who did his utmost for the spread of Christ's Kingdom. There was no indication that he found prayer easier or more consoling than the average person who prays, but he was outstandingly faithful to the practice of prayer and this surely bore fruit in the spiritual quality of his life and work.

He liked people and responded very easily in conversation, whether serious or gay. In the ordinary social intercourse of his life as a priest and above all with his colleagues there were sure to be cheerfulness and laughter around him. He could always be relied on for a smiling and happy response, and he did not at all mind a bit of banter about his activities.

This cheerful, wiry, energetic priest, with his quick manner, his determination and his patently spiritual outlook, will be remembered and not least by his chief colleague and the young religious who lived with him in the Novitiate.

He was buried in Chishawasha, a missionary among missionaries.

JW

Born: 25 March 1906, Lisnagry, County Limerick
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1943, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 02 November 1981, Hazel Hall Nursing Home, Clane, County Kildare

Part of the Clongowes Wood College, Clane, Co Kildare community at the time of death

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 20 July 1959-1965

Early Education at CUS, Dublin and Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1938 at Petworth, Surrey (ANG) health

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Note from Arthur J Clarke Entry
Arthur took as his model and ideal his Master of Juniors, Fr Charles O'Conor Don, whose motto, ‘faithful always and everywhere’, Arthur took as his own.

Note from Tommie O’Meara Entry
One summer on villa (summer holidays), the local parish priest was invited to dinner and was being introduced to the scholastics, one of whom was Charles O'Conor-Don (a descendant of the last High King of Ireland). He was introduced as ‘This is the O’Conor-Don’, when Tommie immediately pipes up ‘I'm the O’Meara Tom’.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 18th Year No 2 1943

The O’Conor Don, Owen Phelim O’Conor who died at Glenageary Dublin, on 1st March, was the last lineal descendant, from father to son of Roderick O’Conor, last High King of Ireland, who resigned in the 12th century. He was the second son of the late Right Hon. Charles Owen O'Conor and succeeded to the title on the death of his elder brother, Denis, in 1917. The new holder of the title is our Fr. Charles O’Conor, Minister of Juniors at Rathfarnham, the only son of the late Mr. Charles O’Conor K.M., Lucan House Dublin, and nephew of the late holder. He is the first bearer of an hereditary Irish title to be a priest, and not until his death will the title go to the son or grandson of a cousin of Owen Phelim O’Conor. This gentleman, Mr. Charles William O’Conor was once M.P. for Sligo and now lives in Herefordshire.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Frs. G. Casey and C. O'Conor represented the Province at the Solem Requiem Mass celebrated at Kikeel Church, Co. Down on 22nd January for the late Fr. John Sloan, S.J., of Patna Mission (Chicago Province) who perished in the Dakota crash outside Karachi on the night of 27th December. Fr. O'Conor was the Celebrant. A brief account of his career appears below.

Irish Province News 34th Year No 4 1959

GENERAL
On 20th July Fr. Charles O'Conor, former Rector of Gonzaga College was appointed Provincial in succession to Fr. Michael A. O’Grady. The best wishes of the Province are with the Provincial in his new office, and to Fr. O'Grady the Province offers its gratitude for his services during his Provincialate. He will be remembered, beyond doubt, above all for his outstanding kindness, under standing and sympathy. His great and quite genuine charm of manner made personal contact between him and his subjects easy. They could always feel that their position was understood even if it could not always be improved. And these qualities extended themselves outside the Society and won for Fr. O’Grady and for the Province the goodwill, esteem and affection of everyone with whom he came into contact.
When he became Provincial in 1953 Fr. O’Grady was faced with a task which demanded gifts of this high order, The period of office of his predecessor, Fr. T, Byrne, had been one of expansion after the war. It was for Fr. O’Grady to consolidate. He found himself with a number of new enterprises-the Catholic Workers' College, the Mission in Rhodesia, Gonzaga College - which he had to see firmly established. This involved, among other things, a heavy building programme. It has been his great achievement that he courageously carried through this programme, though the toll on his health was at times very great. Besides the buildings at Gonzaga and the Workers' College, there were the preparatory school at Belvedere, the Pioneer Hall, the extension to Manresa and the renovation of Loyola, Eglinton Road, which was purchased as a Provincial Residence in his term of office. That, in spite of the expenditure involved, the Province is in a sound financial position is a tribute to Fr. O'Grady's generous use of his great personal gifts and to his inexhaustible patience and zeal.
Other activities recently undertaken which received his wholehearted en couragement were the Missions to Britain and to the Irish workers in Britain, the work of teaching Christian Doctrine in the Technical Schools, and the Child Educational Centre, which was started in his Provincialate and was finally established in its new premises in Northumberland Road last year.
He visited both China and Northern Rhodesia, and it was largely through his tireless negotiation that a satisfactory status for the Rhodesian Mission was worked out and the Mission of Chikuni created. He also saw the expansion of the Mission to the Chinese in Malaya. In both Missions he supported extensive building schemes of which the most ambitious were the new Wah Yan College, Queen's Road, Hong Kong and the Teacher Training College, Chikuni. And for all this the Province is grateful to Fr. O’Grady.

Irish Province News 57th Year No 1 1982

Clongowes
The Clongowes Community and boys suffered a grievous loss by the death of Fr Charles O'Conor. (See obituary notices, pp. 152 ff.] No one who reads this brief account of the man will wonder why we, his community, feel his passing so keenly, and share with all the people in the immediate and remoter vicinity a profound sense of loss.
Charles excelled in love of his neighbour. He could not offend in word or deed; he could not say or think present and a Jesuit Roman Catholic anything uncharitable; he was always priest was very well received. The Rector already to oblige; he was a humble man and Headmaster attended the annual who never gave the faintest impression of dinner of the Munster Branch of the being superior in any sense. He was Clongowes Union (28th November). always a pleasant companion and Like all other post-primary schools, gravitated towards the less popular, less Clongowes opened late (14th/15th attractive of his fellows. He was deeply September) on ministerial instructions. respected and beloved by all his fellow scholastics.
One could write of his tireless activity his great patience with himself, especially during the last few years when his memory was failing very and was causing him humiliating trouble in conversation, and that same patience with the poor arriving at our door, many of whom were humbugs with made-up hard-luck stories that went on With all inside and outside he showed the same restraint and respect: he himself all unawares won the greatest reverence from all the people around. Even the boys, thoughtless though they seem, regarded him with great affection and respect; and boys are seldom deceived in their judgments of their masters or superiors.

Obituary

Fr Charles O’Conor (1906-1924-1981)

The present writer first met Fr Charlie in Tullabeg noviciate on 1st September 1924, in the days when an entry-list of 26 first-year novices was looked upon as quite normal. He and his family had made a great sacrifice by his following a religious vocation, as he was the last direct descendant of the third-last High King of Ireland. Turlough O’Conor. For the tiine, however, he was just one of us novices and went through all the noviceship experiments like the rest of us. Tall and ascetic-looking, but of rather frail physique, he took little part in team games, but was exceptionally good at tennis and very popular with everyone.
After the noviceship he went with the rest of his year to Rathfarnham and attended University College, Dublin, gaining there a BA degree with honours. for the next two years (1929-'31), still in Rathfarnham, he went on to gain an HDE and (something quite exceptional in those days) an MA in History. His dissertation was on Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, a distinguished ancestor of his who lived in Penal times. As a result of the two extra years in Rathfarnham, when his contemporaries had moved on to philosophy, Charlie was out of step with them for the rest of his scholastic career. After philosophical studies in Tullabeg, instead of teaching prefecting in the colleges, he returned to Rathfarnham and spent two more years there, assisting the Minister of Juniors and doing some teaching in the juniorate.
His theological studies in Milltown Park (1936-41) were interrupted by ill- health. At the end of his first year it was discovered that he had contracted tuberculosis, so he was sent to Petworth, where the English Province maintained a sanatorium. Here within twelve months he made what seemed to be a satisfactory recovery. However, when he resumed theology in Ireland, doubt arose over the permanence of this recovery, so by special dispensation he was ordained a priest at the end of his second year. After theology he went to Rathfarnham (his third time there) as a tertian, and on his appointment as Minister of Juniors stayed on (1942-50). During this period also he was “Province Prefect of Studies” (inspector of colleges).
Since about 1945 Fr Charlie was “vice postulator” of the cause of Fr John Sullivan's beatification. He played a great part in drawing up the necessary documents for the Judicial Informative Process held in Dublin and in Kildare and Leighlin. The cause entailed an enormous amount of correspondence not only with Rome but also with a very large number of clients both at home and abroad, some seeking relics and others informing him of favours received through Fr Sullivan’s intercession.
[The next nine years of Fr Charles’s life - his Gonzaga period, 1950-59 - are dealt with separately, below. His Provincialate (1959-'65) presently lacks a chronicler! Fr Brendan Barry was his Socius and successor as Provincial: had he survived, we might have had a first hand account).
When Fr Charlie ceased to be Provincial in 1965, he came to Clongowes, where he spent the reinaining sixteen years of his life. He was made pastor of the people's church and was given charge of the garden and the pleasure grounds. For many years also he taught religion to one of the junior classes, to whom he became guide, philosopher and friend. He interviewed the boys regularly in his room, and in later life many of them returned to thank him for the help he gave them when they had succumbed to depression.
Besides his voluminous correspondence connected with Fr John Sullivan, he was also indefatigable in writing to Ours, especially to those working on the missions in Hong Kong, Zambia and Australia. Many an exile was completely dependent on him for news of what was happening here at home. As guestmaster he always gave them a hearty céad mile failte on their return from foreign parts.
Fr Charlie occupied one of the rooms near the hall door and so was in constant demand as confessor at unusual hours, He heard confessions also for long hours every week-end, on the eves of First Fridays and all the Church holydays. However, probably the greatest demand made on his time and patience was in listening to all sorts of down-and-outs who came regularly to him seeking help both spiritual and temporal. Frequently they arrived at mealtimes, but never did he show any resentment at the inconvenience they caused him. He took very literally the words of the Gospel: “As often as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me”. He was often asked also to bless invalids either in their own homes or in hospitals in Naas or Dublin or sometimes farther afield.
In the school itself he was in daily demand to superintend the swimming pool and showers. On half-days, especially when there were visiting teams Charlie was taken and put under to be catered for, this was a long and sedation. very wearisome chore in the steaming atmosphere of the baths, to the accompaniment of a constant din of high-pitched youthful screaming and shouting to their hearts' content. At the end of the exercise, he always insisted on doing the mopping-up personally, even though many volunteered to help.
A few years ago, his tuberculosis showed signs of returning, so he had to go to hospital in Dublin. Afterwards he spent some time recuperating in his home atmosphere at Clonalis, Co Roscommon. He began to suffer from two great disabilities: deafness and loss of memory. Though he was supplied with a hearing aid, it never worked very successfully. He was not mechanically-minded, and so found it difficult to adjust: for all practical purposes he discarded it completely.
With his loss of memory, another man might have retired completely into his shell, but not Fr Charlie. At times admittedly when talking to him, it could be embarrassing to have to hear and answer the same question two or three times in the course of a short conversation. As a result of these disabilities, he had to give up offering Mass and hearing confessions in the People's church, but these were the only concessions he did make. He managed to keep up all his other activities right up to the end.
On Sunday, 25th October 1981, at breakfast (7.30 am) he looked pale and sickly, and admitted to feeling unwell. He took merely a cup of tea and was led back to his room. The doctor was sent for and diagnosed a heart attack, but not one requiring immediate intensive care hospital. He saw Fr O’Conor's immediate need as rest, preparatory to transfer to hospital, and himself suggested the nearby nursing home, Hazel Hall in Clane. The consultant assented to this course, so there Fr Charlie was taken and put under sedation.
During his first few days in Hazel Hall he appeared very anaemic and listless; then by degrees he seemed to regain both his colour and his interest in everything: happenings at home, goings and comings. Various members of the community visited him daily, as did his sisters, four of whom survive.
On All Souls' day (2nd November) two of the community visited him and found him ever better than he had been on previous days. Within an hour or so, as afternoon tea was being brought to the rooms, word came back that Fr Charlie had suffered another heart attack, to which he succumbed. Next evening his remains were brought to Clongowes. Dr Patrick Lennon, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, received the coffin at the main door of the 1932 building. The senior boys carried it down the corridors, the others lining the way, to the high altar of the Boys' chapel, where his Lordship spoke the final prayers. Among the dignitaries present that evening were Dublin's Lord Mayor, Alexis FitzGerald, who had been one of Fr Charlie's pupils at Gonzaga, and the ex-Taoiseach, Mr Liam Cosgrave. Dr Dominic Conway, Bishop of Elphin (the O’Conor home diocese), presided next morning at the funeral Mass concelebrated by some seventy
priests. The then Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, was represented by his aide-de-camp, and the Knights of Malta, attired in their robes, were well represented: Fr Charlie had been their chaplain. The coffin was then carried once more in by the senior boys to the hearse waiting on the main avenue, with the rest of the boys fining the route; then all proceeded to the community cemetery, where the final farewell was spoken by Fr Provincial. Tributes carne from far and near from all classes of people who felt his death as a real personal loss. May he rest in peace!

Fr O'Conor's Gonzaga period
In the spring of 1950 Charlie left Rathfarnham to take up residence in Milltown Park and to set up Gonzaga College in part of the newly-acquired Bewley property. He had been Province
Prefect of Studies for some years, but had never been on the teaching staff of any of our colleges. With the thoroughness and dedication that was characteristic of him, he set about this pioneering task leading to an ever-mysterious future whose outlines he could barely have glimpsed.
Those who were posted to Gonzaga in 1950 received more sympathy than envy from their friends. One of them told the present writer that the postal delivery of 31st July, which brought the unwelcome Status news brought also another letter - a line of welcome from Charlie with a their ten-shilling note enclosed. This kind personal consideration was a marked feature of his life.
The Rector of Milltown, in whose name the Bewley property had been bought, had entrusted the reconstruction of the house - the future school and residence - to a group of tradesmen who undertook to do it after working hours. By the opening date, 8th September, they hadn't finished the job. However, classrooms and toilets were ready. The brethren's rooms had each a bed, a table and a chair: community meals were in Miltown Park, Every night Charlie went down to meet the workmen and enjoy a smoke with them, despite the irritation their broken promises occasioned him.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, had requested a school at the south side of the city. While meeting this request, the Provincial, Fr “Luigi” O'Grady, had decided that the Province should try to offer a preparation for third-level education other than that given by the Leaving Certificate and Matriculation courses of those days. A return to the Ratio
Studiorum was invoked, but it wasn't obvious how this was to be applied to the realities of Irish secondary education in 1950, when parents paid all school fees and university entrance standards had to be met. Charlie had his own ideas of what a school might be, and while not being a theorist, he had his own quiet way of converting his ideas into reality. I think he saw the school as ancillary to the home. Hence parents were invited to all school occasions, even to a cup of coffee after a Confirmation in the opening year, when standing-room scarcely existed for parents and boys. He had a deep personal interest in each of the boys and held private “chats” with them in his office. Many of them have told the present writer that they received help from him that carried them through post-school years.Charlie’s involvement in the school’s life was total. He taught Religion and supervised the lunchroom and the changing-room for games. He was constantly thinking of the immediate and future needs of the school, and planned community each change with great care, relying on listed arguments pro and contra before his decision, then really trusting in the power of prayer for every undertaking. Here his devotion to our Lady and confidence in her intercession was remarkable. When the theologians vacated the second Bewley house, variously known as Sandford Grove, Winkelmann’s and St. Joseph's, Gonzaga fitted it up as a classroom block. Charlie gave great care and attention to every detail of the plans for this, as he did for the building of the hall and library block, and on this latter he was more efficient than any clerk of works could be. Before the building was handed over, the whole community was paration for third-level education other asked to do a tour of inspection to note any omissions or defects; the result was a long list of 113 minor items for the builder's consideration.
As a superior, he was a man of his time. He expected co-operation with his ideas, though he listened to ours. It was possible to disagree with him without having a row about the matter. He was thoughtful and considerate for each individual. His expectations of others were high, but he never asked anyone to do what he himself was not willing to attempt
He had a real interest in people, indeed in all people, from the poor man begging for a shilling to those friends of his own family who were in a very different social class. He had a real love for the poor, evidenced by the fact that on one Sunday afternoon no less then 37 came to Gonzaga begging for a little help'. He didn't readily speak about himself, but one day he did tell us of his delight at receiving a letter from a woman in England, asking for his mother's name. She wished her child to take that name in Confirmation, because Mrs O'Conor had given this woman's mother a weekly gift of tea and sugar and the only new clothes she had ever worn,
In the community Charlie was very friendly, even though his shyness tended to make him seem aloof at times. His life with God may have affected his easy approach to people. It was certainly the hub of his life, about which all else revolved. The sincerity of his faith was an inspiration. He won the respect and affection of a large proportion of the boys and their parents, and the years have not blunted their perception of his simplicity, sincerity and saintliness.

A former pupil's appreciation
Mr Charles Edward Lysaght, born in 1942, was educated at Gonzaga and is a barrister and writer. He is the author of Brendan Bracken (1979) and of the following tribute, which appeared in The Irish Times and is reprinted here with a few excisions.]
Fr Charles O’Conor, O’Conor Don, was in every sense a prince among men. As the descendant of the O’Conor High Kings, he was heir to an aristocratic tradition which far antedated the Protestant ascendancy and stretched back beyond the Norman invasion. His forebears in the Penal days had paid a heavy price in worldly terms to hold on to their Faith. It was wholly in character that Fr Charles, the only son among ten children, should not have counted the cost of devoting his life to the priestly vocation in the Society of Jesus.
As a Jesuit he has a fruitful life. Before his ordination he read History at University College, Dublin, and did important historical research for his Master's degree on the history of his family in the Penal days. In 1950 he founded Gonzaga College and quickly established it in a position of eminence in Dublin life ... He was a man of vision and he realised the importance of establishing in Dublin a first-class Catholic day-school.
Of course he had his foibles. His picturesque turn of phrase and well-bred mannerisms evoked occasional mirth among the boys. He could be rigid in some ways and may have lacked an understanding of human frailty in dealing with the wayward. He was very much the child of the old preconciliar Church, where the maintenance of standards was considered as important as the apparent dictates of human compassion.
It was a recognition of Fr O’Conor’s achievement as first rector of Gonzaga that he was appointed in 1959 to be Provincial of the Irish Province of the Jesuits. ... When his term as Provincial ended in 1965, he returned to Clongowes and sought to promote for canonisation the cause of Fr John Sullivan, the convert son of an Irish Lord Chancellor, who had taught him as a boy at the school. He also acted as chaplain to the Irish Association of the Order of Malta, which his father, Mr Charles O’Conor of Lucan House, had helped to found..
The memory which abides is of the man himself, a gaunt delicate figure, shy, reticent, earnest and somewhat tense, who walked very much alone in God’s path through life’s journey. There was about him a graciousness and elegance, epitomised by his handwriting and use of language, which adorned all he touched. It went to the very core of his being and was combined with a deep spirituality and true humility. In his last years he accepted with true Christian resignation his declining mental powers and the great cross of not being able to say Mass. To have been taught by him and to have known him was an inspiration in life, for through that experience one could not help but feel closer to one’s God.

◆ The Clongownian, 1982
Obituary
Father Charles O’Conor SJ
The Clongowes Community and boys suffered a grievous loss by the death of Fr Charles O'Conor on the 2nd November in Hazel Hall Nursing Home in Clane - just two miles from the College. He had suffered a heart attack on the Sunday morning eight days earlier which the doctor at first did not think was very serious. Indeed within a day or two Charles began to get his colour back and seemed definitely to be on the mend. However on Monday, 2nd November at 3.30 pm the nurse brought him a cup of tea, returned in ten minutes and found him dead. So his passing was swift and probably painless. Many of the younger generation may know little about Fr Charles or his career. So a brief outline of his life in the Society is called for.

Fr Charles O'Conor entered the novitiate at Tullabeg on the 1st September 1924 accompanied to that grim building by a bevy of young ladies, who, we learned afterwards, were some of his nine sisters - Charlie being the only son and heir to the title of the “O'Conor Don”. Having completed his two years noviceship he passed on to Rathfarnham, to the University, and there he spent four years and secured an MA in History. Then he returned to Tullabeg for his three years of Philosophy and he later spent the time of regency as assistant to the Master of Juniors.

In 1936 he began his theology in Milltown, but the following year he had to retire to the Jesuit sanatorium at Petworth in Sussex after a serious attack of TB. After a year in Petworth he returned to Milltown with his health improved; there he finished his theology, having been ordained after only two years of theology by special privilege. He finally completed his Tertianship and training in Rathfarnham Castle, and here he was to remain as master of Juniors, for eight years until 1950 when he was given the difficult and extremely demanding task of founding our now so successful Gonzaga College. Charles spent three more than busy years on this task and the next six years as Rector of the College.

In 1959 he was appointed Provincial of the Irish Province and at the end of this task, and at his own request, he came to Clongowes to take charge of the Peoples Church. Added to his other duties was that of vice-postulator for the cause of Fr John Sullivan. This well-loved task involved him in a very tiring, heavy and constant correspondence.

This, in brief, is the factual account of Charles's life, the part of it that all could see. But “qualis erat” really? Again we must be brief.

The Lord said that the love of God and the love of our neighbour is the summary of Christianity, nor can the two commandments be separated. He who has the one must have the other. We, humans, can in any case see, or at least be certain of the one ie, love of the neighbour. Charles had this virtue in excelsis. He could not offend in word or deed; he could not say or, I believe, think an uncharitable word; he was always ready to oblige; he was a humble man who never gave the faintest impression of being superior in any sense. He was always a pleasant companion and gravitated towards the less popular, less attractive of his fellows. He was deeply respected and beloved, I dare say, by all his fellow scholastics, and saying that I have said enough,

G O'B SJ

Born: 15 August 1858, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 12 November 1883, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry
Final Vows: 15 August 1898, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 01 March 1930, St Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, Australia

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Came to Australia 1892

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Robert O'Dempsey was educated at Clongowes, 1871-77, and did ecclesiastical studies in Rome. He entered the Society as a priest at Milltown Park, 12 November 1883. He taught at Belvedere 1886-89, Clongowes, 1889-90, and Mungret, 1890-91, before a year of theology at Milltown.
O'Dempsey was sent to Australia in 1892, and taught for a few years at St Aloysius' College Bourke Street, at Xavier College, 1895-97, Riverview, 1897-98, and St Patrick's College, 1900-01.
He became engaged in parish ministry at Richmond, 1901-03, Hawthorn, 1903-12, Lavender Bay, 1912-22, as first parish priest, and Norwood, 1922-23, He was superior for that year. Later he went to St Aloysius' College, as spiritual father and director of sodalities.
O'Dempsey was a friend of the Sydney archbishop and Monsignor O'Haran. He had a remarkable knowledge of Latin and Greek, and was a notable cricketer. As a pastor he was most devoted, regularly visiting the sick and members of die parish, showing much gentleness and sympathy. He was recognised as a lovable priest.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 1st Year No 2 1926
Residence. SS. CORDIS, SYDNEY :
In 1878 Archbishop Vaughan handed over the Parish of North Shore to the Society. The church was exceedingly small, had very little church furniture and the Fathers were obliged to hire a Presbytery at 16s. a week. The Residence S.S. Cordis completed by Fr D Connell in 1923. The parish now numbers some 3,000 souls. It has two splendid primary schools, with an attendance of about 740 children. These schools. the Brothers' residence and the hall capable of holding 1,000 people, owe their existence to the energy of Fr Corish. In 1924 there were 45,000 Confessions heard, and about 50,000 Communions given. Attached to the church are two Sodalities, a Catholic club, a debating club, an athletic club a tennis club, and a branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Fr Robert O’Dempsey
On the 15th August 1858 Fr.O’Dempsey was born in Enniscorthy. He was educated at Clongowes, and entered the Society at Milltown as a priest, on the 12th Nov. 1883. The second year's novitiate was made at Dromore. From 1885 to 1891 he was prefect or master at either Clongowes, Belvedere or Mungret, then repeated theology at Milltown, and in 1892 went to Australia. For the next nine years his time was divided between the Colleges of St. Aloysius Kew, Riverview and St. Patrick's. 1901 brought a change, he became Operarius, spending two years at St. Ignatius, ten at Hawthorn, ten at Lavender Bay, one at Norwood, where he was Superior and Consultor of the Mission. 1923 saw him Spiritual Father at St. Aloysius' where he remained until his happy death on Saturday, March 1st 1930.
The following sketch of his work and character, by one who knew him well, will show what manner of man Fr O’Dempsey was :
“During the last years of his life Fr O'Dempsey was in charge of the Star of the Sea Church, Milson's Point, Sydney. He did not spare himself, even when old age and ill-health had wasted his body. 6.30 found him, every morning in his confessional. He said Mass at seven and returned to hear confessions until breakfast. He spent at least four hours every day visiting his district. Daily he taught catechism in the state school. Wednesday evening he gave to the St. Vincent de Paul. On all Thursdays he had evening devotions. On Saturdays confessions from 4-6 and 7-9. Sunday was a particularly heavy day. Mass and short sermon at seven, Sermon at ten, Sunday school at three, and devotions at 7.30. A hard week for an old man, and yet what struck one was his unchanging light-hearted and good humour. He had a fluent knowledge of Italian and heard a large number of confessions in that language .
He was an eloquent and forceful preacher, and, even to the end, spared no pains in preparing his sermons.
He was a wonderful man in a community. Never was he out of sorts in recreation, and his humour and great fund of stories made the hour after dinner a real relaxation. His deeply spiritual life and sound judgment fitted him perfectly for the position of Spiritual Father, which he held during his residence at St. Aloysius' College, to which the Star of the Sea is attached. He will be greatly missed.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1930

Obituary

Father Robert O’Dempsey SJ

The death on the 1st of March of this year of Rev Father O'Dempsey SJ, removed a very lovable priest, whose years of active ministry in several Australian States were many and distinguished. Father O'Dempsey was born in Wexford 72 years ago, and among the friends of his youth were his Grace the Archbishop, and Right Rev Monsignor O'Haran.

He made his secondary studies at the Jesuit College, Clongowes Wood, and later went to Rome for his ecclesiastical studies. On completion of studies in Rome, Father O'Dempsey returned to his native diocese, in whose service he did not remain long, for in 1883 we find his name in the roll of Jesuit novices at Milltown Park, near Dublin. Eight years later, Australia welcomed him.

Xavier and St. Patrick's Colleges, Mel bourne, were his earliest appointments. He was Superior at Norwood, South Australia, and for a period attached to the staff of Riverview College. He was the first.parish priest of Lavender Bay, and for the past eight years had been in charge of Star of the Sea Church, at Milson's Point.

In scholarship, Father O'Dempsey was remarkable for his knowledge of Latin and Greek and in the sporting field was known as a cricketer of outstanding merit.

But long after Father O'Dempsey's ability in learning or sport have been forgotten his devotion to duty will be remembered. Though advanced in years and suffering from bad health, he never failed to visit regularly the sick of the district under his care. Frequently, in the heat of summer, when stronger men would have found exertion make a de mand on their strength, Father O'Dempsey would be seen, on foot, on his round of visits. And those whom he visited speak feelingly of his gentleness and sympathy. A practical illustration of how he was appreciated was to be seen in the crowded congregation which filled the church at the Requiem Mass at Lavender Bay.

◆ The Clongownian, 1930

Obituary

Father Robert O’Dempsey SJ

We are indebted to an old Editor of “The Clongownian”, Fr Corr, for the following notice of Fr Robert O’Dempsey SJ, which appeared in the “Sydney Catholic Press”.

The death on March 1, at North Sydney, of the Rev Father R O'Dempsey SJ, has removed a very lovable Priest, whose years of active ministry. in several Australian States were many and distinguished. Father O'Dempsey was born in Wexford, 72 years ago, and among the friends of his youth were His Grace Archbishop Kelly and Right Rev Mgr O'Hagan. He made his secondary studies at the Jesuit College, Clongowes Wood, and thereafter proceeded to Rome for his ecclesiastical course. It took him but a short time after his return to the Ferns Diocese, for which he was ordained, to decide that his vocation lay in community life. He chose the Jesuit Order, which he entered in 1883. Eight years later Australia claimed him.

“Xavier and St Patrick's Colleges, Melbourne, were fortunate in securing his services as a teacher; he also occupied the position of Superior at Norwood, (South Australia), and later again did yeoman work at Riverview. He was the first Parish Priest of Lavender Bay, and for the past eight years had been in charge of the Star of the Sea Church, Milson's Point. In scholarship he was especially remarkable for his knowledge of Latin and Greek; and the sports field knew him as a very capable and enthusiastic cricketer. His knowledge of Gregorian Chant was considerable.

Jovial of disposition, he was, therefore, an agreeable companion in any community, and the Fathers will miss the brightness he shed around him. RIP

Born: 23 July 1893, Parkton House, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 19 September 1916, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1928, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1931, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 01 February 1972, Ballingarry, Mullingar, County Westmeath

Part of the Tullabeg, Co Offaly community at the time of death

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1930 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

Seems he Entered 07 September 1911 then left in 1912 and then reentered in 19 September 1916

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 47th Year No 2 1972

Obituary :

Fr Robert O’Dempsey SJ (1893-1972)

Father Robert O'Dempsey was one of a family who for generations, from their big house on the outskirts of Enniscorthy, had played a prominent part in the life of Wexford, giving a series of professional men, teachers and religious to the county-men and women of more than ordinary ability and a tradition of selfless service. As a boy at Clongowes Father Robert held his own in a Rhetoric, which included the genius of Father Paul Healy and Ray OʻKelly, and the outstanding abilities of Gilbert Laithwaite, Tom Finlay and Father Paul O'Dea. True, from the first his outlook was not merely serious but tense, and sometimes meticulous. Probably modern Psychologists may register a doubt of the idea of a religious vocation with a long tradition of long and detailed training for such a character. That Father Robert's first attempt to be thus dedicated, resulted in real nervous tension would seem to confirm such an attitude. He had to leave the Noviceship with no prospect of return. Rejecting the professional studies to which other members of the family had devoted themselves, he chose to become an apprentice in Todd Burns Drapery business, explaining later that he wanted constant contact with people to counteract his tendency to introspection. He wanted also a way of life he would not find it a wrench to abandon, should he be re-established for a fresh start. He was, after an interval, and went back to begin all over again the trial of the Noviceship and this time to succeed.
The years in Dublin were happy ones, and they enabled him later, to bring practical experience to his aid in renewing the Clongowes Social Study Club, which had fallen on evil days. Indeed throughout his life he held and fostered principles of social justice only gradually coming to be accepted. These early delays precluded the academic opportunities of his brilliant contemporaries; but an exceptionally strong interest in mathematics and mechanical things - he was something of an expert in his hobby of railway development - enabled him to teach with great success in Clongowes and Belvedere for many years. When in 1962 with the closing of Tullabeg he closed his text books for the last time, it gave him real pleasure to know that one of his last students could write from Chantilly that, though his new professor had a world reputation “he's not a patch on Father Bob O'Dempsey”.
One of the last generation of pre-motor car men, Father O'Dempsey had a taste for long walks, often solitary, and observation that distinguished such men as Lloyd Praeger; he was seldom happier than when on a long tramp, as one who climbed Mweelrea and Errigal with him can testify. On one of the Wexford Villas of the early twenties, he and six companions rode from Gorey to the foot of Mount Leinster and climbing it, from that eminence surveyed the county he loved. That the local paper next day described him as the Leader of the Party of which in fact he was the Junior wasn't surprising, but the other members all surviving may recollect his amusing and delighted disclaimer, which the local journalism rejected.
For such a man the routine of a College like Belvedere, with not a blade of grass in its field of vision, and endless drab streets for “Morning Supplies" was not an ideal setting; nonetheless for many years he took not only his full share of class work, but also helped with Debates and other activities, notably in the staging of the most memorable of the Operas, which Father Glynn and Father Byrne produced.
Father O'Dempsey kept a small carefully selected stock of tools, and was always ready to put his skill with them to helpful use. He had an independent mind with an abiding hate of fashionable cant or meaningless cliché. A loyal old Clongownian, he abhorred all that goes with the “Old Tie” tradition. A true Patriot, he detested the “stage” Irishman and all that smacked of Jingoism. In the days when Telefis Eireann - then known as Radio Baile Atha Cliath poured out a succession of sentimental ballads he liked to refer to the Corporation as Radio Bla Bla! He insisted on the 'O' in O‘Dempsey, and was indeed as far removed as it is possible to imagine from the “Eloquent Dempsey”. In short absolute sincerity was his abiding gift.
It was perhaps unfortunate that for an interval in his latter years at Belvedere, the assignment to Bolton Street Technical School was less congenial, provoking stresses which happily, were dissipated by his term of teaching mathematics to the Philosophers at Tullabeg until the dispersal of the faculty there. The concluding years in Tullabeg left him somewhat forlorn, this occupation gone. As time passed he gave up the long cycle rides and even reading be came a burden.
It is a pity he does not seem ever to have put together, much less put in print, his knowledge of the history of the Wexford Rising, which was more detailed and accurate than that of many professional Historians. (His Grandfather had in fact been “out” in the ‘98 Rising). He was neither romantic nor dramatic in his approach, indeed he was almost mathematical in his pre-occupation with facts and the objectivity with which he assessed them was remarkable.
It was sheer strength of character that enabled his long life to be a story of severe mental trials, valiantly encountered, and a noble service done for God and his fellow men.

◆ The Clongownian, 1972

Obituary

Father Robert O’Dempsey SJ

Robert O'Dempsey was born in 1893 at Parkton House, Enniscorthy. His father was a well known solicitor in that town, Robert was one of a large family, four brothers and seven sisters. His early education was with the Christian Brothers, Enniscorthy, for five years, and in 1907 he came to Clongowes, where his three elder brothers had preceded him. He showed considerable ability while at school, and won prizes in the Junior, Middle and Senior Grades of the Intermediate examinations.

On leaving Clongowes in 1911, Robert O'Dempsey entered the noviciate of the Society of Jesus, but broke down in health and was obliged to leave. He went into business in Messrs Todd Burns in Dublin, but always retained the hope of following his vocation to the priesthood, In 1916, his health being restored, his hope was realised, and he was again received into the Society of Jesus. He studied philosophy and theology at Milltown Park and was ordained in 1928. Before his ordination he taught for two years at Clongowes, and after it for thirteen years at the Crescent, Belvedere and Mungret. From 1943 to 1952 he was assistant to the editor of the “Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart”. He then went to Tullabeg, where from 1953 to 1962 he taught mathematical physics and chemistry to the Jesuit students, and after that acted as bursar until his health broke down a few years before his death in 1972,

Father O'Dempsey's life was in one sense uneventful, but in another it was truly remarkable. From his youth, he was periodically affected by nervous trouble, but he courageously overcame it again and again, and thus led a full, active and useful life. When in the colleges, though not a particularly good teacher, he was most devoted and hard working, and was a great “general utility” man, ready to help in the organisation of debates, plays, concerts and games. The work he had to do in the Messenger office was largely routine and not particularly interesting, but he carried it out with great fidelity and accuracy. When appointed to teach maths physics and chemistry in Tullabeg, forty years had elapsed since as a boy, he had distinguished himself in these subjects, and he applied himself courageously to the task of renewing his acquaintance with them.

His Jesuit colleagues remember him as a loyal friend, always ready to help, and as an inspiring example of fortitude in the face of constant adversity.

Born: 28 January 1908, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 21 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1938, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, St Ignatius, Leeson Street, Dublin
Died: 11 June 1991, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin

Early education at Belvedere College SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1991

Obituary

Father Kevin O’Donnell SJ

Kevin O'Donnell was born in Dublin 83 years ago. He was one of a family of fourteen, of whom Molly, Una, Maeve, Loyola and Desmond survive. He was educated in the Holy Faith, Glasnevin and then at Belvedere College. He entered the Jesuits in 1925 a year after his brother Tom, with whom he was ordained in 1938 and beside whom he was to be buried in Clongowes.

Kevin never lapsed into sterile anecdotage but, from what he said about his student days in the Society, they were happy. His stories about those days were amusing and frequently mischievous. Two come to my mind. He recounted that he found his father was more vulnerable in his office than elsewhere so, when he was short a shilling or a cigarette as a young scholastic, he would call into his father's office and found, as he said, that the visit was usually productive. Shortly after he moved from Milltown, which he liked, to Tullabeg, which he did not, he was accosted by the Rector, Stephen Bartley, who remarked that he was looking glum. “I am”, replied Kevin. “Why so?” asked the Rector. “I have not had a cigarette for a month”, Kevin complained. The Rector then gave him five and thereby won a friend for life. Kevin was incapable of forgetting a favour. It was one of his most endearing qualities.

He was not an academic but had a reputation for being a person of sound and shrewd judgement and an excellent companion. He had a beautiful singing voice and he often recalled the great privilege he had of singing at the Eucharistic Congress.

After he was ordained and had completed his studies he spent the thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 in Clongowes with one year in Mungret. In Clongowes he acquired a fearsome reputation as a disciplinarian. Many a middle-aged bottom tingles to this day at the mention of his name. Such was his reputation that when we were scholastics in the mid-1950s in Tullabeg, we received with muted enthusiasm the news that he was to be our Superior during the holidays. However, while clearly not a man to be trifled with, he was companionable, good-humoured, kind, but above all generous.

He was determined that we were to have a great holiday which was to be a loss-making venture: not a penny was to go back to Tullabeg. I treasure one image from those days. It was the custom that half way through the holiday a van would trundle from Tullabeg with provisions for the holiday-makers. Kevin was profoundly suspicious of the quality of provisions from such a source. He stood by majestically, as the van was unloaded, keeping a beady eye on its contents. When he spied rhubarb, he at once called out, “Take it back to Tullabeg, Fr Hanley, I do not eat weeds”.

Fearsome disciplinarian he may have been, but it was during his years in Clongowes that many of his very many friendships were formed. Not a few of those friendships had a common characteristic. Kevin extended his hand in friendship, when friendship was badly needed. In his friendships there was never a jot of self seeking. He was loyal and generous and evoked loyalty and generosity in others. But having given his friendship altruistically, he was always deeply appreciative of any favour his friends did him, never calling to mind what he did for them. He constantly expressed his admiration of the kindness and generosity of others while being almost dismissive of his own.

No reference to his time in Clongowes could omit the fact that he won quite a reputation as a rugby coach. His teams won the Junior Cup four times in eight years. The fact that Clongowes has not won the Schools' Junior Cup since he left puts this feat into perspective.

From 1953 to 1970 he gave missions and retreats in Ireland and England, with one spell as Minister in Loyola House. During these years he made the acquaintance of many diocesan priests of whom he retained the happiest of memories and for whom he had the highest regard. In 1970 he went to Galway as a Bursar and if he ever referred to his work there, characteristically he never failed to praise the Provincial Bursar, John Guiney, for his kindness and help during those years.

Had Kevin walked under a bus in 1975, we would have had much to say about the good religious, the zealouspriest, the excellent companion, the loyal friend and generous man. He did not walk under a bus but he did walk under the eye of the then Provincial, Fr Paddy Doyle, who sent him as Bursar and Minister to the house of scholastics in Monkstown. He was an unlikely choice for the position, a somewhat Edwardian figure of 67 among bejeaned and bearded young religious, whose formation and style of life differed so much from the formation that he himself had experienced. It was in fact a wise decision with great significance for Kevin and the scholastics who passed through Sullivan House during those fourteen years.

These were his golden years. It was not that Kevin changed. He did not become a trendy 67 year-old dressed in technicolour with a shaggy beard. He remained loyal to his Anthony Eden hat, his rolled umbrella and a sombre shade of black. Nor did the new style of religious formation captivate him. As he said himself, : some of the new ways he understood and approved of, some he understood and disapproved of, while others left him perplexed. In his early days in Monkstown, if the behaviour of the young religious puzzled him at times, he would say to himself that if John Moore and Des O'Grady, men whom he held in the highest esteem, approved, then he could go along with it.

That he developed an extraordinary relationship with the young scholastics is beyond doubt. One, no longer a young scholastic, put it to me, Kevin remained himself, he let us remain ourselves. We appreciated his friendship, his support, his kindness and the interest he took in us. We loved and revered him”. Kevin certainly : had the ability to see a person's strong points,
concentrate on these and then judge them on their strengths. In this way he was enormously supportive of those about him.

His influence on the young was immense, riot just because he was a kind and understanding elderly man but because he embodied, albeit in hiş oldfashioned way, the ideals to which the young students aspired. Etched in his life were the faith, priestly zeal and contentment in the religious life and these ideals were etched in a humane, joyful and totally unpretentious way.

Another of the students, now a priest, said simply, “Kevin was a holy, saintly man”. True, but it was a holiness in a somewhat worldly guise. Kevin liked a good time and good fun, he had a discerning palate, he was not innocent of an affluent style of life, he did not lack wealthy generous friends. The last photo taken of him a matter of weeks before his death shows him sitting in a magnificent chair, smiling beatifically, surrounded by beautiful furniture and, beside him on a rosewood table, a glass of wine. But where the service of God; the needs of the apostolate, the demands of charity or the requirements of religious life were concerned, he could cast aside easily the good things of time because he was attached absolutely to the things that are eternal. Possessions and the good things he so greatly enjoyed did not possess him. He had great freedom, but as we know, such freedom does not come cheaply. It is the fruit of prayer and self denial over many years in response to grace. No wonder he was such an influence on the young scholastics, no wonder he won their affection, devotion and reverence.

And so to the end. He came to Leeson Street two years ago. His presence was a blessing on us individually and collectively. To the end he lived in the present and looked to the future, was positive and enthusiastic about developments in the house, was a wise and supportive advisor and good fun. He declined rapidly over the past ten months. His hearing deteriorated to the point where he could not attend recreation, his sight" failed and he could no longer keep the books or even read, the painful disease of the hip greatly restricted his mobility, He bore all with remarkable serenity and peace without a touch of self-pity. His conversation was full of gratitude to God for the blessings of his life, for the good times he had and for the generosity and kindness of friends. He retained his humour, his gracious concern for others and his appreciation of the good things on offer. I had a day out with him a few weeks before he died when he was in a lot of pain and could move only with difficulty. We went out to Bray where he showed me the family house of which he had such happy memories, to Greystones where he spent much of the school holidays, and to the Vico where he loved to go from Sullivan House. His entertaining conversation exuded a sense of peace with himself and the world and a deep appreciation of his blessings and the goodness of others. At the end of the day, I suggested a place for dinner and backed my suggestion with lengthy references to the suitability of the carpark, the convenience of the diningroom and so on. Kevin listened and then looked at me and asked, “But what is the food like?" and his face cracked into a wide grin.

During the last months of his life Kevin was a walking illustration of a prayer from the Spiritual Exercises that he must have prayed so often during his life in the Society: “Take , Lord, into your possession my complete freedom of action, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all that I have, all that I own; it is your gift to me, I now return it to You. It is all Your's, to be used simply as You wish. Give me Your love and Your grace; it is all I need”. . May the Lord richly bless him and console his family and friends in their loss.

Noel Barber SJ

◆ The Clongownian, 1992

Obituary
Father Kevin O’Donnell SJ
(Born in Dublin in 1908, educated at the Holy Faith, Glasnevin and then at Belvedere College. He entered the Jesuits in 1925 and was ordained in 1938. He spent from 1940 to
1953 at Clongowes and from 1953 to 1970 he gave missions and retreats in Ireland and England. In 1970 he was made Bursar in Galway and in 1975 he was moved to the House of scholastics in Monkstown as Bursar. He moved to Leeson Street in 1989 and he died in 1991.)

An Appreciation

Clongowes Wood College, September 1950, I became “one of my boys” - little did I suspect then it would be the beginning of a forty year association with Fr Kevin, as he became to the family.

During his time in Clongowes he was a frequent visitor, always welcome, to our dining table in Fitzwilliam Square being a family of boys an unexpected visitor never overextended the resources of the household

He became a truly great friend with a rare gift for giving one to whom he was talking the feeling that they were important to him and the subject matter invariably of great concern to him. This attribute was warmly regarded by those who knew him well. His move to Rathfarnham Castle facilitated his ability to visit his friends. We shared many merry evenings with a good dinner - a glass of “Paddy” and lively conversation. On festive occasions his recitations came to the fore – the one I recall best was “The Persian Kitten”.

His stays in Manresa, Monkstown and latterly Leeson Street, proved no barrier to his continuing friendships, being involved in nearly all of our Christenings, Marriages and Deaths. His advices to parents over the years were much respected. He played many games of Scrabble with considerable banter in which he gave at least as much as he received.

New Year, during his time in Leeson Street, was the time for the family Mass. Three generations participated - usually followed by an excellent evening usually now of reminiscences rather than current affairs - interspersed with periods of relaxation to classical music on the stereo.

In the fifties in Clongowes he was always fair and impartial in his dealings with boys. These talents brought at least two Junior Cup wins to the College. Latterly he disclosed in a family environment a warmth of caring concern for each and every one together with a great sense of humour.

Our quality of life is the poorer for his passing – May God smile with him.

PM