Born: 08 October 1566, Youghal, County Cork
Entered: 08 December 1598, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (CAST)
Died: 31 October 1602, Youghal, County Cork (Hanged Drawn and Quartered - Martyr)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
He was Chief of the Clan-Colan; Commander of heavy cavalry in France; Captain of Corunna Port; Hanged Drawn and Quartered for the Catholic Faith
(cf IbIg pp89, 102, and which includes also a complete copy of Carew’s examination - 09/07/1602 - of Collins at Dunboy; Tanner’s “Martyr SJ”; Drew’s “Fasti”; IER September 1874))
Parents were a “high family” who owned the property of Labrouche (in France??). His family name was O’Callan, but he changed for humility’s sake to Collins
Age 22 entered the military profession in Europe, spending five years in the French and seven in the Spanish service. He began at Nantes for three years, then he became a dragoon with the League, for eight or nine years, then went to Spain where the King gave him a pension of twenty-five crowns per month.
About a year after he arrived in Spain, he met Fr Thomas White, Rector of Salamanca, and by his advice entered the Society. Two of his fellow novices were Richard Walsh and John Lee He Entered at Santiago de Compostela where had spent two months following an attack of the plague. After First Vows he was sent to Ireland as a companion to James Archer, who was a Chaplain to the Spanish invading force sent by Philip III of Spain. He was taken prisoner and rejected the overtures to reject his faith he was hanged (at Cork or Youghal).
Captain Slingsby, in a report of the taking of Dunboy Castle, July 1602 says “We gained the top of the vault and all the Castle upwards, and place our colours on the height thereof; the whole remainder of the war-men, being seventy-seven men, were constrained to retire into the cellars, into which we , having no descent but by a straight winding stone stairs, they defended themselves against us, and thereupon, upon promise of their lives, they offered to come forth, but not to stand to mercy; notwithstanding, immediately after, a friar, born in Youghal, Dominic Collins who had been brought up in the wars in France, and there, under the League, had been a Commander of Horse in Brittany, by them called Captain de la Broche, came forth and simply rendered himself.” (Carew, Irish State Papers, 1602, Public records Office, London). Carew to the Privy Council letter of 13 July 1602 says “In my journal sent into your Lordships by the Earl of Thomond, I mentioned three prisoners of the ward of Dunboyne (sic) which for a time I respited...the third called Dominic Collins, whom I find more open hearted than the rest (and whose examination I send enclosed) the which, although it does not merit any great favour, ye because he hath so long education in France and Spain, and that it may be that your Lordships heretofore, by some other examination, have had some knowledge of him whereby some benefit to the State may be made, I respite his execution till your further pleasure be signified unto me”

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John and Felicity O Dril ( O’Driscol or Ó Duala)
He emigrated to France in 1586 he served as a soldier under Philip Emmanuel of Lorraine who soon promoted him commander of cavalry. In 1594/95 he served in the Spanish Army until 1598 - he was with the Spanish Fleet off Portugal in March, 1597 - before Ent 08 December 1598 Compostella
1602 After First Vows on 04 February 1601 he was chosen as companion to James Archer then about to return to Ireland. Dominic sailed there in the Spanish fleet in 1602. He was in the fort of Dunboy during the siege, not as a combatant but occupied with the spiritual and corporal needs of the besieged who eventually chose him to treat for terms with the English. Taken prisoner, he was offered liberty on condition of renouncing his faith and swearing allegiance to Elizabeth 1. He was hanged at Cork, 29 October, 1602, apparently without due form of trial. From the time of his death, Brother Dominic was regarded as a true martyr for the Faith. His cause for beatification is before the Holy See. (NB All contemporary accounts state that he suffered at Cork. The story that he was martyred at Youghal is of a much later date. Details of his execution such as disembowelling and quartering are also found only in later sources).

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

Collins, Dominic (c.1566–1602), soldier, Jesuit, and martyr, was born in Youghal, Co. Cork, son of John Collins, previously mayor of Youghal, and Felicity Collins (née O'Dril or O'Duala). In the aftermath of the passing of the acts of supremacy and uniformity (1560) he was born at a time of increasing religious tension, as the population of his home town was being put under considerable pressure to convert to protestantism. As a child he witnessed the failed rebellion of James fitz Maurice Fitzgerald (qv) in 1579 and it is possible that he attended the Jesuit school run by Fr Goode, and later by Fr Rochford and Fr Lea, in Youghal.

Deciding on a military career on the Continent, he left Ireland in 1586 and travelled to France. He initially lived in Nantes, where he worked in an inn and, when he had accumulated some money, joined the army. Enlisting in the army of Philip Emmanuel de Vaudemont, duke of Mercoeur, he fought with the Catholic League against the huguenots in Brittany, serving for nine years and reaching the rank of captain of cavalry. He captured the chateau of Lapena in Brittany from the huguenots and was appointed by Mercoeur as its military governor. In March 1598 Mercoeur agreed terms with Henry of Navarre and Collins left the service, handing over Lapena to the Spanish general Don Juan del Aguila (qv). He moved to Spain, where he met an Irish Jesuit, Fr Thomas White (qv), at Corunna and, experiencing a change of heart of truly Ignatian proportions, he applied to enter the Society of Jesus. Due to his age and previous career, he was initially refused but was finally accepted as a brother-novice at the Jesuit College at Santiago de Compostela in late 1598. The records of the college for 1601 note that he entered in 1598, was of distinguished parentage, had been a captain of cavalry, and was past 32 years of age. In February 1601 he made his first religious profession and seven months later was appointed by his superiors to join the Irish mission, as Fr James Archer (qv) had specifically asked for him, perhaps due to his previous military experience and also his Spanish contacts.

Archer had been described by Sir George Carew (qv), president of Munster, as ‘a chief stirrer of the coals of war’ (Morrissey, Studies, 318) and was being constantly sought out by government agents. Collins's association with him was to prove dangerous. He sailed with the Spanish expedition to Ireland on 3 September 1601, one of the commanders being Don Juan del Aguila, to whom Collins had surrendered Lapena in 1598. The flotilla with which he travelled arrived late at Castlehaven due to bad weather. After the defeat of the Irish and Spanish forces at Kinsale, Collins finally met Archer in February 1602 at the castle of Gortnacloghy, near Castlehaven. When English reinforcements arrived in June 1602 he was in the party of Captain McGeoghan, which retreated to Dunboy castle. They endured a long siege, which ended on 22 June, and there is some suggestion that Collins was taken prisoner when he made an attempt to negotiate with the besiegers. When the castle finally fell, the remaining members of the garrison were immediately executed and he was one of only three prisoners taken.

He was brought to Cork, where he was imprisoned and interrogated. Tried by court martial, he was sentenced to death, the court finding that due to his arrival with the Spaniards, his association with Archer, and his presence at Dunboy he was a traitor and his life forfeit. He was not executed immediately, however, as his captors urged him to recant his religion, provide information, and also enter into their service. He steadfastly refused and in October 1602 was taken to his hometown of Youghal for execution. On 31 October he was taken to the scaffold and in a last statement exhorted the assembled crowd to remain true to their faith. Before he finished his statement, he was pushed from the ladder and hanged. It is believed that his body was taken away that night by some local people and buried secretly.

It was clear from Collins's attitude and final words that he was convinced that he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs. Carew's account of Collins's statements under interrogation support this and this fact became crucial in his cause for beatification. The Society of Jesus immediately accepted that he had been martyred, and his status as a martyr was soon generally accepted by catholics across Europe. Some miracles were later attributed to him. In 1619 David Rothe (qv), vice-primate of Ireland and later bishop of Ossory, included details of Collins's life in his De processu martyriali quodundam fidei pugilum in Hibernia, and during the next two centuries there were continued efforts to have Collins beatified. In the nineteenth century, Patrick Francis Moran (qv), vice-rector of the Irish College in Rome, promoted Collins's cause and those of the other Irish martyrs. Archbishop William Walsh (qv) of Dublin further promoted the cause, and in 1917 the apostolic process opened with 260 causes put forward for further investigation, Collins being only one of these. Further research was carried out during the terms of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid (qv) and Archbishop Dermot Ryan (qv). Much of this research was carried out by Mgr Patrick Corish, Fr Benignus Millet, OFM (1922–2006) and Fr Peter Gumpel, SJ. Finally, on 27 September 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified Dominic Collins and eighteen other Irish martyrs.

There is a portrait in oils of Dominic Collins in St Patrick's College, Maynooth. This dates from the seventeenth century and originally hung in the Irish College in Salamanca. There is a large collection of papers relating to his cause for beatification in the Jesuit archives in Dublin.

Edmund Hogan, SJ, Distinguished Irishmen of the sixteenth century (1894), 79–114; Louis McRedmond, To the greater glory: a history of the Irish Jesuits (1991); Desmond Forristal, Dominic Collins: Irish martyr, Jesuit brother (1992); Thomas Morrissey, SJ, ‘Among the Irish martyrs: Dominic Collins, SJ, in his times (1566–1602)’, Studies, lxxxi, no. 323 (autumn 1992), 313–25; information from Fergus O'Donoghue, SJ, of the Jesuit Archives, Dublin

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-jumping-jesuits/

JESUITICA: Jumping Jesuits

Tavellers in the Beara Peninsula will remember the Priest’s Leap, a mountain cliff in the townland of Cummeenshrule, where (around 1600 AD) a priest on horseback escaped from pursuing soldiers by a miraculous leap, which landed him on a rock near Bantry. Was the lepper a Jesuit? One tradition claims him as James Archer SJ; another as Blessed (Brother) Dominic Collins. In view of some dating difficulties, one can only say: pie creditur – a common phrase in Latin hagiographies, meaning “It is piously believed…”!

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 36th Year No 1 1961
THE UNVEILING OF A PLAQUE N HONOUR OF FR. DONAL O'NEILLAN, O.F.M., AND BR. DOMINIC COLLINS, S.J., MARTYRS
The old town of Youghal was en fete, gay with flags and bunting, on Sunday, 23rd October, 1960, for a unique tribute of honour to the memory of two martyred sons of the town, Fr. Donal O'Neillan, O.F.M., and Br. Dominic Collins, S.J., who gave their lives for the faith there in Elizabethan times.
There was a Solemn High Mass in the parish church at which an eloquent tribute to the martyrs was given by Fr. William Egan, P.P., Castlemartyr. The greater part of his discourse dealt with the life of Br. Dominic, as very little was known of Fr. O'Neillan. The parish priest of Youghal, Canon Sheehan, presided and with him in the Sanctuary were Fr. Celsus O'Brien, the Franciscan Provincial, and Fr. Pearse O'Higgins, who was representing Fr. Provincial. Canon Sheehan, an old Mungret man, is well-known to our Fathers who served as Chaplains in both World Wars.
After the High Mass, there was a procession through the town to the Clock Gate for the unveiling by Canon Sheehan of a commemorative plaque to the two martyrs. A big number of clergy, secular and regular, marched in the procession and there were also units of the Army, F.C.A. and Civil Defence Corps, as well as a great many of the citizens of Youghal. The music was provided by the Christian Brothers' Boys' Band and by a Pipers' Band, A. 16mm, colour-film of the commemoration is in process of development and the Organising Committee have promised to loan it for showing in our Houses.
The speakers on the platform were Canon Sheehan, who paid glowing tributes to the Society, Fr. Celsus O'Brien, who briefly traced the history of the Franciscan foundation in Youghal from its inception in 1224 and showed that both the martyrs had a common purpose, the glory of God and the welfare of the Irish people, and Fr. O'Higgins.
Fr. O'Higgins, who spoke in Irish and English, in the course of his speech said: “This is a proud day for us Irish Jesuits when we see the great honour accorded to our own Br. Dominic Collins by his fellow-towns people. Our Society has long associations with Youghal, going back to the latter part of the sixteenth century, when our Fathers established a school here and laboured zealously for the greater glory of God and the good of souls. Theirs was not a tranquil nor an easy life, for they were hunted men and lived ever in the shadow of death. But they were dedicated to their noble task and were blessed because, like their Divine Master, they suffered persecution for justice's sake. These were the men who trained Dominic Collins in his early years and it was, no doubt, the example of their zeal and heroism which inspired him in later life to emulate St. Ignatius Loyola by turning away from the glory of a distinguished military career to put on the armour of God. He proved himself indeed a true soldier of Christ and never shirked his duty, even in face of the fiercest opposition”
A recording unit from Radio Éireann was present, and a report of the proceedings was broadcast the following day in the Provincial News.
The Society was represented by the following: Frs. Andrews, Perrott, Cashman, Daniel Roche, Leahy, John Murphy and J. B. Stephenson, and by Brs. Priest, Murphy, Kavanagh, Cunningham, Brady and Fallon.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Dominic Collins 1553-1602
The Irish Province of the Society of Jesus is proud to number among her list of martyrs that of one of its spiritual coadjutors, Brother Dominic Collins.

He was born in Youghal in 1553. His people were wealthy burghers of the town, good Catholics, who had their son educated in all probability at the school run by Fr Charles Leae and Robert Rochford at Youghal. Dominic became a soldier in the French and Spanish armies, rising to the rank of Captain.

Being stationed at Corunna, since famous for its memories of Sir John Moore, he had more time for reflection and decided to become a religious. He was received into the Society as a Brother, at his own unshakeable request, by Fr Thomas White at Salamanca in 1598. Having taken his vows, he was sent to Ireland as Socius to Fr James Archer, and he took part in the famous siege of Dunboy Castle.

On the surrender of Dunboy Castle, he was taken prisoner and lodged at Shandon Castle, tortured and condemned to death. He was led forward to esecution clothed in his Jesuit gown, his hands tied behind his back, all the way from Shandon Castle to his native Youghal.

On arriving at the scaffold, he burst forth into those words attributed to St Andrew “Hail Holy Cross, so long desired by me. How dear to me this hour for which I have yearned since I first put on this habit”. To the people he said “Look up to heaven and be not unworthy of your ancestors, who boldly professed the Faith. Do you too uphold it. In defence of it, I desire to give up my life today”. Thereupon, he was hanged, drawn and quartered on October 23rd 1602.

On October 23rd 1960, his fellow townsmen, proud of his name, erected a tablet to his honour, which can be seen today in the clock tower of Youghal.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
COLLINS, DOMINIC, (his own signature spells the name Collensse) was of a good Irish Family. After embracing the military life, and spending as a Captain five years in the French, and eight years in the Spanish service, he began and finished his Noviceship in the Jesuit’s House at Compostella. I learn from an original letter of F. Richard Field, dated Dublin, the 26th of February, 1603, that this ill-advised Lay-brother accompanied a Spanish expedition, which made a descent on the coast of Munster - that when these forces capitulated to the Lord Lieutenant, on certain conditions, and returned to Spain, Dominic, full of ancient military ardour, remained behind and repaired to a Castle (Dunboyne) - that after a seige of some months it was taken by storm. Dominic was thrown into prison, and on the 3rd of October, 1602, when he could not be induced by threats or promises to renounce his religious Institute, abjure the Catholic Faith, and support Queen Elizabeth s claims to his allegiance, he was executed at Cork ( by Mountjoy), “cum summa omnium aedeficatione, proaequente eum lachrymis tota paene civitate Corcagiensi”. Drews incorrectly fixes his death on the 31st of October, 1604. In p. 34 of Bromley’s “Catalogue of Engraved English Portraits”, is mentioned a small head of Dominic Collins, Jesuit, who died in 1602.

Born: 1541/2, County Limerick
Entered: 11 September 1561, Professed House, Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Died: 25 October 1572, Cork - Hanged drawn and quartered. Described as "Martyr"

Alias O'Donnell

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica”
Was sent by Pope Gregory XIII to confirm and propagate the faith in Ireland at the time when Campion and Parsons were proceeding to England on a similar mission. He was seized upon soon after his arrival, kept in Limerick Gaol for some time in close custody, and then removed to Cork, where he was hanged drawn and quartered for the faith 30 January 1581 (cf Matthias Tanner’s “Martyrs SJ; Drew’s “Fasti”; Hogan’s Ibernia Ignatiana)

◆ Francis Finegan SJ
Sent to Flanders before July 1564 - is to go to Ireland (Poll 1339)
Was sent by Wolf to Rome. As the climate did not suit him he was sent to Flanders in July 1564, and Wolf told the Flemish Provincial to send him and F Good to Ireland as companions of Dr Creagh, who was returning there. (Layeez’ letters to Fr Everard - Mercurian 11th & 27 July 1564. Dr Creagh found Good and O’Donnell at Louvain. When Creagh and Wolfe were imprisoned O’Donnell escaped and then returned in 1575 (Hogan’s Cat Chrn - and ref to Dr Arthur’s journal)
Fr Clayson 22 June 1564 writes from Augusta to Rome “I leave tomorrow for Mainz with Peter of Cologne and Edmund the Irishman. Fr Canisius has given me funds for our journey. Edmund is in very delicate health at present (Epist B Canisi)
10 July 1564 Fr General writes to Canisius, “We had heard about Edmund the Irishman, also from Flanders. Let him remain in one of the Colleges in Germany to see if he will get better health. If not he is to leave Germany (Epist B Canisi)
David Dinnis, Maurice Halley and Edmund Daniel were received in the Roman Novitiate 11 September 1561
Described as "Martyr"

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Scholastic Edmund Daniel 1541/2-1572
Edmund Daniel was remarkable for the fact that he was the first Jesuit martyr of the West. His name is also given as O’Donnell and McDonnell. He was a native of Limerick. Not yet twenty years of age, he entered the Society in Rome. Being of delicate health, he was sent to Northern Italy to teach, but his health not improving, he was sent to Ireland in 1564 to his native air.

The scene of his labours was the first Jesuit school opened in Ireland, namely that of Fr David Wolfe in Limerick. Here he taught for four years. On the suppression of the school, Edmund fled to the continent, where he laboured for the Irish Mission, mainly to raise funds for the ransom of Fr Wolfe, then imprisoned in Dublin Castle. In 1572 he returned to Ireland. Almost immediately, he was arrested in Limerick, through the instrumentality of the Catholic Mayor, Thomas Arthur.

He was removed, a prisoner, to Cork, where he was housed in Shandon Castle, afterwards to house another illustrious Jesuit Martyr, Br Dominic Collins. Here, on October 25th 1572, Edmund was hanged, disembowelled alive and his body cut into quarters.

He was not a priest. The Mayor of Limerick, Thomas Arthur, in later years petitioned the Pope for a pardon for his part in Edmund’s execution, and refers to him as a clerk in orders.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DONNELL, or DONNELLY,EDMUND, of Limerick. He probably joined the Order at Rome. Pope Gregory XIII sent him to confirm and propagate Catholicity in Ireland, at the time that FF. Campian and Persons, were proceeding on the same work to England. Apprehended soon after his arrival, this good Jesuit was detained for some time in close custody at Limerick; but was afterwards removed to Cork, where he was hanged, drawn and quartered for the Faith, 30th of January, 1581. See his Life by F. Tanner; also Drews Fasti.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 95 : Easter 1998

THE GOOD YOUNG MAN : EDMUND DANIEL

Stephen Redmond

In the group of Irish martyrs beatified in 1992 Jesuits were represented by Brother Dominic Collins, executed in Youghal in 1602. At present the cause of a second group (Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, and Companions 1572 - 1655: forty-two persons in all) is under scrutiny in Rome. It includes three Jesuits: Edmund Daniel, scholastic; William Boyton, priest; John Bathe, priest. Here is something about Daniel. I hope to write on Boyton and Bathe in a future issue of Interfuse.

Edmund Daniel was born in Limerick about 1542. He was a relative of David Wolfe, that key figure in the Irish Counter-Reformation and the first Irishman to become a Jesuit. He grew up in a time of important religious and political developments: the recently proclaimed Head of the Church and King of Ireland Henry VIII with his suppression of monasteries and policy of surrender and re-grant with the Irish chiefs, the new Prayer Book of Edward VI and Cranmer, the brief Catholic restoration and first plantation under Mary Tudor; the swing-back to Protestant monarchy with Elizabeth.

In 1561 Wolfe, by now papal commissary (nuncio) in Ireland, sent Daniel and two companions to the noviciate in Rome. The Roman archives possess his signed record of entry dated 11 September. He studied at Florence, Loreto and Padua and was sent to Flanders because of ill-health (probably tuberculosis). The ill-health persisted and it was decided to send him back to Ireland: “the good young man”, as Polanco, secretary of the Society called him, could breathe his native air (doctors seem to have had great faith in native air) and help Wolfe in the business of teaching. His companion was to be an English Jesuit, Father William Good.

With some help in staffing and funded for a while by Wolfe, Daniel and Good conducted a school in Limerick (the first Jesuit school in Ireland) for most of 1565. They had to close it when material support failed and their house was raided and looted. They opened a school in Kilmallock. It lasted until Easter 1566. They returned to Limerick and re-opened the school there.

In his letters (he was a great letter-writer) Good conveys the events and atmosphere of three extraordinary years: teaching Latin and English and forming the pupils in Catholic belief and practice; allowed to teach only if they distanced themselves from Wolfe (which they did with his consent); forbidden to teach papal primacy and the importance of the Mass and Sacraments and ignoring the ban; their house raided and looted; their ill health; the kindness of Helena Stackpool, widow of a Mayor of Limerick and mother of David who became a Jesuit; the penalising of those celebrating or attending Mass.

We get a sense of Jesuits and citizens trying to combine fidelity to the faith and loyalty to the crown. The Limerick situation is in keeping with the report of Da Silva, Spanish ambassador to England, to Philip II (25 March, 1568): “It is true that for the sake of peace Catholics in certain parts of Ireland are tolerated, but there is a great vigilance used to prevent the exercise of any authority by bull or order of his Holiness”. It was a difficult assignment for a young man of timid temperament (according to Wolfe) and weak health and uncertain rating in the other half of the community (Good both praised and criticised him).

By mid-1568 the Limerick mission had ended. Daniel went to Portugal and Spain to raise ransom money for Wolfe who was a prisoner in Dublin Castle. He also became a messenger for James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, the leader of the first Desmond rising. By so doing he earned the dubious distinction of being (so far as I know) the only Irish Jesuit scholastic to appear in English State Papers.

He was arrested in Limerick about midsummer 1572 as hostile to the queen on the warrant of Thomas Arthur, recorder of Limerick and a Catholic. (Three years later Arthur was papally absolved from censure for thus proceeding against a cleric. His involvement in the story of Daniel illustrates the Faith - Crown tension referred to above). He was brought to Cork and put on trial before Sir John Perrot who had been appointed Lord President of Munster to deal with the Desmond rising, extend English law and promote the Protestant cause - a cause dear to his heart as his long public career testifies.

No official record of the trials is extant. Early in November 1572 Perrot reported to London that he had just executed twenty for treason in Cork. Daniel was surely one of these. Wolfe gives an exact date: 25 October 1572. He was hanged, drawn and quartered: the horrific mode of execution accorded to those convicted of treason. So died “the good young man” who in his only extant letter asked the General Francis Borgia to pray “that I may be constant and persevering in my vocation even unto death”.

There are, I believe, good reasons for thinking that hostility to the Catholic faith was a key motive for those who put him to death. He was a member of a society perceived as specially pledged to the Pope, a teacher of forbidden doctrines, an associate and relative of the Pope's representative in Ireland. His judge was a very committed Protestant who saw the religious supremacy of the queen as intimately linked to her political sovereignty and saw himself as her representative and mandated champion of her religious interests. Regnans in Excelsis, the bull whereby the Pope had claimed to outlaw the queen both religiously and politically, must have been large in his mind.

Daniel's Jesuit contemporaries and near-contemporaries were quick to recognise him as a martyr. His standing as one is constant, especially in the Irish Jesuit tradition. But of course the final word rests with Rome. If he is beatified, he will be the “official” proto-beatus and proto-martyr of the Society in Ireland: our contribution, as it were, to that inspiring company of Jesuit scholastics honoured by the Church as being in heaven.

Born: 15 March 1729, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 07 September 1750, Toulouse, France - Tolosanae Province (TOLO)
Ordained: 1758, Toulouse, France
Died: 09 February 1771, Cork City, County Cork

1752-1762 Taught Grammar and Philosophy at Toulouse College
1769 Was the Spiritual Guide of Nano Nagle and recommended to her the Ursuline Order. Also recommended Ms Coppinger and his niece Ms Moylan
1770 A letter from Ms Nagle refers to Fr Doran coming to visit in December

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Uncles of Bishop Moylan and the two Generals Moylan of the American Army.
He was a learned man, educated at Toulouse and Rome. Of great discernment and enlightened piety, and an irreproachable saintly life (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
Taught Humanities for three years, Philosophy for five and Mathematics for two.
1762 Residing at Toulouse College.
Buried at the Moylan burial place, Upper Shandon.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Already an studied Theology and Philosophy and graduated MA before Ent 07 September 1750 Toulouse
1752-1758 After First Vows he spent three years Regency at Albi and then studied Theology for one more year at Toulouse before Ordination there 1758
1758-1762 Taught at Philosophy at Albi and Toulouse until the dissolution of the Society in France
1762 Sent to Ireland and to Cork where he worked until his death there 09 February 1771
In Cork he worked with Nano Nagle on her founding of the Presentation Order.
He was an uncle of Bishop Francis Moylan, and is buried in the Moylan family vault at St Mary’s Shandon

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Patrick Doran SJ 1727-1771
In Dublin in the year 1771 died Fr Patrick Doran, a native of Cork, a man of remarkable piety and learning. He was an excellent director of souls and possessed a special gift of discernment.His irreproachable and saintly life endeared him to all who knew him.

At the early age of 44, while attending a sick person, he caught a malignant fever, and died a martyr of charity. His remains were deposited in the family vault of the Moylan family in Dublin.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DORAN, PATRICK, uncle to the late Venerable Bishop Moylan, was a native of Cork; studied at Thoulouse and Rome, and justly obtained the reputation of a learned man. Those who remember him at Cork, describe him as a very superior director, gifted with great discernment, and enlightened piety. His irreproachable and saintly life endeared him to all who knew him. When but 44 years of age, he caught a fever in attending a sick person, which very soon proved fatal : his precious remains were deposited in the burial place of the Moylan family, in Upper Shandon Church.

Born: 04 April 1912, Richmond Hill, Cork City
Entered: 07 September 1929, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 13 May 1942, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1947, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 26 January 1984, Dublin, St Ignatius, Lower Leeson St, Dublin

Early education at CBC Cork and 1 year of Science at NUI before entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 59th Year No 2 1984

Obituary

Fr Hilary Lawton (1912-1929-1984)

Entered Tullabeg 7th September 1929. First vows 8th September 1931.
Juniorate, Rathfarnham 1931-33. Philosophy, Tullabeg 1933-36. Regency, Clongowes 1936-39. Theology, Milltown 1939-43; ordained 13th May 1942. Tertianship. Rathfarnham 1943-34. Apostolate: Clongowes: teaching, 1944-47; Prefect of studies, 1947-59; Rector, 1959-65. Crescent College: teaching, 1965-66; Prefect of studies, 1966-71. Crescent College Comprehensive: Administrative assistant, 1971-74. Loyola: Socius to Provincial, 1974-80. Leeson street: Minister, 1980-81; Superior, 1981-84.
Hilary joined us for First Probation in September 1929 at Tullabeg. I can see him, a spruce slight young man in a bowler hat and light tweed coat, mounting the steps to the hall-door while we sat in the sunshine in the Spiritual meadow'. He was then the youngest of us all in years - and yet, at 17, somehow our senior; for we had, none of us, attained higher academic distinction than a Leaving Certificate or Matriculation, but Hilary had an Honours First Science qualification from UCC to his credit, with all the sophistication, real or imagined, that was festooned around such.
“Festoons” - that word, I think, sums up - one of the most engaging characteristics that we all can recall of Hilary - his festooning of his memoirs and adventures. Though one of the most private of men, he would tell many a tale of his boyhood, youth, and as years went by, of his later experiences - tales that gave rise to much enjoyment in his own family and a certain scepticism among his contemporaries and brethren. Yet there was always, as careful sifting revealed, a hard kernel of fact: the rest was an artistic verisimilitude' festooning the “bald and unconvincing narrative”.
Among the hard facts were indeed his being directed to the Society by the late Archbishop Finbar Ryan, OP, who was prior of the Dominicans in Cork when Hilary was a boy. Another: he played the organ in the Dominican church, Pope’s quay, Cork, being a student of the Royal College of Organists. He must have been quite an exceptionally brilliant school boy. He matriculated at the age of sixteen, was apparently considered by his teachers at “Christians' College, Cork”, suitable material to attempt an Entrance scholarship at Cambridge (this is the fact behind his working in the Cavendish laboratory and his “coxing of the College Eight”). Though he did qualify for an honours Science degree and was an excellent teacher of science in Clongowes, academic ambitions seemingly held no very great attraction for him.
Hilary's interest and competence in music - both organ and piano, and I believe the viola - has left quite a mark on the Province, notably in Clongowes, where he spent so many years. Organist as novice, junior, philosopher; choirmaster as a scholastic in Clongowes (where he followed another little remembered musician of the Irish Province, Fr Sydney Lennon † 1979); organist and choirmaster in Milltown, he trained many of us both in execution and appreciation of classical ecclesiastical music. As one who followed Hilary's footsteps as choirmaster in Clongowes and in Milltown, I can testify to the results of his training of the choirs which I took over from him. He was choirmaster, finally, of the choir of the Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent. Limerick: but then the great days of church music were fading, if they had not already faded, and scope for his gifts and interests were unhappily narrowed. Perhaps it is worth recording (for posterity!) that he and I collaborated in editing a Hymnbook for Clongowes. Mungret and our scholasticates ... Our hopes of a total acceptance of this product were never realised. One man's hymn is another man's horror!
I must leave to others a fuller appreciation of Hilary's work for Clongowes throughout his eighteen years there as Prefect of studies and Rector, (cf, the obituary notice in the Clongownian). One knew by report what he was doing in upbuilding the lay staff, in imaginative curriculum development, in the creation of one of the finest music schools, both choral and orchestral, in the country. Interspersed of course was the occasional account of his own doings from Hilary himself, never wanting in the “festoons” of “corroborative details”.
It would ill become me were I not to record that the burgeoning of Sacred Heart College, The Crescent into Crescent College Comprehensive Dooradoyle, would have been fraught with immense difficulties were it not for Hilary's calm, unperturbed, meticulous planning of the transfer. As the Headmaster's Administrative Assistant' - a post created for him by the Department of Education! - we had flawless “ignition and lift-off”. I think Hilary really enjoyed his short spell in Dooradoyle: and he regretted his return to the metropolis.
So much for his public career, so to speak. He was as I said a most private man, his stories of his life-adventures maybe only covering up his desire for privacy. As a friend he was ever-cheerful and even tempered. He enjoyed company; enjoyed his hobbies of photography and music-making; enjoyed the frequent visits to the ruined abbeys and castles which dot the counties of Limerick, Tipperary and Clare (how many he visited in some eight years!). We could and did go on villa together for twenty-odd years, and could year by year contemplate going (but never did go, unfortunately) on foot to Compostella for the feast of St James.
What more can I say? “He was my friend, faithful and true to me ...” May God have him in his keeping and may we be merry together in heaven.
SH

◆ The Clongownian, 1984

Obituary

Father Hilary Lawton SJ

Clongowes 1936-39 and 1944-47;
Teacher: 1947-59
Prefect of Studies;
1959-65 Rector

A Renaissance artist, faced with the task of painting a portrait of Hilary. Lawton, would see at a glance that he was con fronted with the challenge of producing on canvas a picture of l'uomo universale. We can visualize the masterpiece: the strong features of the seated figure, the intelligence and determination shining in the bright eyes, a touch of cardinatial red on an arm holding a quill, and on the table before him a Bible open at the Psalter, and close by that other revelation of God - the terrestrial globe; on a second table a lute, to one side an alembic, and, beyond all doubt, a long-bow hanging on the wall. All this against a background of Tuscan landscape with among the cypresses a choir in full song.

But those of us who lived and worked for long years in Clongowes with Fr Hilary will probably carry in our minds a very different but equally vivid picture to remember him by. It is of the Christmas festivities we spent together for many years before television had arrived to banish conversation and diminish conviviality. After a long and very trying term, unrelieved by many playdays and with no midterm break, we used to enjoy three days of almost baronial celebrations. After dinner each night a vast fire roared up the chimney from its basket in the library, Games of cards were started, but after a couple of hours singing began. We were blessed with a number of fine voices in the Community, doubly blessed with Fr Lawton at the piano. And so the fun continued until the small hours when, fortissimo, our pianist brought the evening to an end with “Home James, and don't spare the ‘orses!”.

No casual spectator of such a scene could have guessed the talents and personality of that laughing pianist. His early studies had been devoted to pure science and mathematics, yet even during his university terms and his seven long years of philosophy and theology he found time, among other things, for his beloved music. In every house in which he lived he was asked to become choirmaster; and one acquaintance, an accomplished singer and musician, has assured me that never in a long life has he seen a man with such talent for creating in a very short time an efficient choir, even from indifferent voices. He excelled at the cello too, but above all at his favourite instrument, the organ.

It would be long and even tedious to catalogue all Father Lawton's gifts as a teacher and as a supremely efficient administrator. It will be enough to mention the new or refurbished organ in the chapel; and those of us old enough to have lived through the long depressing years of debt and the war will remember that it was he who at last raised the cloud, who mobilized the extraordinary generosity of the Past, and began to build and improve once more, But his greatest achievements will have no memorial: the hidden influence he exercised so carefully and so subtly on the boys he taught or who came under his care when he was Prefect of Studies.

Yet his most remarkable feat, in the writer's opinion, was his handling of the difficult situation that arose in Clongowes in the early fifties. Two important decisions affected the school gravely: the first that to expand considerably the nascent mission in Zambia, the second the founding of a new college, Gonzaga, in Dublin. We lost a number of excellent teachers; but with immense resource Fr Hilary built up a new corps of splendid lay men, many of them still happily with us.

Indeed, any appreciation of Fr Lawton is beyond the scope of one man and I am most grateful to several of those teachers who have helped with their views and recollections, all of them admiring and affectionate. First, as educators, they were impressed with the breadth of Fr Hilary's views, Mr Cathal O'Doherty recalls in this connection his establishment of the Academy, an institution which led its members and their audiences far beyond . the confines of formal certificate education; and he insisted too on his encouragement of any worthwhile initiative.

Then, for the first time in the 150 years of the school's existence, the world of music assumed a really prime importance. The three splendid teachers he recruited brought with his help the school to the very first rank in Ireland. His devotion and skill and that of Messrs TC Kelly, Weedle and Kane were rapidly rewarded by outstanding success. In his recollections of those early years Mr Kelly, omitting in his humility his own heroic contribution, underlines the enthusiasm and encouragement given by Fr Hilary, recalling how generously he gave his time, taking boys out to concerts, singing at choir practice and playing the cello at the weekly orchestra practice.

He continues:

He formed the Musical Society for boys interested in music. We had a succession of young Irish performers who gave their coming-out performances here. Names like Bernadette Greevy, Philip Martin and Veronica McSweeney are but a few of them. The entertainments afterwards were often as memorable, with Fr Hilary as host, as were the recitals. He had an innate capacity to entertain people.

Still, his bubbling cheerfulness was often the outward armour of a very shy man. With much perspicacity Mr O'Doherty has noted that he was more than shy - a very private person. 'His ease with people resulted from a genuine interest in others, However it was in relation to his deep personal feelings that his shyness became apparent. It was as if he felt that these were of no interest to anybody but himself. The present writer for several days each week, year after year, accompanied him after school on an after-dinner walk around the two avenues. Much interesting bio graphical reminiscence came out in the course of these strolls, and much that was amusing; it was clear that Fr Hilary had a strong historical sense, but one that could prescind completely from historical fact. It was a form of artistry, akin to epic poetry. Yet in all those walks nothing really personal ever emerged.

Before his coming to Clongowes there seemed a great chaos fixed between the unmarried resident lay staff and the Community. There was friendliness of course and mutual confidence; but it did not go much beyond a cheerful daily greeting. All that was changed under Hilary. Very frequently he made a point of joining the lay staff at supper, and far from imposing a constraint he was, in Mr Ben Sherry's words, more than the life and soul of the party: “The flow of yarns, the accounts of funny episodes in class or elsewhere and the provocative tall stories told in all seriousness by his reverence kept the atmosphere lively, stimulating and enjoyable”. It could be intellectual too: Mr Brendan Campbell, another of the teachers of his beloved physics, recalls an obiter dictum which showed how he kept up his reading: and used it to take a rise' out of people: “Do you know the specific heat of water is now 4?” I didn't and was suitably mystified. Next day, in the latest scientific journal, I found what he was referring to; it was the beginning of the end of the calorie, at least ten years before the end.'

Of course, his friendship with his lay staff was deep and very genuine and his interest in their welfare complete. This came easily to him, for these were men whom he had for the most part carefully chosen and all were eminently worthy of his friendship.

It is hard to sum up his achievements, whether in administration, in science, in music or in general, impossible to dis entangle all the strands of his influence. I think we can say that in every department of the school, games alone apart, one can still find traces of his efforts and his inspiration. In the words of his dear friends, fellow-scientists too, Brendan Campbell and Ben Sherry, “he forged a team against the day when there would be fewer Jesuits available in Clongowes. He always wanted standards upheld and improved. And he led by example, for he was unsparing of himself. We were privileged to know him; we enjoyed his friendship; we loved him and we miss him”.

How many, in every corner of Ireland, or scattered far from their alma mater, can say the same? How many boys, masters, friends all over the world heard with a deep shock of sadness and personal loss - “Father Hilary is dead?” They will pray for his eternal repose, confident that God will reward his good and faithful servant, who loved Him and them so unobtrusively, but so very deeply. That will be the ultimate consolation for his dearly loved brother and sister-in-law.

John A Leonard SJ