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Born: 22 September 1795, Ballymacoda, County Cork
Entered: 08 September 1835, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 15 August 1846
Died: 23 October 1870, Boston College, Boston MA, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 12 January 1894, Australia
Entered: 09 October 1914, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 20 July 1923

1914-1916: Loyola Greenwich, , Sydney, Novitiate
1916-1920: Loyola Greenwich, Sydney, Cook
1920-1924: Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, working

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 13 November 1842, Drumshambo, County Leitrim
Entered: 06 August 1860, St Stanislaus, Florissant, MO, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1875
Final Vows: 15 August 1877
Died: 26 April 1889, Xavier College, Cincinnati, OH, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)

Born: 13 July 1602, Worcester or Gloucester, England
Entered: 17 November 1624, Watten, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1633, Liège, Belgium
Final Vows: 04 May 1640
Died: 06 March 1671, Ghent, Belgium - Angliae Province (ANG)

Alias Campion and Scripsam

◆ The English Jesuits 1650-1829 Geoffrey Holt SJ : Catholic Record Society 1984
1646-1648 Sent to Ireland

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
STEVENS, JOHN. I meet with two Members of this name. The first was a Reverend Father and an able Scholar, born in Gloucestershire A.D. 1603 : was admitted into the Society at the age of 21 : was professed on the 4th of May, 1640 : was Rector of the English College at Rome from 1659 to 1663 : at the expiration of his office was called to Liege to govern his brethren there for the space of three years. I think he died there on the 10th of February, 1667.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
POYNTZ, JOHN frequently called Stephens. His death at Ghent, 6 March 1671 is thus recorded in the Annual Letters of that year :

“E domesticis unus P Johannes Stephans i Poynesius longa agritudine ad maciem confectus et laurea, eximae, patientiae donatues post nulla obita in Soc. munia et vitam innocentissime actam, Prof 4 Vot et omnibus Sacramentis rite munitus, morti tandem concessit, aeternum uti speramus victurus”.

When Fr Poyntz quitted the English Mission, he brought over to St Omer, as I find by Fr Richard Barton’s Certificate, 1 October 1668, the grteat bone of the arm of St Thomas, Bishop of Hereford. This venerable relick was placed in the front of the altar of the Sodality Chapel at St Omer’s College. The Provincial, Fr Joseph Simeons, in the Annual letters of 1670, records the blessing bestowed on the College by the Saint’s intercession: “Variis morbis in Valetudinario detinebanturomnino octodecim et ex iis aliqui periclitabantur et vita, tres afflictabantur Variolis et merito timebatur, ne in tanta juventuteea anni tempestate plurimos is morbus pervaderet. Indictus proinde est dies Precum 2 Octobris coram Ven. Sacramento, expositye etiam brachio S Thomae, Herefordiensis Epicsopi 60 mortuorum quondam suscitatione clari, cujus eo die Festum agebantur. Mirum dictu! ne unum quibus abeo die Variolas contraxit, et inter breve tempus omnes convaluere”.

Born: 24 April 1877, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 May 1896, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 23 January 1897, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He lost his father at a very young age and his mother remarried, a man named Judge. He was then known as William Judge, until such time as he Entered the Society when he resumed his original name of Joe Stephens.

He had been befriended by Michael Waters who got him a place in Belvedere and he completed his studies there. In the same class as him were two Scholastic Novices who were Novices at the same time as he was a Brother Novice.

From Belvedere he went to the Apostolic School at Mungret, but his ever delicate health forced him to leave Mungret. Some months later, in the autumn of 1895 he went to Tullabeg as a Postulant, and Entered formally there 23 May 1896.

Seven months after his admission he died at Tullabeg 23 January 1897, after a very short illness of two weeks.

In spite of his very small size, weak frame and health he gave great edification to all as a Postulant and Novice. He was a model to all for his attitude of obligingness, willingness, unsparing hard work, and he was universally liked and respected by all. He was constantly fearful that ill health would cause him to be dismissed, and he wished to die in the Novitiate rather than have to leave.

He is buried in the graveyard at Tullabeg at the feet of Br Patrick Cooney.

Died: 20 May 1734, Lisbon, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)

◆ In Chronological Catalogue Sheet
◆ CATSJ I-Y has “Esteves or Stephens”; RIP 20 May 1734 Lisbon

Born: 16 April 1906, Upper Tyrone Street, North Wall, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1925, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 11 April 1979, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin

Part of the University Hall, Hatch Street, Dublin community at the time of death

Father was a funeral director and accidentally killed in the Rising of 1916. Mother and family reside at Aughrim Street, Dublin, supported by her family.

Third of four boys with four sisters.

Early education at the Convent of the Sisters of Charity in Dublin he then went to O’Connell’s School, Dublin; He won a University scholarship from Dublin Corporation. he then went to Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, Dublin and did 1st year Arts at UCD and 1 yeat Philosophy before entry

by 1936 at Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria (ASR) studying

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Holy Cross College Clonliffe before entry

Born: 15 December 1905, Carrick-on-Suir, County Waterford
Entered: 22 September 1923, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1940
Died: 17 November 1981, Lechdale, Gloucestershire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1935 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1934-1938

Born: 16 March 1896, Dunkitt House, Kilmacow, County Kilkenny
Entered: 31 August 1914, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 August 1928, Fourvière, Lyon, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1931
Died: 05 May 1990, Caritas Christi Hospice, Kew - Australiae Province (ASL)

Part of the Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, Australia community at the time of death

Patrick was a relative of William Stephenson - RIP 1980

Father was a doctor and he moved with them to New Street, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary.

Second eldest of three boys and two girls.

Being delicate he was sent to his grandparents in Kilmacthomas, County Waterford for eight years, where his aunt acted as a governess. In 1907 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1923 in Australia - Regency
by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial, France (LUGD) studying
by 1929 at Lyon, France (LUGD) studying
by 1930 at Paray-le-Monial, France (LUGD) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Stephenson was educated at Clongowes College, Dublin, and entered the Society 31 August 1914. After philosophy studies at Milltown Park, 1918-21, he was sent to Xavier College for regency in 1921, returned to England and France for theology in 1925, and was ordained at Lyons in 1928. Tertianship followed immediately at Paray-Ie-Monial.
He returned to Xavier College in 1930, and remained there for the rest of his life, except for a year as headmaster of Kostka Hall. For a few years, 1933-34, he was minister at the senior school.
Stephenson is best known for his teaching of geography or 'topography', as his subject was irreverently called. Students started the rumor that he dropped the exam papers from just outside his room on the top floor above second division, and the first paper to hit the floor was awarded First place. He also taught religion and French at various times.
His sermonettes on the missions on first Fridays were memorable as was his love for St Vincent de Paul. He ran a monthly meeting of this Society for 60 years, encouraging members to visit the sick and the poor. In addition, he edited the college annual, “The Xavierian”, for 47 years, and recorded news of generations of Old Boys. This was particularly important during the Second World War, when he became the “postbox and scribe to the world”. He would write to Old Boys on active service and their families each evening (his daily letter writing average was twelve), bringing much comfort to the men. Many letters that he received from the war were included in “The Xavierian” for all to read.
Stephenson was a great affirmer of people. His memory was prodigious of whole families for many generations, and he kept a card index system with the names of every boy and his family He was particularly caring for families in trouble, and good at obtaining jobs for ex-students through his long list of contacts.
During school vacations he visited major towns, country or interstate, catching up with Old Xaverians. He never stayed long, suggesting that he should go home about 9 pm. He was always very proud of Old Xaverians who did well, especially those who became judges, lawyers and doctors.
He grew old buoyantly. At the age of 80 he moved from his room in the attic to a room on the ground floor near the infirmary. At the age of 92, when he could no longer look after himself or handle the stairs, he moved to Caritas Christi, the hospice for the elderly. The move gave him a new life, exercising his legs as best he could and ringing up Old Boys from Sister Wallbridge's office when she was otherwise engaged.
He was a small man, but had a large heart and was open to change. He accepted Vatican II and began to wear a tie instead of the clerical collar soon after the Council.
Stephenson was never a good teacher, but was a memorable educator. For his services to education he was awarded an Order of the British Empire by the Queen. He had extraordinary influence on generations of Old Xaverians. His gentle humanity and love of people more than compensated for his lack of academic achievements. He was good company and his stories always enlivened community recreation. His funeral, which packed St Patrick's Cathedral, was a moving tribute to his influence.
In 2016 Xavier College removed Stephenson's name from its sports centre. The rector wrote to the Xavier community that there were some complaints against Stephenson, and that “the Province does not believe that the complaints made against Stephenson have been substantiated, but nor has it dismissed the allegations as being wrong. It believed that, on the available evidence there is room for genuine misunderstanding as to his intentions, as is explicitly acknowledged by one complainant ..., and that in the light of the complexity and seriousness of the issue, we accept that it is appropriate to change the name' of the sports centre”.

Note from William Stephenson Entry
William was a relative of Patrick Stephenson of the Australian province, and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1898.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Extracts from a letter from Fr. P. J. Stephenson, Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne :
“... We had brilliant results last year. Xavier boys won 28 1st Class Honours and 68 2nd Class Honours in the December Examinations, 1947. Besides that, they won Exhibitions in Greek, French and Physics ; and four General Exhibitions and 2 Free Places in the University. That was a fine record for a class of about 40 boys. Five Xavierians joined the Noviceship this year : four were boys just left school. An Old Xavierian took his LL.B. Degree and became a Dominican.
Fr. Mansfield has been kept going since his arrival. He will be a great addition to our staff as he can take over the Business Class and the Economic Class. Fr. Lawler came over from W.A. about three weeks ago and has taken up the duties of Socius to Fr. Provincial. Fr. Boylan and his assistant Editor of the Messenger leave for Ireland and Rome soon”.

Born: 29 December 1882, Clareville, Tramore, County Waterford
Entered: 07 September 1898, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1917, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 06 January 1980, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Father a doctor, and mother is daughter of the late Thomas Sherlock of Waterford,

One of eight brothers (two deceased) and six sisters (two deceased)

Educated at Christian Brothers School, Tramore and then Mungret College SJ

William was a relative of Patrick Stephenson (RIP 1990) of the Australian province, and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1898.

by 1903 at St Aloysius Jersey Channel Islands (FRA) studying
Came to Australia for Regency 1905

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
William was a relative of Patrick Stephenson of the Australian province, and entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1898. After juniorate and philosophy at Jersey, he arrived at Riverview in October 1905. He remained there until early in 1911, teaching, being assistant prefect of discipline, and for a couple of years, junior rowing master. He spent most of the rest of his life working in parish ministry and doing some pamphlet writing in Ireland.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 55th Year No 2 1980

Obituary

Fr William Stephenson (1882-1898-1980)

The memorial card of Fr Willie Stephenson, which has been distributed to the whole Province, gives one a glimpse of the life of the man whose obituary I have been asked to write. He died at night on 6th January 1980 in his 98th year.
At the time of his death he had completed and sent to his printers a revised edition of one of his many booklets, Days with our Lady. Ninety six pages which he wrote in clearest manuscript before having it typed and corrected before sending it first for censorship and then to his printers. He died before the estimate for printing was returned. While engaged in this gigantic task, he was also coping with his usual “fan mail”, his Christmas post, and meeting a continuous stream of visitors.
He had a set routine of life: breakfast, meditation, Mass, divine Office, spiritual reading, recreation. From this routine he never diverged until about the Friday before the Sunday of the Epiphany. Then he was confined to bed and began to go downhill rapidly, but still fighting and believing that he would get back on his feet again to continue his life's work.
Though fighting for life, he had no fear of death and was fully aware that it might be at hand for him. After his doctor had seen him on the Saturday, I approached him and suggested that I would anoint him. He immediately said, “Very well, I was going to ask you yesterday to do it”, and he immediately put out his two hands over the blankets. I had brought the holy oils with me, and without any ordeal I proceeded with the anointing. He thanked me for it and went on without any sign of distress or emotion,
In the same way he regarded the announcement of other people's deaths, no matter how closely related they might have been to him. It was a matter of fact: a fact of life. I accompanied him to visit the remains of his sister at her home not many years ago. He mounted the stairs, went over to the bedside, took a brief glance at the remains, beautifully laid out, and then turned away saying to me, “She's the image of my mother”. There wasn't another word. He came to the church, did not meet many people or look for any sympathy. The words “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” were a reality both for himself and for those near and dear to him.
A letter written to him by a university student in London arrived after his death. It gives a very true picture of a younger Father Willie and shows the influence he had on many young men who had gone away from the Church and from religious practices. The letter begins, “Dearest Willie”, and the writer goes on to say: “My only sadness, my dear Willie, is that I never knew you as an adult. I feel sadness within me that I missed a guiding light in this sea of currents that can sweep one away to shores one did not consciously choose. I feel that you are a true man of God, even though I do not practise the faith. I know that you remember me, but I don't have such a clear picture of you. I remember walking up by Murray’s forge with you one day when I was about seven years old and you were reading your black book. The cuffs of your jacket were thread bare, and you were tall and thin with piercing eyes. I knew that you were a nice man, but I was also frightened of you. I see you now as a light. I know that I am out in the Arctic circle in terms of Catholic faith, but I see your light, Willie: I see it shining out there in the darkness, but it's a long way off”.
Monsignor Tom Cullen, a past pupil of Mungret and taught there by Father Stephenson, also wrote to him: “You are one of the greatest priests I have known in all my life. You are the very best. I remember you in Mungret: you were great to the Apostolics”.
Father Stephenson knew no barriers of class, creed, age or life-style. He was the friend of all and was truly “all things to all men”. In the prime of his life he worked in Galway, and was a “live wire” both in the school and in the church for twenty-five years; his principal work being the Holy Hour and the men’s sodality of our Lady. He spent the last thirty years of his life in the Rathfarnham community. Here he is greatly missed, both as a member of the community and as a confessor ad jan., and by a countless number of clients both young and old who constantly visited him. In the room which he occupied, everything spoke of centuries past. The older and more worn-out his garments became, the more he became attached to them - almost in every sense. He loved his game of cards, and we feel particularly indebted to his young friends in the Society who were so good to him and dropped in occasionally for a game'. .
Finally, of all the places he dwelt in during his long life - Jersey, where he did his philosophy; Sydney, his regency; Galway; Mungret, where he was first as pupil and later as sub mod of the Apostolic School, etc., - Tramore, his native spot, took pride of place. The following letter, signed by Michael Cullen, town clerk, came from Tramore Town Commissioners:
“Dear Father,
At the meeting of the Commissioners on 8th January, a vote of sincere sympathy was adopted to you and the Jesuit order on the regretted death of the late Father William Stephenson, SJ RIP.
Not alone did the Commissioners express their own regret but also the sense of loss of the whole community here who knew, respected and loved Father Stephenson who was born here and always expressed his affection for the town: he was one of our most valuable tourist ambassadors.
He was a personal friend to me and my family, and we were very closely associated with him during his holidays each summer: we shall never forget him.
The County Manager asked to be associated with this expression of sympathy,
May God grant Father Willie eternal rest, and consolation to all who mourn him.'

No account of the life of Fr William Stephenson would be complete without putting on record his vast contribution to the Province through his writings published by the Irish Messenger Office. In all, he had fourteen booklets published, many of which went into several editions. His great work, however, was the Child of Mary Prayer Book, which has seen forty editions, twelve of which he edited (1930-1975). He not only edited and compiled these booklets, but in many cases - especially in his latter years - contributed substantially towards the printing. His object in devoting his time and energy to this work was to do good and to help the seminary fund for the education of Jesuits.
He was always interested in finding and helping candidates for the priesthood, and kept up contact with them and with their families all through life. With youth of all kinds he had a special charism and could make instant contact with them when much younger men would be utterly inadequate. About six years ago, when he was ninety-two, an incident occurred which brought this home to me. I was called to the parlour to meet four youths. They had finished school and were just “browned off”, as they put it. Obviously I was not their man: after all I was over sixty. They asked me if there was any younger man they could talk to. I made an arrangement with them for the following day. They were satisfied, and as I was showing them out I saw the Old Man in the distance. He was coming up the avenue with a bundle of sticks for his fire under his arm.
I pointed him out to the youths and told them that only a few days previously he had celebrated his sixtieth year in the priesthood and was ninety-two years of age. I told them to stop him and congratulate him. Soon I saw a huddle down the avenue. He had his arms on their shoulders and was in deep conversation with them. I did not wait. Next morning I asked him “How did you get on with those lads you met on the avenue last evening?” “Great lads”, he said. He had all their names; knew where they lived and where they had been at school. “They are all going to Mass and holy Communion this morning”, he added. “How did this happen?” I asked him. “I asked them were they saying their prayers (no!); were they going to Mass (no!). I brought them in behind the laurel bushes and heard their confessions. They are going to Mass and holy Communion this morning, and tonight they are coming up to me for a game of Switch.
Fr Stephenson's life was not without its trials. He went through some very rough times and was let down by some who were his friends and to help whom he had gone to endless trouble. One of these robbed him of all his savings. But he had a maxim which he frequently repeated: “let nothing disturb thee”. This may be more easily said than done. He did it. He could shut out from his mind anything that was beyond his power to remedy and never refer to it once it was over. This gave him constant serenity of mind and the power to help troubled souls. He radiated peace and cheerfulness and optimism. This was the Great Old Man - the true man of God. RIP

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1949

Our Past

Father William Stephenson SJ

Father William Stephenson SJ (95-98), celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit last year. Father William came here as a small boy and was the youngest of that group of novices to join the Society of Jesus in 1898. A mature boy he plumbed the depths of spiritual wisdom under the direction of Fr James Murphy, the famous novice master, He went to Jersey for his philosophy where he acquired a great facility in the happy French idiom. Repairing to Australia for his regency, there, he spent three years having a magnetic influence for good over the boys who were under his charge. He returned to Milltown Park for theology and was ordained there in 1915. His next appointment was to the Crescent College, and Mungret was privileged to have him on the staff the following year. He was responsible under God for the vocations of many of our Past. In 1920 he was transferred to St Ignatius, Galway, where he remained for 25 years. During that quarter of a century he built up a great Men's Sodality-one of the finest in Ireland. The memory of his fruitful work in Galway occasioned a striking presentation of a gift of a chalice from those whom he had guided so zealously. His name is familiar as an author of spiritual works. Innumerable pamphlets, prayer-books and leaflets by his hand grace the book-stalls of our churches. We congratulate him on his more recent book “Christ Our Light”, a review of which we publish in this issue. Fr Stephenson is now a member of the Community at Manresa, Clontarf - the retreat house for workmen. We offer him wealth of blessings.

Born: 30 January 1906, Moyne Road, Rathmines, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1940, Coláiste Iognáid, Galway
Died: 01 April 1977, Tuam, County Galway

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

Died while giving a Mission in Tuam, Co Galway

Father was a draper

Second child with an older sister.

Early education at a private school in Rathmines then he went to Synge St

by 1929 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 52nd Year No 3 1977

Obituary :

Fr Robert L Stevenson (1906-1977)
Father Robert L Stevenson was born in Dublin, June 30th 1906, and after some education privately, went to the Christian Brothers, Synge Street. He entered the Noviceship at Tullabeg on August 31st 1923. Beginning his studies for the BA at Rathfarnham in 1925, he passed through the usual course and was ordained at Milltown Park, June 24th 1937. He had gone to Valkenburg for Philosophy, 1928 1931, and his Tertianship was spent at St Beuno's, 1938-1939. The years 1939-1941 were spent in Galway as Prefect of Studies and teaching, and his work was similar at the Crescent, Limerick, 1941 1946. From 1938 to his death in 1977 he was a missioner, stationed successively at Emo, Belvedere, Tullabeg, Emo and Rathfarnham. His years at Rathfarnham (1969-1977) were brought to a close by his death “in harness” at Tuam, April 1st 1977.

Of his years immediately after the Tertianship we have a clear picture from what Father James Stephenson, The Hall writes:
Bob Steve when I knew him and lived with him in his early years in the Society was what would be called in those days, “a good Community man”. He had a ready wit and was endowed with a felicity of expression and vividness of imagery that was most entertaining and more than usually amusing.
What made him “tick over” was an intense zeal for souls or to put it in modern jargon, his motivation was the betterment of the spiritually" underprivileged". However, after his tertianship, it was some years before he was able to put his ambition into operation. During those early years as a priest he was assigned to administration, and acted for many years as Minister in the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick. It was a post he naturally disliked but he carried on his duties faithfully and effectively. Of course, what made this post tolerable was that he was Prefect of the Church and so had plenty of Church work to do, sermons, confessions, counselling and sodality direction. He was for many years Director of the Ignatian Sodality and a very popular and energetic Director at that. He went to great pains in preparing his talks and sermons, having his eye, I suppose, on the type of work he desired, namely the Mission Staff. This care in preparation of talks and sermons served him in good stead during his life as a Missioner when he had the leisure to write and publish in addition to some pamphlets, a book on the Holy Land and also a biography of a Jesuit he most admired, Father Leonard Shiel.
As a preacher and retreat giver he worked among the Irish in Great Britain. Towards the end of his life he also devoted much of his zeal and energy to mission work in the United States.
It may be of interest to mention in passing that as a scholastic teacher in Belvedere he took a great interest in the Newsboys Club, an interest he translated into practice when making his renunciation before his final vows.
Some years ago he had trouble with his heart and it was that way God took him when giving a mission in Tuam Cathedral. Death came as a thief but it did not find him unprepared. He went to his Maker full of merit and good works. May he rest in peace.

Father Kevin Laheen writes: My first contact with Fr Bob Stevenson was in Belvedere in the thirties when he taught Irish and RK. He was an excellent teacher, had a gift of keeping discipline in a pleasant sort of way, and his ability to impart his knowledge to the boys was something which we, in our youth, could appreciate, and often did publicly admire.
But he did ambition a life of specifically priestly work, as opposed to an administrative job which after all does not call for the sacrament of Holy Orders. Though as Minister in the Crescent he did is job well, his heart was in the pulpit, in the confessional and on the altar.
At length he got the job (as a missioner) for which he was suited, which he loved, and at which there was no way in which it could be said that he was anything but a complete success. An eloquent and - fluent speaker, he could hold an audience in the palm of his hand for anything up to forty minutes, and that in the days when the TV has conditioned people to accept things in capsule form. Although uncompromising in the pulpit in proclaiming the teaching of Christ and the Church (often being accused of being too far right of centre) he could be a most compassionate man when dealing with the weaknesses of those who often lapsed from the strictest following of Christ.
His kindness to women, especially to nuns, was a side of Bob that was not generally known. In the days when the lay sister was regarded as the unpaid servant of the community, Bob was her champion, and I have met many such sisters who have sounded his praises and her own gratitude to him for his understanding sympathy and kindness, to say nothing of his courage in defending these sisters, when to have done so would have risked being “blacked” in the convent where such defence was registered.

In the early forties, just after the war, or even during the last years of it, Fr Leonard Shiel and Father Bob started the mission to the Irish in Britain literally single-handed. Leonard had the ideal that if the Irish brought none of this world's wealth to the land of adoption, they certainly brought their strong Irish faith, and his aim, aided by Father Bob, was to make sure that their faith suffered no injury by the new materialistic surroundings in which they found themselves, so but in addition that these same Irish would be apostles of the faith spreading it among those with whom they lived and worked. An ideal like this took courage. Many a patronising and openly hostile comment was made about this work. But neither of these men could be turned aside from their ideal; and by degrees they were joined by Frs M Bodkin, R Maguire, B Prendergast, B Hogan, T Kilbride and many others, until the thing took on the nature of a crusade. Then the Irish bishops were approached, and nothing happened for some years, Leonard Shiel then approached the English bishops, and at last the two hierarchies got together and other orders came in to help. This work has now virtually passed out of the hands of the Society but its flourishing success, and the immense good it has done, must be ascribed to the inspiration and devotion and zeal of these two men. Without the support of Father Bob I think the scheme would have remained a one man apostolate of Father Shiel. This is a chapter of history that so many younger members of the staff, and indeed of the Province, know nothing about. It took a zeal and single-minded dedication that I have often felt would have cheered the heart of Saint Ignatius. (See, however, Father Bob's book about Fr Leonard Shiel, “Who Travels Alone”, especially Chapters four and five-Ed.).
In the last ten years, Bob was definitely low key, as they would say these days. His preaching was just as eloquent and gripping. His zeal was untiring, but he liked to get back to base a great deal more, and devote so much of his time to writing. He was a man of great linguistic gifts, and apart from having a reading knowledge (and in some cases a speaking knowledge, too) of most European languages, he had also mastered Russian.
I think he was a little worried in recent years about the direction the Society was taking. In his own mind I don't think he was convinced that the balance between the vertical and horizontal approach to the service of God has been found. I also feel that he had some idea that his life was running out, and-looking back over certain things he said to me-I feel he was preparing for the end. Sickness was a thing he never knew nor liked, though to the sick he was devoted and kind. God took him mercifully in the arms of a fellow Jesuit, anointed by another, and receiving expert first aid treatment from the fourth member of the mission team at Tuam.
In the course of his second last mission, in his own native parish of Beechwood Avenue, a lady told me that on many occasions in the course of the mission he said, “Remember, if you knock daily on the Gate of Heaven by saying your daily prayers, when you knock for the last time in death, Our Lord will keep His promise and open for you”. After his devoted life, I have a feeling that the door was always open, awaiting him.

Father Niall O'Neill writes:
Imperial Hotel, Tuam: 1st April 1977:

Supper in the Hotel was at 6 pm. The Missioners Frs Séamus MacAmhlaoibh, Noel Holden and myself - Niall O'Neill - started almost immediately. Fr Bob who had been out of sorts for a day or two came down later and sat with his book at his favourite spot Fr. Seamus MacA gave Fr Bob some notices to be announced at the out-church-Lavally (Leath Bhaile) as we left the dining-room. Bob seemed in good form and gave his usual “OK”.
We went to get ready for confessions in the Cathedral at 7.00 pm, as it was the 1st Friday. Noel went back down to discuss something with Bob at about 6.45. They were talking on the way up the stairs which were very steep, about the closing of the Mission. Noel's room was No.24 at the end of a short corridor at the top of the stairs. At Noel’s room Bob put his hand on the handle of the door and gasped and slumped. Noel caught him and shouted, “Niall, quick, quick”. Séamus and I were together round the corner about 15 feet away; as we arrived Noel was holding Bob in his arms. We brought him to the bed in No 24. Seamus and Noel looked after him spiritually - Absolution and Anointing. While they were doing this I opened collar, thumped his chest and gave artificial respiration (mouth to mouth). A lady came to the top of the stairs and we asked her to ring for a Doctor. Noel said he could feel no pulse. We prayed and gave more resuscitation and respiration. I went for some whiskey and asked at the Desk if they had rung the Doctor - he was on his way. The whiskey wasn't used. I took over the respiration again from Séamus. Noel said, “he's gone”. I went down again and asked at the desk that they would ring Fr Greally, the Administrator. He came on the phone and I told him Bob had had an “attack”. As I was on the phone the Doctor (Cunningham) arrived-it was only 7.05 pm. He confirmed our fears. He left to order the ambulance. Fr Greally arrived at 7.7. We decided that Séamus would go to Lavally. As Noel had had the brunt of the shock he would stay and ring the Provincial and Rathfarnham. 7.10 I went to the Order of Malta Ambulance Unit. As there was to be a Dinner at the Hotel at 7.30 I hurried on the Ambulance, although it was already under way. I went into the Cathedral and started the Rosary for the Mission at 7.20: “This Rosary will be offered for Father Robert Louis Stevenson our Senior Missioner who has been taken ill and has been removed to Hospital”. After the Rosary I found the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Joseph Cunnane in the Sacristy. He presided at my Mass, I preached on the Sacred Heart and after the sermon His Grace came to the Ambo and announced the death of “Fr. Robert Louis Stevenson”. He paid a tremendous tribute to Bob as priest, missioner, fellow-organizer with Father Leonard Shiel of the mission to the emigrants in England, writer and staunch up-holder of the faith.
In the meantime the Ambulance had arrived at the Hotel at 7.25, and took Bob to the “Grove” Hospital in Tuam which is run by the Bon Secours Sisters. They were marvellous. Bob was laid out in a beautiful private room; they provided a lace Alb, White Vestments (The Resurrection), and arranged the room very attractively: the table with Crucifix, lighted candles on one side of the bed, on the other a table with an exquisite vase of freshly cut Daffodils.
At Lavally Seamus announced the sad news, and Mass was said for Bob at 7.30 and 8.00 pm.
Noel had been trying to contact our Dublin Houses, by phone. When Mass and confessions were over Bob and I removed all Bob’s things from his room in the Hotel and returned the key to the desk. We then went to the Hospital, and with Frs Greally and Gleason joined two nuns (Sr. Loreto, Superioress and another), saying the Rosary, and then said another - the Glorious Mysteries - taking a decade each.
Later at the Presbytery the Priests served tea. Noel had failed to contact Fr Meade, who was absent when he rang Rathfarnham. Eglinton Road, when contacted, deferred any decisions until Fr. Meade had been consulted. At 11.10 Fr. Provincial was on the phone, and later Fr Meade rang. Arrangements were made for a funeral from Gardiner St - the remains to arrive on Saturday at 5 pm. It was now 11.30 pm, and undertakers had to be contacted to arrange for a removal from the Hospital at 10.15 next day, Saturday. Mass was arranged for 11 o'clock at the Cathedral, the departure from Tuam to Dublin to be immediately afterwards.
Near 12.00 midnight lots were drawn to choose an undertaker without favouritism. McCormicks were drawn. We went to his house and aroused him from bed. Then back to the Hotel to compose an Obituary Notice for the papers. After 1 o’clock Noel went back to the Undertaker with the Notice, and so to bed at 1.30 am.
April 2nd, Saturday: As I had to preach at the 8 am Mass, and say the 10 o'clock Mass, while Seamus was at Lavally, Noel attended the removal from the Hospital at 10.15. The Archbishop arrived during the Rosary and joined in; he recited the removal prayers, and the coffin was carried out by the Administrator Fr Greally, Fr Concannon CC, Fr Gleason, CC, and the Doctor on duty. The Archbishop, Noel and all the priests walked in the funeral through the town after the hearse. The shops closed and pulled their blinds. There was a huge crowd at the Cathedral. The coffin was placed in front of the High Altar and a concelebrated Mass followed. The Archbishop was the Principal Celebrant, and Fr Holden preached a particularly fine eulogy of 7 minutes, in which he included sincere thanks to the Archbishop, clergy and people for their sincere sympathy. The Galway community was represented by Frs McGrath and J Humphreys, and Brs Crowe and Doyle. After Mass the Archbishop recited all the prayers over the coffin and led us in the “In Paridisum”...as we walked down the aisle of the Cathedral. In his last sermon Bob had said, “I will never see you again ...” and this had made a deep impression on the men. After our unvesting the funeral moved off at about 11.50 am. The hearse was escorted to the boundary of the parish by the Galway Jesuits, and Fr Concannon CC. drove us three missioners in his car.
After early lunch in the Hotel we talked about Bob's favourite prayer which Noel had mentioned in his eulogy, “I'll talk with God”: “There is no death, though eyes grow dim. There is no fear while I'm with Him...”
It seemed fitting that the Archdiocese of Tuam should have been the last place for Bob to preach his last Mission, and begin his New Mission with our departed fellow Jesuits in the Communion of Saints: It had large Irish-speaking areas, and Ballintubber Abbey - “The Church that refused to Die”. The End-of-Mission Confessions began at 1.30 p.m. That evening Noel went to Lavally. Seamus gave a Penitential Service in the Cathedral followed by Mass and Confessions. Next day-Sunday, 3rd we spoke at all the Masses, inviting the congregation to the end-of-Mission ceremonies at 7.30 pm. At concelebrated Mass at 7.30 pm. His Grace, Noel and I were concelebrants. Noel preached. Séamus MacA closed in Lavally. Our supper ended at 10.30, and so to bed at 11.00.
April 4th: Monday. Up at 6.00: After breakfast in the Presbytery I drove the ADM to the funeral in Gardiner Street, where Fr Hanley received us and gave the ADM every hospitality. After the funeral we had dinner in SFX where Fr Greally seemed very pleased.
Introducing the requiem Mass in Gardiner Street Church on the morning of Monday, April 14th, Father Matthew Meade, Superior of Rathfarnham Castle where Father Robert Stevenson was stationed, expressed the sympathy of all present--of his brother Jesuits and all those whom Father Stevenson had helped in so many ways - with Father Stevenson’s sister who was present, having crossed over from Richmond, Surrey. Father Stevenson’s life, said Father Meade, was simply summed up in one word: He was a Missioner. A most gifted and eloquent preacher, he had spent some thirty years preaching the Word of God in many lands. He was a tireless worker. Never, Father Meade said, since he first knew him forty years ago, both as a fellow worker with him on the missions and as Director of the Mission and Retreats Apostolate, had he ever known Father Robert Stevenson to refuse any assignment given to him or to fail to answer any call made upon his services on the grounds of being tired or over-worked or unfit to undertake any work to which he was assigned. The circumstances of his death are proof of this generous spirit. While he was engaged in giving a mission in Tuam Cathedral, he died in the arms of his fellow missioners. It was a glorious ending to a life lived out to the full in god's service,
Some little glimpse of Father Stevenson's spirit is seen in something Father Meade related to the Editor : “I cannot lay my hands upon an edition of the Province News which must have come out in 1965/67 when I wrote notes on the work of the Mission. In one of these editions, I remember, I wrote about an extraordinary achievement of Bob’s, which showed his remarkable versatility. I was asked to supply a priest for a mission: I think it was in Kerry or Co. Cork. There were in this place three workers' camps on some big scheme. One camp was of Germans; another of Irish Speakers, and the third English speaking men and women of the locality. The missioner would have to preach to one section in German; to another in Irish and to the third in English. Bob took on the whole mission by himself and did the whole mission as requested. I think I published a letter from the priest there, giving an account of this remarkable achievement on Bob's part and how well he did it all”.
Father Noel Holden, in whose arms Father Stevenson died in the Hotel where the Missioners were staying while giving a mission in Tuam, said that it was clear that Father Stevenson was unwell for some time before he died. Indeed during lunch on that First Friday (April 1st) the Archbishop of Tuam (Dr. Cunnane) by phone had invited Father Stevenson to stay with the Archbishop for the rest of the Mission. His Grace could see that Father Stevenson was very unwell. At the Requiem Mass in Tuam, the chief concelebrant was His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam. At the Mass Father Holden spoke few words. He drew attention to the fact that when Father Bob died the notes were in his pocket for the sermon he was to have preached that day concerning the Sacred Heart. The concluding words of the sermon were to have been: “No stranger of God”. Father Holden reminded his hearers that these words were very true of Father Stevenson himself. His missionary work was the work of a man whose prayer kept him close to God from whom he sought continually for guidance and help in his work for souls.
Fr Holden said that Fr Stevenson had a big 'mail' from people whom he had at some time directed spiritually during his missions. Father Stevenson never preached without having with him a summary of that special sermon: each such occasion, each such congregation, was new, different. And this in spite of the fact that he had so crowded a programme. Fr Holden noted the programme of Fr Stevenson's closing months. In January he had given a mission in Corby, England; from February 6th to 20th he preached at Knock;from February 27th to March 13th his work was in Beechwood Avenue - where he had been born. He died “in harness” in Tuam on April 1st during a Mission which with three other Fathers he had begun on March 20th. He was very proficient in preaching in the three Irish dialects: that of Donegal - whose Hills he loved - of Connaught and of Munster.
Father Holden reminds us that Father Stevenson wrote a lot. He published many Messenger Office Pamphlets. In 1975 he published a book on Father Leonard Shiel entitled “Who Travels Alone”. His foreword ended with the words: “I have chosen to call his memory - WHO TRAVELS ALONE, for I think it sums up a man both restless and still reserved, a riddle to all of us, his friends”. Fr Holden said that the core of this tribute could be applied also to Father Stevenson himself, for his life was one of restless thought and work in his efforts to help souls to God.
Father Holden could also show that Fr Stevenson did not easily relinquish any project he had turned his attention to. Fr Stevenson had visited the Holy Land some years ago. He made many written notes and also took many photos with the intention that his impressions and reflections when published might help others who wished to study and visit Our Lord's “Native Land”. The following summer Father Stevenson was in Los Angeles where he prepared his book for publication; but when back in Ireland he found that the case containing his manuscript notes and diaries had got lost. But he would not allow his spiritually helpful undertaking to be frustrated. Between his missions during the next year he made use of free intervals to recall his impressions of the Holy Land and wrote-from memory therefore-his helpful and successful Book: “Where Christ Walked”.
Father Holden adds the small but significant addition which helped Fr Stevenson very much to understand and attract Christians other than Catholics: Father Stevenson's father was a Scotch Presbyterian. His mother's people were from Graiguenamanagh, which he had visited as late as last May when giving a Mission at nearby Loughlinbridge.

Born: 19 September 1900, Cape Town, South Africa
Entered: 18 March 1923, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 14 June 1932, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1936
Died: 19 August 1972, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL: 05 April 1931

by 1927 at Heythrop, Oxfordshire (ANG) studying

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Arthur Stone had English, Anglican parents, who came to Australia from South Africa. He became a convert when at the parish school at North Sydney at the age of ten. Then he went to the Marist Brothers High School, Darlinghurst, and was head prefect in 1918. He went on to study engineering at the University of Sydney. He later worked as a civil engineer in the NSW Department of Main Roads. He played rugby league with the North Sydney firsts, and joined the Jesuits, 18 March 1923, at Greenwich.
Most of his studies as a Jesuit were in Ireland, at Rathfarnham, as a junior, 1925-26, and theology at Milltown Park, 1929-33. He studied philosophy at Heythrop, England, 1926-29, and did tertianship at St Beuno's, 1933-34.
He returned to Australia and taught at Riverview, 1934-39. But his heart was in pastoral work, working between North Sydney and Lavender Bay, and he was eventually parish priest, of North Sydney, 1947-53, and Lavender Bay, 1953-59. He walked the streets visiting his people, and related well to then. This was shown in the 1950s when he asked the cardinal for permission to attend a concert given by Johnny Ray, the first of the pop stars. The request was so surprising that it was given. The story was well told in the parish magazine. This made up for his lack of conversation in the Jesuit community.
He also worked in the parish of Richmond, 1959-68, and then retired to Canisius College, Pymble, being almost paralysed. He could not say Mass, but heard confessions at St Patrick's Church, Church Hill, in Sydney. At Pymble he enjoyed watching Australian Rules football on television every Saturday during the season.

Born: 24 April 1893, County Wicklow
Entered: 06 October 1917, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 07 March 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was attacked by a sever influenza at Tullabeg and died after a very short illness 07 March 1919.
He had great promise, and had God spared him, he would have been a very good Brother.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Waiter before entry; Died of influenza epidemic

Provincial of the English Province

Stonyhurst College is a coeducational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England.

1807 (as Hodder Place)
1946 (as Saint Mary's Hall)

Born: 06 May 1835, County Wicklow
Entered: 12 June 1874, Sevenhill - Austriaco-Hungaricae (ASR-HUN)
Final Vows: 02 October 1884
Died: 29 July 1915, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

Transcribed ASR-HUN to HIB : 01 January 1901

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He originally belonged to the Austrian Mission in South Australia and then the HIB Mission after amalgamation in 1901.
He had charge of the Vintage cellar at Sevenhill and also worked in the garden.
He was very hardworking and remained at Sevenhill until his death there 29 July 1915.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Storey migrated from Ireland to Australia and worked as a labourer before entering the Society at Sevenhill, 12 June 1874. He worked at Sevenhill for the rest of his life performing all necessary domestic duties, keeping the books and was in charge of the servants. He was cellarer from 1889-1911, and was the first non-Austrian to have charge of the winery. He greatly enhanced the reputation of the Sevenhill winery producing good quality wines, especially altar wine.
He combined evenness of temperament, good judgment and general reliability with good humour and wit, and so was not only respected but also liked by all who came into contact with him. He had a large funeral, and was one of the more striking figures of the Austrian Mission.

Born: 01 May 1832, Banbridge, County Down
Entered: 21 August 1852, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final Vows: 15 August 1863
Died: 24 April 1889, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA, USA - Marylandiae Neo-Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

Staff officer to Principal Chaplain, Roman Catholic

Born: 04 November 1822, Lough Glynn, County Roscommon
Entered: 07 September 1840, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1850
Died: 22 April 1856, Sevastopol, Crimea

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Studied Humanities at Stonyhurst before Ent.

1841 After a year at Hodder, he was sent to Madeira with his father for a change of air 27 September 1841
1844 Sent to Liverpool School for Regency
The after studies in Philosophy at Vals and a long course in Theology at St Beuno’s, he was Ordained 1850.
1851-1853 Appointed Minister at Stonyhurst
1853-1854 Appointed Superior of the new school in Manchester
1854 Appointed Superior of the new Mission at Accrington

He was appointed Chaplain to the English forces in the Crimean War, for which he had volunteered. He died in a camp there of fever 22 April 1856 aged 34. he was universally beloved for his many virtues, a man of great talent and high promise. he was buried in the Crimea with military honours, and his funeral was accompanied by upwards of 6,000 troops. He had caught the fever while voluntarily attending to the wounded French soldiers. He died before taking Final Vows.

Born: 07 July 1819, Lough Glynn, County Roscommon
Entered: 14 May 1838, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 1850
Final Vows: 02 February 1864
Died: 30 May 1901, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

Older Brother of Gerard Strickland - RIP 1856 (33)

Died: 12 November 1773, Faenza, Italy

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ
Brother Andrew Stritch arrived in Paraguayensis Mission (PAR) in 1767 to be met by the expulsion order for Jesuits. He was deported to Italy where he died at Faenza, Italy, 12 November 1773.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Brother Andrew Stritch ????-1773
Br Andrew Stritch, judging by his name, was a native of Limerick.

On his arrival at Paraguay, he was met with the Royal decree of expulsion in 1767, and he returned to Italy. He died there at Faenza in 1773, the year of the Suppression.

Born: 1616, County Limerick
Entered: 22 July 1640, Bordeaux, France (AQUIT) - Aquitainiae Province
Ordained: 1648, Galway
Died: 11 January 1681, La Rochelle, France - Aquitainiae Province

Alias de Stricke

1646 At La Rochelle teaching Grammar
1648 Went to Ireland with Frs Mercurian and Verdier (Fr Verdier returned before 1649, for in this and the following year he taught Theology at Bordeaux)
1651 AQUIT CAT On the Martinique Mission
1666 CAT Is living at Limerick where he revived the Sodailty of BVM. He teaches Humanities, is Preaching, Catechising and administering the Sacraments. Was on the Mission in the Indies 12 years. On Irish Mission 4 years.
1666 Thomas Stritch SJ teaches school
1670 Fr Stritche was in Ireland, Limerick or Ennis (Arch Ir Coll Rome I 85-87)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1648 At Bordeaux
1649 Came to Ireland with Mercure Verdier - Visitor to Irish Mission - and was Ordained by the Nuncio
Twelve years a Missioner in West Indies
1662-1666 In Limerick, Preaching, Catechising, administering the Sacraments and teaching Humanities. (HIB CAT 1666 - ARSI)
He had extraordinary adventures, which are told in Hogan’s “Irish Exiles in St Kitt’s”.

◆ Fr John MacErlean SJ :
1647 Teaching at La Rochelle and chosen to accompany Fr Mecure Verdure as Socius and interpreter for his Visitation of the Irish Mission
When the Irish Visitation was finished he returned to France for further studies and then volunteered for the West Indies Mission, where there were thousands of Irish exiles who needed spiritual support.
1650 Arrives in Martinique and went from there to Guadaloupe to work with the Irish, English and negro people
1662 Failing health necessitated return to Europe.
1663-1679 Came to Ireland and worked in Limerick, and then was banished to France at the time of the Titus Oates plot in 1679
1680 Arrived at La Rochelle in poor health and died the following year there

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had made Priestly studies and graduated MA probably at Bordeaux before Ent 1640 Bordeaux
After First Vows he was sent teaching in AQUIT Colleges for six years, and was then designated as a travelling companion for Mercure Verdier on the occasion of his Visitation of the Irish Mission 1648-1649.
After Verdier and Stritch’s arrival in Ireland, John was Ordained Priest by the Nuncio at Galway.
During the Visitation of the Mission he was interpreter for Father Verdier. At the end of the Visitation, he returned with Verdier to France and was assigned to the task of completing his theological studies at Bordeaux.
1650-1662 He had volunteered for the missions and arrived in Martinique in 1650. From there he travelled on to Guadelupe where he worked among the Irish, the English and the negroes until in 1662 failing health forced him to return to Europe
1663-1679 Came to Ireland and worked in Limerick, and then was banished to France at the time of the Titus Oates plot in 1679
1680 Arrived in poor health at La Rochelle and died there the following year 11 January 1681

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father John Stritch SJ 1616-1681
Fr John Stritch was born in Limerick in 1616. He entered the Society at Bordeaux in 1640.

While teaching at La Rochelle in 1647 he was chosen to act as Socius and interpreter to Fr Mercure Verdier during his Visitation of the Irish Mission.

His studies completed he volunteered for the West Indies Mission. Arriving at St Kitt’s he was welcomed and bless by the Irish slaves there, heard the confessions of 3,000 of them and then passed on disguised as a timber merchant to Mount Serrat where great numbers of Irish were employed as woodcutters. He revealed his real character to the, and he spent the mornings administering the Sactraments, and the day in hewing wood to throw the dust in the eyes of the English. Meanwhile, the heretics, jealous of the religious consolations of the Catholics of St Kitts, transported 150 of them to Crab Island and left them to die of starvation. Fr Stritch got together as many of the Irish in St Kitts as he could, and he passed with them to the French island of Guadeloupe, where he lived a long time with them, now and then going in disguise to help the Irish on the other islands. He converted in his excursions about 80 Protestants a year.

Owing to ill health he retired to Ireland in 1662 and laboured in Limerick where he revived the Sodality of Our Lady.

In 1679 he was banished to France owing to the Titus Oates Plot and he died at La Rochelle in 1681.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
STRICH, JOHN,* quitted Bourdeaux with Pere Verdier, 2nd November, 1648: was obliged to wait at Rochelle for five weeks until a sea-worthy ship could be procured : sailed thence on the 5th of December, and after a rough and stormy voyage reached Galway, on the 28th of December, that year, when I lose sight of him.

Born: 03 February 1564, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 24 July 1614, Mechelen, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 23 March 1602, Bordeaux, France - pre Entry
Died: 28 August 1629, Waterford Residence, Waterford City, County Waterford

Alias Stronge

Parents Richard and Catherine Walsh
Studied Grammar in the public schools at Waterford
1617 In Ireland Age 50 Soc 3
1621 Age 58 in Soc 6. Not strong. Talent and judgement middling. Is prudent. Rather phlegmatic. Confessor and takes good care of domestic matters
1622 In East Munster
1626 In Ireland
A stray Hogan slip “became a Jesuit in 1614 and died in August 1628

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of Richard and Catherine née Walshe
He and John Copinger were educated at Bordeaux (Calendar of State Papers - Irish) and was ordained there by Cardinal Sardis Archbishop of Bordeaux and Agen, and Primate of Bordeaux. He had previously studied Humanities for seven years at Waterford - perhaps that school of the famous Peter White (cf Foley’s Collectanea) All this before Entry in 1614, and he was received by Father Scibani Provincial of Flanders 24 July 1614,
1617 and 1626 On the Irish Mission

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Richard and Catherine née Walsh
He had done his Priestly studies at Bordeaux and was Ordained there 23 March 1602 before Ent 28 July 1614 Mechelen. There is no record of his career between this latter date and his admission to the Society except that in 1604 he was still at Bordeaux and acting there as agent for Father Holywood.
1615 While still a Novice he was sent to Ireland and Waterford, where he worked until his death 28 August 1629

88 St Stephen’s Green. Elizabeth C Murphy

Born: 27 September 1872, Melbourne, Australia
Entered: 01 February 1921, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Died: 25 January 1930, St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
John Sturrock was quite a well-educated man and a good musician. He enjoyed singing at novices concerts. After leaving school he joined the GPO and was a valued worker. He owned some property at Geelong, and was a man of substance before he entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 1 February 1921.
He worked at the noviceship after vows performing domestic duties until 1928 when he went to St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, for a few years as assistant editor of the Messenger. His last few years were at Riverview in charge of the boys' books, and as sacristan.
His death was a very painful one, diagnosed, after death, as cancer of the pancreas. His superior thought he suffered from imaginitis, and so he was not well treated for his condition. He considered to be a most steady, dependable and cheerful person.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 5th Year No 3 1930
Obituary :
Br John Sturrock

Br. Sturrock was born on the 27th Dec. 1872, and began his novitiate at Loyola, Sydney,on the lst Feb 1921. He remained at Loyola for seven years, and amongst his duties being “Script. hist, dom”. He then passed a year at St. Patrick's, where, he was “Adj. Dir, Nunt. SS Cord”. In 1929, he went to Riverview, was “Aedit and Cust, Lib. Alum”. His holy death took place on Jan. 25th 1930.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1930

Obituary

John Sturrock

During the Christmas vacation, early in January of the present year, the remains of Brother John Sturrock were laid to rest in Gore Hill cemetery. Brother Sturrock had been with us only about a year and a half, having come from Melbourne, where he had been acting as a clerk on the staff of the “Messenger”. He had previously been at “Loyola”, Greenwich, where he served for some years after completing his novitiate. Before entering the religious life he had been an official in the GPO, Melbourne. During his stay amongst us he gave great edification by his holy life and remarkably cheerful and gentlemanly manner. He always wore the inestimable ornament of a genial smile, and though he must, of late years, have suffered intensely, for he was a victim of internal cancer, he was of such a stamp that, when eventual autopsy revealed what he had gone through, all were amazed to remember that he had never lost his cheerful and extremely sociable disposition, nor ever voiced the smallest complaint. Following so soon our loss of the saintly Father Pigot and good Brother Forster, the departure of this dear soul has left us sensibly poorer. RIP

Born: 24 April 1826, Mineo, Catania Sicily, Italy
Entered: 03 November 1840, Palermo Sicily Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)
Ordained: 1857
Professed: 15 August 1859
Died: 17 September 1908, Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia - Siculae Province (SIC)

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 18 March 1877-30 July 1880;
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia: 2 September 1883-5 April 1890;

Irish Provincial 18 March 1877
Australian Irish Mission Superior 02 September 1883; then Mag Nov

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was a member of SIC and he, along with many Jesuits, was expelled from Sicily in 1860. He and his companions were received with open arms at Milltown. Here he worked as a Master of Novices (he had brought many novices with him from SIC). His brother was also a Jesuit who ended up in Portugal, another was a Priest in Italy, and a cousin was a Bishop of Ancona.
1865 He was loved by all in Milltown and was appointed Rector there in 1865, and built the new Retreat House in 1874.
1877 He was appointed Provincial of HIB, and when he finished that job he was appointed Rector of Tullabeg in 1881.
1883 At the express command of Father General Jan Roothaan, he was sent to Australia as Superior of the Mission. He had been 23 years in Ireland at that stage. When he finished that office, he still took charge of the Novices both in Melbourne and Sydney, until blindness prevented him from continuing.
1908 He died a holy death at Loyola Sydney, 17 September 1908, and he died with the reputation of a Saint.

On his death the following notice appeared in a Sydney newspaper (paraphrased in parts) :
“Australia has lost one of the oldest and notable members of the Society of Jesus, in the person of Luigi Sturzo. For 68 years of his life, which closed at Loyola, Greenwich on Thursday afternoon, he followed in the footsteps of St Ignatius. In the evening of his life, the old Jesuit, who was 82 years of age, and a Sicilian, lived in practical retirement at Loyola. The almost total loss of sight prevented him from doing work for which he was otherwise physically capable, but the giving of instructions to the communities and the private Retreats at the North Sydney Novitiate of the Order brought him some little comfort. Up to the last, his intellect was as vigorous as ever. His funeral was at St Mary’s, Sydney, presided over by Msgr Carroll, with George Kelly at the graveside in Gore Hill, attended by many.
Father Sturzo was a real Jesuit in spirit and deed, and that is saying a good deal. His amiability and genuine kindliness won for him hosts of friends...... although unable to read at Mass, his community read for him. The Church, Rome and the Holy Father and the doings of his Society, these were the subjects that thrilled him.

He was born in Mineo, Sicily. he then went to Caltgirone, where the Society had two houses. Sicilian boys were encouraged to give ‘ferverinos’ to their families, and on one occasion his father remarked ‘Why, Luigi, you are a real Jesuit’. When he finished school, he told his father he wanted to be a Jesuit. Along with a letter of introduction from his Jesuit uncle, his father got him to Palermo, and he was accepted at 14 years and 6 months. This meant he had to wait an extra 6 months to take Vows until he was 17. He subsequently made studies and taught at the Palermo College. He was there when the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated in 1854. Garribaldi was in power and came to Palermo, and eventually Luigi found himself in Ireland with the Novices of Sicily and Naples where they had been offered sanctuary. They were nervous going to a country not wholly Catholic, but the warmth of reception and the respect of the people made them feel at once at home. After that he became if anything, more Irish that the Irish! At first they were housed in Tullabeg, and then with the Irish Novices at Milltown. (cf note below of those celebrated Irishmen who were his Novices)

1877 He was made Provincial of HIB, a further proof of the trust reposed in him. In 1881 he was then made Rector at Tullabeg, with William Delaney Rector as Prefect of Studies.

1883 He was sent by the General to Australia as Superior of the Mission, and remained Master of Novices until 1901. So here too the young Australian Jesuits had the privilege of being trained by him.

In Ireland he had spent much time giving retreats, and he had a deep understanding of what lay behind the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius.

His Celebrated Novices : Timothy Kenny and Patrick Keating HIB Provincials and ASL Mission Superiors; James Murphy HIB Provincial and Novice Master; Thomas P Brown HIB Provincial and ASL Mission Superior; John S Conmee ASL Mission Superior; Thomas Gartlan Rector of Riverview; Thomas Fay Rector of St Aloysius; Luke Murphy Rector of Riverview and St Patrick’s; George Kelly Superior North Sydney; James Colgan Superior Hawthorne. In fact all Superiors and prominent Irish Jesuits of the time were either his Novices, or Novices of his Novices, which means he could be called the Father of the Province!

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Aloysius Sturzo was one of four brothers to enter the Society of Jesus, and was the nephew of a well-respected Jesuit, Antonio Ayala. His parents, Don Francesco and Donna Antonia Taranto were traditional pious Catholics, and Luigi followed in the ways of faith of his parents. He entered the Society, 3 November 1840 in Palermo, at the noviciate, which is now the Casa Professa, under the care of the novice master Antonio Vinci. Rhetoric studies followed in the same house for a further two years before two years of philosophy at the Collegio Massimo in Palermo. In his second year he was the beadle of the group.
Regency followed for the next six years at the Collegio Massimo, teaching grammar, history and geography, Italian, Latin and Greek at various times. In his second year he was appointed beadle of the regents.
From 1854-57 Sturzo studied theology at the College Massimo, during which time he was the prefect of the Sodality of Our Lady After ordination he was appointed confessor of the parlour and to prisoners. In 1858 he made his tertianship in the Roman province, and the following year for two years, he returned to Palermo to the House of Probation to be socius to the master of novices, Giuseppe Spedalieri. He was also spiritual father to the young scholastics, and continued his work as confessor of the parlor, and also at the hospital and in the prison. He was solemnly professed of the four vows on 15 August 1859.
In 1860, with the dispersion of many Sicilian Jesuits, together with others, he was invited to Ireland, especially to care for the Italian novices. He became the first novice master of the
Irish province, then rector of Milltown Park, Dublin, 1866-77, followed by provincial of Ireland,1877-80.
He went as rector to St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, 1880-83, and was sent to Australia and was superior of the mission and novice master until 1890, living at Richmond and Xavier College. After that he became rector of Loyola, Greenwich, and was master of novices at the same time, as well as procurator of the mission. He remained rector until his death.
Sturzo had entered the Society six months before the canonical age for the reception of novices, but could not he persuaded to leave. He was highly respected, as he was master of novices at the age of 33. One of his Irish novices and later Irish provincial, John Conmee, praised him for his gentleness, meekness, admirable patience, faith, and ardent love of the Lord. He was greatly respect by all who encountered him, and in his last days, he talked much about Sicily, his family and friends. He never learned to speak English well, but his spiritual sense and inward fervor came through the imperfect utterance. His Australian novices spoke highly of him. As a superior he was mild, but not weak, and was well endowed with prudence and sagacity. He had a sense of humor, and never minded being laughed at for his solecisms in English. He was a truly international Jesuit, highly respected in three countries.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Aloysius Sturzo 1826-1908
Fr Aloysius Sturzo was a Sicilian born in 1826. He entered the Society when only fourteen years of age in 1840. On the expulsion of the Society from Sicily in 1860, Fr Sturzo and his companions were received with open arms by the Irish Province and housed at Milltown Park. Here Fr Sturzo was appointed Master of Novices, becoming Rector of the house in 1865. He was responsible for the erection of the new Retreat House in 1874.

He became Provincial of the Irish province in 1877, and in 1881 was appointed Rector of Tullabeg. At the express command of Fr General he went to Australia in 1883 as Superior of that Mission. He had spent 23 years of must useful administrative labour in Ireland. When he retired from office as Superior, he again became Master of Novices in the noviceship which he himself had founded.

In the evening of his life Fr Sturzo, who was 82 years of age, lived in practical retirement at Loyola. The almost total loss of his sight prevented him from doing work for which he was otherwise capable, though he retained the use of his vigorous intellect right up to the end.

He died a holy death at Loyola, Sydney on September 17th 1908 with the reputation of a saint.

Born: 08 May 1861, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1915, Clongowes, Wood College SJ
Died: 19 February 1933, St Vincent’s Nursing Home, Dublin

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

Father died in 1885 and was Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Mother died in 1898. Father a Protestant and mother a Catholic. Boys brough up rotestant and sister a Catholic.

Received into the Catholic Faith at Farm Street London on December 21st 189-6.

Youngest of two brothers and one sister. (Sister needs some assistance)

Education at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen and then Trinity College Dublin. Studied for the Irish Bar and was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inns in 1888.

by 1903 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Sullivan, John
by Conor Harper

Sullivan, John (1861–1933), Jesuit priest, was born 8 May 1861 at 41 Eccles Street, Dublin, the youngest child in a family of four sons and one daughter of Edward Sullivan (qv), barrister, and his wife Elizabeth (Bessie) Josephine (née Baily) of Passage West, Co. Cork. There is an impressive perspective from the doorstep of the old Sullivan home sweeping down to the elegant and noble dimensions of St George's church, Hardwicke Place, where John was baptised into the Church of Ireland on 15 July 1861. Soon after John's birth, the Sullivan family moved to the more fashionable south side of Dublin where they settled at 32 Fitzwilliam Place. This was to be the Sullivan home for more than forty years. John had one sister, Annie, and three brothers, Edward (qv), Robert (who drowned in a boating accident in Killiney Bay), and William, a resident magistrate. According to the tradition of the time the Sullivan boys were brought up in their father's protestant faith and their sister Annie followed her mother and was raised a catholic.

In 1873 John and his brother William were sent to Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, as their older brothers had been before them. Portora's reputation had grown considerably under Dr William Steele (qv), an enlightened and progressive headmaster. John's years at Portora were happy. In one of his few published writings he gives an insight into his school life, writing of his first arrival at Portora ‘bathed in tears’, but when, five years later, the time came for him to leave he wept ‘more plentiful tears’. After Portora he became an undergraduate at TCD, where in 1883 he was awarded the gold medal in classics. Having achieved a junior moderatorship in classics, he started to study law. But in 1885 he was devastated by the sudden death of his father, then lord chancellor of Ireland. He subsequently continued his studies at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the English bar in 1888. Due to his inheritance, he was financially comfortable, and was noted for his fashionable dress and good looks. He travelled a great deal throughout Europe and was a cycling enthusiast. While in Greece he visited the monastery of Mount Athos and was deeply marked by the experience.

In December 1896, to the utter surprise of his family, he became a catholic and was received into the church at Farm Street Jesuit church in London. His family was ‘shell shocked’ when the news reached Dublin, according to Nedda Davis, granddaughter of his brother William. Not that the members of his family were hostile to his decision. His mother was a devout catholic but John had never shown any particular interest in religion. More surprises were to follow when his manner of life changed sharply. He adopted a simple style of living that was also reflected in his manner of dress. From this time he was a regular visitor to the Hospice for the Dying in Harold's Cross in south Dublin, and helped the poor in many ways. Then in September 1900 he entered the Jesuit noviciate at Rahan, which was known as Tullabeg, near Tullamore, Co. Offaly. In September 1902 he took his vows for life as a member of the Society of Jesus. Having studied philosophy at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, he returned to study theology at Milltown Park, where he was ordained on Sunday 28 July 1907. He was then sent to teach in Clongowes Wood College in Co. Kildare. From that time, with the exception of the period 1919–24, when he was rector of the Jesuit house at Rathfarnham Castle, he was a member of the Clongowes community. Most of the boys whom he taught considered him to be different to other Jesuits. He was regarded as a holy man but, like many a good scholar, was a poor teacher.

His reputation for holiness went far beyond the classroom at Clongowes. He also ministered from the People's Church, which served as a chapel of ease to people who lived in the environs of Clongowes. He was much sought after as a confessor and spiritual guide. The poor and the needy found him to be a reliable friend, and he was a constant visitor of the sick. Stories of his care of the sick are legion, as are claims to have been cured by his prayers (detailed by Fergal McGrath in his biography). His reputation as a healer continues, and his cause for canonisation has been pursued.

Sullivan lived a rugged and ascetic life. His meals were simple, mainly a diet of dry bread, porridge, rice and cold tea. He slept little, spending most of the night in prayer. His room at Clongowes lacked even simple comforts. The fire in winter was lit only when he was expecting a visitor. His life of austerity and prayer reflected the hardship and simplicities of the early Desert Fathers. He wore the worn patched clothing of the very poor. To the time of his death he was in demand as a preacher of retreats to religious communities of men and women, which again provided an experience of holiness rather than eloquence. One interest from the past which he maintained was an interest in cycling. His old-fashioned bicycle was a familiar sight on the roads around Clane, and he was known to have cycled to Dublin on more than one occasion to visit the sick. When not travelling by bicycle, he usually walked, a stooped, shuffling figure.

Nothing is known of his political views at a time of political upheaval in Ireland. He always maintained close contact with his protestant family who reciprocated his warm affection and concern. His brother Sir William (d. 1937) travelled from England to be with him when he was dying.

He enjoyed good health until shortly before his death, maintaining his rigorous round of visits to the sick, giving retreats and working in Clongowes. On the morning of 17 February 1933 he suffered violent internal pain and was brought to St Vincent's nursing home on Leeson Street where he died 19 February 1933. He was buried at Clongowes but his remains were exhumed in 1960 and transferred to the Jesuit church of St Francis Xavier on Gardiner Street. The popular novelist, Ethel Mannin, based her novel Late have I loved thee (1948) on Sullivan's life.

Fergal McGrath, Father John Sullivan (1941); Mathias Bodkin, The port of tears: the life of Father John Sullivan, S. J. (1954); Morgan Costello, The saintly Father John: John Sullivan S. J. (1963); Fergal McGrath, More memories of Father John Sullivan (1976); Peter Costello, Clongowes Wood. A history of Clongowes Wood College 1814–1989 (1989); McRedmond; Conor Harper, ‘Father John Sullivan – a man for others’, The Clongowes Union centenary chronicle (1997)

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/fr-john-sullivan-sj/fr-john-sullivan-sj-portrait/

Fr John Sullivan SJ: A short biography
John Sullivan was born in Dublin on 8 May 1861. His father, the future Lord Chancellor of Ireland Sir Edward Sullivan was a Protestant. His mother, Lady Bessie Josephine Sullivan was a Catholic. John was baptised in St. George’s Protestant Church on 15 June 1861 and brought up in the Protestant tradition of his father. From his earliest years John enjoyed the benefits of a home which radiated warm affection, high culture and sound scholarship.
In 1873 John followed in the footsteps of his brothers and went to Portora Royal School, Enniskillen in Northern Ireland which had the reputation of being the most eminent Protestant school of the day. He spent happy years at Portora and in later years admitted that he went to Portora “bathed in tears” but when the time came to leave he “wept more plentiful tears”.
After Portora, John went to Trinity College Dublin. He distinguished himself in his university studies and in 1885 he was awarded the Gold Medal in Classics. After gaining a Senior Moderatorship in Classics, John started to study law. It was at this time that his father, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland Sir Edward Sullivan, died suddenly. The shock had a devastating effect on John.
The promising young scholar left Ireland and continued his legal studies at Lincoln’s Inn in London where he was called to the Bar in 1888. At this time, due to his inheritance, he was very comfortable in financial terms, noted for his fashionable dress and handsome appearance. He travelled extensively around Europe and was a keen cycling enthusiast. He stayed at the Orthodox monastery of Mount Athos in Greece and was friendly with the monks.
Then, in December 1896 at the age of 35, he made a momentous decision. He was received into the Catholic Church at the Jesuit Church, Farm Street, London. From this time onward a marked changed was noted in his manner of living. On returning to the family home in Dublin, he stripped his room of anything that was superfluous, satisfying himself with the simplest of furniture on a carpetless floor. The young man, who was formerly noted for his fashionable dress, contented himself with the plainest of clothes.
He became a regular visitor to Dublin hospitals and convents where he was a welcome visitor. He had a remarkable gift for putting patients in good humour and showed special sympathy toward the old, bringing them gifts of snuff or packages of tea and reading for them from religious books.
In September 1900 John Sullivan decided to enter the Society of Jesus. The two years of novitiate in St. Stanislaus College, Tullamore, were followed by studies in philosophy at Stonyhurst College in England. From the beginning, he was clearly different to other Jesuits. He gave himself completely to his new way of life. All who lived with him were struck by his dedication to prayer and to religious life. Despite his outstanding gifts, he never paraded his knowledge but was always careful to help others whenever possible.
In 1904 he came to Milltown Park to study theology and he was ordained a priest on 28 July 1907. He was then appointed to the staff in Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare where he was to spend the greater part of his life as a Jesuit, apart from the period 1919-1924 when he was Rector of Rathfarnham Castle, the Jesuit House of Studies in Dublin.
Fr. John’s reputation for holiness spread rapidly around Clongowes and the neighbourhood. Despite his brilliant mind and academic achievements it was his holiness that was recognised. Many revered him as a saint. He prayed constantly – he walked with God continually – he listened to Him and he found Him and God worked through him. Many who were in need of spiritual or physical healing flocked to him and asked his prayers – and strange things happened. The power of God seemed to work through him and many were cured.
He was always available to the sick, the poor, anyone in need. The call to serve God in serving those who suffered in any way was a driving force for the rest of his life. He was always caring for others – a source of comfort and peace to anyone in trouble. He brought many to God by pointing out the way that leads to the deepest and ultimate peace. He was always at prayer whenever possible. Every available moment was spent in the chapel.
He walked with God and lived every conscious moment in his nearer presence. At times he hardly seemed to notice the ordinary world around him. He was in constant union with his Maker and cared little for the material things of life. One old lady who lived near Clongowes managed to penetrate the secret of his extraordinary holiness: “Fr. Sullivan is very hard on himself – but he is never hard on others”. He ate the plainest of food and lived a life of severe penance. He left everything in order to follow the call of his Lord and Master and he found the riches of a different order. What a contrast with the rich young man of his earlier years!
Fr John Sullivan died in the old St. Vincent’s Nursing Home in Leeson Street, a short distance from the Sullivan family home on 19 February 1933. Since that time, he has been revered by many as a saint. During his lifetime many flocked to him in times of trouble and anxiety, confident of the power of his prayers – and that confidence continues. He is still loved and remembered.
Declared:
Servant of God in September 1960; Venerable November 2014; Beatified 13 May 2017

https://www.jesuit.ie/blog/gavin-t-murphy/blessedly-funny/

Blessedly funny
Blessed Elect John Sullivan once asked a student what the ladies were like in his Latin class, to which the student replied ‘Rather plain.’ A gleam of amusement came into Father John’s eyes as he exclaimed: “In God’s name, there, I didn’t mean that. What are they like in Latin?”
It is in this light that I look into the personality of probably the holiest Irish Jesuit in tangible memory (1861-1933). So much of our lives are influenced by early days. John came from a blessed childhood in a happy, loving home. He had three brothers and one sister to play with as he grew up in Dublin and his parents invested in his education at Portora Royal School in County Fermanagh.
John won the college gold medal in Classics at Trinity College Dublin and later pursued law. Through a long, slow process of conversion, John’s protestant viewpoint became a Catholic one, and he entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1900. A fellow-novice Mgr. John Morris stated, ‘Were it not for his sense of humour, he might have awed us, as all were conscious that he was very holy.’
He was fast-tracked to the priesthood and sent to Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit boarding school in County Kildare. Schoolboy John Fitzgerald remembered him fondly: “Meeting you on a stone corridor on a bleak cold winter’s evening he would clap those hands and say, ‘Cheer up, cheer up’. Yes, we loved Father John, or Father Johnny O as we used to call him.”
Moreover, Father Sullivan expressed himself through his physical appearance. “His boots were mended and mended again and again until they became a joke, but when people tried to get him a new pair he would have none of it.” For someone who was once dubbed the best dressed man in Dublin, his old friends and family must have been stirred by this drastic change, in line with the ruggedness of St. Francis of Assisi, one of his favourite saints.
Father John was not dependent on external conditions to make him happy. He beamed with the inner joy of faith and tried to guide others along their paths. He once recounted to a fellow-Jesuit, with an appreciative smile, his efforts to get an old man to take the pledge. “Ah Father,” was the reply, “you never saw a jolly party round a pump.”
I am inspired to follow in Father John’s footsteps; it is delightful to see how his wit was compatible with his holiness. Like him, I pledge to embrace the cheerfulness of our Church.

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-sullivan-the-last-witness/

Fr Sullivan: the last witness
Fr John Fitzgerald SJ, the last surviving Jesuit to have been taught in Clongowes by Fr John Sullivan, shared some precious memories at the commemorative Mass :

The bones of Fr John Sullivan are your precious possession. They draw his clients from near and far. If John is beatified, St Francis Xavier’s will be a place of pilgrimage like St Thomas a’Becket is at Canterbury, Blessed Pope John XXIII at St Peter’s, Bl. Mother Teresa at Calcutta, and as Cardinal Newman will be at the Oratory in Birmingham. The people in a quiet corner of County Kildare still keep such fond memories of John. They were greatly saddened when his bones were taken away from them for Gardiner Street in 1961. It is a sad separation they will always feel. In fact his grave has been visited ever since.
The relocation of Father’s bones is as good for his cause as it is for you who give them this new home. You have always by your devotion shown how grateful you are to have him. You bring him day by day the stories of your needs – they are always pressing and often sad. John listens – he was always a ready and eager listener to others’ worries.
Coming to St Francis Xavier’s was in a sense a homecoming. John had been baptised in Temple Street (St George’s), and Dublin was his home until he joined the Jesuits. During the years in Clongowes, the City’s hospitals, the Mater included, were within range of his trusty old bicycle.
Sometimes people have asked me what was he really like. Some have a nagging impression that he must have been an ascendancy type, as his father was a baronet and he had passed through Portora Royal School to Trinity College. My own memory of him – clear and vivid – is of a humble, entirely self-effacing person, riveted on the one thing necessary, the commandment of love. He was completely focussed on the needs of others, particularly of the poor and suffering. For him the face of the Lord was there. Gardiner Street would have been an ideal assignment with so much sickness, suffering and poverty all around in the hungry years between the wars.
Clongowes in its rural isolation does not seem an ideal place for one so drawn to the poor and suffering. I knew John in the last three years of his life – my memories are boy’s memories – a child’s impressions – but still so vivid. His appearance so well captured in Sean Keating’s drawing – the sunken cheeks, the fine crop of brown hair, the bowed head, the penetrating eyes – a true man of God. I remember his wrinkled leathery hands. Meeting you on a stone corridor on a bleak cold winter’s evening he would clap those hands and say “Cheer up, cheer up, cheer up”. He well knew the mood of small boys – short of funds, nursing chilblains and facing into two hours’ study. I have a memory of Johnny O shuffling quickly from the sacristy, head bowed, halting at the altar rails – a welcome interruption to the evening rosary. Always he would describe a visit he had made to some sick or dying person. He was no gifted story-teller, no gifted preacher. There were no embellishments; sincerity shone through, telling of his complete devotion to the sick and needy.
John was occupied with the People’s Church and the boys’ spiritual needs with very little teaching. He took the smallest ones for Religion classes. Often we delighted to annoy him by rowdiness and irreverence. This drew the condemnation we intended: “Audacious fellow – pugnacious fellow!” Deep down we revered him, but we played on him.
If some day you visit the Boys’ Chapel, you see at the back on your left Fr John’s Confessional. The “toughs” – the ones never selected as prefects and who won no prizes – were most often there. The smaller boys would crowd into his very bare room after supper. We would come away with rosaries and Agnus Deis which John got from convents he knew. The People’s Church is the easiest place for a visitor to find. There is where John spent long hours and helped so many in times of trial. There he prayed long after the boys were tucked in bed.
Father John was our Spiritual Father. His life and interests revolved round the boys’ spiritual needs. He took no part and had no interest in our games – never appeared at matches, debates, concerts or plays. Free time meant time for prayer or the sick. No use asking Johnny O to pray for victory at Croke Park today, but he will listen to your sorrows, he will pray for your sick and departed ones.
The day of Fr John’s funeral in 1933 comes back clearly. I was in the youngest group and so was up front in the Chapel, and near the coffin. I tried without success to cut off a splinter – as a keepsake, a relic. We had been privileged to know Fr John for three years. Not everyone is so blessed – perhaps only a few have been close to saintliness in one who so well mirrored the Lord Jesus, the Suffering Servant. It is a joy to be here in St Francis Xavier’s and to share your treasure – the Venerable John Sullivan.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 8th Year No 2 1933

Obituary :

Fr John Sullivan

Needless to say the entire Irish Province keenly feels the loss of one of its holiest and most esteemed members, Father John Sullivan. He died at St; Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, Sunday, 19th February, 1933.
The Father Rector of Clongowes has very kindly sent us the following appreciation, written by Father Mulcahy :
It was in Clongowes that Father John spent twenty of the thirty-three years of his religious life. Thirty-three years in the Society is a comparatively short time. but these years were so full that one must truly say that Father Sullivan explevit tempera multa. The impression left on us all is that he has left a blank that bewilders us with its greatness. One does not feel that he is gone from us. One half expects to and him going about his multitudinous spiritual activities as usual. Death, especially in a college full of young life, is usually associated with an uncanny feeling , but, for us in Clongowes for the boys as well as for the community the effect of his death is rather one of triumph, of pride in having possessed such a man of God, of still possessing him but with greater power to help, with a wider sympathy for our weaknesses and our needs, with a truer interest in us in those things that matter.
Last evening two Lower Liners were talking to me about him and the remark came quite simply from one of them, a very ordinary lad in a low class, “Sir, is it not a great thing to be able to say .that you were taught by a saint?, and the funny thing is that we knew it even when we ragged him a bit.” And the other chimed in in the patois of the Line. “Sir, you never hear of a man they knew was a saint while he was dodging about”.
Born in Dublin, 8th May, 1861, the third son of the late Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., formerly Master of the Rolls and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. he was educated at Portora School. In the Clongowes Museum are three large silver medals won there:; for English Literature in 1877, the Steele Memorial Prize, July, 1879 and another Midsummer 1879 " In Classics." . He graduated at T,C.D., where he won several medals. We. have one 1883, “Literis Humanioribus feliciter excultis. His classical attainments were of a very high order and not of the dry-as-dust kind, for he made several walking tours in Greece, Macedonia and Asia Minor to trace out in stone and dust the lore he loved.
1898 saw him received into the Church and on September 7th, 1900, we find him in Tullabeg. He did Philosophy at Stonyhurst, 1902-04 , Theology at Milltown Park, 1904-07. The rest of his life he spent in Clongowes, except 1913-14 when he was in the Tertianship at Tullabeg, and 1919-24 when he was Rector of Rathfarnham Castle - twenty years of unceasing care for the souls of the boys in the college, which care did not stop when they had left for the bigger world of life. A large sheaf of telegrams and letters received by the Rector expressing sympathy on the news of his death shows how this care was appreciated.
In charge of the public church attached to the college, he came into touch With an ever-growing circle of the faithful. His life, already more than fully occupied, was invaded by those who came long distances to ask his advice, to avail of his ministrations as Confessor, to ask for his blessing on the sick and, as they insisted, to hope for a cure even of cases despaired of by doctors. The poor and the sick and above all the dying were, one is hardly afraid to say, his “joy”. The reverence in which he was held and the confidence in him was shown very simply the morning of his funeral. Father Rector had said Mass at 9 o'clock in the public church, the old boys' chapel. When the Mass was over the congregation moved up quietly to the coffin and all, many kneeling, blessed the coffin repeatedly, placing on it objects of piety, rosaries, crosses prayer-books, etc, Later when the grave, was filled in and bishop and priests and boys had moved away, the people who felt that now his power was greater than ever, came to carry to their homes some of the earth that covered him. “O Grave, where is thy victory”.
So our loss to the eye is a gain to our faith.
"One example, out of many that might be given, of the power of his prayers may be cited : A man was dying in a neighbouring town. He had refused to see a priest though urged to do so by the nurse who was nursing him and by the doctor. Word was sent to Father Sullivan to come to see him. Father Sullivan, however, was not able to go, but sent word that he would say Mass for him at 9 o'clock the following morning. At 9.30 on that morning the man of his own accord asked for a priest and was prepared for death which took place on that day.
Father Sullivan's last illness was very brief. On Monday, 6th February, the doctor ordered him to the infirmary, as, amongst other things, one of his arms was showing nasty signs.
This did not appear to be serious and the arm was practically healed on Thursday the 16th when he was allowed up. He said that he had not felt better for fifty years. About 11am on Friday he complained of very severe pains. The doctor was sent for immediately, and as he was not satisfied sent for a surgeon who declared that an immediate operation was necessary. At 3 p.m Father Sullivan was removed in ambulance to Dublin, and was operated on about 5 pm. This revealed a very serious state of affairs, and the doctors could
hold out no hope of recovery. Father Sullivan lingered on until Sunday night, and died at 10.55. He had been conscious all Friday and Saturday, and had received Holy Communion
on each day. When asked how he felt his invariable answer was “' Wonderfully well, thank God”. After the operation he suffered very little pain.
Father G. Roche has been good enough to send the following extract from a letter :
Although never having met him, I know him well through the boys. I think the way they expressed themselves in their weekly letters home plainly tells what they thought of him. “Father Sullivan (we call him the Saint, Mum) is dying, you will be sorry to hear. By the time this letter arrives he will probably be in heaven. A strange coincidence, the night, Sunday and Monday, Jim (an elder brother who has left school) could not sleep thinking of Father Sullivan and his devotion to the Sodality, and he told me that he felt he must keep on repeating whatever prayers were usual, seeing all the time Father Sullivan. He was shocked when a friend passed him on a paper yesterday and asked : Did you know him?”
Father Roche adds : " Father Sullivan died at 11pm on Sunday, the very night that Jim saw him. A great many requests for relics have come to us.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

The Tribunal for the Informative Process in Fr. John Sullivan's Cause was set up by Dr. McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin, on the 24th October, 1947. The first Session was held at Archbishop's House on 30th October ; subsequent Meetings will take place at the Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street. Fr. Charles O'Conor is Vicepostulator. The following letter was addressed to the Province by Rev. Fr. Provincial on the occasion of the setting up of the Tribunal :

28th October, 1947 :
Reverend and dear Fr. Rector,
PX. In a letter dated 24th October, 1947, His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, writes :
“I have great pleasure in informing you that I have this day instituted the Tribunal for the Ordinary Informative Process in the Cause of the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God, John Sullivan, Priest of your Society”.
The first session of the Tribunal, appointed by His Grace, will take place at Archbishop's House next Thursday at 12 noon. It is the first stage in a very long process which we hope and pray may one day have its happy issue in one of our own Province being raised to the honours of the Altar. I commend the Cause, now about to be opened, to the prayers of all ; and I ask each priest to say a Mass (first intention) and those who are not priests to offer Mass, Holy Communion and the Beads once for the success of the Informative Process which begins on Thursday.
May God, who glorifies those who glorify Him, be ever increasingly honoured in the honours given to His servant ; may Ours be more powerfully and effectively incited to strive for that sanctity proper to the Society by considering this new and contemporary example of virtue ; may our Province in its present necessities have in Father John Sullivan a powerful intercessor with God.
Commending myself to Your Reverence's holy Sacrifices and prayers.
I remain,
Yours Sincerely in Xto.,
THOMAS BYRNE, S.J.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 1 1949

On 6th November Fr. Daniel O'Connell, of the Viceprovince, who during his stay in Ireland gave evidence in Fr. Sullivan's cause, left Southampton for U.S.A. on 6th November.

Irish Province News 27th Year No 1 1952

FR. JOHN SULLIVAN'S CAUSE :
As the result of close upon seven years of fairly constant work, official registration of evidence in the two preliminary processes De Fama Sanctitatis et de non-cultu, in connection with Fr. Sullivan's Cause, has now been completed. These processes provide the evidence that must enable the Congregation of Rites to determine whether the matter of the Cause is one deserving of the official sanction of the Church or not.
In all something over fifty witnesses have been examined: roughly about two thirds of whom were from the Province—the rest externs. Except for certain inaugural meetings of the Ecclesiastical Court at which his Grace had to preside (which were held at Archbishop's House) all but one of the meetings for registration of evidence have been held at Gardiner St.
At an early date in the proceedings Fr. Curtin who was acting Notary of the Court was replaced by Fr. Michael Brown, Archbishop's House, and somewhat later the first President of the Court, the late Archdeacon MacMahon, took ill and died. Very Rev. Canon Neary, already a member of the Court, was appointed new President and Dr. O’Halloran of City Quay was added to complete the requisite number of judges. Mgr. Dargan and Fr. Barry of High Street have been all the time attached to the Court. At all times the members of the Court have showed great interest in the Cause and have manifested a graciousness and generosity that has been most striking. They have had more than a hundred sessions involving their presence at Gardiner St. from 11 a.m. till about 4 p.m.
The next stage in the proceedings is to have all the evidence transcribed and collated with the original record after which al will be ready for transmission to Rome.
Great help has been given by many in the Province by the distribution of leaflets and relic cards. A considerable number of records of favours of most varied kinds has also been accumulated. From letters received it is clear too that a great many Masses and prayers are being constantly offered for the success of the Cause.

Irish Province News 28th Year No 2 1953

A further stage in the Cause of Beatification and Canonisation of Fr. John Sullivan was reached in the New Year : edicts concerning his Writings were simultaneously issued by the Archbishop of Dublin and by the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin in their respective dioceses.

The following is the text of Dr. McQuaid's edict :

To the Clergy and the Faithful of the Diocese of Dublin.
In accordance with the Instructions of the Holy See, which requires that writings (if any) attributed to Servants of God whose Causes of Beatification and Canonization are being canonically investigated should be collected and examined we hereby command the Clergy and Faithful of this City and Diocese who possess any writings of the Servant of God, Father John Sullivan, S.J., such as sermons, letters, diaries, autobiographies, whether written by him in his own hand or by others at his dictation, to present themselves within the space of one month from this date at Archbishop's House, Dublin, for the purpose of handing over such writings or properly authenticated copies thereof. Any person knowing that writings of the above-mentioned Servant of God are held by others is bound to communicate his information to Archbishop's House, Dublin.

John Charles,

Archbishop of Dublin,
Primate of Ireland. Given at Dublin, this 1st day of January, 1953.

Irish Province News 35th Year No 4 1960

The final session of the Ordinary or Informative Process in the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God, Father John Sullivan, S.J., was held at Archbishop's House, Dublin, on 4th July. His Grace the Arch bishop, Index Ordinarius in the Process, presided.
In the lengthy final session, the Acta were read and signed by all present, after they had been formally authenticated by the Archbishop. The evidence of the sanctity and heroicity of virtue of Father John Sullivan, evidence in regard to his writings and non cultus, which had been collected during the course of the Process and transcribed into ten bound volumes, was placed in a specially-made oak container, sealed in eight places, inside and outside, by His Grace in the presence of the Delegate Judge, the Assistant Judges and the Officials of the Process. Six additional seals were then set on the container and it was entrusted, together with a sealed letter of His Grace, to the Vice-Postulator of the Cause, Very Reverend Fr. Charles O'Conor, S.J., Provincial, for personal transmission to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome.
This evidence will be examined by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, which will then decide in regard to the holding of a further Process, known as the Apostolic Process, in the Cause.
The authentic copies of all the original documents in the case were then sealed by His Grace the Archbishop and placed in the Archives at Arch bishop's House, until such time as the Holy See may direct that they be reopened.
The case containing the evidence was brought to Rome in August by Mr. Seán Ó hÉideáin, Secretary at the Irish Embassy to the Holy See. It was given diplomatic coverage through the courtesy of the Department of External Affairs.

Irish Province News 36th Year No 1 1961

EXHUMATION AND TRANSFERENCE OF REMAINS OF FR. JOHN SULLIVAN
The exhumation of the remains of the Servant of God, Fr. John Sullivan, S.J., and their transference to St. Francis Xavier's Church, Upper Gardiner St., Dublin, took place on 27th-29th September. This step was taken by the Vice-Postulator of the Cause of Fr. Sullivan, Very Rev. Fr. Provincial, on the advice of Fr. Paul Molinari, the Postulator, and with the approval of Very Rev. Fr. General and the Ordinaries of the archdiocese of Dublin and the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, and the permission of the respective public authorities.
The proceedings at Clongowes were presided over by Right Rev. Mgr. James J. Conway, P.P., V.G., appointed Judex Delegatus by His Lordship the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, assisted by Right Rev. William Miller, P.P., V.G., Promotor Fidei. His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin was represented by Rev. Michael Browne, D.D., Notarius. Witnesses to the identity of the grave were Fr. P. Kenny, S.J. (who was Minister of Clongowes at the time of the burial in 1933) and two employees of Clongowes, John Cribben and Frank Smyth. Fr. Molinari, the Postulator, who had come from Rome, remained until a late stage in the exhumation; Fr. Provincial, Fr. B. Barry, Fr. Socius, and Fr. H. Lawton Rector of Clongowes, were present throughout. The doctors charged with the examination of the remains were Dr. Edward T. Freeman, Dublin, and Dr. George O'Reilly, Kilcock, Dr. Brendan O'Donnell, Medical Officer, Co. Kildare, Mr. Joseph Reynolds, Inspector, Public Health Department, Naas, and Mr. Patrick Coen, Chief Health Inspector, Dublin Corporation, represented the public authorities. The actual exhumation was carried out by two gravediggers from Glasnevin Cemetery, under the direction of Mr. John Doyle, Superintendent. Half-a-dozen members of the Garda Siochana, under the direction of Chief Superintendent O'Driscoll, Naas, were on duty to secure complete privacy for the proceedings.
At 10 a.m, on 27th September, the clergy, witnesses to the identity of the grave and gravediggers assembled in the Castle, and took the required oath not to remove anything from the coffin or to place anything in it which might be regarded as a relic. At the graveside all present were warned by the Notarius that the same obligation applied to them under pain of excommunication reserved to the Holy See. The exhumation commenced at 10.30 a.m. The day was fortunately fine, though very cold. At a few minutes before twelve, when the excavation had reached a depth of about four feet six inches, the breastplate of the coffin was found, and just as the Angelus was ringing, the outline of the coffin became visible. It was apparent that the headstone and cross had not been placed exactly over the coffin, so that what now appeared was one side of the coffin, This necessitated further excavation to remove the earth from the other side. It was also apparent that the lid of the coffin had decayed. From now on, the excavation was very slow, trowels only being used for fear of damage to the remains. About an hour later, the feet of the remains were uncovered, the boots being intact, Finally, when the grave had been considerably widened and as much as possible of the earth removed, it was found that the sides and bottom of the coffin were intact, and that thus it could be raised completely from the grave. This was accomplished at 5.40, and the coffin was placed in the hearse - again just as the Angelus was ringing and brought in procession to the People's Church and thence to the adjoining classroom. The two doctors worked from 7.30 to 10.30 p.m, preparing the remains for re-burial. These were laid out on a pallett covered with white silk and then transferred to the inner oak coffin, into which was put a copper cylinder containing the authentication signed by various witnesses, clerical and lay. The leaden coffin surrounding the inner coffin was then closed and soldered and sealed in two places with the seal of the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. During this process, Dr. Freeman dictated to the Notarius a full account of the exhumation and the medical findings. Finally, at 1 a.m. the leaden coffin was placed in the outer oak coffin, which was transferred to a catafalque in the People's Church.
Next morning, Fr. Rector celebrated Mass in the presence of the remains, the church being filled with the senior boys and many of the faithful. Immediately after Mass, pilgrims from the surrounding country side and even from distant areas began to arrive in large numbers and continued all day. At 7 p.m. a queue of over a hundred was waiting outside to secure admittance to the church. At 9.30 p.m. the coffin was transferred to the Boys' Chapel. The following morning, 29th September, the stream of pilgrims began again. Their devotion on both days was most edifying, evidencing itself by their kissing the coffin and touching it with beads, prayer-books and other objects of devotion.
At 2 p.m. the Absolution was pronounced by Fr. Rector in the presence of the Community and boys. The funeral procession then proceeded up the avenue, preceded by the entire school and followed by a large crowd of the faithful and some fifty cars. At the front gate, the boys lined each side of the avenue. The procession then proceeded to Dublin. At almost every house and crossroad groups of people had gathered, and knelt as the hearse passed. At Clane and Celbridge, schoolchildren lined the route. At Lucan, two Garda patrol cars joined the procession, going in front to secure an uninterrupted passage. On arrival at the city, a Garda motor cyclist gave warning to the Gardai on duty on the quays, who stopped traffic from the side streets. As a result of this careful organisation, spontaneously arranged by the Garda authorities, the procession reached Gardiner Street punctually at a few minutes to 4 p.m.
It was received on the steps of the church by Most Rev. Dr. McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin. With him were the Bishop of Nara, Most Rev. Dr. Dunne, the Archbishop of Malacca, Singapore, Most Rev. Dr. Olcomendy (who was visiting Dublin), Right Rev. Mgr. Boylan, Right Rev. Mgr. O'Reilly, Right Rev. Mgr. Glennon, Right Rev. Mgr. Deery and Right Rev. Mgr. O'Regan. The members of the Province paid a most worthy tribute to the saintly memory of Fr. Sullivan, some 250 of them being present. Though no publicity had been given to the proceedings, the church was crowded, Much credit is due to Fr. M. Meade, Superior, Fr. D. Mulcahy, Minister, and Fr. J. McAvoy, who acted as marshal, that the ceremony was conducted so smoothly and with such dignity. After the Absolution, the remains were brought to the vault which had been specially built, adjoining the Sacred Heart chapel. The vault was blessed by His Grace the Archbishop, who was assisted by Very Rev. Canon O'Donnell and Very Rev. M. Canon Boylan. The coffin was then deposited on two pillars of limestone, the ornamental grille was closed, and the ceremony concluded with the singing of the Benedictus by the Milltown Park choir. That evening, there was an uninterrupted stream of pilgrims to the vault, and the indications since then are that it has been accepted by the people of Dublin as one of their recognised places of pilgrimage.

The Roman Documents Referring to the Cause of Fr. Sullivan
956—1/960
DUBLINEN.
Beatificationis et Canonizationis
Servi Dei IOANNIS SULLIVAN, Sacerdotis Professi Societatis Iesu.
Instante Rev-mo P. Paulus Molinari, Generalis Postulator Societatis Iesu, Sacra Rituum Congregatio, vigore facultatum sibi a Ss-mo Domino nostro IOANNE PAPA XXTII tributarum, benigne indulget ut processus ordinarius informativus super fama sanctitas, vitae, virtutem et miraculorum in genere Servi Dei Ioannis Sullivan, Sacerdotis professi eiusdem Societatis Iesu, clausus sigillisque munitus in Actis eiusdem Sacrae Rituum Congregationis asservatus, aperire valeat : servatis omnibus de iure, stylo et consuetudine servandis.Contrariis non obstantibus quibuslibet.
Die 16 Septembris 1960.
+C. CARD. CICOGNANI,
S.R.C. Praef.

Prot. 956-2/960
DUBLINEN.
Beatificationis et Canonizationis
Servi Dei IOANNIS SULLIVAN, Sacerdotis Professi Societatis Iesu.
Clausus sigillisque munitus invenitur in Actis Sacrae Rituum Con gregationis processus ordinaria potestate in Curia Dublinensi instructus super CULTU NUNQUAM PRAESTITO Servo Dei Joanni Sullivan, Sacerdoti professo Societatis Jesu. Hinc Rev-mus P. Paulus Molinari, Postulator Generalis eiusdem Societatis, a Sanctitate sua humiliter postulavit ut dicti processus aperitionem indulgere benigne dignaretur. Sacro porro eadem Rituum Congregatio, utendo facultatibus sibi ab Ipso Ss-mo Domino nostro JOANNE PAPA XXIII tributis, benigne annuit pro gratia juxta preces: servatis omnibus de jure, stylo et con suetudine servandis.
Contrariis non obstantibus quibuslibet.
Die 16 Septembris 1960.
+C. CARD. CICOGNANI,
S.R.C. Praef.

956-2/960
DUBLINEN.
Beatificationis et Canonizationis
Servi Dei IOANNIS SULLIVAN, Sacerdotis Professi Societatis Iesu.
Rev-mus P. Paulus Molinari, Generalis Postulator Societatis Iesu, ad pedes Sanctitatis Suae provolutus, humiliter postulavit ut processus ordinaria auctoritate in Curia Dublinensi constructus super scriptis Servi Dei Ioannis Sullivan, Sacerdotis professi eiusdem Societatis, et in Actis eiusdem Sacrae Rituum Congregationis, clausus sigillisque munitus, asservatus, rite aperiatur. Sacra porro eadem Rituum Congregatio, vigore facultatum sibi a Ss-mo Domino nostro IOANNE PAPA XXTII tributarum, attentis expositis, benigne annuit pro gratia iusta preces: servatis omnibus de iure, stylo et consuetudine servandis,
Contrariis non obstantibus quibuslibet.
Die 16 Septembris 1960.
+C. CARD. CICOGNANI,
S.R.C. Praef.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father John Sullivan SJ 1861-1933
In Eccles Street Dublin, on May 8th 1861, John Sullivan, of Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart. later Attorney-General, Master of the Rolls and finally Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Sir Edward was a Protestant, his wife was a Catholic, and as was common in those days their daughter Annie, the eldest of the family was baptised and reared a Catholic, and the boys as Protestants. So, John Sullivan was baptised into the Protestant Faith in St George’s Church, Temple Street. John was sent to Royal Portora School in 1873 where he remained for six years.

In 1879 he won a classical scholarship to Trinity College, did his law degree at Lincoln’s Inn, London and was called to the English bar in 1888. The followed a period during which he travelled extensively on the Continent. In 1889 he was received into the Catholic Church by Fr Michael Gavin SJ, at Farm Street, London. Three years later he entered our noviceship at Tullabeg, and was ordained at Milltown Park by Archbishop Walsh in 1907.

He spent almost all his life at Clongowes, with an interval as Rector of Rathfarnham, 1919 to 1924. Being in charge of the People’s Church, he devoted himself with intense zeal to the sick and the dying, and acquired a reputation for extraordinary sanctity and the working of miracles.

He died on February 19th 1933, and almost immediately there sprang up, on the part of the people a spontaneous cultus to him. The initial step in his cause for canonisation was taken up in 1947 with the setting up of the Judicial Informative Process. The final step in Ireland was taken in July 1960 when the evidence as to his heroic sanctity was forwarded to Rome in bound volumes.

Meantime it was decided to translate his body from the cemetery in Clongowes to Gardiner Street. On Tuesday September 27th, the body was exhumed in the presence of official witnesses. It was not found incorrupt. On September 29th, encased in a set of coffins, the body was solemnly conveyed to Dublin, and placed in a beautiful new tomb visible to the public. There it lies awaiting the verdict of the Church, the object of veneration daily of hundreds of visitors.

MEMORIES OF FATHER JOHN SULLIVAN

Bob Thompson took an interesting initiative in writing to the senior members of the Province who knew our Servant of God - whether as boys in Clongowes Wood or as fellow members of a Jesuit Community. Here are the ten replies received.

My acquaintance with Fr John Sullivan is limited to the retreat he conducted for my vows for September 2nd, 1930. Emo was only three weeks old when we started that retreat. An Ambulacrum served as a Chapel, but Fr Sullivan spoke to us in the Conference Room. There was an aisle between two rows of tables with a dais in front of one row. Fr Sullivan always came into the room with a quick lively sort of run, and would drop on his two knees on the floor, not the raised edge of the dais.

When he spoke, all the while he held a crucifix in one hand, and stroked his dark greying hair with the other. He seemed to find all he wanted to say on the crucifix.

Three things I remember about that retreat. First, it was a marked contrast to the one I heard the previous year from Fr Michael Browne. Fr Browne was austere, severe and for me awesome . Fr Sullivan seemed to spread around him a warmth and a kindliness.

The second thing is a letter he read to us. He introduced it by saying: “These are not my thoughts, but they are the thoughts of an elderly priest in the Province and I give them for what they are worth”. The letter went something like this:

You are going to give the novices their retreat. Would you please impress on them the importance of the virtue of Charity. I'm an old man in the Province now and I can honestly say that I have experienced very little Charity, but I have met with an awful lot of diplomacy...

The third thing that remains with me is that while he made no effort at eloquence, and often cut short descriptions with an "and all that", he could still be very graphic. I can still see and hear his account of Peter's reaction to John's “It is the Lord” - “SPLASH” and Peter is in the water".

During that retreat I was anything but filled with consolation. I can still remember a glow of happiness when I made my confession to Fr John. I can't recall what I said, or what he said, but I can't forget the joy and peace I felt leaving his room.

One other memory of those days: Fr Lol Kearns - go meadai Dia a ghlóir - made that retreat too. He used to tell this story against himself. He knew Fr John had the reputation of being a saint, and he wanted to be able to say that he had visited the saint in his room, so he concocted a difficulty.

“Father in my class in Mungret I could name eight boys who would have been better suited to be Jesuits than I am. I ask myself why did God call me, rather than one of them?”

“Ah now! Carry on! Carry on! and thank God for his bad taste”.

-oOo-

Fr John Sullivan was Rector of Rathfarnham Castle during my first year there as a junior. One's first impression of him was quite frightening -- the gaunt face, the shabby clothes, greenish but scrupulously clean, the extreme austerity of his meals.

But in short time one became aware of something extra ordinarily attractive about him. It is difficult to put into words, but one came not merely to "make allowances" for him, or just to like him, but genuinely to love him. His one aim in life seemed to be to prevent anyone admiring him. In that he failed miserably.

One of the older Jesuits told me how, at a meeting of the Classical Society of UCD, which Johnny was persuaded to attend, the Juniors who were there were immensely impressed by the deference shown to Johnny by their Professors and several Dons from Trinity College. One got accustomed to being accosted in the avenue by some poor person who had come a long way “to see the priest who works miracles”.

Johnny had a puckish sense of humour which normally was kept strictly hidden. But on one occasion which I heard of it popped out. Paul O'Flanagan, who later became a splendid preacher, was doing Science, and tried by all means to avoid the chore of preaching in the refectory. However, on the last available day Paul was summoned by the Rector. One excuse after another were exposed in their feebleness by the stern Rector. Then Johnny said with what must have been a twinkle in his eye: “In God's name there, aren't you in charge of the seismograph?” “Yes, Father”, said Paul. “Well, wouldn't it be a terrible thing if there was an earthquake and there was nobody there to attend to it? You had better not preach”.

I remember very vividly the satisfaction with which Johnny read out in the Refectory the announcement of the appointment of Fr John Keane as his successor as Rector. It was as if he was muttering to himself “that's one in the eye for you, John Sullivan”.

He was unforgettable. He was a Saint.

-oOo-

I was in Clongowes for two years only - 1931-1933 - as a Scholastic, and during those two years Fr John was resident there.

He was Spiritual Father in the community, and he gave the Customary Domestic exhortations in the Domestic Chapel. As a scholastic, I recollect that we were obliged to visit him from time to time and, if we failed in that duty, I recall that he would come to see us in our rooms and talk to us about any matter that we might like to discuss with him. He was always helpful, kind and friendly.

One small matter concerning him remains vividly in my memory. During lunch-time break when we came to the refectory, he would gently ask us to sit down, and he would come around with the tea pot, pouring the tea for us, saying that we were hard at work and that he had nothing to do. While this caused me personally a little embarrassment it also filled me with admiration for his humility and fraternal charity.

We were aware that he regularly visited the poor, the sick and distressed people in the surrounding district and frequently one would see him moving fast - trotting really - down the avenue from the college in pursuit of that work. It was also well known, of course, that people came regularly to consult him and to seek his advice and direction in their troubles, worries and needs. I think I am also right in saying that during school hours (classes, recreation or otherwise) he was always available in a room in the college for pupils who might wish to visit or consult him.

There is nothing further which I feel that I could add of a personal nature concerning Fr John. Of course, all of us were well aware of his undoubted sanctity and his fully committed
Jesuit way of life.

-oOo-

Reams could be written about Fr John. I knew him and had him for my confessor - 1924-1926. Most patient and kind to all of us, especially his class. He had combined sixth year for RK, a most unruly lot and poor Fr John had no control, but we revered and loved him so he got us to learn something about our religion.

I entered the Noviceship from that class and persevered, Fr John's prayers!? One night during recreation I was in the library - Fr John had forgotten to pull down his blind. He was on his knees praying before a crucifix. I didn't read a word watching him - face transformed, immobile. A man devoted to God - all of us know that. May he be raised to the altar.

-oOo-

The only contact I had with Fr Sullivan was a retreat at Emo Park around 1935. Most of us found it rather dull and boring. It was obvious to all of us that he was a very saintly man. He spent very little time at meals, and piety seemed to 'ooze' from him.

He had a great devotion to Our Blessed Lady, and if you met him in the house, or grounds, he had his rosary beads in his hands.

I never lived in the same community, and so I cannot say much more about him.

-oOo-

A master was out ill. Two classes were put together (usually disastrous). Fr John was teaching them religion. He was going through St Luke's Gospel with great fervour but we were talking all the time - this almost entirely because of the mixture of classes. He would read on and comment as if he didn't notice, then he would stop: “Too much talk, too much talk, Jim E. down there you're not listening, not listening to St Luke the most beautiful book in the whole world, not listening there”. But sometimes when our ignorant and unmannerly talking almost drowned him he would get really angry and give out forcefully, mostly in the same words as above. Then he would perceptibly repent of his anger and end up with a joke and as good a smile as he could manage, always with the words: “Can't get a word in edgeways, trying hard, no hope, no hope”.

There had been snow for days and days. Everyone cooped up. no games. During “shop” one day Fr John came down and offered to take his classes - or perhaps the whole Higher Line - out for a walk. A good many came. We went out the front gate and did a circuit on the road. Many walked abreast with him. I forget what he was talking about. It might have been his travels in Greece. Perhaps half way around he struck for home across the snowy fields. Before us we saw a wide slobbery gap into the next field. Cattle had churned a large area of it into slush. Seeing it he repeated “C'mon, c'mon, c'mon” and started off in a wobbly run. I think his hands were up his sleeves. We all joined in and slushed through the muddy gap. We did the same in the next gap.

He was walking down the Higher Line Gallery, keeping close to the wall and very bowed. I saw his knee through a very loosely half-stitched vent in his trouser. Either the gown or the trouser had a green black shiny look.

I was in the infirmary in a room with two others. Fr John came in and knelt in turn at each bed to hear confession. He said a few encouraging words I think, but I don't remember.

He said the boys' Mass every day. Often he would stop on the way out - and I think sometimes on the way in - near the altar rail and speak rapidly with great sincerity and feeling. You didn't understand all he said, but he made an impact.

The windows of the old chemistry room faced across towards the study building, and faced the window of Fr John's room. One day a boy in the class called us over to the window; through the window of Fr John's room we could see him at his kneeler praying. We were not surprised.

His room was off the study stairs, the Higher Line dormitory opened on to the same stairs. On the way down the Mass in the morning the so-called “toughs” used to line up for confession.

-oOo-

As it was my privilege of living for sixteen years in the same community with Fr John, my most vivid recollections of him are his heroic practice of poverty in his personal life, and his utter dedication to all who were poor, to the sick and needy in a wide area around Clongowes. His names is held in awe to this very day by the relatives of all those people he had helped, both spiritually and physically, and indeed, by the many who never met him or had any connection with him. He is a living presence around Clongowes.

Though there are many accounts of Fr John's powers of healing, I am glad to recall Mrs. Tom Smyth's story to me about herself. Long before my time, she was an invalid, and not able to move around. When the family were out, they would close the door for safety sake. On a certain day there was a loud knock on the door. She didn't answer it. Then there was a second, and so she crawled up with the aid of a chair. When she opened it she recognised Fr John. He said he was looking for the invalid. “Can you help me? I am the invalid Father”. He told her to kneel down. It caused her intense suffering. He nearly drowned her with holy water and prayed over her (her own words). That is the limit of my knowledge. She was happily married to Tom Smyth when cured, and lived a long life.

She died only last year. When I was on retreat in Clongowes, I felt sad to think of other days when we played cards in the farm yard with Tom and his wife,

-oOo-

Although I have never lived with Fr John Sullivan as a member of the Jesuit Community at Clongowes, I did, in fact, live for five schools years, 1928-33, under the same roof as “Johnny-O”, as we boys affectionately called him among ourselves. Nor was I taught by him, save on rare occasions when one of our regular teachers being absent, Fr John might be sent to look after us'. I can only recall one such occasion, when he made his usual hurried entry into our noisy classroom and without ado knelt, with head bowed, to recite the “Hail Mary”, as was the custom among the Jesuit masters in my time. With eyes still downcast, but occasionally glancing at the class, he stood before us and put a question on Geography to the class in general. "Where is Bessarabia, there! Bessarabia, there?", Glancing hopefully from one side of the silent class to the other. As I recollect, only one boy gave a satisfactory answer. Father John went on to tell us of some of his personal experiences in the South-Eastern part of Europe, including his visits to the Orthodox Ministries in Greece.

To the query “did I know him?” my first inclination would be to say, “yes, of course, I knew him”. Didn't everyone at Clongowes know him, and know him for what he undoubtedly was, a very holy Jesuit priest, first and last! Didn't he offer Mass, Monday to Friday, in our presence at 7.30 in the morning? Didn't he often ask our prayers for some sick or dying person; for some old Clongownian or Jesuit what had died? Didn't we see him kneeling outside his Confessional, (the one nearest the entrance on the left-hand side) several nights of the week, as we boys came out of supper? Didn't we know that on Saturday nights, the ‘hardened sinners’ amongst us found refuge in his ‘box’!!. Didn't we hear, day in, day out, from Jesuit Brothers, Scholastics and Priests how great was the demand for his help, not only by local people in trouble or in sickness, but from people far off? And more to the point, didn't we see or meet with him as he made his way, hurriedly to be sure, thro' the chattering throng of boys on the old Lower Line Gallery or elsewhere, talking now to one, now to the other?

I recall quite clearly two such occasions when he spoke to me in the midst of the 'madding crowd'. The first was on the noisy Third Line Gallery. I turned around to find him standing behind me with head slightly bowed, and his left hand brushing back the hair off his forehead - (this was a characteristic gesture). “What's your name, boy?” he asked. I told him. “I know your brothers”, was his reply. He then said, “Are you a Pioneer?”, and before I could answer “No, Father”, he said; “You know, you ought to be, for the love of God”. “Yes, Father”, I said. “Be in the Sacristy before Supper”, he replied and was gone. So I became a “probationer” (at the age of 14) on that day and a Pioneer two years later. It didn't cost me anything then or later, thank God, although it was much later that I came to appreciate the graces which flowed from this 'chance' meeting with a holy priest.

The second such meeting was equally unexpected and abrupt. It happened in October 1932, a few months before his death, on February 19th, 1933. He appeared from nowhere in the middle of a crowd of higher-liners and this time with the ghost of a smile on his rugged face, eyes lowered and hands half-clapping. Without any introduction, he kept repeating. “The word is VISCERA, VISCERA, VISCERA, not VISCERIA, VISCERIA. A common word there”. I was nimble in mind in those days and I knew almost immediately that he was correcting my pronunciation of a word - I'm sure there were many others - which occurred in the “Evening Office of the Dead” which the members of the Sodality of Our Lady used recite at their Saturday night meetings in the Sodality Chapel in the Castle. “Thank you, Father”, I muttered, and he ended the interview as he had begun it; “Yes, VISCERA, a very common word, there”. He was off again.

I might underline here a fact about Fr John's spirituality which made a deep and lasting impression upon me. It was his devotion to the Holy Souls. As this is a very Catholic devotion, he must have learned it, either from his mother or after his conversion, when his reading would have opened up the wonderful possibility of his being able to keep his dead relatives and friends for whom, up to this, he was not accustomed to pray. Whenever, or however he came across this practice, he made it part and parcel of his daily prayer life. In his week-day Masses and in his Sodality Masses on Saturdays, we boys were asked to pray for some person recently deceased. On rare occasions, too, we were asked to pray for some “poor man or woman dying in great pain”. The Holy Souls were for him the poorest of the poor because tho' they were in need, they could neither help themselves nor beg for help from the living! The doctrine of the Communion of Saints was one that appealed to him. For Christ's words were as true of them as any of the living: “As often as you do it to one of these, my least brethren, you do it for me”. Father John was ever on the “look-out for Christ in need”.

There was a third meeting which comes to my mind. My two brothers and myself had got permission to go to Dublin on a Playday in Autumn 1931. We had to rise early to catch a Provincial Bus that passed thro' Clane about 7.45 am on its way to the City. As we made our way we came to the straight part of the road which ends at the “Jolly Farmers”, we saw Father John jogging towards us. He evidently had been out on a nearby sick-call or bringing Holy Communion to some regular client and was returning “at speed” lest he be late for the Boys Mass at 8.00 am. He slowed down as he passed saying “God Bless you have a good day there” and was gone. I mention this passing encounter to record what I and the boys of my time frequently witnessed, namely his jogging along the avenue or around the Higher-Line track in the early morning. This, no doubt kept him fit; for physically fit he was, despite the austere life he freely lived so that he might be a minister of God after the example of Christ. Indeed, he had to keep fit, if he was to reach so many sick persons by walking or by riding his bicycle. Although I never saw him riding, I heard about it, some years before I went to Clongowes, from my mother. My eldest brother, John, took very ill at Clongowes on Oct

Born: 02 July 1904, Castletownbere, County Cork
Entered: 08 September 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1935, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 22 April 1977
Died 19 April 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the Xavier Hall, Petaling Jaya. Malaysia community at the time of death

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Father was a shopkeeper.

Younger of two boys with one sister

Educated at Convent and then National schools in Castletownbere, he then went to Mungret College SJ (1918-1922)

Noted in Mungret College Annual as “Edmund Martin Sullivan” and his brother with “Martin-Sullivan” as surname

by 1937 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1939 at Loyola, Hong Kong - working
by 1944 at Xavier, Park St, Calcutta, West Bengal, India (BEL M)

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Edmund Sullivan, S.J.
R.I.P.

It is easy to outline the career of the late Father Edmund Sullivan, SJ. It is almost impossible to give an adequate picture of that dearly loved, ever busy, ever original priest, who died on 19 April 1980 at Kuala Lumpur, aged 75.

Almost twenty years have passed since he left Hong Kong, yet even in this city of short memories he is still held in affectionate regard. The parishioners of St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Petaling Jaya, where he spent his later years, must feel that they have lost a dear friend and an irreplaceable light on the way of life.

Father Sullivan was born at Castletownbeare, Ireland, on 2 July 1904. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1922 and was ordained priest on 31 July 1935. After study of Cantonese, he joined the staff of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. He spent the war years, partly with the Maryknoll Fathers in China, partly in Calcutta, where in addition to doing parish work, he started a much valued centre for the wartime swarm of army chaplains, giving hospitality also to many servicemen of all ranks.

After the war he worked for a time in Canton. When that became impossible he returned to Hong Kong where he taught in Wah Yan College, Kowloon, and worked as a ready helper in the college chapel and in St. Teresa’s Church. It was this church work that made him known to the Catholics of Hong Kong.

In 1961 Father Sullivan moved to Malaysia to become assistant priest at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Petaling Jaya, an industrial suburb of Kuala Lumpur, and remained attached to that church till his death. When the time came at which he, as a foreigner, was told that under Malaysian law he would have to leave the country, the parishioners raised such a clamour of dismay that the government granted him a personal exemption from the law, allowing him to remain though without a specific post.

A fairly typical priestly life! But there was nothing typical about the man himself. Even in the minor details of daily life he was always original. He was a man of the highest courtesy, but this was never conventional courtesy; it always seemed to be a personal tribute evoked by the person he was dealing with. His advice, in the confessional and outside, was treasured, and it was never merely conventional advice; it was always an original judgment on the immediate facts. In his time there he was probably the most carelessly dressed priest in Hong Kong, but he could not shake off the air of being a great gentleman. Throughout his student days, his mind went blank at every examination; he had that much excuse for regarding himself as academically null, but he was a well-read and illuminating commentator on a wide variety of subjects. He was fundamentally serious, but he was always great fun; even those who are lamenting his death smile through their grief as memory after memory comes to mind.

He leaves a record of unstinted kindness, unfailing charm and complete devotion.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 2 May 1980

Father Edmund Sullivan S.J.

A Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the Rev. Father Edmund Sullivan, S.J., who died in Kuala Lumpur on 19 April 1980 will be offered in Wah Yan College, Waterloo Road, Kowloon, at 6:30pm on Monday, 19 May 1980. All are welcome.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 9 May 1980

Mourning for Father Sullivan

Father Edmund Sullivan, S.J., died three days after falling off a retaining wall outside the Jesuit residence here.

For two days and nights, a continuous line of people - young and old, from all walks of life and religious belief - streamed past his body in the St. Francis Xavier Church basement. Mothers with babies in their arms could be seen touching his hands and then, as if to transfer the blessings to their offspring, caressing and patting their babies’ faces. Muslims mingled with Catholics and other Christians to pay their last respects.

The crowd at the funeral Mass was larger than that on Easter Sunday. Archbishop Dominic Vendargon, tears streaming down his face, was the main celebrant. Forty priests concelebrated. Near the end of the Mass, two parishioners read their tribute to Father Sullivan:

“Our very dear Father Sullivan,” “More than anything else, we must say how much we are going to miss you: your ready smile, your cheery word, your inimitable Irish wit, you approachability and availability, your sensitivity and understanding. The days your spent trudging along the streets of Sungei Way and Petaling Jaya radiating simplicity and joy all spoke so eloquently of your genuine saintliness. The innumerable times you brought the healing touch of Christ to those of us discouraged by the weight of sin, always shining through came His spirit of encouragement and loving forgiveness.” The tribute continued in the same Vein.

A close friend says: “Father Sullivan taught me something very precious. He taught me the importance of laughter. He used to laugh at himself a lot. He always saw the funny side of things, and when he fell off the retaining wall outside his home, instead of shouting for help, a Sister found him laughing at the foot of the retaining wall.”

The Jesuits at Xavier Hall have had to lock up Father Sullivan’s room to prevent “looting” by relic hunters. Many stories are circulating about Father Sullivan’s great love for people, especially the poor. “I caught him many times transferring his portion of food off his plate into a plastic bag whenever he thought on one was looking, hiding it in his large pocket to be given to his poor friends in the village,” Marie, the cook says.

His friends ranged from the very rich to the very poor. Often when he was waiting at bus stops, people in Rolls Royces and Mercedes Benzes would stop to offer him rides. Reluctant to put anyone out, he would go wherever the car was heading and conveniently forget to mention his own destination.

Notable among his mail were scruffy slips of paper from his friends in Pudu prison requesting soap and rubber slippers.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 23 May 1980

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 1 1948

Gardiner Street

Fr. R. Kennedy supplied in the Church for some weeks before leaving for China on October 8th. Fr. Brian Kelly has been at work with us since September. He preached on Mission Sunday.

Fr. E. Sullivan stayed with us on two occasions since his arrival from Hong Kong.

Irish Province News 55th Year No 3 1980

Obituary

Fr Edmund Sullivan (1904-1922-1980)

Fr Ned Sullivan entered the novitiate from Mungret in 1922. As that was the year of the civil war in Ireland communications were badly disrupted. Ned’s home town was Castletownbere and to reach the novitiate he had to take a small coastal steamer to Limerick and thence the train to Tullamore. The novicemaster was Fr Michael Browne, from whom Ned received his strong devotion to our Lady which he retained all his life. After juniorate at Rathfarnham he went to Milltown Park for philosophy and then back to Mungret to teach. We met again at Milltown Park for theology. Ned did not find philosophy and theology easy. He suffered from an inferiority complex and had a very low estimate of his own ability. In fact he had a wide knowledge of literature and was a good musician.
After tertianship he was sent to Hong Kong. When the Japanese took the island (1941) Ned, with several others, went to the Maryknoll Fathers in the Wuchow mission. He was posted to a mission station away up in the mountains where he spent a very happy few years working among the Chinese Catholics. The Japanese army invaded this area also and Ned had to move, this time to India.
On the way out from his mountain mission the man carrying his luggage complained of the weight. Ned searched inside to find out what could be got rid of and decided that the two heavy volumes of Genicot's moral theology could be left by the wayside for study by the Japanese soldiers. The American Air Force offered Ned and one or two more a seat in a small plane. The engine of the plane took some time before it decided to start. When it finally got started the plane winged its way over some frightful mountains and aided by Ned’s repeated recital of the rosary, landed safely. This experience did not endear him to air travel.
During his stay in Calcutta Ned worked in a parish and began his confessional apostolate which he kept up till the end of his life. The security police in Calcutta impounded his diary, but failing to make any sense out of his handwriting returned it after a few days.
At the end of the war Ned returned to Hong Kong where he spent a few years before being sent to Malaya to begin a new phase of his life. I have been told that his parishioners looked on Ned as a kind of saint. He himself would have thought this a huge joke. But anyone who has lived with him will agree that it would be hard to find a man more humble, cheerful and self-sacrificing. A man also who was always ready to go anywhere or do anything for the good of souls.

A client of his from Kuala Lumpur sent a touching letter to the Irish Messenger and enclosed a newspaper cutting. The paper said that Fr Sullivan had been found unconscious after Mass on the Tuesday morning (15th April] at about 6.30 a.m. on the steps of the parochial house. His death four days later was reported as due to vesicular failure and head injuries. The client’s letter may be worth quoting in full:
“In speaking of our beloved friend Father Ed Sullivan, we cannot forget the way he used simple and humble things to reach out to souls and to awaken in them a deeper love of God.
When a rosary or a medallion needed to be blessed - Father Ed could be called any time from the rectory for this - he would do it with so much devotion that one went back with one's faith strengthened. Although he was called upon to perform this office countless times, never could it be said that he was ever perfunctory about it, never did he give the impression that he was humouring the superstitions of ignorant people.
In the confessional his absorbing interest was to bring God’s forgiveness and reassurance to the penitent. In my case he would invariably commence his counsel with these words, “You don't want to offend God, do you?” Then he would send me to Mother Mary. It was on such occasions that the face of Jesus could be glimpsed.
Hardly a day passed when he was not called out to straighten out some domestic problem or other. His wide experience of human nature and his easy friendliness always reconciled the disputants.
His devotion to Mother Mary was as unobtrusive as it was steadfast. Every evening after Mass he would join the congregation for the rosary. By this example and by his sympathetic understanding of their problems, he was able to lead back to Mary many errant charismatics. He liked Pius XII’s definition of the rosary - a compendium of the gospels - and often used it in his talks.
In spite of his infirmities, which towards the end of his life made walking very painful for him, he remained cheerful and would readily make himself available for blessing homes, saying Masses there or bringing the Bread of Life to the sick. He even joked about his infirmities. Many were the occasions when, recalling a line from St John Gogarty, he would laughingly tell me that consumption cared not for fair face or blonde hair.
On the night before he died, I was at his bedside reading him prayers from Dermot Hurley's Everyday Prayer Book. I am particularly happy that on that occasion I was inspired to read to him the prayer of consecration to Mary by St Francis de Sales, saying it on his behalf. May his soul rest in peace. (Signed: Joesph B Lopez, Railway station, Kuala Lumpur).

The client enclosed a brochure used at the funeral service: it had been typed and polycopied on foolscap-size paper and ran to 16 pages, mostly of hymns - including two of Fr Sullivan’s favourites - with a full-page tribute in the form of a letter to Fr Sullivan from his parishioners. The chief celebrant at the Mass was the archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Dominic Vendargon

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1950

News from Mungret Missionaries

Father Edmund M Sullivan SJ

Fr E Sullivan SJ (22), is now in Communist occupied Canton. We give an extract from his diary, prior to the occupation by the Communists :

Thursday, Oct. 13th: Things are beginning to happen in the city ... the streets are dangerously full of military cars . . . evidently getting out ... there seemed to be a panic ... we are guarding the house to-night. Fr Kennedy has drawn up a list of watchers reminiscent of the Adoration list on Holy Thursday night ... Incidentally we have no electric light. The new transformer down the road has been stolen and nothing can be done about it. I am glad we are staying. I think people expect it of us . . . I suppose there will be a “between” period when we cannot go out. One feels much literary planning going on in one's mind. We shall have time now to read all those books whose backs we know , . . It is great to feel that we are all part of a great body which is praying for us all here and actually worried about us.

Friday, Oct. 14th: My private pupils came much to my surprise., .. We heard that a train of refugees to Hong Kong only got as far a Sheklung. The poor people; they always suffer ... I passed the police barracks and talked to the police ... They wanted to know what country I was from. Poor old Ireland ... people always think I say Holland. All the evening there have been all kinds of explosions in the Tin Hoi airfield. The dumps are evidently being blown up ... It is quite near to the little Sisters of the Poor.

Saturday, Oct. 15th: So it has happened. Apparently they came in this morning. Those who saw them said they were led to their places by the police ... the town is quiet and everyone is relieved that the change came so easily. When we came home, we saw Fr O'Meara of the Cathedral. He is alright. He called to see the Little Sisters of the Poor. They were quite near the explosions and while admiring the fireworks effect had a noisy night ... it will be interesting to see if there are many at Mass to-morrow.

Sunday, Oct. I6th: There was the usual crowd at Mass. I think there was no dropping off through fear, I got off the bus at the Hon Man road. There were dumps of books and magazines everywhere. People were buying them. I saw a most appropriate book, Benson's “Lord of the World”. The last time I read it was as a boy at Mungret. I never thought that I would see it in practice, Grace is still working even under the Five Stars. Fr Egan was entertaining a prospective student convert this evening.

Wednesday, Oct. 19th: We had our first air raid from the Nationalists. I believe they tried to bomb the Railway station ... most of the shops are open. Prices are going up hour by hour :.. I hear planes again.

Early this year Fr. O'Sullivan wrote of life in the new regime :

People are beginning to start off new ways of living. There will be less English taught in the schools but more Russian. Many who started to learn Russian are giving it up. I know one class which in three weeks has dropped from 200 to 20. The food position is all right at present and rice is cheap since most of the farmers have brought a lot of it to town to be sold for the army has a habit of taking “loans” of rice from the farmers.

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

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

Transcribed : HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931

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

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

Catholic pries; schoolteacher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Temple Gardens, Rathmines, Dublin

Born: 12 March 1818, Killarney, County Kerry
Entered: 23 January 1851, Clongowes Wood College SJ, Naas, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1862
Died: 14 January 1893, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He spent almost all his Jesuit life at Clongowes as Horticulturalist. He had charge of the Farm for many years.
1866 He was sent to care for his own health to Tullabeg, where he led a most saintly life. He was a model Brother all through his hard life. He died at Tullabeg 14 January 1893.

Born: 15 August 1800, Coolmain, County Cork
Entered: 29 August 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)
Final vows: 15 August 1856
Died: 25 June 1881, Florissant MO, USA - Missouriana Province (MIS)

The Sun Fire Office originated in a business established by Charles Povey in 1708 and known as the Exchange House Fire Office. This office used the Sun symbol as its firemark and became commonly known as the Sun Fire Office. The business was taken over by the Company of London Insurers in 1710 and formally constituted as a partnership known as the Sun Fire Office.

The company has had a number of addresses within the City of London. Initially the business of the new company was conducted from a room in Causey's coffee house in St Paul's Churchyard, moving to an office in Sweetings Rents near the Royal Exchange in 1711. The city office subsequently moved to Threadneedle street (1727 - 1763), Cornhill (1763 - 1766), Bank Street (1766 - 1843 and Bartholomew Street (1843 onwards). In 1726, the Craig's Court branch in Charing Cross was opened to deal with business in the west of London. In 1793 a separate department was set up at headquarters to deal with country policies. Some of the records reflect these divisions.

The company set up its first foreign agency in 1836 and its first major overseas market was in Germany. It expanded its business outside Europe with the setting up of an agency at Smyrna in Turkey in 1863. Business also expanded to include India, the Far East, China, Australasia, the United States, South Africa, the West Indies, South America and Canada

In 1891, the office changed its name to Sun Insurance Office ltd. It merged with the Alliance Insurance Company in 1959 to become part of the Sun Alliance Group. Since 1996 has been part of the Royal and Sun Alliance Group plc.

St Omer

Born: 21 December 1726, Wexford Town, County Wexford
Entered: 20 May 1754, Genoa, Italy - Venetiae Province (VEM)
Ordained: Rome - pre entry
Final Vows: 08/08/1764
Died: 30 April 1769, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ
DOB 21 December 1726 Wexford; Ent 24 May 1754 Genoa; Ord pre Ent Rome;
Had studied at Irish College Rome and was Ordained there before Ent 24 May 1754 Genoa

1754-1758 After First Vows he was sent to teach Humanities at Bastia College, Corsica
1758-1759 Sent to Rome as Spiritual Father and Prefect of Studies at the Irish College
1759-1763 Sent to the English College as Prefect of Studies
1763 Sent as Penitentiary at St Peter’s 24 March 1763 after which his career cannot be traced beyond 08 August 1764

◆ In Old/17

Born: 09 February 1933, 83 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin
Entered: 22 October 1955, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 15 August 1966, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 26 July 2010, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

by 1959 at Rome, Italy - Sec to President of CC. M.M.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/versatile-jim-2/

Versatile Jim
With the death of Brother Jim Sutton last week, the Irish Jesuits lost a quiet man of multiple talents. Born in Glasnevin, and schooled by the Christian Brothers in Scoil Mhuire,
Marino, he was bright enough to win a scholarship into the ESB. Having trained as an electrician he entered the Society at 22. That was his most familiar role in the Province: he wired, rewired, fixed and constructed and maintained plant in most of our houses, leaving a precious legacy behind him. His other talents were less well known. He ran with Donore Harriers, played brilliant hurling with St Vincent’s Club, and could bring a party to life with his banjo. In this last year he pulled himself back from a life-threatening sickness to brighten the surrounds of Cherryfield with its brilliant flower beds. He is remembered with great affection.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 143 : Autumn 2010

Obituary

Br Jim Sutton (1926-2009)

9th February 1933: Born in Co. Dublin
Early education in Scoil Mhuire, Marino; Ringsend Technical College;
ESB apprentice; Qualified electrician.
22nd October 1955: Entered the Society at Emo
12th January 1958: First Vows at Emo
1958 - 1959: Curia Rome - Secretary
1959 - 1970: Milltown Park Community - Electrician, Plant maintenance
1965 - 1966: Tullabeg - Tertianship
15th August 1966: Final Vows
1970 - 1983: Manresa House - Electrician, Plant maintenance
1983 - 1997: Gonzaga Community - Consultant Electrician and Painter (Province Communities and Apostolates)
1997 - 2010: Gonzaga Community - Assisting the sick and elderly
14th October 2009: Admitted to Cherryfield Lodge
26th July 2010: Died in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Myles O'Reilly writes:
It was very striking when Jim Sutton died how much he was grieved for, not only by family and friends but by the Cherryfield staff itself. A bright, intelligent, cheerful man, sparkling with life, was gone out of their lives. They had witnessed the ordeal he went through the previous 6 months with one doctor insisting that he continue to be plied with heavy doses of antibiotics to keep his knees from becoming re-infected again; and the other, his heart specialist, equally adamant that his heart and body could sustain no more antibiotics. He was between a rock and a hard place and it was only a matter of time before one would prevail over the other. During those months he was a defiant figure and a comic sight to see in a wheel chair, being pushed by Brendan Hyland and Tom-Tom around the grounds of Cherryfield, giving the orders and they digging holes and planting flowers where he wanted them planted according to his master plan! They grew the flowers from seed in Gonzaga garden and transferred them to Cherryfield when the time was right. When you go into Cherryfield grounds now, you cannot but be struck by the beauty of the flowers which are a tribute to Jim's dream garden.

Jim was born in Gardiner St., but early in his childhood his parents moved to Donnycarney, where he and his 3 elder sisters were raised. He went to Colaiste Scoil Mhuire Marino and Ringsend Tech. In his growing up years he played the banjo and sang with the “Black and White Minstrel Show” a group founded by his uncle. He loved the GAA and played in goal with the St Vincent's hurling team. He was a passionate follower of the Dublin footballers all his life and blamed their demise in recent years to their picking too many players from south of the Liffey! His father was a foreman in the docks, which gave rise to Jim wanting to be a tug-boat pilot guiding ships up the Liffey from the sea. Providentially he did not get the job on health grounds, and came to be one of two who was picked out by ESB from Ringsend Tech to become ESB apprentice electricians. This exposed him to doing a retreat in Rathfarnham Castle which in turn led to his wanting to become a Jesuit brother. He finished his training as an electrician and joined the Jesuits in 1955.

He finished his novitiate late due to a stint in hospital from a hurling injury to his knee which he acquired in the novitiate. After novitiate he was sent to Rome to be a secretary to some sodality - without any Italian, and without having ever put a page in a typewriter! A few American Jesuits there kept him sane for two difficult years. From there he was sent back to Milltown Park to be plant manager and electrician. Over the eleven years he spent there, he and Jimmy Lavin must have painted every corridor and room in the house as well as doing all the necessary electrical work. You could often hear them laughing in their practical world at us students living in our intellectual world of books scurrying to classes, puffing ourselves up with knowledge - but most of us could hardly change a plug! Next Jim was sent to Manresa for 3 years and developed the role of being electrician and painter for the whole province. This meant buying a car and hiring some lay people to do the job with him. He continued in this work throughout his Gonzaga years up to 1997 until he was forced to retire from his bad knees and other health complications.

All through all those years, Jim developed a great love of nature. He could name every tree, flower and bird. Mary Oliver's short poem said it all. “Be Attentive, Be astonished, And tell of it”. He loved to grow flowers from seed and beautify the grounds of Gonzaga and Cherryfield from the full grown flowers.

Through Br Peter Doyle, he got a great interest in fishing. Br Brendan Hyland tells a story how he and Jim went for a weekend to somewhere in the ring of Kerry to fish. They armed themselves with all the latest fishing tackle and lovely new rods, and lay them carefully out on the rocks with their packed lunches to take stock of where to first cast their rods. All of a sudden a big wave came in, swept over them and took all their gear off out to sea. Brendan shocked, looked at Jim for his reaction to their dilemma. To his surprise Jim just sat down and broke his sides laughing! He was never far from seeing the funny side of things.

Jim was inclined to quickly like or dislike people. One person he intensely disliked was Senator Norris. He and Br Hyland took a weekend off once and stayed in a B & B. To his horror, Senator Norris was staying there too. But Senator Norris's charming, witty and intelligent conversation won him over! It showed up another side to Jim; he loved a good intelligent conversation, loved people who were well informed and well-read, which he tended to be himself. Those who spent time with him outside the Society tell me that he never missed daily mass, liked to say the rosary in the car and loved to stop and pray in little well-kept country churches.

Jim loved a good joke. Even in his last 5 years, when life was just one operation after another, he kept his humour and his zest for life. Up to 4 days before he died, he was still planning how to improve the garden in Cherryfield. Most of his last 4 days were spent in a semi coma. There was one brief moment where he came out of the coma. He was awakened by the voice of Linda, the cook from Gonzaga. He opened his eyes and with a big smile gave Linda and Mary McGreer and others who were there a big hug. After that he never regained consciousness and died peacefully 2 days later. May he rest in peace.

Born: 26 July 1847, Cork City, County Cork
Entered: 18 January 1868, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1881, St Beuno’s, Wales
Final Vows: 02 February 1888, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Died: 14 April 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

His brother Abraham (later Sir Abraham Sutton) was in the Noviceship for a short time. (Ent 05/07/1869; LEFT 27/12/1871; RIP 1886)

Early education at Queen’s College, Cork (UCC) and Clongowes Wood College SJ then Trinity College, Dublin

by 1870 at Aix-les-Bains France (LUGD) studying
by 1871 at Roehampton London (ANG) studying
by 1872 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1879 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His brother Abraham (later Sir Abraham Sutton) was in the Noviceship for a short time. (Entered 05 July 1869; left 27 December 1871; RIP 1886) (Mayor of Cork. The Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork was built as his home).

Early Education at Clongowes. Had studied Medicine at Trinity before entered.

He was sent to Stonyhurst for Philosophy and did his Regency as a teacher first in Galway and then Tullabeg.
He was then sent to St Beuno’s for Theology.
After Ordination he made Tertianship at Dromore.
Later he taught Juniors and was a Teacher at Belvedere and Mungret.
1890 He was appointed Rector and Master of Novices at Tullabeg.
After that he was sent as Vice-Rector to Milltown, and then Rector or Vice-Rector at Mungret.
1912 He returned to Tullabeg and did some teaching of Scholastics there. He was in bad health for a number of years and he died there 14 April 1922.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father William Sutton 1847-1922
Fr William Sutton was born in Cork on July 26th 1847. Before entering the Society he studied medicine at Trinity College. Not for long however, for he became a Jesuit in 1868.

He was one of those who made their tertianship in Dromore. He became Master of Novices and Rector at Tullabeg in 1890. He was after Vice-Rector at Milltown and Rector of Mungret.

He had a great interest in the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy and collected a fine libraery on this topic, which is still in existence in Mungret.

A man of the deepest spirituality and ascetic character, he was also a great humorist, splendid at recreation, most kindly in disposition and paternal to his brethren as Superior.

He was in bad health for many years and died in Tullabeg on April 14th 1922.

◆ The Clongownian, 1922

Obituary

Father William Sutton SJ

The narrative of Fr Sutton's life is simple. Son of a well-known business family in Cork, he was born in 1847. After some years schooling in his native city, he was sent to Clongowes, where he remained for about two years. At Clongowes he was a steady student, but took little interest in the games. When he had finished Rhetoric, he went to Dublin to study medicine. This period of his life appears to have been less satisfactory. He took more interest in amusement than in medicine, and ever afterwards he spoke bitterly of himself as having been supremely idle. Finally, he fell very dangerously ill of typhoid fever, . His life was only saved by the devoted care of a Bon Secour nun. To her he owed more than his life. To her he owed his vocation to religion, and all his life after he entertained for her, not only the warmest gratitude, but also the deepest veneration. In 1868 he entered the Jesuit Noviceship at Milltown Park. He was then a little over twenty years of age. There was some quiet fun amongst the novices when Mr Sutton arrived. He was dressed in the very latest and choicest fashion. One article of his attire especially attracted their attention. It was an overcoat of dark green stuff, then quite in vogue. Soon, however, the brilliant overcoat paid a visit to the dye-works, and returned in very clerical black. After his noviceship, Mr Sutton made his studies of Rhetoric, Philosophy and Theology, almost exclusively in Our English houses of study. He was ordained priest at St Beuno's, North Wales, in 1882. Towards the end of that year he was sent to Mungret College, which was just then opened. After two years' teaching there he was sent to Dromore as Assistant Master of Novices. In 1888 he returned to Mungret as Prefect of Studies and Master. In 1890 he was appointed Master of Novices until 1895, when he was made Rector of Milltown Park and Professor of Theology. This latter position he held for two years, when he was devoted exclusively to his duties as Rector. In 1903 he was sent back to Mungret as Vice-Rector, but this post he had to resign after two years owing to failing health, and he was occupied exclusively in teaching until 1910, when he was sent to Tullabeg. By this time his health had become so broken down that he was unable to undertake active work. Gradually, but very steadily, his infirmities increased, although his courage, resignation and robust cheerfulness, seemed rather to increase than to fail, until after some months of intense suffering he slept in the peace of Christ on the 14th April, 1922, in his 76th year,

It is no easy task to attempt to write a memoir of Fr Sutton. It is not indeed that his life was not one of high distinction and remarkable results. He was a man of great talent, great character, and his work was fruitful in rich and blessed harvest. But, while all this was thoroughly appreciated and honoured by the Jesuits who knew him, his career led him along quiet paths where no great events of public importance startled the attention of the outside world and where no flashes of unwonted splendour or no achievements of historic note dazzled or delighted the mind or soul of the stranger or of the passerby. His was always a student's life. It was also, after his early years spent in learning Literature, Philosophy and Theology, the life of a teacher. He was always a constant and most thoughtful reader, nor was he ever satisfied to live on the capital of knowledge which he had amassed. After that he had been Professor of English and Classic Literature, of Philosophy and Theology, he was a student still. Nor yet again was his labour confined to the limits of human and sacred learning. He entered into the wide and exalted sphere of the science of the soul itself. As Master of Novices for many years he was a devout student of asceticism, and a wise ex pounder of the principles, as well as an experienced guide in the exercises of the science of spiritual life.

In Holy Scripture his favourite study was the Book of Wisdom, which he almost knew by heart, and which he quoted constantly and very appropriately applied. On one occasion a Jesuit Father was passing through Thurles and called on Dr Croke to present his respects. As they were chatting together in the great Archbishop's study, the latter said to him: “Your Father William Sutton has been giving their eight day Retreat to the Nuns next door. Each evening he came in to pay me a visit, and for an hour or two he would sit in that armchair distilling wisdom”.

Amongst profane authors, Father Sutton loved Shakespeare most. He knew innumerable long passages perfectly by heart, and during the long walks which he frequently took while at Mungret, Tullabeg or Milltown Park, he used to brighten and refresh himself by repeating some of them aloud. Yet he was a convinced and redoubtable Baconian. On the occasion of the great Centenary at Stonyhurst, Father Sutton, who was then Rectorat Milltown Park, was a welcome and honoured guest. One day at Recreation a number of eminent English Fathers, devout worshippers of William Shakespeare, knowing that Father Sutton held that Bacon was the real Author of the Plays, subjected himn to a fierce bombardment. An Irish Father present suggested that it was a matter not for eloquent denunciation but for argument. Whether Father Sutton's view was right or wrong, he had so thoroughly mastered both sides of the question that he succeeded in completely silencing the enemies batteries.

There are many who only knew one side of Father Sutton's character. He had an intense and delightful sense of humour. He could be most genial in conversation, and very few could tell a quaint or witty story or bring out the real point of a witticism as well as he could. He was most good humoured, and he had a deep natural fund of sympathy. He was also delightfully and unswervingly straight and just, and a most loyal champion of fair play. But there was another aspect of his character not known to all, even of those friends who had lived long with him. Underneath it all there was a deep, dark and almost constant feeling of depression. He had his dismal moments, and they were both frequent and enduring. He was able, with the aid of a sort of philosophic cynicism, to battle with them but not to brighten them. The only sunshine that brought brightness and joy into his life was his child-like Faith and his “indomitable” trust in the truth and love of the Supernatural. Amongst many articles which he contributed to the Irish Monthly, there was one on “Looking on the Bright Side”. To one very great friend of his who had known himn intimately from boyhood until his death, this essay was sadly amusing. It came to this: “Life at the very best is a bad job. Try to make the best of it”.

Father Sutton was not an orator. He could speak with great emphasis and impressiveness. The intensity of his conviction exercised its magnetism upon his hearers, but his style was rough, frequently out of joint and jerky, It is strange that one who so thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed the great Classic and English Authors should not have gained from the reading of them more sense of smoothness, rhythm and beauty. Yet, after all, there is room not merely for varieties, but even for vast differences in style, and what to one may seemn uncouth, ponderous, or even discordant, may by that very fact gain an entry into minds that would be made suspicious, or per haps hostile, if the meaning were clothed in a literary garb of exquisite taste and faultless loveliness.

In spite of the intense pain and unnerving exhaustion from dropsy and heart disease, Father Sutton's death was a very happy one. For months he had looked forward with unclouded calm of mind and deep longing of the soul to his death. It was a sunset which lit up with supernatural radiance and super natural anticipation of the great day to dawn, the long and meritorious life which he was giving through his death-sleep unto God. RIP

Robert Kane SJ

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1922

Obituary

Father William Sutton SJ

Rev W Sutton, a native of Cork, was but a little over twenty years of age, and at the time a medical student in Dublin, when, in 1868, he entered the Society of Jesus. He made most of his studies at St Bueno's Theological Seminary, Wales. Having been ordained priest, he was sent by his superiors to Mungret College in 1882. The College was being opened by the Jesuit Fathers for the first time in the September of that year. Fr Sutton at the time of his death was almost the last survivor of the community that took part in the opening. Only the Rev Joseph de Maistre SJ, now remains of the Mungret community of that year. Fr de Maistre was then a young scholastic, and happily is still alive and working as a priest of the Society of Jesus in Paris. Fr Sutton remained in Mungtet for two years as Master, and Prefect of Studies. In 1884 he went to Dromore, where the Noviceship of the Irish Province then was, to do his third year probation and act as assistant to the Master of Novices. He returned to Mungret in 1888 to resume his former post, which he retained till he was appointed to the important position of Master of Novices at Tullabeg in 1890.

Of the students who were in Mungret under Fr Sutton's direction the greater number are now priests, some working in the diocese of Limerick; many in different dioceses of the United States, while not a few are members of the Society of Jesus, or other religious orders. All probably without exception, would gladly acknowledge the great influence Fr Sutton exercised on their carly formation. As teacher and Prefect of Studies he was exceptionally kind and genial. He rarely if ever exercised or tried to exercise any coercive force. But his great store of common sense, his well-balanced judgment, his pre-eminent sense of justice and fair play, and his love of straight and manly dealing gave him great influence with all those under his care, and tended strongly to evoke and develop these same qualities in them. Above all, his wide and varied culture and his scholarly mind had a deep and lasting influence on his pupils, Several of these have since become distinguished as writers and preachers, and have always been ready to acknowledge their indebtedness to Fr Sutton's early training. He did much to encourage independent literary composition in the students, and owing in no small measure to his kindly encouragement and direction, many of the pupils of those years laid the foundation of literary tastes and conceived intellectual ambitions which in some cases have since borne remarkable fruit.

In the Mungret Annual of Christmas, 1897 (p. 22) occurs an interesting reference to Fr Sutton by one of his pupils. The latter, then a secular priest, working on the American mission, sends to the Mungret Annual for publication a beautiful English translation of Horace's well-known ode, “Exegi Monumentum”, etc., and adds: “This ode always commended itself to me, both for the sentiment and the form ever since the time our attention was called to it by the dear old party. (sit venia nomini) to whose quiet, human and sympathetic treatment of the classics I for one can trace a large share of the happiness of my life”.

During all these years Fr Sutton was a frequent contributor to “The Irish Monthly”. Some of his article were on purely literary subjects. Many were very humorous. Several were more or less the meditations of a philosophic thinker on the problems of life, in culcating a broad, genial and hopeful view of its difficulties. In the “Mungret Annual” of June, 100 (pp. 48-49) (Jubilee Number) are found some interestin extracts from a historical poem* of his on “The Irish Education Question”, in which he humorously depicts Gladstone striving to hew down the “upas tree of British anti-Catholic bigotry”.

In 1895 Fr. Sutton was appointed Rector of Milltown Park and Professor of Dogmatic Theology. The latter function he retained only for a couple of years but he remained Rector of the College till 1903, when he again returned to Mungret as Vice-Rector. It was during his last years in Milltown Park that he began to take an enthusiastic interest in the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy, and contributed several articles to reviews in support of the opinion which identified the writer of the Shakespearian plays with Lord Bacon, the author of the Nouvm Organum. In 1903 Fr. Sutton published on this subject a book called “The Shakespearian Enigma”, which had only a limited success. To the end, however, he remained a convinced Baconian.

In 1905 Fr Sutton, whose health had begun to decline, was relieved of his duties as Vice-Rector when Fr T V Nolan was appointed Rector of the College. But Fr. Sutton remained in Mungret as a member of the College teaching staff till 1910. Being then no longer able to continue his work as master, he was transferred to St Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. Here he spent the last eleven years of his life, happy and cheerful, remaining to the end a model of religious observance, and always maintaining a lively interest in his literary studies. During these years he continued to contribute to the “Irish Monthly”, “The Irish Ecclesiastical Record”, etc, articles mainly on literary and philosophical or theological subjects.

Fr Sutton was exceptionally interesting in conversation. He was widely read, and had a very retentive and accurate memory. In discussions during recreation with his own community he was looked upon as a kind of Samuel Johnson, whose opinion was constantly asked for and usually carried much weight; but he was entirely free from Johnson's dogmatism. His fund of anecdote was inexhaustible and his sense of humour and power of narrating personal experiences with humorous flavour were remarkable. His views of human life were very consoling and helpful. “God's wonderful plan in the world”, he used to say, “is like a piece of exquisite and perfect embroidery; but often we see only the seamy side of the pattern”. Hisconstant advice was: “Look on the bright side of things”. “It is a great act of charity to others”, he would say, “to look cheerful even when you cannot feel so!” In his spiritual life he had a specially strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and did much to instil the same into those with whose spiritual and religious formation he was entrusted. His humility and obedience were very remarkable, and the candour and honesty of his whole character were quite refreshing.

Fr. Sutton's pupils will sincerely regret his loss, and many others will cherish a respectful and affectionate recollection of him as a kindly, cultured and sympathetic teacher and a very sincere friend,

His happy death, the approach of which he often spoke of with peaceful longing, took place on Holy Saturday, April 15th, 1922, after a painful illness of some months. RIP

English assistant to the Jesuit superior general, the Canadian John L. Swain.

Born: 09 February 1921, Magerafelt, County Derry
Entered: 14 November 1939, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 11 December 1940

Father (a Donegal man) worked in the Department of Justice in Dublin and moved the family to Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin. Mother was a Roscommon woman.

Eighth in a family of 12, with six brothers (he is second youngest) and five sisters.

Early education was at St Mary’s Haddington Road, then went to Synge Street CBS at age 10. After school he went for one year to study Medicine at UCD.

Born: 15 August 1786, Ireland
Entered: 12 November 1812 - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Final vows: 02 February 1826
Died: 02 June 1848, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)

Born: 30 September 1634,County Meath / County Dublin
Entered: 15 August 1652, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1659, Salamanca, Spain
Final Vows: 15 August 1669
Died: 07 October 1683, Talavera de la Reina, Castile-La Mancha, Spain - Toletanae Province (TOLE)

1655 At Compostella Age 22 Soc 3. Studying 3rd year Philosophy.
1660 At Pamplona College as Minister. Good talent and judgement
1665-1672 At Oviedo CAST teaching Grammar and Minister
1675 Not in Catalogue
Taught Philosophy and Theology at Ávila (no dates)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1674 Procurator of Irish Mission, Madrid
Names in a letter of Christopher Mendoza, Madrid dated c 1675 -He was procurator at Madrid (A Copy at the Archives de l’État, Brussels, is given in “Collectio Cardwelli” Vol iii Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
Accused by Titus Oates and mentioned in the false narrative (cf : “Records SJ” Vol v, pp 97 seq)
Mentioned occasionally in the “Note and Letter-book” of Father John Warner, ANG Provincial, and now in the Cambridge Public Library.
His letters are in Salamanca

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
1654-1659 After First Vows he was sent for studies first to Compostella and then Salamanca where he was Ordained 1659
1659-1664 Sent as Minister and teaching Humanities at Pamplona and then Oviedo
1665-1669 Rector Irish College Santiago. He was known also to conduct parish missions from there.
1669-1672 Taught Moral Theology at Oviedo and later at Avilá.
1672-1682 General appoints him as Rector at Irish College Seville, at the request of the students, but he pleaded his indifferent health against acceptance of the post. Instead, on the representations of the Superior of the Irish Mission, Jerome was appointed Procurator of the mission and of the Irish Colleges (Santiago, Salamanca, and Seville) at Madrid, and against the opposition of the Provincial of TOLE
1682 Out of the blue he was commanded by a Royal Decree to leave Spain forthwith. The charges against him cannot now be specified but it can be surmised that the sum of his offence had something to do with his success in winning financial help for the Mission and Colleges to the (alleged) detriment of the Spanish Jesuits establishments. Protests and memorials from the Irish in Spain failed to move the King. The General pronounced him innocent of the charges and arranged for him to settle in the province of Portugal. He died on his way there at Talavera 07 October 1683

Born: 01 August 1708, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 29 May 1724, Seville, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)
Ordained: 29 May 1733, Granada, Spain
Final Vows: 15 August 1742, Clonmel, County Tipperary
Died: 07 December 1751, Antequera, Spain - Baeticae Province (BAE)

1742 Makes Profession of 4 Vows at Clonmel before Fr Thomas Hennessy, his Superior and teacher of Irish
At Clongowes are many of his books marked “Lenardus Sweetman SJ Res Dublin”. Seems to have been a learned man of scientific and antiquarian tastes. In Nary’s “History of the World” he writes - Leonardus Sweetman, SOoc IHS Resid Dublin, emit an 1738”

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Passed a brilliant course of Philosophy and Divinity at Granada
1734 Dean at Seville College
1735 Sent to Ireland (Dr McDonald’s letter to Hogan)
1750 At Dublin Residence (in a book in Clongowes - Leonard Sweetman, Res Dublin SJ)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of James of Dunboyne and Punchestown
Early education was at the Dublin Jesuit School under Milo O’Byrne and Michael Murphy, before Ent 29 May 1724 Seville
1726-1733 After First Vows he was sent to Granada for studies and was Ordained there 29 May 1733
1733-1734 Made Tertianship at Granada
1734-1735 Sent as Minister to Irish College Seville
1735-1742 Sent to Ireland and the Jesuit School in Dublin
1742-1746 Sent back to Spain for health reasons, and proposed for a Chair in Philosophy at Granada
1746-1748 Sent to teach Moral Theology at Cadiz, but had to retire for health reasons
1749 Tried to accept a Chair in Philosophy at Córdoba, but he was not able for it and retired to Antequera, where he died 07 December 1751
His carta necrologica mentioned his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and he may well have been the first Jesuit to have introduced the devotion to Dublin
He had never wanted to leave Ireland and go to Spain, but his physical frailty made the rigours of Ireland in penal times impossible for him. So it was the Mission Superior, Thomas Hennessy, who made the decision for him.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Leonard Sweetman 1708-1751
Father Leonard Sweetman was born in Dublin of a pious and distinguished family in 1708. He received his early education from the Jesuits. From his early youth he showed great signs of holiness, so that he was known among his companions as “the little Jesuit”. At the age of sixteen he entered the noviceship of St Louis at Seville.

Having completed his third year probation he was sent back to Ireland, where he laboured with extraordinary zeal and amid great hardships. He won back many heretics to the fold. On August 15th he made his solemn vows at Clonmel. On the same day, an order reached him from Fr General Francis Retz, recalling him to Spain. Whereupon he immediately set out for the port of embarkation, Waterford, with no other luggage than his breviary and the clothes he stood up in.

In Spain he professed Philosophy and Theology until his health broke down, and e then devoted himself to Apostolic work. He wrought numerous conversions among the Protestant merchants of Cadiz. He died at the age of 43 in Antequera in Andalusia, on December 7th 1751. He was always remarkable for his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady.

Born: 20 March 1914, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 12 September 1931, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1945, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 April 1983, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 23 October 1996, Glengara Nursing, Glenageary, County Dublin

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

Father was a barrister and then retired with mother to farming, living at Derrybawn, Glendalough.

Fourth of five boys with six sisters.

Early education at Mount St Benedicts, Gorey, Wexford for one year he then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

https://www.dib.ie/biography/sweetman-michael-a8409

Born: 24 November 1863, Australia (born at sea coming from Ireland to Brisbane)
Entered: 07 November 1903, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 01 August 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1916, St Mary’s, Miller Street, Sydney, Australia
Died: 15 November 1918, HQ 2nd Australian Div, Wandsworth Military Hospital, London, England

First World War chaplain

Born off the Australian shore in the “Norman Morrison” where his parents were emigrating to Queensland from Ireland. Father was a carpenter and died a Protestant of the Church of England in 1867. Mother was a Catholic and died in 1894.

He was seventh in a family of eight with six living.

Early education at Catholic schools in Ipswich and Brisbane in Queensland. Then His he went to the the Ipswich Grammar School, Queensland, where he had been granted a scholarship. He passed the junior public examination of the University of Sydney in six subjects at the age of fourteen, and passed the senior public examination of the University of Sydney in nine subjects in 1881. He also won a Queensland Government University Exhibition that was worth £100 per year for three years, which entitled him to attend any university in the Empire.
He decided to attend The University of Melbourne and took degrees of BA, MA and LLB. The MA degree with second class honours was taken in 1890 at the school of history, political economy and jurisprudence. In 1886 he won a scholarship for Ormond College, and later won the Oratory Prize. In 1891 he was called to the Bar in Melbourne and a month later to the Queensland Bar where he practised until 17 August 1903. He taught honours history and mathematics at Xavier College while reading for the Bar.

However, surprise was noted among those who knew him when at the age of 40 he decided to enter the Society of Jesus, 7 November 1903, being impressed with the way the Society worked for the missions and the poor. He also desired to work among Protestants.

by 1906 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
Came to Australia 1909
by 1918 Military Chaplain : HQ and Australian Division Training, BEF France

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had studied for the Australian Bar before Entry and had some position in the Courts.

After his Noviceship he studied Philosophy at Louvain, and later Theology at Milltown.
1911 He was in Australia and was an Operarius at St Mary’s, Sydney.
1915 He made Tertianship at Loyola (Sydney??)
1918 He came over to Europe as Chaplain to the Australian Troops HQ 2nd Australian Div Training, BEF France. He was invalided to a London Hospital and died there of pneumonia 15 November 1918. He had a military funeral to the Jesuit plot at Kensal Green.

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : 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 Edward Sydes SJ, serving with the Australian forces, would die from a blood clot, four days after the Armistice.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/commemorating-the-sesquicentenary-of-the-arrival-of-irish-jesuits-in-australia/

Commemorating the sesquicentenary of the arrival of Irish Jesuits in Australia
This year the Australian Province of the Jesuits are commemorating the sesquicentenary of the arrival of Irish Jesuits in Australia. Australia became the first overseas mission of the Irish Jesuit Province. To mark the occasion the Archdiocese of Melbourne are organising a special thanksgiving Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne 27 September. On 20 June Damien Burke, Assistant Archivist, Irish Jesuit Archives gave a talk at the 21st Australasian Irish Studies conference, Maynooth University, titled “The archives of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia, 1865-1931”. In his address Damien described the work of this mission with reference to a number of documents and photographs concerning it that are held at the Irish Jesuit Archives.
Irish Jesuits worked mainly as missionaries, and educators in the urban communities of eastern Australia. The mission began when two Irish Jesuits Frs. William Lentaigne and William Kelly, arrived in Melbourne in 1865 at the invitation of Bishop James Alipius Goold, the first Catholic bishop of Melbourne. They were invited by the Bishop to re-open St. Patrick’s College, Melbourne, a secondary school, and to undertake the Richmond mission. From 1865 onwards, the Irish Jesuits formed parishes and established schools while working as missionaries, writers, chaplains, theologians, scientists and directors of retreats, mainly in the urban communities of eastern Australia. By 1890, 30% of the Irish Province resided in Australia.
By 1931, this resulted in five schools, eight residences, a regional seminary in Melbourne and a novitiate in Sydney. Dr Daniel Mannix, archbishop of Melbourne, showed a special predication for the Jesuits and requested that they be involved with Newman College, University of Melbourne in 1918. Six Jesuits (five were Irish-born) served as chaplains with the Australian Forces in the First World War and two died, Frs Michael Bergin and Edwards Sydes. Both Michael Bergin and 62 year-old Joe Hearn, earned the Military Cross. Bergin was the only Catholic chaplain serving with the Australian Imperial Force to have died as a result of enemy action in the First World War.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Edward Sydes was born off the coast of Australia in the British ship Norman Morrison on which his parents were passengers from Ireland to Queensland. His father was a carpenter and he was the seventh in a family of eight. He attended the Catholic primary schools at Ipswich and Brisbane and also a state school for twelve months.
His secondary education was at the Ipswich Grammar School, Queensland, where he had been granted a scholarship. He passed the junior public examination of the University of Sydney in six subjects at the age of fourteen, and passed the senior public examination of the University of Sydney in nine subjects in 1881. He also won a Queensland Government University Exhibition that was worth £100 per year for three years, which entitled him to attend any university in the Empire.
He decided to attend The University of Melbourne and took degrees of BA, MA and LLB. The MA degree with second class honours was taken in 1890 at the school of history, political economy and jurisprudence. In 1886 he won a scholarship for Ormond College, and later won the Oratory Prize. In 1891 he was called to the Bar in Melbourne and a month later to the Queensland Bar where he practised until 17 August 1903. He taught honours history and mathematics at Xavier College while reading for the Bar.
As a youth he was remembered as energetic, social and popular, and devoted to the Catholic faith, reading “The Imitation of Christ” daily. He was a successful barrister for twelve years, winning public acclaim for his work. He was invited to enter politics, but failed selection for the Queensland parliament twice. He was one of the leaders of the Anti-Federation Party in Queensland in 1900 and addressed many meetings in Brisbane and other towns in the south.
His faith led him to involvement with the Catholic Young Men's Society, the Holy Cross Guild and the St Vincent de Paul Conferences. However, surprise was noted among those who knew him when at the age of 40 he decided to enter the Society of Jesus, 7 November 1903, being impressed with the way the Society worked for the missions and the poor. He also desired to work among Protestants.
He was sent to Tullabeg, Ireland, for his noviciate under Michael Browne. Further studies were made at Louvain and Milltown Park and he was ordained in 1909. Upon his return to Australia he was assigned to the parish of St Mary's, North Sydney, 1909-14. At the end of 1914 he went to Ranchi, India, for tertianship, and returned to Australia in 1915, first to the parish of St Ignatius, Richmond, and then again to St Mary’s. He was a successful director of men's sodalities and associations, and was a good, humane priest.
Soon after, however, at the age of 53, he was appointed a chaplain of the Australian Imperial Forces in 1917. He served with the Second Division Artillery during 1918, and earned a good name for himself because of his devoted service to the wounded and needy. Unfortunately, he was gassed by some of his own men during the engagements at Le Cateau. From this time he developed chronic bronchitis. He also developed a thrombosis in his leg, and was invalided to England in November 1918 and conveyed to Wandsworth Military Hospital. Pneumonia set in and he died soon after. He and the Irish Jesuit Michael Bergin, who served with the AIP but never visited Australia, are the only two Australian Army chaplains who died as a result of casualties in action.
The life of Edward Sydes as Jesuit was short and different from most Australian Jesuits, but his uniqueness bares witness to the variety of Jesuit ministries, and the mystery of God's calling. He was buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave in a Catholic cemetery in Hammersmith, London. He had qualified for the British War Medal, 1914-18 and the lnterallied Victory Medal that were claimed by his sister, Mary Sydes, 9 January 1923.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1918

Obituary

Father Edward Sydes SJ

Though not an Old Xaverian, still, Father Sydes taught at Xavier as a lay master prior to going to the Melbourne University to continue his law course. On taking his degree as a barrister, he practised at the Queensland bar, but finally gave up the successful career that was opening for him there, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1903. After his ordination, in 1909, he returned to Aus tralia, spent some time doing parish work in North Sydney, and finally, on the opening of the new residence at Toowong, in Queensland, was sent to work there. While thus engaged, he was appointed Military Chaplain to the 2nd Australian Div. Train, BEF, France. Here, as at home, he endeared himself to all who met him by his cheerfulness and self-sacrificing zeal, His labours brought on sickness, which developed into pneumonia, causing his death on Sunday, November 17th. May he who all through his life fearlessly confessed Christ before men, be now confessed before the Father in Heaven. Rest to his soul and comfort to those who mourn the earthly going of a grand soul.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1918

Obituary

Father Edward Sydes

Capt-Chaplain E Sydes SJ, of the 2nd Artillery Division, AIF, died of pneumonia on the 10th November, 1918, in London. Although neither an Old Boy nor an old master of Riverview, he was one of its best friends and well-wishers, and as such we cannot but speak of him here. His career was a remarkable one. For twelve years he practised at the Queensland Bar, being opposed in is last case, in August, 1903, by Mr (now Mr Justice) Lukin. In that year he left for Rome, and at the age of forty entered the Society of Jesus. He passed through the ordinary course of studies in Ireland, Belgium and India, and, on his return to Australia, preached his first sermon in St Stephen's, Brisbane, to a crowded congregation, which included many of his old friends in the legal profession. He worked for nine years in St. Mary's parish, North Sydney, never sparing himself, enthusiastic and generous in everything, and loved by all classes. The moving scene in St Mary's Church when his death was announced and the immense attendance of priests at his Office bear witness to the good work he had done during his short missionary career. His knowledge of University life often enabled him to help the Old Boys of this College in their professional studies. He gave the boys' retreat here on one occasion and also preached the panegyric of St Ignatius. As chaplain to the 2nd Artillery Division he was well known to many Old Boys at the front. Bmbdr F Punch speaks of him in his letter of 25th May, 1918: “You know Father Sydes is attached to our 2nd Division Artillery. Words cannot tell you of all the good he is doing for us boys out here”. A Requiem Mass was said in the Church of Society at Farm Street, London. The funeral then proceeded to Kensal Green, where the burial took place with full military honours. The ceremony was attended by twelve Australian chaplains and by many Australian soldiers. A firing party and band came over from the camp at Salisbury. RIP

Sister of Fr Edward J. Sydes SJ

2 Essex Quay, Dublin.

F. J. McManus, 422 NCR, Dublin.

Born: 31 March 1862, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 28 September 1880, Château de Gemert, Netherlands - Campaniae Province (CAMP)
Ordained: 1900, St Ignatius Church, Galway
Final Vows: 02 February 1912, Miltown Park, Dublin
Died: 08 January 1913, Milltown Park, Dublin

by 1886 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) Studying
by 1902 at Drongen, Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
by 1903 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) Lecturing
by 1904 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) Lecturing

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education at Christian Brothers Richmond Street, Dublin. Brother Swan taught him and knew him to be a very clever young man. He was later sent to an Apostolic School in France, and joined one of the French Provinces in 1880 (Château de Gemert, Holland CAMP), and he was destined for the Chinese Mission. In 1884, the HIB Provincial Thomas Browne was travelling in Europe when he heard about this very clever Irish Scholastic, then studying at Louvain and had him transferred to the Irish Province.

1883-1886 Made a brilliant coursw in Philosophy at Louvain
He then came to Ireland and was sent to teach at Mungret, and later for a short time at Crescent and Belvedere.
He then went to Milltown for Theology and was Ordained at St Ignatius Galway by Dr Francis McCormack, Bishop of Galway.
After Tertianship (in Drongen) he was sent to teach Philosophy at St Mary’s, Stonyhurst, and then professor of Theology at St Beuno’s.
He then returned to Ireland as Professor of Theology at Milltown. He was considered clear and brilliant as a lecturer.
1912 He began to complain of what he thought was an acute attack of lumbago, but in fact it was more serious than that. He died after several weeks of painful illness 08 January 1913 at Milltown.

Chief Baron Christopher Palles said of him “He was a Priest of great gifts, and he must be a loss to the Society”.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Thomas Taffe 1862-1913
Fr Thomas Taffe was born in Dublin in 1862 and was educated at O’Connell’s Schools. Fr Thomas Browne, Provincial of the Irish Province, while travelling on the continent for his health came across Fr Taffe as a member of the French Province of the Society and had him transferred to his own Province.

Fr Taffe taught for some years in the Colleges and finally was made Professor of Theology at Milltown Park. As a lecturer he was clear and brilliant.

His early death at the age of 51 was a great loss to the Theological faculty at Milltown.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Thomas Taaffe (1862-1913)

Was born in Dublin, educated at the Christian Brothers' Schools, North Richmond St, and received into the Society in the Paris Province of the Society. He was transferred to the Irish Province in 1884. Father Taaffe was a member of the teaching staff at the Crescent from 1897 to 1900. He displayed uncommon brilliance in his higher studies and for some time was on loan to the English Province where he held the chair of theology. Recalled to Ireland, he was appointed professor of theology at Milltown Park where he remained until his death.

Born: 25 April 1929, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
Entered: 13 December 1950, Rizal, Philippines (Neo-Eboracensis Province for HIB)
Ordained: 31 July 1964, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 02 November 1977
Died: 15 October 2004, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong - Sinensis Province (CHN)

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Part of the Fatima Residence, Macau community at the time of death

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father Joseph Tai SJ
RIP
Father Joseph Tai Yu-kuk SJ, passed away on 5 October 2004, after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Father Tai, was born on 25 April 1929 in Sabah, Malaysia to a large Chinese Catholic family.
He was a teenager in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. He had joined a group of a dozen Catholics who, it was hoped, might one day become priests, under the charge of Father Dan Donnelly SJ.

Father Tai completed his education in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, which was then in Robinson Road, before joining the order of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines in December 1950 when he was 21.

After completing his university education - including training in philosophy in 1959, Father Tai taught at Wah Yan College from 1959 to 1961. He read theology in Ireland from 1961 to 1965 and was ordained in Ireland on 31 July 1964.

Father Tai subsequently returned to Hong Kong where he became the assistant to the master of novices at the Xavier Retreat House, Cheung Chau from 1966 to 1979. He then served as parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Cheung Chau from 1979 to 1985, before being appointed parish priest of Ss. Peter and Paul Church, Yuen Long, from 1985 to 1991.

From 1992 to 2003, he was the parish priest of St. Augustine’s Church in Macau and also served as the principal of the Escola Caritas de Macau. He was fro many years director of the Apostleship of Prayer.

During his long years of service, Father Tai made friends easily and everywhere, giving spiritual direction to many sisters and finding time of quite a few Filipino domestic workers.

The Society of Jesus held a vigil at the Hong Kong Funeral Home on 8 October. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Christ the King Chapel the following day after which Father Tai was buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 24 October 2004

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 123 : Special Issue February 2005

Obituary

Joseph (Joe) Tai Y-kuk (1929-2004) : Chinese Province

Remembering Joe Tai SJ

Harry Naylor

Joe Tai died on October 4th, 2004. He had been in Dublin to visit an Irish family as recently as August, 2004. This family had befriended him when he was studying Theology in Milltown (1961-1965), and from then on was his benefactor. He always had warm thoughts of Ireland. He then went to London, where there was another family that had befriended and supported his works since early days. But there he collapsed and after some weeks in hospital returned to Hong Kong, where he immediately went to the Queen Mary Hospital. He had been there since October last year for treatment of a lymph "disorder" (cancer), but had been let go home in June. For his recuperation his friends arranged for him to take a Mediterranean cruise. He took that opportunity to go to Dublin.

He is first mentioned in Jesuit records in 1945. Fr. Dan Donnelly, who came to Hong Kong as a priest in 1932, wrote to the Irish Provincial mentioning Joe Tai as a young student with great potential to be a Jesuit. Fr. Donnelly was in charge of Loyola Language House on Castle Peak Road. With the 1939 war, no new Jesuits came to Hong Kong, so he used the facilities as a kind of “minor seminary”. He recruited young altar boys from the parishes and started with twenty in Sept 1940, when Joe was twelve years old. After the Japanese invasion in Dec 1941, Fr. Donnelly gathered 18 of them and took them into Free China and finally to Bombay, India. Of these, 11 returned with him to Hong Kong, and it was in this context that Fr. Donnelly's letter to the Irish Provincial mentioned Joe Tai as the most promising, and he was the only one who made it to Jesuit Vows in Manila. Joe retained a love and respect for Fr. Donnelly, a genius at mathematics and engineering, a pioneer enthusiast, who in 1950 finally retumed to work successfully around Bombay for another two decades of apostolic work. Joe inherited his optimism and enthusiasm, apostolic zeal and initiative.

His funeral was on October 9th in St. Paul's Convent at Christ the King Chapel, which is a vast stone church. At the Mass, there were over three hundred people, about fifty in dress of women religious, and over two dozen concelebrating priests. It was somewhat of a diocesan funeral, as Joe had been parish priest in Cheung Chau for five years, and again for the same length in Yuen Long. Bishop John Tong officiated, with Frs. Deignan, Russell and Leung in the sanctuary. Besides those on the altar, the following Irish Jesuits were concelebrating at his funeral: Frs. Tom McIntyre, Joe Mallin, Bernard Shields, Ciaran Kane, Jimmy Hurley, and myself. There were eight Jesuits of his community in Macau, where he had been since 1992 as pastor of St Agostinho Church and Director of the Caritas School for mentally handicapped, and as a retreat giver. He had helped with funds to build four primary schools in nearby mainland China. Fr. Thomas Leung, who had known Joe as a Regent in Wah Yan, HK, and later took over the Cheung Chau retreat house from him in 1979, preached the homily which traced their warm relations through the years. There were a dozen diocesan and other religious priests also concelebrating. He had been director of the Apostleship of Prayer for over thirty years, inheriting it from Fr Charlie Daly, and Spiritual Director of the Catholic Nurses Guild for twenty years until 1990. He was known by many Women Religious for his retreats, and especially for his direction at our retreat house in Cheung Chau, where he was in charge for more than a dozen years. He gave spiritual direction, and also used Asian forms of prayer.

He is missed by the Hong Kong Jesuits. We, Jesuits, are here to serve the local church and our Society, and have in mind to do all we can for the rest of China.

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

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

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

◆ In Old/18

Born: 1610, Carton, County Kildare
Entered: 1625 - Lusitanae Province (LUS)
Ordained: 1636, Évora, Portugal
Final Vows: 06 May 1656
Died: 18 November 1667, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Older brother of Peter Talbot - LEFT 1659 (Archbishop of Dublin 1669; RIP November 15, 1680

Foley’s "Collectanea" :
I think there were three John Talbot SJs as follows :
(1) John Talbot DOB 1609; Ent 1626 Portugal;
(2) John Talbot DOB 1611 Kildare; Ent 1632; Irish Mission 1638 Preacher, Confessor and Professor of Humanities; RIP after 1666
(3) John Talbot DOB 1619; Ent c 1637; - had been at St Alban’s Valladolid before Ent Belgium 1637. Not traced in ANG Catalogues
One of these was a brother of Peter, the two others were probably an uncle and cousin of his

1628 Age 18 Soc 3 studying at Coimbra LUS
1634 At Valladolid
1636 At St Anthony’s College Lisbon
1649 CAT Given at Cork (30 after his name)
1650 CAT Teaching, Confessor and Concinator. Came to Mission in 1639 is Age 39.
1666 CAT Consultor of Mission living at Dublin, Catechising and Administering the Sacraments. On the Mission 26 years
“Peter Walsh said when Fr J Talbot died ‘There is one honest Jesuit’”
“Wilson’s Friar Disciplined” p 93 printed in 1694 says Fr J Talbot had influence with General Preston

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Son of William 1st Baron of Carton and Alison née Netterville. Brother of Richard, first Duke of Tyrconnell by James II and Viceroy of Ireland. Brother of Dr Peter Talbot, formerly SJ and Archbishop of Dublin. Brother of Robert 2nd Baron of Carton. (HIB Catalogues and Dr Peter Talbot’s “Friar Disciplined”) Cousins of the Netterville’s SJ.
Early years in the Society were at Évora, Portugal, and he studied Theology for three years in the Society. He knew Irish, English, French and Latin.
He taught lower schools for three years and was a Preacher and Confessor for eight years. (HIB CAT 1650 - ARSI)
1666 Consultor of Irish Mission and living in Dublin. He was engaged in administering the Sacraments and had been on the Mission twenty-six years. (HIB CAT 1666 - ARSI)
Esteemed good Preacher; like most of his Irish contemporaries, he spoke Irish, English and one or more of the continental languages.
Dr Peter Talbot in his “Haersis Blackloiana” says “Évora gave many orthodox Theologians to the Catholic faith, and among others, my brother John Talbot, a distinguished defender of the faith”. (cf Foley’s Collectanea, which also states that the HIB CAT 1650 says that he is a native of Kilkenny, born 1611 and Ent 1629)
Dr Peter Talbot in his “Friar Disciplined” says to the famous Peter Walsh “Mr Walsh, Father John Talbot, of whom you said when he died (as if it were a rarity of kind of miracle) ‘There lies a honest Jesuit’ assured me, that, after his brother Sir Robert Talbot Had...”
Dr Peter Talbot in his “Haeresis Blackloiana” p 250 says that he himself had studied in Rome with such gifted Jesuits (orbis miracula) as Tirrell, Maurus, Telin (an Irishman - Teeling?), and the younger Palavicino, and was appointed to teach Philosophy at Évora, which has given so many outstanding Theologians to England and Ireland, and amongst others, Father John Talbot, my brother, a distinguished defender of the Roman Faith”
He is probably the Jesuit named by Mercure Verdiere, Visitor to the Irish Province, in a letter 24 June 1649, as John James Talbot, then thirty years of age, and residing with his mother, “in oedibus nobilium” (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Sir William of Carton and Alison nee Netterville (daughter of John Netterville of Castletown, Co. Meath) Brother of Peter (later Archbishop of Dublin).
1627-1636 After First Vows (unclear if Noviceship was at Lisbon or Coimbra) he was sent for studies to Coimbra and then Évora where he was Ordained 1636
1636-1640 Had been teaching Latin at St Anthony’s, Lisbon, but very keen to be sent to Ireland.
1640-1652 Sent to Ireland where he worked from his mother’s house. He spoke Irish as well as English
1652-1654 Sent back to Europe and was in the company of his brother Peter (later Archbishop of Dublin), who was visiting various European courts to solicit help for Charles II
1655 Sent back to Ireland and he worked initially near Galway and then Dublin alternately, and ended at the Dublin Residence as a Consultor of the Mission (1664), where he died 18 November 1667

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TALBOT, JOHN JAMES. This Father is mentioned in Pere Verdier’s Report of the 24th of June, 1649, as being 30 years old, of a robust constitution, but living with his mother, “in oedibus nobitium” without office.

N.B. There was another F. Talbot, whom I meet with in the town of Galway, early in 1649 : he is described as being about 40 years old, Professed of the Four Vows, and then teaching Grammar.

Died: 12 February 1698, La Flèche, France - Franciae Province (FRA)

◆ In Old/15 (1) has RIP 1698 “died at Laflicha”
◆ In Chronological Catalogue Sheet as RIP 1698

Born: 04 May 1599, County Meath
Entered: 30 September 1622, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 22 April 1628, Arras, France
Final Vows: 06 July 1629
Died: 09 May 1667, Dublin Residence, Dublin City, County Dublin

Mother was Mary (Margaret) Sedgrave.
Studied Humanities at Lille & Tournai, Philosophy at Douai
1637 Catalogue Good in all. Colericus - fit to teach Humanities
1649 A Talbot at Galway (40 after his name)
1650 Catalogue Came to Mission in 1629. Taught Humanities many years. Prefect of Schools - now Superior of the Residence at Galway Age 52
1666 Catalogue Living in the country near Dublin attending to the wants of the people and some of the gentry. Administering the Sacraments. Is Admonitor and Socius of the Superior. Previously was imprisoned for 3 months. On the Irish Mission 37 years.
John Talbot also died in Dublin 1667

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Studied Humanities and two years Philosophy before Ent, and the four years Theology in the Society. He knew Irish, English, French and Latin.
1628/9 Came to Ireland
1644 In Galway with Stephen White
1650 Superior of a Residence
1659 Deported having been imprisoned twice
1666 Still working in Ireland and living with a nobleman in the country near Dublin, engaged in ministerial functions.
Professor of Humanities for many years and was a Confessor and Prefect of Studies.
He is named in a letter of Nathaniel Hart (Richard Shelton?) Superior of the Irish Mission, to the General 15 June 1659, as being then past 60, in declining health, unable to travel and unfit for the labours of College life. He was then under bail to leave the country, but sureties were willing that he should remain for the recovery of his health. (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS) - who says “I meet with another Nicholas Talbot, in Galway, early in 1649. he is described as being about 40 years of age, possessed of the four Vows, and then teaching Grammar”. Hogan’s list only contains one Nicholas and the two are probably identical.
(cf Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of William and Maria née Sedgrave
Had already studied Classics and Philosophy under Jesuits and Lille, Tounai and Douai before Ent 30 September 1622 Tournai
1624-1628 After First Vows he was sent to Douai for Theology and was Ordained 22 April 1628 at Arras
1629 Sent to Ireland and the Dublin Residence, where he worked until the Puritan takeover of the city. He left Dublin and for a time was at Kilkea Castles, the former residence of the Countess of Kildare. He eventually went to Galway, where he was teaching at the time of Mercure Verdier’s Visitation of 1648-1649. In his 1649 Report to the General, Verdier reported that Talbot was vehemently in favour of the cessation (and thus opposed to Rinuccini).
After the fall of Galway he continued to work outside the city but was captured, imprisoned (1658) and sentenced to deportation. Because of his precarious health he was respited
1664 He was sent to Dublin as Confessor at the Residence and Socius to the Superior of the Mission, Andrew Fitzbennet Sall. He died there 09 May 1667

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TALBOT, NICHOLAS. All that I can recover of his history is from a letter of F. Nicholas Hart, addressed on the 15th of June. 1659, to the General Goswin Nickel. It states that F. Nicholas Talbot has not as yet quitted the shores of Ireland : that by reason of his declining strength (for he is past 60) , he appears unequal to the fatigue of travelling, and to the labours of a College life abroad : that his bail, who are answerable to the Government for his departure, are willing that he should remain quietly among his friends and attend to the improvement of his health. F. Hart requests directions how to proceed in this case. N.B. There was another F. Talbot, whom I meet with in the town of Galway, early in 1649 : he is described as being about 40 years old, Professed of the Four Vows, and then teaching Grammar.

Born: 29 June 1618, Carton, County Kildare / Malahide County Dublin
Entered: c May 1635, Portugal - Lusitaniae Province (LUS)
Ordained: 06 April 1647, Rome Italy
Died: 15 November 1680, Dublin Castle, Dublin, County Dublin

Left Society of Jesus: 29 June 1659

Consecrated Archbishop of Dublin 09 May 1669, Antwerp, Netherlands

Younger brother of John Talbot SJ - RIP 1667

https://www.dib.ie/biography/talbot-peter-a8452

DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHY

Talbot, Peter

Contributed by
Clarke, Aidan

Talbot, Peter (c.1618–1680), churchman, was sixth son of Sir William Talbot (qv), sometime recorder of the city of Dublin, and his wife, Alison Netterville. He entered the Society of Jesus in Portugal in May 1635 and completed his education in Rome, where he was ordained on 6 April 1647 and where he was said (by Oliver Plunkett (qv)) to have proved ‘so troublesome’ that he was sent to Florence for the tertian stage of his probation.

He returned to Portugal before long and went thence to the Spanish Netherlands, where he became involved in the politics, both high and low, of the royalist exiles. His conjoint aims were to secure support from catholic sources for the restoration of Charles II and to persuade Charles to court this support by promising concessions to his catholic subjects. In the early summer of 1653, probably at the prompting of his francophile Franciscan brother Thomas, he submitted proposals to the French ambassador in London and visited Ireland briefly in furtherance of them, but the venture proved fruitless. He returned to London in 1654, this time from Madrid as an agent from Philip IV to the Spanish ambassador, Cardenas. Late in the same year, in Cologne, he acted as an intermediary between the king and the papal nuncio, to whom he hinted that Charles might be prepared to convert to catholicism, and who declined to convey so improbable a message to Rome. In 1656 Talbot exploited his ready access to the Spanish court to advise Charles that a treaty with Spain would be assured if he were secretly to declare his conversion, but the subsequent treaty was concluded on other terms, without Talbot's assistance. From 1655, when his brothers Richard (qv) and Gilbert had been involved in a plot to kill Oliver Cromwell (qv), Talbot had become increasingly committed to promoting the extravagant schemes of the former Leveller Edward Sexby, which ranged from Spanish invasion to the assassination of Cromwell.

After Richard Talbot was admitted to the circle of James (qv), duke of York, Peter came under suspicion of transferring his allegiance to James. In the summer of 1658 he incurred the king's displeasure by making a mysterious visit to Spain on James's behalf, and even greater ambiguity surrounded a visit to England on the fall of the protectorate in April 1659. It appears that Talbot travelled at the instance of ministers of the Spanish government, who were persuaded that he could help to prevent the republicans from gaining control. However, his failure to inform Charles of his mission prompted suspicions that he was either exploring the possibility of a peace between the commonwealth and Spain or intriguing in the interests of York. This episode triggered a final breach with the Society of Jesus. Though Talbot had not yet been professed, a place had been found for him, teaching moral theology in Antwerp, and he had published a number of works of religious controversy, but his political activity had not met with the approval of his superiors. Almost certainly in response to representations from Charles or his advisers, the general instructed him to leave England and ‘dissevered’ him from the order in June when he did not obey. Talbot managed to recover the king's favour in the autumn when he travelled to Fuenterrabia to assist Charles in his efforts to have his interests accommodated in the Franco–Spanish treaty of the Pyrenees. He had returned to the Netherlands and was pursuing further possibilities of securing military backing in May 1660 when Charles was restored.

In September 1660 Talbot took up residence in London, where his involvement in the politics of court faction continued. The king's chief minister, Clarendon, was implacably hostile to him but he enjoyed the patronage of Ormond (qv) and supported the loyal remonstrance promoted by Peter Walsh (qv), with whom he had worked closely in 1659. Appointed queen's almoner shortly after the royal marriage in May 1662, he was dismissed and barred from court less than six months later at the behest of the king's mistress, Lady Castlemaine. As Richard Talbot became increasingly identified with catholic opposition to Ormond in Ireland, Peter became critical of both Ormond and Walsh: he opposed the adoption of the remonstrance in Ireland and associated himself with Clarendon's opponents in England, particularly Buckingham and Arlington, both of whom he had known well on the Continent. Clarendon's fall in August 1667 and Ormond's dismissal from the lord lieutenancy, announced by Charles in February 1669, prepared the way for Talbot's appointment to the archbishopric of Dublin, which coincided with the appointment of Lord Robartes (qv) in place of Ormond. Talbot was consecrated in Antwerp on 9 May and took up his position in Dublin in the autumn, having spent the intervening months in London arguing for an end to the established policy of favouring those clergy who supported the remonstrance. The expectation of a close working relationship with the new lord lieutenant was disappointed when Robartes resigned within six months of his arrival (September 1669) and was replaced by Lord Berkeley (qv). Berkeley, who had known and distrusted Talbot in exile, treated him with the wariness required by his influential connections and dealt so far as possible with Archbishop Plunkett instead. When a general synod of bishops convened in Dublin on 17 June 1670, Talbot pursued his advantage over Walsh and the remonstrants by proposing the adoption of an alternative declaration of temporal allegiance, closely resembling the address that had been rejected by Ormond in 1666; this initiative was accepted by the meeting and formally welcomed by Berkeley (who had approved the declaration in advance at the prompting of Richard Talbot). During the synod Peter Talbot openly challenged the authority of Plunkett, partly by denying the historic primacy of the see of Armagh but also by claiming a royal mandate to oversee the conduct of the Irish clergy. The practical difficulty was resolved by having the decisions issued in the name of the bishop of Ossory, as secretary of the meeting, rather than that of the primate. The jurisdictional dispute was considered by the congregation of Propaganda Fide on 2 August 1672, when judgement was reserved and the protagonists were bound to silence. Later in the year, Bishop John O'Molony (qv) of Killaloe brokered an uneasy reconciliation between the rivals.

For some years, Talbot exercised his pastoral charge openly, holding provincial synods in 1670 and 1671, conducting a visitation in the latter year, and convening a number of meetings of clergy after Berkeley's replacement in August 1672 by the earl of Essex (qv). In February 1671 he presided at a meeting of nobles convened to arrange financial support for Richard Talbot's representation of catholic interests in London and took the opportunity to propose that the clergy should be required to contribute. His struggle with the remonstrants continued: he was charged with exercising foreign jurisdiction by a number of Franciscans in January 1671 and successfully defended before the council by Sir Nicholas Plunkett (qv). In the late summer of 1672 he excommunicated the Dominican prior of Kilcock, John Byrne, placed the parish under interdict, and prevailed on his nephew, a justice of the peace, to have Byrne committed to jail. On 26 March 1673 the English commons, as part of its response to Charles's declaration of indulgence, demanded that Talbot should be banished ‘for his notorious disloyalty and disobedience and contempt of the laws’ and in the following month, with the encouragement of the administration, Fr Byrne charged him with exercising a foreign jurisdiction and with raising money contrary to law. A committee appointed by Essex took evidence of Talbot's conduct in May 1673. The charges were found to have been proven and his claim to have authority from England ‘for punishing and correcting the popish clergy’ was judged untrue on the testimony of Oliver Plunkett, who had been so assured by Talbot's successor as queen's almoner, Lord Philip Howard. Talbot had applied for and received a pass to travel to France in April; he left Ireland in June, secured letters of recommendation to Louis XIV from both Charles and the duke of York, and arrived in France by September.

Supported by a royal pension of £200, he wrote a number of works of religious controversy, published his statement of the case for Dublin's right to the primacy, and addressed a pastoral letter to his diocese in May 1674. By March 1676 he had moved to England, where he lived in declining health as a guest of Sir James Pool in Cheshire for two years before receiving permission from Ormond (again lord lieutenant) to return to Ireland in May 1678 on condition that he did not interfere in temporal matters. He lived privately in his brother Richard's house at Luttrellstown till 11 October, when he was arrested on foot of an accusation that he was implicated in the ‘popish plot’, with particular responsibility for the murder of the duke of Ormond. The charge was without foundation but there was an irony, not lost on Ormond, in the fact that Peter had been suspected of complicity in a threat to take Ormond's life for which Richard had been imprisoned in 1664. Peter remained in prison in Dublin without trial till his death (25 October × 22 November 1680), some weeks after he had received sacramental absolution from his erstwhile rival and fellow prisoner, Oliver Plunkett.

Sources
Bodl., Carte MS 38; Peter Walsh, The history and vindication of the loyal formulary or Irish remonstrance (1674); T. Carte, The life of James, duke of Ormond (1735–6); id., A collection of original letters and papers (1739); L. F. Renehan, Collections on Irish church history, i: Irish archbishops (1861); Calendar of the Clarendon state papers preserved in the Bodleian Library, ii–v (1869–1970); P. F. Moran (ed.), Spicilegium Ossoriense (1874); HMC, Rep. 10, app. 5, Jesuit archives (1885); P. F Moran, Memoir of the Ven. Oliver Plunkett (1895); CSPD, 1672–3, 1678; HMC, Ormonde MSS, ii; new ser., v (1908); Eva Scott, The travels of the king (1907); P. W. Sergeant, Little Jennings and Fighting Dick Talbot (1913); William P. Burke, The Irish priests in the penal times (1914); Benignus Millett, The Irish Franciscans, 1651–1665 (1964); id., Survival and reorganization, 1650–95 (1968); C. Petrie, The great Tyrconnell (1972); John Hanly (ed.), The letters of Saint Oliver Plunkett (1979)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :

DOB Carton, Kildare; Ent 1635 Portugal; RIP 1680 Newgate prison - LEFT 29/06/1659 “justis de causis”, but wished to return

Son of William 1st Baron of Carton and Alison née Netterville. Brother of John SJ. Brother of Richard, first Duke of Tyrconnell by James II and Viceroy of Ireland. Brother Sir Robert 2nd Baron of Carton. (HIB CATS and Dr Peter Talbot’s “Friar Disciplined”) Cousins of th Netterville’s SJ.

He rendered good service to Charles II while exiled, and a letter from the King to him is given in Thurloe’s State Papers Vol i p 662. He is also alluded to in another paper in the same volume, p 752.
On the death of Thomas Fleming Archbishop of Dublin, Pope Clement IX appointed Peter as Archbishop on 02/05/1669.

1638 Came to Irish Mission and was a good Preacher, Confessor and Professor of Humanities.

1658 On 30/041658 he arrived at the Professed House Antwerp from Ireland (BELG CAT)

1680 He died at Newgate prison Dublin for the faith. He wished to reenter the Society from which he had been dismissed “justis de causis”. “Father Peter Talbot in England, though he did not belong to the English Province, was dismissed by order of Father General 29/06/1659”. (CAT Tertius of ANG 1659-1660. (cf Hogan’s List)

Dr Talbot in his “Friar Disciplined” says to the famous Peter Walsh “Mr Walsh, Father John Talbot, of whom you said when he died (as if it were a rarity of kind of miracle) ‘There lies a honest Jesuit’ assured me, that, after his brother Sir Robert Talbot Had...”
Dr Talbot in his “Haeresis Blackloiana” p 250 says that he himself had studied in Rome with such gifted Jesuits (orbis miracula) as Tirrell, Maurus, Telin (an Irishman - Teeling?), and the younger Palavicino, and was appointed to teach Philosophy at Évora, which has given so many outstanding Theologians to England and Ireland, and amongst others, Father John Talbot, my brother, a distinguished defender of the Roman Faith”
In his treatise on “Religion and Government” p 557, Dr Talbot says he saw the Martyr, Father Mastrilli, in Lisbon on his way to India, and heard him tell his story of his cure by St Xaverius.

(For his literary works see de Backer “Biblioth. des Écrivains SJ”, and for a fuller account see Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)

Dr Talbot’s Letter to Peter Walsh in his “Friar Disciplined”
“As to Friar Walsh, his no less ridiculous than malicious observations and comments upon my devotion and respect to the Most reverend Father Oliva and the whole Society - I must own to the whole world I should be as ill as a man and as a great liar as Walsh himself (and that is the worst that can be said of any man), if I did not esteem very much and speak well of the virtues and learning of the Society. Few can speak with ore knowledge and none with less impartiality. I have lived in their most famous Colleges, and taught in some. I never was in any College or community of theirs where there was not one or more of known eminent sanctity, many of extraordinary virtue, and none that I knew vicious. I always found their Superiors charitable and sincere, their Procurators devout, their Professors humble though learned, their young Masters of Humanity and Students of Philosophy and Divinity very chaste, and if any gave the least suspicion of being otherwise, he was presently dismissed, It is my greatest admiration how so great a body, so generally employed and trusted by the greatest princes, so conversant in the world (according to their holy Institute) can savour so little of it and live so innocently as they do, and even forsake the best part of it, Europe their many conveniences and relations (who are illustrious) and banish themselves to Asia, Africa and America, upon no other account of saving souls. In their schools they teach not those infamous doctrines which that foul mouthed FW asperseth their authors with and says I do practice, but are very reserved in delivering any larger opinion, even of the most famous writers, for fear men should abuse an misapply their authority. This is the substance of what I have said and must say if I will speak truth of an Order, wherein I have lived many years in great content, and truly so innocently (through God’s grace and their example) that the greatest sin I can charge myself with during my abode among them, is the resolution I took of leaving them, though (perhaps erroneously) I framed then a judgement that the circumstances di excuse it from being mortal”... (Hogan’s note)

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TALBOT, PETER, son of Sir William Talbot, and Brother of the Richard Talbot, who was created Duke of Tyrconnell by King James the Second, and Viceroy of Ireland. Peter was born in the County of Dublin, in 1620. At the age of 15 he enrolled himself in Portugal, amongst the children of St. Ignatius. After his promotion to the Priesthood, he was employed to teach Moral Theology at Antwerp. He had reached London in the spring of 1651, and was preparing to pass over to Ireland on some secret service and commission of Jean IV King of Portugal, and I find him described in a letter of the 29th of April that year as sapientia, pietate et zelo tanto oneri parem. His letter from Cologne, written on the 17th of November, 1654, shews how fully he possessed the confidence of his legitimate Sovereign Charles the Second, then a resident in that City. That his Majesty was then disposed to favour his Catholic subjects, whom he had found to be most faithful to his person and most zealously attached to Monarchial Government, is certain nay, that he was favourably disposed towards their religion is not improbable; but I see no cause for crediting the assertion of the learned author of the Hibcrnia Dominicana, p.711, that the King was reconciled to the Catholic Church by F. Peter Talbot, at Cologne, in the year 1656. There is too much reason to believe, that the King’s was but a death bed conversion.

About the period of the Restoration of his Sovereign, whose interests he had long and most diligently served, and promoted F. Talbot obtained “justis de causis” a dispensation from his vows; but his affection for the Society of Jesus continued unabated. On the death of Dr. Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin, Pope Clement IX named Dr. Talbot, on the 2nd of May, 1669, to fill that vacant see. His zeal for the advancement of Religion, and for his Country’s welfare (for he was a true patriot), procured him many enemies in those days of intolerance and bigotry. With his pen he was indefatigable, as the list of his works, which he himself supplied for insertion in Southwell’s Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu (p.702) abundantly proves. In consequence of K. Charles IInd’s Proclamation for the banishment of all Bishops and Religious from Ireland, his Grace repaired to the continent; and I find by his original letter, dated the 29th of December, 1673, from Paris, that his Sovereign, as well as James Duke of York, had recommended him to the most Christian King, and even in letters written with their own hands, to provide him with a Benefice becoming his station, and that he had then actually delivered them. How long he remained abroad I cannot determine; but I read in a Journal, formerly kept at Watten, near St. Omer, the following memorandum : “AD 1676, Feb. 24. My Lord Primate of Ireland, Lord Talbot came here from St. Omer, with F. Retor and F. Ireland”. Soon after his return to Ireland, whilst labouring under great bodily infirmity, he was seized in his brother s house at Carr Town, County Kildare, removed in a chair, and committed a close prisoner, as an accomplice in Oates Plot !!! Harris, (p.197, Book I. Writers of Ireland) with all his prejudices, admits that “nothing appeared against him from his examinations, nor from those of others”. Still the wicked policy of the Sovereign allowed this faithful subject* and old friend to linger for two years in confinement within the walls of Newgate, Dublin, where he died in 1680. See the honorable testimony, p. 131, of the Hibernia Dominicana, to this most injured character. Dr. Patrick Russell was elected his successor in the Archbishopric on the 2nd of August, 1683.
Whilst a Father of the Society of Jesus, he published :

1. “A Treatise of the nature of Catholic Faith and Heresie, with Reflection upon the Nullitie of the English Protestant Church and Clergy” Svo Rouen, 1657. pp. 89.
2. “The Polititians Catechisme for his Instruction in Divine Faith and Morale Honesty”. Svo. Antwerp, 1658, pp.193. Dodd, p. 284, vol. iii. Church History might have improved his article, had he paid more attention to the spirit of F. Southwell’s Narrative, which lay open before him.

• This Luminary of the O.S.D. Dr. Thomas Burke was born in Dublin, in 1709, and succeeded Dr. James Dunne in the See of Ossory, in 1759. He was consecrated at Drogheda by the Primate Anthony Blake, on Low Sunday, the 22nd. of April, that year, and died at his house in Maudlin Street, Kilkenny, on Wednesday, the 25th of September, 1776. This compilation 4to. pp. 797, was actually printed at Kilkenny, from the press of James Stokes (although the title page sets out that it issued from the Metternick Print-office at Cologne) in 1762. Ten years later, a Supplement was printed at Kilkenny, I think by Edmund Finn, which increases the whole work to 949 pages. The Historical Part is valuable Indeed; but the political tendency of the work excited great uneasiness and alarm in the Bishops and Clergy of Ireland. Seven of the Prelates met at Thurles, and signed a declaration on the 28th day of July, 1775, expressive of their disapproval of the Publication as tending to weaken and subvert the fidelity and allegiance due to their gracious Sovereign George III. and to disturb the Public peace and tranquillity, and to give a handle to their opponents to impute principles that they utterly reject, and which are unfounded in the Doctrines of the Catholic Church. See the Anthologia Hibernica for February, 1793, p. 96

• The honour of the reconciliation is due to the Benedictines.That holy Missionary, Benedict Gibbon, (born at Westcliffe, in Kent; professed at Lambspring, on the 21st of March, 1672; deceased 1st of January, 1723), whilst dining with F. Mansuet, O.S.F., Confessor to James, Duke of York, desired him to go to his Royal Highness and advise him to propose to the King, then near his end, whether he did not desire to die in the Communion of the Catholic Church. The Duke did so; and the consequence was, that F. John Huddleston concluded this reconciliation. The seeds of this Conversion were probably sown at Mosely. During the King’s concealment there, he had much interesting conversation with F. Hudleston the Chaplain.

• To the Editor of the Catholic Miscellany for 1826, the public is indebted for reprinting the admirable Pastoral Letter of this loyal Archbishop of Dublin, dated Paris, May 2nd, 1674. See pp 66. 72.

Francis Finegan SJ Biographical Dictionary 1598-1773

He was the younger brother of Father John Talbot SJ, and was born June 29, 1618, and entered the Society at Lisbon, c May 1635. Before his admission to the Novitiate he had already begun his Philosophical studies.

After his Noviceship he resumed his Philosophy course at Coimbra, and according to the Portuguese triennian Catalogus of 1642, was reading Theology, but that source does not say where. In 1645 he was teaching Latin in Lisbon and was not yet a Priest, and it is possible that he interrupted his Theological studies to make his Regency. In any event, he was not ordained Priest until April 1648. The following year he was sent to the Roman Province to make his tertianship at Florence. Thereafter he identified himself with the cause of Charles II.

He was in Ireland in 1652, and for some time the following year. Afterward, his name appears in only one Catalogue, that of Flanders in 1655, when he was a Military Chaplain. The contemporary correspondence shows that his journeyings and negotiations for the Royalist cause earned him the disapproval of the General. He was finally dismissed from the Society on June 29, 1659.

His departure from the Society, however, was friendly, and ever after, his relations with his former colleagues in Ireland were most amicable. he eventually became Archbishop of Dublin, 1669, and died a prisoner for the Faith on November 15, 1680, at Dublin Castle.

The cause for his beatification is before the Holy See.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Talbot_(bishop)

Portrait of Peter Talbot, c. 1660, located in Malahide Castle
Church Catholic Church
Archdiocese Archdiocese of Dublin
Appointed 1669
Orders
Ordination c. 1647
Consecration 9 May 1669
Personal details
Born 1618/1620
Malahide, County Dublin, Ireland
Died 15 November 1680
Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland
Peter Talbot (1618/1620 – 15 November 1680) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1669 to his death in prison. He was a victim of the Popish Plot.

Early life
Talbot was born at Malahide in 1618[1][2] or 1620[3][4][5] to Sir William Talbot and his wife Alison (née Netterville).[2][3][5] In May 1635, he entered the Society of Jesus in Portugal.[3][2][5] He was ordained a priest at Rome on either 6 April 1647[2] or 6 June 1648.[1]

According to archbishop Oliver Plunkett, Talbot proved ‘so troublesome’ that he was made to carry out the tertian stage of his probation in Florence.[2]

Talbot held the chair of theology at the College of Antwerp.[3][4][5] In the meantime during the Commonwealth period, Charles II and the royal family were compelled to seek refuge in Europe. Throughout the period of the king's exile, Talbot's brothers were attached to the royal court. The eldest brother, Sir Robert Talbot, 2nd Baronet, had held a high commission under James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond in the army in Ireland and was reckoned among the king's most confidential advisers. A younger brother, Richard Talbot, later 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was also devoted to the cause of the exiled monarch and stood high in royal favour.[4]

Appointments
Peter Talbot himself was constantly in attendance on Charles II and his court. On account of his knowledge of the continental languages, he was repeatedly dispatched to private embassies in Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris. On the return of the king to London, Talbot received an appointment as Queen's Almoner, but the Clarendon and Ormond faction, which was then predominant, feared his influence with the king. He was accused of conspiring with four Jesuits to assassinate the Duke of Ormond, and he was forced to seek safety by resigning his position at Court and retiring to continent Europe. The king allowed him a pension of three hundred pounds a year. Before his return to England, Talbot had, with the approval of the General of the Jesuits, severed his connection with the Society.[4]

He was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1669. Sources differ on the exact date - 11 January,[4] 8 March[1] or 2 May.[3] Talbot was consecrated in Antwerp on 9 May 1669,[2][5] assisted by the Bishops of Ghent and Ferns.[4][5]

Catholic persecution
During this period, the English treatment of Catholics in Ireland was more lenient than usual, owing to the known sympathies of the King (who entered the Catholic Church on his deathbed). In August 1670, Talbot held his first Diocesan Synod in Dublin. It was opened with High Mass, which for forty years many of the faithful had not witnessed. In the same year, an assembly of the archbishops and bishops and representatives of the clergy was held in Dublin. At this assembly, the question of precedence and of the primatial authority gave rise to considerable discussion and led to an embittered controversy between the Archbishop of Dublin and Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.[4] The subject had been one of great controversy in the Middle Ages, but had been in abeyance for some time.[citation needed] Both prelates considered that they were asserting the rights of their respective sees, and each published a treatise on the subject. Another meeting of the Catholic gentry was convened by Talbot, at which it was resolved to send to the Court at London a representative who would seek redress for some of the grievances to which the Catholics of Ireland were subjected. This alarmed the Protestants in Ireland, who feared that the balance of power might shift to the Catholic majority. They protested to King Charles, and in 1673 some of the repressive measures against Irish Catholics were reinstated, and Talbot was compelled to seek safety in exile.[4]

Exile, arrest and death
During his banishment, he resided generally in Paris. In 1675, Talbot, in poor health, obtained permission to return to England, and for two years he resided with a family friend at Poole Hall in Cheshire. Towards the end of 1677, he petitioned the Crown for leave "to come to Ireland to die in his own country", and through the influence of James, Duke of York his request was granted.[4]

Shortly after that, the Popish Plot was hatched by Titus Oates, and information was forwarded to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to the effect that a rebellion was being planned in Ireland, that Peter Talbot was one of the accomplices, and that assassins had been hired to murder the Duke himself. Ormond was in private deeply sceptical of the Popish Plot's existence, remarking that Talbot was too ill to carry it out.[4] Of the alleged assassins, Ormond stated that they were such "silly drunken vagabonds" that "no schoolboy would trust them to rob an orchard"; but he thought it politically unwise to show his doubts publicly. Though he was sympathetic to Oliver Plunkett, who was also arrested in connection with the alleged Plot and was later to die on the scaffold, he had always been hostile to Talbot.[6]

On 8 October 1678, Ormond signed a warrant for Talbot's arrest.[6][4] He was arrested at Cartown near Maynooth at the house of his brother, Colonel Richard Talbot, and was then moved to Dublin Castle.[4]

For two years Talbot remained in prison without trial, where he fell ill.[4][2] Despite their long friendship, Charles II, fearful of the political repercussions, made no effort to save him.[6] Talbot was held in an adjoining cell to Oliver Plunkett. The two archbishops reconciled as fellow prisoners, setting aside their disagreements as expressed in their treatises.[4]

From his prison cell, Talbot had written on 12 April 1679, petitioning that a priest be allowed to visit him, as he was bedridden for months and was now in imminent danger of death. The petition was refused, but Plunkett, on hearing of Talbot's dying condition, forced his way through the warders and administered to the dying prelate the last consolations of the sacraments.[4][2] Talbot died in prison on 15 November 1680.[6][1][2][4]

Legacy
Talbot is said to have been interred in the churchyard of St. Audoen's Church, close by the tomb of Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester.[4]

(1) Cheney, David M. "Archbishop Peter Talbot". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 1 January 2024.

(2) Clarke, Aidan. "Talbot, Peter". Dictionary of Irish Biography.

(3) Oliver, George (1838). Collections towards illustrating the biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish members, of the Society of Jesus. C. Dolman. ISBN 978-1333240035.

(4) Moran, Francis (1912). "Peter Talbot" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14.

(5) Bagwell, Richard (1898). "Talbot, Peter" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. pp. 327–329.

(6) Kenyon, J.P. (2000). The Popish Plot. Phoenix Press Reissue. p. 225.

◆ Henry Foley - Records of the English province of The Society of Jesus Vol VII
TALBOT, PETER, Father (Irish), born at Carton, in Kildare, 1620; entered the Society in Portugal, 1635. (Hogan's list.) He was son of Sir William Talbot, and brother of Richard Talbot, who was created first Duke of Tyrconnell by King James II.
This Father rendered good service to Charles II, when an exile, and a letter from the King to him is given in Thurloe's State Papers, vol. i. p. 662. He is also alluded to in another paper in p. 752 of the same vol. Upon the death of Dr. Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin, Pope Clement IX, appointed Father Peter Talbot to fill the vacant Archbishopric on May 2, 1669. For his literary works see Father Southwell's Bibl. Scriptorum .7., and Father de Backer's Biblioth. des Ecrivains 5.7., and for a fuller account see Oliver, from Stonyhurst MSS. On April 30, 1658, he arrived from Ireland at the Professed House, Antwerp. (Belgian Catalogue.) He died in Newgate Prison, Dublin, for the Catholic faith, in 1680. He wished to re-enter the Society, from which he had been dismissed, justis de causis. (Hogan's list) " Father Peter Talbot in England, although he did not belong to the English Province, was dismissed by order of the Rev. Father General, June 29, 1659."-Catalogus Tertius of the English Province for 1659-60. See Hogan's Irish list for further particulars. (1)

Talbot, John, born in 1611, in county Kildare, probably at Carton, the seat of his father, Sir W. Talbot, Bart. ; entered the Socięty in 1632; came to the Irish Mission in 1638; was a good preacher, Confessarius and Professor of Humanities; was brother of Sir Robert Talbot, Bart., Richard, Duke of Tyrconnell, Viceroy of Ireland, and Peter, Archbishop of Dublin. (Irish Catalogues S.J. Dr. Talbot's Friar Disciplined,) He died between 1666 and 1674 ; since Dr. Talbot, in his Friar Disciplined, published in 1674, says to the famous Peter Walsh : “Jr. Walsh, Father John Talbot, of whom you said when he died (as if it yere & rarity or kind of miracle). There lies a honest Jesuit,' assuredi me, that, after his brother, Sir Robert Talbot, hari," etc. Again, Dr. Talbot, in his Horosis Blackloiana, says he himself had studied in Konie with such gifted Jesuits (orbis miracula) as Tirrell, Maurus, Telin (an Irishman), and the younger Palavicino, and was appointed to reach philosophy at the University of Evora, which has given so many orthodox theologians to England and Ireland, and amongst others Father John Talbot, my brother, a distinguished defender of the Roman Faith." (Hurusis Blacklinna, P. 250.) In his Treatise on Religion and Government, p. 557, Dr. Talbot says he saw the martyr, Father Mastrilli, in Lisbon, on his way to India, and heard him tell the story of his cure by St. Xavcrius. All these Talbots were cousins of the Fathers Netterville, S.).

The Gilbert Talbot of the Society, who cannot be identified in the English Catalogues, was perhaps a brother of Peter's, who had been a Colonel in the Irish army in the “Forty-one Wars" (1641), and, says Clarendon, was looked upon as a man of courage, having fought a dud or trvo with stond men. I think there were three John Talbots S.J., as follows: (1) John Tallxot, born 1609; entered 1626, in Portugal. (2) John Talbot, born in Kildare, 1611; entered 1632; came to mission in 1638. (3) John Talbot, born 1619; entererl circ. 1637; one of them was a brother of Peter's, the two others were probably an uncle and a cousin of his.

Dr. Talbot's Laler to Peter Walsh in the " Friar Disciplined,"
As to Friar Walsh, his no less ridiculous than malicious observations and comments upon my devotion and respect to the most Reverend Father Oliva and the whole Society--I must own to the whole world I should be as ill a man and as great a liar as Walsh himself (and that is the worst that can le said of any man), if I did not cstcem very much and speak Hell of the virtue and learning of the society. Fow can speak with more knowledge, and none with less impartiality. I have been in most of their Provinces of Europe. I have lived in their most famous Colleges, and taught in some. I never was in any College or community of theirs where there was not ne or more of known eminent sanctity, inany of extraordinary virtue, wul none that I know vicious. I always found their Superiors charitable and sincere, their l'rocurators (levout, their l'rofessors humble though learnul, their young Masters of Ifumarity and Students of Philosophy and Divinity very chasic, and if any pare the least suspicion of being utlicrwise, he was presently dismissed. It is ny greatest aclınira tion how so great a lody, so generally employed and trusted by the greatest princes, so einversant in the world (according to their holy Institute). can savour so little of it and live so innocently as they do: and cten forsake the best part of it, kurope, their many conveniences and relations (who are illustrious), and lanish themselves to Asia, Africa, and America, tupun no other account but that of Sving souls. In their schools they tanch not those infanious (loctrines which that foul-momhed F. . asperseth their authors with, and says I do practise, frut are very reserved in delivering any larger opinion even of the most famous writers, for fear men should alsuse and misapply their authority. This is the substance of what I always said and must say if I will speak truth of an Order wherein I have lived many years in great content, and truly so innocently (through God's grace and their example!, that the greatest sin I can charge myself with during my alade among them, is the resolution I took of leaving them, thouyl (perhaps erroneously) I framed then a judgment that the circumstances did excuse it from being inorlal," etc. (This note is furnished by I'r. Hogan.)

Born: 30 June 1562, Malahide, County Dublin
Entered; 10 May 1595, Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 04 June 1594, Pont-à-Mousson, France - pre Entry
Died: 02 August 1599, Cassel, Flanders, France - Belgicae Province (BELG)

Studied Humanities at Dublin and Pont-à-Mousson, and studied Philosophy and Doctor of Arts (Docteur in ès Arts) at Louvain
1597 Was MA Age 34 (Docteur in ès Arts)
1599 Died in Belgian Camp at Bois-le-Duc ('s-Hertogenbosch) on 02 August 1599 or at Cassel on 04 August 1599

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronolgica” :
Son of William, a nobleman and Maria Birmingham.
Studied Grammar for some years in Ireland, then a year of Humanities, one of Rhetoric and three of Philosophy at Pont-à-Mousson, graduating MA 1590 there, and Ordained 04 June 1594, having studied four years at Louvain, where he took scholastic lectures. he was received into the Society by BELG Provincial George Duras.
He was a military Chaplain “Preacher and Ghostly Father” to the Irish soldiers of Sir William Stanley, and died from the effects of hard work.
Very devout to Our Blessed Lady of Montaigu (Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel) at Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, and his sick soldiers going in procession to that shrine were often cured.
Henry Fitzsimon, in a letter from Ireland 07 September 1599, begs for reinforcement of missioners, and particularly names Walter Talbot in first place. (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS)
“Miracles lately wrought by the intercession of Our Blessed Lady of Montaigu near Sichem in Brabant” trans to English by Fr Robert Chambers, Confessor of the English Religious Dames in Brussels, printed at Brussels 1606 (a copy is at St Beuno’s)
“The Curate and Eschevins of Sichem, affirm assuredly, that in the year 1598, at what time the Irish of the Regiment of Sir William Stanley, Colonel, were lodged there, were wont to use no pther physic or remedy for their diseases, but to make their prayers at the foresaid place of Montague, amongst whom very many were healed in such sort, that Father Walter Talbot, an Irish Priest, one of the Society of Jesus (who at that time was their Preacher and Ghostly Father) was wont oftentimes to say with great admiration, that the place was in a very singular manner chosen by God to advance there his Mother’s honour, for which cause he was moved to go thither, sometimes devoutly in procession, accompanied by the sayd irish, and the townsmen of Sichem, whereof he wrote to Father Thomas Salines, who was the Superior of the Fathers of the Society, which attended upon the Catholic King’s army in the Low Countries.” (Foley’s Collectanea)

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Lord William Talbot Malahide and Mary née Bermingham ( daughter of Peter, Chief Justice of Ireland)
Early education was in Ireland and then a classical education was made at Pont-à-Mousson with the Jesuits, later graduating MA after Philosophy studies there. he went on to study Theology there also and was Ordained there 04 June 1594 before a year later Ent 10 May 1595 Tournai
After First Vows he was sent as a Military Chaplain to Brussels. He had been approved for the Irish mission but died 2 August, 1599, at the military camp in Flanders where he was stationed 02 August 1599
At the time of his early death he was “preacher and ghostly father” to Colonel Sir William Stanley's Irish troops. During his brief period as chaplain he promoted amongst the Irish soldiers devotion to Our Lady at her shrine of Montaigu near Scherpenheuvel-Zichem (Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel)
Before his death he had been requested by Henry Fitzsimon, Irish Mission Superior, and approved to go to Ireland, but he died before that could happen.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Walter Talbot 1562-1599
Walter Talbot, the fourth son of William Talbot of Malahide, a family which was to give many sons to the Society, including the famous Peter Talbot, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin.

Walter was born on June 30th 1562 and received his higher education on the continent. Having taken his Master’s degree, he was ordained by special indult of Cardinal Allen in 1592. He became a Jesuit at Tournai in 1595, the same year as that of Dominic Collins.

He was appointed Chaplain to the Spanish Army in Flanders. There he laboured not only with Irish troops, but also those of other nations. His influence with the soldiers was supreme, and many heretics were reconciled to the Church by his efforts. He attributed his influence to his own great devotion to Our Lady of Montaigu, a famous shrine near the town of Sichem in the Brabant. He was accustomed to perform penitential pilgrimages to the shrine accompanied by the soldiers and the townsfolk of Sichem. Regardless of his health, he spent two days hearing confessions in the rain. He neglected to change his clothes and died of a fever on August 13th 1599 at Cassel, having been 4 years in the Society.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 52 : Easter 1988

Portrait from the Past : Walter Talbot : 1562-1599

Edmund Hogan

When next you visit Malahide Castle in County Dublin, spare a thought for the Talbot family who lived there for so many centuries. Eight of the Malahide Talbots became Jesuits. Here are a few notes on the least famous of them.

When Walter Talbot entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Tournay in 1595, he wrote down this account of himself: “I, Walter Talbot, was born at Dublin on June 30, 1562, my father was William Talbot, Esquire, who is still alive; my mother was Mary Bermingham, who is deceased in the Lord. I have studied Grammar in Ireland. In the school of the Society at Pont-à Mousson I have studied Humanities for one year, Rhetoric for one year, Philosophy for three years, and I took the degrees of Master and Doctor in the month of August. 1590. I have received tonsure and minor orders from the Bishop of Metz, and the Orders of subdeacon and deacon from John de Stryan, Bishop of Middleburg, in virtue of an Apostolic Indult granted to Cardinal Allen. I have studied Theology during four years and a half at Louvain, where I attended lectures in the College of the Society. I enter the House of Probation at Tournay, this day. May 10, 1595”... (Liber Novitiorum Tornac, S.J.)

Sir Bernard Burke's Peerage enables us to identify Walter Talbot as the fourth son of William Talbot of Malahide, who married Mary daughter of Peter Bermingham, Lord Chief-Justice of Ireland, and who possessed the lordships of Malahide, Garristown, Louth, Ashe, and Castlering with the courts and royalties attached thereto, together with estates in the counties of Waterford and Kilkenny. Walter was the first of eight members of this family who entered the Society, amongst whom his father's three grand-nephews, John, Peter and Gilbert, all Jesuits, were brothers of the Duke of Tirconnell.

In 1597, Walter became chaplain to an Irish regiment, which was in the service of the King of Spain and was stationed in Belguim of his missionary labours the Brussels Annual Letters relate:

There are Irish soldiers in the camp, and some English mixed with soldiers of various nationalities. In the year 1597, more than twenty of them were brought to the true foild, and very many have ben aggregated to the Sodality of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The musketeers marched in military array, and, to the wonder and admiration of many spectators, laid their banners at the feet of their chaplain to show their great reverence for his person and functions. Most of these soldiers abstained even from white-breads during Lent; many ate nothing but black-bread on Wednesdays and Fridays; they went barefoot to visit holy places, and in a spirit of austerity inflicted such corporal punishment on themselves as to fill with horror those who beheld their works of penance.

Albert Dürer had seen Irish soldiers in the Low Countries, and he drew a sketch of five of them which is preserved at Vienna. They are fine, powerfully-built and formidable-looking fellows, armed with the long sword and the galloglass axe, clad in a mantle of Irish rug. and wearing the Irish glib and moustache which it was forbidden to wear at home under pain of forfeiture, not only of the moustache and glib, but even of the head. The great artist wrote over his drawing, “Here go the war-men of Ireland”.

Here went, then, the war-men of Ireland who knew how to fight, not only against the enemies of the Spanish King, but also learned under the lead of Father Talbot how to wage war on the devil, the world, and the flesh. Their penitential works remind us of the words of Blessed Edmund Campion:

The Irish, when virtuously bred up or reformed, are such mirrors of holiness and austerity, that all other nations retain but a show or shadow of devotion in comparison to
them; as for abstinence or fasting, which these days make so dangerous, this is to them a familiar kind of chastisement. (History of Ireland, Ed. 1809, p.19. )

In 1598, Father Talbot was stationed with the Irish at Sichem, as we learn from a book entitled, Miracles lately wrought by the intercession of the Glorious Virgin Marie at Montaigu, near unto Sichem in Brabant. A copy of this tract is in St Beuno's College Library, St Asaph. At page 35 we read:

The Curate and Eschevins of Sichem affirm assuredly that in the year 1598, at what time the Irish of the regiment of Sir William Stanley, Colonel, were lodged there, were wont to use no other physic or remedy for their diseases, but to make their prayers at the foresaid place of Montaigu, amongst whom very many were healed in such sort that Father Walter Talbot, an Irish priest, one of the Society of Jesus (who at that time was their preacher and ghostly Father), was wont oftentimes to say with great admiration, that the place was in a very singular manner chosen by God to advance there His Mother's honour, for which cause he was moved to go thither, sometimes devoutly in procession, accompanied by the sayd Irish, and the townsmen of Sichem, whereof he wrote to Father Thomas Salines, who was the Superior of the Fathers of the Society, which attended upon the Catholic King's army in the Low Countries. (H. Foley's Collectanea, SJ, article “Talbot, Walter”)

The Annual Letters of Louvain of 1602 supply some further details relating to the piety of these irish soldiers who were in winter-quarters at Sichem:

Father Walter Talbot, one of our military chaplains, had often experienced a peculiar feeling of consolation while praying at the shrine of Our Lady of Montaigu. He was consequently moved to send his soldiers thither often, and especially the sick; and he had the comfort of seeing them come back perfectly cured after a pilgrimage to that holy chapel, which is situated on a rugged hill at a distance of one or two miles. Filled with reverence at the sanctity of the spot, he informed the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of the facts he had witnessed, and told them that it was evidently a place chosen for manifesting devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and that it would become the most celebrated resort of all Belgium. His words, which were looked on by the peasants as an oracle, were verified, as an immense number of miracles were performed there, many of which we have witnessed with our own eyes.

All these manifestations of piety must have filled the hearts of Father Talbot and his soldiers with gratitude and consolation; but they also brought on him an overwhelming amount of labour under which he soon succumbed. The Annual Letters of Belgium tell us that

among the camp missioners of Belgium three Jesuits went to the glory of Heaven in the year 1599. The first was Father Walter Talbot, an Irishman, who was thirty-eight years old, and had been four years in the Society. In the camp he reconciled to the Church many men, chiefly of his own nation; many also were those of other countries, whom he brought back to the paths of salvation. He gave high hopes of success in this kind of apostolic work, and he was resolved to persevere in it as long as he had life. But, regardless of his health, he spent two days hearing the confessions of the soldiers, while he was drenched with wet; he thus contracted a violent fever, of which he died at Cassel on August 4, 1599.

There were no railways, no steamers in those days, and English ships were on the sea to intercept all correspondence between the Continent and Ireland; and so the news of his death did not reach Dublin for a month, or perhaps months, after its occurrence. His fellow-citizen and brother Jesuit, Henry FitzSimon, wrote to Father General a month afterwards: :I beg of your Paternity to give us some labourers for this vineyard, and I think Father Walter Talbot should be sent to me at once, if it be pleasing to your Paternity”. Father FitzSimon, who had been acquainted with him at Dublin and in Belgium, knew something of his virtue, learning, tact, ardent Zeal, and other qualities, which eminently fitted him for the difficult and dangerous mission of Ireland; and he was most anxious to secure his services for his afflicted countrymen at home. But God willed otherwise, and took him to receive the reward of his labours. It is not unlikely that Father FitzSimon was reminded of him by the fact that the day before he wrote his letter, Walter's brother, John, was knighted on the field of battle by the Lord Deputy for distinguished service against the Irish at a time when, as FitzSimon writes, the Irish were everywhere triumphant, and the splendid English army of the Earl of Essex had been almost annihilated.

Born: 1526 Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 09 June 1565, Professed House Rome, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)
Left: 13 November 1571, Milan, Italy
Died: 04 June 1579, Munster

On 28 June 1567 Fr Borgia writes to Fr P Canisius that he was thinking of sending him to help at the University at Dillingen. Fr Womanstadt especially thought of sending a Theologian to Ireland - a priest would be a very good thing. see many things about Tanner in Vol VI of Canisius. (Spic oss III 35)
12 August 1567 Borgia to Germany : “Edmund an Irishman, a man of mature age and good parts will be sent to Würzburg. We have sent him to Würzburg or Dillingen where he will be useful. He is a Theologian” (Fr Nadal’s Epistolae Vol iii 509, 526)
On 20 August 1565 Fr Polanco writes to Primate Creagh : “We have elected Fr Borgia as General at our General Congregation. Among the Fathers who have come to Rome is Edmund the Irishman (Tanner), vir probitatis et doctinae non vulgaris qui nunc in probabtionibus nostrae Societatis exercetur” (Borgia Vol IV 68).

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
A Writer; A profound divine (Stanihurst); A Prisonere; A Bishop of Cork (cf "Hibernia Ignatiana").
He was once arrested but had escaped by the aid of friends. The heretics were bent on his destruction. God had blessed his labours, and many would be reconciled, to the Church, should the violence of the persecution subside. (cf Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS).

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Edmund Tanner, Bishop of Cork 1530-1579
Edmund Tanner was born in Dublin in 1530 and entered the Society at Rome in 1566. With Fr Rochford, he went to Dilingen for his studies. Owing to ill-health and with the blessing iof his Superiors, he left the Society. On Fr David Wolfe’s recommendation, he was appointed Bishop of Cork in 1574.In 1576 he received special faculties for Cork, Dublin and Cashel, and for this reason he is referred to in contemporary documents as Commissionary Apostolic.

Fr Houling SJ records that Bishop Tanner was arrested at Clonmel and thrown into prison. There he was visited by a Protestant prelate whom he finally converted. He then escaped and continued his labours for four years. Worn out by prison and toil, he died a veritable martyr in January 1579.

There is extant a famous letter of his to Rome in which he praised very highly the work of Frs Rochford and Lee in our school at Youghal.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
TANNER, EDMUND. A brief letter of this Father, addressed from Cork, the 11th of October, 1577, is extant. He states that he had once been arrested; but by the industry of his friends, had effected his escape, and that the enemies of Catholic Faith were constantly intent on his destruction; that God blessed his labours in the vineyard, and that many would be reconciled to the Church, if the violence of Persecution should subside. I suspect this Father is the person mentioned by Harris, p.97, Book, I. Writers of Ireland, who wrote “Lectiones in Summam D. Thomae”.