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55 George Street, Limerick

Irish Jesuit Missions

Born: 10 August 1851, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 29 September 1869, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1884 Leuven, Belgium
Final Vows 02 February 1889, Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Galway
Died: 19 July 1912, Ms Quinn’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Younger Brother Timothy was Provincial - RIP 1917; Uncle of Paddy Kenny - RIP 1973

Early education and St Finian’s, Navan and UCD

by 1872 at Roehampton London (ANG) Studying
by 1873 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1874 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1875 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1882 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1888 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was of a very old Catholic family in Tullamore. His older brother Timothy had been Provincial - RIP 1917

After First Vows He taught at Clongowes, and also studied Philosophy and Theology at Louvain, where he was Ordained.
After Teritianship he was sent to Galway, where he showed great talents as a Preacher.
1894 He was sent to Gardiner St.
1903 He returned to Galway as Operarius. He was soon in failing health and died there 10 July 1912 having been removed to Ms Quinn’s Hospital, Mountjoy Square beforehand.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Peter Kenny (1851-1912)

Brother of a former Provincial, Father Timothy Kenny, was born near Tullamore and entered the Society in 1872. Shortly after his ordination, Father Kenny was appointed to the Crescent but remained here only two years, 1885-87. With the exception of eight years, 1894-1902, the remainder of his religious life was spent at St Ignatius, Galway. He died in Dublin after a brief illness.

Born: 08 November 1889, Charleville Parade, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1909, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1922, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1968, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 17 March 1973, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

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

Father was a solicitor and died in 1899. Family then moved to Dublin. Mother now resides at Brookfield Terrace, Blackrock, Dublin

Second eldest of three - 2 sisters.

Early education at a convent school in Dublin, then went to Dominican Convent Wicklow for two years and then at Clongowes Wood College SJ. Left CWC in 1906 for a year to go to the South of France for his health

Nephew of Timothy Kenny - RIP 1917 and Peter Kenny - RIP 1912

by 1913 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1924 at Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD) studying

Born: 21 August 1913, Glenaree, County Kildare
Entered: 15 May 1952, Roehampton, London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Professed: 02 February 1963
Died: 09 June 2002, Preston, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1963 at Tullabeg (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 28 June 1863, Glenkeen, County Tipperary
Entered: 06 September 1886, Florissant MO USA (MIS for Neo-Aurelianensis Province NOR)
Ordained: 01 August 1897, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
Final vows: 02 February 1903
Died 22 November 1946, Touro Infirmary, New Orleans LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

part of the Spring Hill College, Spring Hill AL, USA community at the time of death

by 1895 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1894-1897

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1897
Marching Through Georgia
Father Michael Kenny SJ

Writing from the South, as we term the southern half of the United States, the first thing that just now occurs to one to speak of is the climate. The papers are raging with yellow fever in Louisiana, much more than is Louisiana herself, and New Orleans used to have a bad name in Ireland, I remember, before I came to America, having been comforted by my friends with the statement, “New Orleans is the Irishman's grave”. Well, I have since lived thereabouts several happy years, and have not yet owned in it even grave. I have been through the South, from Missouri to Mobile, and from Georgia to Texas, and I can say with truth that its climate, though not so bracing, and not always so pleasant, is as healthy as that of Ireland. The hot season is longer than in the Northern States, but never so oppressive. Sunstroke is practically unknown in the South. The thermometer scarcely ever shows more than 86° in the shade, and, owing to the dryness of the air, 90° in the South is not more severe than 75° in Ireland. The Gulf Stream, it must be remembered, is our next-door neighbour, and its effects on the South would be even more noticeable than on Ireland, were not the equator a close neighbour too.

"But, then, what about your yellow fever?” It is not ours; it is an intruder. It comes in from the Central American States when the quarantine officers are napping. It has occurred only about as often as an Irish rebellion. When it stays it does less damage than smallpox, and it disappears before the breath of the first wind from the North, The terror it inspires in non Southerners is not much better grounded than that of the English traveller in Ireland, who expected to see a blunderbuss aimed at him from behind every hedge.

So much by way of introduction. Let us be “marching through Georgia”. I select Georgia, as “the subject of my story” because certain incidents that occurred during my stay there are likely to prove interesting, and because the College in which I lived frequently reminded me of Mungret. It looks out from the summit of a gently sloping hill over a wide-extending plain. It is three miles west of Macon, a city of much the same size as Limerick, and a mile south of it flows the Ocmulgee, a river as large, though not so imposing, as the Shannon.

The State of Georgia is about the size of New York, but the population, half of which is negro, is not yet quite as large as that of Ireland. Except in the larger cities, there is scarcely any Catholic population.

So much are the sons of Ireland identified with the Catholic Faith, that the terms Irish and. Catholic are synonymous. This was brought home to me before I was a day in Georgia. Arriving in Macon, I called for a buggy - every conveyance that is not a railway-car or a wheel-barrow is a “buggy” - and I told the driver, a “coloured gem'man”, to take me to Pio Nono College.
“Dar ain't no Nono College round heyar, sah”.
“Isn't there a college at Vineville?” “Oh, yas, sah, de Irish College!”
And when I asked him on the way why he called it the “Irish” College, he replied, “ “Caw, sah, dey is aw Irish up dar”.
I told him this was not so. There were Americans, French, German, and even English.
“Yas, sah, but dey is aw Irish. Yous aw done jined de Irish Chu'ch”.

Pio Nono College having become a Jesuit .Novitiate, the name was changed to St Stanislaus, and, to advertise the fact, an arch was erected over the main entrance on which the new name was painted in prominent characters. The intelligent natives at once concluded that the “Irish College” was now the property of Mr Stephen Stanislaus, who was presumed to be the “boss” of the whole concern, and vendors of eggs and poultry would frequently call on their way to market to ask “Mr Stanislaus” to “sample their wares”. And so it remained the “Irish College”.

In the rural districts around us there was not a single Catholic, white or black. Most extraordinary notions were prevalent about Catholics and their faith. They worshipped idols several times a day, and whenever and wherever they had the power they delighted in feeding their cattle on good fat Protestants. This doctrine was preached from a “white” pulpit in our neighbourhood. The particular breed of cattle named was pigs!

When we passed near their houses the negro mothers were on the look out lest we should kidnap their children, for we were supposed to be medical students. When they passed our grounds and saw us robed in gown and cincture, they were greatly puzzled, never having seen the like before, and one was overheard to say, with a sigh of relief, “Gosh! dey wear pants, anyhow!” But we soon became better known by white and black, and their ignorant prejudices were dissipated.

Having come to know the neighbourhood, we were on the look-out for lost sheep, chiefly black ones. One negro told me his grandfather was “Irish”, and he himself was inclined “dat a-way”, but was not as yet quite “contracted and disposed to it”.

“But”, he said, “yous aw should see Josh Brown; he's Irish, you bet”. “You mean Catholic?” “Yas, sah, dat's what he says. I reck'n Josh's a Ca'h’lic f'om away-back. He talks religion in de forge ovah yondah. Yas, sah, he's a blacksmith, an' I tell you, sah, he kin talk. White gem'men argufy wi' Josh!”

This was a very high testimonial to a negro's respectability and attainments, so we determined to interview “Josh”.

We met him coming out of his forge one evening. He was a man of fine proportions, in spite of the absence of a part of one of his legs. His features were regular and pleasing, and, unlike negroes generally, his forehead was high and broad, and did not recede; but his face was as black as night. Change his colour, and he could pass as a good type of Caucasian. Even his accent or manners would not betray him, for he spoke and acted like his white neighbours, and his moral tone would certainly not suffer by comparison with theirs. We told him we were informed he was a Catholic.

“Yes, sir”, he said, doffing his hat, and holding it out at arm's length; “I believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church!”.
Expressing our pleasure at the news, we asked where he went to church.
“Sir”, he answered, “I don't go to church. I was never in a Catholic church in my life”.
“And you say you are Catholic?” .
“Yes, sir, I have been a Catholic seventeen years”.
We explained the inconsistency of his position. He admitted it.
“But”, he added, “to go to a Catholic Church I have to expose myself to the contempt and the slights of the whole white congregation, and I don't think the Lord expects me to do that. They look down upon me as a ‘nigger’, and would despise me as an intruder, and neither there nor elsewhere do they want my company. So, sir, I say my prayers - the Catholic prayers and worship God in my own house, and I trust he hears me”.

When we tried to show him his mistake, he interrupted us with a story :
“Shortly before the War” - the American War of Secession is always referred to as ‘the War’ - “I was walking one Sunday with my wife in the streets of Atlanta. As we passed an Episcopal Church we heard the organ playing and the choir singing. We stopped to listen, and my wife was so attracted by the music that she went just inside the door to hear it better: I called her back, but she did not hear me, and I walked on. As she entered the door the preacher was ascending the pulpit. He saw her, and immediately called to the clerk :
‘Take that impudent negress and teach her not to dare enter the company of white people. Give her thirty lashes’.
And he gave them. She came to me bleeding and crying, and I swore a solemn oath never to enter a white man's house or a white man's church. Was I wrong?”
“You did'nt swear not to enter God's church when God Himself commanded you to enter?”
“Well, no, sir, but you see ...”
Not waiting to see, we explained to him that, with Catholics, there was no distinction of class, or colour in church matters, and that, believing in the Catholic church, he was bound to become a Catholic in reality, and we invited him to the College chapel for the following Sunday.
“Are there any Irishmen there, sir?” “Oh, yes, plenty of them; I'm one”.
“Then, sir, I'll be there. Irishmen were the only whites that ever treated me as if I had a soul. They would speak to me, and instruct me as a fellow man. It was an Irishman taught me to read, and it is owing to Irishmen I am a Catholic. Sir, I will attend your church next Sunday”.
It is but just to Catholics of other nationalities to add that Irishmen were nearly the only Catholics that had come in Brown's way.
Sunday morning arrived, and at the hour appointed, a large sable figure stalked up the avenue with great dignity, and Brown entering the chapel knelt down, stowing away his wooden leg as best he could.

After Mass the Father Superior interviewed him, and was astonished at his thorough know ledge of the Catholic religion and his quick intelligence. He talked with ease and directness about what he knew, and never about any thing else. His manner had much more of the unconscious tone of independence of the American white than the unconscious servility of the American negro. As he was thoroughly instructed he was told to prepare for baptism in a few weeks; in the meantime I ascertained his history.

He had been born a slave in Virginia, and his master was a Doctor Griffin, a brother of Gerald Griffin, a name that should be dear to Mungret men, who have within easy reach the scenes immortalised by his pen. Doctor Griffin, himself, taught him to read and write, contrary to the wishes of his American wife and the laws of Virginia, which forbade, under heavy penalties, the teaching of reading or writing - not to say arithmetic - to any coloured person. This law was not peculiar to Virginia. But Dr. Griffin's tuition stopped there. He gave no religious instruction. Brown, like all negroes, felt the need of some religion, so he attended the services of the nearest negro conventicles. He “sat under” Baptists Northern and Southern, Hard-shell and Soft-shell; Methodists North and Methodists South, Methodists Episcopal, Non-Episcopal, and Afro-Americans; Seventh day Adventists, Moravians, and Presbyterians of every variety. He shook with Shakers and quaked with Quakers, and even once had his feet washed gratis at a gathering of Feet washers, whose religion consists exclusively in “washing one another's feet”.

But he “found salvation” among none of them. The most devout at these meetings were the loudest shouters, and the favourite preachers were they who screeched and jumped most frantically. Brown grew tired of shouting and being shouted at, so he read his Bible at home on Sundays, and observed the Christian law as best he knew how to. Only one thing he had in common with his neighbours thorough going hatred of the “Irish” religion, and if half the atrocious things he had heard about it were true, he would have been quite justified.

One day, however, while working as a rail road blacksmith, his boss, who happened to be an Irishman, talked to him about religion. There was a warm controversy, which resulted in the Irishman lending Brown Challoner's Catechism and Reeve's History of the Bible. Brown slept none that night. “I commenced Challoner at sun-down, and at sun-up I had him read through”. He then took up Reeve, and when he had finished he re-read both, verifying the Scriptural quotations in his Protestant Bible. He was surprised to find that some of the books referred to were omitted. He borrowed a Catholic Bible and some other Catholic books from Irish acquaintances, and found that the omissions from the Protestant Bible and the alterations of texts were quite arbitrary, Finally he got together the Catechisms of the principal Protestant sects, compared them; one by one, with the Catholic Catechism (Butler's), and by burning them, throwing in the Protestant Bible, as “lagniappe”.

“I found”, he said, “more sense and truth in one page of the Catholic Catechism than in all their religions put together”.

When he returned the books to his Irish friends, and told them the result, they made him a present of the whole collection. He had them bound, and, owing to his constantly circulating them, had to repeat the process several times. When I saw then they were tastefully bound in calf, but the leaves were in rags. “I'll keep them as long as I live”, he said, “and whenever my eyes fall on them, I offer a prayer for all Irishmen”. About the same time somebody gave him a newspaper cutting of a sermon on the Church by Fr Damon SJ, a famous American preacher. Finding it to express his views accurately and precisely, be read it as a profession of faith every Sunday.

When he had become thoroughly converted, as he thought, great zeal began to stir up within him. He would spread the light of truth among his brethren; so he became a Sunday-school teacher teaching Catholic doctrine at Methodist Sunday-schools. But the preacher detected him, denounced him as a “wolf in sheep's clothing”, and he had to quit. He tried the Baptists next, but they also expelled him as a dangerous heretic, and finally he confined his propaganda to his forge, where, hammer in hand, he boldly preached and stoutly defended Catholic truth from behind an anvil. I found him once engaged in controversy with a white gentleman, while the hoof of a mule was reposing in his apron. In spite of the difficulties of the situation, he reduced his educated opponent to silence. In fact, to anyone who attacked the Catholic religion from a Protestant standpoint, Brown was a dangerous adversary. He knew his ground, had a quick, logical mind, and his practice for years in debating with all comers had made him ready of thought and speech.

He was baptized in due time, and when, soon after, his wife followed his example, ho obtained a list of devotions as practised in Irish Catholic families, drew up an “order of time” for the same, and he and his wife continue to practise them faithfully to this day.

Catholics, white and coloured, are numerous in his neighbourhood now, many of whom owe their conversion to his word and example: They all respect and esteem him as a model Catholic. Had he lived in the days when to be a Catholic was to be a saint, his brethren in the faith would have done no less.

The first white converts in the district owed their conversion to Brown. There was a young man of twenty who used to amuse himself occasionally by chopping logic with “Uncle Josh”. Having travelled somewhat, he had few anti-Catholic prejudices, being rather inclined to think there was something good in the Catholic religion, since every liar he knew had a fling at it. However, he tried to take a fall out of Josh on the subject. But for once declining discussion, Brown produced his Challoner, Řeeve, and the “Faith of our Fathers”.

“Take these, Master Willie”, he said, “and read them, and when you know what you're talking about I'll argue with you”.

When “Master Willie” had read the course prescribed, he had no longer a desire for argument. He was convinced, but for various reasons was unwilling to join the Church just then. Brown introduced him to us. There was no moving him. “But”, he said, “you must see my grandmother. She is very old and cannot have long to live. She was never baptized in any church, and I should like to see her become a Catholic before she dies”.

I had often heard the negroes speak of “ole Mrs. Reilly”. She was rich, wicked, and wise, I was told, and very close in her business dealings, though she could at times be generous. Negroes she held in supreme contempt, all except Josh Brown and his wife. These were of the few “niggers” she would allow to have any claim to heaven, and she would relegate even them to a separate compartment labelled “coloured”, as in railway carriages, and far away from “white folk's heaven”. She would have naught to do with the hypocrites in the various churches around her, and she delighted to give the full length of a terrible tongue to any preachers who presumed to crack their wares at her door.

Nevertheless, the “Irish preachers” marched upon her fortress with a brave show of courage - the presence of her grandson ensured our safety from the dogs. Entering we saw a sharp featured intelligent-looking old lady seated in an arm-chair. Her great age may be inferred from the fact that her husband had fought at the battle of New Orleans, which took place in 1813, and only a few years before their marriage. At the time I speak of, 1888, she was still in receipt of a pension awarded for his bravery.

She neither welcomed nor repelled us, but sat in her chair with a fixed expression on her face as if she had made up her mind to hear us out, We talked of the weather, the crops, her health, and finally her name. Her husband, she said, was of Irish origin. We told her the O'Reillys were a famous Irish family, to which O'Reilly, the Spanish Governor of New Orleans, and many other celebrities, belonged She told some humorous stories of Irishmen she knew; we added our quota, and when leaving we were invited to call again. Meanwhile her grandson explained away some of her objections to Catholicism, and our next visit found her disposed to receive instruction. Her grandson and another non-Catholic undertook to teach her the Catechism, and they did it so well that in a few months she was ready for baptism. She had only one difficulty. Baptism would wash out not only all the sins of her long life, but all the punishment due to them, and of so great a grace she was utterly unworthy. When with the thought of her unworthiness she weighed the other thought of God's mercy, all her difficulties vanished, and her prejudices along with them. She wished all negroes to be saved, and even prayed for them.

I thought the edge of her tongue had disappeared too, for so far I had seen no indication of it. But the day before her baptism it proved as sharp as ever. A swarm of grand-children, and even great-grand-children, hearing of the intended ceremony, swooped down upon her from the city to dissuade her; and one after another took up the note, rebuking her and reviling the Church.
“What religion would you have, me join” she asked. This was a bombshell in their midst. Belonging to different sects and sub-divisions thereof, they were all at one another's ears in a moment, each declaring that his or her's was the only genuine article. Then the old lady gave her temper full swing.

“Away with ye, ye gibbering hypocrites! Ye come here hovering around me like a flock of buzzards, waiting for any body to drop, to gorge on my property. Not content with wishing my old carcass in the grave, ye would give my soul to the devil, and ye dare to dispute, here before my face, about the worst devil to give it to. Away with ye, ye pack of rattle snakes!”

Mrs Reilly was baptized in her eighty-eighth year, and it was affecting to see the tears course down her furrowed cheeks as the cleansing waters flowed upon her head. She lived only a few years, and died with the blessing of the Church. Nor did her grandson and the other non-Catholic who instructed her “unto justice” themselves become “cast-aways”. They married, entered the Church, and are now rearing a large family of Catholics.

After Brown's conversion several scholastics devoted their walks to giving instruction to the negroes, old and young, who were willing to receive it. Contrary to Brown's theory, two of the most indefatigable and persevering were not Irish. One was an American - the negros called him Mr “McLoch” and the other a young Englishman, whose name they turned into something like - “Bamboo”. They frequently walked miles under a hot sun to instruct an old negro or negress, and returned, time, after time, to find everything forgotten. As we were passing once the shanty of an old man of eighty, whom we had been trying for weeks to enlighten on the Trinity, he called out, hobbling after us :
“Ques'on me, sah ; ques'on me. I knows it au now, sah, right sma't”.
“Well, how many Persons in One God?”
“Wall, sah, you see, dar is” - and he 'pro ceeded to count on his fingers - “dar is de Fadah, an' de Son, ar' de Holy Ghost, an' Amen!”

It took over a year to instruct him, but he was finally baptized If he was weak in knowledge, be was strong in faith. He wore his beads around his neck, and his scapulars out side his coat, and, to be an out-and-out, finished Catholic, he asked for a gown and cincture like “Massa M'Loch's”. He reached his ninetieth year, and died in the faith.

The children were more easily instructed, and some of them were very intelligent, but, being utterly unaccustomed to Catholic ways of looking at things, their answers were sometimes startling. Here is a dialogue that took place at our Sunday-school :

“What are angels, Ebenezer?” “Dem's heaven's folk, sah”. “George Washington, is that right?”
“No, sah, 'cause dar is oder folk in heaven 'sides angels”.
“Well, then, what are angels?”
“Dem's God's own folk, sah!”
“Augustus, what is the most necessary thing for baptism?”
“Do watah, sah!” “Next?” “The priest, sah!” “Next?” “De baby, sah!”

I had some prints representing St. Peter Claver baptizing a very repulsive-looking negro. I thought it a very suitable prize for negro children. Before distributing to the deserving ones, I held the prints up to their admiring gaze. Pointing to St Peter Claver, I asked who they thought that was. “I reck'n dat dar is a saint”, said Ebenezer, “dar is a yaller rim 'round his head”.
"And what is he doing?”
“He's Christ'nin' the devil, sah”.
The prizes were never awarded.

Though my store of reminiscences are not exhausted, my time and space are, so I will no further tire my readers. A variety of incidents came under my notice during my stay in Georgia which would furnish to a Catholic “Ian MacLaren” still untouched material for an interesting and edifying book. Should these notes fail to inspire some still unknown genius with the desire of portraying negro life, perhaps they would suggest to him the nobler thought of saving negro souls.

The American negroes ignorance of the Christian Religion is almost as dense as that of those who were the object of Claver's zeal and the occasion of his crown. Yet they are an intensely religious race When you speak to them of Christ they will listen eagerly, and religion is the frequent subject of their conversation They undergo no small part of the privations and sufferings that induced the poor of the Roman Empire to turn to Christianity for consolation. Yet there are in a civilized land eight million negroes outside the Church of Christ, and absolutely ignorant of its truths.

This ignorance is not to be laid at their door. They have not rejected the light. They have never seen it While the various sects have expended millions, and are yearly expending immense sums in providing them with so called Christian teachers, the Catholic Missionary has done for them practically nothing. Irish and Irish-American priests are doing noble work among the whites in America, but their hands are full. Anyhow, they have not reached the negro.

Yet, I believe if a Columbkille or Columbanus were amongst them, he would find opportunities Is the race of the Columbas and Galls and Aidans dead in Ireland? Are there not in the cradle-land of apostolic men youths generous enough to emulate the example of the noble Spaniard, “the slave of the slaves for ever”? Such a man should be ready to endure the sufferings and toil of the apostleship of the heathen, without its glamour; contempt, and persecution from without and from within, sustained by no hope of a martyr's crown. He should be a man of unbounded zeal and unshakeable constancy, of warm heart and generous sympathies; a man who beneath dirt and rags and colour can recognise a soul and love it.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1900
Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ

The name of Rev M Kenny SJ, is by this time very familiar to every reader of “The Mungret Annual”, and to him the magazine owes a great deal, both in its foundation and afterwards. His kindly advice and generous sympathy encouraged in no small degree the first editors to undertake a task which at the time seemed hazardous ; and the high excellence of his literary contributions and the trueness of their spirit to the object of the magazine have been an essential element in obtaining for “The Mungret Annual” the position it occupies among college journals. We feel confident that we only echo the sentiments of all our readers when we express a hope that Father Kenny will continue to allow many an old friend to enjoy in “The Mungret Annual” some of the fruits of his spicy wit and his Fare creative fancy.

Father Kenny entered the Apostolic School in the Crescent College, 1880. He afterwards read what promised at first to be a very distinguished University course in Mungret, where from the beginning he gave evidence of rare literary talent. Owing however, to excessive application when studying for a scholarship in Ancient Classics, RUI, in 1883, he contracted a tedious headache, which resulted in his being compelled to leave Mungret before obtaining his degree. He was among the first band of Apostolic students to leave Mungret for America, and entered the noviceship of the Society of Jesus for the New Orleans Mission in 1886. He read his Theology in Milltown Park, Dublin, was ordained in 1897, and after spending his year of Third Probation in Tronchiennes, Belgium, he returned to America, where he is now attached to Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1902

Letters from the Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ
Rev Fr M Kenny, who is now working among the negroes in Macon, Georgia, writes to us in his usual racy style. The following extracts will be of interest :--

“I'm a kind of a pastor here, but I've got to make my own parish. You remember, perhaps, something I had in the first “Annual” about Marching through Georgia. Well, here I am again marching over the same ground, but now as a priest, gathering together the few surviving veterans, healing the ‘wounded soldiers’, and, above all, raising recruits, maintaining meanwhile perpetual skirmishes with the devil, the world, and the flesh, in the shape of heretics and heresiarchileens of every denomination, but principally Methodists and Baptists and the countless sub-divisions thereof: Baptists, Regular and General, North, South, Coloured and White, Separate, United, Primitive, Freewill, Hard-shell, Soft-shell, Feet washers, Six Principle, Seventh Day, Original, Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit-Predestinarian! etc; Methodists, Episcopal, North, South, African, White, Wesleyan, Protestant, Congregational, Zion Union, Evangelical, Primitive, Free, Independent, etc. Yesterday I met a boy who told me he belonged to the Brick Methodists, and of course I told him he was a brick.

This state of things has its humorous aspects, but in itself it is all very sad. We have organized Catechisin classes for Whites and Coloured, which are doing very well, especially the latter. It would do your heart good to hear forty darly children singing ‘Teach me, teach me, Holy Mother!’ To appreciate it to the full you should stand at least a quarter of a mile away. I go around every day and catechize on the highways and bye ways, 'in season and out of season, Black and White, at home and abroad.

If I had time I would write you an article, but this sketch of my present work (omitting many other duties) will convince you that I have not.

Please pray for my catechumens, Black and White, and particularly that I may find means to erect a church anir folwol for them. I am especially here for that purpose. But the folk here are all poor, as poor as I ever saw thein in Connemara, and I have to depend on the charity of outsiders altogether. I want to establish if possible, an Industrial School, to be placed in the charge of a sisterhood instituted for that purpose. So please pray, and get the Mungret boys to pray, that we may succeed, for it is a truly apostolic work, in spite of the fact that the apostolic character is lamentably deficient in the projector of the enterprise. But ecclesia supplet”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1907a

Letters from Our Past

Father Michael Kenny SJ

The following extract from a letter of Fr M Kenny SJ, under date October 22nd, 1906, relates incidents which seem so characteristic of missionary life in the Southern States of America that we venture to quote it:

On my way last year to. Palm Beach, on the eastern coast of Florida, I made Jacksonville, Florida's chief city; a half-way house. I was received with open arms by my old friend and fellow Tipp, Father Michael Maher, and I assure you I never felt nearer to Mungret or Tipperary since I left them. God be with them both! Fr Maher is pastor, and deservedly held in high respect by all. He is at present building a $100,000 church, which is not likely to be in debt when completed. Fr Veale who has charge of missions in the neighbourhood - that is, within sixty miles or so - dropped in while I was there, on the grounds that he had a right to a short rest, having just completed a school edifice, every brick or which he laid will his own hands. He proved himself as proficient in the nicest points of Theology as in brick-laying, not to mention innocent jollity. Fr Veale is a man of earnest and efficient zeal and solid, unassuming ability, of whom Mungret may be proud. We phoned to Fr O'Brien, at Fernandina - about 1oo miles away, and the same evening he was taking supper with us. It was a great pleasure to me to meet him, for he is the same quiet, warm-hearted scholarly old friend as in Mungret days. We were soon the four of us - on both sides of Shannon's banks, and while we recalled reminiscences of all kinds, and praised and blamed, we felt that Mungret is very dear to a Mungretman.

My stay was short perforce, but its pleasant memories had not faded from my mind when, after travelling several hundred miles my train stopped at St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, and I was met at the station by another Mungretman, Father Curley. He took me to the Cathedral, where my name alone made me welcome. Bishop Kenny is the worthy prelate who rules the Floridas. I told him I was rejoiced that, after struggling hard for a thousand years, the Clan-Kenny had at last succeeded in producing a bishop (St Kenny was only an abbot, I believe). After that we took a genial swim together in the broad Atlantic. The bishop spoke in the highest terms of the zeal and ability of his Mungret priests. Those I have met, including Fr Parry, (whom I had the pleasure of entertaining in Augusta, last February) are certainly a credit to their Alma Mater ; and our Florida fathers are loud in praise of all the Mungretmen in that diocese.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1932 : Golden Jubilee

Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ
The name of Fr Michael Kenny SJ, (1882-'86) has frequently appeared beneath interesting and witty articles in the earlier numbers of the “Annual”. The “Annual” owes a great deal to him both in its foundation and afterwards. Fr Kenny belongs to the rapidly dwindling band of pioneers who joined the Apostolic School in the Crescent. He afterwards read what promised to be a very distinguished University course in Mungret, where from the beginning he gave evidence of rare literary talent. Owing, however, to excessive application when studying for a scholarship in Ancient Classics, RUI, in 1883, his health became impaired and he was compelled to leave Mungret before obtaining his degree. He was among the first band to leave Mungret for America, and entered the noviceship of the Society of Jesus for the New Orleans Province in 1886. He read his theology in Milltown Park, Dublin, was ordained in 1897, and, after spending his year of Third Probation in Tronchiennes, Belgium, he returned to America.

He was for some years Professor in Spring Hill College, Mobile, Albama, and in St Charles' College, Grand Coteau, La. His literary talents got full play when he was appointed one of the editors of the “Catholic Weekly, America”, then just founded. It is in no small part due to his unsparing energy that America is at present one of the most important and influential Catholic papers in the United States.

For many years he was Regent of the School of Law at Loyola University, New Orleans. Well known as an author and lecturer, his latest book, Catholic Culture in Alabama, has been well received, not alone by Catholic journals, but by the whole American Press.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1935

Moscow in Mexico
Father Michael Kenny SJ
The American Public has been aroused out of its apathy towards things Mexican by the facile pen of this great friend of Mexico, who has not shirked the toil and danger of a long journey through the country to collect first-hand information for his exposure of the present Mexican situation in the World Press.

The Mexican Crisis
To a Missionary as well as to a liberty-loving people, Mexico should prove a gratifying and even inspiring theme.

In the latest of a series of articles I. have been writing. on Mexican conditions, at the instance of Mungret's illustrious alunmus, Archbishop Curley, for the “Baltimore Catholic Review”, I recorded that though less than three hundred priests are now tolerated, in all Mexico, some two thousand are still toiling bravely for their people at the risk of liberty and life.

Heroism
I mentioned the aged Archbishop Orozco who lately ordained twenty priests in a cave, and other hunted prelates who pontificate in rags, particularly one who is unnamed because Federal assassins are upon his track. For its reminiscence of the heroism of Irish penal: days, this passage may be cited :

A theologian of highest rank, a scholar, an orator, a teacher and a writer of distinction, this prelate has for nine year's defied decrees of expulsion, and, despite constant espionage, has traversed the Sierra from crag to crag, bringing encouragement to his people, who in turn risk" their lives for his defence. The Mexican constitution also prohibits priestly training. This Bishop is providing for the priesthood of the future. There is a rude log cabin in the Sierra Madre which is dormitory, dining room, lecture, and study hall and chapel for twenty-two young men whom he himself is training for the ministry and providing the complete ecclesiastical course. Often they have had to fly for their lives and build another log seminary in a more remote Sierra fastness.

In the Irish penal days Bishop O'Gallagher held such a seminary in the mountains of Donegal, and, driven thence, Heroism. he trained other youths in the Bog of Allen. From that school came several patriot prelates, among them Dr Doyle, who divides with O'Connell the honours of Catholic Emancipation. May we not expect that emancipators of Faith and country will yet issue from that log seminary in the Sierra, where again Bishop and priest aspirants meet feloniously to learn?”

The Indians
Extending 1833 miles on the south western border of the United States, Mexico has a population of 15,000,000, of whom some forty per cent are pure Indian, fifty per cent Mestizo or Indo-Spanish with Indian usually predominating, and ten per cent purely white. There are scarcely any negroes; for the reason that slavery was never permitted in Mexico. It is predominantly an Indian nation with native outlook in all except in its Christian culture; and in both these respects it presents a striking contrast to its northern neighbour where the native The remnants are less than one Indians. half of one per cent, and scarcely one half of these are Christians. The relative conditions are due to the fact that the first aim of Spanish policy as well as of missionary effort was to Christianize the natives and preserve them. Aiming solely at profit and aggrandisement and finding the natives an obstruction to material progress, the Protestant Auglo-Saxons crystalized their policy in, the phrase, “a good Indian is a dead Indian”. Hence, the United States has no Indian problem, having killed it off; and Mexico, with her natives kept both alive and good by Christian zeal and sacrifice, presents the problem of a mainly Indian nation, foreign in most respects to the European, but particularly to the Anglo-Saxon concept of material civilization.

Early Evangelisation
There is now more Indian blood in Mexico than Cortez found there at his conquest; and it is there because Christian zeal prevailed over profiteering. In.1524, twelve Spanish and three Flemish “Franciscans” entered Mexico. They and their successors, aided by the converted natives; transformed the warring nomad tribes into a devout people of a distinct and autonomous Catholic culture.

Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Augustinians, also founded training schools, academies of arts and crafts, colleges of higher studies, for natives and Mestizos as well as Spaniards and Creoles, and they formed pueblos with church and school and hospital, from coast to coast under native mayors, governors, and teachers.

This marvelous transformation was accelerated by the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin at Guadalupe, near Mexico City, to a poor Indian named Diego, on whose mantle she imprinted the marvelous image that is now universally venerated as Our Lady of Guadalupe. It soon became imprinted on the native heart, and the imprint is still there.

The decline of Spain in the 18th century affected her colonies also. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 brought about the ruin of all work for the good of the native. communities. Schools became abandoned and illiteracy became general when the anarchic regime, which subverted the Spanish rule, shut out the priests from the schools. A fund of some fifty million dollars, which the Jesuits had established for the benefit of small farmers was confiscated.

Masonic Activity
Von Humbolt wrote in 1810 that the schools and colleges and various benevolent - institutions in Mexico were in number and character far in advance of the United States of that period and literacy was more universal than in any other American country.

Rapid decline of general culture and public well-being followed the replacement of Spanish domination in 1810 by a series of mock republics ruled for the most part by a bandit minority who robbed and antagonized the Church to maintain them selves in power and pelf. This antagonism was promoted by the Masonic Order, which again was fostered and in part founded by the first United States Envoy, Joel R. Poinsett, in order by secret machinations to organize parties who would sell out northern Mexico to the United States. He thus created a political pro American machine of Masonic personnel and purpose which, through the arms and other support it has received from American administrations, has been enabled through a less than ten per cent minority 'to rule and ruin Mexico for the greater part of a century.

Anti-Clericalism
Poinsette's immediate aim was to form enough slave states out of Mexican territory to enable the pro-slavery South to dominate the abolitionist North, and he found that in order to effect this, the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico must be broken. In New Orleans, 1825, he got the Supreine Masonic bodies to head their signed and sworn program with resolutions that the Church must be shorn of all civic rights and that all her schools and all education must be monopolized by the state, and religion must be excluded from all teachings. This is the program that the Juarez code enacted in 1857, that the Carranza and Villa banditry further extended in the Constitution of 1917, and Calles and his communists gang have fully and finally realized in 1934, by the imposition of the most rabidly atheizing education on all schools by constitutional amendment.

By their assistance in men, money and arts, from the days of President Buchanan down to the seizure of Vera Cruz and Tampico by President Wilson, the United States administration have given consistent support to the bandit minority, and: never once to the conservative leaders who think and would govern on essentially American principles.

The Cristeros
The Cristeros rose in 1926 under the banner of “Christ the King” for Faith, Fatherland, and Liberty; and despite the strict embargo held against them by our government while it supplied munitions freely to their enemies, they were making a winning fight in a dozen states when Calles patched up a treaty with the Church that stopped the revolt. He and his gang broke their pledge within a week, and they have since executed some five thousand of the Cristero leaders, and priests unnumbered. The orgies of persecutions and robberies and murderings went on until now the Church is as bare of property and rights as happened in the worst of Ireland's penal days, and to Church and people there is not a shred of religious or any other liberty left.

American Vested Interests
The bigoted sects that had dominant political influence in the United States up to the repeal of the Prohibition amendment, and the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree Scottish Rite Masonry gave enthusiastic support to the Mexican persecutors of the Church. This and the urgings of powerful American Companies and individuals, that secured and still secure oil and mining concessions in Mexico, will account for United States support of the persecuting and corrupt regimes and of the present Ambassador Daniel's laudations of Calles, and his dereligionizing acts and policies:

Moscow in Mexico
But the power of the United States sects has waned, and the Masonic Council's claim of political control over its three million membership has been exploded. Following my exposure in October of present Mexican conditions the general public gradually became aware that the National Revolutionary Party, the only one permitted in Mexico, was a communist, atheistic force, as determined as Moscow to extinguish not only the Catholic religion but all religion and set up an atheistic communism on the grave of liberty.

Press Investigation
The exclusion by the Mexican government of some secular papers of wide range that published my interviews stimulated inquiry, and the general arraignment that followed in the Catholic press and in public meetings addressed often by leading Protestants and Jews, and specifically in Congress by non-Catholic as well as Catholic Congressmen and Senators, induced the great dailies of New York and Washington and Chicago and other cities to publish series of articles by special correspondents on Mexican conditions. This is the first time that the American press has furnished the people with some idea of the communistic system on their borders and the unspeakable outrages that have been perpetrated with their own government's contrivance and often with its positive support.

These revelations have also aroused the Catholic body to a unity and energy of civic protest that it had not risen to before. A resolution that was sent out in October of last year by the students of Spring Hill College to a thousand educational institutions throughout the States brought about a widespread student propaganda in favour of Mexico, and was the model of thousands of resolutions that poured and are still pouring from all quarters into Washington.

Canabal’s Atheistic Education
What impressed the public imagination most was the barbaric lewdness of the anti-Christian teachings row being forced by public authority on all the children of Mexico, and the clear evidence that the onslaught was made not merely on the Catholic Church, but upon religion as such and all the moralities it fosters. The grand exemplar whom Calles held up as the model of all governors was Garrido Canabal of Tabasco. Having expelled all priests from that State and closed and confiscated all churches, he issued a treatise on Socialistic Education, which his picked legislature promptly adopted as ordered. He had it illustrated with pictured mockeries of the Way of the Cross and of the most sacred religious beliefs and practices, and he tells then that God and Christ and religion are myths and were debasing the masses until he had taught then to burn up their Christianl symbols and “fetiches” and schooled them in scientific socialism.

How it is Done
Premising that “God is a grotesque, fanaticizing, debasing myth”, they put this Canabal system into organic law and are now enforcing it throughout the land. How, it is asked, can a less than ten per cent minority impose such Soviet monstrosities on a people more than ninety per cent Catholic. Their style is simpler even than Moscow's. The minority have organized gangs, called army and police, thoroughly supplied with United States arms, minitions and aeroplanes; and the people are shut out from such supply. Their armed gangs run the elections, and if, despite these precautions, hostile candidates are elected, the PNR Committee on qualification of candidates promptly counts them out. This happens in all state and Federal elections, with the result that the National Revolutionary Party Candidates are always returned, even when overwhelmed at the polls. This will supply the answer to another obvious question, “Why do people put up with it?”

Heroic Resistance
In fact they do not; and their heroic resistance at terrible risks augurs well for the liberty movement they are now organizing widely and effectively against overwhelming odds. Two million voters had sent in signed resolutions of protest; and when these were ignored by the mongrel legislatures, they had the courage to make their protests vocal and public. Recently a hundred thousand men and women marched in Mexico City, in face of tear gas and batoning; in like demand. Similar marchings of women and school children as well as fathers of families and youths have been held throughout the country, though subject to the firing and bombshells of Canabal's Red Shirts and police. At Guadalajara on March 3, over three thousand women and Children, bearing placards denouncing atheo-communist education, braved the fire of the Red Shirts; and though several were killed and many wounded, they marched to the governor's palace urging their demands and crying, “Viva Cristo Rey”. Monster indignation meetings that were organised by fathers and students were also shrapnelled; and this but served to further unify the University bodies against the whole government program and personnel.

Students Public Protests
I was present at a secret convention in Mexico City of delegates from the twenty four Universities of the country. For six days, under the guidance of the Jesuit Fathers, they discussed the best methods of resisting the atheizing education and other dereligionizing projects and of de feuding and diffusing Christian culture. They returned to their States, Students and within a week, the Federated University Students. were holding meetings and marchings and organizing public protest against atheo-commuuist education. They succeeded in forcing the government to exempt the Universities from its application ; and their influence is now extending, further.

Defenders of Liberty
The allied societies of Fathers and Mothers of Families have practically emptied the government schools in many districts. Since private schools are forbidden they hold classes in their homes, graded from house to house; and the raiding of these by the Red Shirts and police has become increasingly perilous to the raiders. The defenders of Liberty groups have been multiplying, and they have managed to get sufficient arms to hold their own against the Red Shirt gangs. They are being formed into a nucleus in many states somewhat after the Sinn Fein fashion of Michael Collins, for the general revolution that is now in the making.

United States Sympathy
This a national uprising against Callism on civil, social, and economic grounds, and is not specifically religious. The Church is not a party to this movement,. but Archbishop Ruiz, the Apostolic Delegate, has emphasized, in a recent Pastoral, the right of the people to defend themselves; and should they determine that only by arms can they recover and defend their natural rights, the Church would have thought to say, “neither promoting nor prohibiting”. Their prospects of success are enhanced by the understanding and practical sympathy now being manifested
for the first time by the people of the United States. The secular press in the larger: cities have been issuing a series of revealing articles on the persecutions they found launched by law and force against all religion and all liberty in Mexico; and Father Coughlin, the famous “Radio priest” of Detroit, has given to his more than ten million audience a clear and inspiring account of the Mexican horrors and their own government's responsibility for the tyranny that perpetrates them. This was at the instance of his Bishop, Most Reverend Michael Gallagher DD, a Mungret College alumnus.

The Catholic body is now more united and determined and its action more intelligent than heretofore in regard to Mexico's rights and America's duties.

Intelligent Co-operation
The Knights of Columbus, are now organizing the Catholic laity to demand and exact as citizens that our Intelligent government take suitable action against the destruction of human rights in Mexico. Protestant and Jewish as well as Catholic legislators introduced resolutions in Congress to that effect; and Senator Borah brought before the Senate his famous Resolutions demanding a Congressional investigation into the facts of the persecution in Mexico and effective corresponding action by the government.

Borah Resolution Undermined
But the Administration proved mysteriously obstinate. Millions of protests against their connivance with Mexican tyranny through Ambassador Daniels' favouring utterances and otherwise, went unheeded; and they exercised every influence to kill the Borah Resolution. This was due to the underground influences, Masonic and financial and sectarian, that had hitherto been able to frustrate all action in favour of a Catholic people by a government which had again and again intervened in favor of oppressed of other faiths in distant lands.

Archbishop Curley Intervenes
This is all the more 'strange in view of the “New Deal” which President Roosevelt based on the principles of the Leo XIII and Pius XI encyclicals. However, the latest news is that the administration has suddenly modified its attitude and will no longer oppose Congressional investigation. On March the 25th, at the Jesuit College auditorium in Washington, within earshot of the Capitol and White House, Archbishop Curley delivered an address which has changed the situation. He stated on personal knowledge that the Administration had given instructions to frustrate further efforts on behalf of persecuted Christians in Mexico and to prevent Congressional investigation into these inhuman outrages, even when infringing on American rights. Citing the numerous historical interventions of President and Congress in favor of persecuted Christians and Jews in distant lands, he said :

“'Secretary of State Hull, in refusing to express a formal and dignified protest to the Mexican Foreign Office, is creating a new departure in American diplomatic practice and is reversing an honourable and time-honoured principle of American sympathy and protest on behalf of the oppressed in other lands, substituting for this century-old tradition an unjustifiable policy of ignoble silence...... Millions of American citizens who have devoted their blood and treasure for the maintenance of this republic have a right to learn from some authoritative source just what is blocking public hearings on this question. One word from the Administration would secure consideration. This word has not been uttered...... Consequently, our fellow citizens, irrespective of race of creed, are faced with the regrettable but undeniable fact, that the present Administration is ranged in definite opposition to the maintenance of one of the most prized principles of American life and international obligation.

The Effect
The Archbishop of Baltimore's words, as wise and timely as they were courageous, have had instant effect throughout the country, as in Washington, and give promise of moving the Administration to range itself no longer with the destroyers of all liberty in Mexico. Even this negative assistance will suffice to enable the defenders of liberty to overthrow the clique
that enchains it. A postscript to my articles, which will soon be issued in book form, has some acknowledgements which may throw further light on the kind of people they were pleading for:

Inspiring Examples
The writer would pay tribute to the many men and women in Mexico who supplied him at much risk with ample materials, were not their taming the equivalent of sentences to jail or to death. He would also record his lasting indebtedness for the thrill of inspiration furnished him by the examples of heroic sacrifice and religious loyalty it was his privilege to witness in men and women and children of all classes.

Among these he would mention the Indians who wove so cunningly an immense carpet of multicoloured flowers for Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine that he mistook it for a great Persian rug, and who, by faithful worship in their plundered churches, atone for such sacrilege; the tradesmen and peasants who set up altars in their shops and homes when their churches were robbed of them; the children who sang out bravely in chorus, “Hay, Dios, hay, Dios”, when taught that God is not; the student delegates of twenty-four universities, who risked their careers by training for a week in Mexico City under Jesuit guidance to preserve their nation's institutions from the atheo-communist taint; the Catholic leaders of National Defence who daily challenge death for liberty; and the two thousand priests who, often in penury and rags and hunted as felons, still bring the Bread of Christ to their people.

The Jesuits in Mexico
A secular correspondent gives the Jesuits the credit for preserving the Faith in Mexico. This is generous exaggeration; but fraternal bonds must not deprive them of their due. They
are some two hundred in number, all native Mexicans, and all under sentence of expulsion; but every one of them is there, under varied guise, organising young and old, parents and sodalities, students and teachers, workers and merchants, employers and employees, and issuing and distributing apposite literature, to keep the Faith in Mexico. Experience in many Provinces of both hemispheres warrants the judgment that, in ability and virtue and multiple sacrificial activity and in sterling patriotic as well as religious devotedness, there is no Jesuit body in the world superior to the Jesuits of Mexico, nor truer to the ideals of Ignatius of Loyola. The spirit of Father Miguel Pro, Mexico's most venerated martyr obviously animates his brethren.

Altogether, our people may take the message confidently to heart : The Catholics of Mexico are brethren worth praying for and working for and fighting for.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1944

Our Past
Father Michael Kenny SJ

Father M Kenny SJ (1882-86) has never failed to provide matter for a note in the Annual. He is eighty now but still going strong. Mons R O'Donoghue (1906-'12) brought him over to St Mary's from Springhill College to celebrate his birthday in proper style - with a dozen old Mungretensians. Father Kenny's literary vein is far from exhausted. He sends us a copy of the Catholic World in which he has a timely article on Hispanidad - the spirit of Spain. He brings his ripe culture to bear in explanation to the USA citizen of why the South American wishes to be very much a Spaniard in spite of the good neighbour policy. Father Kenny also writes an introduction to the poems of Father O'Brien “Sagart Singing”. Last, we notice that he has collaborated in a study of a parish in Tipperary-Glankeen. Readers of the first numbers of the “Annual” will remernber a poem on Glankeen, signed “MK”. Surely Father Kenny merits the words of the Catholic World : “he represents the best in the culture of the old and the new worlds”.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1947
Obituary

Father Michael Kenny SJ

Readers of the “Mungret Annual” and many of our Past will have learned with regret of the death of Father Kenny who died on the 22nd November, 1946, at Springhill College, Mobile. He was one of the first Apostolic students, entering the Apostolic school in its infancy at the Crescent, October, 1880. As a student he was outstanding and was prefect of the Seminarists in his last year at Mungret. He was among the first batch to enter the New Orleans Provence of the Society in 1886. He returned to Ireland for theological studies and was ordained in Dublin in 1897. Father Kenny's services to the Church in America during his long course as Professor of Philosophy, Jurisprudence, Sociology, Regent of Loyola Law School and Associate Editor of America, would be impossible to estimate. Yet these numerous occupations did not mean that he had forgotten his Alma Mater or the “Mungret Annual”. As early as '97 we find him contributing a poem called “Mungret Old and New”, and again in ‘99 and the following year we find his versatile mind putting into poetry the old story of the “Dead Language Duel” and many following editions of the Annual have his name among its contributors. To these we must add his priestly work of giving retreats and missions. Among his outstanding works as an author are “The Mexican Crisis”, “Catholic Culture in Alabama”, “The Romance of the Florida's”, and “No God next Door”.

His last visit to Mungret was to be present at our Golden Jubilee, 1932. We mourn the passing of one of our earliest students and one of our most outstanding Past. To his relatives and friends we offer our sincere sympathy.

Born: 08 May 1813, Cloonclare, County Leitrim
Entered: 12 March 1841, Florissant MO, USA - Missourian Province (MIS)
Ordained: 1847
Professed: 15 August 1859
Died: 14 April 1885, St Gall's Church Milwaukee, WI, USA - Missourian Province (MIS)

Born: 07 July 1779, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 20 September 1804, Hodder, Stonyhurst, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 04 December 1808, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Final Vows: 16 June 1819
Died: 19 November 1841, Professed House, Rome, Italy

Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Ireland : 30 September 1812- 28 September 1817; 29 September 1821- May 1830;
Visitor to Maryland Mission : 1819 - 1822; 14 November 1830 - 1833;
Vice-Provincial: April 1834 - May 1836;
Vice-President Maynooth College : 1813 - 1814;

Peter Kenney was an Irish Jesuit credited with restoring the Society of Jesus in Ireland after their suppression, as well as with establishing several colleges and devoting much of his life to the education of youth.
There were seventeen Jesuits at the time of the suppression in Ireland. No longer members of the Society, they were forced to act as diocesan priests. One of these last remaining Jesuits, Fr Thomas Betagh, taught children of poor families in Dublin. One of his students was Peter Kenney, the son of a coachmaker. Sponsored by Betagh, Kenney entered Maynooth College. From here he travelled to Palermo in Sicily to continue his religious training, as Sicily was allowed to maintain its branch of the Society of Jesus. Here in 1808 he was ordained as a priest.
Kenney travelled back to Ireland in 1811, the same year that Fr Betagh, the last remaining Jesuit in Ireland, died. Kenney arrived intent on re-establishing the Jesuits in his home country. Using money that had been put aside by the previous Jesuits, he bought Castle Brown in 1813. This would become the site of a new Jesuit school, Clongowes Wood College, which opened the following year. In 1818 a further school was opened in Tullabeg, Offaly. Tullabeg College was originally planned as a noviciate for the Society but became in time a proper college.
In 1822 Kenney travelled to America to visit the missions. In Missouri he met Jesuit farmers and was appalled that they owned slaves, ordering them to set their slaves free. Back in Ireland, Kenney and three others founded the Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier in Dublin after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was passed. For his remaining years, he continued his work across Ireland, both as a preacher and as an educator, until he passed away in 1841, worn down by constant toil and travel.

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” : :
Early education in Humanities at Carlow and Stonyhurst. Father Betagh was the first to discover his abilities. Priests used to go listen to him teaching Catechism while he was an apprentice coach-builder. Betagh and O’Callaghan, ex-Jesuits, sent him to Carlow College, and he was loudly applauded by fellow students, and even the venerable President. In the Novitiate - as per fellow Novice Father Postlethwaite - he was asked to leave the Refectory pulpit by Father Charles Plowden, as the Novices interrupted their meal as they were spellbound and astounded by his exordium. At Stonyhurst, he distinguished himself in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
He completed his Higher Studies and Theology at Palermo, where he defended his theses of Divinity with applause, and was Ordained there. In a letter from the Procurator General to Father General, he calls him “l’incomparabile Kenny”. Father Angolini writes to Father Plowden from Palermo in 1809 “in the public disputations vel maxime excelluit P Kenny”. In 1810 he says “P Kenny excellit supra omnes; dona habet ingenii, virium, zeli animarum, activitas et efficaciae in agendo simulet prudentiae vere insignia. Deus illum ad sui gloriam Hibernorumsque Missionis incrementum conservit”. Father Provincial writes in 1810 “P Kenny ingenio pollet prompto et acri”, and again in 1811 “P Kenny acerrimi et ingenii, studiique amans, ut optimam de se spem faciat. Tum religiosum colit disciplinam, ingenio ipse nimis vivido, quandoque judicii, sui tenacior apparet”.
1811 Sent to Ireland in November, and served at the Chapel of St Michan, Dublin, the ancient Residence of the Society. He was vice-President of Maynooth for a short while at the request of Archbishop Murray, and his portrait is preserved there.
1815-1817 Destined by Providence as an instrument to revive the ancient Irish Mission SJ, he was joined by four Fathers and several Scholastics from Stonyhurst, and was Superior until 1817. He bought Castle Brown, or Clongowes Wood Co Kildare, and took possession 04/03/1814 and opened it as a school on 15 May 1816, himself being the Rector.
1819 He was sent as Visitor to the American Mission SJ, and returning again to Ireland, was declared Superior of the Mission, 27/08/1822, and its first Vice-Provincial, in its being erected into a Vice-Province in 1829. He remained Vice-Provincial until 1836.
1830-1833 He was again sent as Visitor to the American Mission SJ, where he rendered signal services, and in July 1833, published the General’s Decree for constituting the American Mission into a Province, installing Fr William McSherry as its first Provincial. During his years in America, he was constantly Preaching and Confessing, kept diaries of his travels, and had a very extensive correspondence with people of all ranks and conditions. His Retreats and Sermons were spoke of by Priests fifty and sixty years later, and long eloquent passages quoted with enthusiasm.
Tullabeg, and St Francis Xavier’s Residence Dublin are principally indebted to him for their foundation and erection.
Recommended by medical men to winter in warmer climates, he made his way to Rome with great difficulty, and died at the Gesù of an attack of apoplexy aged 62. He is buried at the Gesù. (Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS). Archbishop Murray of Dublin was overwhelmed with grief at his passing, and considered him a national loss. He and the other Bishops celebrated High Mass and said the Office for the repose of his soul.
He tried several times to write the history of the Irish Mission. Of his own life, short sketches have been written in Oliver, Stonyhurst MSS and Foley’s Collectanea, as well as Mgr Meagher in his “Life of Dr Murray” and by Father Hogan in some numbers of the Limerick Reporter.

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
His mother was said to have been a woman of remarkable piety and high intellect. She trained him in piety. he soon proved himself an apt scholar of virtue. Even as a young boy, he joined one of the sodalities for young men, which, in spite of Penal times, were flourishing in Dublin at the time. Their custom was to gather after nightfall, say prayers together and listen to a pious reading. It was Peter’s custom to regularly give ferverinos to his young companions which moved them so much, and even the priests - encouraged by Father Betagh - would stop to listen to him. This was a forerunner perhaps of his reputation later on as one of the foremost English speaking pulpit orators of his day.
1802 he was at Carlow College studying Logic and Metaphysics, and here too, his oratory was highly thought of, as it was usual for the students to preach in turn to each other. A famous talk he gave was on “The Dignity of the Priesthood” which was met with applause, even from the Superior.
1804 He went to Stonyhurst and completed his Noviceship. After First Vows he remained and studied Mathematics and Physics. His health troubled him, especially his eyes, and his Superiors decided to send him to a milder climate in Sicily for Theology. He duly completed his Theology to much acclaim and graduating DD (document of record of achievement from the University of Palermo preserved at Clongowes).
After Ordination he offered some support to Irish and English soldiers stationed at Sicily. At the same time, the King of Sicily was anxious to give refuge to Pope Pius VII, and Cajetan Angiolini SJ was commissioned to negotiate the matter with the Pope. He chose Peter Kenney as his assistant. The Pope refused to leave Rome.
1811 he left Sicily for Ireland. On the way he spent some time at Malta, ministering to English soldiers there. His name remained for a long time in fond memory.
1812 He arrived in Ireland to begin his long and fruitful career. The timing saw a Catholic Church beginning to emerge from the strictures of Penal Laws, though they were still in force.
He is described as the “foundation stone” of the Restored Society in Ireland. Father Betagh had just died the previous year, and since he was so beloved, Kenney was received with open arms by the Archbishop and priesthood in Dublin. He quickly earned a reputation as a great Preacher, and on all the great occasions, was called upon, including the funeral of the Archbishop and the Jubilee of 1825. He was then asked by Maynooth College, supported by the Archbishop to become the President. He accepted, only on condition that the Archbishop should be declared President, and he the Vice-President, but only for one year. His real desire was to found a Jesuit College.
1814 He purchased Clongowes. The money used to purchase it had been carefully handed down from the time of the Suppression. The College opened that year, and students flocked from all parts of the country. Due to overcrowding, a fever broke out at the College, and it had to be disbanded for a while.
1817 He left Clongowes to Bartholomew Esmonde, and took his place in Hardwicke St, Dublin, and he remained working there until 1819.
1819 Fr General Thaddeus Brzodowski entrusted the task of Visitor to the new Maryland Mission to Peter Kenney. It was a difficult task, but his work was approved of by all.
1821 He returned to Ireland, and initially back at Hardwicke St, but was then appointed Rector of Clongowes again, and later Mission Superior. This was a difficult period for the Church in the country, and some focus was on the Jesuits, with the old accusations of intrigue etc, being spoken of to the point where a petition was sent to Parliament by a group of zealous Irish Protestants asking that measures be taken to check the dangerous machinations of the Jesuits. Kenney’s diplomatic skills, particularly among influential Protestants in the Kildare area resulted in Lord Leinster moving a counter petition, suggesting the opposite, and this position was supported in the Irish press. Nonetheless, the Government set up an inquiry on the influence of the Jesuits, and Peter Kenney was summoned before the Chief Secretary and Privy Council. Again his skills won the day and the admiration of the Council which had summoned him.
1829 He went to a General Congregation, and there it was announced that Ireland would become a Vice-Province, and he the first Vice-Provincial. He was again sent as Visitor to American Provinces, and achieved much in that position, to the point where there were efforts to keep him in the US.
1833 On his return, his health was beginning to suffer, to the point that he found it difficult to be about, but he nonetheless stuck to his task to the end. He ran a Provincial Congregation in 1841 and he was even elected himself as Procurator of the Vice-Province to go to Rome. In spite of appalling weather conditions which made travel very difficult, especially for one in such health, he made the journey, but once in Rome succumbed to a fever. He is buried in the Gesù in Rome.
News of his death was issued at Gardiner St, and vast crowds assembled there in sorrow. The Archbishop wrote of the great loss to the Society and Church, in a letter of condolence. Many clergy and bishops attended his funeral, and a similar memorial event at Maynooth.
He was a man of exceptional powers as an administrator and Superior. In addition, he was known as a remarkable Preacher.
Note on excerpts from Mgr MacCaffrey, President Maynooth, “The Holy Eucharist in Modern Ireland” at the International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin 1932 - Book of Congress p 160 :
“There is not wanting evidence to indicate that even in the lifetime of St Margaret Mary (Alacocque) devotion to the Sacred Heart found many warm adherents in Ireland, and amongst them ...Blessed Oliver Plunkett. But whatever about individuals, the first Sodality of the Sacred Heart in Ireland of which we have an authentic record was founded at Maynooth College in the year 1813 by the eminent Jesuit Father Peter Kenney, Vice-President of Maynooth and founder of Clongowes. This new Society was regarded as important and so dangerous that it was denounced in English newspapers and reviews, was warmly debated in the House of Commons, and was even deemed worthy of investigation by a Royal Commission. But that Father Kenney’s work bore fruit in spite of much hostile criticism is proved by the fact that when years later Pope Gregory XVI granted an extension of the Mass of the Sacred Heart to Ireland, he did so, as he says, in consequence of the great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that prevails in that Kingdom.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◆ Royal Irish Academy : Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press online :
Kenney, Peter
by Patrick Maume

Kenney, Peter (1779–1841), Jesuit priest and educationist, was born in Dublin, probably at 28 Drogheda Street, on 7 July 1779, the son of Peter Kenney, a businessman, and his wife, Ellen (née Molloy). He had one sister (who became a nun) and a much older brother (possibly a half-brother by a previous marriage of his father). Kenney attended schools conducted by the former Jesuit Thomas Betagh (qv), who became his principal mentor, at Saul's Court and Skinner's Row; after being briefly apprenticed to a coach-maker, he became Betagh's assistant in his schools. In 1799 Kenney took a leading role in the foundation of the first Young Men's Confraternity in Dublin.

On 6 June 1801 Kenney entered St Patrick's College, Carlow, to study for the priesthood. He was one of a group of young men who had their fees paid from the residual funds of the Irish Jesuit mission (administered by Irish former Jesuits) in return for a commitment to enter a revived Society of Jesus. The Jesuit order had been suppressed by the papacy in 1773, but survived unofficially in Russia. In 1801 the holy see granted official recognition to the Russian province of the order and allowed Jesuits elsewhere to attach themselves to it. Former Jesuits in England took advantage of this dispensation to reestablish the English province of the society under the jurisdiction of the vicar general in Russia, but the legality of this remained uncertain until the formal restoration of the society in 1814.

In September 1804 Kenney went to Stonyhurst College, Lancashire (founded 1794), to undertake his novitiate. He was recognised as an outstanding student, particularly in theology and philosophy. After developing asthma and eye problems he was sent to Palermo in April 1808 to complete his studies. This also allowed him to take his vows with the surety of being recognised as a Jesuit by church law, since the society had been formally reestablished in the kingdom of Naples in 1804. Shortly after his arrival Kenney served as interpreter on a secret and unsuccessful mission to persuade Pope Pius VII to leave French-occupied Rome and place himself under the protection of British forces in Sicily. Kenney received his tonsure and minor orders in June 1808, was ordained deacon and subdeacon in November, and received priestly orders on 4 December 1808. He carried on his studies at the Jesuit college in Palermo (completing them in April 1811, though he did not receive a degree for technical reasons), while ministering to catholics in the British garrison, despite obstruction from their superior officers.

Kenney returned to Ireland in August 1811 as acting superior of the Jesuits’ Irish mission (whose independence from the English province he successfully asserted). He ministered in Dublin with three other newly admitted Jesuits, and rapidly acquired a reputation as a calmly eloquent preacher. For the rest of his life he was much in demand as a preacher of charity sermons and as principal speaker on major ecclesiastical occasions; the Maynooth professor Patrick Murray (qv) compared his style and eminence as a pulpit orator to those of Daniel O'Connell (qv) as a public speaker. Between August 1812 and 1813 Kenney acted as vice-president of Maynooth at the insistence of Daniel Murray (qv), co-adjutor archbishop of Dublin, who had been asked to serve as temporary president. Kenney appears to have undertaken most of the administrative duties because of Murray's other commitments, but his principal impact was as a spiritual guide and retreat leader to the seminarians.

In 1813 Kenney used much of the money inherited from the former Irish Jesuit funds to purchase Castle Browne House, Clane, Co. Kildare; in summer 1814 this opened as Clongowes Wood College, which became the most celebrated school run by Irish Jesuits. In managing the new school and overseeing the implementation of the traditional Jesuit curriculum, Kenney showed himself a capable organiser. At the same time he lobbied against calls by ultra-protestant politicians for the passage of new anti-Jesuit legislation, acquired a chapel in Hardwicke Street, Dublin (from which Gardiner Street church and Belvedere College later developed), and negotiated the purchase of the site of the future Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, King's County (Offaly).

In September 1817 Kenney (whose career was punctuated by lamentations over the burdens of leadership and expressions of desire to devote himself to pastoral work) resigned as rector of Clongowes and superior of the mission. The acceptance of his resignation was encouraged by tensions among the Irish Jesuits, which were aggravated by his frequent absences owing to other commitments. He spent the next year and a half at the Jesuit chapel in Hardwicke Street, adding to his lifelong reputation as a skilled (though perhaps somewhat strict) confessor to all classes of penitents and a leader of retreats.

In April 1819 Kenney was appointed visitor to the North American Jesuits. As a preliminary, he took his four solemn vows as a fully professed Jesuit on 16 June 1819 and sailed on 31 July, thereby avoiding an attempt by the secular clergy of Kerry to secure him for their vacant bishopric. During his first mission to America (September 1819 to August 1820) Kenney reorganised the struggling Jesuit college at Georgetown, and reported on the financial and pastoral problems created by the American Jesuits’ badly managed slave plantations in Maryland. His Irish and continental experience enabled him to mediate effectively between older European-born Jesuits and their native American confreres (who combined ignorance of Europe with pride in republican institutions). Evading efforts to nominate him for the sees of Philadelphia and New York, Kenney returned to Europe in August 1820 to participate in the election of a new Jesuit general and report to the general congregation on the state of the order in America.

Kenney returned to Ireland in 1821 and in 1822 was reappointed to the rectorship of Clongowes and the leadership of the Irish Jesuits (whose status had been raised to that of a vice-province in 1819) [This is incorrect Vice-Province 1830; . In this period he experienced tensions with Bishop James Warren Doyle (qv) on such issues as Jesuit social aspirations and the perceived desertion of parish clergy by penitents seeking lenient Jesuit confessors. He testified before a royal commission on Irish education and advised Edmund Ignatius Rice (qv), Mother Mary Teresa (Frances) Ball (qv), and Mary Aikenhead (qv) on drawing up the constitutions of their nascent religious orders. He later experienced tensions with Aikenhead and Rice over disputes within the Irish Sisters of Charity and the Christian Brothers.

In 1830 Kenney was relieved of his offices at his own request and thereafter the positions of Clongowes rector and vice-provincial were separated. But this respite was brief as he was promptly sent on a second mission to America as temporary Jesuit superior as well as visitor. On this visit, which concluded with his receipt and formal promulgation of the Vatican decree constituting the Maryland Jesuits a full province, covering much of the eastern United States, he implemented further reforms in Georgetown, reclaimed a church formerly run by the Jesuits in Philadelphia, and visited the Jesuit mission in Missouri, which had been founded by Belgian Jesuits in 1823 with the intention of evangelising the indigenous population. In Missouri he greatly raised the standing of the Jesuit college at St Louis, which became the first university west of the Mississippi, and attempted to diminish the harsh discipline exercised by the local superiors. His support for the continuing independence of the Missouri mission from the Maryland province was one of the achievements that mark his two visitations as a watershed in the development of the American Jesuits and, by extension, of the whole catholic church in America. His memory was revered among his American brethren for decades.

After his return to Ireland in September 1833 (having refused the bishopric of Cincinnati on health grounds) Kenney was reappointed vice-provincial in 1834, but stepped down in 1836 as he was no longer able to combine this role with his pastoral duties as superior of the Gardiner Street community, where the Dublin Jesuits had moved when their new church was constructed in the early 1830s; the Hardwicke Street chapel became the site of a school, which later moved to Belvedere House. Kenney remained superior at Gardiner Street until 1840, though he was now suffering from heart problems complicated by asthma, overwork, and obesity. In this period he strongly supported Archbishop Murray's acceptance of the national schools, writing to Rome in rebuttal of the position of Archbishop MacHale (qv).

In 1840 Kenney was relieved of his superiorship, having asked permission to spend some time in southern Italy for the good of his health and to undertake historical research on the history of the Irish Jesuits. He reached Rome in October 1841 but died on 19 November 1841 of a stroke, his condition exacerbated by poor medical treatment; he was buried at the Jesuit church of the Gesù in Rome. Kenney was a significant force in the nineteenth-century revival of institutional Irish catholicism, the key figure in the revival of the Irish Jesuits, and an important presence in the American church; but perhaps his greatest influence was wielded through his labours in pulpit and confessional, which led Archbishop Murray's eulogist to call Kenney ‘the apostle of modern Dublin’.

Louis McRedmond, To the greater glory: a history of the Irish Jesuits (1991); Patrick J. Corish, Maynooth College, 1795–1995 (1995); Thomas Morrissey, As one sent: Peter Kenney SJ 1779–1841, his mission in Ireland and North America (1996); ODNB

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/jesuitica-going-multi-denominational/

JESUITICA: Going multi-denominational
In founding Clongowes, Fr Peter Kenney told Sir Robert Peel that he intended to establish a lay school for education of Protestants as well as Catholics. Jesuits had made such moves before. In 1687, with royal sponsorship, they opened a school in the Chancellor’s House in the Royal Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh. It lasted only a year, but its prospectus is an object lesson in the virtues of religious tolerance and educational opportunity. Its book of rules begins with the welcome news that the scholars shall be taught gratis; nor shall they be at any farther charges or expenses than the buying of their own pens, ink, paper and books. The prospectus was copied in founding other Jesuit schools, and remains instructive today. Read more “Although youths of different professions, whether Catholics or Protestants, come to these schools, yet in teaching all, there shall be no distinction made, but all shall be taught with equal diligence and care, and every one shall be promoted according to his deserts. There shall not be, either by masters or scholars, any tampering or meddling to persuade any one from the profession of his own religion; but there shall be all freedom for every one to practise what religion he shall please, and none shall be less esteemed or favoured for being of a different religion from others. None shall upbraid or reproach any one on the account of religion; and when the exercise of religion shall be practised, as hearing Mass, catechising, or preaching, or any other, it shall be lawful for any Protestant, without any molestation or trouble to absent himself from such public exercise, if he please.”
Behind this were agreed moral norms: “All shall be taught to keep God’s Commandments, and therefore none shall be permitted to lie, swear or curse, or talk uncivil discourse. None shall fight or quarrel with one another.”

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 7th Year No 3 1932

Father Peter Kenney Saves the Scholastic Method

On the occasion of the Congregation of 1829 the Fathers had to deal with the question of the direction of studies, and with the means of bringing the old Ratio Studiorum into line with the requirements of modern times. The principal matter under discussion was the use of the scientific method in dealing with sacred studies. The majority, having completed their studies in seminaries or in lay universities, according to the system then in vogue, showed themselves hostile to the “metodo scolastico” and favored the “metodo dissertivo”.
But Father Kenny, a gifted orator, at that time Superior of the Irish mission, addressing the Fathers, made a spirited and vigorous defence of the Scholastic method. He recalled
how deeply the Church and the Society were indebted to it, how the most distinguished men had been trained on that system, and how the enemies of religion had belittled and assailed it precisely because of its force and perfection. He concluded by affirming that by rejecting the Scholastic method they should not have carried out a work of construction but one of destruction.
All were carried away by the eloquent words of Father Kenny so much so that the Congregation declared unanimously that as in the past, the Scholastic method should remain as a sacred patrimony of the Society, and that the questions of “scientist media” and others commonly held by the theologians of the Society, should be considered as anything but useless and obsolete.
It were difficult to describe with what warmth Father Roothan applauded the eloquent words of the orator, He entertained for Father Kenny such affection and gratitude that he declared him to be a signal benefactor of the Society, and attributed to him the merit of having replaced the Society's true method and, true doctrine in its honoured position. He concluded by saying that were it not contrary to the practices of the Society a monument should be erected to him as a mark of that Society's everlasting gratitude.
The above is taken from a “Life of Very Rev. J. Roothan General of the Society”, written in Italian by Father P. Pirri.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

A MODERN APOSTLE OF DUBLIN
FR PETER KENNEY SJ (1779-1841)
Just a hundred years ago, on 19th November 1841, Father Peter Kenney, S.J., the founder of the Irish Province of the restored Society of Jesus, died in Rome. Few men played so large a part in the Catholic Renaissance which marked the opening half of the nineteenth century in Ireland. On his death Dr. Murray, then Archbishop of Dublin, said that Rome alone was worthy to be the scene of Fr. Kenney's death; some ten years later Mgr. Meagher, in a sketch of the dead Archbishop's life, called Fr. Peter Kenney the Apostle of Dublin.(1) To-day, one hundred years after his death, Dublin has forgotten almost all but the name of her great Apostle.

I.
Peter Kenney was born a Dubliner on 7th July, 1779, just six years after the Suppression of the Society of Jesus. Of his early years we have no very full record; he was already a young man of twenty-three when he entered Carlow College to begin his philosophy in 1802. While quite a boy he was apprenticed to a coach-builder and spent his days in the work-shop. Like many another ambitious lad he profited by Dr. Betagh's evening school in Saul's Court, off Fishamble Street, and every evening when his work was done he took his place in the old cellar where Dr. Betagh taught his free school, and where, as Dr. Blake, Bishop of Dromore, tells us “three hundred boys, poor in everything but genius and spirit, receive their education every evening, and where more than 3,000 have been already educated”. Dr. Betagh, carrying on the work of his confrère, Fr. John Austin, S.J., rewarded the more diligent of his pupils with a full classical education ; his school in fact did duty for a Diocesan Seminary for Dublin and Meath, and besides Peter Kenney numbered among its pupils Dr. Murray, Dr. Blake, Mgr. Yore and many others who did so much for the Church in the early nineteenth century.
The future Apostle of Dublin early showed his marked talent for preaching. While still an apprentice he used to treat his fellow-workers to versions of the sermon he had heard the previous Sunday. One day his master entered the work-shop and found young Kenney, mounted on a chair, preaching a sermon to his fellows who were gathered round him. “This will never do”, cried the master in a rage, “idling the apprentices! You'll be sure to be at it again. Walk off now; and never show your face here again”. Thus a sudden end was brought to his youthful apostolate and poor Peter's zeal had lost him his job. Much put out by his dismissal he stayed away from the evening school. But Dr. Betagh soon missed him and decided to find out what had happened to him. He feared that there had been some trouble at home, but when he questioned Peter the young lad admitted that he had been trying to preach to his fellow-workers and had been dismissed for his pains. From that day Peter and Dr. Betagh became fast friends. Realising the great zeal and ability of the boy he decided to give him every chance to become a real preacher, and, perhaps if God willed it, he might yet become a worker for Christ in Dr. Betagh's old Society now slowly rising from the tomb. (2)
In 1802 Dr. Betagh sent him to Carlow College to begin his higher studies. Here his powers as a preacher were more appreciated. It was customary for the students to preach in turn before their professors and companions. Young Kenney was chosen to preach On “The Dignity of the Priesthood” and so well did he grip his audience that at the end of the sermon they greeted him with rounds of applause in which the President joined heartily.
On 20th September 1804, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Hodder near Stonyhurst. Of his noviceship we have little record; his future life seems to point to the thoroughness with which he made it. But once again his powers as an orator proved troublesome. On the authority of Fr, Postlewhite, a fellow-novice of his, we know that he was told to leave the refectory pulpit by Fr. Charles Plowden, his novice-master, as the novices were spell-bound by his sermon and listened to him intently at the expense of their dinner. After his noviceship he studied mathematics and natural philosophy at Stonyhurst with much success. His health, however, became poor, and he suffered a great deal from his eyes. His Superiors thought a change of climate would prove beneficial and so he was sent to Palermo in Sicily to read his course in theology.
In Palermo he quickly made his mark; in a letter of the Procurator General of the Society of Jesus to Fr. Plowden he is referred to as “l'incomparabile Kenney” and even in his first year's theology he is said to have spoken “da maestro”. At the end of his course he defended his theology in a public disputation with great distinction. And yet while working at his theology he found time also for apostolic work. Ordained in 1808 he was shortly afterwards appointed chaplain to the British soldiers in Sicily. The Governor of Malta objected to this and asked him to give up his work among the soldiers. Fr. Kenney replied that as he was ordered by his General to act as chaplain he could not abandon his work unless he received a written order from the Governor to do so. As the Governor was determined to force him to give up his ministry he wrote the necessary order forbidding him to act as chaplain to the troops. Later Grattan raised the question at Westminster; the Prime Minister, Perceval, denied that any such order was ever given. Fortunately, however, the document had been preserved and was forwarded to the Prime Minister by Dr. Troy. As a result Catholic soldiers were from that time given liberty of conscience.
Sicily at this period was occupied by British troops who were defending it for the King of Naples against the French who had already driven the King out of his kingdom of Naples. The Pope, Pius VII, was a prisoner of the French in Rome and a daring attempt to free him was determined upon in which Fr. Kenney was invited to play a leading part. He was told by his Superior to be ready to set sail within an hour's time on a British man-of-war, bound for Civita Vecchia. When the frigate, which was commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Cockburn, reached the Papal port Fr. Kenney remained aboard while his companion Fr. Angiolini went on to Rome to propose to the Pope that he should leave Rome, come aboard the man-of War and sail for England where the British Government were willing to put a residence at his disposal until the French were driven out of Rome. However, the Pope preferred to remain with his stricken flock and so the project fell through. Captain Cockburn was charmed with his two Jesuit guests and was afterwards fond of recounting that he alone of His Majesty's Navy could boast of the honour of being ordered to hold himself and his ship at the disposal of two Jesuits with a view of bringing the Pope to England.

II
Dr. Betagh died on the 16th February, 1811; he was the last surviving Irish member of the old Society of Jesus. Towards the close of his life his friends often used to say to him: “Oh! Dr. Betagh, what will become of us all when you go to heaven?” To such questionings Dr. Betagh, it is said, always answered : “No matter; I am old and stupid ; but there is a young cock coming from Sicily that will crow ten times as loudly as ever I could”.
Just ten months after his death in November 1811, Fr. Peter Kenney, accompanied by ty. Dinan and Fr. Gahan, arrived in Dublin from Palermo to prepare the way for the new Irish mission of the restored Society of Jesus. He took a house on George's Hill, beside the Presentation Convent which his old friend and former master in Dr. Betagh's classical Academy, Fr. James Philip Mulcaile S.J., had helped to found ; thus the first Residence of the restored Society was in the middle of St. Michan's parish which had been so faithfully served by the Jesuits of earlier times.
Dr. Betagh had succeeded Fr. Mulcaile as Vicar-General of the Diocese and by his great sanctity, learning and zeal had become one of the greatest figures of the Irish Church. Dr. Troy and his clergy were, therefore, doubly warm in their welcome of Fr. Kenney to whom they looked to carry on the Venerable Betagh's work. On his arrival in Dublin in 1811 Fr. Kenney was a young man of thirty-two. Between 5 foot 7 inches and 5 foot 8 inches in height he looked a good deal taller because of his large build and his majestic bearing. His face was not regular, though some of his features were very fine; his forehead noble, his eyebrows massive, his eyes most brilliant and piercing, though winning, his mouth and the under portion of his face full of strength, it up at times with a sweet smile. Though his limbs were irregularly formed yet few seem to have noticed this so carried away were they by the sweeping effect of his strong personality. Richard Lalor Sheil wrote this description of him ; “His rectilinear forehead is strongly indented, satire sits upon his thin lips, and a livid hue is spread over a quadrangular face the sunken cheeks of which exhibit the united effects of monastic abstinence and meditation”. (3)
Fr. Kenney lost no time in getting to work; preaching, hearing confessions, giving missions, all these he undertook and with great fruit. He was not long in Dublin, however, before the Archbishop, Dr. Troy, and his co-adjutor, Dr. Murray, began to beg of him to take on the Presidency of Maynooth. For many reasons Fr. Kenney was slow to accept this responsible position, in the end he consented to act as Vice-President for one year during which time Dr Murray was to act as President. Writing to the Archbishop in October, 1812, Fr. Kenney pointed out : “Nothing could be more foreign to my intention and to the wishes of my religious brethren than a situation in Maynooth College. I, however, yield to your Grace's desire and opinion that in my actual circumstances, the greater glory of God may be more effectually procured there than in my present situation, Your Grace's anxiety on this head is now removed, since I promise to go for the ensuing year, provided a duty more directly mine does not necessarily call me thence before the expiration of that time. I must, however, earnestly request that if your Grace meet in the interim with a person who would accept the proposed situation I may be allowed to spend in the humble domestic library of George's Hill, not as yet arranged, the hours that I can spare from missionary labours”. (4)
The Archbishop was glad to have Fr. Kenney's services even for a year and he had every reason to be delighted with his prudent and skilful rule which was most fruitful in the fervent spirit of piety and study and in the exact observance of discipline which he instilled into the students. His memory has long been held in grateful and kindly memory in Maynooth where his portrait hangs in the Students' Refectory. Besides his year of office he had frequent contacts with the College in later years giving retreats to the Students and to the Priests from time to time. While Vice-President he proposed points for meditation to the students regularly and these were eagerly copied down and continued to circulate in Maynooth for many years afterwards. I have one copy-book of these meditations before me as I write these lines. Dr. Patrick Murray, the great Maynooth theologian, in some MSS. reminiscences of Fr. Kenney, published after his death, in 1869, states : “The first trace of his (Fr. Kenney's) luminous and powerful mind I saw was in some MSS, meditations which he composed during the short period of his holding the office of Vice-President in Maynooth November, 1812 November, 1813), and copies of which were handed down through some of the College officials. It was in the second or third year of my course (I entered College at the end of August, 1829) that I was fortunate enough to obtain the loan of a copy of some of these meditations - how I now utterly forget. But I remember well that I was quite enchanted with them; they were so different from any thing I had up to that time seen. I transcribed as many of them as I could—they were given me only for a short time-into a blank paper-book which I still have in my possession”. (5)
Fr. Kenney's reluctance to remain longer than a year in Maynooth was due to his anxiety to establish as soon as possible a Jesuit College for boys. The Fathers of the old Society had always believed that the day would come when the Society would once more flourish. To provide for this new dawn they had carefully husbanded the resources of the old mission and these with some legacies and the accumulated interest now amounted to the goodly sum of £32,000. With this capital behind him Fr. Kenney began to look about for a suitable home for his new College. The Jesuit tradition had been to have their schools in the cities or near them, and from this point of view Rathfarnham Castle seemed a good site. However, it was thought that it would be more prudent not to open a Jesuit school so near Dublin Castle. Fr. Kenney wrote to Dr. Plunkett, the Bishop of Meath, about his plans and the difficulties in the way; the following is part of Dr. Plunkett's reply, dated 25th January, 1813 :
"My dear and Rev. Vice-President,
Having been so long honoured with the very obliging letter you were so good as to write to me, I cannot suffer the bearer, Mr. Rourke, who is going to place himself under your care, to withdraw from us without a line of thanks for your late communication. I have been educated in this kingdom by the pious and amiable Mr. Austin. afterwards in a seminary ever attached to your Society, the seminary in Paris which gave you the venerable Mr. Mulcaile. I naturally feel a most sincere desire of seeing your revival commence amongst us in one shape or other, as soon as circumstances will allow. That a combination of such favourable circumstances approaches rather slowly I am not surprised. Few great undertakings advance fast to maturity ; obstacles of various kinds stand in the way. Active zeal is a powerful instrument well calculated to remove them, but must be accompanied with patience, prudence, caution and foresight. Dunboyne Castle, for the reason you mention, cannot be thought of at present; it is perhaps, also, too near Maynooth. Balbriggan, as to situation, would suit you better, not however, without considerable expense. I mean the house at Inch. I saw it some years ago. No striking idea of it remains in my mind. A convenient extensive building would appear there to great advantage. To the price or rent asked for the ground I should not very much object; we pay here higher for chosen spots of land. I should prefer purchasing if it could be done. Building, whatever advantages might attend it, would be tedious. There are in this county a few ancient mansions, some one of which your cordial friend Mr. Grainger, my most excellent neighbour, thinks ere long may be disposed of. It would afford you every thing desirable. Divine Providence is perhaps preparing a place of this sort for you. Your friends in England are, perhaps, waiting to be informed that such a place is attainable. It would, I humbly imagine, be worth waiting for. In the meantime your actual highly respectable occupations do not estrange you from your vocation ; out of your own sphere scarcely could they be more conformable to it. I am inclined to think that the esteem and respect entertained for you in the College, and the reputation you there and throughout the kingdom enjoy, have a closer connection than is apprehended with the designs of the Divine Founder of our holy religion. It has at times occurred to me that the Capital would be the situation most advantageous for your principal residence; because the means of cultivating learning, and kindling the fire of the true religion, which the Saviour of the world came to spread on earth, abound chiefly in great cities. ...” (6)
Towards the close of the same year, Fr. Kenney decided that the Wogan Browne's family seat, Castle Browne, formerly known as Clongowes Wood, would provide a suitable home for the first College of the Society. Details of the purchase were hardly fixed before the alarm that the Jesuits were plotting against the Government went abroad. Fr. Kenney was summoned before Peel, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, to explain his position. Dr. Corcoran, S.J., has printed an account of part of this interview in The Clongowes Record to which we also refer the reader for a full account of the early years of Clongowes, whose history is inseparably linked with that of Fr. Kenney. The following less well-known account of the interview from Lord Colechester's Diary will show how good a match Fr. Kenney was for Peel.
“May 29th, 1814 : Peel called by appointment. Talked over the Church fermentation about Quarantotti's letter and Dr. Kenney's foundation of the school of Clongowes Wood, late Castle Browne. Kenney's conversation with him asserting the £16,000 to be his own funds, though how obtained he refused to disclose and that when his vow of poverty was objected to him in bar of his being the proprietor of such funds he said that his vow was simple not solemn. (7) To all questions he generally answered by putting some other question instead of giving an affirmative or negative. He admitted that he was in early expectation of two Jesuits from Sicily, Wolfe and Esmonde, whose fathers and brothers respectively had been hanged in Ireland as traitors, and that he proposed to employ these two men as Professors in the College. (8)
Despite the refusal of the Protestant Bishop of Kildare to grant a licence for the new school and the lively interest of Dublin Castle in all his proceedings, Fr. Kenney opened Clongowes in May, 1814; by December, 1816, there were 200 pupils in the house. Fr. Plowden, S.J., of Stonyhurst wrote in October of that year: “I must tell you that the most heartfelt comfort which I have enjoyed these many years comes from Mr. Simpson's report (which fills Stonyhurst) of the excellent arrangements, order, progress, and success of your new establishment. It shows what one intelligent and active man can achieve”. (9)
The boys in Clongowes both then and later always called him "”he great Kenney”; his Sunday instructions were indescribably impressive, according to some of his pupils; he seems to have been able to grip their attention completely and to have won their confidence as the kindest of fathers. He loved talking to boys and engaging them in discussions. On one occasion probably after his return from America, “he was heard to give a brilliant exposition of the American constitution, which he very much admired, and he unconsciously delivered for twenty minutes before a large company what might be called a masterly statement that would have carried the admiration of any Senate - all were amazed and enchanted”.
Besides being Rector of Clongowes he was also Superior of the Irish Mission. Plans for a Residence in Dublin and for a novitiate occupied his attention but did not prevent him from satisfying the constant demand from Bishops and priests for retreats, missions, sermons and advice. In a short account like this his varied activities can only be barely indicated, but the reader will easily gather from their mere mention how closely Fr. Kenney was bound up with the life and development of the Irish Church. In February, 1815, Mary Aikenhead and her companion Mother Catherine Walsh returned from the Bar Convent in York to begin, under Dr. Murray's direction, the founding of the Irish Sisters of Charity. In all his plans for this new institute Dr. Murray constantly consulted Fr. Kenney, and when in September 1815, he had to return to Rome to give the opinion of the Irish Bishops on the Veto question he entrusted the care of the infant Congregation to Fr. Kenney. In September, 1817, Fr. Kenney preached on the occasion of the first public clothing of novices of the new Congregation; taking as his text the words of St. Paul : Caritas Christi urget nos (2 Cor. 7 v14) - “The Charity of Christ urgeth us”. From that day to this the text of that sermon has been used as the motto of the Irish Sisters of Charity. Later on Fr. Kenney introduced Fr. Robert St. Leger, the first Rector of the College of St. Stanislaus, Tullabeg, to Mother Aikenhead; in Fr. St. Leger, Fr. Kenney gave to the new Congregation a staunch and learned friend, to whom the Sisters owe their Rules and Constitutions which he modelled on those of St. Ignatius. (10)
The only criticism levelled against Fr. Kenney was that he was inclined to take on too much work. And yet in this matter of accepting extra work, though Superior of the Mission, he consulted his brethren. Fr. Aylmer records in his diary : “The letter from Mr. Kenney on the 3rd was to desire the opinions of Frs. Ferley, Butler and Aylmer with regard to his preaching a charity sermon in Cork at the request of the Bishop, Dr. Murphy, and, consequent to his accepting that of Cork, another in Limerick. The two former were of opinion that both ought to be accepted; the latter said that he did not entirely agree with them, because he thought that Fr. Kenney's frequent absence from the College, where he had so often declared that all were too young and not to be depended upon, was highly injurious. As to the propriety of preaching both sermons, Mr. Kenney himself could alone determine, as he alone knew the circumstances and situation of affairs”. (11)
Fr. Kenney seems to have followed Fr. Aylmer's opinion and to have declined the sermons but in so gracious a way as to win this reply from Cork : “Your apology (for not preaching for the Poor Schools) was calculated to produce a different effect from what you intended, for the more the Committee heard of it, the more they seemed eager to hear yourself”. However his over-activity was soon forgiven him for, if we may anticipate a little, Fr. Plowden wrote to him when on visitation in America in 1820 :
“The General, or rather Fr. Rosaven remarks as an inconsistency, that while you governed Clongowes complaints used to arrive of your conduct, and that now all Clongowes re-demands you loudly, as indispensably necessary for the support of the Irish mission”. (12)
Before Fr. Kenney left Ireland to make his first Visitation of the Maryland Mission in July, 1819, he had founded besides Clongowes, the Jesuit Residence attached to Hardwicke St. Church and the College at Tullabeg, but we shall have to reserve details of these foundations for some other occasion.

III
The new Mission in Maryland needed help in its difficult task of reorganisation and Fr. Kenney's great skill as an administrator, coupled with his prudence and discretion, made him ideally suited for the difficult position of Visitor. During the few months he remained in the United States he did excellent work the full fruits of which he was to witness ten years later when Fr. John Roothaan sent him to make a second visitation of the Mission in 1830. Though absent from Ireland for less than a year on this first visitation he was greatly missed. Fr. Plowden writes to him on September 24th, 1819 : “You are much missed and wanted in Ireland. As soon as I heard of your being elected by the diocesan clergy Co-adjutor to Dr. Sughrue (Bishop of Kerry), I wrote to Rome to engage our friends to frustrate the measure by every means in their power. We know now that the Lord Lieutenant has publicly notified that the election of Mr. Kenney to a bishopric is disapproved of by the Government. What a dreadful man you are! It seems your conference with Mr. Peel terrified the Ministers. All this makes me smile....” (13)
But the bishopric of Kerry was not the only honour which Fr. Kenney had to take steps to avoid; later on we shall see how anxious the American bishops were to have him as a confrère. Even now on his first visit to the States many influential people were anxious to keep him there. He wrote to Fr. Aylmer from Georgetown on October 5th, 1819 :
“I arrived at New York on the 9th ult. Matters are not so bad as they were made to appear. The General has been more plagued than he ought to have been.
All parties seem glad that a visitation has been instituted by the General.
I assure you that I have not the least intention or wish that you should take any measure to prevent the success of the Archbishop's efforts. In strict impartiality, after contrasting the wants of this country with my obligations to the Irish Mission, I have resolved to guard cautiously that religious indifference that leaves the subject sicut baculum in manu senis. Were I at my own disposal, I should think it almost a crime to return from any motive of affection or attachment to those comforts and sympathies which I shall never enjoy outside Ireland.
Were a man fit to do no more than catechize the children and slaves he ought to consider his being on the spot, by the will of God, a proof that it is most pleasing to God to remain amongst them, and so sacrifice every gratification under heaven to the existing wants of Catholicity, I shall not even lift my hand to influence the General one way or the other, because I am unwilling and unable to decide between the claims of the Irish Mission and the wants of this, when I am myself the subject of discussion”. (14)
However Ireland was not to be deprived of so valued a son and in the following August (1820) he returned to Dublin. On his arrival he took up duties as Superior of Hardwicke Street; in the next year he was reappointed Superior of the Mission and Rector of Clongowes. His work in Clongowes has been treated of elsewhere, and so here we shall give it scant mention; there were many worrying moments when the old outcry against the Jesuits was raised again, and it took all Fr. Kenney's influence and tact to avert the storm.
It was during this period between his American visitations that Fr. Kenney's greatest work as a preacher was done. On almost every big occasion he was invited to fill the pulpit. Thus he preached the panegyric of Dr. Troy in 1823, the consecration sermon of Dr. Crolly in 1825, the first appeal for the Propagation of the Faith ever preached in Dublin, and the great Jubilee of 1826. Dr. Murray opened the Jubilee on 8th March, 1826, in the new Church of the Immaculate Conception (the Pro Cathedral). Every day for a month Fr. Kenney addressed the faithful with commanding eloquence which achieved the most astonishing conversions. Mgr. Meagher tells us that the confessionals were crowded almost without interruption by unprecedented multitudes. On the first morning of General Communion the Pro-Cathedral presented a spectacle such as Dublin had never before witnessed. The Church was packed to overflowing and every member of the vast congregation received Holy Communion. At the conclusion of the ceremonies Fr. Kenney led the people in a renovation of their Baptismal vows. Beholding the sight that met him as he ascended the pulpit he“burst forth into such strains of jubilation and thanksgiving, as made his overflowing audience almost beside themselves, while with uplifted hands and streaming eyes they literally shouted aloud their eternal renunciation of Satan and his works”. (15)
Dr. Patrick Murray, the Maynooth Professor, has left us his opinions of Fr. Kenney's powers :

“Fr. Kenney aimed not at the ear or the fancy but through the understanding at the heart. Not to steal it; he seized it at once and in his firm grasp held it beating quick in its rapt and willing captivity. ... The only other orator to whom I thought of comparing him was Daniel O'Connell. I recollect that while both were yet living I remarked in a conversation with a very intelligent friend on Fr. Kenney's great powers that he was ‘the O'Connell of the pulpit’. My friend not only agreed with me but expressed his surprise that the resemblance had never occurred to himself. The reason it did not occur to him was, no doubt, that ordinarily men do not think of searching for such comparisons out of the species; but set off pulpit orators against pulpit orators as they set bar orators against bar orators, and parliamentary against parliamentary.
Overwhelming strength and all-subduing pathos were the leading, as they were the common, characteristics of these two extraordinary men. I say nothing of clearness, precision, and those other conditions which must be found in all good composition, whether written or spoken, and especially in oratory addressed to the many; without which all seeming or so-called eloquence is mere hurdy gurdy clattering. Also I say nothing of O'Connell's inimitable and irresistible humour. There are undoubtedly certain occasions on which this talent may be exercised in the pulpit. But Fr. Kenney, if he possessed it, never in the least degree displayed it. I never saw a more serious countenance than his was on every occasion of my hearing him. Not solemn, not severe, but serious and attractively and winningly so. There he stood - or sat as the case might be - as if he had a special commission direct from heaven on the due discharge of which might depend his own salvation and that of every soul present. Indeed so deeply did he seem to be penetrated with the importance of his sacred theme, so entirely did the persuasion of that importance display itself in his whole manner that his discourses appeared to be the simple utterances of what his heart and soul had learned and digested in a long and absorbing meditation before the crucifix. That they were often in fact such utterances I have no doubt whatever ; one instance of this I once, by mere accident, happened to witness with my own eyes.
In another point he also strikingly resembled O'Connell. He never indulged in those poetic flights of mere fancy which delight only or mainly for their own sake. Imagination, of course, he had and of a high order, too; otherwise he could never have been a true orator. But it was imagination subservient not dominant; penetrating the main idea as a kindling spark of life, not glittering idly round about it; the woof interwoven with the warp not the gaudy fringe dangling at the end of the texture. You will find none of these poetic flights to which I allude, in Demosthenes, or Cicero in Chrysostome or Bourdaloue; and where they are found in modern orators of high name they are blemishes not beauties. Of course, too, he had great felicity of diction, which is equally essential - using the very words and phrases which above all others exactly suited the thought and set it off in its best light, so that the substitution of any words would be at once felt as an injury like the touch of an inferior artist covering the delicate lines of a master....
Fr. Kenney, like O'Connell, attained the highest perfection of his art which consists in so appearing that no. one ever dreams of any culture or art having been used at all, according to the hackneyed phrase summae artis autem celare artem. So perfect was O'Connell in this respect that though I heard him very often in the winter of 1837-8 and the following years it never once entered my mind to suspect that he had ever given any great attention to oratory as an art; his delivery always appearing to me spontaneous and unstudied as are the movements and prattle of a child. It was only after his death that I learned from some published memorials of him, and was at the time surprised to learn, that in early life he had taken great pains in forming his manner, and in particular that he had marked and studied with care the tones and modulations of voice for which the younger Pitt was so famous. Fr. Kenney, like O'Connell, hardly used any gestures. His voice was powerful and at the same time pleasing, but I I do not ever remember to have heard from him any of those soft pathetic tones sometimes used by O'Connell which winged his words to the heart and the sound of which even at this distant period still seems to vibrate in my ears.
Fr. Kenney was eminently a theological preacher, and this too without the slightest tinge of that pedantry and affectation always so offensive to good taste, but particularly so in the pulpit. Indeed he was the only preacher I ever heard who possessed the marvellous power of fusing the hardest and most abstruse scholasticisms into forms that.at once imparted to them clearness and simplicity and beauty without in the least degree lessening their weight and dignity.....” (16)

Dr. Murray was not alone in thinking Fr. Kenney an outstanding orator. One old bishop used to recall the over mastering tenderness and vehemence of his apostrophes to the crucifix, which he delivered with streaming eyes on some occasions ; this same bishop declared that his vivid recollection of Fr. Kenney's preaching had made him unable to relish any other preacher however eminent, even Fr. Tom Burke himself. Fr. Aylmer, who was an effective preacher, used to say that his greatest humiliation was to have to preach from the same altar steps from which Fr. Kenney had electrified the congregation on the previous Sunday, So packed was the church when he preached that the congregation overflowed out on to the street; his following numbered all classes. It is said that Grattan used to admire his eloquence greatly and used to attend his sermons at Hardwicke Street.
As this account of Fr. Kenney's career has already grown too long we can make no mention of Fr. Kenney's close connection with the Presentation Convent on George's Hill. We must, however

Born: 17 February 1853, Kilbaha, Newtownsands, County Kerry
Entered: 10 May 1872, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg (HIB for NOR) - Neo Aurliensis Province
Ordained: December 1883, New Orleans LA, USA
Died: 22 September 1885, Spring Hill College, AL, USA - Neo Aurliensis Province (NOR)

Three is also a William Kennely, Born Kilbaha, County Kerry 23 June 1842; Entered 1862 ?? (NOR); Died 31 January 1901, Grand Coteau LA, USA - Neo Aurliensis Province (NOR) who must be a relative.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - KENNALLY. It would appear that Fr Finegan is recording him as having entered in the Tullabeg Novitiate, but the LUGD CAT of 1873 has him at St Stanislaus College, Macon, GA, USA

Born: 22 May 1914, Kilbaha, Newtownsands, County Kerry
Entered: 09 June 1933, St Charles, Grand Couteau LA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)
Ordained: 16 June 1946
Final Vows: 01 February 1970
Died: 03 January 2011, New Orleans LA, USA - Neo-Aurelianensis Province (NOR)

by 1948 came to Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 08 November 1906, Hollywood, Carrickmines, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1924, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 31 May 1947, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 22 August 1986, Saint Teresa's Hospital, Mong Kok, Hong Kong - Hong Kongensis Province (HK)

Part of the Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong community at the time of death

Transcribed : HIB to HK 03/12/1966

Older Brother of Denis (DP) Kennedy - RIP 1988

Born in Harcourt Street, Dublin

Second of five boys with five sisters.

Early education with a private tutor and then at Belvedere College SJ and Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1932 at Valkenburg, Limburg, Netherlands (GER I) studying
by 1934 at Aberdeen, Hong Kong - Regency

Second World War Chaplain

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father R. Kennedy, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Richard Kennedy, S.J., of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, died of cancer in St. Teresa’s Hospital on Friday, 22 August 1986, aged 79.

Father Kennedy was born in Ireland on 8 November 1906. He joined the Jesuit noviciate in 1924 and spent the years 1933-36 in Hong Kong as a scholastic. He returned to Ireland for theology and ordination. World War II delayed his return to Hong Kong, so he took up work as a British Army chaplain in 1941.

Within a few months he was a prisoner of war - in Singapore first, and later in Japan and Manchuria. In later life he spoke little of this period, but that little showed clearly that he retained throughout all difficulties a high spirit, veering at times towards reckless courage.

After the war he went to Canton for language study and pastoral work. After the Communist take-over his high spirit got him into trouble with the authorities. He spent a short-time in prison and was expelled form China. Thus he returned to Hong Kong.

He taught in Wah Yan College, Kowloon, until he reached the official age for retirement. After that he taught in Newman College until the last remnants of his strength had gone. When he could no longer face a classroom he stayed on as spiritual guide to the students.

About two years ago, doctors in Ireland diagnosed cancer and advised him to remain in his native country, but Hong Kong had become his home and he insisted on coming back to do his last work here and to die here.

Archbishop Dominic Tang, S.J., led the concelebrated Mass of the resurrection in the chapel of Wah Yan College, Kowloon, and officiated at the graveside at St. Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley, on Tuesday, 26 August.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 29 August 1986

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

Note from Tommy Martin Entry
He first arrived as a Scholastic for regency in Hong Kong in 1933. He was accompanied by Frs Jack O’Meara and Thomas Ryan, and by two other Scholastics, John Foley and Dick Kennedy.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 16th Year No 2 1941

General News :
The Irish Province has to date sent 4 chaplains to England for home or foreign service for the duration of the war. They are Frs. Richard Kennedy, Michael Morrison, Conor Naughton and Cyril Perrott. The first three were doing their 3rd year's probation under Fr. Henry Keane at the Castle, Rathfarnham, while Fr. Perrott was Minister at Mungret College. They left Dublin on the afternoon of 26th May for Belfast en route for London. Fr. Richard Clarke reported a few days later seeing them off safely from Victoria. Both he and Fr. Guilly, Senior Chaplain to British Forces in N. Ireland, had been most helpful and kind in getting them under way.

Irish Province News 16th Year No 4 1941

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

Irish Province News 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.

Irish Province News 61st Year No 4 1986

Obituary

Fr Richard Kennedy (1906-1924-1986) (Macau-Hong Kong

The 8th November 1906: born in Co Dublin. 1917--21 Belvedere, 1921-24 Clongowes.
1st September 1924: entered SJ. 1924-26 Tullabeg, noviceship. 1926-30 Rathfarnham, juniorate (1926-27 home studies, 1927-30 at UCD: BA in English language and literature). 1930-33 philosophy: 1930-31 at Tullabeg, 1931-33 at Valkenburg, Netherlands.
1933-36 Hong Kong, regency: Regional seminary, studying Chinese and teaching mathematics; Wah Yan, Robinson road, teaching.
1936-40 Milltown Park, theology (31st July 1939: ordained a priest). 1940-41 Rathfarnham, tertianship.
1941-47 chaplain to British army and prisoner of war: 1941-42 Singapore, which in Feb. 1942 was captured by the Japanese. Taken as prisoner to Changi, for six months; 1942-44 a mining camp in Taiwan (Formosa); Fukuoka, Japan, for two months; spring to mid-September, 1945, in Manchuria; then released. End of 1945: to Ireland for recuperation. Feb. 1946-Mar, 1947: chaplain to British army of the Rhine; then demobilised. Six months furlough.
1947-48 Wah Yan, Hong Kong, teaching. 1948-53 Canton (under Communist government from 1949), teaching in university/Shing Sam/ Sacred Heart college. 11th August-25th September 1953: imprisoned, then expelled to Hong Kong, where he under went an operation. A year's rest and recuperation in Ireland.
1955-86 Wah Yan, Kowloon: teach ing: 1955-71 in WYKL (1955-64 directing boys' club), 1971-85 in Newman College (1985-86 spiritual counsellor there). 22nd August 1986: died.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1987

Obituary

Father Richard Kennedy SJ (1921)

Dick Kennedy was born in Dublin in 1906. He was at Belvedere 1917-21. He went from Junior Grade to Clongowes and entered the Society of Jesus in 1924. He had the usual Jesuit formation: novitiate in Tullabeg; BA in English at UCD, from Rathfarnham Castle; philosophy in Tullabeg and, for two years, at Valkenburg, Holland; regency in Hong Kong, spent in the Regional Seminary, where he studied the language and taught mathematics, and in Wah Yan College as a teacher; theology in Milltown Park, where he was ordained on July 31st 1939. He made his tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle.

Immediately afterwards he joined the British Army as a chaplain in Singapore. He became a prisoner of war when Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 and remained in captivity until the war ended. For six months he was at Changi in Singapore, then in a mining camp in Formosa until 1944, then in Fukoka (Japan) for a few months, and finally for six months in Manchuria, before release and return home to recuperate from his experiences. He rejoined the British Army on the Rhine 1946-47 until demobilisation,

After a year teaching at Wah Yan, Hong Kong, he was sent to teach in Canton in 1948. The Communist government took, over the city a year later but Dick continued working until he was arrested in August 1953 and expelled in late September back to Hong Kong, where he had to undergo an operation.

Restored by a year's recuperation at home, he returned in 1955 to Kowloon, where he spent the rest of his long life at Wah Yan. He taught in the College until 1971 and at Newman College until 1985. His last year was spent as spiritual counsellor at Newman.

During his final illness, he had many visitors in hospital: priests, sisters, past students whom he had taught or baptised, poor people he had befriended and helped. His rector, Fr Fred Deignan, writes:

“Fr. Dick in his humility never spoke very much about the many people he knew and helped, instructed and baptised. He must have suffered a lot during his internment under the Japanese but I'm sure that he gave very much help, hope and courage to his many fellow-prisoners. He was always very good to the poor and those in trouble. He loved young people and was happiest when they were around him”.

He died on August 22nd 1986. The funeral Mass was concelebrated by a large number of his brother-Jesuits, led by his friend from their difficult days together in Canton, Archbishop Dominic Tang SJ, who preached the homily. Among the many present was a group of Catholics from Canton, some of whom had been imprisoned for years because they were members of the Legion of Mary. “This was just a sign”, as Fr. Deignan writes, “that a great number of people loved and revered in”.

His younger brother Dermot died a few months before him. To all his family, especially Fr Denis P (Paddy), a former rector of Belvedere, our most sincere sympathy on their loss.

Born: 30 November 1903, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1921, Roehampton London - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1939
Died: 26 March 1988, Vauxhall, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

by 1934 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1933-1937

Born: 11 August 1881, Skahard , Caherconlish, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1899, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 26 July 1914, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1917, Sacred Jeart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 11 March 1967, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin

Parents farmers.

Second eldest of four brothers and one sister.

Educated at Crescent College SJ

by 1904 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying

Irish Province News 42nd Year No 3 1967

Rathfarnham Castle
Fr. P. G. Kennedy died here on the morning of 11th March. R.I.P. He returned from hospital late in January and had been in good form, though obviously failing. His memory for recent events was most uncertain but his accuracy in matters ornithological was as scientific as ever. He had been working in the grounds on the afternoon before his death. This work in the grounds, mainly burning tree-stumps had been a feature of his day in recent years. The National Museum was most anxious to acquire his notes and diaries on bird-lore and these are now being catalogued at the Museum. The remains were removed to Gardiner Street on Monday evening, 13th March, and after Office (Lauds), Solemn Requiem Mass was sung by Fr. Rector (Fr. F. McGrath). Milltown Park choir sang the Proper.

Obituary :
Fr PG Kennedy SJ (1881-1967)

Fr. Patrick Kennedy was a country man, born in 1881 at Skahard in Co. Limerick. He went to the local national school and to the Crescent for his early education. In 1889 he entered the Society at Tullabeg and did both his novitiate and juniorate there. He studied philosophy in Stonyhurst and taught for five years as a scholastic in the Crescent - Science, Latin, Greek and English. Theology and ordination were at Milltown Park and Tertianship at Tullabeg. For nine years after this he was Prefect of Studies in the Crescent. He then taught in Belvedere for another eight years, Thus ended what must have been, in a way, the vital period of his life-the period of developing and deepening interests, the making of personal contacts and friendships and performance of hard regular work, A person may become more noticeable after fifty; he often deteriorates; he seldom initiates any very valuable attitudes in himself, and he is fortunate if he holds his ground : holy, if he forges ahead.
In 1932 Fr. Kennedy was appointed Minister in Emo. This was probably a happy time for him. Possibly it was a relief to be free from the classroom routine for the first time in decades; surely it was a pleasure to be able to do the kind of field work in ornithology which he had no time for in the city. During these years he did a lot of observation of tree-creepers and especially their roosting habits. The soft outer bark of the Sequoia Wellingtonia - common around Emo - was very suitable for these birds. His observations were published in British Birds, Vol. 30, and made him, as one of his life long collaborators Major Ruttledge said “ornithological famous”. In this kind of work he was immensely painstaking, meticulously accurate and inflexibly persevering and full of lively
enthusiasm.
In 1936 Fr. Kennedy was appointed Rector of Rathfarnham Castle in succession to Fr. T. V. Nolan and he held this office until 1942. Only those who lived as juniors during these years are really capable of assessing the rights and wrongs of this regime. There is no good pretending that Fr. Kennedy was a success as a Rector. However, he never ambitioned authority and certainly did not consider himself a successful Rector of Rathfarnham Castle. The fact is that he seemed to be out of tune with the moods of youth and perhaps afraid of its manifestations. For the older members of the community he was a competent and kind administrator.
The positive side of Fr. Kennedy's qualities was always shown in his steady loyalty to his friends and co-operators. He was a tactful and unselfish visitor to the sick in hospital. Among birders he was very popular and had a number of staunch admirers. He was, in a quiet set kind of way an extremely pleasant community man, loved to tell a story with humorous twists to it and enjoy reminiscences of the past characters in the Province. He was in all this slow on the up-take, leisurely, conservative. Not receptive of new ideas, nor elastic, he was a man of static, stable values, resentful of change and horrified by “revolutionary ideas”.
He wrote a great deal about his favourite subject. His major work was The Birds of Ireland done in collaboration with Ruttledge and Scroope and A List of the Birds of Ireland - a Government publication. He also wrote a small book on Birds of the North Bull Island, which island he was largely instrumental in having declared a bird sanctuary. But I think his most attractive writing was in a series in Studies entitled “Birds of the Countryside”. In these articles he used his accurate scientific knowledge of the habitat, migration habits, etc., of the different species and also his feeling for their different characters, their charm, their "witness" in a witless world. He lectured frequently on birds and of course had fine slides. His normally rather dry delivery was warmed by his obvious love of and easy approach to this wonderful section of creation.
The present writer accompanied Fr. Kennedy on more than one visit to the Bull, sharing his interest in bird life: too serious with him to be styled a hobby it was real triumph to emit a croak and hear him immediately remark to his companion ahead “Ravens”, On these outings he strode along with great vigour and on every occasion recorded each species seen with unflagging interest in each one of them. Occasionally there would be the quite exceptional “catch” : e.g. of an arctic skua forcing a lesser gull to disgorge its prey, or snow-bunting playing on the salt marshes.
He was a man of settled type who lived apparently unshakably confident of the standards he had adopted : loyal, consistent, predictable. May the swifts welcome him with shrieks of delight as he whirls his way to the upper air.

Irish Province News 63rd Year No 1 1988

Father Kennedy memorial

Under the above headline the November 1987 issue of IWC News, the organ of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, carried the following item:

“In honour of Rev P G Kennedy SJ [1881-1899-1967], whose tireless efforts resulted in the establishment of the Bull Island Bird Sanctuary in 1931, plans are underway to erect a memorial plaque at the Bull Island Interpretive Centre”.
The writer went on to welcome donations from ‘anyone who has enjoyed this sanctuary and who appreciates its importance, but gave 1st December 1987 as the closing date for the reception of contributions.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1967

Obituary

Father Patrick G Kennedy SJ

Rev Patrick G Kennedy SJ, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, who has died, was a noted ornithologist with an international reputation.

He was one of a group of enthusiasts whose work led to the establishment of this country's three bird sanctuaries, the most noteworthy of which is the Bull Island sanctuary, about which Fr Kennedy wrote a book, “An Irish Sanctuary”.

Fr Kennedy was closely associated with many bird-protection and wildlife preservation societies and his work ranks with that of another famous Irish botanist and naturalist, the late Dr R Lloyd Praeger of Belfast.

Among the places where he taught was Belvedere College.

The Irish Press, 13-4-1967

Born: 15 January 1841, Upper Gloucester Street, Dublin, County Dublin
Entered: 04 August 1863, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1873
Final Vows: 22 April 1878
Died: 1918

Left Society of Jesus: 1898; remained a priest

Education at Mr Breslin’s School, Sandymount, and Ratoath NS, and post Secondary at the National Model School, Dublin, Dundee Schoolo of Art, Leeds (Josephite) School of Art. Taugh for 3 years at the School of Design Dublin, whence he obtained a scholarship to the Dept of Sicnece and Art, London

by 1870 at Roehampton, England (ANG)) studying
by 1871 at home for health
by 1872 at Leuven Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1874 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Wilfred’s Preston (ANG) working
by 1877 at Castres France (TOLO) making Tertianship
Early Australian Missioner 1877 (St Ignatius College, Roverciew, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Born: 24 June 1889, Annagh House, Birr, County Offaly
Entered: 31 August 1921, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 October 1926, Fourvière, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1932, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 06 February 1949, St Francis Xavier, Lavender Bay, North Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Father was a farmer and died in 1907. Mother now resides at Darrinsalla House, Birr supported by private means.

Youngest of secen sons with two sisters.

At 13 he went to Knockbeg College, Carlow until 1907. Then went to UCD to study medicine, qualifying in 1913. He then took medical postgraduate studies.

He then worked as Medical Officer at Silvermines Dispensary in Nenagh (1913-1914); House Surgeon at Royal Hospital Wolverhampton and North Ormesby Hospital in Middlesbrough (1914-1915); Lietenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (1915-1916); Ships Surgeon, Cunard Company (1916-1917); GP in Nenagh (1917-1918)

In 1918-1919 he studied 1 year of Theology at Dalgan Park, County Meath with the Columban Fathers and was destined for Chinese Mission

Medical Officer at Terryglass Dispensary, Borrisokane, County Tipperary.1920-1922

by 1927 at Paray-le-Monial France (LUGD) studying
by 1929 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1930 third wave Hong Kong Missioners
by 1934 at Gonzaga College, Shanghai, China (FRA) teaching
by 1938 at Wah Yan, Hong Kong - working

Served as Medical Doctor in RAMC during 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
Gerald Kennedy served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW1 in Flanders and on a ship on the Atlantic. He entered the Society 31 August 1919 (1921 in fact) at Tullabeg with a medical degree, and after Philosophy at Milltown Park, 1923-25, and Theology at Ore Place, Hastings and Fourvières, 1925-28, completed Tertianship at St Beuno’s, 1928-29.
He was then sent to the Hong Kong Mission 1929-1945, and spent these years at Ricci Hall, the university residence, the seminary (at Aberdeen) or Wah Yan College, lecturing and teaching as well as doing pastoral work, but he never learned the Chinese language. He was popular with the students in the seminary, entertaining them with his charm. He gave the Jesuits their hints on how to be successful classroom teachers, and wrote a textbook in Chemistry and Physics whilst at Wah Yan.
He spent 1934 with the Jesuits and Shanghai, in Gonzaga College. From 1938 he worked with refugees in a hospital in Canton. Medical supplies were scarce, but he discovered a partial cure for cholera. He worked as rice-forager, money collector and spiritual guide to the sisters who ran the hospital. During 1941 he was at St Theresa’s hospital Kowloon, but he was worn out. He had fought the good fight.
As a result, he was recalled to Ireland, where he recovered his former vigour sufficiently to give Retreats in Galway, 1945-46, and did pastoral work in Tullabeg. He was sent to Australia and the Lavender Bay parish 1948-49, where he worked for six months in the chapel of the Star of the Sea, at Milsons Point. He was remembered for having a dry, searching humour, and a mixture of kindly trust and breeziness.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Doctor before Entry

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 21st Year No 1 1946

Arrivals :

Our three repatriated missioners from Hong Kong: Frs. T. Fitzgerald, Gallagher and G. Kennedy, arrived in Dublin in November and are rapidly regaining weight and old form. Fr. Gallagher has been assigned to the mission staff and will be residing at St. Mary's, Emo.

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

Frs. Kennedy G., O'Flanagan and Saul leave for Australia on 9th July.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 2 1949

Death of Fr. Gerald Kennedy :
Fr. G. Kennedy died in Australia on February 6th. He had been in failing health for a considerable time, and it was hoped that the Australian climate might restore his former vigour. But in China, before and during the war, he had been prodigal of his energy in the service of others. He did wonders during the cholera outbreak at Canton he accomplished wonders, not only by his devoted attention to the sufferers, but by his medical knowledge. Out of the very limited resources available he compounded a remedy which saved many lives and achieved better results than the Americans were able to obtain with their vastly superior equipment.
To know Fr. Kennedy was to love him. He has left to the Province a fragrant memory.

Irish Province News 24th Year No 3 1949

Obituary

Fr. Gerald Kennedy (1889-1921-1949)

When Gerald Kennedy became a Jesuit, he was already a mature man of thirty-two. Born in 1889, he took his medical degree at the National University in Dublin, went through World War I in the R.A.M.C., and then settled down to a dozen years of country practice in Nenagh and Birr. Having spent a few months at Dalgan Park, he entered the Society at Tullabeg in 1921. His noviceship over, two year's philosophy at Milltown Park were followed immediately by theology at Hastings and Fourvière, where he was ordained on December 18th, 1926. After making his tertianship at St. Beuno's (1928-1929), he sailed for Hong Kong. He remained on the Mission until his return to Ireland in November, 1945. He then spent a year on the retreat staff. The 1946 Status found him once more back in Tullabeg as Prefect of the Church, in which office he continued until June, 1948. That same summer he made his last trip - to Australia, which he reached in August. He was assigned to parish work in Melbourne, and there he died on February 6th, 1949.
In his twenty-eight years as a Jesuit, Gerald Kennedy won the esteem and affection of all who lived with him. The measure of that warm respect may be found in the name by which he was universally known : “Doc”. It was a term that did more than merely remind us that he had lost none of the shrewd skill and observation of the country practitioner. It held a far richer connotation. “Doc” was, in the best sense of the world, a character. There was nothing dark about his dry, searching humour-a mixture of kindly thrust and breeziness (no one who heard it will forget his cheery salute to the company : “God save all here - not barring the cat!”). In spontaneous mood he was inimitable for his humorous description of situations and personalities. His account of a Chinese banquet will be remembered as a masterpiece of gastronomic analysis. For all his sense of fun, however, “Doc” had a deep and steady seriousness of mind - his very gait was purposeful. A constant reader, his main interests were biography and history with a particular leaning towards French culture. Both as a doctor and as a Jesuit, he was for years keenly preoccupied with the psychological problems of the religious life and of spiritual experience. One of his many obiter dicta was to the effect that no Jesuit should be allowed on the road as a retreat-giver or spiritual director, who through ignorance or prejudice was incapable of helping souls in the higher forms of prayer. His own spiritual life was simple, direct and matter of fact. A strong yet gentle character, his unobtrusive simplicity went hand in hand with a certain blunt forcefulness of purpose. Outstanding among his virtues were a remarkable sense of duty and an unfailing charity.
Of his life as a Jesuit, Fr. Kennedy spent more than half on the Hong Kong mission. Over forty when he arrived in China, be never acquired a grip of the language. This did not prevent him, however, from quietly poking fun at the advanced students and old hands, to gravely correcting their tones or shamelessly manufacturing new phrases for their puzzlement and exasperation. Nor did his ignorance of Chinese materially lessen his usefulness. During his early years on the mission, he was in turn Minister in the Seminary and on the teaching staff of Wah Yan, His Ministership coincided with the period of the building and organisation of the Seminary - a harassing time. His cheerfulness was well equal to it. As an extract from a contemporary letter puts it : “In spite of many inconveniences of pioneering (e.g. the absence of a kitchen and a water supply) the Minister's sense of humour remained unshaken”. While at Wah Yan, he found time and energy (and, considering the steam-laundry quality of the climate for many months of the year, that says much) to compose a small text-book of Chemistry and a further one of Physics for his class. He was always on the job.
It was from 1938 onwards, however, that “Doc” really came into his own. In the November of that year a food ship was sent from Hong Kong to the relief of the refugees in Japanese occupied Canton. Fr. Kennedy travelled up as one of the organising committee, On account of his medical experience he was soon attached to the Fong Pin hospital, run by the French Canadian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. Here he found full scope for his doctor's knowledge and for his untiring charity. There was work for a dozen doctors and for as many administrators. Fr. Kennedy was alone. He had to deal with a hospital overcrowded beyond all reasonable capacity, to refuse patients was to let them die on the streets and to incur the censure of the Japanese. The nursing staff was pitiably inadequate and could not be made good even by the heroic devotion of the Sisters. Sufferers were two and three in a bed, and on the floor of the wards, the dead, awaiting removal and burial, lay cheek by jowl with the dying. All medical supplies were scarce - some were unobtainable. It was in such conditions that “Doc” had to treat his patients. Yet, amazing as it may seem, it was in the midst of such killing and stupefying work that Fr. Kennedy discovered a partial cure for cholera. He did some thing more amazing still - with his work as doctor he managed to combine the offices of rice-forager, money-collector and spiritual director to the Sisters. Both in Canton and in Hong Kong he went the rounds raising supplies and funds for the hospital, and gave the Sisters regular conferences and an eight-day retreat-in French. He kept up this pace for over two years.
He was back in Hong Kong for the outbreak of war in December, 1941. During the hostilities and for the most of the subsequent Japanese occupation of the Colony, he was in St. Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon. His work there was much the same as he had had in Canton, although the conditions were slightly better. He was doctor, administrator and again, spiritual guide and consoler to the French Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres. With his fellow Jesuits he underwent all the strain, mental and physical, of those three and a half years. More than others, perhaps, he suffered from the almost starvation diet. Yet, his cheerfulness never failed nor his unremitting devotion to his work. The same cannot be said for his health. When the peace came, he was a tired man, worn out in mind and body.
Fr. Kennedy was always a fighter. Back in Ireland, he recovered some of his old vigour - sufficient, at all events, to urge him to volunteer for Australia. He must have suspected that he had not very long to live, for shortly before sailing he expressed the hope that he might be given two or three years of work in which to justify the expense of his passage out. He need not have worried. Six months was all he had in Australia, it is true. But by his whole life in the Society, by his fund of good humour, by his charity, by his immense labours on the mission, by his deep, simple spirituality, “before God and men”, “Doc” more than paid his way.

Born: 06 March 1909, Hollywood, Carrickmines, County Dublin
Entered: 01 September 1926, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1939, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1942, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 25 July 1988, Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin

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

Younger Brother of Richard (Dick) Kennedy - RIP 1986

Born in Harcourt Street, Dublin

Father was a surgeon in St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

Three older brothers and two older sisters, and one brother and three sisters younger. (Family of five boys and five girls)

Early education by a governess and at a local Convent school, and at age 9 went to Belvedere College SJ. (1918-1926

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1989

Obituary

Father Denis Patrick Kennedy SJ

Paddy (or, as he was often known, “DP”) Kennedy entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg straight from Belvedere in 1926 after a quiet school-career. Al though he lived to be almost 80, he did not enjoy ro bust health and a series of operations, while he was a student in Rathfarnham, forced him to give up his studies there and go back to Tullabeg, by now the Jesuit Philosophate. After two years and a further year of philosophy at UCD, he took his BA.

In 1933 he was in Belvedere again, but not for the three years' teaching customary for Jesuit scholastics at that time and for many years afterwards. Instead, he became manager of the Jesuit publication The Irish Monthly. In 1936 he went to Milltown Park to study theology and was ordained there in 1939, along with his late brother Dick (1921). After Tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle, he returned to Belvedere in 1941.

He had busy years ahead of him in the College where he had spent five years as a boy and three as a scholastic. He became, successively Minister, Vice Rector and then (1947-53) Rector. Until he became Rector, he taught Religion at the former Technical School in Pamell Square, an experience which left him with abiding interest in the subject of the religious formation of young people. It was also in the Belvedere period that he made something of a name for himself in the “Safety First” campaign of the Irish Red Cross.

In these twelve years in Belvedere, he made a considerable mark. It was a relatively quiet, unflamboyant era, following the privations and uncertainties of the War years. As Rector Fr Kennedy involved himself in every aspect of life here, at a time when the Rector had responsibility not only for the large and active Jesuit community but for the College as well.

Although the redoubtable Fr Rupert Coyle had already been Prefect of Studies twelve years when “DP” became Vice-Rector in 1945 (Fr James Gubbins's health having failed), no one who was here in those years was under any illusion as to who was in charge. His particular memorial is the new Junior House, whose erection on the site of the old Numbers 7 and 8 was begun towards the end of his term of office.

After Belvedere, he spent eleven years as Principal of University Hall in Hatch Street and then moved to Gardiner St, the house to which he was still attached when his last, mercifully short, illness struck him in the summer of 1988. During his time in Gardiner St, he worked in various capacities in the church, especially as a confessor. In the last six years of his life, his special occupation was to bring Fr John Sullivan's cross all over the country to bless the sick and afflicted.

He died in the Bon Secours hospital on 25th July 1988

Born: 02 February 1711, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 14 August 1731 , Tournai, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Died: 07 March 1734, Douai, France - Belgicae Province (BELG)

Parents were Timothy and Eleanor Bolland
Studied Grammar and Humanities under Fr Hugh Kelly a Dublin priest, and 2+ years of Philosophy under Fr John Harrold PP of St James Dublin
Admitted to Society by Fr General Retz 30 May 1731

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Had studied Humanities under Milo Byrne and Michael Murphy, and then Philosophy under Canon John Harrold before Ent 14 August 1731 Tournai, which was expressly for the Irish Mission
1733 After First Vows sent to Douai for Theology, a tribute to the good teaching he had received under John Harold. He died there a year later 07 March 1734
His obit stated “This young man was truly remarkable for his penetrating intelligence but especially for his candour and innocence of life”

Born: 01 October 1931, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1949, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Chiesa del Gesù, Rome, Italy
Died: 21 August 2000, Staten Island, New York NY, USA

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

Father was a manager of a hardware firm and the family lived at The Bungalow, Newcastle, County Galway.

Only child.

Educated at a National school for four years and then he wen to Coláiste Iognáid SJ for eight years

by 1966 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 105 : Special Edition 2000

Obituary

Fr William (Billy) Kelly (1931-2000)

1931, Oct1st: Born in Limerick
Early education at St. Ignatius College, Galway.
1949, 7th Sept: Entered the Society at Emo
1951, 8th Sept: First vows at Emo
1951 - 1954: Rathfarnham - Arts at UCD
1954 - 1957: Tullabeg - Philosophy
1957 - 1960: Coláiste lognáid, Galway - Teacher
1960 - 1964: Milltown Park - Theology
1963, July 31st: Ordained priest at Milltown Park
1964 - 1965: Tertianship at Rathfarnham Castle
1965 - 1968: Rome - Studied Canon Law
1968 - 2000: Professor of Canon Law at the Milltown Institute; working at the Dublin Diocesan Marriage Tribunal
2000, Aug 21st: Died Staten Island, New York

Billy suffered from angina and had heart surgery a number of years ago. He spent part of his summer each year on supply in a parish in the U.S.A. It was while he was there that he suffered a heart attack and died at Staten Island on 21st August 2000.

Michael Hurley SJ gave the homily at the funeral mass for Fr. Billy Kelly, at Milltown Park on Monday September 4 2000...

Euge, euge!

My reason for making the unusual choice of the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-17, 19-23) as our gospel reading this morning is precisely because the text I wanted to have for my homily occurs in it and not just once but twice. Some of you will have noticed that I shortened the passage and omitted all reference to the servant who received one talent and buried it, hid it in the ground. I did so of course because I didn't want us distracted with questions about the meaning of the parable as a whole, much less with questions about the treatment of the servant who had received the one talent. I wanted us to concentrate and focus all our attention and interest on those great, glorious evangelical words which I am taking as my text: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord, come and share the joy, the happiness of your Lord.

I can think of no more appropriate words for this occasion. These were surely the words which the choirs of angels and the whole court of heaven were singing on Monday afternoon last - and it was probably in the afternoon about 3 o'clock rather than in the evening about 8 o'clock - when Billy made his surprised entry. As we'll be reminded once again at the end of this Mass, the funeral liturgy explicitly invites us to imagine the angels and saints leading and escorting and welcoming Billy into paradise, into the holy city, to the bosom of Abraham, to the supper of the Lamb, to meet our Lord and his Mother, to sit down at table with them at the banquet feast which is heaven. Figuring prominently of course among the welcoming party will have been Billy's father and his mother to whom he was particularly devoted especially as he was an only child; and Billy's favourite saints but he was so private a person that we don't know their names and also his favourite Jesuit friends who have gone before him to prepare a place for him. Some of these however we do know. Denis Flannery will certainly have been in the front row, Denis, Billy's contemporary and missionary in Zambia on whom he lavished such tender loving care the year before last in Cherryfield when Denis was dying; and Dicky Butler, his headmaster when he was a young Jesuit scholastic in Galway (1957-60). Dicky was so kind that Billy broke the strange resolution he made after his mother's death; never to visit Galway again . When Dicky died he did go back to attend the funeral. Dicky, it is not perhaps inappropriate to recall, was a fellow conservative. He did read The Tablet but only, as Dicky himself would tell you good humouredly, to find out what they were up to in the enemy camp!

But what were the angels singing on Monday afternoon- and what are they still singing? Well what I hear them singing and what I invite you to hear are the words of my text from Matthew's gospel: 'Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord, come and share the joy of thy Lord'. All the words of this refrain are of course important but the first are of some particular interest, especially if we consult the Latin and Greek versions which the angels will surely know and with which many of you will be quite familiar. The “Well Done” of the English version is of course “euge” in the Latin and “eu” in the Greek. So in the Greek and the Latin the first word of the Scripture text for my homily this morning is none other than the first syllable of that dreaded word 'eulogy': dreaded at least in the context of a funeral liturgy not only by canonists and bishops and by Billy himself both personally and professionally because he was so completely self effacing, he had so sadly convinced himself he didn't deserve any praise or recognition.. But that of course was in his previous earth-bound existence when the thought of a eulogy especially by the likes of me would have appalled him. In heaven however life is changed; he no longer sees as in a glass darkly. An evangelical, heavenly eulogy is different. And all we on earth are trying to do this morning is what we do every day at mass : joining our voices with those of the angels, joining in their hymn of praise, in their eulogy of God and his blessings and his gifts which of course is what all our merits and talents and all Billy's merits and talents really are.

Billy was greatly loved and widely loved. He was a charmer and everyone was very fond of him. Mgr Gerry Sheehy rang me on Tuesday afternoon to express his sympathy. “Billy”, he said, “Billy was loved here in our place. We were devastated at the news of his sudden death”. Mgr Sheehy was speaking about the offices of the Marriage Tribunal in Archbishop's House here in Dublin. Billy worked there most Fridays of the year. In between the perfectionist in him agonised over judgements he had to prepare: he was so careful and painstaking and he laboured under the handicap of not being able to type and finding it difficult to put pen to paper - writing was never his forte.

Billy was certainly a good and faithful servant of his Lord' in the work of the Marriage Tribunal. But what Mgr Sheehy said about the Marriage Tribunal was of course reechoed here in the Milltown Institute. The death notice in the staff room spoke tenderly of Billy as “a dear friend as well as colleague and in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom the Registrar, feeling like all of us the grievous loss which Billy's death is and finding it difficult not to identify with the 'unwise, was clearly making her own both personally and officially their sentiments about Billy's death “looking like a disaster”.

Billy had taught canon law here since 1968. It was not the subject he would personally have chosen for specialisation had he been given the choice. But he wasn't, and being an obedient as well as a faithful servant of his Lord he accepted and made himself an expert in this forbidding, despised field. After doing doctoral work in Rome he became a competent and devoted teacher here. He was always well prepared for class and at a critical period in the Church's history when canon law was in disrepute he succeeded in engaging the interest and indeed the affection of his students many of whom are here present today. He was a popular teacher especially with his non-Irish, his foreign students.

In the Milltown Institute Billy was also the founder and first director of the Spiritual Studies Programme and outside the Institute he was much in demand for consultancy work. So very many of Billy's professional colleagues and students past and present are sadly but also happily joining in the angels' refrain: Well Done Good and Faithful Servant.

Voices from the USA and elsewhere join the chorus too, Every Summer for the past 17 years Billy has done a supply in the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Staten Island, New York. The Pastor reports that the appearance in the parish in mid June this year of another visiting priest raised fears that Billy was not coming this time and a deluge of callers to the Presbytery were greatly relieved to hear their fears were in vain. On Saturday the former pastor, Bishop Ahern, was to have presided at a funeral mass in the parish but was prevented at the last minute. The present pastor Mgr Francis Boyle presided instead and, preaching the homily, spoke in glowing terms of the esteem in which Billy was held. I had the opportunity of speaking on the phone with the Pastor and with the parish secretary, Rosemary: they both spoke very highly of Billy. Rosemary was probably the last person to see him alive - on Monday about 1 p.m. in a local store buying, I'm afraid, the inevitable : cigarettes! She had offered him a lift back to the presbytery but he declined, preferring to walk. Rosemary and all in the Blessed. Sacrament parish of Staten Island happily join the angelic chorus as they sing to Billy: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.

What about the Milltown Park Jesuit Community? Billy lived here from 1960 to 1964 while he studied theology and incidentally had to suffer me as one of his teachers. Then after his tertianship as it's called in the Jesuit curriculum vitae jargon and after doctoral work in Rome Billy came back to live here again while he carried on his teaching and consultancy work in the field of canon law. No man is a hero to his valet; no Jesuit is a hero in his own community. But like the Marriage Tribunal and the Milltown Institute and the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Staten Island we too can truly say: Billy was well loved here. We too join with the angels in saying: 'Euge, eu , well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of our common Lord'. Billy will be sorely missed here in the Milltown Park community for his kindness, his readiness to listen, for his shrewd advice, for his outspoken honesty, for the spirited exchanges he loved to stimulate. His death leaves a void, a void which can never be filled.

What became very clear to us here in the community, what today's congregation confirms is Billy's huge capacity for friendship, his wide circle of friends lay and clerical, men and women.. He was of course a man of broad interests (particularly well informed on world affairs) and of exquisite taste---not least in music. More significantly however he was utterly generous in giving his time, his gifts, his expertise, in giving himself to others, face to face or on the phone. He was generous - some of us thought to a fault. He spent hours and hours, days and days helping people in trouble, extricating them from the difficult situations in which their own imprudence or the entanglements of canon law had got them involved. His personal compassion and his professional epieikeia combined to make him a great benefactor. He spent himself and was spent for others.

But Billy's most remarkable and most endearing gift was what I would call his magnanimity: his capacity to put people themselves first, to put their isms very much in second place if any place at all. This magnanimity, as I saw and experienced it, is a spiritual gift analogous to that of forgiveness. In principle forgiveness enables us to love the sinner, the offender without ever condoning the sin, while indeed hating the sin, the offence. This is of course much easier said than done and as a result much more often said than done. Billy's magnanimity was somewhat similar to forgiveness: it meant he could have close friends whose views he did not share, whose views indeed he rejected. He didn't suffer fools gladly but he could and did suffer gladly some of us who differed from him. It is said of St John (St Polycarp tells the story) that he fled the baths in alarm one day on finding the heretic Cerinthus there. “Let us flee”, John is said to have cried out. “let us flee lest the baths collapse since the enemy of truth is here”. Unlike St John - in this at least - Billy had no fear that the community quarters here in Milltown would collapse because I was there and others like me who differed from him. Billy and I coexisted amicably and indeed affectionately, if at times furiously. He was no great ecumenist and he had no great love for Northern Ireland. He would never visit there though he did once allow himself to be driven through to get the boat at Larne. But despite my ecumenism and despite my concern for reconciliation in Northern Ireland, despite what he was prone to see or affected to see as my ecumania or my Protestantism and unionism, Billy and I remained good friends! It is with great sadness but also with great happiness that I join the angelic chorus as they sing their evangelical, heavenly eulogy: Euge, serve bone et fidelis-well done good and faithful servant, well done, Billy, come and share the joy of our Lord.

Those who make the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius hear Christ in the meditation on the Kingdom addressing them in these words: 'It is my will to conquer the whole world and all my enemies. Therefore whoever wishes to join me in this enterprise must be willing to labour with me, that by following me in suffering, he may follow me in glory”. Billy made these Spiritual Exercises and that meditation which comes at the beginning of the Second Week. He heard that call and answered with great generosity wishing indeed with God's help to 'distinguish himself in the service of Christ his Lord and King. But he heard the call not just once away back in 1949 when he made his first Long Retreat with Donal O'Sullivan as a Jesuit novice in Emo . He heard it daily ever since and answered it - less emotionally perhaps but no less generously. So the angelic chorus which sang him into heaven on Monday were simply indicating the fulfilment of the promise made by Christ the King: Billy having followed him in labours and in suffering as a Jesuit for fifty one years would now follow him in glory; would now share his joy, his peace : “Well done, good and faithful servant... Come, take possession of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (cf Mt 25:34).

Michael Hurley, SJ

Born: 21 October 1823, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 24 April 1850, St Acheul, Amiens, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1854
Final Vows: 15 August 1881
Died: 30 January 1909, Milltown Park, Dublin

Older brother of Edward - RIP 1905 and Thomas - RIP 1898

by 1854 at Laval France (FRA) studying Theology 4
by 1856 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) teaching Theology
1st Missioner to Australia with Joseph Lentaigne 1865

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Older brother of Edward - RIP 1905 and Thomas - RIP 1898

Paraphrase and excerpts from a Tribute which appeared in the Melbourne Advocate :
“The Jesuit Order in particular and the Church in general have lost a cultured and fearless champion of Catholicity by the lamented death of Rev William Kelly SJ, who may be said to have died in harness, as when the summons came the Rev gentleman held the Chair of Ecclesiastical History in the famous College of the Order at Milltown Park.
Last Sunday, the Mission Superior of Jesuits in Australia, Thomas P Brown, received a cable message announcing the death of Father Kelly at the ripe old age of 86. .......
The late Father Kelly was in the very forefront of scholars, and did he desire it, that very conservative body, the French Academy, would have put his name on the Roll of Honour, so deep and thorough was his scholarship. Science and Art owe him a great debt of gratitude, for he did much for the advance of Science. He accompanied a gathering of the Members of the Royal Society for observing a transit of Venus, and for the promotion of military knowledge, he also did much. Those who had the privilege of listening to his lectures and sermons will never forget the power of his eloquence and his magnetic force of the treatment of the subject. He was, in a sense, an alchemist, for he had the power of turning anything he touched into gold. As a controversialist, he stood head and shoulders above his opponents. One of his masterly efforts was the vindication of the truth of eternal punishment. The late Archbishop Roger Vaughan of Sydney erected a Catholic Bible Hall in the capital, where lectures were given on Scripture and Sacred History by the late Father Kelly. He declined to discuss subtle biblical questions except with scholars, and this sometimes led to amusing episodes. Whilst in Victoria, he had very little leisure time, with calls for sermons and lectures taking up his attention. He also had charge of University classes at St Patrick’s College. He was born in Dublin 31 October 1823, and at the time of his death was in his 86th year. He made studies at Maynooth, at Laval and then Entered the Jesuits 24 April 1850. Just before leaving for Australia, he was on active Missionary work and had taught in the Colleges in Britain and Ireland. He was for some time Professor of Theology at St Beuno’s.
With Fr Joseph Lentaigne, Father Kelly reached Victoria in 1865. For years he worked zealously in Melbourne and Sydney, and in the latter he was wont to deliver two lectures a week on ecclesiastical subjects. He was a lecturer in Moral Philosophy at St John’s College within Sydney University, and he taught at the Jesuit College there too. he left Australia in 1889 and worked in Ireland until his death”.
1889 He returned to Ireland from Australia and became a distinguished Theologian at the newly opened Theologate at Milltown. And he lived and worked there until his death 30 January 1909, twenty years after his return.

He was a great personal friend of Archbishop James Goold of Melbourne, and travelled round with him a great deal. In Dr Goold’s Journals, he frequently made mention of William Kelly’s activities, such as : Sermon at the laying of the foundation stone at St Kilda’s; Sermon at St Augustine’s; Sermon at Blessing of Bell - St Francis; Month’s Mind of Dr James Quinn of Brisbane; At Requiem of Reverend Mother at Abbotsford; Installation of Dr Michael O’Connor at Ballarat; Special sermons at Heidelberg, Maryborough and Williamstown; At laying of foundation stone at Kew College. These are but a few of his activities. He preached up and down Australia, gave lectures, answered attacks on the Church, all through the 24 years he spent in Australia. 1865 to 1889.

Note from Joseph O’Malley Entry :
He made his Noviceship in France with William Kelly, and then remained there for studies with Eugene Browne and Edmund Hogan

Note from Charles O’Connell Sr Entry :
William E Kelly, Superior at Hawthorn, says in a letter 09 April 1912 to Thomas Wheeler “Poor Father Charlie was on his way from his room to say the 8 o’clock Mass, when a few yards from his room he felt faint and had a chair brought to him. Thomas Claffey, who had just returned from saying Mass at the Convent gave him Extreme Unction. Thomas Gartlan and I arrived, and within twenty minutes he had died without a struggle. The evening before he had been seeing some sick people, and we have since learned complained of some heart pain. Up to the last he did his usual work, taking everything in his turn, two Masses on Sundays, sermons etc, as the rest of us. We shall miss him very much as he was a charming community man.

Note from John McInerney Menologies Entry :
He went afterwards to St Patrick’s College, Melbourne, and there he had amongst his teachers Fathers William Kelly, Frank Murphy and William Hughes.

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University online
Kelly, William (1823–1909)
by G. J. O'Kelly
G. J. O'Kelly, 'Kelly, William (1823–1909)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kelly-william-3937/text6195, published first in hardcopy 1974

academic; Catholic priest; schoolteacher

Died : 30 January 1909, Dublin, Ireland

William Kelly (1823-1909), Jesuit priest, was born on 21 October 1823 in Dublin, Ireland. After secondary education he entered Maynooth seminary but was expelled because of a poem he wrote in sympathy for the 'Young Ireland' movement. Later he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus and was accepted on 24 April 1850. On 21 September 1865 he arrived at Port Phillip with Joseph Lentaigne who became rector of St Patrick's College, East Melbourne; they were the first Irish Jesuits in the colony. For the next twelve years Kelly was officially master of the matriculation class at St Patrick's but was also appointed by his superior, Joseph Dalton, to teach philosophy and theology to the students for the diocesan priesthood then housed at the college.

Kelly's repute as a versatile scholar did not rest simply on his classroom activities. He excelled as a polemicist and was the most celebrated Catholic preacher in Victoria from 1866 to 1877. Almost weekly the press carried reports of his Town Hall lectures and apologias. Dr James Goold's diary for 1869 has him preaching at thirteen special functions all over Victoria, and Howard Willoughby claimed that 'Father Kelly is the orator chosen in Melbourne when the Church has to show that her right hand still possesses its cunning … He is the controversialist called upon to confute error in the lecture-hall, and win ringing applause from fiery partisans'. He was very popular and his speeches were often interrupted by 'deafening applause'. Perhaps his most celebrated doctrinal controversy was with Dr John Bromby in several Town Hall lectures on the existence of hell. From 1869, although Kelly's most frequent topic was secular education, he also lectured in such diverse fields as history, zoology, literature, physics, astronomy and chemistry. In 1871 his paper on tests for arsenic to the Royal Society of Victoria won him election to its council in 1872-73. Optics and astronomy were his favourite fields and in 1882 the Royal Astronomical Society invited him to join the party which intended to observe the transit of Venus from the Blue Mountains.

In 1878 Dalton sent Kelly to Sydney as prefect of studies at St Kilda House, the forerunner to St Aloysius College. In Sydney he revealed himself less as a polemicist and more as a scholar, and so never attained the popularity that he had in Victoria. In 1888 he was recalled to Ireland to profess Greek and Hebrew to the Jesuit theological students at Milltown Park. At 80 he was credited with undertaking the study of Persian. He died on 30 January 1909 in Dublin.

Select Bibliography
H. Willoughby, The Critic in Church (Melb, 1872)
Age (Melbourne), 1 Feb 1909
Jesuit and St Patrick's College records (Jesuit Provincial Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne).

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : 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
William Kelly studied for the diocesan priesthood at Maynooth but left without completing his course because he had written a poem in sympathy for the “Young Ireland” movement. He entered the Jesuits 24 April 1850, at the age of 26. There is no record of his work in Ireland before he arrived in Australia 1865, where he taught matriculation students and seminarians at St Patrick’s College, East Melbourne.
While in Melboune he produced at least two dramas that were published. The first was “The Young Queen : Will She Tell? A Christian Drama in Three Acts”, composed for the students of the Convent School of Our Lady of Mercy, Perth, Western Australia, published in 1871. The second was “Marie Antionette, A Drama in Three Acts” 1875. The first was described by William as “embodying some of the principle agencies made use of by Divine Providence for the conversion of the pagan world”, while the second was written entirely in rhyming pentameters with songs and original music.
He moved to Sydney and St Kilda House in 1879, teaching the boys Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy until 1889. He also gave lectures in Logic and metaphysics at St John’s College within the University of Sydney for an annual fee of £100, and many public lectures on the Scriptures' and Catholic dogma. He was in demand for occasional sermons at the opening of churches and solemn festivals.. He was also a poet, linguist, controversialist and missioner, remaining in Australia 24 years. He returned to Ireland in July 1889 to become a Professor of Scripture, Hebrew and Church History at the Jesuit Theologate in Milltown Park.
He was one of the most gifted Jesuits ever to have worked in Australia. Only superlatives are used to describe his gifts, “a veritable polymath, poet, scientist linguist, scripture scholar, controversialist and preacher”. He was adept in Science, Mathematics, History, the Classics, Arabic, Syriac and Sanskrit. As an Astronomer he was highly esteemed by the Royal Astronomical Society. He had worked with them in observing the transit of Venus that took place in 1882.
He was recognised for his wit, good humour and modesty. He completely supported the traditional Jesuit emphasis on a classical education, Mathematics and astronomy.
His students appear to have reacted to him with awe. He was loved and admired at St Patrick’s College, where he taught all nine matriculation subjects, to which he added Chemistry and Physics. He particularly enjoyed preparing academic vignettes with the students for speech day entertainment. He was equally at home with music, drama, recitations in different languages and debates.. One former student reckoned him to be a better lecturer than teacher, but he was above all a kind and lovable person, “most affable and amiable and intimately known by his pupils”. He was a good friend to his students, sharing “the encyclopaedic repository of his gigantic intellect”.
As with many Jesuits, his contribution to Australian education was not restricted to the classroom. He entered every kind of religious controversy, not least the religious education debate in Victoria in the 1870s. His farewell, amid much ceremony, from Victoria was an emotional affair, his departure being considered a tragedy for the Church in that colony. A similar ceremony was held by the Catholic community in Sydney on his departure to Ireland, at which he was praised for his eloquence, devotion and unsurpassable kindness of heart, as priest, scholar and gentleman. His equal was rarely seen again among the Jesuits in Australia.

Note from Walter Steins Entry
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.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 1st Year No 1 1925

St Patrick’s College, Melbourne has just celebrated its Diamond Jubilee as a Jesuit College. It is the mother house of the Australian Mission.
On September 21st 1865, Fathers Joseph Lentaigne and William Kelly, the pioneer Missioners of the Society in Victoria, landed in Melbourne and took over the College.
On September 17th, 1866 , the second contingent of Irish priests arrived - Fr. Joseph Dalton, Fr. Edmund Nolan, Fr. David McKiniry and two lay brothers - Br. Michael Scully and Br. Michael Goodwin.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 2 1930

St Aloysius College Sydney Australia : Golden Jubilee
St Aloysius College celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its Foundation in the course of last year. The principal functions were held on the 22nd July, and from the 25th to the 29th September.
The beginning of the College is mentioned in Fr, Dalton's diary, under date Nov. 21st 1878. After much negotiation terms were accepted for St. Kilda House at £260 rent per annum. At that date, if the Jesuits, at the invitation of Archbishop Vaughan, had not come to the rescue, there would not have been a single Catholic College in Sydney.
The College was opened early in 1879 with Fr. Dalton as first Rector and Fr, Wm Kelly, Prefect of Studies At the first distribution of prizes, Dec. 23rd 1879, Archbishop Vaughan presided, and claimed the responsibility of having brought the Jesuits to Sydney. “It is I who invited Fr. Beckx, the venerable and saintly General of the Society of Jesus, to found a school and finally a College in Sydney, and gladly do I publicly acknowledge before you all my great gratification at having done so”.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1887

Poem

Father William E Kelly

English Ode

I
Hair scion, sprung from line of kings,
To thee, Australia Felix sings -
At all time “Feliz” - happier now,
Beneath her Prince's beaming brow.

II
First Royal foot that ever trod
Remote Australia's youthful sod,
Victoria welcomes, Melbourne greets,
The future hope of Eagland's fleets.

III
Neatlı canvas broad and flag unfurled,
He hies him o'er the ratery world,
To bear unchangecl, to Southern isles,
The sunshine of a Mother's smiles.

IV
Whispered of old Rome's lyric son,
“Fair Galatea, Ocean shun”.
He sang the perils of the deep,
Orion setting wild and steep,

V
Black billows lashed by furious gale,
Unbridled storm and straining sail,
“Shun, Galatea, shun the sea,
Live happy, and remember me”.

VI
No storm thy Galatea dreads,
From rolling Thame to southern heads;
The perils of the wind and wave,
Stout ship anel Royal captain brave.

VII
Haill spreading sea, great path of man
Hail! boundless oceanic span;
On thee, fair Science writes her trace,
Grand highway of the human race.

VIII
Be not displeased then if my voice,
Heroic Prínce applaucl thy choice,
O'er ocean, gulf, stream, bay to roam,
And make the mighty sea thy home.

IX
To change the palace fair and high,
For gallant ship and starry sky,
To quit the haunts of gorgeous case,
And be a Prince upon the seas.

X
A sailor Prince that magic word
Has deepest reminiscence stirred,
Of Royal steersmen, sea-kings brave,
And princes powerful on the wave

XI
In mystic days of earlier Greece,
Prince Jason sought the Golden Fleece,
Led hearts of oak o'er Euxine foam,
And plough'd his way triumphant home

XII
O'er wider ocean's plash and roar,
A Prince has sought Australia's shore,
The land which yields true Fleece of Gold,
Exhaustless mines and flocks untold.

XIII
The princely flag of Austrian John
Once lecl united nations on ;
That pennon at Lepanto waved
O'er Crescent cbeckecl and Europe saved.

XIV
Thy Royal banner floats to-day
O'er hosts engaged in bloodless fray,
Thy streamer waves o'er triumphs won
Where flashed no cutlass, boomed no gun.

XV
The tongues that Gaul and Briton speak,
And stately Roman, fiery Greek ;
The page that pictures deeds of yore,
And Science with her varied lore.

XVI
Such is our field, and such our arms -
This Royal scene attests their charms.
The memory of this gracious day
Shall live till life has ebbed away,

XVII
Thy princely band the prize accords ;
That hand, thy smile, our best rewards.
Hail gallant Prince! loud, long our cries
Of gratitude and welcome risc
Sonorous, through land, sea, and skies
The Queen, God save!
Heaven shield the brave;
Be Prince Alfred happy on land and wave.

◆ The Aloysian, Sydney, 1929

Tribute

Father William Kelly SJ

by Father Frank Connell SJ

Any history of St. Aloysius College would be faulty indeed without notable mention of Father William Kelly. This great man - we carefully select our terms - was on the original staff, and in his memory is held in benediction by Old Collegians of the first decade of the life of the College. He was of a most affable and amiable disposition, and was intimately known by his pupils none of whom he ever afterwards forgot - just because he was so easy to know and deal with. At the time of his departure from Sydney to begin his career as professor of Hebrew, Scripture and Church History at the Theological Seminary, at Milltown Park, Dublin - a post he held for 20 laborious years - one of his former pupils, who had become a prominent medico, said of him: “With Father Kelly, you were not just a college-boy paying for your education; you were a personal friend with a passport to the encyclopaedic repository of his gigantic inteilect”. He was an adept in science, mathematical, physical, and natural; he was a historian with a tenacious memory for even small details of ancient mediaeval and modern history; he was a linguist, with an astounding familiarity with ancient classics, as well as modern languages, he knew Arabic, Syriac, Sanscrit, Hebrew; he once acted as interpreter in a law-court for a poor Polynesian prisoner; he was a wonderful orator; he was an astronomer, he was a poet; he was it seemed, everything that intellectual activity could make a man. In addition he was a ravishing conversationalist; and a glorious wit. In 1889. Father Isaac Moore SJ, himself known in Ireland, England and Australia as a man of great learning, said of him after consulting him about some abstruse matter “I have known him forty years, and have always classed him a universal genius; but I am finding out new things about him every day”. The present writer heard him say in a conversation among his brethren, when a Greek quotation was being discussed: “That word occurs only three times in Greek literature outside of the writings of St Paul, Each time it is used by Theocritus, who always uses it in the same sense”.

Before entering the Society of Jesus Father Kelly had been a student at Maynooth. One day during a mathematical lecture by the famous Dr Callan, that professor imagined he saw Mr Kelly somewhat inattentive, and called him out to the black-board to complete the solution of a problem. In course of interrogation the professor asked “How would you find a key to deal with that set of numbers in order to attain that result?” “I would go to my logarithm tables”, was the reply. “What if there were no logarithm tables?” was the poser put by the professor. Mr. Kelly looked puzzled for just a moment, and then after looking at the board for a moment, he flashed out the original answer: “If there were a set of numbers in arithmetical progression and the same set in geometrical progression, they would be logarithms to each other” and now it is in all the books.

He entered the Society of Jesus in. 1850, and after his two years' novitiate, was sent to France where he soon completed his clerical preparation, and was ordained priest. His next brother had preceded him as a Jesuit novice, and a third entered a few years later. These two brothers were also men of great talents, and became famous as school men and preachers, but their wonderful brother stood even above them. Father William had already speedily become renowned throughout Ireland when, in the fifties he was appointed, though yet a young man, professor of Dogmatic Theology at St Beuno's College, Wales, in the English Province. An anecdote will testify to the reputation he gained there. This writer having being introduced to Old Father Everard of Stonyhurst, as an Australian about to proceed to Ireland, the old Father said: “O then you know and will meet Father William Kelly. He was my professor forty years ago and we regarded him then as a prodigy of learning. He was also a tireless student, so what must he be now? Give him my affectionate regards, and tell him that if I had Saint Peter's boots I'd walk over the sea to meet him once more”.

When, in 1865, the Jesuits, in compliance with the request of Dr Goold OSA, Bishop of Melbourne, consented to take charge of St Patrick's College, Melbourne, until then under other management, Father Lentaigne and Father William Kelly were appointed to pioneer the movement. There is a pretty story of their landing. Their steamer, the Great Britain, had cast anchor some distance out, and the passengers were rowed ashore. When the two priests stood up to step ashore on the sand, Father Kelly stood back to let his superior go first. The latter however, was equally humble, and did not want the honour of landing first. “Go on”, said he. “No Father”, said Father Kelly, “You are the Superior; you go first”. “Yes, I am Superior, and I order you to go first”. But Father Kelly pleaded and won. The other landed first. On that very day they landed Father Kelly got into the pulpit, and preached the evening sermon at a mission which was being conducted by the Bishop. He became famous at once. Space will allow us to present mere patches of his wonderful career as a preacher, writer and teacher. Look up old newspapers, or ask the aged for details of the rest. One noteworthy exploit was his refutation at the request of the Bishop, of a series of eloquent lectures by a Protestant dignitary, Dr Bromby, whose addresses on “Beyond the Grave” were deemed dangerous to Christian truth regarding eternity. An immense mixed audience thronged the Melbourne Town Hall to hear Father Kelly in reply, and the Argus sent quite a staff of reporters to secure a complete report of the lecture which took two hours and a half to deliver. Father Kelly appeared on the platform without a book or note of any kind in his hands, and poured forth a torrent of eloquence that frequently carried the whole audience into enthusiastic outbursts of cheering. He was a very rapid but distinct, speaker, and only two of the reporters - one of whom was Dr Cunningham, the recently retired editor of the Argus - by relieving each other, secured a complete report, which was afterwards published as a pamphlet. It is treasured by Catholic scholars as a triumph of eloquent apologetic.

After 13 fruitful years of varied and untiring toil Father Kelly was transferred to Sydney, whither the Jesuits came under Father Dalton, the first Superior, to open a college at the request of the Archbishop, Dr Roger Bede Vaughan OSB. A house was secured in the now unlikely district of Woolloomooloo in the part touching on Darlinghurst, and here it was that the first College of St Aloysius was initiated in 1879. It was afterwards - in 1883 transferred to Bourke Street, Surry Hills. Some years later 1903, it was changed to its present site at Milson's Point; but that was after Father Kelly had left for Ireland. Old Aloysians of those days will be able to testify to the unremitting labours of Father Kelly during the eleven years he was connected with the college. He had been from the date of his arrival lecturer on philosophy in St John's College, University, and in 1883 was appointed by Dr Vaughan to be Public Scripture Lecturer in the newly-opened “Bible Hall” in William Street*. One outstanding episode was his brilliant funeral oration in St Mary's Cathedral, at the obsequies of Dr Steins SJ, formerly Archbishop of Calcutta, and later Archbishop of Auckland, who died at the first St Aloysius College, “St Kilda House”. An even more brilliant funeral oration was that which in 1889 he preached over the remains of his friend, the Hon William Bede Dalley, also in St. Mary's. Non-Catholic Parliamentarians and other public men who heard him for the first time were heard enquiring who was this great orator, and where the Catholics had got him.

The rest of the career of this great scholar and holy priest was spent in Ireland.

(*Father Kelly, as desired professed himself ready to meet any non-Catholic opponent in controversy on Scriptural and doctrinal sub jects. He merely stipulated that any prospec tive adversary should have a thorough know ledge of Hebrew and Greek, Needless to say, no one entered the lists).

Born: 04 July 1829, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 September 1846, Dôle France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 1859, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1865
Died: 20 April 1898, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Younger brother of William E - RIP 1909 and Edward - RIP 1905 who both survived him.

by 1857 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) Studying Theology
by 1859 in Laval France (FRA) studying Theology
by 1864 at Rome Italy (ROM) making Tertianship

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of William - RIP 1909 and Edward - RIP 1905 who both survived him.
His early education was at Hardwicke St, under the influence of Peter Kenney. Belvedere was soon established, and so he went there. He was very proud of the fact that he was one of the first boys to enter Belvedere. He then went to Clongowes, which was a fairly natural transition at the time.

Immediately after his Secondary schooling he decided to join the Jesuits, and he entered at Dôle. He later went to Avignon for studies. There he became a victim of the “troubles of ‘48” and all Jesuits were expelled from that locality. He found refuge in England at Hodder, where he said to have finished his Novitiate.
He was then sent for Regency first at Tullabeg for a short time and then to his alma mater, Belvedere. He taught there for eight years with great success, earning a reputation of brilliance in two diverse subjects, Classics and Science.
He was then sent to St Beuno’s and then Laval for Theological studies. He returned to Ireland and was Ordained at Maynooth in 1859.
The next couple of years were spent in Limerick for eight years, achieving great things in education and religion, and then later to Rome.
1864 He was appointed Rector of Limerick, in succession to his brother Edward, who was appointed Rector of Belvedere. While in Limerick he built the Church of the Sacred Heart, which was considered architecturally and aesthetically one of the best in the country. As well as working in the Church and teaching, he was known to have had special devotion to the afflicted and sorrowful.
His last mission was at Gardiner St, and he remained there until his death 20/04/1898. His death was seen as a dreadful blow to the people of Dublin, especially the poor in the Gardiner St neighbourhood. He was know here to to have a special devotion to this group of people, and was considered saintly in his kindness. He was also loved by his Community.

He had been one of the most popular Jesuits in Dublin, as a Preacher, a Priest and Dubliner. He was a profound Theologian and a keen observer of human nature, he also had a natural eloquence, and spoke in very simple language, to make sure all his listeners could understand. It was thought that no Preacher of his day understood human frailty better, which drew kindness and understanding from him rather than trenchant bitterness. Though occasionally he could appear sarcastic, it was of a kind that drew a smile. He had a wonderful capacity to take the most ordinary of human behaviours to illustrate the moral or point he wished to impart, and which many could recognise as true of themselves.
He was a man of great judgement and sound common sense, but above and beyond all, extraordinary sympathy, whose chief delight was lifting the burdens of others, especially the misery of poverty.
His death was greatly regretted by all who came in contact with him.
(Taken from ‘Daily Nation’)

◆ The Clongownian, 1898

Obituary

Father Thomas Kelly SJ

On Wednesday, April 20th, there passed away one who will long be remembered by the poor of Dublin for his loving charity towards them. With all those with whom he came in contact, Father Kelly was ever courteous and affable, but to the poor he was more than a friend, and as one gazed on the crowds that filled every inch of the large church at Gardiner Street on the morning of his funeral, and saw on those faces the marks of genuine sorrow, one could not help but feel that Father Kelly's death had left a gap which it would not be easy to fill.

Born in Dublin in 1829, he began his education. at the old Jesuit day-school in Hardwicke Street. Thence he went to Belvedere, being one of the first batch of boys that entered its walls. The last years of his school life were spent in the study of rhetoric and philosophy at Clongowes, after which he entered the Society of Jesus, being then in his seventeenth year. His novitiate was spent first at, Dôle and afterwards at Avignon, whence, in the troubled days of '48, the Jesuits were expelled and he had to fly to England. He came to Tullabeg, 1848, and later to Belvedere, where he taught with great brilliancy and success for eight years. After a course of theology in St. Beuno's, North Wales, and Laval, he was ordained in Maynooth in 1859. He subsequently taught in Limerick, and after a year spent in Rome was appointed to succeed is brother, Father Edward Kelly, as Rector of the Jesuit College in Limerick. He held this important position for eight years, during which he built the eautiful Church of the Sacred Heart, and left such a record of work done, not only in the school; the pulpit and the confessional; but also in relief of suffering and distress, that Father Kelly's name and memory are still held in benediction by those that knew him then. He returned to Gardiner Street in 1872, and remained there 'till his appointment as Rector of Belvedere, where he displayed for some years the same talent, energy and kindness that narked his government in Limerick, Failing health compelled him to retire from this office in 1883, and thenceforward he lived and laboured at Gardiner Street till his death.

This bare outline gives but an inadequate idea of what Father Thomas Kelly was to his friends and contemporaries, A man of great intellectual grasp, of wide and varied reading, and of a rare breadth of view and fairness of judgment, he was still more remarkable for the modesty and diffidence that marked his use of such powers. To those who knew him well it was clear he could have gained an easy eminence in almost any department of scholarship. In classical learning, in physics, in mental science he was deeply and accurately read. But he nyuch preferred to place his experience and his talent at the disposal of the distressful, and his genial, frank, and sunny nature made him a welcome as well as a helpful friend and adviser. Among the poor “who had seen better days” he seemed to have a special mission, and the unselfish and unobtrusive work he had done amongst them for many a day is beyond the power of any chronicler to detail. With the death of Father Thomas Kelly a well-beloved friend has disappeared from many a household.

A solemn Requiem High Mass was sung in presence of His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin in St Francis Xavier's Church. An immense funeral cortege accompanied the body to Glasnevin, and the numerous costly wreaths which covered the coffin testified to the respect in which the dis tinguished Jesuit was held. RIP

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Thomal Kelly (1829-1898)

Brother of Father Edward Kelly (supra) and second rector of the Crescent, was, like his brother, educated in the old school at Hardwicke St, Belvedere College and Clongowes. He entered the Society in 1846 and began his noviceship at Dôle, in Burgundy. Troubled days were beginning for the Jesuits in France and young Thomas Kelly soon found himself transferred to Avignon. But, before his noviceship was ended, he found himself with his companions on the road to exile again. He found refuge in England, at Hodder, near Stonyhurst. Later, when more peaceful days had returned, he was able to pursue his higher studies in the English Province and France, where he was ordained at Laval. Father Kelly had finished his studies only a short time when he was appointed to replace his brother as rector of the Crescent. The great monument to his memory is the church of the Sacred Heart which was built during his term of office. With the exception of his period of office as rector of Belvedere College, Father Kelly spent the years 1872-1898 as member of the Gardiner St community. Of his sojourn in Limerick, the late Archdeacon Begley, historian of the diocese of Limerick writes: “... Rev. Thomas Kelly, a man long remembered by the old priests of the diocese and mentioned with reverence for the high ideals he instilled into their youthful minds, ideals which were the guiding lights of after years”.

Born: 07 April 1890, Prince Edward Terrace, Blackrock, County Dublin
Entered: 01 October 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 08 December 1926, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 29 July 1977, Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross Dublin

Part of the College of Industrial Relations, Dublin community at the time of death

Older brother of Austin Kelly - RIP 1978

Father was a Commission Agent for Wollen and Drapery Warhouses.

Second of three sons and has four sisters.

Educated at Dominican Convent, Blackrock and then went to Blackrock College CSSp. In 1900 he went to Belvedere College SJ until 1907. In January 1908 he went to Holy Cross College, Clonliffe until 1912. In 1911 he obtained his BA at NUI.

Studied for BA at UCD

by 1916 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1945 at Cardigan Road, Leeds (ANG) working
by 1948 at SFX Liverpool (ANG) working
by 1950 at Bourton Hall, Rugby, Derbyshire (ANG) working
by 1954 at St Ignatius London (ANG) working

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 52nd Year No 4 1977

College of Industrial Relations
On Friday morning, July 29, Fr Tom Kelly died in Our Lady's Hospice at the fine old age of 87 years. He had been steadily deteriorating and passed away quietly and peacefully just as he would have wished. Fr Tom was essentially a simple man prone to scrupulosity. He had endeared himself to the Sisters and Nurses who showed him much kindness at all times. He is sorely missed by his nephews and nieces, particularly Rose Maguire who was very devoted to Fr Tom.

Irish Province News 56th Year No 3 1981

Obituary
Fr Thomas P Kelly (1890-1912-1977)
As a scholastic he had the unpleasant job of Gallery Prefect in Clongowes (at least I think so) and had to help out in the big study when the priest in charge was sick. He made his tertianship in Tullabeg under Fr Bridge, 1925-26, and together with his brother Augustine, who afterwards became Provincial in Australia, he gave the Lenten Mission in the “People's Church”. It was said that the men preferred Fr Tom and the ladies, Fr Austin. He was a chaplain during World War II.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1978

Obituary

Father Tom Kelly SJ (1907)

The Reverend Thomas Kelly S.J. who died on 29th July 1977 was one of a fast diminishing group of Old Belvederians who came to the College at the beginning of the present century. Fr Tom was the second of three brothers. Eddie, the eldest, died at an early age; Austin, the youngest, still survives, and is a Jesuit priest belonging to the Australian Province. Austin was in Australia when that area was separated from the Irish Province and has remained there ever since.

Fr Tom, who was born on 7th April 1890, maintained throughout his long life a loyalty to his old school which remained undimmed in spite of the many other interests which occupied his mind, and the diverse occupations which claimed his attention. While at school Tom was not only successful in his academic pursuits but also excelled in the athletic activities of the College. Tall and strongly built, and a strong runner, he also possessed the characteristics of a leader. It followed almost as a natural consequence that he should be elected to captain the school Rugby XV, a position which he filled successfully in the season 1906/1907, impressing on the team his own high standards of sport smanship and discipline. His activities, however, were not confined to field sports, for his physique and his environment combined to make the water almost a second element. He became an excellent water-polo player and in his last year at school, at the annual swimming gala, a feature of those days, he won the College 100 yards Championship.

Tom left school in 1907 and, following his vocation to become a priest, and feeling that his vocation lay in parochial work, entered Clonliffe College. In 1911 he took his degree at the recently founded National University of Ireland. Meanwhile his younger brother Austin had joined the Jesuit Noviciate at Tullabeg, and in the Autumn of the year 1912 Tom left Clonliffe and was accepted into the Jesuit Noviciate. Tom and Austin were ordained on the same day, 31st July 1923.

From the date of his joining the Society in 1912 until 1945 Tom spent varying periods, in the normal occupations of a Jesuit, in every one of the Houses throughout Ireland, and in addition, in Stonyhurst in England, where he studied philosophy from 1916 to 1918. In 1945 however, he had a change of scene and of activities when he went to England to assist at Missions and Parish work. Here he spent ten years chiefly in the North of the Country. At the end of this period, Father Tom returned once more to Ireland and was stationed at Mungret again, after an absence of ten years. It was here that he remained until he retired in 1974. During the last years of his life, Father Tom was stationed at the College of Industrial Relations in Sandford Road, Dublin.

This brief chronicle of a very full life can only be an outline sketch the details of which are so many and so varied as to crowd the canvas. The amount of work included in so long a span, the priestly, the apostolic, the academic, the vast amount of help and sympathy and advice to those in need of it, tend to be overlooked, and indeed taken for granted; but these attributes were merely the development of those characteristics of loyalty a sense of duty and discipline which distinguished him as a school-boy some seventy years ago. To those who knew him, and are the better for that knowledge, to his relatives and specially to his brother Austin, we offer our most sincere sympathy.

May God have his soul in His Divine keeping.

Born: 04 December 1903, Newry, County Down
Entered: 29 July 1924, Loyola Greenwich, Australia (HIB)

Left Society of Jesus: 21 December 1931

Beofre entry had joined the IRA and fought in the War of Independence. He was imprisoned for this and released in the general amnesty. He became disillusioned with the IRA after the Civil War and the death of Michael Collins.

1924-1926: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1926-1930: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, carpenter and mechanic
1930-1931: St Mary’s, Emo, carpenter and mechanic

After leaving he became an active Trade Unionist and a member of the Labour Party.

Born: 26 December 1833, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 13 August 1850, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (MAR)
Ordained: 02 July 1866
Final Vows: 15 August 1870
Died: 13 February 1910, St Joseph's Church, Philadelphia, PA, USA - Marylandiae Neo Eboracensis Province (MARNEB)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Kelly

Stephen A. Kelly, S.J. (December 26, 1833 – February 13, 1910) was an Irish-American Catholic priest and Jesuit.

Early life
Stephen A. Kelly was born on December 26, 1833, in Dublin, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He entered the Society of Jesus and proceeded to the Jesuit novitiate in Frederick, Maryland, US.[1]

Academic career
Kelly became a professor at Georgetown University and Gonzaga College in Washington, D.C. He then became the assistant superior of Woodstock College, before being appointed the President of Loyola College in Maryland and ex officio pastor of St. Ignatius Church in January 1871, succeeding Edward Henchy.[2]

Later years
In 1881, Kelly became the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C.[3] He died on February 13, 1910, at the rectory of Old St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]

References
Citations
Obituary 1910, p. 518
Ryan 1903, p. 81
Gillespie, Kevin (December 6, 2015). "From the Pastor's Desk" (PDF). Holy Trinity Catholic Church Bulletin. Washington, D.C.: Holy Trinity Catholic Church. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2019.

Sources
"Obituary". America. II (19). February 19, 1910. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019 – via Google Books.
Ryan, John J. (1903). Historical sketch of Loyola college, Baltimore, 1852–1902. OCLC 1615190. Retrieved December 17, 2019 – via Internet Archive.

Born: 23 August 1828, Mullingar, County Westmeath
Entered: 30 October 1854, Lyons, France - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Ordained: 11 November 1851, Mullingar, County Westmeath - pre Entry
Final Vows: 02 February 1868
Died: 15 June 1876, Mullingar, County Westmeath

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

in 1856 at Lyon France (LUGD) for Tertianship
by 1857 at St Joseph’s, Springhill AL (LUGD) teaching
by 1867 at Laval France (FRA) studying

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had studied at Maynooth for the Meath Diocese, being Ordained by Dr Cantwell at Mullingar 11 November 1851. He had then worked as a Curate in Meath before Ent.

He joined the LUGD Province wishing to be on the USA Mission. After First Vows he went teaching to Spring Hill College, Alabama.
1863 He was sent to Ireland and Teaching in Galway.
1864 Sent as Minister to Joseph Dalton in Tullabeg.
1865-1866 Sent to teach at Clongowes.
1867 He was sent to Laval in France for further studies.
1868 He was sent back teaching at Tullabeg.
1869 he was sent to Gardiner St as Operarius. Here he proved a most zealous Priest, a great temperance advocate and Director of the Confraternity for the Sacred Heart for the repression of intemperance. he did great good, especially among working class and artisans. He was also editor of a very successful little paper called “Monitor” which had a wonderfully large circulation.
In failing health he went to his father’s house in Mullingar, and he died there peacefully 15 June 1876. His remains were brought to Dublin, and he is buried in the Jesuit plot at Glasnevin.
His “last act” was an attempt to sing the “Gloria”!

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Robert Kelly 1828-1876
Fr Robert Kelly, a secular priest of the Meath diocese, where he worked for four years, was born in Mullingar on August 27th 1828.

He entered the Society at Lyons in 1854 and was engaged as Master at Spring Hill College, New Orleans Province, for some years. In 1863 he was recalled to Ireland, and filled various posts in Galway, Tullabeg and Clongowes. He spent the last eight years of his life as Operarius in Gardiner Street, where he was Director of the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart.

He was very zealous in the cause of temperance, did great good among the working classes, and edited a very successful little paper called “The Monitor”.

His death was very peaceful, taking place at the home of his father, Dr Kelly, in Mullingar in 1875. His last act was an effort to sing the “Gloria in Excelsis” of High Mass.

Born: 17 October 1924, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1957, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1961, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 08 March 2005, John Chula House, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia-Malawi province (ZAM)

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

Eldest Brother of Joseph A Kelly - RIP 2008 and Michael Kelly - RIP 2021

Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 03 December 1969

by 1952 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fourth wave of Zambian Missioners

◆ Companions in Mission1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
Fr Bob (as he was always called) Kelly was born in Tullamore in the midlands of Ireland on 13 July 1925. He attended the Christian Brothers’ school in Tullamore until he finished his secondary education. He then entered the Jesuits at Emo Park in 1943. He followed the normal course of studies in the Society but for regency he went to Northern Rhodesia in 1951 with Fr Joe Conway. They were the first of the Irish scholastics to go there. He began by learning ciTonga and then taught at Canisius Secondary School. Even then he seemed to have a flair for the language as he wrote a polycopied codex called ‘Tonga without Tears’, the first of a number of his publications.

Whatever Fr Bob did, he put his heart and soul into it. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1957 in Dublin, Ireland, and his tertianship, he returned to Northern Rhodesia in 1959 to Canisius Secondary School where he taught for ten years and was Spiritual Father to the boys as well. With his degree in English he was a very clear teacher. Apart from teaching, he developed the school canteen donning the cap of a busy shopkeeper, organized the films (cinema) for the boys, ordering them from Rhodesia and worrying if they were delayed in coming. In order to help the boys follow the films Fr Bob would write a long, detailed preview for them. When the school annuals began to appear, he would be prowling around with his camera! Whatever was going on in the school, Fr Bob would be there. He mixed well with the boys and had their confidence and trust.

He moved from Canisius to St Edmund's Secondary School in Mazabuka, again teaching and being Spiritual Father for nine years, bringing him up to 1978. As with Canisius he was so involved with the school that he even cheered for St Edmund's when they were playing football against Canisius!

The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA) is an association to help others by voluntarily giving up all alcoholic drink. Fr Bob himself became a full pioneer just before he entered the Society in 1943. As the Association had begun in the Southern Province and was beginning to spread, the Episcopal Conference appointed him as National Director, a post he held for over twenty years. So ended his formal teaching after twenty one years and he moved to Lusaka. Again his thoroughness brought him around the country promoting the Association, giving talks, retreats, organizing rallies. He had to contend at times with Pioneer centres trying to introduce new rules such as: ‘we want a uniform, we must wear the badge over the heart only, smokers cannot be pioneers’!

He became parish priest at St Ignatius Church in Lusaka for four years and then moved to Kitwe from 1989 to 1991. School retreats and retreats for religious were a big feature in his life. He was a very spiritual man, a man of prayer and a very good preacher. So many people have been helped by him as he was a man of compassion.

Normally one would not associate Fr Bob with singing but he produced a booklet of charismatic hymns, ‘Songs of Praise’ which went into five editions. As director of PTAA, he produced a Handbook for the Association which was also translated into ciNyanja as well as a popular booklet ‘A Christian solution to a national problem’(drink).

Apart from Pioneer material, Fr Bob wrote ten books over the years: Planted in Love; Calming the Storm; Stories New and Old; Hidden with Christ; With Unveiled Faces; A Joy so Glorious; Fan into Flame; Be Still and Know; In Love with God; HIV/AIDS a Response.

He moved from Kitwe to St Ignatius in Lusaka again in 1995 helping out in the parish with pastoral work. He had a good sense of humour, liked a good game of cards in his earlier days and was endowed with a practical, realistic outlook on life.

His health began to deteriorate in 2004 and he moved to Chula House, the Jesuit Nursing Home. He died peacefully at 06.55 on the morning of Tuesday 8 March 2005. As his body lay in the chapel at Chula House before he was taken to the Ambassador Funeral Home, a beautiful butterfly was seen hovering over Fr Bob's body.

Note from Bernard (Barney) Collins Entry
In 1951 he accompanied the first two scholastics, Bob Kelly and Joe Conway, and Br. Jim Dunne, on their way to the then Northern Rhodesia.

Note from Joseph B (Joe) Conway) Entry
He arrived in Chikuni in August 1951 with Fr Robert Kelly, the first two Irish scholastics to be sent to the Zambian mission

Note from Bill Lane Entry
Not long before Fr Bill Lane died, he was chatting with Fr Bob Kelly at St lgnatius, Lusaka. A young lady whom they both knew had died in a very sudden manner at U.T.H. Fr Bill remarked, ‘You know, Bob, that's the way I'd like to go, quickly and without fuss’. And that is the way it happened.

Note from Ray Lawler Entry
Now at the age of sixty, Ray had a sabbatical in Toronto. Then came a big change in his life when he opted to come to Zambia, Africa where he spent two years teaching French and Scripture to the novices in Lusaka. Fr Bob Kelly went on sabbatical for a year and left his gleaming new car in charge of Ray whose talents did not extend to motor maintenance!

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions : https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news?start=225

IRISH MEN BEHIND THE MISSIONS: BOB KELLY SJ
Jesuit missionaries and volunteers were remembered at the annual Memorial Mass on 30th November at Milltown Institute.
One such Jesuit was Fr Bob Kelly SJ who died in 2005. We continue our series Irish Men behind the Missions with Bob’s inspiring story, written by his colleague Fr Charlie Searson SJ.

An unusual mission in Zambia
Fr Bob Kelly SJ was born in Tullamore, County Offaly in the midlands of Ireland on July 13th 1925. After attending the local Christian Brothers’ school he joined the Jesuit Novitiate in Emo in 1943 and in 1951 was missioned to Zambia, then known as Northern Rhodesia. He spent 54 years of his life there.
Bob prepared himself to announce the Gospel by immersing himself in the local culture and language. As a scholastic and later as a priest, he taught at Canisius Secondary School near Monze where he was the Spiritual Father. His pupils remember his “office” as a place where boys could drop in for a chat or to read.
Bob developed the school canteen as a social area and he made sure that a film was sent up each week from South Africa. He took photographs and wrote articles about school life for the school magazine. He was later sent to St Edmund’s, a Christian Brothers’ Secondary School in Mazabuka, where he spent nine years in similar work.
Up until now Bob had followed a missionary path that is familiar to many Irish missionaries announcing “the joy of the Gospel” through education and pastoral work.
However his missionary life was about to make a major turn.

The Pioneer work begins
Since his schooldays Bob had been a member of the Irish Pioneer Total Abstinence Association[1]. The Pioneer Association had been brought to Zambia in 1958 by Fr Barney Collins SJ and soon spread rapidly across the country.
Like Ireland, Zambia has an ambiguous relationship with alcohol. While some people drink very moderately there is a large group in both countries who drink far too much, causing grave harm to themselves and their families.
To address the problem of excessive drinking, the Bishops of Zambia set up a National Pioneer Office in 1978 and Fr Bob Kelly was appointed as the first National Director of the Pioneers in Zambia.
Bob gave up the security of his work in schools and parishes and took to the road. Zambia is a very large country, about 12 times the size of Ireland. Bob visited each diocese in the country several times over in the next 17 years.

Motivated by love and compassion
Bob was also involved in another aspect of missionary work which others often neglect. Before the era of computers, he spent long hours writing excellent manuals which put down in a clear, convincing style the purpose of the Pioneers. The title of one of his booklets sums up his dream: A Christian Solution to a National Problem. The Pioneers still depend on Bob’s books today. He was at pains to point out that the Pioneers are focused not on alcohol but on the love of God as revealed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pioneers are motivated by that love and by compassion for families torn apart by alcohol related harm.
The ability of the missionary to address a wide range of social issues — in addition to announcing the Gospel, celebrating the sacraments and calling people to a life of prayer — is a sign that the mission respects the culture while also evangelising it. Bob loved the local culture but was not afraid to challenge it. Drunkenness is never something to excuse or to joke about. For him, it was contrary to the Gospel.

Bringing fire on the earth
Bob was famous for his dynamic school retreats. His book of hymns Songs of Praise is still widely used today and has gone into its fifth edition. He wrote 10 very popular books on spirituality. Much of his excellent material is available on the web: http://bit.ly/rkellybooks (https://bit.ly/rkellybooks)
In 1995 he handed over the management of the Pioneers to Fr Paddy Joyce (from Galway, Ireland) but he remained active in parish work in Kitwe and Lusaka until his death in 2005 at the age of 80.
The life and work of Bob Kelly in Zambia over 54 years exemplifies in dramatic form the great missionary words of Jesus: “I have come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were blazing already!” (Luke 12:49). Through his teaching, retreats and parish work and his tireless dedication to the spiritual and organisational aspects of the Pioneers, Bob made a unique contribution to the integral evangelisation of Zambia.

Continuing Bob Kelly’s Pioneer work
After over 100 years of the Church’s presence in this part of Africa, most of the present missionaries are Zambian bishops, priests, religious and laity. They are the ones who are spearheading the missionary work.
In November 2013 the Ministry of Health in Zambia produced its first draft National Alcohol Policy. This policy has still not been approved by the Cabinet and implemented through the various line ministries. The work so well carried out by Fr Bob Kelly SJ still waits for missionaries to complete it.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006

Obituary

Robert (Bob) Kelly (1925-2005)

July 13th 1925: Born in Tullamore, Ireland
September 7th 1943: Entered in Emo Park
July 31st 1957: Ordained in Milltown Park, Dublin
February 2nd 1961: Final Vows in Chikuni
March 8th 2005: Died in Lusaka.

From Newsletter for Zambia-Malawi:
Robert “Bob” Kelly was born in the midlands in Ireland in 1925 into a very devout Catholic family. He had three brothers and three sisters. He attended the Christian Brothers School in Tullamore until he completed his secondary education. He then entered the Jesuits in 1943. Two of his brothers, Michael and Joseph, followed him into the Society.

In 1951, he came to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) for his regency, the first of the Irish scholastics to come here. He began learning ciTonga, for which he seemed to have a flair, later composing a polycopied codex of the language called, Tonga without Tears. After language studies, he taught at Canisius Secondary School.

In 1959, after theology, ordination and tertianship in Ireland, he returned to Chikuni. For the next ten years, he taught English at Canisius and was Spiritual Father to the boys. Apart from his very clear teaching, Bob developed the school canteen and organized the boys' cinema. When the school began producing annuals, he would be seen prowling around with his camera catching on film the activities in the school. He mixed well with the boys and had their trust and confidence. In 1969 he moved to the Christian Brothers' school, St. Edmund's, in Mazabuka, where he remained as teacher and spiritual guide until 1978. Here, too, he had a great influence on the students.

When still a young man, Bob joined the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, making a promise to God that he would never drink alcohol. This was a life long sacrifice based on devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of the heart of the human Jesus burning with love for us all. In 1978 he was appointed by the Provincial and the Episcopal Conference as National Director of the Pioneers. He moved to Lusaka and with his usual thoroughness, travelled around the country promoting the Association through talks, retreats, and rallies. He carried on this work, with a few brief interruptions, until 1995.

One of these interruptions happened when he was appointed Parish Priest of St. Ignatius in 1985. This was a job that didn't suit Bob and nearly drove him to an early grave. After a little more than a year at the work, he had to return to Ireland to rest and recover. While in Ireland, he wrote the first of his ten popular spiritual books among which were Planted in Love, Calming the Storm and A Joy so Glorious.

In 1988 he returned to Zambia and was sent to join the Jesuit community in Kitwe. All through his years as Pioneer Director he had been developing a very effective apostolate giving retreats to Religious and secondary school children. From Kitwe he continued this work and helped greatly in the development of the new parish of Our Lady of Africa, in Riverside.

Bob returned to Lusaka as Assistant Parish Priest of St. Ignatius in 1995. Without the responsibility, and shielded from the conflicts of administration, he flourished as a powerful preacher of God's unconditional love, and as a confessor and spiritual companion for many many people.

Towards the end of 2004, because of seriously deteriorating health, he moved to the Jesuit Infirmary, John Chula House, and prayed for us all until his death on 8th March 2005.

From an account for Bob's Family, written by his brother, Michael
Bob experienced at least four strokes, in September 2002, March 2004 September 20th 2004, and on September 22nd/23rd 2004. Although he recovered reasonably well from the earlier episodes, he never really recovered from the second stroke he got in September 2004. With some help, he could still look after himself, but his movements became very limited and he lost much of his ability to carry on a conversation (though at times he could recognise and acknowledge individuals).

With the slow deterioration in his condition he began to develop some aggressiveness which had to be controlled by medication. Throughout January and February he continued to decline, eating less and, because he did not use his glasses, seeing little if anything. But he was not confined to bed and was up each day, sitting in a chair or going to the refectory for his meals. At first he could feed himself, but later he had to be fed with a spoon, although he could manage to drink by himself from a cup or glass. This remained his pattern until Saturday 5th March, So until that day he was mobile, even though he had to be helped to get around.

On Sunday 6th March his breathing became bad (gurgly) and difficult. Next day, the doctor diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed anti-biotics. He also arranged for him to get oxygen, was able to clear one lung of fluids, and used a suction device to clear the chest of whatever Bob was able to cough up. All of this gave him great relief. Those who were with him say that this was the only time that he experienced physical distress and this was for a very short time. Other than this he had no pain whatsoever.

The doctor who looked after Bob on that last day was Dr Francis Kaunda, a former pupil of Bob's and mine and son of former President Kaunda. His arrival at his bedside was providential. Dr Kaunda's car had broken down, so he came into the Jesuit house for the sick and elderly to look for help and while there to look in on Bob. That was around midday. I'm told that he stayed attending to Bob until about 9 o'clock that night. Father Joe Keaney arrived in the afternoon and found him still there, saying the Rosary while keeping an eye on Bob in the bed.

Father Klaus sat with Bob throughout Monday evening and all through Monday night/Tuesday morning. Bob was quiet and peaceful during the night. About 6.00 a.m. Klaus noticed Bob stirring and asked him if he would like a drink—coffee, a cup of tea, a coke, a fanta? He says that Bob answered loud and clear: “A cup of tea would be nice”. They were his last words. He slipped back into a kind of slumber and went away peacefully and quietly half an hour later, at 6.55 in the morning, Zambian time (4.55 Irish time).

Sister Lucy O'Brien, the great Holy Rosary Sister, Surgeon and helper of people, was always a great friend of Bob's. When she could, she would visit him and last saw him in Chula House some time in February. Because of her own infirmities and advanced years she begins the day later than some others in Zambia. On the morning that Bob died she woke at about ten to seven and then suddenly experienced a joy so glorious that it could not be described. She felt surrounded by joy and happiness, bubbling over with joy and gladness, and everything around her spoke a message of joy and peace and happiness. A very short time later, one of the other Sisters came into her room to tell her that Bob had died - and as it turned out just at the time Lucy had such an experience of wonder and joy. She is convinced that it was Bob's way of telling her that he had gone to heaven.

During that last hour of Bob's life, Father Vincent Cichecki was saying Mass in the Oratory next door. Vincent is an elderly Polish priest, a survivor of Dachau, so very much a realist. He told me that after his Mass, when he came back into the Oratory for a few prayers, he saw something on the ground just in front of the tabernacle, kind of pulsating. When he went up to it, he found a large beautiful butterfly, stranded and flapping its wings on the ground. He said he immediately thought of Bob and the way he was breathing - and that was the very minute that Bob died. When his body was brought into the Oratory later in the day, before being brought to the funeral parlour, the butterfly was still there, but now up in the air and flitting around all the time. But when the body was removed to the funeral parlour, they found the butterfly dead in the oratory and they are drying it out for me as a keepsake). When I heard all that, I thought of Mary and the white butterflies for her Dad. When I told Father Vincent about this, his eyes filled with tears and he told me that in Poland the butterfly is the sign of the resurrection.

After lying for some hours in the Oratory at Chula House, where he died, Bob's body was brought to St. Anne's funeral parlour for embalming and preparation for the funeral. That was on Tuesday evening. It remained in the funeral parlour until Thursday afternoon, by which time I had arrived back in Zambia. A number of us gathered there at about 3.30 and then at 4 o'clock left for St. Ignatius' Church. Quite a large crowd had gathered at St. Ignatius, a couple of hundred, very many of them young people.

Fathers Joe Keaney, John Mwelwa, Charles Chilinda, Clive Dillon-Malone and Jack Doyle were all there in vestments to receive the body. One of the prayers brought out that Bob had been a minister of God's word, and so a large Bible was placed on the coffin. A second prayer spoke of him as a minister of Christ's cross and mission and this was symbolised by placing a large Crucifix. Both Bible and Crucifix remained on the coffin throughout the funeral Mass next day, until it was taken for burial. Following the prayers the coffin was brought to the altar. Instead of being placed length-wise in the church, it was placed on a smaller bier right in front of and parallel to the altar, almost like a small altar lower than the main one. This was because the Novena of Grace was on and they did not want to take up space from the people who would be attending. But it was a lovely homely way to have the coffin.

From 4.30 to 5.30 those who had come for the removal of the remains took part in prayers and hymns. Great singing and many prayers! Then they had to give way to the Novena of Grace, which lasted until about 7.45. From then until close to 10 o'clock there was a vigil and wake for Bob. Coffins here are made in such a way that there is a panel over the head and chest and this can be taken off so that mourners can view the body. So that panel was removed and those who wished could go up and kneel beside him, looking at him and, most of them, talking to him. He looked very peaceful. Mouth firmly closed. No sign of strain or trouble on his face. Eyebrows bushy, but not too much so! Looked very like Paddy and the Sheehys.

The vigil/wake was not tightly organised. There were hymns, some short prayers, and periodically somebody would go to the lectern and share some memories about Bob. I told them of his difficulty in deciding what he wanted to do and then his decision to join the Jesuits, Mammy's great fear that he would not manage the food, but his determination once he had “decided to follow Jesus that there would be no turning back”. I also spoke of how hard it was on him when Mammy died just before he got home for leave in 1972 and the way he cried the time of her burial in Durrow. Finally, I thanked the people on behalf of us all for taking him to their hearts and for being so kind and good and loving to him all through the years, and I mentioned how it was the wish of every one of us that he should remain in Zambia and be with his people until the end.

Among the others who spoke were the two recently ordained Zambian Jesuits who were with him at St. Ignatius'. Finding it very hard to keep the tears back, Father John Mwelwa (gentle John) spoke of the huge influence Bob had on him and prayed that he and all the young Jesuits in Zambia might inherit some share of his spirit. The other, Father Charles Chilinda (cheeky Charles!), who is Minister in the house and in charge of the daily running, spoke of Bob's beautiful obedience - he might refuse to eat if others asked him, but Charles had only to say the word and he would take his food.

One of the lay people who spoke recalled how Bob laid comforted his family when his wife died ten years ago. And he could give every word of what Bob said to them then. Others spoke of what his books meant to them and how they knew they would always hear his voice when they turned to their pages. Once again, it was remarkable how many young people there were who wanted to give testimony to their love for him and share their appreciation of his life.

In closing the vigil, Father Clive Dillon-Malone reminded people that Bob's favourite scriptural passage was the parable of the Prodigal Son and invited us all to keep always before our minds the image Bob loved so much, the Father with open arms welcoming his son, just as now he was welcoming Bob.

The funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Ignatius' Church on Friday 11th March. It began at 9 o'clock and ended at 11.15. After that, in keeping with Zambian customs, the coffin was wheeled to the door of the Church, and the panel over the head was opened, to allow for body-viewing. This lasted for about three-quarters of an hour, and then there was the funeral itself to the cemetery, about 12 miles away,

The church was chock full for the Mass. It's hard to know how many priests concelebrated, but there must have been something between 60 and 70. Many were Jesuits, but they came also from the archdiocese of Lusaka, from other dioceses, and from religious congregations across the country. There was a huge number of religious sisters and male religious, crowds of women of all ages, and many past pupils from Chikuni and Mazabuka. The retired Archbishop of Lusaka was present (the current AB had to attend the beginning of a Catholic University, but he spent an hour with the Provincial offering condolences and has asked if he can have a special Mass for Bob when he is free some day soon).

I said the Mass, and Father Joe Keaney gave the homily, an excerpt of which is given below. I will say nothing else about it here except that it was powerful and gripped the attention and approval of people the whole way through. I began by saying that it was hard that this was the third of us who had died in a matter of eight months and that I was the only one of Bob's family who could be here at this time. I explained that much as they would have wanted it, age and poor health made it impossible for Maureen, Oonagh or Joe to be with us, and that they were feeling this very hard but were making the full gift of Bob to his people in Zambia, just as they had always done. I recalled how Mammy used to say that even though she loved having us around, she was happy that we lived far from each other because that way we would always remain close friends. This got a good laugh, but it also gave me a chance to stress how close-knit we are as a family and how that was one of the values that inspired Bob in his work, even though this meant being away so much from those he loved. Then I thanked the people again for taking him to themselves and for allowing him to minister among them, and I expressed the thanks of all the family to the people of the parish, and to those who had helped Bob in his recent years.

Then I went on with the Mass. Not knowing that it was going to be sung, I asked everybody to stand up for the Gloria and to shout it out with arms held aloft, as Bob used do. This went all right, but then a few minutes later the choir started the singing of it and of course the whole church joined in very wholeheartedly, It nearly lifted the roof off!

The first reading was taken by Winnie Nkata, one of the parish office workers and one of Bob's staunchest supporters. It was she who typed up all the material for his last book (and possibly even earlier ones). The second reading was taken by a Jesuit novice who has just returned from speech therapy-prior to this he could not put two words together, so bad was his stammer. But not a sign of it on this occasion! Bob's friend, John Mwelwa (gentle John), read the Gospel. After the homily there were about eight Prayers of the Faithful, but I'm afraid that my memory of them is fuzzy, so I have to leave them there.

Before the Offertory prayers and hymn, I said a few words and explained what I was doing. I said I wanted to put into the coffin a few mementos of things that were important to Bob in his life, and I said a few words about each of these. First there was a small stand that used be on the altar to the Sacred Heart in Mammy and Daddy's bedroom in Tullamore: it had three small brass images on it, the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, and St. Joseph. I said that Bob, like the rest of us, prayed before these as a child while at the same time he developed a strong faith from his great Catholic parents, and how it was his wish that Zambian parents would do as much for their children. Then I showed an old rosary beads of Bob's, well used and with some of the beads missing, a sign that he had used it a lot and of his love for the Mother of God. Next came a Pioneer Pin. Bob became a Pioneer in Tullamore long before he entered the Jesuits and was National Director of the Pioneers here for twenty years, so this was an important symbol of his life. Then I had a crucifix. Each Jesuit receives a crucifix when he takes his first vows. I said I couldn't find Bob's vow crucifix, he had so little left belonging to him that he had probably given it away. But I had my own and I said I was putting it in the coffin as a symbol of Bob's devotion to the Lord and of his commitment to the Jesuits. I also had a prayer leaflet that Joe got printed in 1963 when he was ordained, showing the names of Bob, Joe and myself, each of us ordained on 31st July, but in different years. I said this would be a nice reminder that his two Jesuit brothers were there with Bob all the way in solidarity and love. Next I had some of Bob's books. The first religious book he published was a hymn book, popularly known here as the Red Book; the last was Stories Old and New which was published in March last year. I read his prayer at the end of the Preface to this book: “I pray that this short book may encourage hope, faith and love in your hearts”, and invited the people to let his words become a reality in their lives. Finally I produced a rose. It was fairly bedraggled, but I explained that I had cut it in Luwisha House earlier that morning. But it was not an ordinary rose. Instead it was one that I grew on from a cutting that came from a beautiful yellow rose that is still growing in Maureen's garden. I told the people that Bob would say that if God can make a rose so wonderful, can we have any conception of what he must be like, and I also said that this rose was a symbol of the love of his sisters, what he meant to them, how much they loved him and how greatly they wished they could have been here today.

That probably took more time to read than it did when it took place on the altar! After that the Mass went ahead as usual. I think there were six of us giving out Communion for about a quarter of an hour, so that gives you some idea of the numbers who were there. Incidentally these included Pat Curran, the Irish Ambassador to Zambia, who stayed right to the very end, a great and generous tribute.

At the end of the Mass, the Provincial (Father Colm Brophy) thanked all those who were present and all the people associated with Bob throughout his life, but especially in the years since his health began to decline. The final prayers in the church (the Commendation) were led by Father Tom McGivern, a great old friend of Bob's. When these were concluded, the casket was wheeled to the door of the church for the body viewing. This ended at about midday or shortly afterwards (the service had begun at 9 o'clock). Because there were so many cars, the police had been asked to help direct the traffic and allow the funeral procession get under way. The burial took place in Kasisi, a Jesuit mission about 12 miles outside Lusaka (and this year celebrating its 100 years). All Jesuits who die in or near Lusaka are buried there, while those who die in the south of the country are buried in our cemetery in Chikuni. By the time the majority of the people arrived and the graveside service could get started it was nearly a quarter to one.

The prayers at the graveside were led by the Provincial, Colm Brophy, and he and I together blessed the grave. It was a massive one, about eight feet deep and ten feet long. Room for more than one there! After the prayers, the coffin was lowered slowly into the ground, while everybody kept silence. I was a bit surprised that the beautiful wreath of yellow and white roses and lilies that had been on the coffin since first I saw it on Thursday was left in place and buried. I wondered what would be left to place on the grave when it had been filled in, but I did not know then what was to follow. So the filling in of the grave then began. While the whole ceremony is very decorous and orderly, there is often some laughing and jesting at this part, with people telling the men to show their strength and not to be taking just the soft soil, and not to be putting it all into one place. Several times, new batches of men would take over the shovels, so that everyone could play a part. I took a shovel for a few minutes. I heard somebody behind me expressing misgivings, but then I heard one of the young Zambian Jesuits say "it's all right, he's a gardener!" It was indeed lovely to see these young priests themselves take the shovels, disregarding their shoes and clothes, and piling the earth in.

When the grave was nearly full, the women began singing quietly, and then when it was full and the mound built up to the men's satisfaction, the men drew back and gave way to the women. The women stood three deep all round and as they sang fell to their knees, patting the soil with their hands to flatten and smoothen it, all the time in rhythm with their singing. It was really a very moving to experience all this.

When the women had finished smoothing the soil, the Master of Ceremonies called for the laying of wreaths. The first was from the Jesuit Provincial, the second from myself. These were both huge wreaths, two interwoven large circles of cypress, with magnificent tropical flowers woven in and out. I am not sure, but they may both have been in the form of the letters B O B. Between them they covered the full length of the grave. Then followed wreaths from a number of others. After each one placed the wreath, they were given all the time they wanted for a quiet prayer. There were several hundred red and yellow roses, so after the few formal wreaths, all Jesuits were called. Each was given two or three roses (myself included) and we all stood around the grave, then all together stuck the roses in the soil or the wreaths, and then we stood up and sang in great voice the hymn of Saint Ignatius that Jesuits sing at the time of vows, Take Lord and Receive. This was very moving. After that it was the same with the staff from the Archbishop's office, religious sisters, religious men, the parish council from St. Ignatius', the Catholic Women's Leaguer, the Pioneers, the nurses and others who had helped Bob at Chula House and Saint Ignatius'. After they had placed their flowers or wreaths, each group would say its own prayers or sing its own hymn. Then lastly came myself, this time to place yellow roses on behalf of Maureen, more yellow roses on behalf of Oonagh, and red roses on behalf of Joe. We were all very much together at that lovely moment and all our Zambian friends appreciated it greatly.

People have told me that they never before participated in such a beautiful funeral. Fully Christian and truly Zambian. Fuil of sorrow at the going away of one loved and respected so much, but full of joy at the great accomplishment of a wonderful life and selfless service. And the bottom line of it all: God is love, so let God be God in your life, let love have its way with you always.

From the homily of Joe Keaney:
Most of you gathered here this morning knew Fr Robert Kelly personally. Many of you would say, “I knew him well”. I'm sure it comes as a big surprise when I tell you Bob suffered frequently from depression. I've often heard people say, “But priests shouldn't get depressed”. That's like saying a doctor shouldn't get cancer. Let me assure you some of them do, and share the same problems, diseases and darknesses as anyone else. It is important I tell a little about Bob's darkness if you are to understand the greatness of the man. The Jesuits who lived with him already know this very well.

I came to Zambia in 1973. Bob had been here 22 years by that time. In my early years here I didn't really know him but obviously was very aware of his reputation as an excellent teacher and influential Spiritual Father to successive generations of Zambian boys and girls in the 50's and '60's in Canisius, and with the Christian Brothers in St. Edmunds for most of the '70's.

Towards the end of 1988, when living in the small Jesuit community in Kitwe, we got the word that Bob was being sent to us. He was to help out in the various works of the house and continue his work as National Director of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association. Being a great friend of Mr Mosi and Johnny Walker myself in those days I wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of such a renowned teetotaller in the community.

Very very soon after his arrival, maybe even that same day, Bob and myself had a long chat, for well over an hour, standing outside in the cool of the evening. A couple of years before, he had served briefly as Parish Priest of St Ignatius in Lusaka. It was an assignment that clearly didn't suit Bob - all the problems that go with adıninistration and having to mediate in the strains and tensions of parish life. Bob suffered quite a severe breakdown as a result and spent some time recovering from depression in Ireland. It was during that period of darkness that his first book was born.

He told me about his darkness that first evening in Kitwe. I had left Namwala in 1981. After some surgery I was physically well, but suffered chronic depression for about 18 months afterwards. I knew straight away the darkness Bob was describing. That common experience was the bond, the glue, the Tuff Stuff that formed the strong friendship between the two of us. Many observers would later look on ours as a father/son relationship but that wasn't really true. In Ireland there is a term for a relationship called Anam Cara, - soul friend. That more accurately describes what we meant to each other.

That same evening Bob told me something very profound about my recurring times of darkness. It's too long ago now to remember the exact words but it was something like this. Don't be afraid of the darkness. Resist it, yes, and fight it in so far as you can. But don't run too fast or too hard from it at any cost. Many Jesuits, he told me, live in a kind of natural light. They are very disciplined and ordered in their lives. They say their prayers, do their work and enjoy their leisure. They are healthy, well integrated men. Some of us, though, have to struggle in darkness. But it is the darkness itself that becomes the door for the power of the light and love of God to enter. It was many years later before I began to understand what he was talking about.

Soon though, I began to see Bob's greatness. He had no tolerance whatsoever for legalism, for pettiness, for narrow-minded people. On returning from his trips promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Pioneers, he would often speak with real pain for, maybe, Mrs Mulenga in Mansa, a lifelong pioneer whose marriage failed, who remarried outside the Church, and the subsequent call from some fellow pioneers that she be stripped of her badge and expelled from the Association. Or maybe Mr Phiri in Lusaka being barred from holding high office at national level in the Association, because he worked as an accountant in National Breweries.

Very quickly the doorbell in Jesuit House began to ring. I had a room with a view upstairs and could see the visitors approach. All sorts of people, many from the old days in Canisius or St. Edmunds - like the grey Alex Chiteba or the balding Mark Chona down there on the left. It was so clear, just by observing, that they really loved him. There were also many young ladies. Beautiful young ladies, I might add. I'd rush down to greet these lovely flowers of God's creation only to climb straight back up again. It's for you Bob, again. These were girls from Roma, Chivuna, Fatima, Ndola, Ibenga,... from girls schools all over where Bob had such a powerful ministry giving retreats. I swear they were all in love with him. I used to scratch my head and wonder what all these people saw in this aging specimen of a man. His hair is falling out and he has these coke bottle spectacles. What has he got that I don't. I was even jealous. Not really, but you know what I mean.

The thing is, I'd rarely heard Bob preach. In Kitwe we all went different places for Mass, and I was rarely at a Mass that Bob was saying. Ten years ago, not too long after I'd been transferred to Lusaka, we invited Bob as director of the Novena of Grace, which is going on as we gather today. It was during that Novena of 1995 that my eyes were opened and I began to fully appreciate his greatness. For me, and I say this with great conviction, he was the most inspiring preacher I ever listened to. Soon afterwards he joined us here at St. Ignatius and I heard him very often. My room is just outside the side door there and I could hear his fine eloquent flow without even getting off the bed.

We chose the Story of the Prodigal Son as the gospel for this Mass because it was, without doubt, Bob's all time favourite. One of the first times I heard him preach on the parable he asked the question, “What comes right after the part where the Father sees the boy while he was still a long way off?” Hands went up and the popular answer was, “He ran to meet the boy”. Bob pointed out five important words in between: “He was moved with pity”. He was moved with pity. Moved with compassion. The heart of God the Father himself breaking at the sorry state of his poor ruined son.

If asked to put in a nutshell Bob's spirituality, I'd say it was contained in those five words: "He was moved with pity." Fr. Kelly experienced the gentleness of this compassion over and over again in his own darkness. The heart of tenderness dispelling the gloom in his own soul. The image of God's heart moved with pity for all His poor sons and daughters crippled by guilt, weighed down by troubles, stricken with depression, trapped and burdened by obsession and sin. You know what it feels like when you are deeply touched by the sadness in someone's life, when you really feel pity. It's like your heart is squeezed. Bob's God was a God of the heart not the head, a God whose heart is constantly squeezed as he looks down at us.

This was Bob's message, always variations on the same theme. The Father who created us to be joyful and happy is broken hearted at the sight of so many of his little children living in misery and darkness. It was the constancy and conviction of this recurring message that brought so much light and hope to us, his listeners. The God of the head is entirely different. Any suggestion that the Creator was aloof, a tough judge, a harsh punisher like with AIDS or the tsunami was blasphemy to his ears. He saw people preaching such a God as guilty of worshipping false images, guilty of idolatry....

I want to tell you about an elderly lady called Sarah in England who read one of his books several years ago. She loved it, got in touch with Bob and asked for more and more to distribute amongst her friends.... Since his recent strokes and diminished health, I've been keeping Sara informed. She is quite a lady. She raves about Bob's books and about the huge influence they are having in the ever widening circle she is giving them to. She told me that her project for Lent was to type out Be Still and know and put it on the Internet. She has already another of his books completed and up there.

..... The last attack about 6 months ago left Bob totally helpless and with hardly any awareness or capacity for friendship. At the time of that stroke John Chula house, the retirement home, was under reconstruction. The good Fr. Klaus was away and we had to mind Bob right here. People often said to me, “You are so good and kind to Bob”. I didn't feel that way. Some days I found it very hard just to sit with him. I simply hated seeing him in that dehumanised state and some days wanted to slap his face, shake him and say, “Come on Bob. Fight this, Come back to us”. I'm the youngest of the Irish Jesuits left in Zambia and in my days of darkness I sometimes wonder if I will be able to stay, grow old and die here. Will there be anyone left to love me or care? That was another of the great signs. I witnessed such kindness for Bob given by Fr. Mwelwa and Fr. Chilinda. They sat with him for hours, holding his hand, feeding him, cleaning up after him. All this from two men who never really knew him in his prime. When I think of such love from the young generation of Jesuits now taking over from the old I am consoled. I know now that if I have the companionship of Jesuit brothers like Gentle John and Cheeky Chilinda in my old age I will be truly blessed. I know that the Jesuit Province of Zambia/Malawi will be ok.

I was brought up thinking that holiness was to do with the number of hours one spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament, or how hard ones knees got from praying. Now I think it is much more to do with compassion. Having sympathy and empathy. Feeling for and feeling with. Be holy, as your Father is holy. Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Bob was that kind of holy man. All the destruction of the past year has been made new. He is enjoying the embrace of His loving Father whose heart has been moved with pity for Bob's plight all this time.

Born: 21 February 1920, Patrick Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1950, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1953
Died: 04 May 2012, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father had a shoe shop.

Second of three boys with three sisters.

Early education at a Convent school and then at the Christian Brothers School in Limerick for two years

by 1953 at Chikuni, Chisekesi, N Rhodesia (POL Mi) working - fifth wave of Zambian Missioners
by 1986 at Chicago (CHG) studying
by 1987 at Roosevelt NY, USA (NEB) working
by 1989 at Sunland-Tujunga CA, USA (CAL) working

Born: 19 March 1846, Ireland / Australia
Entered: 03 May 1884, Richmond, Australia (HIB)
Final Vows: 15 August 1905
Died: 21 November 1907, St Aloysius, Sevenhill, Adelaide, Australia

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He joined the amalgamated ASR HIB Mission in 1901.
He worked at Sevenhill from 1884 until his death 21 November 1907,
He was a useful member of the Mission.

Note from Patrick Muldoon Entry :
Ent at the new Irish Novitiate in Richmond, and it was then moved to Xavier College Kew. He went there with Joseph Brennan and John Newman, Scholastic Novices, and Brother Novices Bernard Doyle and Patrick Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Patrick Kelly entered the Society at Richmond, 3 May 1884, and then worked on the farm at Xavier College, 1886-1888. The dairy herd was admired and his apples and gooseberries were appreciated. He was an energetic person and full of fun. He devised a new plan for destroying rabbits - giving them sour apples, which momentarily would stun them , and then one could kill them! He also worked at Riverview as a steward, 1889-1893, at Loyola College Greenwich, 1894-1895, and North Sydney, 1896-1900, performing domestic duties. He continued with this work at Sevenhill from 1901.

Born: 11 April 1813, County Kildare
Entered: 02 November 1845, Frederick, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (FRA)
Professed:
Died: 08 September 1856, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD, USA - Marylandiae Province (FRA)

Born: 12 April 1835, Clogher, Co Tipperary
Entered: 17 March 1858, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)
Ordained: 31 July 1870, Vancouver, Washington USA (Canada)
Professed: 02 February 1876, Santa Clara CA, USA
Died: 27 September 1887, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA, USA - Taurensis Province (TAUR)

Entered: Austriacae Province (ASR)
Died: Turnov, Czech Republic - Austriacae Province (ASR)

Born: 14 November 1892, Talbotstown House, Talbotstown, Kiltegan, County Wicklow
Entered: 05 October 1911, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1924, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 2 February 1929. Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 19 January 1964, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

Parents were farmers.

One of three sons (1 deceased) and one sister.

Early education at Talbotstown National School and then went to Newbridge College for one year and then Baltinglass NS.. At 15 he went to Clongowes Wood College SJ

Studied for BA at UCD

by 1918 at Stonyhurst, England (ANG) studying
by 1928 at St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 39th Year No 2 1964

Obituary :

Fr Michael Kelly SJ

Father Michael Kelly came as a small boy to Clongowes and left it in 1911 an undisputed leader and the most popular boy in the school. A good worker of average ability he had athletic gifts which transcended limitations of physique and made him an excellent Rugby centre three quarter and a fine attacking batsman. A new boy in his last year worshipped him from afar and has for fifty years esteemed a characteristic memory of him. He is returning to the pavilion with “134 not out” to his credit. Beside him marches Bill Dundon, head erect and rightly proud of his 60. Father Michael's bat trails, he is only up to his companion's shoulder and his head is a little bent and his eyes on the ground. This score still stands as the record for a Clongowes boy in an out-match, Three years later there was another glimpse: this time of a Jesuit Scholastic in procession to the High Mass which celebrated the centenary of Clongowes.
There followed a degree in history and after three years philosophy, he returned to Clongowes, surprisingly enough, not as a prefect but as a teacher of history when history was being made in Ireland. Again it was to Clongowes he came after his priestly studies. This time as Higher Line Prefect and then as priest-prefect of the Third Line-something of an innovation and certainly a successful one. Already the ill health which was to cause him so much suffering-patiently even heroically borne through all the years to come—was a serious menace. After a second period as Higher Line Prefect the doctors intervened and he took up that dull and obscure office of Prefect of the Big Study. He must have felt the change but he never showed it. There is a special bond between a Prefect of Studies and a Study Prefect and the man who had the blessing of Father Kelly's advice and help and sympathy for the next three years is not likely to forget the generosity and self-effacement Father Kelly showed. In 1936 he was made Minister - a position he occupied for the then unprecedented period of ten years. They included the war years, with exceptional problems of fuel and transport and food, with which Father Minister coped so effectively that there were no serious hardships. Special crises, indeed, there were a foot and mouth epidemic that called for a difficult isolation policy; the worst series of epidemics the school had in recent years. With such affairs Father Kelly dealt with an energy and resource that often deceived people as to their magnitude.
Peace had come and after an unequalled and unbroken record of service to a school that he loved with fervour but without fanaticism, he was called on to start an entirely new life. For almost twenty years he gave to Gardiner Street Church and its people an equally unstinting service-a service which included the direction of one of the great Sodalities, charge of the Boys' Club as well as countless hours of unrecorded but invaluable advice in the confessional and the parlour.
A Jesuit who knew him well described as his outstanding quality loyalty in the very best sense of the word. As a boy Father Michael had Father T. V. Nolan as his Rector, Father John Sullivan as Spiritual Father, and Father George Roche as Higher Line Prefect. For them all and especially for the last named he had a deep and lasting respect and gratitude. For Father Kelly was one of the many boys who owed their vocation under God, in part at least, to the bed time visits which the Higher Line Prefect regularly made to the senior boys. At Father Roche's jubilee celebrations he told of the deep and lasting impression made on him by a few words on the true order of priorities spoken on a night many years before to a boy flushed with joy in a big athletic success in which his share had been notable. His was the sort of loyalty which strove to repay in kind what he himself had received. His school friends Jimmy Gaynor, Tom Finlay and Tom Duggan had meant and continued to mean, alive or dead, very much to him. To generations of boys at school and of men and women in the parish, he gave his help with a warm confidence that not even his extreme modesty could curtail and which his utter lack of ambition made the more acceptable. He might well have become vain in the days of his prowess on the playing field, but he was to the end almost distressingly modest. Immensely popular, he certainly never courted popularity and scarcely seemed to know the esteem in which he was held. Yet few Jesuits have won so many grateful and enduring friends and he made no enemies. This was partly the result of his unfailing courtesy and gentleness. “A fine gentleman” as one of his subalterns described him in his last days. Perhaps still more it was a refusal on the part of a really sensible man to allow opposition or misunderstanding to embitter him. The success of others meant far more to him than any achievement of his own. But with all his tolerance and sympathy he was a man of unbending principle and, when it was necessary, of firm action, An unequalled judge of character, he did not conceive of rule or influence by fear or bluff or deceit, and in practice almost invariably got the best out of those for whom he worked.
That such a man should have borne the very severe pain of a long final illness heroically is not surprising; that to the end he could reward the affection and gratitude of those he had befriended with unfailing humility and tenderness, must be their consolation, Father Kelly was indeed a Christ-like man and in the extreme of suffering like Christ his thought was for others. To his much loved family we offer our sincere condolences.

13 Feb 1850 Born, Waterford, Ireland
1 Nov 1872 Ordained Priest
20 Jul 1901 Appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Sydney, Australia
16 Aug 1911 Succeeded, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia
8 Mar 1940 Died, Manly, Sydney, Australia

Born: 27 May 1802, Edermine, County Wexford
Entered: 31 August 1822, Montrouge, Paris, France - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 24 September 1836, Stonyhurst College, Lancashire England
Died: 16 November 1844, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St, Dublin

Part of the Tullabeg community at the time of death

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Early education was at Clongowes before Ent.

Did Noviceship in France. Then sent on Regency to Clongowes and made a Prefect there in 1835. He later became Minister there.
He was Ordained at Sonyhurst 24 September 1836 by Dr Briggs.
1843 he was appointed Minister at Tullabeg and died in that office. He was sent by the Superior to Dublin for medical attention, but he died at Gardiner St after a short stay there. He is buried in Glasnevin. He was a pious, observant, zealous and energetic man.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Michael Kelly 1802-1844
Fr Michael Kelly was born in Wexford in 1802 and educated at Clongowes.
He was ordained at Stonyhurst as a Jesuit, and in 1843 he was appointed Minister in Tullabeg, where he died during his period of office. As he was not feeling too well, Superiors sent him to Dublin to consult a doctor, but he died in Gardiner Street on November 15th 1844, and was buried in Glasnevin.

Born: 03 May 1828, County Laois
Entered: 19 September 1868, Milltown Park
Ordained: 1853 - pre Entry, Maynooth College, County Kildare
Final Vows: 02 February 1880
Died: 03 June 1891, Sydney, Australia

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

Early education St Finian’s Seminary, Navan

by 1871 at Spring Hill College AL, , USA (LUGD) Teaching
by 1875 at Woodstock College (MAR) studying
Came to Australia 1890

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He had been educated and Ordained at Maynooth College, and had spent about ten years on the mission at Dundee in Scotland before Entry. While there, he once went on a sick call, but he was stopped by two young men who held their walking-sticks before him to stop him carrying on. Some Irish Catholics were involved in dredging a Lough nearby saw what was happening. Approaching quietly from behind, they seized the young men and threw them with force into the muddy Lough.
He returned to Ireland and worked at Turbotstown, Navan and Mullingar for five years, and then in 1868 Entered the Novitiate.
1870 After First Vows he was sent to the New Orleans Mission in the US. During the voyage he made friends with an American who was a newspaper editor. As Michael was skilled in shorthand, the editor offered him a very well paid job on his staff, and was very disappointed when Michael turned him down.
1878 He arrived in Australia and his work was almost exclusively in the Sydney area. During the last years of his life he was in charge at the North Shore Parish there (St Mary’s), and he worked energetically to provide everything for the Primary Schools in the Parish. Convent School at Lane Cove, the Brother’s School in the Church grouds, Ridge Street and the Sister’s School at Middle Head are all testimony to his work. The building of the Community residence at St Mary’s made him very happy, as he was now able to give more time to prayer and confessions.
When his health failed he started giving Retreats at Melbourne, Ballarat and Perth, His Retreats were well remembered as he spoke so well. he went to new Zealand to try seek a cure from hot springs there, but got no permanent benefit.
After a painful illness he died with great patience, and was buried in the North Shore Cemetery - the first Priest of the Mission to be buried in Sydney. He died at St Aloysius College on 03/06/1891, aged 63

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Michael Kelly was educated and ordained at Maynooth, and spent about fifteen years as a secular priest on the mission at Dundee, Scotland. He also worked at Turbotstown, Navan, and Mullingar for five years, and then entered the Society at Milltown Park, Dublin, 19 September 1868. He spent a year studying theology at Woodstock in the United States, followed by tertianship at Frederick, Maryland. Kelly arrived in Sydney, and spent a few years as prefect of discipline, spiritual father and consultor, as well as teaching shorthand, history and geography for the public examination at Xavier College, Kew. He was appointed for a year to St Kilda House, and in 1883 until his death worked in the parish of North Sydney, being superior and parish priest from 1882-90. He was much appreciated for the are he took of the Primary schools in the district. The convent school at Lane Cove, The Brothers’ school at Ridge Street, and a Sisters’ school at Middle Head are the result of his zeal. When his health began to fail he took up giving retreats in Melbourne, Adelaide, Ballarat and Perth. He was an eloquent preacher. When his illness continued he went to New Zealand for some treatment at the hot springs, but it did not help. When he died, he was the first priest to be buried at Gore Hill cemetery on the North Shore.

Born: 19 May 1929, O’Connor Square, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1946, St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1961, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1964, Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia
Died: 15 January 2021, Coptic Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - Zambiae-Malawi Province (ZAM)

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

Transcribed HIB to ZAM 03 December 1969

Middle Brother of Bob Kelly (ZAM) - RIP 2005 and Joseph A Kelly - RIP 2008

Son of Michael Joseph Kelly and Agnes Sheehy. Father was a managing director.

Sixth in a family of four boys with three sisters.

Early education was at a the Christian Brothers (St Columba’s) school in Tullamore for about thirteen years.

Ordained at Milltown Park

1946-1948 St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois
1948-1952 Rathfarnham Castle - Studying
1952-1955 St Stanislaus College Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1955-1958 Chikuni, Zambia - Regency, studying language then teaching at Canisius College
1958-1962 Milltown Park - studying Theology
1962-1963 Rathfarnham Castle - Tertianship
1963-1971 Canisius College, Chikuni, Zambia - teaching; (1964-1970) Proncipal (1966-1969) Rector
1971-1973 Birmingham, England, - studying Child Psychology
1973-1974 Ireland
1974-1975 Jesuit House, Handsworth Park, Lusaka, Zambia -
1975-1976 Moreau House, Mazabuka, Zambia
1976-1978 UNZA Hostel, Lusaka, Zambia - Professor of Education at UNZA; Education Consultant;
1978-1986 Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia - Professor of Education at UNZA; Education Consultant; Writer re HIV AIDS; (1975-1979) Dean, School of Education; (1979-1983) Deputy Vice Chancellor
1986-1987 Rue de Grenelle, Paris, France - International Institute of Education, planning visitng fellow
1987-2011 Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia - Education Consultant; Writer re HIV AIDS;
2011-2012 Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin - recovering health
2012-2020 Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia - Professor of Education at UNZA; Education Consultant; Writer re HIV AIDS
2020-2021 St Ignatius, Lusaka, Zambia

◆ Irish Jesuit Missions
Fr. Michael Kelly Honorary Degree Conferring
Honorary Degree Conferring, RCSI, 6th June 2012
In accepting the honorary doctorate that RCSI has just now conferred on me I feel greatly honoured, greatly humbled and greatly privileged: honoured that RCSI should recognise in this way the limited contributions I have been able to make in advocating for more and better education for girls, a better deal for orphaned children and a more coherent response to HIV and AIDS; humbled that I should have been singled out from the great number of people world-wide who are dedicating themselves so wholeheartedly to efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic and who see girls’ education as central to this; and privileged that I can represent in some way so many thousands of wonderful people across the world whose lives have been darkened by the shadows of HIV or AIDS but who never lost heart.
Ladies and Gentlemen, forty-nine years ago the great Martin Luther King shared with the world his dream that, among other things, one day his four children would live in a nation where they would be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
Dr. King’s dream speech inspired his people and transformed the face of the United States to such an extent that less than four years ago the country elected its first ever black President, who could affirm: “Where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people, Yes We Can!”
Ladies and Gentlemen, Graduating Students, our vision for global health is also a dream, a dream which strongly reaffirms that the enjoyment of good health is a fundamental human right and that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment the actualisation of this right remains a possibility. In the words of Barack Obama, we here at this RCSI conferring ceremony can affirm with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of this great institution - yes, we can.
Yes, we can eliminate infant and child mortality, and ensure universal vaccination coverage against measles, polio and other diseases.
Yes, we can roll back the malaria which affects over 200 million people each year.
Yes, we can reduce and eventually eliminate the almost nine million new cases of tuberculosis that occur each year.
Yes, we can reach the global targets of zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS deaths and zero HIV-related discrimination.
Yes, we can even address the enormous challenges of neglected tropical diseases which currently affect more than 1,000 million people and thrive in the poorest, most marginalised communities.
Yes, we can ensure the access of all peoples - here and in all other parts of the world - to a level of health care that will help them lead a satisfying, full and productive human life.
Yes, we can do it and we are doing it.
Let me speak for a few moments about my own country, Zambia, where just three months ago a team of nine doctors successfully removed a fourteen-and-a-half kilo tumour from the back of a young man. Of course, the tumour should never have been allowed to grow to such size, but that it could be successfully removed speaks well for the medical services that a developing country can provide .
In recent years, Zambia has also seen considerable improvements in many of the markers for health care:
A significant reduction in child mortality;
• HIV infection rates falling steadily and substantially among young women and young men;
• About 90% of adults who are in need of anti-retroviral therapy receiving it, the result being fewer AIDS-related deaths;
• Among infants a dramatic reduction in deaths arising from the transmission of HIV from parent to child;
• More widespread use of anti-malarial drugs, an increase in the numbers sleeping under anti-mosquito impregnated bed-nets, and more widespread spraying of mosquitos.
Yes, we can do it and we are doing it. But we need to do it more quickly. We need to do it more
quickly for the sake of the millions whose lives are being blighted by preventable ill-health. We need to do it more quickly for the sake of our own human integrity since we have made promises that too often we honour more in the breach than in the fulfilment.
And for this we need more financial and material resources. We need more civic and political commitment. We need more human resources.
Believing, as RCSI does, that the person is at the centre of everything we do, we need a more enlightened priority system that ranks health, education, social services and job creation higher than bailing out questionable financial institutions, and certainly higher than squandering public resources on doomed investments and extravagant and even corrupt undertakings.
And that requires that every one of us here today pulls together to make this a better and more decent world. It requires that we become radically committed to eliminating scandalous inequalities in the access of people to health care. It means that we firmly believe that each one of us can make a difference for the better.
George Bernard Shaw once said: “Some look at things that are, and ask, why? I dream of things that never were and ask, why not?”
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Graduating Students, let this conferring day be memorable for the way it motivates each one of us to dream of something that never was - a peaceful, healthy and more just world - and ask “why not? Why can’t I do something to make it so? What am I doing to make this a better world? What more can I do to ensure peace and health and basic justice for all people?”
I thank you.
Michael J. Kelly, S.J. Lusaka, Zambia

24 October 2012
Irish Jesuit, Fr Michael Kelly SJ, was conferred with The Order of Distinguished Service by Zambian President Edgar Lungu, in State House, Lusaka on 24th October.

The honour was given to Fr Kelly in acknowledgment for his tireless commitment to ending HIV and AIDS in Zambia. He has worked for decades to educate people about the virus and to promote safe behaviour among youth and those most at risk in Zambia, sub-Saharan Africa, and abroad. He has been active in developing strategies for HIV prevention, and human rights, and has been a consultant to international organisations including UNESCO, UNICEF, the FAO, UNAIDS, Oxfam and Irish Aid.

Fr Kelly went to Zambia as a Jesuit missionary in 1955 and spent most of his working life there in education, as a teacher and administrator at secondary and university level. He felt from the outset that it was home and that he was welcomed there. He became a Zambian citizen in the 1960s, a decision he says he never regretted. In later years, he was deeply saddened by the numbers of people who were dying because of the country’s AIDS epidemic and vowed to address the problem, through the schools.

This is not the first honour that Fr Kelly has received due to his outstanding work. He was awarded an Honorary Degree by University College Dublin in 2006, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 2012. Since 2006, Irish Aid has honoured Father Michael’s achievements through the Annual Father Michael Kelly HIV/AIDS Event, timed to coincide with World AIDS Day (1st December)

A JESUIT’S WORK WITH HIV AND AIDS
Michael J. Kelly, S.J., was one of the first ten recipients of the new Presidential Distinguished Service Awards at Áras an Uachtaráin on 15th November 2012.
President Michael D. Higgins said the new Award allowed the State to formally honour exceptional individuals and to recognise the “sacrifice, support and commitment to Ireland of the wider Irish diaspora in all its diversity”.

Fr Michael J. Kelly writes below about his campaigning struggle against the global epidemic of HIV/Aids :
When AIDS exploded on the world in the 1980s, I was lecturing in education at the University of Zambia. It soon became obvious to me that I would have to take account of this new disease in my teaching, research and priestly work.
Deaths and funerals were becoming the order of the day. Across the country people were dying in large numbers, most of them parents with young families, leaving behind them children to be reared and educated by communities which were being overwhelmed by the great number of orphans. Teachers and education administrators were also falling sick and dying in large numbers.
I quickly saw that the courses I was teaching had to say something about this totally new situation. They had to speak about adjusting to the potential loss of teachers, about the great numbers of orphans that would be coming into the schools, about teaching children traumatised by the loss to a dehumanising sickness of greatly loved family members, about communities shattered and bewildered and impoverished by the sickness and deaths of their most productive members.
But the courses also had to suggest how the very process of education could help check the disease and what could be done to protect the education system itself against the disease’s destructive impacts. From then on, my work was guided by what I termed education’s “minimax” response to the pandemic: minimise the potential of HIV and AIDS to harm the education sector, maximise the potential of the education sector to control the disease and reduce its harmful effects.
This was a new approach at the time, so new that the University of Zambia has the distinction of being one of the first universities in the world to take account of HIV and AIDS in its teaching programmes. Increasingly, I began to study, write and give presentations about AIDS and education. It was not long until we began to speak about the potential of education to provide a “social vaccine” against the disease, an approach that UNAIDS, the highest world authority on the disease, still strongly advocates.
Gradually I found myself being drawn more and more into national and international discussions on the two-way interaction between AIDS and education, into advocacy and awareness-raising in regard to orphans, and eventually into a wide spectrum of AIDS-related areas, almost all of them with strong social justice implications – stigma, poverty, the subordinate status of women, human rights, the marginalisation of whole categories of people, unfair north-south trade and other practices, food security, environmental protection, global failure to deal honestly with several AIDS-related issues.
The outcome was a greatly extended engagement on my part with the pandemic and extensive commitments to activities across the world on its educational and other implications. As the demands became greater, it eventually became necessary for me to retire from the University of Zambia so that I could dedicate myself more wholeheartedly to the work of confronting HIV and AIDS nationally and globally. And it is to this work that I remain committed. AIDS is not yet over. People are still dying. AIDS continues to consume them. It also consumes me, not in body but in spirit, and challenges me with the great Jesuit questions: “What have I done for Christ who is suffering with HIV and AIDS? What more should I be doing so that there is less AIDS and more chance that people can live with greater human dignity in a world that comes closer to being the happy world God had planned it to be?”
In many ways the answers are simple. There is need for more honesty in dealing with central AIDS issues. There is need to avoid complacency and recognise how far the world is from seeing an end to the pandemic. There is need for an uncompromising stand on making social justice a reality for every child, woman and man. There is need for more resources for those affected by the pandemic and for research that will lead to its control.
To the extent that I can respond to any of these needs I must do so. The miracle of those living with HIV or AIDS demands this of me. For as long as one person remains with HIV or the disease deprives one child of a parent, I cannot stop. Until God calls me, or AIDS ends, I simply must keep going.

22 August 2015
August 22nd will be the 60th anniversary of my first arrival in Zambia in 1955. I was young and inexperienced then, but greatly excited at the prospect of sharing with others my life and whatever expertise I had and thereby communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ.
A spirit of céad míle fáilte
I am now old and somewhat decrepit, but blissfully happy that I can still share myself and the word of God with my Zambian sisters and brothers. I am deeply indebted to them for the sincerity with which they welcomed me into their lives and society. The spirit was always that of céad míle fáilte. I felt this right from the outset, though the feeling was deepened when I became a Zambian citizen in the mid- 1960s, a step that I never for a second regretted, though I recall the tears it caused to my mother!
I spent most of my working life in Zambia in education — teaching and administering — at secondary school and university levels. It is a great pleasure today to meet so many who had been “through my hands” at school or university and to see them successful in life, most of them happily married and parents of lovely families, some of them grandparents, and some of them priests or religious.
But there is also the sadness of knowing that many have died, especially that many died from AIDS. Very soon after the world became aware of this terrible scourge, I saw that it was a challenge that we would have to do something about through our schools, not only in Zambia but all over the world. This realisation drew me into thinking, teaching, writing and speaking about the give-and-take between AIDS and education, into speaking out on behalf of orphans, and eventually into a wide range of AIDS-related areas.
In my AIDS work I have met and been influenced by many remarkable people infected with the disease. I don’t think I could have continued were it not for them, above all the women and the children. I felt driven by their suffering and the way it had undercut their very humanity. But equally I felt driven by their resilience, their spirit, their determination, their courage, and their cheerfulness.
Brigitte Syamalevwe: fearless and powerful
Most uplifting of all was Brigitte Syamalevwe, a highly educated Zambian woman who was diagnosed with HIV in 1992. Instead of staying at home feeling sorry for herself, Brigitte travelled around, speaking fearlessly, feelingly, and powerfully about the epidemic and her situation. She refused to take life-saving anti-retroviral drugs when these were offered to her, saying she would do so only when the poor of Zambia, and particularly the women, could also have access to such treatment. Even at the very end, when I had paid for the drugs that could save her, she told her family not to collect them but to leave her in God’s hands. And so, overwhelmed by grief, weariness and illness, she died quietly and peacefully, letting her great spirit soar to the God whom she had loved and served so well.
Brigitte was an Easter witness in the darkness of HIV and AIDS. You just had to be inspired by her. She and people like her show the strength of the human spirit and give real promise that we can make this a better world.
Sixty glorious, happy, fulfilling, satisfying years
Coming back to myself and thinking about my 60 years in Zambia, I wouldn’t ask for a minute of them to have been any different for me. They have been 60 glorious, happy, fulfilling, satisfying years and I thank God for every second of them. Of course there were setbacks and difficulties, very especially the grief and anguish of seeing the way AIDS was ravaging the people. But the overwhelming picture is one of joy and gladness and an awareness that God is working all things together for good.
I ask you to join with me in praising and thanking God that it has been so.

June 2016
A MUSEUM PIECE OR A HERO?
Early in May a new state-of-the-art interactive-type museum, EPIC Ireland, was opened in the vaults of the docklands CHQ building in Dublin. The new museum focuses on the Irish abroad and the Irish diaspora, what they have done and what they are doing in various parts of the world.
The Museum Director has informed me, as a matter of courtesy, that they are featuring my story in the visitor experience and will continue to do so for the coming ten years. I have no idea what aspects of my ‘story’ are touched on, but it is reassuring to know that at last I have found my proper niche - as a museum piece!
Distinguished Visitor visits ‘her hero’
On May 25th, which was Africa Freedom Day, I was greatly honoured when the former Irish President Mary Robinson, called at Luwisha House to see me. She was in Lusaka for a few days to speak to a top- level meeting of the African Development Bank on ecological, clean power and climate-change issues. Noting that I was not present when she met some members of the Irish community shortly after her arrival in Lusaka, Mrs. Robinson asked the Irish Ambassador if she could come to see me as I was ‘her hero’ (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/410-irish-men-behind-the-missions-fr-michael-j-kelly-sj). God save the mark!
To talk of many things
During her stay of about an hour she and I talked about many things – progress against HIV and AIDS, the empowerment of women, the problems faced by children, clean energy and solar power, population growth, and even family.
Unfortunately I had to acknowledge that so far we here at Luwisha House had done nothing about installing a solar power system, even though we are very suitably placed to do so, with the sun beaming down on us all day almost every day of the year.
But I was able to redress the balance a little by drawing attention to the work being done by the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development in Malawi (http://jcedmw.org/jced-as-a-new-project-of-the-jesuit- fathers/) and the development there of a cooking stove that is very economical in its use of charcoal, something that Mrs. Robinson said she had heard about.
It was indeed a great honour to receive this surprise visit from such an eminent and busy person. I greatly appreciated it.
Michael J. Kelly SJ, Luwisha House, Lusaka, Zambia. June 2016

20 July 2020
MICHAEL J. KELLY FEATURED ON STAMP
The pioneering work of Irish Jesuit, Michael J. Kelly SJ, as an educator and a campaigner for HIV/AIDS in his adopted home of Zambia, has been honoured on a postage stamp from An Post (https://www.anpost.com/AnPost/media/PDFs/The-Collecto_1st-Ed_2020_AW_FOR-WEB.pdf) which is part of a set to mark St. Patrick's Day.
The Irish Abroad series of five stamps, marks the contribution that emigrants from Ireland made to their respective communities overseas. Fr Kelly (1929-), who was born in Tullamore, shares the stamp with award-winning author Edna O’Brien (1930-) from Co. Clare, and also with Cork-born humanitarian worker Mary Elmes (1908-2002) who saved the lives of 200 Jewish children in France during the Holocaust.
In 1955 Fr Kelly left Ireland for Northern Rhodesia, which would become the Republic of Zambia in 1964. Over the next 60 years, he held a series of appointments across the country, which resulted in his nomination as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zambia in 1980 and a promotion to Professor of Education in 1989.
He worked tirelessly to get rid of the stigma of HIV/AIDS through education and advocacy work across Zambia and further afield.
Very soon after the world became aware of this terrible scourge [HIV/AIDS], I saw that it was a challenge that we would have to do something about through our schools, not only in Zambia but all over the world. This realisation drew me into thinking, teaching, writing and speaking about the give-and-take between AIDS and education, into speaking out on behalf of orphans, and eventually into a wide range of AIDS-related areas.
In my AIDS work I have met and been influenced by many remarkable people infected with the disease. I don’t think I could have continued were it not for them, above all the women and the children. I felt driven by their suffering and the way it had undercut their very humanity. But equally I felt driven by their resilience, their spirit, their determination, their courage, and their cheerfulness.
In 2006, the Irish Government established the annual Father Michael Kelly Lecture on HIV and AIDS, which is now an annual event. In 2019 the theme was 'HIV & AIDS: Women, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights'. (https://globalhealth.ie/womens-sexual-and-reproductive-health- rights-leaving-no-one-behind/)Fr Kelly delivered a compelling video message to the audience about the need to educate women and girls in Zambia to protect themselves from HIV infection. (https://globalhealth.ie/womens-sexual-and-reproductive-health-rights-leaving-no-one-behind/)
Fr Kelly has been the recipient of many awards, in Ireland and abroad for his aid work. In recognition of his contribution to education in Zambia and worldwide HIV advocacy, the Association of Commonwealth Universities presented him with the Symons Award in September 2003. He has received several honorary degrees including Doctor of Science (2004), from the University of the West Indies, Doctor of Laws from NUI (2006) and an honorory doctorate from the Royal College of Surgeons (2012).
The Forum for Women Educationists in Africa (Zambia Chapter) awarded him the first ever Kabunda Kayongo Award for “immense contribution through research on girls’ education” (2006) and the First Lady of South Africa, Madame Thobeka Zuma, presented him with a Humanitarian Award for commitment to health and HIV and AIDS in the southern African region (2010).
He received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award from President Michael D. Higgins (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/241-fr-michael-j-kelly-sj-receives-new-presidential-award) at Áras an Úachtaráin in November 2012, which honours the Irish diaspora in recognition of its sustained and distinguished service abroad. (https://www.jesuitmissions.ie/news/241-fr-michael-j-kelly-sj-receives-new-presidential-award)
Fr Kelly's is also one of over 320 emigrant stories that is featured at EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum (https://epicchq.com/)in the CHQ Building in Dublin.

Born: 09 April 1839, Newbridge, County Kildare
Entered: 21 June 1859, Spring Hill, AL, USA - Lugdunensis Province (LUGD)
Professed
Died: 17 April 1870, Grand Coteau, LA, USA

Part of the Spring Hill College, Mobile AL, USA community at the time of death

County Kildare Committee of Agriculture, County Offices, Naas, County Kildare

Born: 28 May 1905, Hollybrook Road, Clontarf, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 19 September 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1939, Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Galway
Died: 12 February 1978, St Peter’s Parish, Bray , County Wicklow

Part of Loyola community, Eglinton Road, Dublin at time of his death.

Father owned a drapery at North Earl Street Dublin

Third eldest of eight, with three brothers and four sisters. Family resides at Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin

Educated at a local Convent school and then at Castleknock College. In 1920 he went to Belvedere College SJ

by 1928 in Australia - Regency at Riverview, Sydney
by 1938 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 53rd Year No 2 1978
Obituary :
Fr Joesph Kelly (1905-1978)

On Sunday, February 12th, 1978, Father Joseph Kelly SJ, died after celebrating Holy Mass. He had been, from 1975-1978 Assistant Parish Priest in the Parish of Little Bray, and had lived at St Peter’s Presbytery, Little Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Father Joseph Kelly was born in Dublin on May 28th 1905, and after concluding his schooling at Belvedere College he entered the Noviceship in Tullabeg on September 19th 1922. Ill health prevented him from completing the Arts Course which he began at UCD in 1924; and he spent the years 1926-1930 Prefecting in Riverview College, Sydney. After completing Philosophy in Tullabeg he went for Theology to Milltown park where he was ordained priest on July 31st 1936 by Archbishop Alan Goodier SJ. His Tertianship was spent at St Beuno’s and he pronounced his Final Vows in St Ignatius College, Galway, on February 2nd 1939.
Father Joseph Kelly then began a life of hidden and continuous work that allowed of little relaxation.
He was Minister of the Community and Prefect of the Church in St Ignatius, Galway, from 1938-1942. There followed twelve years as Higher Line Prefect in Clongowes. In 1954 he went to Dublin - to Manresa - where he remained until 1960. His work in Manresa was giving enclosed Retreats to men, and travelling to various places to give the Spiritual Exercises. The years 1960-1973 were spent at Tullabeg at the various hidden but exacting work which included that of Confessor in the Church and Promoter of the Apostleship of Prayer.
He spent two quiet years at Loyola, Eglinton Road (1973-1975) before going to the Parish Church of Little Bray where, - very much still “at work” he died suddenly after celebrating Holy Mass.

◆ The Clongownian, 1979

Obituary

Father Joseph Kelly SJ

In the month of August 1930 Tullabeg was opened as the Jesuit House of Philosophy. I had finished one year of Philosophical Studies at Milltown Park and went with the other students to Tullabeg.

Joe Kelly arrived late in September from Sydney in Australia to begin a three year course of Philosophy, and it was here that I spoke to Joe for the first time.

I had, of course, heard a good deal about Joe - I had been with him for two years in Belvedere - but, to my knowledge, I never spoke to him - he was a big boy on the SCT and three years my senior, I knew that severe migraine type headaches had made it impossible for Joe to continue his studies in UCD and Fr John Fahy, the Provincial at the time, decided to send him to Riverview College in Sydney.

During the journey to Australia, Joe formed a strong bond of friendship with Father Cyril Power who had been appointed Professor of Moral Theology in Werribee College in Melbourne. These two were alike in some respects definite in their views and forthright and outspoken in expressing them. I have always had the greatest admiration for both of them. . The severe headaches which ended Joe's studies in UCD continued to be his cross for many years and once again brought an end to his work - this time in the ministry in the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick and in St Ignatius' Church in Galway.

When in 1941, I was asked by my friend and Provincial, Fr J R McMahon to go to Clongowes as Lower Line Prefect, I was pleased that I would once again be associated with Joe who had been appointed Higher Line Prefect. Thus began a partnership that lasted for twelve years. This must be close to a record for Clongowes.

Boys are quite accurate in their judgements and the Clongowes Higher Line from '41 to '54 recognised that they had in their HLP a man of outstanding qualities and they were quite correct in this. Intellectually, Joe would have been capable of taking his place among the literary men of the Province - he had a sharp penetrating mind and a talent in literary style that would stand comparison with the best of his time. But, of course, his health prevented him from putting these talents to use.

As a therapeutic measure Joe took to carpentry and, of course, he soon became an accomplished carpenter. Later under the tuition of John Cribben he became also a useful metal worker.
During the war, as there was no petrol available for the mowing machines, Joe converted these machines so that they could be horse drawn, In order that the creases and athletic tracks could be kept mown, he frequently worked with these machines from morning until evening.

His insistance that everything in his Line should be as near perfection as was possible, was evident in the care which Joe devoted to the boys' games. He spared no effort in labouring to this end especially in the training of the College Athletics Team and the Senior Rugby Team. He initiated the Triangular Contest with Newbridge College and the Cadet College in Athletics, Rugby and Basketball.

In Athletics, Joe reaped some rewards for his painstaking care in the training of the boys for the different events by winning both the Leinster and the Al Ireland Shield more than once. But the Senior Rugby Cup eluded him. Year after year, Joe turned out Rugby Teams well tutored and drilled and capable of winning the Senior Cup. But year after year they were dogged by ill luck of one kind or another. His best team was beaten by the misfortune of fog! I remember sympathising with some members of his team and one of them replied “We had all hoped that we would be the team to give Father Kelly the reward he so well deserves”.

Joe's vocation was, in God's Providence, to a life of suffering. He suffered physically from continuous, un-interrupted headaches and, knowing his intellectual capabilities and fully aware of the fact that he was unable to use them must surely have caused him mental anguish. Towards the end of his life the Lord asked him to endure also the Spiritual anguish of what St John of the Cross called the “Dark Night of the Soul”.

He endured all these sufferings manfully and when Almighty God called him to Himself, Joe was working in the Sacred Ministry in the Parish of Little Bray, serene and happy like one who has fought the good fight and was now ready to meet his Lord.

KO'D

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

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

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

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

Born: 27 May 1931, O’Connor Square, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1949, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1967, Loyola University, Chicago IL, USA
Died: 05 December 2008, Jersey City, NJ USA

Based at St Malachy’s West 49th St, New York NY, USA at the time of death

Youngest Brother of Bob Kelly (ZAM) - RIP 2005 and Michael Kelly - RIP 2021

Son of Michael Joseph Kelly and Agnes Sheehy. Father was a managing director.

Youngest offour boys with three sisters.

Early education was at a the Christian Brothers (St Columba's) school in Tullamore for about thirteen years. He then went to UCD for one year studying engineering.

by 1966 at Cornell, Ithaca NY, USA (BUF) studying
by 1967 at Loyola Chicago (CHG) studying
by 1969 at St Peter’s College, New Jersey NJ, USA (NEB) working
by 1995 at St Malachy’s, New York NY, USA (NYK) working

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-joseph-a-kelly-sj/

“Some people become priests because they love God, some because they love talking about God, and some, like Fr Joe Kelly, because they love people.” Joe had moved from Dublin to Jersey City in 1968, and worked in particular with students, and later actors – he played a Catholic priest in City Hall with Al Pacino. The crowds who attended Joe’s funeral in Jersey City, and the memorial Mass in Milltown Chapel, showed the affection he inspired, and the impact he made during his 59 years as a Jesuit.

https://www.jesuit.ie/news/celebrating-the-pastor-of-broadway-2/
Celebrating the Pastor of Broadway
Fr. Joe Kelly SJ served for years on the Boards of the Broadway Association, the Times Square Alliance, and the Mayor’s Midtown Citizens Committee. He was also the
beloved Parochial Vicar of St. Malachy’s, The Actors’ Chapel, and was responsible for having the section of 49th Street between 8th Avenue and Broadway named “St. Malachy’s Way”. He was a much-sought-after speaker and a friend to all. To honour him for his tireless work and his wonderful contributions to the Times Square neighbourhood and the entertainment community, his caricature will hang with the “greats” on the wall at Sardi’s, a well-known Broadway restaurant. The picture will be unveiled at a cocktail party on Wednesday, May 26, 5:30-7:30 pm.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 139 : Easter 2009

Obituary

Fr Joseph A (Joe) Kelly (1931-2008)

27th May 1931: Born in Tullamore, Co. Offaly
Early education in CBS, Tullamore (St. Columba's Classical College)
1948 - 1949: Studied engineering at UCD
7th September 1949: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1951: First Vows at Emo
1951 - 1954: Rathfarnham - English Literature and Language at UCD
1954 - 1957: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1957 - 1960: Gonzaga - Teacher
1960 - 1964: Milltown Park -Studied Theology
31st July 1963: Ordained at Milltown Park, Dublin
1964 - 1965: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1965 - 1967: Cornell University & Loyola Chicago, USA - Sociology
2nd February 1967: Final Vows
1967 - 1968: College of Industrial Relations - Lecturer
1968 - 1993: St. Peter's College, Jersey City, USA -
1968 - 1973: Chaplain
1973 - 1988: Director of Campus Ministry
1988 - 1993: Senior Development Officer
1993 - 2008: St. Malachy's Church, 49th Street, New York City -
1993 - 2003: Parochial Vicar
2003 - 2008: Assisted in the Church
2008: St. Peter's College, New Jersey
5th December 2008: Died in hospital in New Jersey, USA.

When Fr Joe Kelly died in New Jersey, many of his friends wanted to speak and write about him. Rather than a conflated obituary, here are three distinct voices with their memories of Joe: his brother Michael who spoke at the funeral Masses in Jersey City and Milltown Park; his close friend Roddy Guerrini; and a eulogist from the congregation of St Malachy's, the Actors' Chapel in New York.

The Joe of Surprises

From Fr. Michael Kelly's homilies at Joe's funeral Masses at St. Peter's College, New Jersey, and Milltown Park, Dublin
When going through Joe's things at Saint Peter's College (Jersey City) a few days after he died, I came across the book by Father Gerard Hughes, The God of Surprises. On the fly-leaf Joe had written: “This is my favourite book. If ever you find it lying round make sure it gets back to me”. Well if Joe loved the book The God of Surprises, I am quite certain that the God of Surprises in Person loved and got a great kick out of the Joe of surprises!

Joe never failed to surprise us. He surprised everybody in 1949 when he gave up engineering studies at University College Dublin to join the Jesuits. He surprised even himself in the positive way he influenced the boys at Gonzaga in the late 1950s, when he was the first Jesuit scholastic to teach there. His extensive theological understanding surprised me in Milltown Park where fate in the person of a formal Visitor to the Irish Province appointed me to be one of his theology examiners. It was my feeling that he surprised (and greatly relieved) our mother and father by staying the course to ordination, tertianship and thereafter. He surprised Saint Peter's in Jersey City, and later Saint Malachy's on Broadway, by his stunning success as Director of Campus Ministries, pastor, homilist, counsellor, and ever in-demand baptiser, solemniser of marriages, support in time of stress and grief, and (like his namesake, Joseph of Arimathea whom we heard about in the Gospel) burier of the dead.

And his death was a surprise, something totally unexpected. Though he had been having heart and circulatory problems for quite some time, he seemed to be coping with these. But on Friday 5th December things were different. That day he was leaving Saint Malachy's and changing back to Saint Peter's where he had served for 25 years. He got to his new home early in the afternoon but complained, as he had done earlier in the day, of chest pains and overwhelming tiredness. Late in the afternoon he was taken to hospital where the authorities said they would keep him under observation for a few days. As the evening wore on, they had to give him a whole bunch of IV drips and other medical supports. But in between times he was in good form, spoke to many friends on his cell-phone, was making arrangements for the coming weekend, and asked a few close friends to come and keep him company. After chatting with these for some time, he fell into a quiet sleep and a few minutes later his friends saw that his monitor had changed from blips to a straight line. In his sleep, Joe had just slipped away into the arms of the God he loved and served so well. There was no pain, distress or trouble, but great peace and calm, and for this we must, in one of his own favourite expressions, praise and thank God.

But the thing that bowled us over most of all, Joe's family on this side of the Atlantic, was the flood of people, thousands of them from New York and Jersey City, talking of the way Joe had touched their lives and crying warm tears because he had left them. We knew that Joe was a good priest, but we didn't realize how good until we saw the outpourings of love and grief, heard the testimonials, and shared the tears of some of the thousands for whom he was so significant.

Perhaps in some ways we tended to think of him as Joe the rebel, Joe the “irreverent reverend”, or in the words of one of his close friends, as Joe the Catholic anarchist. And certainly he could be a rebel, and was critical and irreverent whenever he encountered pomposity, sham, formalism, heavy-handed clerical bureaucracy, putting rules and regulations before people, using religion to enslave instead of to set free. In this he identified wholeheartedly with the Jesus he so dearly loved who scorned the pomposity, the nit picking, the ritualistic ways and the oppressive religiosity of many of the religious leaders of his time. Joe was the same. There was no side to him and he had no time for legalism or sham in today's church. He loved pomp and circumstance and good acting in the theatre, but he had no time for anything like this in the church or for anything that might make it harder for people to experience how greatly God loved them.

Mention of the theatre reminds us of Joe's very extensive work throughout the theatre world, from front stage to back stage, and the enjoyment, strength and encouragement that he in his turn got from the support of the theatre community. And it is really marvellous to hear that his friends from the theatre world are considering a celebration to remember him, to be held in a Broadway theatre some time in the New Year.

Messages have poured into St. Malachy's website testifying to Joe's dedication as a great and concerned pastor who always tried to ensure that all should be for the best with each individual whom he contacted. Let me share with you something from two of them.

The first is from Steven Kelly who acknowledges that his lifestyle is one that is not accepted by the Catholic Church but states that because of Joe he is an active Catholic and very comfortable in being one. Steven goes on: “I can remember when our church would publish the name of the priest saying the next week's Mass. They had to stop doing that because people would only go to the Mass that Father Joe was celebrating.... I know he is in a better place ... but it's not fair to all of us remaining. He will be in my heart and head for as long as I live”.

The second comes from Charles Michel, who calls himself “an old-time member of the St. Malachy's Family”. Charles wrote:
There has been a lot of talk recently about guys named Joe. “Joe” has come to stand for any regular guy who is identified with the job he does. He and his job are almost one and the same. He does his job well because this is a natural extension of who he is at his core. This was never truer than it was for "Joe the Priest”. Of all the clergy I have ever known, I cannot think of a more priestly one than Father Joe Kelly.
And here is why ... Some men become priests because they love God. Some men, especially Jesuits, become priests because they like to think about God. And some men become priests because they love to wear robes and pretend they are God!

But Joe Kelly was a priest because he loved PEOPLE. And for him loving people WAS loving God. And since he lived in a world full of people every relationship in his life was a prayer. He didn't need to fall to his knees to commune with The Almighty. He just needed to pour a glass of good wine for a friend, cook him a gourmet meal, and tell the best story ever into the wee hours of the night. ... Father Kelly knew God because he knew Susan and Paul and Margie and Sam. He saw God in the face of everyone he knew. He did not look up to heaven to see God. Instead, on countless occasions, he found God across the dinner table and he would simply say to him or her, Isn't this a good Cabernet?”

This past Sunday one of St. Malachy's long-time parishioners shared with me her last conversation with him. Joe had said to her, “The only thing I now know is that God is love. Everything else - all rules, all the theology, all the struggle, all the guilt - is meaningless”.

Again I see how near he was to the Lord Jesus, the great lover of people, who always gave pride of place to people and their needs, no matter how exhausted he was, his heart going out to them, especially if they were in trouble or seemed harassed or dejected. And that's how it was with Joe.

And Joe identified closely with the Lord in another significant way. Both of them loved feasts, banquets, celebrations, parties – Jesus to the extent that he was criticized as being a drunkard and a glutton, Joe to the extent that, as Charles said in his message, he could so easily find God across the dinner table and make it possible for others to do the same. For Joe, every celebration, every meal with friends, was the literal fulfilment of the promise made in tonight's First Reading, that God would prepare a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, and would wipe away the tears from every cheek and take away the mourning veil covering all peoples. Even in the most desolate moments, Joe's exuberant humour, vitality, wit, and interest in finding God, brought out the presence of God in every meal and gathering, not only as the God of Surprises, but also as the God of gentle healing, rejoicing and laughter. Certainly, he found God more easily and much more surely in a glass of Chateau-neuf-de pape than in any document dealing with infallibility-de-pape! And surely this comes out in the last photo taken of him on 3rd December, just two days before he died, celebrating a meal at Ciro's Restaurant in New York with Sister Peggy and some of the other stalwart women who supported him not only as a priest but also as a person whose health situation was dicey.

And let us remember that it is through a Eucharist that we are celebrating Joe tonight. And the Eucharist is a meal, a feast, a celebration - just what Joe loved. Our Eucharist is a joyful celebration with the great Master of festivities, Jesus Himself, and we find it enriching and fulfilling and a great happiness to be here.

Alongside his deep love of God and his extensive love for everyone as a child of God (recall our First Reading tonight, “We are all children of God, though we still don't know what we are to be in the future”. Joe had an extraordinary love for all the members of his many families, his natural family here in Ireland and those who became his family in New York and Jersey City.

We were a very united family, seven of us and our parents, though we were dispersed all over the place. Like myself, Joe would have heard our mother saying, “It breaks your father's heart and mine to see you going away, and yet we are glad that you are all living far from one another, because that way we know you will stay close and will not be quarrelling”. How right she was! We never knew squabbling or bickering or falling out. Coming back home, whether to Tullamore, or Newbridge or Blackrock, was always wonderful for Joe and all of us, with great reunions all round and great celebrations. Joe idolized our father, and I'm sure this helped him experience what it meant to be loved by God as Father, And our father in Tullamore worshipped the ground Joe walked on, even to the extent of refusing to let himself die until he became aware that Joe was at his side. This great warm bond between us was what Joe wanted to re-create as he tried to strengthen the union and harmony in the families of his countless friends, students and parishioners.

Joe also had a powerfully strong love for the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus to which he belonged for more than 59 years. Just one illustration of that. Going through his personal effects last week, we came across a notebook clearly marked "private". At first we were going to put it with papers to be shredded. But earlier we nearly did the same with an envelope containing a thick wad of dollars, thinking it was an old diary. So although some things remain private even in death, I thought I'd better have a quick look at the private notebook. I flicked through the pages, and what did I find? Not a single dollar! Nothing, in fact, except blank pages with just a few thinly scribbled ones at the beginning. One of these, dated August 2002, read: “I don't know how I can ever be grateful enough to my Jesuit colleagues at America House, for all the support, encouragement and boundless love they have always given me. I could never have got on without them”. This was for his own eyes only, but it shows how much it meant to him that he was a Jesuit, a member of the Society of Jesus, the Society of love. The Jesuit Community at America House, and in earlier years the Jesuit Community at St. Peter's College, were his lifeline, the umbilical cord that bound him in love and unity to his fellow Jesuits there and to his Jesuit brethren across the world.

We were indeed proud of Joe as a first class Jesuit and an excellent priest. And Oonagh and I remain very, very proud that he was our brother.

And one last thing before we end. Joe was always very close to Ed Williams of Tullamore. They were a real Jonathan and David pair in modern times. By an extraordinary coincidence, this very day of Joe's memorial Mass, 15th December, is the first anniversary of Ed's death. The bond that united these two in life was too strong to be broken by death. But perhaps I shouldn't have said "coincidence". This was no coincidence. It was the God of Surprises, dearly loved as a Person and a book by both Ed and Joe, who brought them together again. When Joe would visit Ed in Tullamore, one of Ed's daughters would pop her head into the room where Ed was sitting and announce, “The God of Surprises is at the door”. I'm sure that when Ed realized last week that Joe was at the door of heaven he would have welcomed him ecstatically and proudly presented him, the Joe of surprises, to the God of Surprises.

When the Old Testament prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven, his follower Elisha threw Elijah's cloak over his shoulders and became a great and powerful prophet in his place. May Joe's mantle of love of God and family, loyalty and love for the Society of Jesus, joy in celebration, honesty, integrity, compassion, concern for every child of God, and joy in all God's goodness, fall on the shoulders of each one of us so that our lives may help every one we deal with to encounter the surprise and the joy of God and to recognize with Joe that in the final analysis the only thing that has meaning is that God is love.

Roddy Guerrini, for many years Joe's contemporary in the Jesuits:
I think I knew Joe Kelly fairly well. We were friends as novices and continued to communicate well all our lives though separated by distance. The funeral homily is accurate. I'll add some comments to it.

Joe was highly intelligent and sensitive to people and circumstances, what you might call the signs of the times. He would hate to be called an “intellectual”, thinking the word smacked of superiority to others or conceit of self. Those who considered themselves 'intellectuals', he would think phonies or poseurs. Consequently he never talked above peoples' heads or talked down to them. But he was a fast learner in any field he engaged. In Theology he and I repeated every evening for one hour. It was all the theology I needed for the ad grad. Joe was a gifted mimic and could take off the professors and make the dullest lecture a comedy performance. In addition he had a photographic memory and hearing once was all he needed to retain the material, a great help to me who didn't always pay attention. We developed a vocabulary of our own, code words that stood for whole theses. In exam I would hear Joe's voice in my head repeating our wild theology, and answer with a straight face in the conventional way. It made theology a very agreeable experience.

Joe is portrayed in the homily a good listener. This is fair comment but omits mention of the cost. He took many problems on himself and suffered much stress as result. Often I would suggest “detach a little”. It was not in his nature. To detach seemed like “not caring”. I do believe that this 'involvement' harmed his health and took some joy out of his life.

Eulogy in Saint Malachy's Church, Broadway (The Actors Chapel):
Joe Kelly was a lover and a love. He was a lover because, as his brother, nephew and friend said at his funeral mass, he loved God and he loved people and he loved bringing God to people. He was a love because he was a warm, caring, compassionate dynamo, with an unparalleled sense of humour and such a deep humility that you just couldn't help but love him. He walked the walk – “What you do unto others, you do unto me”.

He always remembered the forgotten. Even when he was feeling weak, he managed to visit the elderly, the sick and the dying. Years ago, he had a friend who had a relative in prison. When he would visit him, the man would tell him how much he hated prison food and would love to have veal scaloppini. So, as only Joe would do, the next time he visited him, he went with a veal scaloppini sandwich wrapped in foil and plastic and strapped to his leg.

Agnes Sheehy and Michael Kelly were married on April 13, 1919 in Tullamore, County Offaly Ireland. They had 7 children, four boys and three girls; Joe was the youngest. Three of the boys became Jesuit priests: two of them served in Africa and Joe ended up here in the U.S. (lucky for us). He entered the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus at the age of 18. He was not a proud man, but he was proud of that S.J. after his name. He always took his orders in his stride, and in his early days he was assigned to be a beekeeper. He learned to love it and became quite an expert on bees and honey (and you thought he was just an expert on wine).

While studying at University in Ireland, he had to prepare a paper that was sent to Oxford for review and then he had to have a personal meeting with his reviewer, who just happened to be JRR Tolkien. During their meeting, Tolkien told Joe about a book he was currently working on called “The Lord of the Rings”.

After graduation in 1954, he became an English teacher in Ireland, and his students still love him to this day. Many have kept in touch all these years, have brought him back to Ireland to baptize and marry their children and have visited him here in NY. In 2002 they had a special dinner in Ireland to honor him. Joe was an avid bird watcher and was passionate about literature, poetry and music. He could recite entire passages from Shakespeare and frequently a poetic quote would pop out of his mouth. He had no favorite poet – he loved them all.

He left Ireland in 1965 with a heavy heart to come to the U.S. to study labour relations at Loyola in Chicago and in Cornell in NY, but ultimately he fell in love with America.

As head of Campus Ministry at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, he started the “How To Club”. He would bring the students into New York City to go to the theatre and opera, and took them to fine restaurants and taught them proper etiquette and “how to” order food and wine.

He loved opera and Gilbert & Sullivan. In fact, he usually sat there mouthing the words to the songs because he knew them all. He loved theatre. About a month ago, he called me one night and said, “I just have to share this with you – I just had the most incredible night on Broadway that I have ever had”. Phil Smith had taken him to opening night of Billy Elliott and they sat behind Elton Jon, with Mayor Bloomberg in the row behind them. Pity that they have no idea how lucky they were to be sitting so close to such a great man.

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him on a number of projects for St. Malachy's so I could see him in action first hand. We worked for a whole year on the centennial dinner that was held in January 2003 and many, many hours were spent writing the keepsake journal with St. Malachy's history that was given out at the dinner, Because he was so well loved in the community, people generously responded to him and ultimately $250,000 profit was made at that dinner.

Through his tireless efforts, there is now a “St. Malachy's Way” sign at the corner of 49th Street and Eighth Avenue. He jumped through many hoops to finally get the approval and a wonderful street-naming ceremony was held in June 2003, complete with a Proclamation from the Mayor declaring June 10, 2003 “St. Malachy's Day”. He was beaming - he loved St. Malachy's and one of his dreams became a reality that day.

Aside from being active in the church, Joe was a valued and well-respected member of the community, serving on the Broadway Association, on the board of the Times Square Alliance and was appointed by the Mayor to the Mayor's Midtown Citizens Committee. The Catholic Church couldn't have asked for a better person to represent them in the secular world because everyone loved Joe Kelly and he brought a humanity to the church which attracted people from all faiths.

Joe Kelly was a friend to all, from the famous to the forgotten. He lived life to the fullest, gave unselfishly of himself, touched more lives that he could have ever imagined, and always held fast to his love of God.

I would like to close with a quotation from one of his homilies in 2001:

Years ago there was a play, a great musical here on Broadway. It was called “La Cage Aux Folles” and included a song called “The Best of Times”.
The best of times is now.
What's left of summer but a faded rose?
The best of times is now
For tomorrow, well, who knows?
Who knows?
So hold this moment fast
and live and love as hard as you know how.
And make this moment last because the best of times is now.

Then he went on to say,
“Our Lord himself said it a long time ago in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Take today for today. Today's troubles are enough. Leave tomorrow. Leave the end of the world, leave all of that – leave even our own death in the hands of a loving and a compassionate God’.”

Joe Kelly did just that – he lived and loved as hard as he knew how. How lucky are we to have had him in our lives.

Interfuse No 162 : Winter 2015

REMEMBERING JOE KELLY

Fr Joseph Kelly (1931-2008)

In the years before he died in Jersey City in December 2008, I seldom met my brother Joe. But almost every time we managed to meet he would at some point say to me, “Michael, when I'm dead and buried no one will remember me”. Little did he know how wrong he was! Within two years of his death, the Broadway Association was instrumental in having his “caricature” hung in the renowned Sardi's Restaurant in New York, along with the greats of the theatre, film and entertainment industry. This was in recognition of the unique pastoral relationship Joe had developed with the Broadway community-actors, choristers, theatre staff - as their special friend and priest-on-call. A year later, Mary Higgins Clark, the “Agatha Christie” of American detective fiction, dedicated her novel I'll Walk Alone to Joe's memory, with the words:

Always a twinkle in this Jesuit's eye
Always a smile on his handsome face
Always faith and compassion overflowing his soul
He was the stuff of which saints are made
When all heaven protested his absence
His Creator called him home.

Some time later, in December 2013, St. Peter's Jesuit University in Jersey City dedicated to his memory a new chaplaincy unit, The Joseph A Kelly SJ Office of Campus Ministry, so that, in the words of the University President, his legacy and love could be experienced by the entire St. Peter's community, including those who never had the good fortune of knowing him personally.

Now Joe is once more being remembered in Times Square in the heart of New York where every day throughout the month of July 2016 one of the huge billboards or “signages” will recall his name, “in memory of a wonderful priest”.

At the time of his death, one of Joe's theatre-world friends wrote: “Some men become priests because they love God. Some men, especially Jesuits, become priests because they like to think about God. .... But Joe Kelly was a priest because he loved people. For him loving people was loving God. And since he lived in a world full of people, every relationship in his life was a prayer. He didn't need to fall to his knees to commune with the Almighty. He just needed to pour a glass of good wine for a friend, cook him a gourmet meal, and tell the best story ever into the wee hours of the night”.

How better could he be remembered? Thank God that the memory of a dedicated Irish Jesuit survives in New York, in St. Malachy's (the Actors’ Chapel), on Broadway, in Sardi's and in the chaplaincy unit at St. Peter's Jesuit University and the annual university walk which he instituted to gather funds to provide international food assistance. Joe, if this is what you mean by saying that no one will remember you after you are gone, let every one of us live so that we can be “forgotten” in a similar way!

Michael J Kelly

Born: 30 May 1851, Rathcroghan, County Roscommon
Entered: 14 August 1882, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: - 1876, Irish College, Paris, France
Final Vows: 15 August 1907, St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin
Died: 11 July 1930, St. John's Hospital, Limerick

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

by 1884 at Oña Spain (ARA) studying
by 1895 at Roehampton London (ANG) making Tertianship

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 2nd Year No 1 1926

College of the Sacred Heart Crescent
On September 12th was celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Fr John Kelly's Priesthood. In deference to his own wish, the rejoicings were private, but Fr. Provincial, Fr Rector of Mungret and several other Fathers, joined the Crescent Community at dinner. Fr. Provincial, in a sincere and happy speech, reviewed the life-work of the Jubilarian. Fr John entered the Novitiate at Milltown Park in August 1882. For six years previously he had been storming his Bishop for permission to join the Society. During these years he did valiant work as teacher in his native Diocese, Elphin. His years in the Society have been “full of days” For over twenty of them he taught in the Colleges, then spent about seven years on the Missionary Staff. Showing rare skill in “Missioncraft” and for many, many years he has endeared himself to the people of Limerick and the surrounding counties as confessor, preacher and adviser. When it became known outside that Fr. Kelly's jubilee was being celebrated, he received many congratulations from clergy and laity and His Lordship, Dr. Keane, paid him a special visit.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 4 1930

Sacred Heart College Limerick :
Sad events :
July 11. At 10,45 A.M. the venerable Fr. John Kelly passed to his reward. He had been in St John's Hospital since May 24. During his stay there he had been quite comfortable and happy. His old Limerick friends visited him in great numbers, and, lavished the greatest kindness on him, He died a most peaceful and painless death - simply worn out by long years of unremitting toil. RIP.
His solemn obsequies took place on July14. His Lordship, Dr. Keane, presided at the Office and High Mass, and gave the absolutions around the catafalque. The clergy, Regular and Secular, were present in good numbers though so many were away on holiday.
So huge was the gathering of the laity, that it was difficult to find even standing room, and when the funeral moved off from the Church the entire Crescent space, and the streets leading from it towards Mungret, were thronged with people, young and old, on whose faces one could read sorrow for the passing of an old friend. The funeral was an immensely
long one, and a stream of admirers followed on foot all the way to the cemetery at Mungret College. Prominent during the obsequies, and up to the moment of burial, were Fr John's Promoters in the Confraternity of the S. Heart, of which he had been the devoted Director for many years, and of which he had charge up to less than a year before his death. Fr Provincial said the last prayers before burial.
Two deaths - one of the youngest member of the Community, the other of its oldest, well within a month, were a severe trial for the Crescent Fathers. It was a consolation to them during the rather sad time they passed through, to note the very wide and very sincere respect with which the Society is regarded in Limerick. At a full meeting of the Sodality BVM,
on the evening of Fr. Kelly's burial, the Rector thanked the public for the remarkable sympathy shown to the Community of the deaths of Mr Hyland and Fr. John Kelly.

Irish Province News 5th Year No 4 1930

Obituary :
Fr John Kelly
Fr. Kelly died at the Crescent on Friday, 11 July, 1930.
He was born 30 May, 1851, and entered the Society at Milltown, as a priest, 14 Aug 1882. He finished the novitiate at Oña, where he spent two years repeating theology, and then went to Clongowes for a years, His next move was to Belvedere, where he spent eight years teaching. Tertianship at Roehampton followed in 1894, then Tullabeg, as “Miss. Excurr” for a year. In 1896 we find him at the Crescent, where he worked, “Doc. Oper”, until 1904, when he travelled to Galway. Three years as “Oper”, and five as “Miss. Excurr” followed, during the last two of which he lived at Milltown. From 1913 to 1915 he was “Oper” at Gardiner St. In the latter year he returned to the Crescent, where he lived until his holy death in 1930.
Fr. Kelly had a part in nearly every kind of work proper to the Society. He was master, missioner, operarius. For a long time he was Spiritual Father, frequently had charge of the “Cases”, and for many years was “Cons. Dom” in the various houses where he lived. To all these works he brought great earnestness and devotion to duty. He had considerable success as a master, especially in his early days in the Society, but he chiefly excelled as a Director of Sodalities. The extraordinary scenes of reverence and sincere regret witnessed at his funeral, and described in the Limerick notes, show what a place he had won in the hearts of the people, and how much his work was appreciated in Limerick.
In the midst of all his distracting duties Fr. Kelly never forgot his own perfection. He was an excellent, observant religious, and never failed to edify those with whom he lived, by his solid, steady, unobtrusive piety.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father John Kelly (1882-1930)

Was a secular priest when he entered the Society in 1882. He was a native of Co Roscommon and had received his higher education at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. He completed his noviceship and continued his higher studies at Oña, in Spain. In his early years in the Society, Father Kelly gave good service as master in the colleges and first joined the teaching staff of the Crescent in 1896 where he was to remain for the next eight years. His outstanding gifts, however, were those of missioner and retreat director. The last quarter century of his life was spent at the Crescent where he enjoyed the confidence and respect of the many who sought his spiritual guidance.

◆ SHC - Sacred Heart College Limerick 1931

Obituary

Father John Kelly SJ

Fr John Kelly died at St. John's Hospital, Limerick, on the morning of July II, 1930. We take the following obituary notice from the “LIMERICK CHRONICLE” of July 12 :

“By the death of the Rev John Kelly SJ, which occurred at St John's Hospital yesterday morning, after an illness of some duration, the Jesuit Order has lost a distinguished member and scholar. Father Kelly was born at Rathcroghan, Co Roscommon, on the 30th May, 1851, and was ordained for the secular priesthood of his native diocese of Elphin in the Irish College at Paris, in 1876. After his ordination he was on the professorial staff of Summerhill College, Sligo, for nearly four years, prior to entering the Society of Jesus on the 14th August, 1882, and continuing his studies at the Oña House of the Order in Spain. On returning to this country, Father Kelly was attached for some time to Clongowes and later, for eight years to Belvedere College, Dublin. In 1896, he was transferred to the mission staff, and during eight years he was widely known through Ireland as a successful missioner. At Limerick, in the Sacred Heart Church and in the College, he worked from 1904 to 1907, when he went to Galway as missioner again. From 1912 to 1915, Fr Kelly was attached to St Francis Xavier's Church, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin. Since he left Gardiner Street, Fr Kelly had been at the Sacred Heart Church, Limerick, where, until about twelve months ago, when he had to be relieved of his duties, owing to failing health, he was most energetic and did splendid work. He was an able and convincing preacher, widely read and of broad and tolerant views. Possessed of a charming personality and a gift for making friends, Father Kelly was a fine type of priest, a wise counsellor, and warm hearted and sympathetic in his views. His familiar figure will be missed in the city, where he was well known and beloved by all classes and creeds for his kindly disposition and beautiful traits of character, and wide outlook in every thing appertaining to Christianity.

In the Sacred Heart Church, where Fr. John had laboured so long and so faithfully, his solemn obsequies took place on July 14. His Lordship, the Most Rev Dr Keane, presided at the Office and High Mass, and gave the absolutions. Though many were away on holidays the clergy, secular and regular, were present in large numbers. So huge was the gathering of the laity, that it was difficult to find even standing room, and when the funeral moved off from the Church the entire Crescent space, and a large portion of O'Connell Avenue were thronged with people, who mourned for the passing of an old friend. Many followed on foot all the way to Mungret College, where, in the Community cemetery, Fr John was laid to rest. Prominent during the obsequies, and up to the moment of burial, were Fr Kelly's Promoters in the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, of which he had been the devoted Director for many years. To his nieces and nephews, several of whom travelled long distances to be present at the funeral, we offer our sincere sympathy”.

Numerous messages of sympathy from the people of Limerick were received by Rev Fr Rector and the Community. The members of the Limerick Corporation, of the Municipal Technical Institute, of the Amalgamated Pork Butchers' Society, of the Limerick Golf Club and of Labour Organisations in the City passed votes of condolence, showing how much he was respected and how much his work was appreciated. The people of Limerick have not forgotten Fr John Kelly. RIP

Born: 15 April 1906, Charlotte Street, Newbridge, County Kildare
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1940, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 30 August 1977, Our Lady of Fatima, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada

Left Society of Jesus: 25 September 1956 (Incardinated into Sault St Marie Diocese, Canada 1956)

Father (a Protestant) is a clerk of The Laird Line Shipping Company. Family lived at Emerald Street, Seville Place, Dublin City, County Dublin.
Youngest of three boys.
Early education at St Laurence O'Toole’s Christian Brother school, and then at O’Connell Schools.
by 1929 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying
1931 Regency at Belvedere
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship

Baptised at Newbridge parish, 22 May 1906

Born: 03 October 1917, Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 28 July 1948, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1953, Belvedere College SJ, Dublin
Died: 04 December 1982, Milltown Park, Dublin

Father was manager of an English firm.

One younger sister.

Early education was at a National and Christian Brothers school, he then went to Belvedere College SJ.

by 1966 at Bergamo, Italy (VEM) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 58th Year No 1 1983
Obituary
Fr John C Kelly (1917-1935-1982)
I am not in a position to write a complete obituary of Jack Kelly, having known him for only part of his life his years as spiritual father and teacher in Belvedere (1950-'62) and, to a lesser extent, his time as a teacher of philosophy in Milltown (1968-'82), after his stint in University Hall, working with the students and assisting with Studies (1962-'66), and his two years in Bergamo, studying communications (1966-68). A Dubliner, he was at school in Belvedere and joined the Society in 1935. His years of formation followed the normal pattern at the time – novitiate in Emo, Arts degree in Rathfarnham, philosophy in Tullabeg, regency (in Clongowes), theology in Milltown Park (ordination in 1948) and tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle. It is on the next phase, the twelve years in Belvedere, that I would like to concentrate. It was a significant period of his life, the decade or so after ordination, and an enduringly valuable part of his apostolic work.
It was apparent from the funeral service, moving as this was, that not all in the province realise how large Jack Kelly's influence was in Belvedere during the fifties. Such influence was the more remarkable in view of the number of Jesuits in the community at the time, many of them memorable and influential figures themselves. Even among these, Jack was special.
He was never, I think, a full-time teacher. TB limited his activities at first. Later, when Charlie Heron died suddenly in May 1959, Jack was drafted in to take his place, thus adding French classes to those he already had in English. Later, when we were in Franz Schrenk's philosophy class, Jack introduced us to T S Eliot. Mirabile dictu: Eliot was not then deceased the statutory half-century or so evidently required at the time for inclusion in Department of Education syllabi - in fact he was still alive! In addition to teaching, Jack helped Oliver O’Brien with the operas and plays in the early sixties and produced Shaw's "You Never Can Tell" himself in 1962. He was also a stylish and stimulating director of the Poetry Debating Society.
But the real source of his influence in Belvedere in those years was, I think, as spiritual father. In this capacity he occasionally addressed the whole school in the chapel at lunchtime. We looked forward to these homilies, not only because they were a welcome variation on the daily rosary but also and more importantly because Jack was always interesting. I particularly remember a reference to “flying missiles”. We laughed (surreptitiously) because Jack pronounced “missiles” as “missals”, with that mixture of the quirky and the fastidious which he sometimes displayed. But we listened too. It was typical of Jack that such contemporary matters should have found their way into his sermon. Religion, as presented by him, never appeared antiquated or irrelevant.
There was another occasion when he thought we were making too much noise and disturbance in the chapel when he entered. He walked up the nave with his rather stiff, hurried stride and donned a cotta as usual before coming out of the sacristy to address us. But there was no address. Instead, he berated us for our misbehaviour and dismissed us from the chapel at once as unworthy of whatever he had to say. It was a measure of his stature in our eyes that we left, neither amused at this display of adult temperament nor relieved at the unforeseen extension of our lunch-break but humiliated by our failure to measure up to his expectations of us. This, I think, was part of his secret: he took us seriously and expected us to do the same.
Many Belvederians from that time will also recall the private interviews with Jack in his room and the talks he gave us at meetings of the BVM Sodality on Sunday mornings in 'number nine'. His sane intelligence, in the somewhat fusty atmosphere of the time, was a breath of fresh air. At the same time, he would out flank our timid 1950s radicalism by seeming to espouse views more daring than our own and then pointing out the fallacies which underpinned both.
The twinkle in his eye and the warmth of his smile belied Jack's somewhat austere appearance and the possible threat of his obviously sharp intelligence. For younger boys he was a some what remote figure - although, in First Year, we knew him as one of the gentlest priests for whom to serve Mass, especially at the learning stage, when you were apt to get things wrong. Not all those we served were similarly long-suffering!
It was typical of Jack Kelly that he should have broken the Belvederian's long silence on the subject of the school's élève terrible, James Joyce, firmly, shrewdly and authoritatively, with a long review of the just-published Letters in 1957, long before it was fashionable to breathe that name. He wrote of Joyce as possessing a Catholic mind that rejected superstition and thought it had rejected the faith'. I like to think that fewer Belvederians from Jack Kelly's time in the school may have fallen into that mistake because they were privileged to meet in him a rare union of sophisticated intelligence and genuine Christian spirituality.
There is much else to be said of Jack's work and talents, especially as related to communications: his years as film critic for The Furrow, his work in television, his interest in the philosophy of communications, happily culminating in the publication of his book on the subject not very long before his death. There was also his role in introducing the “Teams of Our Lady' to this country. Others can write more adequately than I of these activities and many more as well as of Jack's early life. For my own part, I doubt if I have conveyed the wealth of respect and affection Jack Kelly earned during his years as teacher and priest in Belvedere. I know how dismayed many of us felt at the news of his sudden death and how much we miss him.
Bruce Bradley SJ

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1983

Obituary

Father Jack Kelly SJ

Fr John C Kelly SJ died suddenly but quietly last Autumn. I am not in a position to write a complete obituary, having known him for only part of his life - his years as spiritual father and teacher in Belvedere (1950–1962) and, to a lesser extent, his time as teacher of philosophy in Milltown Park (1968-1982), after his stint in University Hall, working with students and assisting with Studies (1962-1966), and his two years in Bergamo studying communications (1966-1968).

It is on the twelve years in Belvedere that I would like to concentrate. It was a significant part of his life, the decade or so after ordination, and an enduringly valuable part of his apostolic work. Not all of his contemporaries in the Jesuits realise how large was the influence of Jack Kelly in Belvedere during the fifties. Such influence was the more remarkable in view of the number of Jesuits in the community at the time. Most of them memorable and influential figures themselves. Even among these, Jack was special.

He was never, I think, a full-time teacher, TB limited his activities at first, Later, when Charlie Heron SJ died suddenly, Jack was drafted in to take his place, thus adding French classes to those he already had in English. Later, in Philosophy year, Jack introduced us to T S Eliot. Mirabile dictu: Eliot was not then deceased the statutory half century or so evidently required at that time for inclusion in the syllabus of the Department of Education - in fact he was still alive! In addition to teaching Jack helped Oliver O'Brien with the operas and plays in the early sixties and produced Shaw's You Never Can Tell in 1962. He was also a stylish and stimulating director of the Poetry Debating Society.

But the real source of his influence in Belvedere in those years was, I think, as spiritual father. In this capacity he occasionally addressed the whole school in the chapel at lunchtime. We looked forward to these homilies, not only because they were a welcome variation on the daily rosary, but also, and more importantly, because Jack was always interesting. Religion, as presented by him, never appeared antiquated or irrelevant.

There was one occasion when he thought we were making too much noise and disturbance in the chapel when he entered. He walked up the nave with his rather stiff hurried stride and donned a surplice as usual before coming out to address us. But there was no address. Instead, he berated us for our misbehaviour and dismissed us from the chapel at once as unworthy of what he had to say. It was a measure of his stature in our eyes that we left, neither amused by this display of adult temperament nor relieved at the unforseen extension of our lunch break, but humiliated by our failure to measure up to his expectations of us. This, I think, was part of his secret: he took us seriously and expected us to do the same.

Many Belvederians from that time will also recall the private interviews in his room and the talks he gave us at meetings of the BVM sodality on Sunday mornings in “number nine”. His sane intelligence, in the somewhat fusty atmosphere of the time, wasa breath of fresh air. At the same time he would outflank our timnid 1950s radicalism by seeming to espouse views more dating than our own and then pointing out the fallacies that underpinned both.

The twinkle in his eye and the warmth of his smile were a little at odds with Jack's rather austere appearance and his obviously sharp intelligence. For younger boys he was a somewhat remote figure, although, in First Year, we knew him as one of the gentlest priests for whom to serve Mass, especiallyin the learning stage when you were apt to get things wrong. Not all those we served were similarly long suffering!

It was typical of Jack Kelly that he should have broken the Belvederian's silence on the subject of the school's élève terrible, James Joyce, firmly, shrewdly and authoritatively, with a long review of the just published Letters in 1957, long before it was fashionable to breathe that name. He wrote of Joyce as possessing “a Catholic mind that rejected superstition and thought it had rejected the faith”, I like to think that fewer Belvederians from Jack Kelly's time in the school may have fallen into that mistake because they were privileged to meet in him a rare union of spphisticated intelligence and genuine Christian spirituality.

There is much else to be said of Jack's work and talents, especially as related to communications: his years as film critic for The Furrow, his work in television, his interest in the philosophy of communications, happily culminating in the publication of his book on the subject not very long before his death. There was also his role in introducing the “Teams of Our Lady” to this country. Others could write more adequately than I of these activities and many more, as well as of Jack's early life. For my own part, I doubt if I have conveyed the wealth of respect and affection Jack Kelly earned during his years as teacher and priest in Belvedere. I know how dismayed many of us felt at I the news of his sudden death and how much we miss him.
Bruce Bradley SJ

Born: 10 August 1890, Dromgill, Borrisoleigh, County Tipperary
Entered: 15 October 1910, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1927, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 12 January 1950, St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin

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

Father was a farmer and died in 1901.

Third youngest child of eight boys and two girls.

Educated at a local National School and then at age 15 went to at Mungret College SJ

Studied for BA in Classics at UCD; Ordained at Milltown Park

by 1915 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1917 in Australia - Regency at Xavier College, Kew
by 1922 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
1925-1926 Paray-le-Monial - Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Jeremiah Kelly entered the Society at the age of twenty, and after initial Jesuit studies taught at Xavier College, 1916-20, as well as being hall prefect and in charge of the choir.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 25th Year No 2 1950
Obituary
Fr. Jeremiah Kelly (1890-1910-1950)
Fr. Jeremiah Kelly was born at Dromgill, Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary on August 10th, 1890. In August, 1905 he entered the Apostolic School and went through the full course of Secondary Studies and took the Firsts Arts Examination in 1910. He then entered the novitiate and later finished his course for the B.A. which he passed in 1914.
After his Philosophy course at St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, he went to Xavier College, Kew where he was both Master and Prefect for five years. Little is known by the present writer of his activities in Australia, but one thing that he brought back from Australia was a great love for that country and the Australians. On his return from Australia Fr. Kelly was sent to Louvain for his Theology. He returned to Ireland for his ordination which took place in Milltown on 31st July, 1923. He finished his Theology and went to Paray-le-Monial for his Tertianship. He both hoped and expected to go to Australia and thus went into “training” round the “track” at Paray-le-Monial. He bought his “tropical” outfit but to his surprise the status of 1926 listed him as Superior of the Apostolic School.
As a Jesuit Fr. Kelly spent 21 years at Munget : 15 as Superior and 6 as Rector. When Fr. Kelly took up office in 1926 he found on the staff of the College, Fr. W. Kane who had taught him as a boy. Both men served as admirable links with past students and past traditions.
Fr. Kelly's work for the Apostolic School may best be summed up in the words of a former student who, on the occasion of Fr. Jerry's: death wrote :
“He made the Encyclical on the Priesthood the standard for the Apostolics and he lived it himself. Many were the material problems which Fr. Kelly had to face in his early days at Mungret but he never allowed them to overshadow. the primacy of the spiritual life of the Apostolics. His weekly talks on the Encyclical were summarised in typewritten form on a sheet and hung up in public so that the students could refresh their minds on the matter of the lecture. It was his aim to nake sure that every student who left the Apostolic School should know not only the dignity to which he was called but also the responsibilities of his calling.
His devotion to the spiritual life of the Apostolics was shown in a remarkable way by his devotion to the explanation of the points for their morning meditation. Most of us realise the monotony of explaining the same series of meditation points from the same meditation book day in day out for some years. But to have done so for some 15 years is a labour which should reap for him now a bountiful harvest of prayers from his former students. And Fr. Jerry did find the strain of the constant explanation of ‘points’. How often did he say : ‘Weekly talks are a pleasure, but points drain the life's blood out of me”.
Yet he remained faithful to his purpose and his devotion to duty in this matter was a most forceful argument to his appeals to the Apostolics to be ‘faithful to the last’. Fidelity to duty, fidelity to duty now in small things, was a constant theme in his talks. But above all, faithfulness to duty in spiritual things was of real importance in his life and in the lives of the future priests.
Under Fr. Kelly there was no danger that the Apostolics would lose themselves in vague dreams of the glories of a missionary life. The ‘Present’ was not to be wasted in thinking of ‘The Future”. While urging them on to higher things - his duc in altum became a constant refrain - he left them under no illusions about the value of the work in which they were engaged at the moment--for as he would often say ‘Your first parish is Mungret and so let your light shine before men’.
That he was a strict disciplinarian no one will deny. Yet while he could be severe in reprehending breaches of discipline, he had that wonderful art by which the delinquent realised that there was nothing personal in the reprimand and relations between offender and superior were very quickly brought back to that harmonious level which Fr. Jerry so deeply prized. He was a great believer in what he called ‘Informal Education’. As the child learns, almost unconsciously from the constant and intimate living with its parents, so too the boy in our colleges was to learn from the constant contact with real religious men—the future priest from the actual priest in whom he should see the concrete fulfilment of the Encyclical on the Priesthood.
As a teacher of Philosophy, Fr. Kelly seemed to have been specially graced by God to teach the future priests of the foreign missions. He himself professed that he knew little about Philosophy, yet all his students paid and still pay tribute to his remarkable method of getting across not only the theoretical philosophy but also the practical philosophy. From his almost unending correspondence with past students a labour of love indeed, but very much a labour when one's hands are crippled by rheumatism -- he kept himself fully informed of the problems of the young priest and in his lectures he prepared them for the actual problems they would have to face. His determined aim was to get in philosophy as a whole and many students have spoken of the way Fr. Kelly would come into class with only a Theses Sheet and there and then show how one thesis was linked with another and thus ‘the wandering class’, was often the most instructive. His introduction of a De Universa Examination at the end of the two years course in Philosophy was a move which raised in definite manner the standard of philosophy and earned for our students when they went to Theological colleges a solid respect for their philosophical equipment.
Fr. Kelly was determined that his students should have not only a high standard of philosophical knowledge but also a high standard of general culture. He encouraged them constantly to cultivate the habit of reading and provided them with a really wonderful library. He wanted them to get the ‘atmosphere’ of books so that they would feel lonely without them. His attention to the various exercises in public speaking was most devoted and he was certainly anxious that they should be able to speak the word of God with dignity. Moreover being himself a living example of the text : ‘To be all things to all men’ he did everything in his power to encourage his boys to mix with one another and to be a thoroughly happy family. For the philosophers he built the Smoke Hut where they could realise both their dignity and the trust he placed in them. For the other boys he provided billiard rooms, tennis courts and other facilities of recreation where they could meet and get to know one another”.
Though Fr. Kelly realised that his first work for many years was that of the Apostolic School, yet he was never too busy to take a deep and living interest in the rest of the house. He always had a cheering word and a smile for the boys as they came to and from class. He had the gift of remembering family details and many a 3rd clubber was charmed to hear Fr. Jerry ask about his little sister who had, accompanied her brother on his first trip to Mungret. For eight years he was Spiritual Father of the Layboys and in the period before leaving school many of the senior boys sought his advice in their own personal problems.
Difficult, indeed, were the material problems, caused by World War II, which faced Fr. Kelly when he became Rector of Mungret in 1941. His aim was to prevent, as far as possible, any curtailing of the usual amenities for the boys and, on the other hand, to avoid, by sedulous administration, increasing debt. The anxiety and worry of these difficult years were probably the cause of his somewhat premature death. For many years he had suffered from various forms of rheumatism and arthritis, and while he did his best to hide his suffering those near him realised what he suffered. He remained always cheerful and never wished to have things better than others. One must indeed, admire the greatheartedness of the man who could say with a smile playing round his lips : “I'm bad to-day, thank God”. When Fr. Kelly laid down his office as Rector in 1947, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the number of students in the college had increased by about one-third.
The late Fr. Canavan once described Fr. Kelly as “The Prince of Hosts”. This was an aspect of Fr. Kelly's character somewhat unknown to those who had no direct contact with Mungret. Members of the Society who came to Mungret as visitors will always remember the man who was there to make them feel at home who seemed to have little else to do but to entertain them and to see that they had all the little attentions so often indeliberately forgotten. Be the visitor brother, scholastic or priest, there was always the same real genial welcome. Past students, lay and apostolic, were always welcome and made feel that they were returning home. One of our own has summed up the man in the following lines. “Unfortunately I did not know him - I think I spoke to him only twice. But I remember on each of these occasions a warmth and sincerity that were out of the ordinary”. The warmth and sincerity were certainly there but perhaps not many are aware that such geniality and hospitality were not the outcome of a natural social disposition but the outcome of a conscious virtue. Those who knew him intimately knew how he dreaded the servant's approach with the message of visitors and they have seen him, after the visitors had departed, lying on his bed prostrate with exhaustion.
In July, 1947 Fr. Kelly went to Milltown as Procurator. For a time he seemed rejuvenated. The Dublin air had apparently cured him of his rheumatism and arthritis and his friends were amazed to see him move his hands and feet with such freedom. But such a happy state did not last long. In summer of 1949 he was in St. Vincent's with high blood pressure. After a long stay there he returned to lead a very quiet life at Milltown. Shortly after Christmas he had a stroke and returned once more to St. Vincent's where on the 12th January, 1950 a great-hearted soul that had exhausted itself in the service of others went quietly to its reward. We close this notice with the words of a mother of a past pupil :
“May the clay lie softly on his bones-to know him and to shake him by the hand was to love him”. R.I.P.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1942

Very Rev Father Rector

Father Jeremiah Kelly SJ

By his appointment last July to the office of Rector of Mungret, Father Jeremiah B Kelly becomes yet more intimately associated with the destinies of his Alma Mater. Father Kelly came to Mungret in 1905; and at the conclusion of his College studies entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1910. After his noviceship he attended the National University, where he took out his Degree in Classics. He made his philosophical studies at St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, on the completion of which he werit to Australia, where he was assigned the offices of Prefect and Master in St Francis Xavier's College, Kew, Melbourne. After five busy years in Kew, he returned to Europe to prepare for the priesthood. He made his theological studies at Louvain; and after a year at Paray-le-Monial, he was appointed Şuperior of the Apostolic School, Mungret, in 1926.

During the long space of fifteen years Father Kelly has been engaged in the very responsible duty of training boys for the Church; and a young generation of fervent and zealous priests in distant parts of the world are living witnesses to the fidelity and prudence with which he administered the household of the Lord. Besides the spiritual formation of his young charges, Father Kelly made ample provision for their material and intellectual needs. The extension of the College buildings made by Father Kieran provided a new Dormitory and a Study Hall for the Apostolics. As a result, Father Kelly obtained scope for his many plans of improvement. He provided a fine full-size billiard table for the Senior recreation room. He created the Junior recreation room, which was also liberally furnished with billiard and bagatelle tables, that supple mented the already existing indoor games. For outdoor recreation he laid down a fine set of tennis courts, which provided a welcome summer game and a pleasing variety from hurling and football. Special mention must also be made of the handsome and comfortable summer-house built for the Philosophers at the entrance of the walk provided for their special use.

But the most outstanding of Father Kelly's great enterprises is unquestionably the Apostolics Library. By a systematic and judicious expenditure covering a great number of years, he assembled a large number of the best modern books on a wide variety of subjects, literature, history, the Missions, social science, biography, travel, fiction, etc. In addition there is a special section for the Philosophers, with its fine collection of works on every branch of this subject. As we review all these additions and improve ments we are inclined to ask if anything remains to be done for the Apostolic School.

To all who have the progress and prosperity of Mungret at heart, the appointment of Fr Kelly as Rector will be welcomed with gratitude and with confidence in the future. Father Rector brings to his task a vigorous and experienced mind, capable of handling the manifold problems of a big educational institution; and his long acquaintance with Mungret has familiarised him with its numerous departments and activities. At the present moment it must suffice to maintain the "essential services” of the College ; and we owe hiin a debt of gratitude for his able administration in days when the problem of existence assumes such alarming proportions. When peace returns to Europe, and life resumes its normal course, Father Rector will find wider scope for his untirin energy: and it is then that we confidently expect from him a record of high achievı ment such as he has established as Superior of the Apostolic School.

And so, with a joyous Céad Mile fáilte to her distinguished son, Mungret stretches forth the hand of welcome to Father Rector, praying that God may shower on him graces in abundance to enable him to fulfil for many years, to come, the duties tha devolve on him in the government of the College.

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1950

Obituary

Father Jeremiah Kelly SJ

Fr Jeremiah Kelly was born at Dromgill, Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary. He came to Mungret in 1905 and went through the full course of Secondary Studies and took the First Arts Examination in 1910, He then entered the Jesuit novitiate and later took his degree in Classics. He made his Philosophical Studies at St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, on the completion of which he went to Australia, where he was assigned the offices of Prefect and Master in St Francis Xavier's College, Kew, Melbourne. After five busy years at Kew he returned to Europe to prepare for the priesthood. He went through his Theological Studies at Louvain and after a year at Paray-le-Monial, he was appointed Superior of the Apostolic School.

During the long space of fifteen years, Father Kelly was engaged in the very responsible task of training boys for the Church, and a young generation of fervent and zealous priests in distant parts of the world are living witnesses to the fidelity and prudence with which he administered the household of the Lord. Besides the spiritual formation of his young charges, Fr Kelly made ample provision for their intellectual and material needs. The extension of the College buildings by Fr Kieran provided a new Dormitory and Sturly Hall for the Apostolics. As a result, Fr Kelly obtained scope for his many plans of improvement. He provided a full size billiard table for the Senior Recreation room. He created the Junior Recreation room which was liberally provided with billiard and bagatelle tables, that supplemented the existing indoor games. For outdoor recreation, he laid down a fine set of tennis-courts, which provided a welcome summer game and a pleasing variety from hurling and football. Special mention too, must be made of the com fortable summer house built for the Philosophers at the entrance of the walk provided for their special use.

But the most outstanding of Fr Kelly's such enterprises is unquestionably the Apostolics' Library. By a systematic and judicious expenditure covering a great number of years, he assembled a large number of the best modern books on a wide variety of subjects; literature, history, the missions, social science, biography, travel, fiction, etc. In addition, there is a special section for the Philosophers, with its fine collection of works on every branch of the subject. As we review these addi tions and improvements we are inclined to ask if anything else remains to be done for the Apostolic School. To all who have the progress and prosperity of Mungret at heart the appointment of Fr Kelly as Rector of Mungret in 1941 was welcomed with gratitude and confidence for the future. The new Rector brought to his task a vigorous and experienced mind, capable of handling the manifold problems of a big educational institution, and his long acquaintance with Mungret had familiarised him with its numerous departments and activities. Difficult, indeed, were the material problems caused by World War II which faced Fr Kelly. His aim was to prevent, as far as possible any curtailing of the usual amenities for the boys and, on the other hand, to avoid, by sedulous administration, increasing debt. The anxiety and worry of these difficult years were probably the cause of his premature death. For many years he had suffered from various forms of rheumatism and arthritis. When Fr Kelly laid down his office as Rector in 1947 he had the satisfaction of knowing that the number of the students in the College had increased by about one-third.

Fr Kelly was then appointed Procurator in Milltown Park. For a time he seemed rejuvenated. The Dublin air had, apparently, cured him of his rheumatism and arthritis and his friends were amazed to see him move his hands and feet with such freedom. But such a happy state did not last long. In summer of 1949 he was in St Vincent's with high blood pressure; after a long stay there he re turned to Milltown Park to lead a quiet life. Shortly after Christinas, he had a stroke, and returned once more to St Vincent's where on the 12th of January a great hearted soul that had exhausted itself in the service of others went quietly to its reward.

The news of his death was received with something like dismay by the many young priests, all over the world, who had received their first training in the ministry from Fr Kelly. The past Mungret men in Capetown sang a Solemn Requiem Mass in St Michael's Parish, Ronbebosch, on January 30th. Many letters of sympathy, with promises of many Masses for the repose of Fr Kelly's soul, came to Mungret. To his sisters, Mrs Kennedy of Templemore, and Mrs Finn of New York, and to his brothers, we offer our sincere sympathy. To those who so kindly offered Masses the Jesuit Fathers wish to return sincere thanks. RIP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 01 May 1712, Ireland or France
Entered: 11 October 1732, Bordeaux, France - Aquitaniae Province (AQUIT)
Ordained: 21 December 1745, Bordeaux, France
Final Vows: 02 February 1749
Died: 13 January 1762, Unknown

Distinguished talent - aptitude for all the sciences. Judgement and prudence beyond his years
1734-1739 Taught Grammar, Rhetoric, Humanities at Bordeaux College
1740 At La Rochelle College teaching
1743 At Bordeaux College taught Rhetoric, Humanities
1749-1761 At Poitiers teaching Rhetoric, Humanities - Talent and proficiency far above the average. Vice-Rector in 1762 at time of suppression

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1755 Professor of Rhetoric at Grand Collège Poitiers. He was also Vice-rector of the Seminary and of the Irish College. (cf Arrêt de la Cour du Parlement de Paris, 1763).
On 11 December 1755 he delivered an address with the view of proving that “To admit all prejudices is an excess of weakness; to reject them all is an excess of rashness” (Mercure de France, April 1756, Vil i, pp 118-120)
1762 Vice-Rector at Irish College Poitiers.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
The fact that his name is never considered in correspondence for the Irish Mission, suggests that he was born or brought up in France of Irish parents but spoke neither English nor Irish.
1734-1736 After First Vows he was sent for Regency to Angoulême
1736-1738 He was then sent to Bordeaux for Philosophy studies, and received Minor Orders there 06 April 1737.
1738-1742 Sent to La Rochelle for further Regency
1742-1746 He was then sent to Bordeaux again for Theology where he was Ordained 1745
The next three years are a little unclear, but at the end of formation he was sent to Grand Collège Poitiers where initially he taught Rhetoric, but later Philosophy and Theology. He was still at Poitiers on the eve of the dissolution of the Society in France. With other Jesuit professors of the Grand Collège Poitiers he was accused by the Gallican and Jansenists on the faculty of Poitiers University of teaching false doctrines. On the death of Stephen Ussher the last Rector, he was briefly appointed Superior before the confiscation.
His name disappears from CATS after 01 February 1762
To judge from the estimates of his character and ability to be found in contemporary catalogi, James Kelly was a highly talented man with extraordinary intellectual ability.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
KELLY, JAMES. I meet with him as Superior of his brethren in Ireland on the 2nd of October, 1684. He was then residing in Dublin. In the years 1697, 1698, 1699, he occurs Rector of the Seminary at Poitiers. In a letter of the 6th of April, 1714, it is stated in general terms that he had died abroad some time before, “indefcssus in Vinca laborator”.

Born: 07 September 1921, Cloncoher, Geashill, County Offaly
Entered: 07 September 1940, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 29 July 1954, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 03 February 1958, Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Died: 07 April 2000, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Part of the Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin community at the time of death.

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03/12/1966; HK to CHN : 1992; CHN to HIB : 1993

Parents were farmers.

Eldest of three boys with two sisters.

early education for eight years at Ballinagar NS, County Offaly, he then went to St Columba’s Christian Brothers School in Tullamore

by 1949 at Hong Kong - Regency
by 1963 at Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Father James Kelly, S.J.
R.I.P.

Father James Kelly, SJ, died in Dublin on 7 April 2000 after a long illness.

Born in Ireland in 1921, Father Kelly came to Hong Kong in 1948. After studying the Cantonese language first in Guangzhou and then in Hong Kong, he spent one year teaching in Wah Yan College, Robinson Road before returning to Ireland to complete his ecclesiastical studies.

Ordained a priest in 1954, Father Kelly returned to Hong Kong in 1956 and was first assigned to teach in Wah Yan College, Kowloon. In 1958 he began to teach theology in the Regional Seminary, Aberdeen.

From 1962 to 1964 he did further studies in Rome and then taught theology for a short time in the Philippines before being recalled to heavy administrative responsibilities in Hong Kong. However, he gave theology courses when invited in Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen until 1982. Owing to ill health he returned to Ireland in 1995 where he remained until his death.

Father Kelly had a keen interest in Scripture the subject he taught most frequently and his courses were much appreciated by his students. He also had a practical turn of mind and undertook many administrative tasks in a competent way. He had a lively inquiring mind and was a man of many interests. He was a devoted priest and a kind and understanding guide to all who looked to him for spiritual direction.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 30 April 2000

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 3 1948

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

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 105 : Special Edition 2000

Obituary

Fr James J (Jimmy) Kelly (1921-2000) - Honk Kong Province

1921, Sept 7: Born in Geashill, Offaly
Early education: St Columba's, Tullamore

1940, Sept 7: Entered the Society at Emo
1942, Sept 8: First vows at Emo
1942 - 1945: B.A. studies at UCD
1945 - 1948: Tullabeg, studying philosophy
1948 - 1950: Hong Kong, studying Cantonese
1950 - 1951: Wah Yan College, teaching
1951 - 1955: Milltown Park, studying theology
July 29th 1954: Ordained priest at Milltown Park
1955 - 1956; Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1956 - 1958: Wah Yan College, teaching
1958 - 1962: Regional Seminary, teaching Scripture
1962 - 1964: Gregorian, Rome, studying Dogmatic Theology
1964 - 1965: Philippines, teaching Scripture
1965 - 1995: During this long period he held various posts:
Regional Treasurer, Professor of Sacred Scripture, taught Church History in Seminary, Assistant Warden, Ricci Hall, Province Revisor.
1995 - 2000: Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

While in Hong Kong, Fr. Kelly suffered from arthritis and the start of Parkinson's Disease. Jimmy lived his mission to Pray for the Church and the Society deeply and, up to a week before he died, he could be found praying at 5.30 a.m. In his last days he was relieved to be dispensed from praying the Prayer of the Church. He went quickly downhill and died as he had lived, quietly and without drawing attention to himself.

Joe Foley writes ...

Jimmy Kelly was born into a strongly nationalist family in Geashill, Offaly on 7th September, 1921. He was always proud of the fact that he came from a nationalist background and that he was of rural origin.

Most of Jimmy's life was spent in Hong Kong, but even before he went on the missions, he had an interesting time in Ireland. He was completely at home in the bogs of the midlands and while studying philosophy in Tullabeg he thoroughly enjoyed joining the late Fr Frank Shaw, SJ on shooting expeditions in the bogs, with which he was very familiar. Jimmy could be described as a handyman and was very much in demand as a stage-hand when we put on our amateur productions in Tullabeg. I suspect that one of his most enjoyable moments was when, in one play - it was Seán O Casey, I think - the script called for “gunfire, off stage”, and Jimmy proudly produced gunfire that was not only realistic, but was actually real!

He went to Guangzhou (Canton) China in 1948. The plan was that he would spend two years studying Cantonese. However, the change of government in China changed all that. Jimmy, together with the other seven scholastics who were studying Cantonese, went to Hong Kong in the summer of 1949 to continue his language studies. The following year he taught in the afternoon section of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, then in Robinson Road. He returned to Ireland for theology in 1951, was ordained priest in Milltown Park and did his tertianship in Rathfarnham Castle, He was back in Hong Kong in 1956. He taught and was Prefect of Studies in Wah Yan College, Kowloon. He was then assigned to teach scripture in the Regional Seminary for South China in Aberdeen, Hong Kong.

Scripture became one of Jimmy's main interests, which stayed with him all his life. From 1962 - 1964 he did doctoral studies in Rome. Those were the early days of the Second Vatican Council and Jimmy struck up a friendship with Robert Kaiser, one of the chief English-speaking correspondents of the Council. He also renewed acquaintance with Fr Malachy Martin, SJ whom he already knew well, since Malachy was one year ahead of him in the Society. Jimmy thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in all the “goings-on” at the Council and had a grandstand view of what was happening. At the same time negotiations were under way for the transference of the Diocese of Hong Kong from the Italians (the PIME) to the Chinese Diocesan Clergy. We in Hong Kong knew nothing of this at the time, but Jimmy must have kept a close and very discreet eye on the situation - with very great enjoyment.

Once again the change of government in China impacted on Jimmy's life. The flow of seminarians from South China came to an end and what had been the Regional Seminary for South China now became the Hong Kong Diocesan Seminary, staffed by local Chinese Clergy. Thus, on his return from Rome in 1964, instead of continuing teaching scripture, he returned to Hong Kong in 1965 and for the next 30 years he was engaged in a great variety of ministries: Secretary to the Superior of the Mission; Socius to the Provincial of the Vice-Province; Assistant Warden in Ricci Hall (The University Hostel); Professor of Scripture in the Seminary College. However, his main work was as Treasurer of the Vice-Province, a job he devoted himself to, with apparently endless energy. Those who are expert in financial matters testify that Jimmy did an outstandingly good job as Treasurer, He got the finances into excellent shape, and to this day tributes are paid to the very fine job he did.

While making the finances of the Vice-Province (and later Province) of Hong Kong his first priority, Jimmy also found time to engage in much pastoral work. He taught scripture in the Seminary College, and was also "ordinary confessor" for many years to a group of Irish Columban Sisters. Their appreciation of his many years of faithful service was shown by the attendance of a large number of the Sisters at his funeral in Gardiner St. Jimmy also said Mass regularly in the Catholic Centre, in downtown Hong Kong. He was also available to a number of people who came to him for advice and counselling. His sympathy and understanding were much appreciated by those who turned to him for help.

Thus, Jimmy led a very full, active life, in spite of poor health. Many years ago he underwent major surgery for cancer and subsequently was troubled by many different aliments, including diverticulitis and Parkinson's. When he felt it was wise to do so, he returned to Ireland and spent the last five years of his life in Cherryfield Lodge. He often spoke to me of how grateful he was for the great personal care and attention he received during those years.

Jimmy has now gone to his well-deserved rest, leaving behind memories of a very quiet, unassuming, hard-working, devoted Jesuit. He did not wear his heart on his sleeve, but deep devotion to the Lord was abundantly evident, and a source of inspiration to all who knew him. May he rest in peace.
JG Foley, SJ

-oOo-

Harold Naylor writes ...

Jimmy is a man to whom the HK Jesuits owe much. For nearly three decades he looked after the HK finances carefully, prudently and successfully. He built up a fund for the aged and sick, and brought all financial matters up to date with the latest of the decrees of the General Congregations on Religious Poverty.

In 1993, he felt his days in Hong Kong were up and he returned to Ireland, where he lived at Cherryfield Lodge. He kept abreast of life in Hong Kong, and the financial world. Since he took over as Procurator, after Fr. Howatson's stroke in 1964, he had made himself ready in all matters of investment and world finance.

He came to Hong Kong with a distinguished group of scholastics, like Hal McLoughlin and Frank McGaley who are still with us. Desmond Reid in Singapore is also a strict contemporary. It was 1948 when he with three other scholastics and two priests went to Canton to learn Cantonese. With the communist advances in 1949, they came to Hong Kong and continued their language studies as guests of the French MEP priests at Battery Path. He then taught a year at Wah Yan, and he returned to Wah Yan, Kowloon, for two years from 1958 when he was Form Master in Form Five to George Zee, and also Prefect of Studies,

Called to teach at the Regional Seminary, he put himself to New Testament Studies, and then went to Rome for his Biennium at the Biblical, which he finished in 1963. Jesuit withdrawal from the Aberdeen Seminary in Feb 1964 then saw him at the Theologate in Baguio, but this only lasted a few months. The summons came to be Procurator at Ricci Hall.

He continued to teach courses at the Aberdeen Seminary for some years. His health was bad. He was a cautious and accurate man, but also compassionate and warm, and approachable when in a good mood. He kept up serious reading, especially in Scriptural studies, and had a clear and well founded theological opinions, which tended to be conservative.

We offer sympathy to his sisters Mary (O'Sullivan) and Bridie (Comiskey), many nephews, nieces and friends, not to speak of those who knew him so well in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Harold Naylor SJ

Born: 24 December 1906, Feakle, County Clare
Entered: 27 September 1930, Milford OH, USA (CHG)
Ordained: 31 July 1940, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1943
Died: 06 August 1996, Chicago IL, USA - Chigagensis Province (CHG)

by 1938 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1937-1941
by 1942 at Rathfarnham (HIB) making Tertianship

Born: 1679, Dungarvan, County Waterford
Entered: 17 November 1698, Villagarcía, Galicia, Spain - Castellanae Province (CAST)
Ordained: 1707, Valladolid, Spain
Final Vows: 02 February 1716
Died: 03 October 1743, Dungarvan, County Waterford

Alias Roche
Mission Vice-Superior 14 August 1727-1773

Entries in old books show that he belonged to :
1723 New Ross Residence
1723-1726 Waterford Residence
1737 Named Rector of Poitiers
His will made in 1743 names him as PP of St Patrick and St Olav Waterford (Thrifts Irish Wills VOL III p 75)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
1727 Appointed Mission Superior - as appears by a letter of his to John Harrison 13 June 1727
1729 Sent to Irish College Poitiers by General Tamburini
1733-1734 He was sent to Salamanca (Irish Ecclesiastical Record)
1743 At the Waterford Residence

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of John Daniel Kelly and Helena née Roche
1700-1707 After First Vows he studied Philosophy and Theology at St Ambrose, Valladolid where he was Ordained 1707
1707-1711 Teaching Humanities at Valladolid
1711-1714 Chair of Philosophy at Bilbao
1714-1715 Tertianship
1715-1718 He was sent back to his Chair of Philosophy at Bilbao
1718-1721 Chair of Theology at Coruña
1721 Sent to Ireland and Waterford Residence and was appointed (15 September 1725) Secretary and Assistant with right of succession to the Mission Superior Anthony Knoles
1727 On the death of Knoles (14 August 1727) he became Vice-Superior of the Irish Mission, and held this Office until 1773. By his prudent government he kept his subjects free from participation in the disputes then rife amongst Catholics. He received many applications to establish houses of the Society in places with old-time Jesuit associations but by reason of the lack of Jesuits he could not accede to the requests from Limerick and Galway. In the end he was able to open the Galway Residence.
At the request of the bishops in Ireland assembled at Dublin he was able to bring influence from abroad to prevent the renewal of religious persecution. While on Visitation as Mission Superior to the Irish Colleges on the Continent, he was able to bring their perilous financial situation to the attention of the General, and thanks to his painstaking work, his successor was able to bring financial negotiations to a successful conclusion.
He was very popular with the clergy and people of Waterford who prevented his return to Spain when he had been named rector of the Irish College, Salamanca.
He died as a result of an accident returning from a sick call 03 October 1743 Dungarvan

◆ James B Stephenson SJ The Irish Jesuits Vol 1 1962

Ignatius Kelly alias Roche (1727-1733)

Ignatius Daniel Kelly, generally known in Spain and Ireland as Ignatius Roche, was the son of John Daniel Kelly, of Dungarvan, and Helena Roche. He was born at Dungarvan on or about 15th June, 1679, and entered the Society at Villagarcia in Castile on 17th November, 1698. He studied philosophy for three years, and did a four years' course of theology in the College of St Ambrose at, Valladolid, ending in 1707; after which he taught grammar for three years, and acted as Minister for one. From 1711 to 1714 he was Professor of Philosophy at Bilbao, and after an interruption of a year of third probation, he resumed his Chair of Philosophy at Bilbao for another three years, during which he made his solemn profession of four vows on 7th February, 1716. Then, after teaching theology at Coruna for two years (1718-20), he returned to Ireland early in 1721, and was stationed at Waterford. Having been appointed Secretary and Assistant to Fr Knoles, with right of succession (15th September, 1725), he became Vice-Superior of the Mission when Fr Knoles died on 14th August, 1727, and continued as such till 1733. By his prudent counsels he kept the Society free from participation in the internecine disputes then rife among Catholics. He received many applications from various places to establish Residences of the Society, but the fewness of subjects prevented compliance. The Residence of Galway, however, was re-opened in the summer of 1731, the bishops of Ireland, assembled in Dublin, requested him to use his influence abroad to thwart the hopes of the heretics, which he did with such success that the danger was averted. In 1631-32* he made a Visitation of the Irish College of Poitiers to settle the confused financial relations between it and the Irish Mission. He appealed often to be relieved of the government of the Mission, but his petitions were not heard until 1733. His end was in keeping with his life. He met with an accident on his way back from a sick call to a poor woman, and died soon after at Waterford on 1st October, 1743.

*Addendum for 1631-32 read 1731-32

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Ignatius Kelly 1679-1743
Ignatius Kelly, generally known in Spain and Ireland as Ignatius Roche, was born in Dungarvan in 1679. As was usual in those days, he did all his studies in Spain, where he was received into the Society in 1698. He was Professor of Theology in Bilbao and Corunna.

Having returned to Ireland he was stationed at Waterford. He acted as Socius to Fr Knoles and became Vice-Superior on his death. The following extract from a letter of his to Fr John Harrison, Santiago, 13th June 1727, will give an idea of the conditions of the time, and the various devices used in correspondence to conceal identities :
“I have written to you several times asking for news of your health, which may the Lord preserve to you for many years. Here we are few and frail. Mr Knoles is incapable of doing anything unless suffer. Senor Tamburini has relieved him of the charge of this poor Mission, and has placed it on my shoulders, and I assure you I am tired of it.I am sorry that I cannot give you a formal Patent to Dom Andrew Lynch, who will be the bearer of this. His parents are very respectable, and his parents have the necessary qualities to become an apprentice in your factory”.
In spite of the poor account that Fr Kelly gave of the state of the Mission, he was able to reopen the Galway Residence in 1729.

In 1733 he was relieved of office, and spent the next ten years in the ministry. He was Parish Priest of St Patrick’s Waterford from 1734-1742, and died on October 1st 1743, as a result of an accident occurred while returning from a sick call.

Born: 16 September 1886, Octagon, Cahermart, Westport, County Mayo
Entered: 07 September 1906, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 15 August 1921, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1925, Mungret College SJ, Limerick
Died: 01 November 1974, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth

Part of St Francis Xavier's community, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin
by 1917 at St Aloysius, Jersey, Channel Islands (FRA) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 49th Year No 4 1974
Obituary :
Fr Hugh Kelly (1886-1974)

The tendency to be egotistical noticeable in some persons who are free from the faintest taint of egotism is a tendency hard to account for - but delightful to watch.
“Anything”, says glorious John Dryden, “though ever so little, which a man speaks of himself in my opinion, is still too much”.
A sound opinion most surely and yet how interesting are the personal touches we find scattered up and down Dryden’s noble prefaces. So with Newman - his dignity, his self-restraint, his taste, are all the greatest stickler for a stiff upper lip and the consumption of your own smoke could desire, and yet the personal note is frequently sounded. He is never afraid to strike it when the perfect harmony that exists between his character and his style demands its sound, and so it has come about that we love what he has written because he wrote it, and we love him who wrote it because of what he has written.
It may need an apology to introduce an obituary with a spate of quotation but the culprit, the writer, recalls the above passage from one of Birrell’s essays on Newman being read out at the Rathfarnham home juniorate class, forty odd years since by Fr H. Kelly, then Master of Juniors. It was a specimen of the felicitous way in which he conveyed or suggested an appreciation of good things and the passage itself, it might occur to one more than merely passingly acquainted with Fr Kelly, might serve as a resumé of his own manner and character. He was one of the most unimposing, unimperious of men; if one happened to gain a point on him - not indeed that he ever had a mind for controversy, other than that of a friendly exchange of opinion, you almost regretted having won.
He was born in Westport, Co Mayo, 16th September 1886. One of six children, four boys - one of whom, Peter, the eldest, as Hugh himself, became a priest and died some years since, Adm of the Cathedral in Tuam - and two sisters who now alone survive : Mother Peter of the Presentation Convent in Tuam, and Mrs Eileen Ryan of Westport: with whom Fr Hugh even in latter years contrived to maintain home associations for a few days annually.
His first schooling was with the Christian Brothers at Westport of whom he retained kindly remembrances and for one of whom, not identifiable at the moment, he possessed something of a veneration. His eldest brother was at Maynooth and according to the custom of the time Hugh, with the priesthood likewise in view, proceeded to St Jarlath's where he excelled in classics gaining first place in Greek in the public exam in his concluding year.
Two years in Maynooth, the story goes that on reading a life of St Ignatius, after thought, he presented himself as a candidate for the Society in 1906 to Fr Conmee the then Provincial; he was accepted and on occasion years later he would expatiate on the journey by sidecar from Tullamore station to Tullabeg “with the fall of the year”.
The fellow novices of his year were men later distinguished in their own right. As they are listed in the catalogue of 1907, in the order of seniority apparently, apart from H Johnson who arrived later, they stand : Hugh Kelly, Deniş Nerney, John Deevy, James Gubbins, John Coyne, Michael Meaney, Michael Fitzgibbon, Stephen Bartley and Henry Johnson. All persevered, five became octogenarians; two, Fr John Coyne who was to become Fr Hugh's intimate friend through life, and Fr Henry Johnson who might have rivalled Fr Coyne in closeness of friendship did not seas divide, still happily survive.
After completing the noviciate Hugh Kelly continued for two years as a junior at Tullabeg. In 1910 he moved to Milltown to attend University College, still in its infancy. In 1912 he secured his BA degree which he later crowned with an MA under the guidance of Fr G O’Neill but with no sabbatical period with which to specialise. His thesis was Newman, already a beloved subject. He taught in Mungret, 1912-17, among other chores undertaking the editorship of the Mungret Annual. Fr Edward Dillon, a contemporary member of the Mungret Community, in his last years delighted to recall the happy relations between himself, a seasoned classical, and the young scholastic who was already dis playing a flair for imparting knowledge and generating enthusiasm among his scholars. One success, at any rate, must be chronicled : Tom Johnson, later Fr Tom, brother of Henry above, gained the Senior Grade Medal for Latin in the public exams under Hugh Kelly's tutelage.
1917 found Hugh at Jersey for philosophy but in middle course the threat of conscription here at home and the consequent peremptory behest of Fr T V Nolan, the Provincial, withdrew all our scholastics from foreign parts and Hugh with the other émigrés concluded the philosophic course at Milltown Park and immediately proceeded to theology in the same domicile. Ordination 1921; tertianship at Tullabeg 1923-24; an intervening year again at Mungret and in 1925 he succeeded Fr Frank Ryan at Rathfarnham as Master of Juniors, Fr D. O’Sullivan has kindly under taken, in his modesty, “to supply lacunae” and we content ourselves with some reference to Fr. Kelly's concluding years (reference extended beyond our first calculation); after completing his Rectorate at Rathfarnham in ‘48 he was engaged as operarius and scriptor at Gardiner Street.
It would be inexcusable to omit mention of the various reviews of books he provided for Studies almost continuously and the numerous full-dress articles in Studies but frequently further afield; he had a keen sense for the propriety of language, and a happiness of expression that induced editors to keep him to the mill. An article on Belloc on one occasion drew from that great man a letter of thanks; this really was easy going, as he immersed himself early in Belloc and Chesterton; his acquaintance with Burke and Boswell and Johnson's Poets was a byword among his pupils. He humorously remarked that he would burn for the number of novels he had “consumed” but he too readily recognised trash to be led into devious ways.
The gravitation to Gardiner Street was only a lull; his term of more active service was not concluded. In 1954 he was impelled into the responsible position, again at Rathfarnham, of Tertian Instructor and retained that demanding post for eight years; once again his kindliness, his diffidence almost, though he had a good grasp of the literature of the Institute and the Spiritual Exercises educed on occasion that smile about enthusiasms to which Fr O’Sullivan, in an earlier context, hereafter refers. When he was relieved of the task ultimately he was beginning to feel older yet for another decade he soldiered on, again at Gardiner Street; his Novena of Grace when in on his eighties evinced the energies of one twenty years younger and his command of appropriate language made the lectures something of a literary treat, Together with being solid spirituality. Practically to the end he retained his concentration and as the various volumes of Newman's letters appeared his satisfaction in perusing them was immense.
However, about a year since even the interest in systematic reading languished; this was a novelty for him and he began to have sleepless nights and cheerless depressing days. His appetite, a healthy one generally, failed and from mere lack of sustenance there was fear of his stumbling and injuring himself. The devotion with which he had served Mother Mary Martin’s Missionaries of Mary practically from their foundation (the absence of any allusion to which, as also to the innumerable retreats given by him through the country and even in Boston, Mass, we apologise for), led to Our Lady of Lourdes' Hospital, Drogheda, run under the Missionaries' auspices, being considered as a place of care in decline. Under the nuns’ and nurses’ devoted attention he survived over a year, remarkably tenacious of life but definitely failing. The end came, graciously, we hope, of the Providence Whom he so loyally served through life, at the dawn of the Feast of All Saints.
The obsequies from Gardiner Street on Monday, November 7th, had something unique in the number who followed the cortège to Glasnevin as if to register their affection rather than mourning for the deceased,

We apologise to Fr D O’Sullivan for delaying so long from presenting his tribute to Fr Kelly, as follows:

I lived with Fr Hugh Kelly for only five years - three years under him in Rathfarnham when he was Minister of Juniors and Prefect of Studies and, after an interval of twelve years, as his Rector in Tullabeg. My Rathfarnham memories of Fr Hugh are of the happiest. Life in community, in spite of our division into “home” and “university” juniors was real and was great fun. Studies were perhaps a little higgledy-piggledy due in part to the amiable eccentricities of our Rector, Fr John Keane. Many scholastics studied hard, bringing home the University honours so much esteemed by him - too much perhaps; others studied less. But, almost all, after a somewhat Cistercian noviceship gradually found their Jesuit feet-even if in startlingly variform ways.
The process, luckily, was to a great extent unconscious. The three years with Fr Hugh as Prefect of Studies were unashamedly liberal and cultural, for he was a man of culture though I doubt that he ever knew the word could be used so cynically and pejoratively as it nowadays is. He taught us by his example and the sincerity of his observance that rules could be liberating: and, more formally, that the liberal arts were liberalising. Science was a puzzle to him; but in English literature particularly he was an admirable tutor. We smiled a little at his enthusiasms but, till our dying day, we shall be marked by them. Newman came alive for us: and Fr Hugh took care that when Belloc and Chesterton came to Dublin we heard them and saw our household gods in the flesh.
I was not to meet him again until after Tertianship. I did not look forward to the meeting : he had been removed abruptly and, to the general mind of the Province, unfairly from the Rectorship of Tullabeg and I had the unpleasant task of replacing him. I need have had no fears. Never once was there the slightest disruption of loyalty and friendship : Hugh Kelly was a man of the Exercises. He practised the third degree - unostentatiously - as befitted his temperament and character. His obedience had also a quality of the near-heroic, He was, by inclination and by training, a man of letters : yet he served some fourteen years on the metaphysical treadmill, filling as well the tasks of Rector and Prefect of Studies. He was reckoned adequate as a professor and he worked conscientiously at the various branches of philosophy that fell to his lot: but few scholastics found him inspiring.
As a man they liked and admired him and he was a welcome companion on their weekly villa-walks when they enjoyed his conversation and he theirs. In community life in general he displayed the same Pauline “courtesy”: and in recreation he was as good a listener as he was a conversationalist, One perhaps - as often with men of his mould - took his good qualities for granted. I know that when to the unselfish delight of all-he was, after only two years, chosen to be Rector of Rathfarnham, I realised how much his presence in the Tullabeg community had been a quiet force for humane and harmonious living.

Born: 31 March 1847, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 15 September 1864, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 1877, St Beuno’s, Wales
Final Vows: 15 August 1881
Died: 24 June 1934, Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia

Transcribed HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931

Early education at St Stanislaus College SJ; Tullabeg; Clongowes Wood College SJ

by 1867 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) studying
by 1868 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1875 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
by 1881 at Manresa Spain (ARA) making Tertianship
Came to Australia 1894

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :

Note from John Murphy Entry :
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
George Kelly entered the Society, 15 September 1864, at Milltown Park, and studied rhetoric at Tronchiennes, 1866-67. Regency followed at Clongowes, 1869-70, where he was a division prefect and taught algebra. He studied theology for two years at St Beuno's, 1874-76, returned to Clongowes, 1879-80, and did tertianship at Manresa, Aragon province, 1880-81. He was appointed to St Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg, 1881-86, first as minister and then as rector. He returned to Clongowes, 1886-92, and finally worked at University College, Dublin, 1892-94.
Kelly arrived in Australia, 22 March 1894, and was minister at both Xavier College, 1894-97, and Riverview, 1897-1900, before doing parish ministry at North Sydney, 1900-10, where he was at various times minister, superior and parish priest. He was also a mission consultor. He went to the parish of Hawthorn, 1910-34, where he was superior and parish priest, 1910-15. He was a man much sought after as a spiritual director.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 9th Year No 4 1934

Obituary :
Father George Kelly
Father George Kelly died in Melbourne on the 24th June 1934, in the seventieth year of his life in the Society.

The following is a sketch of his life as told in the Catalogues.
He was born on the 31st March, 1847, educated at Tullabeg, and began his noviceship at Milltown Park on the 15th Sept 1864. He made the juniorate in Tronchiennes, philosophy at Stonyhurst, and commenced active life as a prefect in Clongowes in 1869. After five years at this work we find him at St, Beuno's for theology, and, when the four years were completed, back to Clongowes as Minister. He held the post for two years, and then travelled to Manresa in Spain for tertianship. But his health broke down and he finished the year at Milltown Park.
In 1881 he was appointed Minister of Tullabeg and two years later Rector, holding this position he played his part in the amalgamation of Tullabeg and Clongowes in 1886.
His health was poor, and he remained in Clongowes as Procurator until 1892 when he went to University College, Stephen's Green as Minister. After two years he travelled to Australia. According to the Catalogues his work in Australia was as follows : 1894-97 Minister at Kew; 1897-1900 Minister Riverview; 1900-02 Minister Miller St; 1902-10 Superior
Miller St.; In 1910 he went to Hawthorn as Superior, and remained attached to that house until his death. In 1915 he ceased to be Superior. From about 1916 to 1921 the health seems to have been somewhat impaired, but in 1925 he is once more described “Open”, and from that year on to the end he was able to do good, useful work.
He died in his eighty seventh year, and, had he lived to September, would have completed seventy years in the Society. RIP

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1934

Father George Kelly SJ

Xaverians of the late 'nineties will remember Father George Kelly, and will learn with regret of his death. He died on June 23rd after having spent twenty four years in the Hawthorn parish, and was 87 years of age. He came to Australia from Ireland forty years ago, and during that time he did a great deal of splendid work, and was much sought after as a spiritual advisor.

He was born in Dublin in 1847, a year famous in Ireland, and was educated at St Stanislaus College, near Tullamore. In 1864 he joined the Society of Jesus, and studied in England and Spain, and was ordained in 1877. He was for a time at Clongowes Wood College, and in 1883 was appointed Rector of his old school, from which he returned as Minister to Clongowes in 1886. The two schools were amalgamated that year and he gave great assistance in this difficult work, Two years later he became Dean of the University College, Dublin, and six years later he sailed for Australia. He worked both in Sydney and Melbourne, was Minister both at Xavier and at Riverview, and Parish Priest of St. Mary's North Sydney, and also at Hawthorn. RIP

◆ The Clongownian, 1935

Obituary

Father George Kelly SJ

Fifty years back Father George Kelly was well known in Clongowes and Tullabeg. At that time precisely he was Rector of Tullabeg, the last of the line before the amalgamation of Tullabeg with Clongowes.

The fiftieth anniversary of that historic: change will occur next year, and, no doubt, it will be duly celebrated. But we were all hoping that Father Kelly would live a little longer. In a couple of months' time he would have had the unique jubilee of seventy years à Jesuit. Then, perhaps, he might have been encouraged to wait for the jubilee of the amalgamation. But he was destined to celebrate these two jubilees in Heaven.

George Charles Kelly, the son of Matthew Edward Kelly, was born in Dublin in 1847, His family, which came originally from Inch, on the borders of Counties Kilkenny and Waterford, was highly connected in ecclesiastical circles. A grand uncle of Father Kelly's, Dr Patrick Kelly, Bishop of Waterford, was largely responsible for the success of the famous Stuart Election in Waterford City in 1826, when the Protestant ascendancy was overthrown and the way immediately prepared for Catholic Emancipation. A cousin of Father Kelly's was Dr. Matthew Kelly, Canon of Ossory and Professor at Maynooth, who was proposed as the successor of Dr. Newman in the Catholic University, but who died before the proposal could be adopted. Evelina Kelly, Mother Sacred Heart, an aunt of Father Kelly's, was the foundress and first Reverend Mother of that flourishing in stitution, High Park Convent, Drumcondra.

Like other relatives who followed him later, his brother, Matt, and cousins, George and Charles Matthews, George Kelly went to school to Tullabeg. He spent eight years there, and besides gaining academic distinctions, he was a member of the House Cricket Eleven.

On leaving school, George Kelly entered the Jesuit novitiate along with his school fellows, James Daly, afterwards the famous Prefect of Studies in Clongowes, and Charles Morrogh, who had a distinguished career on the Australian Mission. After the novitiate, Father Kelly went to Tronchiennes in Belgium for his preliminary studies. Later he was at St Beuno's, North Wales, where he studied theology and was ordained priest in 1877, and at Manresa in Spain for his tertianship. Both before his ordination and afterwards, Father Kelly was stationed for some years at Tullabeg and Clongowes. Rector of Tullabeg just before the Amalgamation, he came with his Tullabeg boys to Clongowes in 1886. Here in Clongowes he occupied the important post of Procurator for six years, during which time his exceptional talent for finance was of great service to the College. For five of those years I was at school in Clongowes, and it was then that I formed a lifelong admiration and affection for Father Kelly. His duties at that time did not bring him much amongst the boys, but as a privileged relative, I experienced his great kindness. He would take me to visit various places found about, and under his protection I would penetrate to parts of the Castle usually out of bounds and not come away empty handed.

In 1892, Father Kelly was appointed Minister and Dean of University College, St Stephen's Green. But for some years his health had been far from satisfactory, and now gave cause for serious alarm. Then it was regretfully decided that he should try the Australian climate, and accordingly he set sail in 1894. The success of the venture was proved by his subsequent long and useful career. So weak was he when embarking at Tilbury Docks, that he had almost to be lifted on board the liner. Five years later, on my arrival in Sydney, when Father Kelly came to meet me at the boat, I found that the genial climate of Australia had given him fine health and strength,

In his new country Father Kelly's first post was Minister at Xavier College, Melbourne, from which he was later transferred to the corresponding post at Riverview College, Sydney. In 1900, to the regret of all in Riverview, he was changed to North Sydney, to do parish work, a work which occupied all his succeeding years. Superior of the North Sydney parish for some six years, he went to take charge of the Hawthorn Parish in Melbourne in 1910, and remained in Hawthorn till his death, on June 24th, 1934.

In earlier years, in Ireland, Father Kelly had already shown a talent for administration and finance that would have fitted him for the most important positions. With his quiet, well-balanced mind, his just sense of values, and his shrewd common-sense, he was frequently consulted by his fellow Jesuits as well as by the laity. As parish priest he endeared himself to all. With charm of manner he invited.confidence, and with calm judgment gave sound, practical advice. Many a troubled heart he could set at rest. His confessional, in consequence, was a most popular one, and he was there in attendance for long hours. One day, a few years ago, when visiting him in hospital, I asked Father Kelly who was the visitor that had just left him. He replied, “I have no idea who she is, but I have heard her voice in the confessional for the last ten or fifteen years”.

With this and other parochial work, in return for the health Australia gave him, Father Kelly's life was a busy one to the end. Even in his eighties, one could scarcely look upon him as an old man. He was so erect in carriage and so alert, so spruce in body and mind.

In his funeral oration, Archbishop Mannix struck the dominant note when he said that Father Kelly, by his special gifts, seemed to have a power for doing good that was denied to others, “He was a real gentleman”, the Archbishop said, and with this all who ever met Father Kelly would agree; for he was a gentleman all the time. And for this reason amongst others, the older ones amongst us, who live on in this rough and ready age, must regret that his mortal life should end. For in Father Kelly there passed away one of those perfect types of the Victorian, or should we say, the old Irish gentleman,

With his attractive presence and his equipment of solid culture, Father Kelly might have adorned and gone far in a worldly career. I could picture him, for example, starring in an ambassadorial rôle. But his life was laid in better lines, in what we might call the diplomatic circles of the Kingdom of Heaven, where as a wise counsellor he won souls to God. What good he did in these hidden ways, with that courtesy and gentle persuasion of his, cannot be measured on this side of eternity. RIP

Born: 03 December 1824, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 23 October 1842, Drongen, Belgium - Belgicae Province (BELG)
Ordained: 1855
Final Vows: 02 February 1860
Died: 07 February 1905, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Middle brother of William - RIP 1909 and Thomas - RIP 1898

by 1854 Studying at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG)

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Middle brother of William - RIP 1909 and Thomas - RIP 1898

Edward was a distinguished Preacher and Teacher, and taught with great distinction at Clongowes.
he was the First Rector of Crescent.
1889 He was appointed Superior at Gardiner St where he worked until his much lamented death 07 February 1905. He was loved by all, poor and rich. A man of rare quality.

(cf “Irish Monthly”, Vol 34, 1906, pp1, 162, 218, 264 and 320) (cf “Irish Catholic” 07 February 1905)
“Father Kelly was one of the great men of our Province. He sat in the General Congregation that elected Father Anton Maria Anderley, as Swiss Jesuit as General, and was to have gone to the Congregation which elected Father Luis Martin of Spain, but bad health kept him away, and Robert Carbery replaced him as 1st Substitute. He was frequently sent to Congregations of Procurators.

A most scholarly man, very kind and generous. He was ill for a very short time, and died peacefully and happily at Gardiner St 07 February 1905. The Minister Father Bannon and Father Joe McDonnell were present at his death.

◆ The Clongownian, 1905

Obituary

Father Edwad Kelly SJ

by Father Matthew Russell SJ

One of the holiest and most amiable, one of the most admirable and most gifted, one of the most widely and most warmly loved of Irish priests has finished his course on earth. Father Edward Kelly SJ, died in the Presbytery attached to St Francis Xavier's Church, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin, about 10 pm on Tuesday; February 7th. He died in his native city, almost in the street in which he was born December 3rd, 1824. He had thus quite lately completed his 80th year. His birthday was the feast of the most famous of Jesuit saints, under whose invocation was soon to be erected hard by the well-known church in which Father Kelly did the chief-part of his life's work.

The Jesuit Fathers indeed were already teaching and preaching still nearer, in Hardwicke Street, but Edward Kelly seems not to have attended their day school, as his younger brother did, just before the school was removed to its present home, Belvedere House, 6. Great Denmark Street, whither Thomas Kelly followed it. But Edward Kelly also was a pupil of the Society in which he became so efficient a master, for he finished his early education at Clongowes, where he was the pride and boast of his Professor, Father Henry James Rorke, afterwards so well known at St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street. In his eighteenth year he became a novice of the Society of Jesus, the first of the three brothers, who might have adopted as their own the dedication of Miss May Probyn's “Pansies”:

“Three; we learned together
At our mother's knee
Three, through altered weather
The highway travel we
God send, in heaven's gold ether,
We stand before Him, three”.

The first of this remarkable family, William Kelly, older than Edward by a year only, did not enter the Society till 1850, some years after even his brother Thomas, who was eight years his junior, having meanwhile passed through a course of theology at Maynooth, with a brilliant reputation which was one of the cherished traditions of the place many years later. The only sister of these brothers became a Sister of Mercy in the mother-house of the Order, in Lower Baggot Street, Dublin; but before her novitiate was finished she bravely volunteered to be one of a band of Sisters who founded the first Australian convent in Perth, Western Australia, some fifty years ago. This separation must have been an immense sacrifice for the heroic maiden, as it certainly was an abiding sorrow for the affectionate hearts that she left at home. No family could possibly be more tenderly united to one another.

Edward Kelly began his noviceship in Belgium, on the 23rd of October; 1842. After taking the Vows of religion towards the end of 1844, he began a long term of work on the staff of Clongowes College, where for some years he really filled the place of several professors, joining to the rhetoric class the class of natural and experimental philosophy, in which Father Edward Kernan succeeded him, devoting himself exclusively to what had been only one of the other Father Edward's many activities. Father Kelly was eminently successful in all his work, gaining the admiration and affection and un bounded confidence of his scholars. When he became a scholar again himself, he passed through his four years of theological studies with great distinction at St Beuno's, North Wales. After his ordination, he was employed again in teaching at Belvedere till he was chosen to be the first Rector of St Munchin's College, Limerick, which was entrusted to the Society of Jesus by the Most Rev Dr Ryan, Bishop of Limerick, in March, 1859. The old Bishop, a shrewd judge of character, had a great esteem for the young Rector, and his successor, the Most Rev Dr Butler, honoured him with his confidence and friendship. In the difficulty and anxiety of the new foundation he received support that no other could have given him from his younger brother, not yet a priest, but ordained at Maynooth the following Pentecost. The sacred text about the strength of a brother helped by a brother was verified very emphatically in this ..fraternal partnership. Beside the wearing, worrying labours involved in establishing the school, of which the most distinguished pupil was one of the very first generation, Edward Thomas O'Dwyer, the present Bishop of Limerick, they prepared for the beautiful Church of the Sacred Heart by devoted priestly work in a temporary oratory in the “corner house” the house in the right-hand corner of the Crescent, as you face Hogan's statue of O'Connell, for Crescent House was not acquired till some years later. The church, however, was not built till the first Rector had yielded the place to his fittest successor, his brother. During all his Limerick life Father Edward's devotedness to duty, his unwearying kindness, and all his noble qualities of heart and head, had won the affectionate esteem of all classes of the citizens of Limerick, who have never forgotten him. His remembrance of them was vivid and tender to the last.

One of the two survivors of the original Limerick community was happily inspired to write a letter of loving allegiance to his first Rector in St Edward's Day, October 13, 1904, not thinking that it was his last opportunity of paying such a homage. Father Edward wrote in reply “Your kind and faithful letter was very, very welcome. The remembrances, out of which it came, are to me very dear and very sweet, though they have their ingredient of sadness. I find myself thinking sometimes that here were not many happier families in the Compagnie at home or abroad than that little group in the corner house ‘were not then nor have been since. It is all a very long way back. We were all very young and very bright. God bless you”. That was the last word that passed between the Rector of the corner house and the youngest of his subjects.

In 1864 Father Edward Kelly. was appointed Rector of St Francis Xavier's College, Belvedere House, Dublin. After a long term in this office he was transferred to the Church of St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, where his duties as a priest, confessor, and preacher engrossed the rest of his life, except five or six years in the eighties, when he was Rector of his old Alma Mater, Clongowes Wood, There and everywhere he was beloved by all for his unselfish devotion to duty, his kindness and considerateness for everyone under his charge, and bis even sweetness of disposition, which was certainly not incompatible with a quiet dignity and firmness of discipline. I think it is Tacitus who describes some great general as “dux consilio, manu miles” - guiding the host by his skill and knowledge, and yet doing the work of a brave private soldier. Such was Father Edward Kelly as a Superior - like the King in St Ignatius's famous Meditation, not asking from his followers any labour or sacrifice of which he had not first himself given a bright example.

The rest of his life, as I have said, was spent in St Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, in which community he filled the office of Superior in succession to Father Bannon for some years before and after 1890. The altar, the pulpit, the confessional, the bedside of the sick, the recreation-room of his community, his own simple chamber for prayer and study - his errands of charity, listening patiently to the varied story of troubles, making himself the medium of those who wished. to bestow judiciously some of the means that God had placed in their hands; these broken phrases will recall to those who knew Father Edward Kelly, some of the exercises of his tranquil, but unresting energy and zeal. He was the truest of friends. To have seen better days, to be in trouble, to be down in the world, these were additional recommendations in his eyes. God alone, whose bumble minister he was, knows the comfort that he gave, the good that he did; the souls that he rescued from sin; the holy souls that he sanctified more and more, by all his ministries of mercy, day by day, through so many years of his gently strenuous life - which, by the way, was kept up with a frame never robust, and that nourished always very sparingly. His holy toils were not even relaxed after the death of his brother, Father Thomas Keily, seven years ago, though this separation must have torn the very fibres of his heart. Happily, Father William Kelly had, some time before, been recalled from Australia after many years of eminently useful labours in that young Church; and now he, in turn, receives the affectionate sympathy of all who know him.

Father Edward Kelly had always been very remarkable for his assiduity in paying the last tribute of respect to the dead by attending Requiem Offices and accompanying funerals to Glasnevin. Perhaps this was not forgotten when his own turn came; and certainly one who could judge accurately of such things says that he never saw the funeral of a priest more numerously attended. The Archbishop of Dublin presided at the obsequies, and the coffin of the holy priest, before the altar at which he had so long ministered, was surrounded by an immense concourse of the priests of the city, and numerous representatives of all the religious Orders, includ ing, of course, as many of his own as circumstances allowed to be present.

O'Connell inscribed on the tomb of the kinsman from whom he inherited Derrynane: “They loved him most who knew him best”. There will be no inscription over Father Edward Kelly's grave in Glasnevin, but only his name on the large Celtic cross that rises above the Jesuit plot of that vast garden of the dead. But his name is written in many hearts, in many grateful memories. Many a kind word will be spoken of him for years to come by those who have had the happiness of knowing him, and many a fervent prayer will be offered up for Father Edward Kelly's soul.

◆ The Clongownian, 1931

“The Snows of Yesteryear”

IV The Kings

I now give my own recollectioris of another great man.. The name of Fr Edward Kelly is one to conjure up a host of memories - subjective and objective - of the early eighties in Clongowes Wood. Of the youngster, fresh from his mother's apron-strings, at that age, when, as little Third-liners we “were as lads.. that thought that no more lay behind, but such a day to-morrow as to-day, and the boys eternal”, when all was a strange new life to us - the clangour of the playroom, or the class, the silences of compulsion whether in the chapel or study, the ecstacies of the freedom of the half-day or the play-day.

At the threshold of the entrance of all this life stood the figure of the Rector, Fr Edward Kelly, of slight build and medium height, something past the meridian of life, in person spotlessly clean, with silvery grey hair, and deep-lined face, his voice, always of energy and emphasis, yet like a well tuned instrument touched by a masterful will, capable at times of tenderness, at once firm and affectionate, all combined to give to our minds, impressionable and trialleable as wax, the inipression of a personality girt around with an atmosphere that left no vacuum for the intrusion of another figure.

Most of all was this made vivid to our minds on those occasions whether of feast or mourning, in the Calendar of the Church, when the sermon, the Benediction, or the Mass, was preached or celebrated by Fr Rector. The old chapel, in architecture expressive of the Penal times, something akin to the Quaker Meeting House in internal design; its gallery reaching round the entire of the long plain hall supported by its wooden pillars with Corinthian capitals, to relieve the simplicity of design, and all its wealth of religious art thrown with the one expression; the sanctuary in which stood the Altar of God, with its multiple lights and exquisite flowers and then from the sacristy, slowly and with soft steps, the advancing lines of acolytes, and behind them the figure in surplice and alb of Fr Rector. A moment's prayer of recollection before the Altar, and he turns to where we sat, and making aloud the Sign of the Cross, Fr Edward Kelly commenced his sermon. Wrapt in prayer his eyes closed to all that passed before him, for the first three or four minutes all that we could see was the movement of his lips and hear only the murmurings that came from his lips and tongue. With youth, reverence is quick to fly, when humour enters, and oftentimes have I seen the furtive glance and heard the titter go round the chapel, bench by bench, until the Holy Spirit shaped and formed the utterance of the preacher's word, and then the vibrant voice, the apt word, the homely language, and the ardour of his soul captured our affections, and once again sunk with reverence and silence we left, our souls uplifted with the consolation of religion.

At first Thou gav'st me milk and sweetness;
I had my wish and way:
My dayes were strew'd with flowers and happiness :
There was no moneth but May.

Edward J Little

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Edward Kelly (1824-1905)

The first Rector of Crescent College, was a native of Dublin and received his early education at the old Jesuit School in Hardwicke St, Belvedere College and Clongowes. He entered the Society in 1842 and received all his higher education abroad. He was summoned from his tertianship in France in the early spring of 1859 to become rector of the newly founded St Munchin's College. The correspondence between the Provincial at Gardiner St and the General of the Society at Rome shows that Father Kelly had been designated previously as next rector of Clongowes. His term of office came to an end in 1864 when he was appointed rector of Belvedere College. His next post of responsibility was the rectorship of Clongowes which he held from 1881 to 1885. The remainder of Father Kelly's life was passed at the church of St Francis Xavier, Gardiner St where he held the position of superior from 1889 to 1895.

Born: 04 August 1873, Waterford City, County Waterford
Entered: 06 September 1890, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 28 July 1907, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1910, Clongowes Wood College SJ
Died: 07 September 1952, Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Early education at Christian Brothers, Waterford and Tramore; St Stanislaus College SJ, Tullabeg and Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

by 1900 at Valkenburg Netherlands (GER) studying
by 1909 at Drongen Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Dominic Kelly was educated at Clongowes, 1886-90, and entered the Society at Tullabeg, 6 September 1890. After studying the classics at the National University Dublin, 1892-95,
where he gained an MA, he taught rhetoric and prepared students for the public examinations at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, 1895-99. Then he studied philosophy at Valkenburg, 1899-01, returning to Clongowes to teach Latin, Greek and German, 1901-03. A further few years were spent teaching at the Crescent, Limerick, before theology at Milltown Park, 1904-08. Tertianship was at Tronchiennes 1911.
After a few years teaching Greek and Latin at Clongowes, he was sent to Australia, teaching mathematics and physics at Xavier College, Kew, 1916-18.
He then went to Newman College, 1919-47, tutoring university students in Latin, Greek, French and German. He had a college choir for a few years, and was spiritual father to the
community. He enjoyed his time there, and the students enjoyed his company In his own quiet way, he joined the students in their activities. He attended all the sporting matches on the oval, and was seen on a bicycle watching the boat races. He entered into their poker games by working out the probability of a royal flush to be one in 649,739!
His final years, 1948-52, were spent teaching petrology and modern languages to the scholastics at Canisius College, Pymble. He also taught liturgy and biblical Greek.
Kelly was a very quiet little man, very erudite and modest with a wide variety of interests. He gave a good, but emotional retreat, and translated the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola into Gaelic. He interested himself in astronomy and discovered a new star. As 1. hobby, he studied botany, especially seaweed. He could quote Horace without reference to the books. He was fascinated with cameras and took aerial photographs of Clongowes by means of a camera attached to a box kite. As a young man he played football and cricket and always remained a keen and capable tennis player. All in all, he was an accomplished person who was highly respected as a man who combined great learning with unaffected modesty.

Note from Wilfred Ryan Entry
He, with Jeremiah Murphy and Dominic Kelly, set the tone for Newman College of the future.

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 27th Year No 4 1952
Obituary :
Father Dominick Kelly (Australian Province)

Fr. Dom Kelly's death in Australia was announced on September 7th. Born in Waterford on August 4th, 1873, he appeared to have been the last surviving old boy of Tullabeg, where he spent six months before the amalgamation of that College with Clongowes in 1880. He was four years at Clongowes where he had a distinguished Intermediate course. His subjects included ancient classics, modern languages, mathematics, music, physics and drawing, in the latter subject he won medals in the Junior and Senior Grades. He entered the Society on September 6th, 1890 at Tullabeg, where he made his Juniorate studies, after which he remained on to teach the Juniors for some years, preparing at the same time for his own University examinations. He secured a high M.A. degree in classics at the old Royal University. He studied philosophy for three years at Valkenburg, Holland, after which he was classical master at Clongowes. He was ordained priest in 1907 at Milltown Park where he read a distinguished course in Theology. His third year probation he made at Tronchiennes. After this he resumed work in the classroom at Clongowes where he taught Greek, Latin and Irish until his transfer to Australia in 1917. He was master in Xavier College, Kew, until the opening of Newman College, Melbourne in 1919 when he began his long and fruitful association with University students as tutor in Greek, Latin, French and German.
This association was to last till the year 1948. In that year he became professor of patrology and modern languages at our Scholasticate in Pymble, N.S.W.
Fr. Dom was a man of brilliant intellectual parts and a delightful community man. Those of our Province who were privileged to have him as master can attest his talent for imparting knowledge and securing the pupil's delighted interest. No mean musician himself, he was charged, in addition to his other duties, with the office of choir master for nearly all his life. An amateur photographer of skill, he made local history in Clongowes once by securing aerial photos of the Castle and Grounds from a camera with a time-fuse which he floated by means of a kite. Fr. Kelly remained the doyen of the class room till his death at Pymble. In this year's Catalogue of the Australian Province he appears as “Lect. ling. mod. an. 51”, a record rarely, if ever beaten. May he rest in peace.

◆ The Clongownian, 1953

Obituary

Father Dominic Kelly SJ

Father Dominic Kelly SJ died at Canisius' College, Pymble, Australia, on Sunday, 7th September, 1952.

He died as he had lived the far greater part of his long life, in the bosom of his beloved Order. Every Jesuit old boy - indeed everyone who took the slighest interest in the work of the Jesuit Father's in Australia - knew, or at least had heard of Father “Dom” Kelly. This is not the least remarkable fact about the life of this remarkable man, because he persistently strove to hide his light under the proverbial bushel. But the scope of his in tellectual powers, his charm and humility, and his saintly life as a Priest were such that he failed to keep himself from notice. This was probably the only thing he ever set out to do which he failed to accomplish. Hundreds who never had the pleasure of meeting Father Kelly will mourn his passing. To those who had the pleasure of his friendship, his death will leave a gap not easily filled.

Father Kelly was born at Waterford, in the year 1873. At the age of 13 he went to Clongowes ,Wood College. At the age of 17 he left Clongowes to join the Society of Jesus. As a Scholastic he studied classics at the Royal University, where he took his Master's degree. He did his Philosophy at Valkenberg, Holland, at a house belonging to the then exiled German Jesuits. He taught at Tullabeg before he returned to Milltown Park to do his Theology before his ordination in 1910. In 1911 he did his Tertianship in Belgium, after which he returned to Clongowes to teach classics and German. But his brilliant mind was far too active to find complete satisfaction in the Classics which he had completely mastered he could quote Horace without any reference to the books - so he set about seeking new fields to conquer. To his classics he added French. He translated the Exercises of St Ignatius into his native Irish tongue. He interested himself in Astronomy and discovered a new star. He took aerial photographs of Clongowes by means of a camera attached to a box kite. He was only happy when he was laying aside one intellectual conquest to start in search of another. All the while he was teaching with obvious success many brilliant students such as Dr McQuaid, the present Archbishop of Dublin; Father Dan O'Connell SJ, lately appointed in charge of the Vatican Observatory; Father Fergal McGrath SJ, later well-known and successful author; and Father Hugo Kerr, who subsequently entered the Redemptorist Order and became the Provincial.

Nor was he solely a book worm. As a young man he had played football and cricket and always remained a keen and capable tennis player, as many a young Newman blood found out when he went out to the court to '”polish off Father Dom” in a couple of sets.

His activities were such that one feels that there surely must have been more than 24 hours in his day. But his intellectual activities did not come first by any means. He was first and foremost a Priest of God, and these duties he dis charged with such humility and success that he was always both in Ireland and Australia, much sought after by Religious as their Director of Retreats.

In 1916 Ireland gave up yet another of her brilliant sons to the Faith in Australia, for it was in that year Father Kelly went to Xavier, where, believe it or not, he taught, not classics or languages, but mathematics and physics. Such a varied and accomplished teacher must have been a Prefect of Studies dream.

In 1919 Father Kelly went to Newman, where he remained a Tutor for 28 years. He became and remained for the whole period of his residence, the quietest and most popular man in Newman. It would be a gross understatement to merely say that every student respected him. It is not an overstatement to say that every student loved “Old Dom” as they, not disrespectfully, referred to him in their conversations. He had the captivating charm of the genuinely humble, He was thoroughly happy at Newman, and he Tegretted very much when the time came to retire" to Pymble. He slipped off to Pymble as quietly as if he were going for one of his bicycle rides.

In his quiet way he joined the students in all their activities. He attended all the matches on the oval, and he was always to be seen, bicycle and all, on the river bank at boat races. When he found that some men in college were wont to relax at a friendly game of poker, he wrote an article on “Poker Probabilities” in the college magazine of 1935. Amongst other practical advice he demonstrated the probability of a royal flush as 1 in 649,739! Is it any wonder that Newman men loved the man who while being the spiritual Father to so many could still take a keen, intelligent and sympathetic interest in their daily lives.

Towards the close of his career at Newman, Father Kelly decided to become a botanist. He classified sea-weeds, gum trees and flowers with his usual success. It was typical that all this was practically accomplished before anyone knew that he had started.

It is impossible to do justice to Father Kelly in these short notes. The writer has tried to recall his attainments which we had long since taken for granted. But above all Father Kelly was a humble priest, whose constant aim io this life was to serve God and give back to Elim the fruits of the great intellect with, which he was endowed. He was in all his labours a “humble giant”. RIP

The Xaverian, Melbourne

Born: 12 April 1914, North Circular Road, Phibsborough, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1932, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois

Left Society of Jesus: 15 February 1937

Father was an auctioneer in the Dublin Fruit Markets.

Eldest of three boys with two sisters.

Early education was at two private schools and then at Belvedere College SJ for nine years.

Father, John, was an auctioneer in the Dublin Fruit Markets. Mother, Una (Casey). Live from 1927-1931 at Hollybank Road, Drumcondra; 1931-1932 at Venetian Hall, Howth Road, Raheny.

Eldest of three boys with two sisters.

Early education was at two private schools and then at Belvedere College SJ for nine years.

Baptised at St Agatha’s, Nth William Street, 17/04/1914
Confirmed at Pro-Catherdral, Dublin, by Dr Byrne of Dublin, 04/02/1925

1932-1934: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1934-1937: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate, UCD

Thought to have died c1938 of cancer. Funeral in Gardiner Street. (James Kelly SJ, 13/06/1973)

Born: 20 May 1707, Maynooth, County Kildare
Entered: 07 March 1726, Genoa, Italy - Venetae Province (VEM)
Ordained: c 1735, Turin, Italy
Died: 30 March 1777, Maynooth, County Kildare

05 December 1725-18 December 1726 At Irish College in Rome and left for Novitiate

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Fifth son of Richard Kelly of Maynooth

1741 Came to Ireland
1752 A Curate in Dublin
1755-1777 PP of Maynooth and by the Pope’s permission is buried at Laragh Brian (Laraghbryan). This position had been forced on him by James FitzGerald, Earl and later Marquis of Kildare and Duke of Leinster, with the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, who applied to Rome on the subject. He built a new house and chapel at Maynooth, with the approbation of the same nobleman. Reputedly an exemplary PP.

A Jesuit until the Suppression, and made a Retreat every year with his brethren up to his death (Father Bracken)
Reputed to be a man of learning and edification. (cf Foley’s Collectanea)
Had been twelve years as Socius to a Master of Novices in Italy

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Son of Richard and Jane née Murphy
Early classical education at Dublin Jesuit School.
1728-1731 After First Vows sent to Milan for three years Philosophy
1731-1735 Sent to Turin for Theology where he was Ordained c 1735
1735-1740 Sent to Ajaccio, Corsica teaching, and then to Leghorn (Livorno)
1740-1741 Tertianship at Genoa
1741 Sent to Ireland and stationed at Maynooth, where he became eventually PP. At the suppression of the Society he was one of the signatories accepting that brief (07/02/1774), and then he was incardinated in Dublin diocese and died at Maynooth 30 March 1777. He was buried in Laraghbrien churchyard His sister later presented his Mass Vestments to Clongowes.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Clement Kelly 1708-1777
Clement Kelly was the fifth of the six sons of Richard Kelly of Maynooth, and he was born there on November 20th 1708.
Having entered the Society at Milan in 1725, he returned to the Irish Mission in 1741. He worked as an assistant priest in St Michan’s in Dublin, until 1752. In that year he was appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Linegar, as Parish Priest of Maynooth, on the strong recommendation of the Duke of Leinster. This appointment Fr Kelly resisted strongly, but was at last prevailed upon to accept it.
He was Parish Priest at Maynooth until his death in 1777, when he was buried at the family vault in Laragh Bryan. During his period of office he erected the Church and presbytery at Maynooth.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
KELLY, CLEMENT, the fifth of six sons of Mr. Richard Kelly of Maynooth, was born on the 20th of November, 1708 : consecrated himself to God in the Society, within the Province of Milan, on the 13th of January, 1725, and came to the Irish Mission in 1741 . In the Catalogue of 1752 he is reported to be an assistant to a Parish Priest in the Diocese of Dublin; and in the Catalogue of 1755, he is described to be the actual Parish Priest of the place. The truth is, when the Incumbent of Maynooth died, F. Kelly’s younger brother solicited the influence of James, Earl of Kildare (afterwards created Marquess of Kildare, and Duke of Leinster) with Dr. John Linegar, Archbishop of Dublin, who with the consent of Rome, duly appointed this unpretending Jesuit to hold that Parish. This good Religious was much displeased with his brother’s interference, so contrary to all regulated custom, and declined the proffered charge; but was ultimately prevailed on to accept the preferment, and he continued to hold it until his pious death in 1777. His remains were deposited in the family burial ground at Laragh Bryan. With the approbation of the aforesaid nobleman, F. Kelly erected a new house and Chapel at Maynooth. By all accounts he was not distinguished as a Preacher; but he had the reputation of superior learning, and was exemplary in the faithful performance of every pastoral duty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Born: 05 January 1902, The Park, Athlone, County Westmeath
Entered: 01 September 1919, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 14 June 1932, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1935, Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Died: 17 February 1974, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia - Macau-Hong Kong Province (MAC-HK)

Part of the St Francis Xavier, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia community at the time of death

Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Transcribed HIB to HK : 03 December 1966

Father worked as a Solicitor until 1920. His parents are now living at Rosmeen Gardens, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

Third of three sons with one daughter.

Early education at Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone for four years anfd then went to Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Galway, until Easter 1914. He then went to Clongowes Wood College SJ (1914-1919)

by 1934 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1935 at Wah Yan, Hong Kong - working

◆ Hong Kong Catholic Archives :
Death of Father Brian Kelly S.J.
R.I.P.

Father Brian Kelly, S.J., formerly of Hong Kong died in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 18 February 1974, aged 72.

Father Kelly was born in Ireland in 1902. He became a Jesuit in 1919, was ordained priest in 1932 and came to Hong Kong in 1934.

From 1934 to 1954, Father Kelly served as a teacher in Wah Yan (1934-1935 & 1947-1954), as Warden of Ricci Hall (1936-1947), and as a teacher in St. Louis Gonzaga College, Macau during the Occupation years. In 1954 he was transferred to Singapore and later to Kuala Lumpur, as assistant parish priest in either city.

In his last year as a teacher in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, Father Kelly had in his form a boy called Gabriel Lam. It is to be hoped the news of Mgr. Gabriel Lam’s appointment as Vicar General of the diocese of Hong Kong arrived in Kuala Lumpur in time to cheer his last days.

In all posts he showed himself a man of intense concentration on his work. When he was teaching, his boys in his classes and their work seemed to be his sole interest in life. His devotion to the wardenship of Ricci Hall was equally intense. In the years following the war he organised retreats in the Aberdeen Seminary with similar devotion there was no regular retreat house in Hong Kong at the time.

His unremitting concentration on the posts he held was due in part to unjustified distrust of his powers. Thus, though he was possibly the best preacher among the Hong Kong Jesuits he treated every sermon as a something altogether beyond him, and he could never be persuaded that he has next sermon would not be dismally inadequate.

This self-distrust did not hinder him when anyone was in need of advice or help, nor did it prevent his being an amusing and companionable friend. The news of his death will be greeted with many a sigh.
Sunday Examiner Hong Kong - 22 February 1974

◆ 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 49th Year No 2 1974

Obituary :

Fr Brian Kelly (1902-1974)

Fr Brian Kelly died at Ipoh, W. Malaysia, on Sunday, February 17th; he was buried there after Requiem Mass at St Michael's Church at 11 a.m. on the 19th, another Requiem being celebrated simultaneously in his old parish of the Assumption, Petaling Jaya. In the previous week he had attended a catechetical seminar in Cameron Highlands, and returned to Ipoh feeling tired and unwell. He had a heart attack during morning Mass on 17th, was anointed by Fr Paul Jenkins, and after another attack died about 5.30 in the evening shortly after the arrival of Fr Eddie Bourke from KL Born on 2nd January 1902, Fr Brian was at school at Clongowes where he was received into the Sodality of the Holy Angels by Fr John Sullivan for whom he retained a great reverence and who was his confessor and adviser. Entering the Society in 1919, he was ordained in 1932 and came to Hong King in 1934 to teach at Wah Yan.
In Hong Kong, Requiem Mass for him was concelebrated at Ricci Hall on 22nd, and also at Catholic Centre attended by old boys from St. Luis Gonzaga for whom Fr Albert Cooney had arranged the Mass.
Fr Eddie Bourke has contributed the following tribute to Fr, Brian :

It was Fr Brian Kelly's vocation to travel to various places and be given many and diversified assignments. He was one of the early procurators of the Mission and for several years was the business manager of the Rock, while teaching or acting as warden. He taught in the old Wah Yan College and was an excellent teacher. He was an outstanding warden of university hostels, at Ricci in Hong Kong and later in Kingsmead Hall in Singapore and of Xavier Hall in Petaling Jaya. He was one of the wonderful team of five who conducted a school for refugees from Hong Kong in Macau during the war. The later years of his life were spent in devoted pastoral work in St Ignatius parish, Singapore, and seven years in the parish of the Assumption, Petaling Jaya. The last few years of his life were spent in Ipoh where he was chaplain to Our Lady’s Hospital, taught doctrine in the Brothers' school and helped in two parishes.
In all these diversified occupations he showed a great power of application of mind. He had always a number of catechumens whom he was preparing for baptism. These were not only those who came to him for instruction but those also for whom he had fished. The number of those he prepared for baptism cannot easily be traced, but one of them is Mgr Gabriel Lam the new vicar general of the Hong Kong diocese.
Fr Brian had many special gifts or charisms : one was a very special manner in dealing with altar servers. He was able to inculcate a sense of decorum and above all of reverence. When you. visited a sacristy where his servers were you found that they kept silence in the sacristy and a few moments before Mass they of themselves gathered round a crucifix and recited a beautiful prayer which he had composed for them. They are now grown up men but they remember him it was interesting to see that many of his old servers got a mini-bus and travelled the 150 miles from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh for the funeral.
As warden, Fr Brian was one of those, and I think they are few, who were able to utilise the opportunity that a hostel for university students affords for influencing the undergraduates. What we might call the golden age of Ricci Hall was due to Fr Brian. He was responsible for instilling a great loyalty into the students, organising lectures which would help them to keep their knowledge of their faith in line with the advancement made in their other studies. In his last year I know that he had three candidates for our noviceship and their entering was prevented by their being dispersed by the war. These three are now outstanding in their Catholic apostolate. His success as warden in Ricci was the reason I presume that Fr Paddy Joy asked for him to come to Malaysia to take charge of Kingsmead Hall, and when it was well established he was sent to be the first warden of Xavier Hall.
One incident during the battle for Hong Kong shows him in a heroic role. The drivers of ambulances refused to enter no-man's land between the opposing forces unless they were accompanied by a priest. Brian was one of those who volunteered for the position and all of us admired his courage. For nearly a week the ambulances had to bring wounded and dying from places under fire especially in Happy Valley. Brian faced the danger in a most unobtrusive manner. To one of his gentle disposition such work was heroic.
The war saw him in Macau. Fr Joy was asked to start a school for students who had to leave Hong Kong and were refugees in Macau. They were mostly Portuguese and Eurasians whose fathers were interned. Fr Joy sent Frs Tom and Albert Cooney, H. O'Brien, Jerry McCarthy and Brian. The influence they had on the students, the education they gave them and the spirit of enterprise that they instilled was remarkable, and many of them have reached high positions in their professions in Hong Kong, the US and elsewhere.
In Hong Kong, Fr Brian was zealous in getting people to make retreats especially in the Seminary, and in Ricci. This meant much personal visiting people. He used go to offices in the city and meet past students of his, graduates and office workers, and did not leave till he had booked them for weekend retreats. Later in Kingsmead and in Xavier Hall he succeeded in organising weekend retreats for several years.
Pastoral work of apostolic visitation of families was the great work awaiting him in Singapore and Malaysia. To do this, he began to take driving lessons at the age of 55 in Singapore's dense traffic, and failed his first test because he drove too slowly; his instructor's prophecy came true, that he would have accidents from people bumping into him from behind. For seven years in the Assumption parish Fr Brian visited the six or seven hundred families of the parish, setting off regularly about 5.30 pm and spending several hours visiting. He knew where every family lived and their “status animae”, knew them by name, and knew all the problem cases, whom he visited more frequently. On his death there was disappointment that he was not brought back for burial to the parish where he was so well known and loved.
For the past five years or so he had been in Ipoh where his work was firstly to act as chaplain to the Sisters of the Divine Motherhood in their hospital, to attend to the sick in the hospital and give guidance to the nursing staff. In addition to this he used visit the general hospital, give instruction to the postulants of the Brothers of Mercy, teach doctrine to a class in the Brothers’ school, instruct catechumens whom the Redemptorist Fathers sent to him.
Shortly before his death Fr Brian was discussing how to get Matt Talbot made patron to whom drug addicts could resort for strength and help. He was also inviting people to join him in getting the sick who receive Communion weekly in their homes to offer some of their sufferings for vocations, hoping there would thus be an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life in Malaysia.
Some thirty priests, including six Jesuits from KL, Singapore and Penang, concelebrated the funeral Mass with the Bishop of Penang, and Fr Paul Jenkins gave a fine homily,
We extend sympathy to Brian’s sister, Miss M P Kelly of Dublin who is a benefactress of our Province, and to his brother Mr A B Kelly of Vancouver.

◆ The Clongownian, 1974

Obituary

Father Brian Kelly SJ

Brian was the younger son of W P Kelly, Solicitor, of The Park, Athlone. Though himself an old Stonyhurst boy, he had already sent his elder son, Arthur (1905-09) to Clongowes. Throughout his life Brian bore the unmistakeable stamp of two Jesuits who had him as a boy, Fr John Sullivan, for whom he had a life-long devotion both in his personal life and in his devotion as a priest to the sick, and Fr John Mary O'Connor, whom he hero-worshipped, both as a boy in Clongowes and later as a scholastic in Belvedere where he trained rugby and cricket teams with considerable success, and where in the classroom he proved a thorough, clear and meticulous teacher.

Ordained to the priesthood on the 14th June, 1932, on the completion of his studies he was posted to Hong Kong in the autumn of 1934. Ricci Hall, Hong Kong is probably the Jesuit house with which his name is more closely associated. In these days of provocative demonstrations by university students, we may be tempted to think that up to 1968 university students were a docile race. In his eight years in Ricci he had to meet many formidable challenges which he courageously faced and conquered. Perhaps the most rewarding memory of those years was the happy and apostolically fruitful friendships which he built up and main tained to the end of his life-especially among those who had given him most trouble.

Because of his outstanding success in Ricci Hall, in 1955 he was sent down to Singapore to open Kingsmead Hall; seven years later he was asked to open another new Hall, Xavier Hall, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Neither of these tasks was easy: the fluctuations of government and university policy at Singapore and of Jesuit policy in Petaling Jaya, involved a constant flexibility and adapta tion to new conditions.

One of his four confrères who worked with him. in Macao during the war years considered these his finest hours, when his gifts found their true expression.

To the present writer, Brian found his great fulfilment in the last decade or so, as a curate in the Assumption parish in Petaling Jaya, where he visited six or seven hundred families and knew everyone by name, and was generous with his time, his zeal and energy in helping them with a wide range of problems.

For roughly the last five years of his life he had moved up to Ipoh where his first concern was for the Sisters of the Divine Motherhood and the patients in the hospital. In addition to this, he used to visit the general hospitals, give instructions to the postulants of the Brothers of Mercy, teach doctrine to a class in the Brothers' school, and instruct catechumens whom the Redemptorist Fathers sent to him. From his tearly days in Hong Kong and in Singapore and Malaysia, he was a consistent and persevering fisher of souls, bringing great numbers to baptism.

In brief, like his early mentors, he was a man of God whose whole life was shot through with zeal for the conversion of those who had never heard of Christ's compassion. He knew no loyalty except loyalty to Christ and to his Church, and in her to the Society of Jesus to whom he had dedicated his life,

To his brother, Arthur, called to the Bar in Dublin, but emigrating shortly afterwards to Canada, where he qualified as a dentist with an extensive practice in Vancouver (from which he has recently retired), and to his sister Mary, a generous benefactor of the Irish Jesuits in the Far East, who now lives in Castle Court, Booterstown, we offer our heartfelt sympathy.

Born: 20 September 1891, Prince Edward Terrace, Blackrock, County Dublin
Entered: 29 February 1912, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1923, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1929, St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, Sydney, Australia
Died: 11 October 1978, Caritas Christi Hospice, Studley Park Rd, Kew, Victoria, Australia - Ranchiensis Province (RAN)

Part of the Manresa, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia at the time of death

Younger brother of Thomas P Kelly - RIP 1977

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931; ASL to RAN : 22 March 1956

Vice-Provincial Provincial Australia: 1 October 1947-1 November 1950
Provincial Australia: 1950-1956
Superior of the Australian Jesuit Mission to Hazaribagh Mission India : 1956-1962

Father was a Commission Agent for Wollen and Drapery Warhouses.

Youngest of three boys, and four sisters - being 5th in the famiily.

Educated at Dominican Convent Blackrock and then went to Blackrock College for two years. After that he was taught at a private school begun by the Christian Brothers. In 1903 he went to Belvedere College SJ until 1909. After this he went to learn the woolen and drapery business, spending three years at Ferrier Pollock (Jan 1909 - Jan 1912) At the same time he was attending the Royal University and attained a BA in February 1912.

by 1915 at Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying
by 1922 at Leuven, Belgium (BELG) studying
Transcribed HIB to ASL - 05 April 1931; ASL to RAN 22 March 1956

◆ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University onlne
Kelly, Austin Michael (1891–1978)
by J. Eddy
J. Eddy, 'Kelly, Austin Michael (1891–1978)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kelly-austin-michael-10674/text18973, published first in hardcopy 1996

Catholic priest; school principal; schoolteacher

Died : 11 October 1978, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Austin Michael Kelly (1891-1978), Jesuit provincial and missionary, was born 20 September 1891 at Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland, fifth child of Edward Kelly, commission agent, and his wife Teresa, née Burke. Educated at Belvedere College, Dublin (1903-08), and at the National University of Ireland (B.A., 1911), Austin entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on 29 February 1912 at Tullabeg and took his first vows on 1 March 1914. Following a short juniorate at Rathfarnham, he was sent in September 1914 to study philosophy at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England. He returned to Dublin and taught (1917-21) at Mungret College. In 1921-25 he studied theology at Louvain, Belgium, and was ordained priest on 31 July 1923.

After serving his tertianship at Tullabeg, Kelly was posted to Australia in 1926 as prefect of discipline and sportsmaster at Xavier College, Melbourne. On 15 August 1929 he took his final vows. He was minister (1928-30) and rector (1931-37) of St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point, Sydney, and founding rector (1938-47) of St Louis School, Claremont, Perth, the first Jesuit establishment in Western Australia. Cultured, deeply pious and meticulous, he was an outstanding headmaster, ever on the alert to encourage the initiatives of the young teachers he was training, even when he would not himself have done the things they were doing, or done them the way they did. He soon became one of the most prominent and influential churchmen in Perth, and a trusted adviser to ecclesiastical and secular leaders.

In October 1947 Fr Kelly was appointed by Rome to head the Australian province of the order, which, from his base in Melbourne, he steered towards final autonomy from the Irish Jesuits. In 1950-56 he had charge of the newly created Australian and New Zealand province. He judged that the increased membership of the order—which was growing towards its maximum of three hundred and fifty—justified expansion of its works, and he seized the initiative by undertaking the management of new schools, parishes and university colleges in Hobart, Adelaide and Brisbane. Businesslike and energetic, Kelly exerted to the full the organising ability that his long experience in office had honed. His determination, rhetorical skill and wide circle of influence ensured that the works of the order, and with their success its morale, would flourish.

Some considered his standards impossibly high and his manner unduly autocratic. When he accepted, on behalf of the Australian Jesuits, the challenge of maintaining a foreign mission in Bihar, India, and when the first group of six were sent to Ranchi in 1951, a few critics warned that resources would be overstretched. In this enterprise, however, as in many of his projects, Kelly's thinking was far ahead of his time. He long held that the considerable achievements of the Australians in the Hazaribagh-Palamau region ranked among the most visionary and generous national gestures of the period. On the conclusion of his provincialate in Australia he was appointed superior of the Hazaribagh Mission, and set off in September 1956 on a new phase of what had, in many respects, always been a missionary career.

In Bihar, Kelly was in some ways ill-attuned to the national style which the Australian Jesuits had adapted to India, and his health had become impaired. But he doggedly saw out six years of administration, planning, exhortation and visitation; and he enlarged the foundations of the mission by liaison with an expanding number and variety of religious and secular 'co-missionaries'. In 1962 he returned to reside at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception at Hawthorn, Melbourne, where he was based (except for the year 1964 which he spent at Lavender Bay, Sydney) until he went in 1974 to Caritas Christi hospice, Kew. He died there on 11 October 1978 and was buried in Boroondara cemetery.

Impressively able, distinguished in appearance, urbane, energetic and imaginative, Kelly was a remarkable 'lace-curtain' Irishman who had become an enthusiastic and loyal patriot in his adopted country. He was impatient of the mediocre, a practical leader rather than a natural scholar, and he remained a staunchly private man, despite his whole-hearted pursuit of public goals and cultivation of a wide circle of prominent friends. Very dedicated to the educational and spiritual projects of his Church and order, he was ecumenical in outlook and sustained a lifetime cultivation of books, fine arts, music and theatre.

Select Bibliography
U. M. L. Bygott, With Pen and Tongue (Melb, 1980)
Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne), 2 Oct 1947
Sydney Morning Herald, 12 Sept 1966
West Australian, 21 Oct 1978
Society of Jesus, Australian Province Archives, Hawthorn, Melbourne.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Austin Kelly was educated at the Jesuit school Belvedere College 1903-1908, and at te National University of Ireland (BA 1911) and entered the Society of Jesus 29 February 1912. After a short Juniorate at Rathfarnham Castle, he studied Philosophy at Stonyhurst, England from 1914. His Regency was an Mungret College 1917-1921. He went to Louvain for Theology, being ordained 31 July 1923. Tertianship was at Tullabeg, 1925, and he was solemnly professed 15 August 1929.
He was appointed to Xavier College Kew, as Prefect of Discipline and Sportsmaster in 1926, and then sent to St Aloysius College, Milsons Point from 1928-1937, being Rector from 1931. He was founding Rector of St Louis School, Perth, 1938, and was appointed Vice-Provincial in 1947, and Provincial from 1950-1956. Then he became Superior of the Australian Mission in Hazaribag, India, 1956-1962. Ill health forced his return to Australia, and to the Hawthorn Parish, Melbourne, 1963, where he remained until his death.
Cultured, deeply pious and meticulous, , he was a good rector in the schools, ever on the alert to encourage initiatives of the young teachers he was training, even when he would not himself have done the things they were doing, or done them the way the did. As Rector, he emphasised the importance of traditional Jesuit education, as outlined in the “Ratio Studiorum”, as well as the importance of producing good Christian gentlemen in the tradition of the English Public School.
In Perth, he soon became one of the most prominent and influential churchmen, and a trusted advisor to ecclesiastical and secular leaders.
It was during his term as Vice-Provincial that he steered the Province towards final autonomy from the Irish Jesuits. In 1950, the Region was created a full Province under Austin Kelly’s guidance. He judged that the increased membership of the Order, which was growing towards 350, justified expansion of its works, and he seized the initiative by undertaking the management of new schools, parishes and University Colleges in Hobart, Adelaide and Brisbane. Business-like and energetic, he exerted to the full the organising ability that his long experience in office had honed. His determination, rhetorical skill and wide circle of influence ensured that the success and morale of the works flourished.
Some considered his standards impossibly high, and his manner as unduly autocratic. When he accepted, on behalf of the Australian Jesuits, the challenge of maintaining a foreign mission in Bihar, India, and when the first group of six were sent to Ranchi in 1951, a few critics warned that resources would be over-stretched. In this enterprise, however, as in many of his projects, his thinking was so far ahead of his time.
In founding the Mission, he realised a lifetime ambition. He had always wanted to e a missionary, and in many respects he had always had a missionary career. It was recounted that when the question of when to make Australia a Province was being discussed, it was only he who wanted it in 1950. Many believed the timing was not right, but he wanted to start a Mission, and higher Superiors gave in to his wishes.
When he went to Bihar himself in 1956, he was in some ways ill attuned to the national style that the Australian Jesuits had adapted to in India, and his health became impaired. Bur, he doggedly saw our six years of administration, planning, exhortation and visitations, and he enlarged the foundations of the Mission by liaising with an expanding number and variety of religious and secular “co-missionaries”.
Impressively able as well as distinguished in appearance, urbane, energetic and imaginative, he was a remarkable “lace-curtain” Irishman, who had become an enthusiastic and loyal patriot of his adopted country. He was impatient of the mediocre, a practical leader rather than a natural scholar, and he remained a staunchly private man, despite his wholehearted pursuit of public goals and cultivation of a wide circle of prominent friends. Very dedicated to the educational and spiritual projects of his Church and order, he was ecumenical in outlook and sustained a lifetime cultivation of books, fine arts and music.

Note from Thomas Perrott Entry
He spent the rest of his working life at St Louis School, Perth. He helped Austin Kelly set up the school in 1938.

◆ Irish Province News

Irish Province News 23rd Year No 4 1948

Fr. Leo Donnelly who has been offered to the Viceprovince of Australia, completed his course at Kurseong recently (he was professor of Church History) and sailed on the SANGOLA for Hong Kong on 10th September. “As it proves impossible”, he writes, “to secure a passage direct to Australia within reasonable time, Fr. Austin Kelly has given me permission to travel via Hong Kong. It was quite easy to book a passage to that port, and Fr. Howatson has booked a berth for me from there to Melbourne. Needless to say, I am delighted at the chance of seeing the Mission, even if I am not to stay there. The ship for Australia will not sail till near the end of October, so that I shall not be at Fr. Kelly's disposal till sometime in November. This, however, is quicker than waiting for a direct passage”.

◆ The Belvederian, Dublin, 1962

Our Past

Father Austin Kelly SJ

Father Austin Kelly SJ (1909) celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit this year. In request for information he wrote this most interesting letter:

“I was a boy at Belvedere when the first number of the ‘Belvederian’ was published: the Editor was Mr Bernard Page SJ, an Anglo-Australian scholastic belonging to the Irish Province, who was very popular: we used ‘rag’ him a good deal, calling him by various nicknames - ‘Nap’ for in appearance and build he was like Napoleon or ‘The Owl’, for he resembled that bird, or just simply ‘Barney’.

Those were the spacious days of Father Nicholas J Tomkin's Rectorship. We began school at 10 a.m, and finished at 3p.m. I began at Beivedere in September 1903 in Second Grammar class, taught in all four periods by Mr Robert Dillon-Kelly SJ. I went up the school to First Arts class in 1908, my class companions being, among others I have forgotten, Arthur Cox, Gerald Delamer, Joe Little, Andy Horne, Jim Talion, Harry Gerard, Joe Dixon, Malvy White, etc.

We were privileged in those years to have a very distinguished band of Jesuit teachers, Father James Whittaker, and as Scholastics Messrs Frank Browne, Patrick Bartley, James McCann, Willie Doyle, John M O'Connor, Martin Corbett. The famous Father James Cullen was Spiritual Father and every new boy had to stand the test of tremendous hand-grip from him, until the tears came into your eyes.

Belvedere owes a great debt to the late Father James McCann, who as Sportsmaster put the school on the map: in 1904-5 he entered Belvedere for the Leinster Schools' Rugby Cup. The Captain of that first XV was Bob Carroll and two of the surviving members I know are Father Willie Owens SJ, in Australia, and my brother, Father Tom Kelly, now in Mungret. The latter captained the First XV in 1906-7, and was picked for the Leinster Interprovincial team. The following year Jack Burke-Gaffney was captain, and I got on the XV. In the winter of 1908 was played the first rugby match ever between Belvedere and Clongowes. It was on a Sunday and we went down by car and were welcomed at the Castle by the Rector, Father T V Nolan SJ. Clongowes won; their captain was the late P F Quinlan of Perth, WA, who later captained Trinity at football and cricket. The actual captain of Clongowes XV then was J B Minch, afterwards capped for Ireland; this day he was disabled and Quinlan, as vice captain, took his place. The Belvedere captain was Noel Purcell. That year, too, Portora Royal School came from Enniskillen to play Belvedere: it was their most famous team captained by Dicky Lloyd and with three future internationals playing. After the match we entertained them to a dinner at the Railway Hotel, Amiens St. I recall the menu cards printed in yellow and black, the Portora colours. You may guess who was the Sports master of Belvedere it was Mr John M O'Connor SJ.

In these years Belvedere excelled in swimming, winning several years running the Schools Championship and the Water Polo. The Belvedere Gala was the annual event of the swimming world-each year a well-known champion was brought to swim as a special attraction; one year it was Cecil Healy (Old Riverview) winner of the 100 metres at the first revived Olympic Games at Athens, and another, two Hungarians, winners at the London Olympics in 1908.

The great tradition of Belvedere's excellence in sport was begun thus, thanks to the energy and enterprise of two fine sports masters, later to be Fathers James McCann and John M O'Connor.

Life was always full of interest at Belvedere: interest in work was keyed up by the institution of weekly exams, with the results posted up on Monday mornings; the weekly card system was started, in which four cards could be won for the four periods, with the promise that every boy who got 16 cards for the month would get a book-prize of his own choice stamped with the Belvedere crest in gold. It worked very well, but I fear it was too expensive, for after Father Tomkin's time it was dropped. Plays, too, added greatly to the joy of life; I remember two I took part in - ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ and ‘The Pair of Spectacles’. I was only a danseuse in the first, but had a big part in the Pair of Spectacles. This play was probably the most successful ever put on the Belvedere stage, and that is saying a lot. Professor Burke trained us for the elocution, and Mr James McCann produced the play. The stage-managers were Father Whittaker and Mr Frank Browne. It ran for two nights and two afternoons; the afternoon performances were for the Belvedere Union and their friends. Old Goldfinch was acted splendidly by Jack Burke-Gaffney, with Vinnie O'Hare as his brother Gregory coming a good second; the other actors were Eddie Freeman, Andy Horne, Theo McWeeney, Raymond Redmond and Maurice King.

In 1909 Mr John M O'Connor SJ, founded the Debating Society, and I became a member, for it was open to the immediate Past. We had a full-dress Inaugural Meeting in the theatre, our Auditor being Arthur Cox, and two distinguished guests as speakers, Mr Tim Healy, KC, MP, and young Mr Eugene Sheehy, then Auditor of the Solicitors' Literary and Historical Society.

I passed Matric. in the Old Royal in 1908 and left school early in 1909. I was in a business firm in the city, Messrs. Ferrier Pollock, for three years, taking my Arts Degree NUI by private study in 1911. On February 29th, 1912, I entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Tullabeg. There had been a rather lean period of years for vocations, but after my going quite a good number followed, most of them still going strong, viz., my brother, Father Tom Kelly, Fathers Charlie Molony, Rupert Coyle, Don Donnelly, Leo Donnelly, Paul O'Flanagan.

I followed the usual Jesuit pattern: Philosophy at Stonyhurst; teaching and sportsmaster four years at Mungret; Theology at Louvain; Ordination at Milltown Park on St. Ignatius' Day 1923; then Tertianship at Tullabeg 1925-26, after which I was sent to Australia, which was the ‘mission’ of the Irish Province. My first job in Australia was sportsmaster at Xavier College, Kew, 1926 27, and in 1928 I was posted as Minister in St Aloysius' College, Sydney, where I became Rector in 1931 until 1938, when I was sent to Perth, WA, to open the first Jesuit College there, St Louis School, Claremont. I was there until October 1947, when I was appointed Provincial of the Australian Vice-province, which became a full Province in 1950. After my term as Provincial in 1956, I was sent as Superior of the Australian Jesuit Mission in Hazaribagh, Bihar, India, where I still am”.

When Father Austin was celebrating his Jubilee in India he was not forgotten by those for whom he had worked so well in Australia. In a newsletter published by the Australian Jesuits giving news of their mission in Hazaribagh we find the following testimony to him:

“Father Austin Kelly will be the recipient of many good wishes from many parts of the world. May we Australian co-missionaries join them in offering Our Jubilarian our heartiest congratulations, and our prayer that he may be spared for God's service - ad multos annos”.

From Belvedere, so many thousands of miles away, we have great pleasure in sending out our best wishes for God's blessing on Father Austin and every success in his apostolic ministry.

◆ The The Belvederian, Dublin, 1979

Obituary

Father Austin Kelly SJ

It is with deep sorrow that we have to record the death of Father Austin Kelly, so soon after that of his brother Tom, whose death we referred to in the last edition of this journal.

Austin, the youngest of three Kelly brothers, came to Belvedere in 1901, and for the next seven years was prominent in the academic, athletic and cultural activities of the college. Apart from his success at his studies, where he excelled in French and English, he figured in such diverse features of the life of the school as Amateur Dramatics, Rugby Football and Water Polo. In most of the athletic activities of the College, including Tennis as well as those two already mentioned above, he figured in the teams in the various inter-school competitions.

On leaving school Austin went to continue his studies at University College, Dublin, and it was from there that he entered the Society of Jesus. In due course, he spent a period teaching in Mungret College in Limerick. He was ordained in Milltown Park in 1922, on the same day as his elder brother Tom. Soon afterwards Austin was transferred to Australia, at that time a Vice-Province ad ministered from Ireland.

Father Austin soon made his mark in his new environment, and having served in various parts of Australia he was appointed Vice-Provincial in 1947. He was still holding that office when Australia became a separate Province, and Father Austin was appointed its first Provincial. The change naturally entailed a considerable amount of hard work in matters of organization, and administration, specially with an expanding Mission Field. Nobody could have been more suited to have undertaken this work than Father Austin.

In 1956, having ended his period as Provincial, Austin moved to a new Mission in India. Here he remained until 1962 before returning once more to Australia. He was stationed at Hawthorn, New South Wales when, in 1974 his health began to fail. He survived to pay one last visit to his native Ireland, where he was united with his brother Tom at Mungret College. Returning to Australia Father Austin died in October 1978, not much more than a year after the death of his brother whom he had so recently visited. May God have him for ever in His keeping.
Our sincere sympathy goes out to Austin's relatives and friends, bereaved once more in so short a time. We pray that God may give them the grace of his consolation.

-oOo-

Fr. Sean Monahan, S.J. (O.B.), now in Australia, sent us the photograph and some of the material that appeared in print to mark the death of Fr. Austin Kelly:

MISSION FOUNDER, FORMER JESUIT PROVINCIAL, DIES IN MELBOURNE

Father Austin Kelly, S.J., died on Wednesday night (October 11) in Caritas Christi Hospice, Kew, after a long illness, at the age of 87.

Born at Blackrock, Co Dublin, he completed an Arts degree at the National University of Ireland before entering the Society of Jesus in 1912.

After further studies in Ireland and Belgium, and some years teaching at Mungret College, he came to Australia in 1926.

He was Prefect of Discipline for a year at Xavier College, Kew, and then went to St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point, NSW, where he was Rector from 1931 to 1937.

In 1938 he went to Perth to set up St. Louis Jesuit School in Claremont.

Appointed Australian Provincial in 1947, he founded the Australian Jesuit Mission in India four years later. In this, as in so many of his projects, his thinking was far ahead of his time.

Going to India as Superior of the Missions from 1956 to 1962, he helped to give it the strong foundation on which it has grown so splendidly. He kept up his interest in the Mission when he came back to parish work a year later.

Cultured, deeply pious, and meticulous, Father Kelly was an outstanding Headmaster - perhaps a great one. Much as he required of staff and stu dents, he asked more of himself.

Probably only those who knew him intimately realize the depth of his attachment to his family and to Ireland, and how much it cost him to be so far from home. Here as well as in India, he was a true missionary,

Always on the alert to recognize new ways of living the Jesuit tradition he understood so well and loved so dearly, Father Kelly was always eager to encourage the initiatives of the young teachers he was training, even when he would not himself have done the things they were doing, or done them they way they did. The one thing that mattered was the growth of God's Kingdom through his devotion and theirs.

Father Kelly will be remembered with lasting affection and gratitude by all who worked with him, as well as by hundreds of mission-workers, past students, teachers, and other friends who treasured his neat and prompt hand-written letters.

John W Doyle

Born: 25 October 1883, Neemuch, Rajputana, India
Entered: 13 January 1920, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Final Vows: 02 February 1930, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
Died: 21 January 1967, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

Served as a private in the First World War.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Customs Officer before Entry
◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 42nd Year No 2 1967

Obituary :
Br Albert Edwin Kelly SJ (1883-1967)
Bro. Albert Kelly died at Gardiner Street on Saturday, 21st January 1967. He had been ill for some months with several complaints and the doctor had not much hope of his recovery from the beginning of his illness. He had a long drawn out agony and for over a week before his death he did not eat or drink, though he was not quite unconscious and did not seem to suffer much, At his funeral an office, lauds and a High Mass were said, the first time such a rite was accorded to the obsequies of a Coadjutor Brother.
Albert Edwin Kelly was born on 25th October 1883, at Neemuch, Rajputana, Central India, where his father was engaged in army or administrative work. He was brought up in India and educated in different schools St. Mary's College, Bombay, St. Joseph's College, Bangalore, San Thome High School, Madras, and also for some time in the seminary at the same address. On leaving school he engaged in business as a salesman in leather goods. He was also for some time employed in the Indian Customs Preventive Service. In the First World War he joined the British army as a second lieutenant. He served in the eastern front. He did not speak freely about his military career. He took part in the Gallipoli campaign and spoke of the appalling losses, especially in officers, which the landing on the peninsula involved. He served also in the Salonica campaign. In 1919 at the end of the war he came to Ireland and in July of that year he entered the Society at St. Stanislaus College, Tullamore, and in February got his gown, and in due time pronounced his first vows. On 2nd February 1930 he took his final vows at Rathfarnham Castle. Most of his life in the Society was spent at Rathfarnham. He was stationed for brief periods at Belvedere, Milltown Park and Emo. At Rathfarnham he worked under Fr. Patrick Barrett and was busy organising the weekend and midweek retreats. He was transferred to Gardiner Street in September 1945 where he was manuductor and reader at table. For a long time he was in charge of the church door collections. Bro Albert did his various jobs in his own industrious way. He was always busy, quietly and unobtrusively. After the retreats at Rathfarnham and the Mass collections at Gardiner Street he made up his totals slowly and accurately. At Gardiner Street especially he packed his piles of coppers in a bag and carried the heavy if not precious load to the bank at a fixed day and hour. Some of the community would jokingly warn him to take care that he would not be coshed by some robber on his way. For some years he suffered from delusions and was inclined to see the hand and machinations of communists everywhere. He was an assiduous reader of the papal denunciations of communism and probably his delusions were due to his loyalty to the Church. He went about his work silently and did not easily enter into conversation. But at recreation he would sometimes expand and could describe some of his military adventures, or tell a story, grave or gay, with much effect.
The abiding impression that Bro. Albert left with those who lived with him was that of constant unobtrusive devotion to the job in hand. The lay staff and the congregation at Gardiner Street appreciated his work and devotion, though he was not particularly expansive. He was a conscientious, exact, religious; faithful in the observance of his exercises of piety. He gave edification by his devotion to duty, his quite unworldly spirit, his spirit of work, his charity and respect for all. In every community where he lived he was esteemed and liked. May he rest in peace.

Born: 15 April 1813, Mallow, County Cork
Entered: 02 February 1843, Clongowes Wood College SJ, County Kildare
Final vows: 02 February 1863
Died: 14 November 1892, St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Entered after a long Postulancy, and Father Bracken was his Novice Master.
From Entry he was a tailor at Clongowes, until he moved to Tullabeg in 1883, and remained there until 1886.
1886 He moved from Tullabeg to Milltown
1887 He was sent to Gardiner Street and lived there until his death 14 November 1892.
He was found in the bathroom early one morning and had been ill for some time.

Born: 29 January 1835, Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Entered: 22 December 1862, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final vows: 15 August 1873
Died; 02 January 1904, Clongowes Wood College, Naas, County Kildare

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After First Vows he was sent for a year as Sacristan to Galway.
He was then sent to Tullabeg, and the rest of his life in the Society was spent here or at Clongowes, normally in the role of Sacristan or Dispenser. He is probably best remembered in the latter capacity, as he was anything but extravagant!
He was considered to be a quietly loyal and faithful brother who have edification by his manner and his religious life. He died at Clongowes 02 January 1904.

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

◆ The Clongownian, 1904

Obituary

Brother Peter Kehoe SJ

The photograph of Brother Peter Kehoe SJ, which we reproduce in this number, will recall a familiar face to many past students of Clongowes · and Tullabeg. After a laborious and saintly life, Brother Kehoe quietly passed away on January 2nd, 1904. He had been long suffering from asthma, but he would never allow it to interfere with his daily work. Indeed, during the last days of his illness, he could not be persuaded to give up the keys of his office. The saintly old man always answered that he was determined to die in harness. On the very morning before his death he ascended with difficulty the stairs, heard Mass, and received Holy Communion. His strong will overcame all obstacles, and led us to believe that his end was not so near.

Brother Kehoe was born on January 28, 1835, and was baptised in the Cathedral of Enniscorthy by Father James Roche. He entered the Society in 1862, and came to, Clongowes. On the 20th April, 1863, he left Clongowes for Milltown Park, · About 1864 he went to Galway, but only remained there a short time - his services as land steward were needed in Tullabeg. Here he remained for many years, and few can tell the enormous good he did in his own modest way. His success on the farm requires no comment, it is known to all - wonderful economic principles ruled his whole life. He remained for two years in Tullabeg after the amalgamation, and then went to Milltown Park. In 1889 he came back to Clongowes as dispenser, and remained there until his death. For three years (1897-1900) he filled two important posts - he acted as land steward and dispenser. There are many stories about success gained through love of holy poverty. Those who saw the wan, emaciated face of Brother Kehoe felt that, though most generous in dispensing to others the good things of this world, he was a hard master to himself. A noble emulator of the sainted Brother St Alphonsus Rodriguez, and now his companion, we hope he will not forget us.

Born: 18 January 1911, Fox Croft, Portarlington, County Laois
Entered: 06 November 1929, Tullabeg
Died: 04 September 1936, Dublin

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

Early education at St Joseph’s CBS, Portarlington and Mungret College SJ

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 12th Year No 1 1937
Clongowes :
On the evening of Friday, September 4th, came the news of the happy death of one of our new Scholastics, Mr William Keenoy, S.J. His unexpected death came as a great shock to all as he had been operated on successfully for appendicitis on August 1st. On September 3rd peritonitis set in. He died shortly after a second operation. The younger members of the Community are deeply affected by his loss. RIP.

Obituary :
Mr. William Keenoy

We are grateful to Mr. O’Brolchain for the following appreciation :
Those who knew Mr. William Keenoy slightly found him affable and anxious to make friends. Strangers in the house he treated with a frank and winning courtesy. He made them feel at home, and put himself freely at their service. Those who knew him somewhat better were surprised to find in him unexpected reserves , but those who knew him best of all penetrated beyond these to the quick sympathy, and the rare genius for friendship.
His character was unusual in the qualities it combined , the liveliness of a schoolboy with a steadiness quite exceptional, keen interest in games with book-learned skill. A shrewd observer said that he was a Tom Sawyer or a Penrod in real life. He was only a novice then, fresh from school, and it was very true. To the end what is fine in the schoolboy remained with him, but more and more, steadiness and reliability of character rose up behind it. So, too, did he combine intellectual and physical interests. He was a proficient in football, hurling, tennis and handball. He liked to take long walks or long cycle rides when opportunity offered, or to swim long distances. But side by side with this went devotion to the things of the mind. Gifted with intellectual powers well beyond the average, he supplemented them with hard work, work too hard, for he weakened under the strain.
The facts of his life are soon told, He was born in Portarlington on January 18th, 1911, studied at the Christian Brothers school there with considerable brilliance, gaining a scholarship. He spent a few months at Mungret College, and began his Noviceship at Tullabeg, 6th November 1949. His two years in the Noviceship were very well spent. His boyish character matured and deepened, and he developed a steady personal piety - unostentatious and unaggressive. He did not criticise the ways of others or try to draw them to his mind, but neither was he easily drawn by others. In Rathfarnham he settled down to scholastic pursuits as to accustomed toil. His studies included Economics and this gave him an interest in social problems, and thereafter a constant ambition of his was to study such problems and help in their solution. He obtained his degree with distinction, but overstrained in doing so, and from this strain he suffered during all the two years of life that were left to him. In 1934 he began Philosophy in Tullabeg but had to be sent to teach after two years owing to the weakness of his health. By the status of July, 1936, he was sent to Clongowes and was taking up his duties there with all his old cheerful energy when an attack of appendicitis sent him to hospital. On Monday, August 31st, he was operated on. The operation seemed quite successful but then complications most unexpectedly set in. He became delirious. Another operation alas attempted and failed. On Friday, September 4th, he died and was buried in Glasnevin on the following Monday - the day the boys he was to teach returned to school. His death came as a great shock to all who knew him. That he was young made it tragic, that he was such as he was deepened the tragedy. His life had been more full of promise than is usual, exact in religious observance, steady in character, unusual in mental equipment, and possessed of a severely practical mind he seemed destined to do great work for God here, but God took him to do it elsewhere. Those who knew him well are grateful for his friendship. In many ways his life is an inspiration, perhaps most of all in its gaiety in the face of trouble. Unknown, probably to most of his acquaintances, he had many and increasing troubles in his life, but they never soured him, to the last his laughter was merry and frequent. One remembers him smiling his peculiarly attractive smile, and is encouraged to meet trouble with the gaiety with which he met it.

◆ Mungret Annual, 1939

Our Past

William Keenoy SJ

Rev William Keenoy SJ, (1929) died very unexpectedly last August after an operation for appendicitis. His untimely death is very much regretted by the inembers of the Society of Jesus in Ireland no less than by the large circle of friends he made in the school days at Mungret. A native of Portarlington, he received his primary and secondary education at the Chrisitan Brothers Schools. Prior to his entering the Society, he spent some months at Mungret, where, in a very short time he . came to be recognised as a student of great intellectual power.

Having completed his noviceship and taken his vows at St Mary's, Emo, he was sent to Dublin to study at the National University, where he read a brilliant course in Economics and Political Economy. But signs of serious ill-health soon manifested themselves, and after a few years of suffering, borne with edifying patience and resignation, he died a holy and peace fuldeath. May he rest in peace.

Born: 13 July 1908, Boomanoomana, Victoria, Australia
Entered: 12 February 1930, Loyola, Greenwich, Australia (HIB)
Ordained: 08 January 1944, Sydney, Australia
Final Vows: 02 February 1978
Died: 21 January 1992, Yass, NSW - Australiae Province (ASL)

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

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Leaving school early, Paul Keenan found employment as a clerk in Yarrawonga for four years, after which he completed his secondary education at Assumption College, Kilmore, Vic. During this time he captained the football team with considerable success, and was also involved with other sporting activities. His love of sport remained with him all his life, and he claimed that this helped him later form a close relationship with his students.
He entered the Society at Loyola College, Greenwich, 12 February 1930, studied for a BA at The University of Melbourne, and completed philosophy at Loyola College, Watsonia. Theology was at Canisius College, Pymble, and he was ordained in Sydney, 8 January 1944.
His regency at Xavier College was in 1938, teaching, coaching games and being a division prefect. He returned again to Xavier College, 1946-67, after tertianship at Watsonia. He believed that the best years of his life were as first division prefect and sportsmaster, 1946-59. While he was first prefect he directed the Sodality of Our Lady and the mission societies, and taught religion and English. He was also appointed rector from 1959, a position he did not enjoy. He did not have the best health during this time. He was not noted for his administrative planning, and found decision making difficult. Furthermore, he was somewhat scrupulous. However, he was one of the most respected Jesuits ever to have been at Xavier College. The students loved him for his friendliness, understanding, and spiritual guidance. Many boys joined the priesthood and religious life during his time at the college. In 1960 he was admitted as a member of the Australian College of Education.
In 1967 Keenan spent some months in the East, in Europe, and in the United States, studying modern ideas in school building and administration. During his time as rector of Xavier College, new facilities and buildings were completed. However, Keenan's approach to education was firmly founded on friendship and understanding. Personal influence was more important than anything else in education.
From 1968-86, at Corpus Christi College, Werribee and Clayton, Keenan was spiritual director, and highly esteemed by the seminarians. He strongly emphasised the importance of a genuine prayer life.
At the parish of Richmond, 1988-92, he was often asked to say the Sunday youth Mass, and was much appreciated for his spiritual ministry. Keenan was a man of integrity, and a life-giver. Those who knew him enjoyed his company. He always showed interest in other people, was always kind and unassuming, and totally non-threatening.
He died in a car accident while he was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne. He was saying his breviary at the time and death was instantaneous. The province mourned a much loved priest and companion.

Born: 29 June 1770, Enagh, County Derry
Entered: 07 October 1814, Hodder, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Final Vows: 02 February 1833
Died: 03 May 1854, Stonyhurst, Lancashire, England - Angliae Province (ANG)

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Lived at Stonyhurst all his Jesuit life (Province Register)

Born: 04 October 1929, Portrush, County Antrimm
Entered: 24 March 1950, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1963, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1966, Collège Saint-Michel, Etterbeek, Belgium
Died: 22 April 2020, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Transcribed HIB to ZAM: 03 December 1969; ZAM to HIB 1999

Son of John Keenand and Maria McRory. Father was an accountant and died in 1939. Family lived at Halliday’s Road, Belfast County Antrim

Younger of two brothers with three sisters.

He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers - first at Donegall Street and then Barrack Street.

by 1952 at Laval, France (FRA) studying
by 1957 at Monze, Zambia - Regency, teaching
by 1966 at Mukasa, Choma, Zambia - teaching
by 1967 at Kizito, Zambia - Director of Training Centre
by 1971 at St Louis MO, USA (MIS) studying
by 1993 at Upper Gardiner Street (HIB) Mission Office
by 1996 at St Beuno’s, Wales (ANG) working
by 2007 at Upper Gardiner Street (HIB) - working

◆ Jesuits in Ireland : https://www.jesuit.ie/news/fr-frank-keenan-sj-a-faithful-servant/

Fr Frank Keenan SJ – ‘a faithful servant’
Fr Francis (Frank) Keenan SJ died peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge nursing home, Dublin, on 22 April, 2020. He was an Irish Jesuit missionary who spent 30 years in Zambia. Due to government guidelines regarding public gatherings, a private funeral took place at Gardiner Street Church, Dublin, on 25 April followed by burial at the Jesuit grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. The main celebrant at the funeral Mass was the Gardiner Street Superior, Fr Richard O’Dwyer SJ, while Irish Provincial Fr Leonard Moloney SJ and Parish Priest Fr Gerry Clarke SJ concelebrated. His death is deeply regretted by his loving sister Bernadette, by his nephew John and his wife, Sally, and family, and by his Jesuit confreres and friends in Ireland and Zambia.
Francis was born on 4 October, 1929, in Portrush, County Antrim. He was raised in Belfast and in the village of Glenavy and attended St Mary’s CBS before entering the Society of Jesus at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois, in 1950. After taking his first vows, he studied in Laval, France, for two years followed by philosophy studies in Tullabeg and regency as a teacher in Monze, Zambia. Upon further Jesuit formation in Ireland, he studied Catechetics in Brussels, Belgium, and then returned to Zambia where he was a teacher of the local language at Mukasa Secondary School.
From 1967 to 1979, he worked in a variety of roles in Monze including Director of Catechetics, Parish Priest, Retreat Director and as Vicar General for Religious in the Archdiocese of Lusaka. He also studied Pastoral Theology at St Louis University, Missouri, USA. Later, he directed the Spiritual Exercises at the Jesuit Education Centre in Lusaka and worked in the Kizito Pastoral Centre in Monze before returning to Ireland in 1993.
Fr Francis was Director of the Jesuit Mission Office, Spiritual Director and Parish Assistant while living in Gardiner Street Jesuit community in Dublin. He was also a community member of St Bueno’s retreat centre in Wales for 11 years and directed the Spiritual Exercises there. From 2007 to 2017, he continued active ministry in Gardiner Street as Spiritual Director, Parish Assistant, Chaplain, Assistant Treasurer and Pastoral Worker. He prayed for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge nursing home right up until his death.
Fr Richard O’Dwyer SJ, who gave the homily at the funeral Mass, noted that Francis grew up in difficult circumstances. He experienced the death of his father when very young and witnessed bombing in Belfast during the Second World War. His family supported each other and moved to Glenavy village about 15 miles outside of Belfast. He came to appreciate the gift of life and told his sister Bernadette in later years, “I have loved every day of my life”.
Fr O’Dwyer said that Fr Francis became very proficient in the Zambian language of Tonga and taught it for a number of years and wrote a book on grammar. He said, “Francis was very humorous and a very kind, considerate man.”
Fr O’Dwyer noted that when Fr Francis came home to Ireland after 30 years in Zambia he was a very committed presence among his community and very much appreciated. He said, “He was always very willing to offer Mass, hear confessions, and he had a very good reputation as a very compassionate and“He was also a very sympathetic preacher and explained the Good News in a very compassionate and understanding way”. Fr O’Dwyer referred to his chaplaincy work at St Monica’s Nursing Home in Dublin City, saying he was “utterly reliable and very faithful in his ministry with the elderly”.
Fr O’Dwyer said, “He was a very faithful servant. Any work he undertook he did so with a great spirit of service and dedication. I’m sure now the Lord will welcome him with these words: ‘Well done my good and faithful servant, come and enter your master’s happiness.'”
Mr Colm Brophy, art psychotherapist and former Jesuit missionary in Zambia, paid tribute to his late friend.
“Frank, as we called him in Zambia always wanted to be known as Francis. This I only discovered in Cherryfield. He was renowned for his sharp, even acerbic, wit coupled with kindness, hospitality and generosity. He did not suffer fools gladly and hated hypocrisy as the gospel hates it.
And so he could bring a person down to earth with a brilliant, yet highly humorous thrust of the verbal dagger. He was kindly towards wisdom and kept another person’s honesty close to his heart. I always enjoyed joining him for a meal over his years in Kizito.
He had four roles in Kizito’s. First, Kizito’s was built as a compound of family cottages where Monze diocese catechists and their families lived while following a two-year program. Then it became a diocesan pastoral training and retreat centre for a wide variety of groups. Francis was the director. One of the groups was the ciTonga language school. He wrote a grammar of, and taught, the local language for a period.
He also wrote a book for those directing the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius for retreats in daily life. He was also a great confident of Bishop James Corboy and a member of the diocesan consult. He dealt with a great number of different people coming through the centre and had a gracious ability to adapt.
His other time in Zambia was a number of years he spent in Lusaka archdiocese in the role of Vicar General for religious. It meant having the listening skills to sort out two sides of an argument where strong personalities were involved.
I miss meeting Francis in Cherryfield. May he rest in peace.”
A recording of the funeral Mass is temporarily available on the Gardiner Street website. Under recordings,
see the funeral Mass for 25 April. Click here for the link ».
Fr Frank spoke about his missionary work in Zambia with Irish Jesuit Missions in 2010. Click here to watch
the video ».
A Memorial Mass will be held at a future date. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.

Full text of the homily at the funeral Mass
Francis Keenan was born in Portrush, Co Antrim, and grew up in north Belfast, the second youngest in a happy, close-knit and united family of 5 children with his parents John and Mary Agnes.
When Frank was only 7 years old, his Dad, John died suddenly at the age of 39. Just 2 years later, World War 2 began. As you know Belfast was heavily bombed especially in 1940 and the area where Francis and his family lived at the intersection of the bottom of the Cliftonville/Duncairn Gardens had a number of houses destroyed and badly damaged. I remember Francis mentioning to me once that sadly the local school survived unscathed and I said to Frank that his story reminded me of John Boorman’s film Hope and Glory set in London during World War 2. John’s school was destroyed in the London blitz and when he sees the bombed-out school, he murmurs “thank you Adolf”. Francis said to me I would have liked to have uttered the same words about my school!
Francis’ sister Bernadette said that because of the danger of bombing, she and Frank were evacuated from Belfast out into the country to the village of Glenavy about 15 miles west of Belfast very close to Lough Neagh. Bernadette was 5 and Frank was 10. They grew very close to each other and forged a deep bond between them. It would have been easy for Francis to opt to play with boys his own age but after the death of his father, under the care of his mother, the family grew very close and supported each other in their loss and grief. They had to pull together to survive. Out in the country, Francis grew to love nature and the countryside, something which never left him.
I can only imagine how the death of his father and his experiences of the mortal danger and evacuation had a profound effect on the young Francis and I believe it gave him a profound appreciation of how precious the gift of life is and that that gift is there to be fully appreciated and lived to the full. Frank much later in life told his sister Bernadette, “I have loved every day of my life”. At his birthday last year when he turned 90, Francis told his nephew, “Life is a gift from God, enjoy every moment”.
At age of 20 in March 1950, Francis entered the Society of Jesus, at Emo, County Laois. Bernadette told me that she and his family missed Francis during those 2 years. Francis spent 2 years in France, followed by 3 years philosophy in Tullabeg and then he went to Zambia, or as it was then Northern Rhodesia in 1957 where he spent 3 years. That was the beginning of 30 years spent as a missionary in Zambia, as a teacher as director of training of catechists, working closely with Bishop James Corboy in Monze. Francis became very proficient in the Tonga language and taught it for a number of years and wrote a grammar book of Citing.
I just want to turn to our gospel reading for today. “That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” I wonder when Francis walked on the shores of Lough Neagh or on the savannah of Zambia, did he ponder and treasure those words of Jesus, knowing that with the love and support of family, of his fellow missionaries and lay catechists that one can keep going, and continue with our life’s journey and mission, despite the loss of a beloved father, despite have one’s home badly damaged by Nazi bombing. Those words of Jesus, “Will not my heavenly Father not much more look after you?” I believe that no missionary, Jesuit or lay could never undertake work anywhere in the world, without a sense of being called and accompanied by God and the prayers of family, fellow Jesuits and friends.
When Francis came home on leave from Zambia to his beloved family in Belfast, to visit the wee Ma and his sisters and his brother in England he regaled them with wonderful stories of the people he worked for in Zambia, whom he greatly loved. Francis was a very considerate and kind man. He referred to their houseman in Zambia as his gentleman’s gentleman!
After his 30 years of service in Zambia, he returned go Ireland. He continued his mission as director of the Jesuit Mission Office, working in spirituality and as a retreat director on the staff of St Beuno’s in north Wales for 11 years. He then came back to Gardiner Street and Francis was a committed presence and church priest. Always obliging for Mass and confessions, and a reputation as a preacher with a good message, and a compassionate confessor both in the confessional and for people who called to the parlour for confession. I am deeply grateful for his ministry when I was parish priest. Latterly, he was chaplain in St Monica’s Nursing Home around the corner from us in Belvedere Place and again he was utterly reliable and very faithful in his ministry to the elderly.
Almost up to the end of his life, Francis continued to visit his family in Belfast, and in particular, his sister Bernadette. He always travelled on the Dublin-Belfast Enterprise train and he was on first name terms with the train staff and was usually given an upgrade to the First Class carriage. This had many advantages, and one time he met the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. Bernadette as she awaited Francis’ arrival was amazed to see him coming down the platform accompanied by the Irish President!
Frank lived a long life, he saw the darker side of life in the premature death of his beloved father and he learned to appreciate, rejoice and be glad. He was grateful for the most important aspects of life and loved both his natural and Jesuit families. He was a faithful servant who loved those who were entrusted to him. He trusted in God and in God’s providence.
I’m sure now the Lord will welcome him with these words, “Well done good and faithful servant, come and enter your master’s happiness”.
Fr Richard O’Dwyer SJ

Early Education at Star of the Sea, Belfast; St Mary’s CBS, Barrack Street, Belfast

1952-1954 Laval, France - Studying
1954-1957 Tullabeg - Studying Philosophy
1957-1960 Monze, Zambia - Regency : Teacher at Chivuna Station
1960-1964 Milltown Park - Studying Theology
1964-1965 Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1965-1966 Brussels, Belgium - Catechetics Studies at Lumen Vitae
1966-1967 Choma, Zambia - Teacher of local language at Mukasa Secondary School
1967-1979 Monze, ZA - Director Kizito Catechist Training Centre
1968 Parish Priest St Mary’s Parish; Chair of Diocesan Catechetical Commission; Member of Diocesan Consult
1969 Transcribed to Zambian Province [ZAM] (03/12/1969)
1971 St Louis, MO; USA - Studying Pastoral Theology, at St Louis University
1975 Retreats; Workshops / Seminars; at Kizito Pastoral Centre; CiTonga Language Course
1976 Vicar General for Religious, Archdiocese of Lusaka; Member of Archdiocesan Consul
1979-1984 Chelston, Lusaka, Zambia - Directs Spiritual Exercises at Jesuit Education Centre, Xavier House
1984-1993 Monze, Zambia - Kizito Pastoral Centre
1987 Superior
1993-1996 Gardiner St - Director of Mission Office, Dublin; Spiritual Exercises; Assists in Gardiner St Church
1996-2007 St Bueno’s, St Asaph, Wales, UK - Directs Spiritual Exercises
1999 Transcribed to Irish Province [HIB] (05/01/1999)
2007-2020 Gardiner St - Directs Spiritual Exercises; Assists in Church
2010 Chaplain in St Monica’s Home, Dublin
2012 Assistant Treasurer
2014 Pastoral Work
2017 Prays for the Church and the Society at Cherryfield Lodge

Born: 12 July 1904, Belfast, County Antrim
Entered: 06 April 1925, Los Gatos CA, USA - Californiae Province (CAL)
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Professed: 02 February 1943
Died: 05 June 1975, Belfast, County Antrim - Oregonensis Province (ORE)

Part of the Gonzaga University, Spokane WA, USA community at the time of death

Transcribed CAL to ORE
by 1936 came to Milltown (HIB) studying 1936-1938

◆ The Mungret Annual, 1925

Letters from Our Past

Charles Keenan SJ

Charles Keenan left us last October to join the Californian Jesui't noviceship—but on account of the tedious negotiations with the American immigration authorities, it was not till March that he sailed on the SS Carmina. He has written long and often, and describes his adventures and misadventures very vividly.

It was not so easy to get into America even after reaching it, and his first experiences were not prepossessing. One of the officials at Boston was not content with his papers, because they did not indicate clearly enough whether it was for ten years or for life that he was to stay in the United States!

I must be held over for a Board hearing. So I was brought into another room, where I found sixteen others, fourteen third class and two cabin passengers. It was now 8 pm, Saturday, so we had to wait till Monday morning before the Board would meet. A bus came and we were all taken to the US Immigration Station, East Boston. We were all honest and decent people, who had committed no crime against the laws of the country, yet we were forced there to associate with, undesirable aliens and ex-convicts who were awaiting deportation. They were not good enough to be allowed to stay in America, but they were, apparently, good enough to live, eat, and sleep with us. I would not complain of the food, nor of the uncomfortable beds, nor of the confinement, but I must and do protest that it was an warrantable outrage of us to force us to associate with these men, who could not speak a dozen words, apparently, without an oatlı or something worse. That is not my feeling alone, but the feeling of us all. Let the give you an idea of how the “dormitory” was fixed up. There were rows of metal posts down a big room, and between each two posts six beds or bunks, Each bed was a metal frame containing a wire mattress. We were each given three blankets, to which I was glad to add my steamer rug. All this would not have caused me so much inconvenience - I could easily put up with roughing it for a night or two (for I have done as much at home when a dozen or so of us were cut off from home one night by the rioting), but then, I had just across the passage-way neiglıbours whose conversation as they lay abed I prefer not to describe.

Across the dormitory was drawn a wall of steel netting, and an official sat all night at the entrance door. The living-room, or day-room, where the men, congregated during the day was similarly guarded. I noticed that the women’s day-roon was not wired, but a lady at a desk kept them similarly under observation.

We were kept in the day-room all day on Sunday, without even an hour's exercise. We liad an hour on Monday in a little concrete walk overlooking the harbour - a steel wire vetting fence on one side, the building on the other, and a guard at either end.

On Monday came deliverance and the friendliness and courtesy he met from members of the Board did much to counteract his first un pleasant experience. He conveys very vividly the first raw impressions that America made on him:

“About 4.30 the Steamship Co sent a motor to take me from the care of the US. Government, and I had a sample of American driving. He jerked along the streets, about twenty miles per hour, in clear parts, reduced abruptly to nothing when another auto. crossed us. Betweet-times he wouid turn around to address a few remarks. to me, sitting in the back. It was exciting. All of a sudden there was a crash of glass ahead of us, and my driver shouted “he's got a man!” But he hadn't. A small two-seater before us had just missed a man crossing the street, so nearly that his hand-bag smashed its glass. With the usual jerk we stopped, and in about ten seconds there was as pretty a “jam” in the traffic as anyone could wish to see. Three motors, a lorry and a horse and cart were the immediate participants, while a line of profane drivers stretched down the street. Finally my driver wriggled out and dashed on down the street, dodging around the pillars of the Elevated Railroad and in and out the traffic; with the usual stream of remarks to me in the rear. Finally he landed me at the South Station where he handed me over to a lady who wore the “Travelers Aid Society” badge. She took me in hand and got my ticket etc, etc, and put me on the New York train.

New York, of course, “hit him in the eye”, and Americans will read with some complacency his impressions of its traffic, lights and bustle.

In “business New York” one's chief impression is the traffic - 99% automobiles.

They come not singie spies but in battalions. They come in streams, cars separated by about a yard. A very lively monkey, or an exceptionally active kangaroo might cross in safety while the stream flows; but ordinary humans, unendowed with wings, must wait till the traffic cop stops the stream and lets the pedestrians cross in a bunch. For some minutes the traffic flows one way; then a stop and the cross traffic flows; so back and forth all day.

At the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway and of 5th Avenue and 42nd St. (The Streets) stand little signal-cabins on iron pillars. On all four sides are lights, facing the traffic. When a light shines green the traffic facing it moves on; yellow, it stands still. And green and yellow they flash in and out all day as the never ending stream of traffic rolls on. All the streets leading off these thoroughfares are one way streets.

I was down to see the lights of Broadway - “The Great White Way”. I expected to be disappointed in them - but was not. They are wonderful, and need to be seen to be believed. But it seems to me a needless waste, for the New Yorkers don't heed them. So they told me. Publicity pays up to a certain point; but in my opinion the American is so screamed at from boarding and sky-sign that he ceases to heed them."

We can follow him in his passage across the centre of the States from sea to sea.

When I awoke, we had left Omaha far behind and we were mounting up to the mile level. This was, perhaps, the most interesting day of all. All day long we travelled through the snow fields, while the horizon was a succession of white-clad peaks and pine forests. In every open place there were rows of fencing, sometimes three deep, to prevent snow-drifts blocking the track, while in places where this would not serve, long wooden tunnels, sometimes a mile long, were built over the track. We reached our highest point on Thursday, - 8,000 feet, at Sherman. From that place on, it dropped, till at San Francisco, the elevation was 8 feet.

They are curious little places, these little mountain towns! Perched away up in a snow desert; a dozen or two of houses, a few stores and a depot; and the inevitable water tank. This latter is a huge iron tank raised on pillars and is an indispensable appurtenage to everyone of these little towns. It is generally the first thing to be seen and the last to disappear.

On Friday morning we awoke to find our car sitting solitary and alone on a siding in the depot at Ogden, Utah. So we got out and were enabled to stretch our limbs for half an hour or so, and enjoy the Utah sunshine. We could see a range of high, snow-topped mountains, which looked glorious in the rising sun.

After leaving Ogden, we passed over Great Salt Lake, on the Great Salt Lake Cut-off. Formerly, the railroad ran up round the north of the lake, by many various bends and gradients. At length it was decided to build a road across the lake, which was done. If I remember aright, it is 103 miles fron end to end. It is built on piles, on which are laid sleepers, upon which in turn a bed of earth and concrete about seven or eight feet deep has been laid. There are three tracks across it. It is as level as a billiard-table, and the turns it saves would turn a train around eleven times. This, I gathered from a little booklet which was given to everyone at breakfast. On the cliffs along the sides, here and there, one could see the old water mark of the prehistoric Salt Lake, about twenty feet above the present level.

Once we had left Salt Lake behind, we came into very uninteresting country. All day long we passed through desert country, where the only vegetation was a little kind of shrub about a foot high. Yet out in this sterile, and as far as I could see, waterless plain, there were little towns though what the people do for a living I could not make out, unless, like the proverbial islanders, they take in each other's washing. Occasionally they had platforns designed, apparently, for loading cattle, but all the cattle I saw in the day's run would not have filled one freight-car. Away on the horizon one could see an endless succession of snowy peaks; a pleasant contrast to the arid heat of the plains. On Thursday the coaches had to be heated, to-day the electric fans did not succeed in keeping them comfortably cool. The best place was the observation car, out on the open platforin! By the time I awoke on Saturday morning, we were in California. We had not a very good welcome on our first sight, for it was raining. But I took heart of grace on seeing the greeness of the grass and the flowers, and upon noticing the mildness of the air. We were scheduled to reach San Francisco at 10-30 am, but the engine, after having faithfully towed us about a thousand miles, got “that tired feeling” and had to be tinkered at for an hour or so, before it could be induced to undertake the last lap, and so it was al nost noon when we pulled into the depot.

At length his wanderings came to an end; he reached after his stormy Odyssey a safe and peaceful harbour, as is seen from his letter from the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Los Gatos, California, April 18th.

I have been here now for twelve days, but thought it better to defer writing to you until I should have got my cassock, which I did this morning. So I can now settle down to steady work, my wanderings over, for some years.

This is really a beautiful place. We are up on a hillside and can look right down into the streets of Los Gatos, a little town of about 3,000 inhabitants. The country is covered with wooded bills and canyons, interspersed with grape-fields or orchards of prunes, figs, apricots, and even oranges. The climate is wonderful. Here in April we have the heat and sun, and more, of an Irish summer. I refer to what the summer used to be in Ireland. It is almost extinct there I think. Speaking of Ireland reminds me that about three-quarters of the Brothers here have real Irish names. It is almost like being back in Mungret to hear names like Cahill, O'Donnell, Healy, etc. The novices here are all really very nice, and there is a wonderful brotherly spirit amongst us. Certainly, I got a very hearty and encouraging welcome when I met them all this morning after I had received thy cassock.

Born: 15 April 1925, Tranquilla, Ballybay, County Monaghan
Entered: 07 September 1943, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 26 July 1957, Innsbruck, Austria
Final Vows: 05 November 1977, Loyola, Eglinton Road, Dublin
Died: 08 April 2005, Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

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

Father was a Sergreant in the RIC.

Fourth of five boys with two sisters.

Early education was at a local National School and then at the Christian Brothers in Monaghan for eight years.

by 1956 at Innsbruck, Austria (ASR) studying
by 1986 at East Acton, London (BRI) working Hammersmith Hospital

◆ Interfuse
Interfuse No 128 : Special Issue June 2006
Obituary
Edward (Ned) Keelaghan (1925-2005)

15th April 1925: Born in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan
Early education at CBS, Monaghan
7th September 1943: Entered the Society at Emo
8th September 1945: First Vows at Emo
1945 - 1948: Rathfarnham - Studied Arts at UCD
1948 - 1951: Tullabeg - Studied Philosophy
1951 - 1954: Belvedere - Regency
1954 - 1955: Milltown Park - Studied Theology
1955 - 1958: Innsbruck - Studied Theology
26th July 1957: Ordained at Innsbruck
1958 - 1959: Tertianship at Rathfarnham
1959 - 1960: Clongowes - Teacher, Assistant Prefect of Studies; Lecturer in Pedagogy
1960 - 1962: Crescent College - Teacher; Assistant Prefect of Studies
1962 - 1963: Clongowes - Lower Line Prefect; Teacher; Lecturer in Pedagogy
1963 - 1966: Clongowes - Minister
1966 - 1967: Tullabeg - Mission Staff.
1967 - 1969: Rathfarnham - Director of Retreat House
1969 - 1974: Leeson Street - National Director of Sodalities & CLC Group
1974 - 1976: Gardiner Street - Minister
1976 - 1978: University Hall - Principal
5th November 1977: Final Vows
1978 - 1980: Leeson Street - Minister; Directed Spiritual Exercises
1980 - 1985: University Hall
1980 - 1983: Assistant Principal; Mission Staff
1983 - 1984: Promoter of Messenger
1984 - 1985: Minister in Leeson Street
1985 - 1988: London - Chaplain in Hammersmith Hospital
1988 - 1989: Chaplain to Irish Emigrants
1989 - 1994: Cherryfield Lodge -
1989 - 1993: Vice-Superior
1993 - 1994: Superior
1994 - 1995: Dooradoyle - Assistant Chaplain
1995 - 2001: John Austin House - Superior; Eucharistic Youth Movement, Directed Spiritual Exercises
2001 - 2004: Belvedere
2001 - 2002: Mini-sabbatical; Promoted Eucharistic Youth Movement; Directed Spiritual Exercises
2002 - 2003: Minister; Health Prefect; Guestmaster
2003 - 2004: Promoted Eucharistic Youth Movement; - Directed Spiritual Exercises, Assisted in Gardiner St
2004 - 2005: St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street - Church work.
8th April 2005: Died in Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin

Father Keelaghan was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on March 4", 2005 having spent some time in the Mater Hospital. For the first few weeks he seemed to improve and was mobile. In the final ten days his condition deteriorated slowly and he died peacefully on Friday 8th. April. Father Dargan and the nursing staff were present.

John Guiney writes:

A brief glance at Ned's "curriculum vitae" indicates a great wealth and variety of talent. Most of his apostolic life after formation was spent in areas of responsibility as Superior, Minister, Director of Retreat House, Principal of University Hall, Superior in John Austin House, and Cherryfield.

There is a little vignette previous to his appointment to run Cherryfield Lodge. The then Provincial , Philip Harnett, was visiting Ned in the U.K. prior to his next status. When discussing the next status, Philip asked, “What about Cherryfield?" Ned was naturally somewhat nonplussed - was it not too soon ? (he was only aged 63 ) – he thought Philip was suggesting he become a patient there.

What suited Ned so admirably to fulfil these various areas was his outstanding talent of friendship and kindness with others. Ned was always sympathetic, generous, thoughtful, kind. If he needed help, he was not shy to ask for it.

Ned had a wealth of friends and admirers outside the Society, due not only to his variety of apostolates, but also to his obvious goodness. This made him quite unafraid, on occasion, to enlist help. He was not slow to take an initiative or make expected requests.

When he was Minister in Clongowes in 1963-66 (with Hilary Lawton as Rector), Clongowes had plans for a large new building, but all our usual bankers refused to furnish the necessary loan facilities, much to Hilary's disappointment and frustration. However, he had not counted on the initiative of his Minister who went into the Ulster Bank in Naas (unusual territory for us), the management of which was very happy to secure the large prestigious Clongowes account. And so the building forged ahead.

Ned's years as Superior in Cherryfield were notable for his invitations to open it to the Province by inviting all of us to use the unoccupied space for stays in Dublin or for private retreats. He was gracious in his hospitality, and if ever he was visiting a sick member of the staff, or other associates, he could come loaded with flowers or chocolates or a bottle of wine.

From the homily by Derek Cassidy at the Funeral Mass in Gardiner Street:

In his early days Eddie was a cheerful boy, attending school at CBS, Monaghan, and, I am very reliably informed, addressing all his homework with great care and even a song! He was a contented and a happy child, little trouble to anyone. I suggest that this is the way Ned led all his life - little trouble to anyone. Indeed to all who have spoken to me of their experience of Fr Eddie, this sense of a quiet and contented person has been theirs.

Eddie joined the Society of Jesus, at Emo Park, Portarlington, in 1943, and after eight years of studies, he joined the Community at Belvedere College as a 'scholastic' or Regent until 1954. It was the beginning of some lasting friendships and good companionships and again many Past Pupils have expressed their deep gratitude to me for this gift to them from Ned. After Belvedere, Ned went to Milltown for one year and then completed his study of Theology at Innsbruck, where he was ordained in 1958.

Over the years Ned had a most fruitful and varied ministry: all of his ministry may well be summed up in the response we have used in our psalm: "The Lord is Compassion and Love". I have no doubt that God used the talents of His friend and priest, Ned, to bring to our world this awareness of compassion and love. Ned could be a tad obsequious from time to time and some, including myself, found it infuriating! But I am sure that this only reflects on my own impatience, and nothing to be set against Ned!
The first reading from the Book of Wisdom (3:1-9) has God reminding you and me that “Grace and Mercy await those He has chosen”. How deeply Ned longed for these qualities. He practiced 'grace' everywhere he went - a gentleman to his very core, and his God will, without any hesitancy, reflect that same gentle mercy to him now:

◆ The Clongownian, 2006

Obituary

Father Edward Keelaghan SJ

Those who were in Clongowes in the late 1950s and early 1960s will have been sad to learn of the death of Fr Edward Keelaghan, who spent some years in Clongowes after his ordination in Innsbruck in 1957. A Monaghan man, he came to teach for a year in 1959 and returned for another four years in 1962, during which he was first Lower Line Prefect and later Minister. He subsequently filled a wide variety of roles in the Province - working for the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, assisting in University Hall, ministering to Irish emigrants in London, caring for sick Jesuits in Cherryfield Lodge, to name just a few of them. But, throughout the years, he managed to keep in touch with those he had known here and was a faithful and much-appreciated attender at class reunions. He was a member of the Gardiner Street community when he succumbed to his final illness in April 2005 and died just one week short of his 80th birthday.

Born: 04 June 1908, Charleville Avenue, North Strand, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 18 May 1935, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Final Vows: 02 February 1946, Clongowes Wood College SJ

Left Society of Jesus: 17 August 1948 (from St Ignatius, Leeson St)

Parents, John and Josephine (Rothwell)

1 Brother and 1 Sister.

Before entry was a photographer. Worked with Lafayette, D’Olier St (1929-1931). He then was manager of Dean Art Studios, and also Sackville Studio, O’Connell St.

Baptised at St Agatha’s, Nth William Street, 10/01/1908
Confirmed at St Agatha’s, Nth William Street, by Dr Millar of Dublin, March 1919

1935-1937: St Mary's, Emo, Novitiate
1937-1946: Clongowes Wood College SJ, working
1946-1948: St Ignatius, Leeson St, working

Said to have emigrated to England and was working at the Spanish Church of St James, George Street, London as Sacristan. Then said to have married returned to Dublin, running a grocery shop in Philipsburgh Avenue, Fairview.

Born: 06 July 1827, Tipperary Town, County Tipperary
Entered: 24 September 1849, St Acheul, Amiens, France - Franciae Province (FRA)
Ordained: 1863, Stonyhurst
Final Vows: 15 August 1866
Died: 13 March 1887, St Patrick’s College, Melbourne, Australia

Older brother of Patrick - RIP 1913

by 1854 at Brugelette College, Belgium (FRA) for Regency
by 1863 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying Theology 4
by 1865 at Tournai Belgium (BELG) making Tertianship
Early Irish Australian Mission 1882

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Brother of Patrick - RIP 1913
His family emigrated to the USA. Thomas did not go with them and studied at Thurles and Maynooth. His family had owned an ironmongers shop in the town.

Fellow Novices of his in France were Christopher Bellew and James Tuite.
He was sent to Laval for Theology, which he completed at Stonyhurst at a later time. A reason for the delay in Ordination was because he did not wish to receive it from a French Bishop. So, in the intervening years before he completed his Theology and was Ordained at Stonyhurst, he had been a Teacher and prefect under John Ffrench at Tullabeg.
1856-1862 He was a Teacher at Clongowes.
1863-1864 He completed his Theology and was Ordained at Stonyhurst.
1864-1865 He was sent for Tertianship to Tournai.
1865-1869 He was again sent teaching at Tullabeg and Clongowes.
1869-1873 He was sent as Operarius to Gardiner St, and preached frequently.
1873-1876 He was appointed Superior of St Patrick’s (Catholic University).
1876-1881 He was appointed Rector of Clongowes on 17 February 1876.
1881 He returned to Milltown. he had offered for the Australian Mission, and sailed there with Joseph Brennan, who was a Novice Priest at the time.
When he arrived in Australia, he was sent to St Aloysius, in Sydney as a Teacher.
1886 He was sent to St Patrick’s in Melbourne, where he died March 1887. His brother Patrick had come from Sydney to be with him when he was dying. he died aged 60, which was a real surprise in the community, as he had appeared to be a very strong man.

He was a very capable man. The Abbé of Dunleary said he was very knowledgeable of the Fathers and Scripture, and he gave many Priests retreats. he was though to have a somewhat cold manner and perhaps not very genial, but was considered kind.

Note from Joseph Brennan Entry :
1882 He and J (Thomas) Keating arrived in Australia

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Thomas Keating, older brother of Patrick, studied at Thurles College and the Maynooth seminary before entering the Society 24 September 1849. He was professed of the four vows on 15 August 1866 during his time of teaching the humanities at Clongowes Wood College. From 1874-76, he was superior and procurator at St Patrick's House, Catholic University of Ireland. Then he was appointed rector and prefect of studies of Clongowes Wood, 1876-81, before being sent to Australia.
Upon arrival in Australia in 1882, he went to St Aloysius' College, where he worked until his early death.
He was considered by the Irish provincial to be of “great merit and learning, and full of zeal for God's Kingdom”. Bishops admired him for his retreats, but he was not recommended to be a superior, as he was previously rather stern and exacting on others. Despite this, Jesuits in Ireland held him in “great esteem”.

Born: 17 March 1846, Tipperary Town, County Tipperary
Entered: 28 August 1865, Milltown Park, Dublin
Ordained: 21 September 1880, St Beuno’s, St Asaph, Wales
Final Vows: 15 August 1890, Australia
Died: 15 May 1913, Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Part of St Ignatius College community, Riverview, Sydney, Australia at the time of death.

Younger brother of Thomas - RIP 1887
Early education at Clongowes Wood College SJ

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 3 December 1894-11 November 1900.
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 05 April 1890-1894

by 1868 at Amiens France (CAMP) studying
by 1869 at Rome Italy (ROM) studying Theology
by 1871 at Maria Laach College Germany (GER) Studying
by 1878 at Innsbruck Austria (ASR-HUN) studying
by 1879 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) studying
Early Irish Australia Mission 1884; Mission Superior 05 April 1890
PROVINCIAL 03/12/1894

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
Younger brother of Thomas - RIP 1887. They were very close.
Early education was in America and then Clongowes.

After First Vows he did his studies at Amiens and Rome, later at Maria Laach and Innsbruck, and in the end at St Beuno’s. Wherever he went, the same spirit of kindness and good humour went with him, and this was true throughout his life. On Australian who went to visit him in Rome was greeted warmly at first, but when he mentioned that he was to see Father Keating, the courtesy was unbridled.
1870 He was living in Rome at the same time as the “Robber King of Sardinia” Victor Emmanuel laid siege to and conquered the city. he was a student at the time, and not inactive in the siege, going here and there to tend to the injured and dying. He was truly a martyr in desire. The conquerors drove the Jesuits from the Roman College. By 1872 the Jesuits were banished from Maria Laach and Amiens, and he was in these places.
1877 He was sent for studies to Innsbruck where he joined Thomas Browne and Francis Carroll.
1880 He joined Joseph Dalton in Australia, and succeeded him as Rector of Riverview.
1890 He was appointed Mission Superior in Australia.
1894 He was recalled to Ireland as provincial of HIB, and he remained there for six years.
1901 He returned to Australia as Rector of Xavier College, Kew. He then moved to North Sydney, for a time at St Mary’s, then Lavender Bay, succeeding John Gately. While working in these Parishes, his gentleness, friendliness and care for every man, woman and child, won the hearts of all. When he left Lavender Bay for a second stint as Rector of Riverview in place of Thomas Gartlan who had been sent to Melbourne, the people gave him a wonderful send off.
His death took place at Lewisham Hospital (run by the Nuns of the Little Company of Mary) 14 May 1913. The funeral was hugely attended and the Archbishop of Sydney, Michael Kelly, both presided and Preached. The Jesuits at Riverview received countless letters and telegrams from all parts of Australia condoling with them on the death of Father Keating.

Catholic Press, Sydney :
Rev W A Purves, Headmaster of the North Sydney Church of England Grammar School wrote : “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself I never knew quite so courteous and kindly and entirely charming a gentleman; and for you who knew well his other great and endearing qualities, the blow must indeed be heavy. I think sch personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendliest relations among us all, and whilst in a sense one cannot mourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely.”

Rev Arthur Ashworth Aspinall, headmaster of the Scots College, in conveying his sympathy to the Acting Rector, the Staff and Pupils of Riverview, wrote :
“It was my privilege to meet Father Keating years go and more recently, I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the College and your Church has sustained. The State has too few men of culture not to deplore the removal of one so much honoured in the teaching profession.”

Note from Thomas P Brown Entry
1877 He was sent to Innsbruck for Theology with W (sic) Patrick Keating and Vincent Byrne

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Although born in Ireland, Patrick Keating received much of his early education in the USA. His secondary education began at Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, Ireland, where he had a reputation as a fine athlete and was a good rifle shot. He entered the noviciate at Milltown Park Dublin, 2, August 1865. His juniorate studies were at the College of St Acheul, France, his philosophy at the Roman College, and theology at Innsbruck and St Beuno's, Wales, 1877-81. Regency was undertaken after philosophy at St Stanislaus College Tullabeg, 1871-77, where he was assistant prefect of studies and taught university students.
Keating was living in Rome in 1870. On 20 September the troops of Victor Emmanuel laid siege to the city of Rome. He risked his life by helping the wounded on the streets. The Jesuits were driven from the Roman College. So Keating finished his third year philosophy at Maria Laach during the Franco-Prussian War.
After his ordination in 1880, he taught religion, French and Italian for a short time, 1881-82, at Clongowes Wood, and the following year was socius to the master of novices at Milltown Park, during which time he completed his tertianship.
In 1883 Keating arrived in Australia, joined Joseph Dalton at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, and succeeded him as rector in 1888. He was appointed mission superior in 1890 and resided at Riverview. In 1894 he returned to Ireland as provincial, residing at Gardiner Street.
He returned to Australia in 1901 and was appointed rector of Xavier College, Kew, and taught for the public examinations. From 1908-11, he performed parish ministry at North Sydney and at Lavender Bay, Sydney, and in 1912 was appointed rector of Sr Ignatius' College, Riverview. He died in office the following year following a cerebral haemorrhage.
Patrick Keating was one of the most accomplished Irish Jesuits to come to Australia. He was spiritually, intellectually and athletically gifted, and respected for his administrative skills. People spoke of “his urbanity his culture, his charm, his good looks, his human insight and his ability to inspire affection”.
Christopher Brennan, the Australian poet and former student of Keating, paid him an outstanding tribute. He believed him to be “the most distinguished personality that I have ever met, a standard whereby to test and judge all others. To come into his hands ... was to be initiated to a quite new range of human possibilities”. He praised Keating for his 'rare qualities of gentleness and sympathetic comprehension.
His Jesuit community praised his great spirit of exactness and neatness, the kindness he extended to all, his strong sense of duty, a tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and his work in adorning the chapel. Under his direction, Brother Girschik made a line cedar vesting press for the sacristy at Riverview, which still stands.
Writing to Ireland in 1894, Dalton, at Riverview, believed that Keating's students had great confidence in him and “liked him well”. John Ryan, mission superior, did not lavish praise upon him. He believed him to be good at administration, but not with finances, not overly strict in discipline; firm and decisive, but easily influenced by anyone of strong mind, cool of temper, but not fatherly or sympathetic, somewhat superficial, cold and at times sarcastic, discouraging more than encouraging. The Irish provincial, Timothy Kenny, while visiting Australia in 1890 believed Keating to be “the most admirable man I ever met”. That being the opinion that counted, Keating became the next Irish provincial.
In his speeches as rector of the various colleges, Keating showed his openness, appeal to reason and genuine belief in the goodness of human nature. He was truly a cultured humanist. He kept well informed about contemporary ideas in education and gave critiques of them, continually stressing the traditional classical education of the Jesuits. He was concerned at Riverview by the rather poor quality of Jesuit teachers, men “rather broken in health”, who were not helping the boys achieve good examination results.
At the time of his death, Keating was one of the most significant Jesuits in Australia, much loved and most appreciated by those who experienced him, both as a kind and courteous gentleman, and as a cultured scholar.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Keating SJ 1846-1913
Fr Patrick Keating was born in Tipperary on March 17th 1846. Although born in Ireland he received his early education in America, then completing his secondary course at Clongowes Wood.

As a Jesuit, he was present in Rome when it was captured by Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia. In the midst of the bombardment, he went here, there and everywhere, assisting the wounded civilians and soldiers. He, with his companions, were driven from Rome and proceeded to Maria Laach in Germany and then to Innsbruck.

Fr Keating went to Australia where he became the first Rector of St Ignatius Riverview, and then Superior of the Mission.

He was recalled to Ireland to become Provincial in 1894. After his term as Provincial, he returned once more to Australia, where he filled many administrative posts and became a widely-known and popular figure in public life. He figures largely in the long and brilliant school-story of Fr Eustace Boylan”The Heart of the School”. Fr Keating (Keeling of the story) is a winning and lovable Rector of Xavier.

At his death in Sydney on March 15th 1913 there were many generous tributes to his work and character, not only from Catholics, but from persons of all religious denomination.

◆ Interfuse

Interfuse No 42 : Easter 1986

Portrait from the Past

PATRICK KEATING : 1846-1913

Province Archives

The following appreciation of a former Irish Provincial appeared in the CATHOLIC PRESS of Sydney on 22nd May 1913.

Born in Tipperary on 17th March, 1846, Fr. Keating occupied almost every position a Jesuit can occupy except that of General. His last sickness was brief. It was only a few days before his death that he became ill. His medical attendants pronounced his case serious - cerebral hemorrhage - and the last Sacraments were administered to him at once by the Rev. Father C. Nulty, S.J. He was taken to hospital the following day, and had been a patient only twelve hours when he died.

Of Father Keating, as boy and man, as student and teacher, as pastor of souls and Provincial of the Irish branch of his Order, it may be safely said that his whole life was one well-sustained effort to be ready for the final sunmons of the Sovereign Master who has called him home so suddenly. He was Superior of the Australian Mission of the Society of Jesus in 1894. At a later date he governed the Irish Province. He was for some years Rector of St. Francis Xavier's College at Kew, and before he went to Riverview as Rector for a second time, he had been zealously labouring as pastor of souls among the people of North Sydney.

Although he was born in Ireland, Father Keating imbibed the rudiments of knowledge in America. His high-school studies began at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. He entered the Novitiate at Milltown Park, near Dublin in 1865. His later studies were made at the College of St. Acheul, in France; at the Roman College of Maria-Laach, in Germany; at the University of Innsbruck, in the Tyrol; and at St. Beuno's College, in Wales Wherever he went, the same spirit of genuine kindness and genial good-humour that we ourselves witnessed invariably went with him, An Irish-Australian who visited Rome a few years ago called at one of the principal colleges there. The Professor who showed him over the place was kind and courteous; but when the name of Father Keating was mentioned to him, then to kindness and courtesy were added all manner of friendly offices. The Professor had been an old class-fellow of Father Keating, about 40 years before, and his face glowed with pleasure at the very mention of his name.

Father Keating was living in Rome in 1870. On September 20th of that year the troops of the robber King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, laid siege to the city of the Popes, bombarded the walls of Rome, and entered into its streets as conquerors. While all this was going on, Mr. Keating, as he then was, was not inactive. In the midst of balls and bombs, in the midst of whizzing bullets and falling masonry, at the risk of his own life, he went here, there and everywhere on his mission of assisting to the best of his power the wounded and dying soldiers and civilians. He was truly a martyr in desire. The same bandits that deprived the Pope of his dominions deprived the Society of their college. They were driven from the Roman college in 1870. In July, 1872, they were banished by the German government from Maria-Laach, a college they had acquired only ten years before. If Father Keating had remained only a little longer, at Maria-Laach and St. Acheul, he would doubtless have driven out of house and home like so many of his brethren, at the point of the bayonet.

In 1877, Father Keating was sent to Innsbruck, where he studied for a time with Father T. Browne and Father Carroll, of North Sydney.

Three years after his ordination, which took place in 1880, Father Keating came to Australia. He joined the late Father Dalton, founder of the college, at St. Ignatius', Riverview, and succeeded him as Rector. He held the position for six years, and was then appointed Superior of the Jesuits in Australia. He was recalled to Ireland in 1894 to be Provincial of the Irish Province, an office he filled with distinction for six years. He returned to Australia in 1901, having been appointed Rector of Xavier's College, Kew. He was transferred to North Sydney some years ago, and for a time was on the staff at St. Mary's, Ridge Street. Thence he was placed in charge of St. Francis Xavier's, Lavender Bay, succeeding the late Father Gately. While working amongst the people of the parish, Father Keating's gentleness, geniality, zeal and solicitude for the welfare of every man, woman and child in his flock, won the hearts of all, as they did everywhere he laboured throughout his career.

When he left Lavender Bay in January 1912 to assume the Rectorship of Riverview for the second time, in the place of Father Gartlan, who was transferred to Melbourne, the people entertained him, and demonstrated their affection for hin in no unmistakable way.

The late Father Keating belonged to an old Tipperary family. An elder brother, Father Thomas Keating, S.J., came to this country two years before him. In Ireland he had been Rector of Clongowes Wood College. In Australia he joined the teaching staff of St. Aloysius' College, then in Sydney. He died many years ago in St. Francis Xavier's College, Kew. The deepest affection existed between the two brothers. Both were excellent religious and most saintly men. Their immediate relatives reside in a fine place close to Chicago, USA.

Father Keating's death took place as described at Lewisham Hospital on May 14th, 1913. The obsequies were largely attended and were presided over by His Grace, the Archbishop of Sydney, who, after Mass, preached the panegyric, basing his discourse on the inspired words of St. Luke:- “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching. Amen, I say to you, that He will gird Himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them, and if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready; for at what hour you think not, the Son of Man will come”. His Grace said the Divine Redeemer spoke these words tacitly for circumstances like those in which they were now assembled. One of their number had been called away, his soul had gone to eternity, and the earthly tenement of that soul lay on the catafalque before them like a house broken through, the spirit gone. This fact shocked them, but Holy Faith told them that blessed was the soul that was found watching, as Father Keating's was.

Now that they were gathered together according to the traditions of the Church, to mourn together, they must attend to the spiritual profits to be derived from the occasion, and first of all heap up powerful supplications for the soul that had been called away that it might speedily, if not immediately, enter into the joy of the Lord. The sacred liturgy which guided them to that bier to send forth their last prayers, and to accompany those mortal remains to the grave, wished that they would first of all derive consolation from the solemnities, and secondly, edification. The good man would be encouraged to greater perseverance, the tepid would be made fervid, and those who might be asleep in the sleep of sin, induced by the concupiscence of the flesh, would be wakened up. Father Keating served God and guided youth in the paths of learning and holiness which were characteristic of himself when his soul inhabited that human frame, with its vital organs stilled in death, and like a house abandoned. The earth would go back to the earth until the Last Day, but the soul was at that moment in the strange land from which no traveller returned. What did they think had been its lot? A week ago Father Keating had been with them in the flesh as a brother, as a fellow-worker, but suddenly he was caught up and taken from their midst. Well for his friends to know what a life Father Keating had led, happy for them that the record he wrote upon their memories was ripe in personal sanctification and spiritual victory. Therefore, he was found watching in the observance of the rules of his Order, watching at his post of duty, Father Keating had triumphed, he had fought the good fight, and kept the faith. But though they looked upon him as one already saved, he might be crying out for their suffrages from the fires of Purgatory. Sinners though they be, they could help him, for in the economy of God's Providence prayer was the Key of Heaven. God would hear their supplications on behalf of the faithful departed, but he would be dear to their prayers when they themselves were bring purged. Hence, let them studiously avail themselves of the period during which the recollection of Father Keating would be living amongst them to send up this prayer from the bottom of their hearts: “Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and let perpatual light shine upon him. From his iniquities cleanse him, for all human frailties forgive him. What is man taken from this vale of tears that he shall be justified in the sight of God? Purify, O Lord, all this is to be purified, and take the soul of your servant and our brother, and peruit him to pass quickly, if not at once, into the joys of your heavenly abode”.

The Archbishop then vested in cope and mitre, and pronounced the Last Absolutions. As the strains of the “Dead March in Saul” throbbed through the church, the coffin was raised on the shoulders of the bearers and carried to the main entrance, the Archbishops and priests accompanying the remains to the hearse, where the Benedictus was chanted.

The Jesuit Fathers at Riverview received countless letters and telegrams from all parts of Australia condoling with them on the death of Father Keating.

In the course of his letter, the Rev. WA Parves, head-master of the North Sydney Church of England Grammar School, wrote: “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself, I never knew quite so courteous and kindly and entirely charming a gentleman; and for you who knew well his other great and endearing qualities, the blow must indeed be heavy. I think such personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendliest relations among us all, and while in a sense one cannot mourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely”.

The Rev. A. Ashworth Aspinall, head-master of the Scots College, Bellevue Hill, in conveying his sympathy to the acting-Rector, the staff, and pupils of Riverview College, wrote:- “It was my privilege to meet Father Keating years ago and more recently, and I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the college and your Church has sustained. The State has too, few men of culture not to deplore the removal of one so much honoured in the teaching profession.

◆ The Xaverian, Xavier College, Melbourne, Australia, 1913

Obituary

Father Patrick Keating SJ

The news of the death of Fr. Keating came as a shock to us in Kew. Schools change fast, and there are few of the boys of his time amongst us this year, but his passing stirred up again in many of us the very kindly feeling that accompanied his presence when he was amongst us before.

Fr Keating was born in Tipperary, in 1846. He left his native land for the United States when still young, and found his home for a time in Illinois; but he returned to Ireland as a student of Clongowes, of which his brother at that time was Rector. Some old Xaverians will remember Fr Thomas Keating as he came to Australia later, and was on the staff of Xavier for a few months of 1887, teaching classics in the Honour Class till within a couple of days of his death.

According to contemporary accounts, Fr Keating was very prominent in school life at Clongowes, leading in class and sports. He was a good all round athlete, and to his early training must have been due the fine physical development which he retained to his later years. He was a good rifle shot, and kept up his interest in everything touching on school life to the end.

His studies took him to France, Germany, Austria and Rome, and he had many interesting recollections of life in those places. He was present in Rome during its bombardment by the Garibaldians, which resulted in the breach of the Porta Pia and the spoliation of the States of the Church. In 1883 he came to Australia, and was a master in Riverview till 1990, when he was appointed Superior of the Society of Jesus in Victoria and New South Wales. In 1894 he was transferred to Ireland, as head of the Irish and Australian Province, and after seven years spent in that office he returned to Australia to be Rector of Xavier in 1901. In 1908 he was sent to North Sydney to take up parish work at Lavender Bay, wliere he had as his assistant Fr Corish, who had been minister here with him for some years. The good work done by these two old Xaverians there was such as those who knew them both could expect. The same' kindly spirit accompanied Fr Keating. always, finding everywhere the same return. He liked his work, and him self was liked by young and old. So it was with a feeling of distress that he received the cabled order to return to Riverview as Rector. But the buoyancy of his spirit soon showed itself, and, as was his way, he entered heart and soul into his work there. During the illness of Fr Brown he was called upon to take up again the burden of Superior, until he was relieved after a few months by the appointment of Fr Ryan.

As he was settling down now to work, as he hoped, undisturbed, he was taken ill on May 12, and died early on the morning of the 15th. His death was the occasion of most generous expressions of a kindly feeling on all sides, induced as was evident, not so much by his position as by his personal qualities.

Fr Keating was a man of many parts as we knew him. His unfailing kindliness and courtesy made everyone feel at home with him; and, what is" after all perhaps the best test of a character, those who lived on closer terms with him, felt that in parting with him they had lost a friend.

May his soul rest in peace.

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, 1913

Father Patrick Keating SJ

At the last Old Boys' dinner I promised to say something about Father Keating in this “Alma Mater”. At that time his death was too poignantly near to allow (so it seemed) of any direct emotional expression in English verse or of elaborated and transposed elegy in one of the classic tongues; and I stipulated for mere personal reminiscence. in pedestrian phrase. And then, as I came to carry out my promise, I felt a certain disgust with what I was trying; it was not worthy of the dead man, and all that I owed him, and who was I to utter my school-boyish reminiscences: among others so better called to speak? So, at. the risk of exhausting all the editors' kindness - and patience, I destroyed what was beguin, and I waited and waited, until at last I have, perhaps, fallen between two stools - the Pindaric ode and the Boswellian note-book - missing both.

I first came under Father Pat Keating in the year 1885. It was my happy chance to spend the five best years of my boyhood under two Keating brothers. At old St Kilda and St. Aloysius', in Bourke Street, I had for two years sat under Father Tom, that gentle ascetic with the full head of silvery hair, and beneath it a face like that of a kindly Moltke, and the shrewd fold of the eyelids; Father Pat had the same, but whereas his eyes never missed anything (I remember well!), Father Tom's often seemed to be gazing within. But how could there be two Fathers Keating? I wondered and wondered - for a boy is slow to catch such a likeness: he knows father and uncle, but has no idea or fancy of how they were boys and brothers together, how much less then will he imagine his masters as standing in human kindship to each other or anyone at all? - and it was months before some better-informed schoolmate, who had preceded me from St Aloysius', amazed me with the truth. My amaze was further excusable in as much as there was twenty years between the brothers, and Father Tom had seemned such a very old man. How different Father Pat!

To live at a boarding school has this advantage, that one meets one's masters outside the class-room, adi comes into touch with their personality. I was probably just at the right age to undergo the influence, and absorb the charm of a personality when I met Father Keating and that, perhaps, has helped to make ineffaceable the impression I received from him. But time and favouring occasion are of no avail unless the personality, unless the man is there. And Father Keating was unique.

Distinction is a subtle thing: unmistakable to perception, intangible to analysis and definition. Everyone, I think, who uses and understands the word must have, in his mind's eye, some persons, and pre-eminently one, to make his idea of distinction palpable to his thought and fancy. For me, Father Keating always was and shall be that man; easily the most distinguished personality that I have ever met, a standard whereby to test and judge all others. To come into his hands, at that age and at that conjunction of things, was to be initiated to a quite new range of human possibilities. It is not always nor altogether an easy and flattering thing, such initiation. One feels oneself rebuked, by the unspoken contrast between what the other is and one's own crudeness; so at least it was with me, and it is another proof of Father Keating's rare qualities of gentleness and sympathetic comprehension that he bore for a long time with the wily discourtesies of what was, after all, only a distorted admiration. At last he had it out with me, man to man, and that made me his friend for ever. It showed me, behind all that perfection of word and manner and bearing that might have been the envy of any diplomat or man of the world, the simple and affectionate humanity that was always there, in Father Keating, for those who wanted it or appealed to it.

It is curious how, when one reflects upon one's impressions of Father Keating, one never thinks of him in terms of this or that; it is always the man and the personality that lives before one. Not that one abstracts from the things he was, but they do not force themselves to the front. Thus, Father Keating was of course Father Keating, and a priest of the Society, and one never knew him otherwise and yet even that seems, as it were, absorbed into the nature of the man that one remembers. And so with the rest. He was a fine athlete, and it was a sight, regularly expected, regularly recurring, to see him lift a leg-ball right out of the cricket-ground; but it seemed all to be done by the way. Just so, for all his fine knowledge of the classics (and how much else!) one hesitates to call him a scholar; that name seems to be better reserved for smaller men who have chosen the one-sided development of a single faculty. And yet the classics will help me to express, to some degree, what I feel. I remember how he enjoyed doing Horace; and there was a certain Horatian felicity and perfection of style about everything he did. I think he was aware of it, and it was a pleasure to him; but the thought never came and never can come to one that he tried after it; it was all so natural, so himself, Even so, the word “gentlemanly”, would be all too common, in fact all too shoddy for Father Keating's exquisite ways. It was just that: he was unique, he was hirrself.

When I first knew him, Father Keating was in his early prime, only just forty. I had three years with him; then during my University years I saw him continually. Then we went our ways in life (and his took him far), and after 1894 many a year went by without our meeting; when, one day, a letter arrived, in his well-known hand, telling me that he had discovered my whereabouts and asking me round to St. Xavier's. I found him there, just a little stooped and his hair whitening, but otherwise the same as ever. I was looking at the bookshelves as he came into the room, and he asked me what had caught my notice. It was the life of Coventry Patmore, and I remarked what a great poet he was: “But not as great as Homer, surely”! said Father Pat. He showed me where his old copies of Homer and Horace stood, but regretted that parish work left him but little time for such reading, Then, I remember, some incident of his morning's round led him to remark on the lack of politeness in our youth: “I remember I had a lot of trouble with you”, he said, turning to me with a smile. I confessed that I had been something of a cub and that I had deserved to catch more than I did catch.

I was Father Keating's guest twice after his return to Riverview. One noticed, just now and then, a little sign of approaching age: a slight uncertainty of vision, where the eyes had once been so keen; a slight uncertainty of movement, where the hands had once been so precise. But old age had not yet overtaken him, and it seemed as if he yet had many a happy year before him. I was thinking to myself: “It's too bad, you haven't been up to Riverview for some time now”, and planning to get a day free in a fortnight or so, when, one morning, the paper opened on his portrait and I knew that I should not see him in this life again.

We were a small class in those days at Riverview, Steve Burke and myself; Harry Fitzgerald was with us for a while, but I think we always regarded him as an outsider; we had gone through St Kilda and St Aloysius' side by side, and come up to Riverview together. Our little class was tended by three teachers, Father O'Malley, Father O'Connell, and especially Father Keating. And now they are all gone: Steve is dead and Father O'Connell and Father O'Malley, and now, at last, Father Keating. Life begins to get lonely when one thinks of the best days of one's boyhood and finds none of those who were an intimate part of them to share or stimulate one's memories. And for me a great part of what is dear and precious in life was carried away as I saw his coffin borne out of the church, and whispered to myself just the simple farewell, “Good-bye, Father Pat”.

-oOo-

The Late Father Keating

In setting out to write this little sketch of Father Keating, we are fortunate in having his autobiography at hạnd. It was begun at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne, during his rectorship of that College, on a piece of notepaper, and on the last sheet we find the last entry, recording, his entrance into office as Rector of Riverview, in January, 1912. A feeling that it was perhaps too intimate to expose to the gaze of all who may read has prevented its inclusion; its substance is our guide in what will follow. Father Keating often used to say, in his characteristic way, that one should leave one's things in order and not cause people unnecessary trouble, even at the end; and we have no doubt that it was sheer good nature that urged him to leave us his life in miniature.

Father Patrick Keating was born at Tipperary, in Ireland, on the 17th March, 1846; of an excellent Catholic family which had the distinction of giving three of its members to the service of God, in religion. His elder brother, Thomas, like himself, became a Jesuit; a sister is a Sacred Heart nun in America. In 1850, a little boy of four years old, he went to America with his parents, to live at Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. His first education was obtained at a private school at Elgin; in 1861 he was sent by his parents to the Jesuit College, at Clongowes Wood, Co. Kildare, Ireland. After four years at Clongowes, in 1865, being then nineteen years of age, he entered the Irish Jesuit novitiate, taking his vows two years later, in 1867. He spent the next two years studying thetoric at St. Acheul, Amiens, and in 1868 went to Rome to study philosophy at the Roman College. He was in Rome during the Session of the Vatican Council at which the dogma of Papal Infallibility was declared, and in the same year, 1870, the Italian army entered Rome through the breach in the Porta Pia, after the famous siege.

It must have been a stirring time! We have heard Father Keating describe the walks the philosophers would take in the city during the siege. There was one poor fellow who had both legs blown off by a shell. Father Keating and his companions took pity on him, and told him he should resign himself to the misfortune God had sent him. “But how can I?”. he cried, “what can I do without legs?” Then they carried him to his home. There must have been many such scenes, and one can easily imagine the charitable “Mr” Keating of those days, often rendering such assistance.

The Roman College was appropriated by the government - it is still in use as a caserna, or military barracks and the philosophers moved to Maria-Laach, in Rhein Preussen. Here Father Keating completed his third year of philosophy. During his stay at Maria Laach the Franco-Prussian War was going on, and we have been told some interesting stories of the community at the German house, where Frenchmen and German would fraternise, forgetting or trying to forget national animnosities, while their compatriots were killing each other almost within view of the College. In 1871 he returned to Ireland to act as Prefect of the Lower Line at St Stanislaus' College, Tullamore, and to teach the classes of rhetoric and poetry till 1877. In this year he went to study theology at Innsbrück, in the Tyrol. After two years at Innsbrück, he was sent to complete his theology course at St Beuno's College, North Wales, and here he was ordained, in 1880, on September 21st. He next returned to Clongowes and taught for a year, going to his tertianship ini 1882.

During most of his “third year:, he acted as Socius to the Master of Novices in Milltown Park, Dublin. He spent the last three months of the year of the tertianship at Hadzor House, near Worcester. In 1883 he came to Australia with Fathers Sturzo and Edward Murphy, and taught at Riverview for seven years. In 1889 he was appointed Rector of Riverview, and in 1890 Superior of the Australian Mission. In 1899 he was recalled to Ireland to act as Provincial of the Irish Province. In 1901 he returned to Australia as Rector of Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne. In 1908 he took charge of St Francis Xavier's Parish, Lavender Bay, North Sydney. In 1912 he succeeded Father Gartlan as Rector of Riverview, entering on his office early in January.

During this, his second rectorship of Riverview, he again won the respect of all. The boys thought him a little strict at first, but his sterling character soon won their admiration and affection. We who lived intimately with him then had an opportunity of noticing more closely his salient characteristics. There was a great spirit of exactness and neatness; a kindness extended to all; a strong sense of duty; a tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and a great desire to beautify and adorn the chapel, and all connected directly with it. There was renovation and improvement in many quarters, but the chapel got most of it, and nothing seemed too good for God's own house. Under his orders, Brother Girschik made a fine cedar vesting press for the Sacristy, and we know that it was his intention to complete the Chapel furnishing before all else. We were hoping to have him with us for many years when God saw fit to take his to Himself, after a little more than a year of office.

On Monday, May 20th, he took the mid-day meal with the Community, and chatted after dinner in his usual cheerful way. During the afternoon he told Father Pigot that he felt unwell, and he was advised to rest himself. In the evening his illness took a serious turn, and next morning we were grieved to hear that he was very ill. He had developed a cerebral hemorrhage, and the doctors said that the only chance of recovery lay in his immediate removal to the hospital, and con stant skilled attention.

He showed the greatest resignation and sweetness throughout. He often used to say, when in health, that he would be ready to go “on the last journey at any moment”, and this was literally true of him. When Father Corcoran went to his room early on the Tuesday morning, he said, quietly, “Well, Father Minister, I will be going home before you, after all. I believe I am going there now”. Father Corcoran was on the eve of his departure for Ireland, his homeland, and the remark was characteristically supernatural.

He was taken to Lewisham Hospital that morning, and edified all by his patience, even joyfulness, at the call of God. When he was brought to his room in the hospital, he looked round quietly and smiled, and said, “Everything is so nice and neat; so it's here it is to be”. When told by the Sister that he might die, he said, “Yes, but I received the last Sacraments two days ago, and am ready”. He passed away gently and unobtrusively - his death was like his life - in complete peace and resignation, early in the morning of Thursday, the 22nd May. He really was “going home”,' and why should he be sad?

On Friday evening the remains were brought to the College, where an escort was waiting at the avenue gates to welcome all that was left of one whose death had made a void in the hearts of many in Riverview. The Rosary was recited by all, and when the Chapel was reached we said the Vespers for the Dead, and then during the evening many a boy, and many a master, would say a prayer for the soul of their dear Rector. Next morning we sang a short Requiem Mass, and then the remains were conveyed to St Mary's, Ridge Street, North Sydney. Here an immense concourse of members of the clergy and laity had assembled to take part in the Solemn Office for the Dead and Requiem. His Grace the Archbishop presided. Very Revs T O'Reilly PP, VF, and J P Moynagh PP, VF, acted as deacons at the Archbishop's throne. The chanters at the office were Revs L Chatelet SM, and T Hayden. The Mass was celebrated by Rev E Corish SJ, the deacon being' Rev J HealySJ, and the sub deacon Rev Father Ignatius CP, (an old Stonyhurst boy). Among the clergy: present: were Right Rev Monsignor O'Haran DD, PA, Right Rev Monsignor. O'Brien DD, Right Rev Monsignor Coonan PP, VG,. and Venerable Archpriest Collins PP, Very Rev P B Kennedy OFM, Revs H E Clarke OFM, R Piper OFM, F S McNamara OFM, M P Kelly, OFM, Very Rev P Treand MSH, Revs E McGrath MSH, F Laurent SM, Ginsbach SM, Very Rev Father Francis CP, Revs P Tuomey DPH, W McNally, E Brauer, P Walsh, T Barry, W Barry, T Phelan PP, J Kelly, J Roach, R O'Regan, J Rohan, R J O'Régan, R Darby, P Nulty, A O'Farrell, M Rohan, J J O'Driscoll, T Whyte, P Murphy.

Representing: the Society of Jesus there were present the Community of Riverview College, also Fathers J Colgan, J Brennan, P McCurtin, E Sydes, J Forster, R O'Dempsey, R J Murphy, T Cahill, T Fay, T Carroll. There were also representatives of the Marist. Brothers and Christian: Brothers; De la Salle Brothers, Sisters of the Little: Company of Mary, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, Loreto Nuns and Sisters of St Joseph. Many prominent members of the Catholic laity were present, including a large number of Riverview ex-students. One seemed to recognise old Riverview boys everywhere, and all ages were represented.

Among the laity present were the President of the Ex-students Union, Mr A W M d'Apice BA, LLB, Hon Thomas Hughes MLC, Messrs T J Dalton KCSG, James Dalton KSG (Orange), T Mac Mahon, C. Brennan MA, C G Hepburn, F W T Donovan, T McCarthy, P Minahan, I B, Norris BA, LL, Lieutenant-Colonel Fallon, J Lane Mullins, B A McBride, G E Flannery, BA, LLB, P J ODonnell, G B Bryant, C Moore, Roger Hughes BA, A Deery, P Moore, Bryan Veech, A Moran and very many others. All the great public schools were represented at the church or at the funeral, the Headmasters' Association being specially represented by the Rev C J Prescott MA (Newington College), Brother Borgia (St Josephs College), and Mr Lucas (Sydney Grammar School).

After the last Gospel His Grace the Archbishop: delivered a touching panegyric based on the text from St Luke, “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching”.. His Grace referred to the shock which such a sudden death must give to all, and to the temper of consolation to be found in our Holy Faith, and the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, by which we believed that we could help our suffering departed friends by our suffrages to God, that their purging pains might be shortened, and they might soon enter into the life of bliss, a life which Father Keating had “richly deserved”, we might hope with assurance, by his many good deeds. We should all be ready like him, at the call of our: Maker, to render an account of our stewardship. After His Grace the Archbishop had pronounced the last absolutions, the funeral procession proceeded to Gore Hill Cemetery. The cortège was headed by a detachment of cadets from St Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, St Aloysius College, North Sydney, The Sydney Grammar School, and the Church of England Grammar School,
The cadets from Riverview College formed the immediate guard of honour to the hearse, and: the detachment marched with reversed. arms, while muffled side-drums rolled a plaintive accompaniment to the marching. Major J Lee Pulling, of the Church of England Grammar School, was in command of the military escort, and was assisted by Lieutenant Murphy, of St Aloysius College Corps, and Lieutenant Loughnan, of Riverview, while Staff-Sergeant Major Harvey represented the Fifth Brigade.

The cortege was a very long and representative one, many, who had attended the long church service walking in the funeral procession to the graveside, as a last tribute of respect.

At the graveside the Rev J Corcoran SJ, performed the burial service, at the termnation of which the Riverview choir chanted the “Benedictus”. The guard of honour saluted our departed Rector by presenting arms, and then rested on reversed arms, while the bugler of St Joseph's College Corps sounded the “Last Post”.

Father Keating was a man of great culture and charming personality. He was a master of the Latin and Greek languages, and conversed fluently in French, German, and Italian, As one can see from the life account we have given, he spent many years of his life in various parts of Europe, as well as America and Australia, and perhaps this contact with diverse types of men gave to him much of the urbanity which was to many his greatest charm. One remembers the interesting way he would chat about his stay in Rome during the siege of 1870, of the Vatican Council, of his life at Maria-Laach, and the almost constant habit he had of breaking off into snatches of foreign popular airs.

The charm of his personality seems to have been felt by all who knew him. Among the very numerous letters and telegrams which came to the College for several days after his death, there were many from old boys, from parents of present boys of the college, from those who had found in him a strong guide and a warm friend. But perhaps what impressed one most was the obvious effect of his personality on those who had not known him so intimately as his confrères, his pupils, or his clients. From headmasters of the schools, from mernbers of the legal and medical professions, from the clergy, from men of commerce, came a continual stream of letters, in which one and all attested their conviction of his sterling worth. Mr W A Purves MA, headmatser of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School, wrote: “I am sure everyone who knew Father Keating feels an individual loss. For myself, I never knew quite so courteous an entirely charming a gentleman. I think such personalities as his have a strong influence in maintaining friendly relations among us all, and while in a sense one cannot mnourn the second and better birthday of a good man, one cannot but miss him sorely”.

In a letter from the Rev Ashworth Aspinall MA, headmaster of the Scots College, we find these words: “It was my privilege to meet him years ago, and more recently, and I realised the charm of his cultured personality, and can thus in some degree realise the loss which the College and your Church has sustained. The State has too few men of culture not to deplore the loss of one who so muclı honoured the teaching profession”.

The letters received from old pupils were characterised by a note of warm affection, Everyone who knew Father Keating intimately loved him. At the Annual Dinner of the Old Boys' Union, held shortly after his deatlı, several told of incidents illustrating all those things that went to make up “dear Father Keating's” character - how he had reproved one for his good, and almost crushed him with sarcasm; how he had encouraged another, how he had entered into the sports of the boys to gain their hearts, how he had shown sympathy with the sorrows of the new boy whose heart ached with thoughts of the home he had left. The homesickness of one new boy seemed incurable. Father Keating, Rector of Riverview at the time, won his affection and it was lifelong and cured his homesickness by chaffing him about his untidy hair, and brushing it for him in quite fine style with his own hair brush! Perhaps the occasion may excuse the writer for telling of Sunday mornings he remembers himself, when Father Keating's room would be invaded by an army of small folk - Father Keating always loved the little ones and a judicious selection would be made from the throng. We would go off bird-nesting, and the two hours before dinner-time would pass in a flash. Everyone would enjoy the walk, Father Keating himself most of all. It was difficult to say why one liked him so much; perhaps it was the simplicity of his view which suited the young ones. He seemed, like them, to have an insight into the things which are more real because invisible and intangible, the really beautiful things which Plato imagined to be stored away in some ideal place where all is perfect and without spot.

Looking back one sees that those early days of companionship were indeed a time when the common things of nature.
“did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream”.

Further intercourse with Father Keating at a more mature age has strengthened this feeling; the key to his charm lay in the simple child-like, single view of all, which gave a zest to life. One felt in his presence the value of living, and the joy; the supernatural became evident in his cheerful, bright view of all eventualities, actual or possible. It did one good to know him, and one felt a participation of the strength which the supernatural view of all things gives, a strength proof against all vicissitudes, against the onslaught of external or internal foes, an unutterable security which seemed to be his reward for his perfect life; and which radiated in some way from Father Keating to all those who had the privilege of knowing him.

PJD

-oOo-

Lines to Father Keating, Scholar and Priest

Was it from wells of ancient classic lore
He drew his cultured sweetness, and the store
Of high and holy thoughts that made his life
So gracious, yet so firm-amid the strife
Of warring creed and class - that if the world
Had crashed, and all its fragments wildly hurl'd
Thro' space, his soul had still stood unafraid?
Perchance 'twere so! But something he displayed,

Ne'er caught from Greece or Rome's most glorious days,
That, more than classic culture, won the praise
And love of men. For now, the Light of Old
Is but a lonely star, that sternly cold,
Keeps from the frighted herd of clouds apart,
Or stoops to let them pass with scornful heart,
And glimmers thus thro' life, and dies at death.
Not thus was he! His was the mighty Faith.
Unclouded, glad, and simple as the sun,
That saw and met life's sorrows one by one,
The weariness—the sadness—and the crime,
The “tears of things” but straight, o'erleaping Тіmе,
Reached out to Heav'n with hands of eager prayer,
And caught and flung the mantle of God's care
O'er all the world-and what before was night
And night's wild storm-lo! now was Peace and Light.

DF

◆ Our Alma Mater, St Ignatius Riverview, Sydney, Australia, Golden Jubilee 1880-1930

Riverview in the ‘Eighties - A McDonnell (OR 1866-1888)

Father Pat Keating (whose brother, Fr, Tom Keating was then at Bourke St.) was a most remarkable man in many respects. A scholar in every sense of the term, he was a man of a most striking personality. Strikingly handsome, he was an all round athlete. It would be hard to find a game requiring strength and skill, which he could not play well. He used to play as a member of our team when the teams of the most formid able cricket clubs about Sydney visited Riverview. Being an all round expert at the game, he used to surprise these strangers, as the following incident will show. A match was being played against one of Sydney's best clubs, and the visitors won the toss. Father Keating went on as one of the bowlers. I was sitting near, and just to the rear of Father O'Connell, who was sitting next to the club's scorer and Secretary. Their admiration of Father Keating's bowling was freely expressed. As the bowler at the other end was also of good quality, the visiting team was out in a short space of time, and Father Keating was one of the opening batsmen. When he proved himself as expert with the bat as he had with the ball the visitors applauded heartily; but when he drove a ball from the visitors' best bowler far into the bush beyond the boundary, the gentlemen with the scoring book jumped to his feet and shouted: “By- that - parson can play cricket”. We did not laugh-aloud..because “language” was bad form; but I noticed that Father O'Connell's back underwent some decided convulsions for some time after.

Father Keating was a man of untiring energy. His day began before five in the morning, and he was still at work at ten o'clock at night, and this year in and year out. His was the first Mass celebrated, and for several months, I, with another boy, served this Mass. Father Keating always acted as prefect of the late or “voluntary” study—from nine to ten pm, and many a knot he solved for me when construing. It was he who awakened in me the admiration for Cicero which I have ever since retained. Though a man naturally of a quick and violent temper, no one could believe such to have been the case except on his own admission. He had so far trained himself in this respect that no one ever saw him exhibit the slightest annoyance or impatience, in word or action, although his face might flush. Some of the wilder spirits used to try to annoy him, but they never succeeded. He succeeded Fr Dalton as Rector at Riverview, and after he had been called by his Order to serve in the United Kingdom he was again made Rector at Riverview, and held that office until his death, which came alas too early, and we may well say we shall never see his like again. He united in himself so many great and admirable qualities, and such high attainments in the intellectual sphere, and yet he was the most humble and approachable of men. A great priest, a great scholar, a cul tured gentleman, a sterling friend, a model of the highest type of manhood, a great member of a great Order, the death of such a man leaves this world much poorer.

◆ The Clongownian, 1913

Obituary

Father Patrick Keating SJ

A cablegram received yesterday at St Francis Xavier's, Upper Gardiner Street, an nounced the death at Riverview College, Sydney, Australia, of the Very Rev Patrick Keating SJ. Although his field of duties during the greater part of his full and laborious life lay outside Ireland, there are still very many amongst us to whom the announcement of his death will cause a pang of bitter regret. Among the older generation, to whom he was a familiar figure, whether in his schooldays at Clongowes, or in the later years as Master there, and in Tullabeg, his name will come back as a fresh and invigorating memory. Prominent in his class, first in games, first in the affection of his school-fellows, such was he during his earlier years, and his later life did not belie the promise of his vigorous youth.

He was born in the town of Tipperary, and from there his family proceeded to America while he was yet very young. Later on he returned to pass his schooldays in Clongowes. He entered the Society of Jesus immediately after his course of rhetoric, and having gone through the full course of studies of literature in France and philosophy in Rome and Ger many, he was called back to Ireland to take up the work of teaching for six years before proceeding to his final theological studies. These were made in Austria and in England. In the year 1883 he volunteered for missionary work in Australia. His name and fame are well known in the Commonwealth. He directed with signal success the destinies of the important College of Xavier in Melbourne, and, later, Riverview, Sydney. Having been for many years Superior of the whole Australian Mission, he was recalled to Ireland to undertake the government of the Irish province. Having accomplished the work with conspicuous success, to the general regret of his friends in Ireland he was recalled to the broader field of his labours, and directed by his gentle and effective sway the Xavier College, Melbourne, before he was sent to undertake again the direction of the great Riverview College, overlooking Sydney Harbour. This position he occupied for some time past, and his later letters from there, received in Dublin during the week, gave his friends no indication either of weakened health or failing powers.

Thus the cable yesterday came as a great shock to his brethren. Father Keating was a man of varied parts. In a remarkable degree his gentleness, prudence, and knowledge of men were evinced in all his dealings and intercourse with others. He seemed particularly suited to the work of conducting retreats to the communities, but his labor lay mostly in other fields. It was, however to those who knew him most intimately, who enjoyed his confidence and friendship, to those who shared with him the intimacy and amenities of community life - it was to his brethren in religion to whom the charm and worth of his character were best known. His death is a serious loss to the Australian Mission as well as to the whole Jesuit Order in Ireland.

“Freeman” May 16th, 1913.

Born: 06 April 1901, The Cross, Killygordon, County Donegal
Entered: 28 February 1922, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly

Left Society of Jesus: 03 July 1926 (from Milltown Park)

Two brothers and one sister.

Educated at Killygordon NS, and then at the Christian Brothers in Gorey and Tipperary, and eventually CBC Cork. Finally he went to St Columb’s, Derry. After school he went to the Royal College of Science of Ireland in Dublin

1922-1924: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Novitiate
1924-1925: Rathfarnham Castle, Juniorate
1925-1926: Milltown Park, Philosophy

Born: 6 March 1865, Dundee, Scotland
Entered: 7 September 1883
Final vows: 3 February 1902
Died: 6 March 1939, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England

P Angl.