Born: 15 February 1607, Derry City, County Derry
Entered: 25 February 1626, Messina, Sicily, Italy - Siculae Province (SIC)
Ordained: 1638, Palermo, Sicily
Final Vows: 1644
Died: 25 September 1648, Florence, Italy - Romanae Province (ROM)

Alias Davitt
Younger brother of Hugh - RIP 1633

1639 Came from SIC to BELG
1648 was in Rome 07/08/1648

◆ Fr Edmund Hogan SJ “Catalogica Chronologica” :
Two Entries (1)McDavitt (Davetti in Italian); (2 Bernard David

(1) Bryan McDavitt
Brother of Hugh RIP as Scholastic 15 October 1633
He had been Professor of Humanities and passed a brilliant public examination in universal Philosophy and Theology.
Bought the Printing Press for the Irish Mission which was confiscated by the Confederates for national purposes.
Came to Ireland with the Nuncio (Rinuccini) and was Chaplain to Eoghan Ruadh.
Sent to Rome on special Mission business and died on his way home.
He was a good Preacher and Confessor, liked by high and low.
1644 In Galway, much praised by his Superior as a worthy man and distinguished Theologian. His loss was felt much by his brethren.
A letter from Dr Magennis, Bishop of Down and Connor in 1620, asking the General to send both Bryan and Hugh to their Theological studies
(2) Bernard David
Ent 1625;
Studied in the Low Countries before Ent
1642 Sent from Belgium to Earl O’Neill.
After doing good work in Galway for a while, hen was sent on Irish Mission business to Rome
1648 He was returning with the Nuncio Rinuccini, but on his journey died at Florence 1648.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan SJ :
Older brother of Hugh
1626-1631 After First Vows he studied Philosophy at Noto and Messina where he made a public defence “de universa philosophica”
1631-1635 He then spent four years Regency in four different SIC Colleges.
1635-1638 He was then sent for to Messina (1634-1635), Caltagirone (1635-1636) and Palermo (1636-1638), where he was Ordained 1638, and also where he made a public defence.
1639 Tertianship at Trapani
1640 Sent to Ireland, but recommended by the General to stop in Flanders for a few months to practice his Irish language among fellow speakers there, after his long thirteen years in Siciily In fact he was detained there for three years as a Military Chaplain at Brussels,
1642 Arrived in Ireland at the end of 1642 and was sent to Galway to teach Humanities.
1645 Sent to Rome on business of the Mission and returned with the Nuncio Rinuccini’s travelling party. It was during his return journey from Rome that he bought, for the use of the Irish Mission, the printing press which was later seized by the Ormondist Supreme Council.
1648 MacDavet was acquainted with Eoin Ruadh, probably since his time as a Military Chaplain in Brussels. So, O’Neill on 04/02/1648 chose Brian as his special representative to Pope Innocent X - “Father Bernard MacDavet in my name will kiss your feet as the present war does not permit me to do so in person. He is well versed in public affairs of this kingdom and in my own private concerns and is so endowed with faith and prudence that I have entrusted him with all I wish communicated to your Holiness, and on which I have no doubt the salvation of this kingdom depends. I beg your Holiness, therefore, to treat with him as you would with myself.” At Rome, however, MacDavet, though received by the Pope, was received only in the same audience as was accorded the Bishop of Ferns and Sir Nicholas Plunket, both of whom were opposed to both Rinuccini and Eoin Ruadh. He had to be content with the mediation of one of the Cardinals to bring Eoin Ruadh's secret message to his Holiness.
On his homeward journey he fell from the carriage he was travelling in, and though he was keen to get to Ireland before the Bishop of Ferns and Plunket, before they would encourage the Supreme Council in its’ divisive policy, he never recovered from the serious illness brought about by his fractured his arm and died from the after-effects of the accident 25/09/1648 at the Jesuit Residence, Florence.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
Father Bryan McDavitt SJ 1606-1648
Fr Bryan McDavitt was one of the few Irishmen fro Ulster who entered the Society in the old days. He was born in Derry in 1606 and entered the Society in Belgium in 1624.

He came to Ireland in the retinue of the Nuncio Rinnuccini and was Chaplain to Owen Roe in the Confederate wars.

His importance for us lies in the fact that it was he who brought the printing-press from France for the Irish Jesuits, te press which was used in Kilkenny by the Confederation ro print its proclamations and pamphlets. It was operated by our Brother George Sarrazin.

Fr McDavitt was in Galway in 1644. He was sent on special business to Rome, and died at Florence on his way home in 1648.

◆ George Oliver Towards Illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English and Irish Members SJ
DAVID, BERNARD, studied in the Low Countries, and was aggregated to the Order in 1625. Towards the end of July, 1642, he was sent over from Belgium to Earl O’Neil, in Ireland; but certainly from November that year, till August following, was a resident at Galway, where he did good service. Shortly after this he was sent to Rome on the business of the Irish Mission* In October, 1648, he returned in company with the Nuncio Rinuccini. He died at Florence, in his journey to Rome, during the summer of 1648. The loss of his talents and services was deeply deplored by his Superior, F. William Malone, in his letter of 16th December that year.

• This Father purchased a press in France for the use of the Fathers at Kilkenny, but this was taken from them by Robert Bagot, Secretary of the Supreme Council, in virtue of an Order dated the 28th of May, 1648. Another press belonged to the Fathers at Waterford, to which some of the Irish Bishops subscribed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

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

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

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

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