Born: 23 April 1903, Lochrin Place, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Entered: 31 August 1923, Tullabeg
Ordained: 31 July 1936, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 15 August 1939
Died: 22 August 1982, Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Australiae Province (ASL)

Transcribed HIB to ASL : 05 April 1931

Father owned a shoe shop in Edinburgh and died in 1922. Mother then lived at Leinster Street, Edinburgh supported by business and property.

Youngest in the family.

Early education at Holy Cross Academy, Leith. He then went to Campion House, Osterley.

by 1927 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1929 in Australia for Regency

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
Hugo Quigley, affectionately known as 'Quig', might be described as an anecdotal man. He went to school at Holy Cross Academy in Leith. Some time after leaving school he was enrolled at Osterly, the house for “late vocations” conducted by the English Jesuits to prepare students for entry into various seminaries. There, with John Carpenter and Laurence Hession, he answered the appeal of the then superior of the Australian Mission, William Lockington, for men willing to volunteer for the Society in Australia.
All his studies in the Society were made in Ireland, interrupted by a four year teaching regency at Xavier College, Kew. He returned in 1938 to St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, where he spent a term. But so impressed was the very exacting rector of the place, that he included Quig in his team to follow up the founding community of the new school, St Louis, Perth. There he remained for three years. Then followed 25 years at St Patrick's College, East Melbourne, teaching history and editing the college magazine “The Patrician” for some years. His latter years were spent at Toowong parish, Campion College, Hawthorn parish and eight years at the Jesuit Theological College.
Stories of his gift for a certain hyperbole are legion. Most famous, perhaps, was his boast at Milltown Park as to the number of buses in Edinburgh. Even when confronted with indisputable statistics that it equalled three buses per head of the population he held doggedly to his claim. He always did. To this he added that his grandfather lived to 112 and that the watch that he bequeathed to Quig, and which remained his faithful timepiece until his death, dated from 1742.
Quig preached a very good retreat. His sharp and distinctly Scottish accented voice would carry through the largest chapel. His illustrating stories were always memorable, but when he dealt wider infinite things one could note a certain disappointment that hyperbole was already outreached.
In community especially in his younger years, he was a bright and cheerful companion but on occasions he was morosely silent. In later years these gloomier periods became more frequent as he was separated from daily contact with his students and friends.
He was a solitary man. He claimed that he was always a “loner” and this was true. He liked solitary travel on a bicycle or a motorbike and on these he covered many miles as he filled up his vacations with giving retreats.
One of his many idiosyncrasies was a firm conviction that he should never have a midday dinner. When this was the hour of the principal meal on Saturdays, he left the house early in the football season for whatever ground North Melbourne were to play on. He always carried a small leather case, not unlike a child's school lunch case. It was presumed to contain a sandwich lunch.
Quig's allergy towards cold was notable, if quaint. If the weather were at all cold he wore four shirts and two pairs of trousers. He was also allergic to wool, but often on the coldest days and dressed like this he would go to the Middle Park swimming baths-one of the several semi-enclosed baths around the Port Melbourne bay There, divested, he would stand au nature for as long as an hour looking into space over the water, while characteristically rotating his hand over his very bald pate.
As the years progressed his peculiarities did not grow fewer. From time to time his voice would fail. When he arrived at the Jesuit Theological College, it was with an old-fashioned school slate on which, Zachary like, he wrote what he wanted to say As with many of his recurrent disabilities, no one ever felt quite certain as to its genuineness.
Perhaps he was not alone in not accepting the changes made by the post-conciliar congregations. His response to them was summed up in his excusing remark: “I have not left the Society. It has left me”. At concelebrations he always used his own chalice, a tiny thing like a bantam's egg-cup. Aware that when celebrating alone there was no point in facing the congregation, he faced the tabernacle. He used always an old set of vestments rescued from a wartime chaplain's kit, black on one side and gold on the other. He carried these with him wherever he went and even when he made a trip to his homeland these went with him. They went with him to the grave.
After the closure of St Patrick's College, he continued to act as chaplain to its Old Boys Union, and in that capacity he was most faithful. During those sixteen years he celebrated their marriages, baptised their children and buried not a few. He was present wherever they were gathered and they would be wherever he went. He became almost a mascot. They laughed at his idiosyncrasies but gathered warmth from his friendship.
After his requiem, Old Patricians told many stories about Quig, not the least how for a whole year he taught his own Scottish form of British history, following the wrong syllabus. The class made no attempt to report the matter, but all did their history by correspondence. On another occasion, the prefect of studies discovered a similar error, and remedied it through another teacher.
Perhaps Quig was a “loner”, and even a lonely man. But during his ministry, many boys and families surrounded him, giving him the treasure of their love and respect.

Note from John Carpenter Entry
When the Superior of the Mission - William Lockington - visited Lester House, Osterley, London, he impressed three seminarians, John Carpenter, Laurence Hessian and Hugo Quigley. All three joined the Australian Province.

Born: 07 July 1907, Rosslyn Crescent, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Entered: 31 August 1923, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 24 June 1937, Milltown Park, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1941, Milltown Park, Dublin
Died: 15 February 1960, Milltown Park, Dublin

Father was an Officer in HM Customs and Excise. They reside at Park Road, Leith, Edinburgh

Eldest of two boys and one girl.

Educated at a Secondary school in Leith, and 14 he went to Mungret College SJ (1921-1923)

by 1929 at Berchmanskolleg, Pullach, Germany (GER S) studying
by 1939 at St Beuno’s Wales (ANG) making Tertianship
by 1940 in Rome, Italy (ROM) studying

◆ Irish Province News
Irish Province News 35th Year No 2 1960
Obituary :
Fr Edward Hannigan (1907-1960)

Fr. Hannigan died very suddenly on 19th February, shortly before 10 o'clock. He had said Mass and had his breakfast and gone through his post. He went down the corridor to use the telephone and on the way back to his room felt weak, sat down and died a few ininutes later. He had however time to make his confession before he lost consciousness and was anointed before he expired.
He had been educated in Mungret and did his noviceship in Tullabeg and juniorate in Rathfarnham. He went to Pullach for philosophy and then taught in St. Ignatius' College, Galway. After theology in Milltown Park and tertianship in St. Beuno's he was sent to Rome to do a biennium in Moral Theology in 1939. His work in Rome was interrupted when the war became active and he sailed for Ireland in May 1940 on a Japanese liner from Naples, possibly the last boat to reach England from the Mediterranean that year,
He was not given an opportunity to complete his studies after his return to Ireland but was asked to teach both Moral Theology and Canon Law in succession to Fr. John MacMahon who had just been appointed Provincial, and it was not until 1949 that he was able to return to Rome to present and defend his thesis. The thesis was a model of method and precision. The subject was: “Is it ever lawful to advise the lesser of two evils?” Fr. Hannigan carefully summarised all the recent and many ancient opinions of this difficult topic and then his own conclusions. The thesis was accepted and praised by his examiners; but what really impressed them was the brilliance of his Lectio Coram and his oral defence of the thesis. His ten years of teaching in Milltown had made him confident and self-possessed in his exposition; his command of Latin came as a surprise to them and he showed exceptional skill in dealing with the objections and difficulties which were urged against him, never allowing himself to be cornered or led into a false position. As a result not only did he receive the doctorate summa cum laude but negotiations were begun to have him assigned to the staff of the Gregorian. It was not due to any lack of earnestness on the part of the authorities of the Gregorian that these negotiations did not succeed.
It is not easy to form a just estimate of his work as Professor of Moral Theology at Milltown Park. It was widely felt that he did not do complete justice to his very great abilities. However he did bring to his work some very useful qualities. In the first place he spoke Latin fluently and accurately and so reduced to an absolute minimum the difficulties which inevitably arise from the use of Latin in teaching Theology. He was able to do this because of his remarkable gifts as a linguist. These gifts appeared at other stages in his life in the Society. He had an extremely good knowledge of Irish. As a scholastic he had proved that he was fully competent to teach through Irish, which he had done for three years in Galway; and although he did not frequently speak Irish he never lost his command of grammar and idiom. So too he brought back from Pullach a very good knowledge of German, which was still accurate and idiomatic when he came to Rome to defend his thesis twenty years later.
Again he planned his course carefully and finished it at the appointed time omitting nothing. Indeed one of the points of which he was often criticised was that he treated in class matter that anyone with intelligence could have made up for himself; but perhaps some of the weaker members of the class were grateful to him for this. However, he was unwilling to expand the matter contained in the textbook. This was a pity because his comments would have been interesting and reliable. He preferred to illustrate Genicot with quotations from other books. But when consulted in private on a case his opinions were very good indeed, clear and accurate and well supported. Priests who made retreats or days of recollection in Milltown Park were very loud in their praises and grateful to him for the help he gave them.
An account of Fr. Hannigan cannot omit to mention his very narrow escape from a tragic death during the fire at Milltown Park. He was living on the top storey of the Finlay wing and must have been slow in getting up after the alarm had been given. He was trapped in his room with the roof on fire and the corridor impassable with dense smoke. Fr. J. Johnston who was in the next room was similarly trapped, but opened the door of his room in a vain attempt to reach the fire escape, was overcome by the fumes and perished in the fire. Fr. Hannigan wisely stayed in his room and kept the door shut and waited for the fire brigade to run a ladder up to his window. The ladder was found to be too short so the fire-man handed him up a supplementary ladder which he hooked on to the window sill and so climbed down the twelve feet which separated him from the safety of the fire-brigade ladder. He must have been the last man to have left the top storey alive, saved by his own courage and self-possession.
Fr. Hannigan could give a good retreat although he could not often be persuaded to undertake this work. As procurator he will be remembered for his unfailing courtesy and for the quick and efficient way in which he did business with those of the community who had to visit him. He made the same impression on all with whom he came in contact especially on the tradesmen with whom he had to deal and with his assistants in organising whist drives for the building fund. The very numerous letters of sympathy received by Fr. Rector gave ample proof of this.
Fr. Hannigan had a very intense interest in life. He was a keen follower of almost all sports, rugby, soccer, golf and racing; also of politics national and international and of the obscure workings of the stock exchange. But above all he was remarkable for his charm and friendliness as a member of the community. Those who lived with him will be conscious of a deep sense of personal loss for a long time to come. We extend very sincere sympathy to his brother and sister.