John Sullivan (Jesuit)

The Venerable John Sullivan (8 May 1861 – 19 February 1933) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit order and was known for his life of deep prayer and personal sacrifice. He is recognised for his dedicated work with the poor and afflicted, spending much of his time walking and cycling to visit those who were troubled, sick and dying in the villages around Clongowes Wood College school in County Kildare where he taught from 1907 until his death. From the 1920s onwards many people testified to the healing power of his prayers although he never claimed any credit or causation for himself.

On 7 November 2014 he was declared to be Venerable and his beatification received the papal approval of Pope Francis on 26 April 2016 after a single miracle attributed to him was recognized; a date for his beatification must now be set.

Life

Childhood

John Sullivan was born on 8 May 1861^[1] into a wealthy Dublin family, at 41 Eccles Street, in the heart of old Georgian Dublin. His father Edward Sullivan, a member of the Church of Ireland, was a successful barrister who would later become the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His mother, Elizabeth Bailey, was a Roman Catholic from a prominent land-owning family in Passage West, County Cork.

He was the youngest of five children and grew up in privilege in late 19th Century Dublin society, raised as a Protestant as was traditional in Ireland at the time for sons of Protestant fathers and Catholic mothers.

Sullivan was baptized in the local Church of Ireland parish, St. George's, Temple Street, on 15 July 1861. It was soon after this that the family moved to 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin. In 1872, the young John was sent to Portora Royal School, Enniskillen^[2] In 1877 his brother Robert drowned after a boating accident in Killiney Bay at the age of 24 along with Constance Exham, the daughter of a family friend.^[3]

After Portora, John followed in his father's footsteps and went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied Classics. He was awarded the Gold Medal in Classics in 1885.^[2] He studied for the English Bar at Lincoln's Inn in London. During this period he travelled Europe extensively, especially spending time taking walking tours of Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. He spent several months in one of the Orthodox Monasteries on Mount Athos, even contemplating entering as a monk.^[4]

Upon his father's death in 1885, Sullivan came into a comfortable inheritance. He was a frequent visitor to the Hospice of the Dying at Harold's Cross, bringing comfort, companionship, and small tokens of food, drink and clothing. Other times there would be a donation to a needy charity from an "anonymous donor". Even after he became a teacher at Clongowes, he continued these small luxuries to the poor, a bit of tobacco, tea, sugar, snuff, oranges and apples; even a small drop of the "creature".^[1] His brother novices remember him for many small kindnesses extended to his much younger classmates.

Priesthood

Sullivan was received into the Roman Catholic Church on 21 December 1896 by Father Michael Gavin, S.J., at Farm St Church Mayfair, in central London^[3] He commenced his Jesuit novitiate on 7 September 1900 at St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg in County Offaly. On completion of his novitiate he was sent for two years of philosophical study to St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, the philosophical seminary of the English province of the Jesuit order.^[3]

In 1904 at the end of his philosophy courses he went to Milltown Park, Dublin for his theology studies and was ordained as a Jesuit priest by Archbishop Walsh in the chapel at Milltown Park on Sunday 28 July 1907. He said his first Mass at the convent of the Irish Sisters of Charity, Mount St. Anne's, Milltown.^[5]

Soon after he took up a teaching post at Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit secondary boarding school for boys near Clane, Co. Kildare.^[6] From 25 July 1919 until 20 May 1924 he was Rector of the Juniorate and Retreat House at Rathfarnham Castle on the outskirts of Dublin.^[3] He then returned to teaching at Clongowes Wood College. In February 1933 after suffering severe abdominal pains he was transferred from Clongowes to St. Vincent's Nursing Home in Lower Leeson St. Dublin.

Father Sullivan was untiring in his attention to the sick. He would travel miles to make a sick call, often on foot, but generally riding a battered bicycle. People in the area became convinced of the efficacy of his prayers in obtaining a cure, often for life-threatening conditions.^[1]

He died at 11pm on 19 February 1933, aged 71 with his brother Sir William Sullivan at his side. He was buried in Clongowes Wood Cemetery.^[7]

Beatification

In 1944 Fr Sullivan's name was placed on the list drawn up by the postulator of causes in Rome, Fr Carlo Micinelli, S.J.^[8] The hearing of the evidence was finished in 1953 and the transcription of the proceedings of the process was completed in 1960.^[8] In 1960 his remains were exhumed and transferred to St Francis Xavier's Church Upper Gardiner St, Dublin as part of the process of canonisation.^[7] The Italian version of the evidence was officially accepted by the Sacred Congregation in 1969, and in 1972 the writings of the servant of God received approval from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, an important step on the way.^[9]

In June 2002, the findings of the Supplementary Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Dublin for the Cause of the Canonisation of the Servant of God were forwarded to the Holy See.^[10]

On 7 November 2014, Pope Francis approved a decree acknowledging the heroic virtue of Sullivan, meaning that his life and virtues are worthy of imitation by the faithful. From that point, he could be known known as Venerable.^[11] The pontiff – on 26 April 2016 – approved a miracle attributed to him and thus approved his beatification to take place.

The date for his beatification – to take place in Dublin – must be determined before the celebration can go ahead.

Devotions and legacies

There is a constant demand for blessings with his vow crucifix, which is kept in St. Francis Xavier's, Gardiner Street, where Fr. John's earthly remains repose in the Sacred Heart Chapel. Many come to pray at his tomb. A monthly mass is held for Father John Sullivan at St Francis Xavier's Church in Gardiner St. Dublin on the third Saturday of every month. There is also an annual Mass to celebrate his life at St. Francis Xavier's, normally celebrated on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of his death (19 February).^[10] A website has been created by the parish to share this aspect of parish life in Gardiner Street with a wider audience and highlight the healing and many blessings received through intercession of Fr John Sullivan.^[10]

The people of Kildare created their own monument to Father John Sullivan in Clane close to Clongowes Wood College.^[12]

Legacy

As John Sullivan was a Protestant until middle age, the Church of Ireland was an important part of his life. On 8 May 1983, 50 years since he died, the retired Church of Ireland Archbishop George Simms gave the address at a memorial service to honour John Sullivan's life and work which was held in St Georges Church, Temple St. Dublin. The Catholic auxiliary bishop James Kavanagh attended conveying a text from Pope John Paul II, reading "His Holiness asks you to convey his cordial greetings to all present. In communion of prayer he gives thanks to Almighty God for the extraordinary gifts bestowed on Fr Sullivan during his life and for the spirit of mutual understanding, reconciliation and goodwill which his memory enkindles between various christian communities in Ireland today."^[13]

References

Sources

• McGrath, SJ, Fergal. Father John Sullivan, SJ, (Longmans Green) 1945
• Morrisey SJ, Thomas J., Where Two Traditions Meet: John Sullivan SJ, The Columba Press, 2009

External links

• Fr John Sullivan website - Articles, Videos, Podcasts & Prayers
• Francis Xavier's Church
• Father Conor Harper, St Francis Xavier's Church
• The Boy from Eccles St on YouTube