John Sullivan (Jesuit)

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Roman Catholic Church
Beatified13 May 2017, Saint Francis Xavier Church, Dublin, Ireland by Cardinal Angelo Amato
Feast8 May
Patronage
  • Educators

    • John Sullivan (8 May 1861 – 19 February 1933) was an

    Jesuits.[1][2] Sullivan was known for his life of deep spiritual reflection and personal sacrifice; he is recognised for his dedicated work with the poor and spent much of his time walking and (notably) riding his bike[3] to visit those who were troubled or ill in the villages around Clongowes Wood College, where he taught from 1907 until his death.[4]

    From the 1920s onwards there were people who testified to his healing power despite the fact that he never claimed credit or causation for himself from these reported cases.[2][5] Sullivan was known for his friendliness; his amiable nature was coupled with a somewhat shy temperament but one willing to aid those who needed it most. He was noted for his strong faith and for imposing multiple penances on himself such as eating little. Sullivan had long been admired during his life and was known as a man of inspirational holiness which prompted for calls for his beatification; the cause later opened and would culminate on 7 November 2014 after

    Venerable.[2] The same pope approved a miraculous healing credited to his intercession on 26 April 2016.[6] His beatification, the first ever to take place Ireland, took place in Dublin on 13 May 2017.[7][8]

    Life

    Childhood and education

    John Sullivan was born in mid-1861 at 41 Eccles Street in the

    Saint George on Temple Street on 15 July 1861. According to the custom of the time, girls were raised as Catholics while the sons were raised as Protestants.[4] The first child was Annie (1852 – 25 January 1918) and then came Edward, Robert and William (23 February 1860 – 7 July 1937).[1]

    In late 1861 the household relocated to 32 Fitzwilliam Place in Dublin. In 1873 he was sent to the

    Killiney Bay
    along with Constance Exham who was the daughter of a family friend.

    After his time at the Portora Royal School he followed in his father's footsteps and went to

    Asia Minor. He spent several months in one of the Orthodox monasteries on Mount Athos and even contemplated entering it as a monk.[5] He traveled through Southern Italy en route home but was forced to prolong his stay there due to contracting smallpox
    .

    Sullivan was appointed barrister in 1888. "That he was a man of ability, experience and judgement was indicated by his appointment in 1895 by the Conservative government to a commission to investigate the widespread massacre of Armenians in Ardana, Asia Minor."[9]

    He was a frequent visitor to the Hospice of the Dying at Harold's Cross where he brought comfort and companionship in addition to small tokens of food and drink as well as clothing to those ill people.[9] Even after he became a teacher at Clongowes Wood College he continued these small luxuries to the poor including a bit of tobacco while also providing them with tea and sugar as well as oranges and apples. His brother novices remember him for his small kindnesses extended to his classmates.

    Conversion and priesthood

    Sullivan was received into the

    Jesuit priest Michael Gavin presided over at Farm Street Church in the Mayfair district of central London. His family had expressed their great surprise at his decision to convert to the Catholic faith.[4] "He considered this step, in the same way as St Augustine and St Monica, to be the merit of the prayers of his deeply Catholic mother."[10]

    He commenced his Jesuit novitiate on 7 September 1900 at Saint Stanislaus College at Tullabeg. On completion of his novitiate around 1901 he was sent to Saint Mary's Hall at Stonyhurst for his philosophical studies.[5] Having concluded these, he was sent in 1904 to

    Mass at the convent
    of the Irish Sisters of Charity at Mount Saint Anne's in Milltown.

    Sullivan soon after took up a teaching position at Clongowes Wood College which was an all-male boarding school the Jesuits managed near

    Clane, County Kildare. From 25 July 1919 until 20 May 1924 he served as the rector of the Juniorate and Retreat House at Rathfarnham Castle on the outskirts of Dublin.[5]
    Sullivan then returned to teaching at Clongowes Wood College after this.

    Sullivan was untiring in his attention to the sick and he would travel miles to make a sick call which was often on foot but also riding a battered bike. Sullivan was "a keen cyclist".

    Holy Thursday
    , he spent five or six hours kneeling before the altar.

    Illness and death

    In February 1933 he began suffering severe abdominal pains and so was transferred on 17 February from the college to Saint Vincent's Nursing Home in Lower Leeson Street in Dublin, while asking for his breviary to be brought to him.[2] Sullivan died at 11:00pm on 19 February 1933 with his brother Sir William Sullivan at his side; an old friend who was present at his death said: "He died well".[1] At his funeral, "the whole congregation filed up to touch the coffin with rosary beads, crosses or other pious objects."[9]

    He was buried in Clongowes Wood Cemetery, but in 1960 his remains were transferred to the Sacred Heart Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier Church on Upper Gardiner Street.[11]

    Beatification

    Fr. Sullivan's resting-place in Saint Francis Xavier Church, Dublin

    The informative process that opened in 1953 saw him titled as a

    Congregation for the Causes of Saints was given the evidence and validated the informative process in acceptance in 1969 prior to theologians approving his spiritual writings in 1972. On 22 February 2000 the Congregation issued the official "nihil obstat
    " to the cause which acted as a formal introduction to the cause and approval of its continuation.

    In June 2002 another process was held in Dublin to collate further evidence, and the findings of this particular tribunal were forwarded to the Congregation, which confirmed it on 18 October 2002. In 2004 the postulation submitted the Positio dossier to the Congregation for examination by consultant theologians and this led to a positive report on its contents on 19 November 2013; the Congregation later confirmed this on 16 October 2014.

    On 7 November 2014 he was named as

    Venerable after Pope Francis – himself a Jesuit – approved a decree acknowledging the heroic virtue of the late priest's life based on the cardinal and theological virtues. Sullivan's beatification depended on the approval of a miracle that was an unexplainable healing after his death; one such case was investigated in Ireland
    and it received Roman validation on 10 February 2006. The Congregation approved this miracle on 19 April 2016 after the medical experts and theologians approved it. The pontiff – on 26 April 2016 – approved a miracle attributed to the late priest's intercession and thus approved his beatification to take place. The miracle approved was the 1954 healing of a cancerous tumor on the neck of the Dublin woman Delia Farnham.

    The beatification was celebrated in Dublin at the Saint Francis Xavier Church on 13 May 2017.[12] He was also the first person to ever be beatified in Ireland.[8]

    The current postulator for this cause is the Jesuit priest Anton Witwer. The current vice-postulator is the Jesuit priest Conor Harper.

    Devotions and legacies

    Due to his reportedly having the gift of healing, there is a constant demand for blessings with his profession crucifix[10] which had previously belonged to his mother. It is kept in the Saint Francis Xavier Church where his remains are located in the Sacred Heart Chapel. There is a special Mass celebrated in that church once each month in his honour and there is also an annual Mass for the same purpose at the same church celebrated close to the commemoration of his 1933 death.

    The people of Kildare created their own monument to the late priest in Clane close to Clongowes Wood College.

    Sullivan had been a Protestant until he reached middle age and that community was an important aspect of his life. On 8 May 1983 the retired Church of Ireland Archbishop

    Auxiliary Bishop James Kavanagh attended and bought with him 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 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".

    Miracles during his lifetime

    There have been miracles reported during Sullivan's life such as the two mentioned below:

    • The cure of Michael Collins (b. 1925) – nephew of the famed Michael Collins – from infantile paralysis. The child awoke one night in October 1928 in extreme distress and the summoned doctor diagnosed him with infantile paralysis. Mrs. Collins drove to the school seeking out Sullivan's assistance; Sullivan promised to say a Mass but also rode his bike to their home where he touched the child's leg and prayed over him for two hours.[2]
    • The cure of Miss Kitty Garry (aged ten at the time) from tuberculosis; he blessed her and the ailment left her after a month.

    References

    1. ^ a b c d e f Bodkin S.J., Mathias (1954). "The Port of Tears" (PDF). Clonmore and Reynolds, Ltd. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
    2. ^ a b c d e "Venerable John Sullivan". Saints SQPN. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
    3. ^ Hargeden, K. and Murphy, C. (2022), The Parish as Oasis: an Introduction to Practical Environmental Care, Dublin: Messenger Publications, pages 26-31
    4. ^ a b c "John Sullivan, SJ (1861–1933)". Ignatian Spirituality. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
    5. ^ a b c d "Fr. John Sullivan SJ: a loyal servant of God 1861–1933". Catholic Ireland. 30 November 1999. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
    6. ^ Dillon, Guillermo (13 May 2017). "Trinity alumnus Fr John Sullivan SJ beatified". Trinity News. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
    7. ^ McGarry, Patsy. "Dubliner, who was Protestant, declared 'Blessed' by Catholic Church". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
    8. ^ a b "Fr John Sullivan to be beatified in first ever ceremony to take place in Ireland". independent. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
    9. ^ a b c d e Morrissey SJ, Todd. "Fr John Sullivan SJ: a loyal servant of God", Jesuits Ireland
    10. ^ a b c "John Sullivan", Jesuits Global
    11. ^ "Blessed John", Gardiner Street Parish
    12. ^ "'Protestant priest' John Sullivan beatified in Dublin". BBC News. 13 May 2017.

    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

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