Showing 244 results

Baptismal name: James Rice
Religious name: Fr. Canice Rice OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 26 May 1870
Place of birth: James Street, Kilkenny (Diocese of Ossory)
Name of father: William Rice (Police Constable)
Name of mother: Jane Rice (née Kennedy)
Date of death: 23 Feb. 1896
Place of death: Church Street, Dublin

Joseph Rice was born in County Laois on 28 May 1881. He joined the Capuchin Order on 1 May 1913 and took Fidelis as his religious name. The greater part of his religious life was spent in Rochestown Friary in County Cork where he worked as a cook. However, he also spent time in the Kilkenny community where he was entrusted with the training of lay brother candidates and novices as Brother Master. He also spent shorter periods in St. Bonaventure’s Hostel in Cork and in Ard Mhuire Friary in County Donegal in the early years of these foundations. His later years were spent in St. Mary of the Angels on Church Street in Dublin. Afflicted by long periods of ill-health, he died on 9 August 1963. He was buried in the cemetery adjoining the Capuchin Friary in Rochestown in County Cork.

Baptismal name: Joseph Rice
Religious name: Br. Fidelis Rice OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 28 May 1881
Place of birth: Ardateggle, County Laois (Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin)
Name of father: Martin Rice (Farmer)
Name of mother: Mary Rice (née Heffernan)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 1 May 1913
Date of first profession: 1 May 1914
Date of final profession: 8 Sept. 1918
Date of death: 9 Aug. 1963
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Louis Riordan was born in Leeds in England on 15 September 1891. He joined the Irish Province of the Capuchin Franciscans in September 1911 and took Urban as his religious name. Soon after his ordination he was sent to the mission custody established by the Irish Capuchins on the west coast of the United States. He was assigned to St. Mary’s parish in Ukiah, Mendocino County, California. During his time in Ukiah, he wrote a short account on the ministry of the Irish friars in the United States. In 1929 he was transferred to the Blessed Sacrament mission in Elk, California, where he ministered until 1936. From 1941 to 1945 he was an associate pastor at Our Lady of Angels parish in Hermiston in Oregon. He returned to Ireland in 1951 and was appointed to communities in Church Street, Dublin, Holy Trinity, Cork, and the Church of St. Francis in Kilkenny. His final years were spent in the Capuchin house in Raheny in Dublin. He died on 1 November 1973 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Baptismal name: Louis Riordan
Religious name: Fr. Urban Riordan OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 15 Sept. 1891
Place of birth: Leeds, England
Name of father: William Riordan
Name of mother: Johanna Riordan (née Ryan)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 17 Sept. 1911
Date of first profession: 17 Sept. 1912
Date of final profession: 8 July 1916
Date of ordination (as priest): 3 May 1918
Missionary assignments: Travelled to the United States in November 1919; Returned to Ireland in 1951.
Date of death: 1 Nov. 1973
Place of death: Church Street, Dublin
Place of burial: Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Daniel Roche was born in Newcastle West in County Limerick on 30 July 1898. He was educated in the local primary school in Newcastle West and later at the Capuchin College in Rochestown, County Cork. He entered the Capuchin Order in August 1914 and took Fintan as his religious name. He made his solemn profession as a friar in 1920. He graduated with a philosophy degree from University College Cork and studied theology at Rochestown. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Daniel Cohalan in Holy Trinity Church, Cork, on 29 June 1923. Shortly after his ordination, in October 1923, he travelled to the United States as a missionary friar. Ten years later, he became one of the pioneering missionaries in the newly established Capuchin mission territory in Barotseland in Northern Rhodesia. While in Africa, he contributed regularly to ‘The Father Mathew Record’, a popular monthly publication of the Irish Capuchins which promoted the Order’s overseas’ missions (particularly in Africa). He returned to Ireland in 1940 to engage in fundraising activities to support the Order’s missionary endeavours. A decision was made to send Fr. Fintan back to the United States in January 1944. However, he suffered a serious accident during his transatlantic passage when the ship he was travelling on encountered a severe storm. He continued to suffer from ill-health in the years following his return to America. He spent some years as Pastor in McKenzie Bridge, a picturesque if isolated region located about halfway between Roseburg and Bend in Oregon on the American Pacific coast. In 1950, he described his life in McKenzie Bridge as ‘nothing strange, weeding and Mass every day and peace’. However, his health continued to decline and following several heart attacks he left his remote rural abode in Oregon to reside in California. He died in the Capuchin Friary in Flintridge, north of Los Angeles in California on 9 May 1953.

Baptismal name: Daniel Roche
Religious name: Fr. Fintan Roche OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 30 July 1898
Place of birth: Newcastle West, County Limerick
Name of father: James Roche (Shopkeeper)
Name of mother: Anne Roche (née Downey)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 27 Aug. 1914
Date of first profession: 8 Sept. 1915
Date of final profession: 21 Mar. 1920
Date of ordination: 29 June 1923
Educational attainments: BA, 1919
Missionary activities: Travelled to the United States on 14 Oct. 1923; Travelled to Africa in 1933; Returned to Ireland in 1940; Travelled to the United States in January 1944
Date of death: 9 May 1953
Place of death: Flintridge, California

Henry Edward George Rope was a writer, poet, editor, and priest widely known in the Catholic Church for his traditionalist views. He was the elder brother of Margaret Agnes Rope, a stained-glass artist, a nephew of Ellen Mary Rope, a sculptor, and George Thomas Rope, a painter, and naturalist, as well as a cousin of M.E. Aldrich Rope, another stained-glass artist. He was ordained at St. John Lateran in Rome on 27 February 1915. He served in the Shrewsbury Diocese up until 1937, in which year, on 30 October, he took up the position of archivist in the Venerable English College in Rome. His positions as a priest included Chester St Werburgh 1915-17, Crewe 1917-18, Plowden, Shropshire 1918-24, Market Drayton 1924-25, and chaplain at Mawley Hall (near Cleobury Mortimer) 1925-37. His tenure in Rome was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served as a chaplain at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albrighton Hall, Shrewsbury (1940-44). He re-joined the Venerable English College and on his return to Rome after the war in 1946, again served as archivist, until December 1957. Returning to England, he settled at the Carmelite Monastery, Quidenham, Norfolk, where his sister Margaret Agnes Rope, the stained-glass artist, had died some four years previously. Due to his writings and his work as archivist at the Venerable English College in Rome, he was well known in his lifetime, particularly within church circles. He nurtured friendships with many prominent lay Catholics and clergy which in turn generated a wealth of correspondence. Aside from Benedict Williamson (1868-1948), a church architect and later Catholic priest, on whom he wrote a two-part monograph, Rope is associated with G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, John Hawes, and many others. Henry Rope died in London on 1 March 1978 and was buried in the graveyard attached to the Church of St. Michael and the Holy Family in Kesgrave, Suffolk.

Baptismal name: James Ruth
Religious name: Fr. Carthage Ruth OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 6 Mar. 1923
Place of birth: Enniscorthy, County Wexford (Diocese of Ferns)
Name of father: William Ruth
Name of mother: Margaret Ruth (née Dobbs)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 3 Oct. 1941
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1942
Date of final profession: 4 Oct. 1945
Date of ordination (as priest): 16 June 1949
Educational attainments: BA (1945)
Missionary activities: Travelled to the Prefecture of Victoria Falls, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), in February 1950. Later, he undertook missionary work in the Archdiocese of Cape Town in South Africa. Returned to Ireland in 1971.
Date of death: 26 Dec. 2010
Place of death: Bon Secours convalescence home, Mount Desert, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Baptismal name: John (Patrick) Ryan
Religious name: Br. Pacificus Ryan OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 27 Aug. 1876
Place of birth: Loughane, County Cork
Name of father: John Ryan
Name of mother: Catherine Ryan (née Cronin)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 2 July 1894
Date of first profession: 4 Oct. 1895
Date of final profession: 31 Jan. 1903
Ministries: A newspaper report on the golden jubilee of Br. Pacificus Ryan OFM Cap. in 1944 read: ‘Born in Cork, Brother Pacificus is a member of a well-known Cork family, and has several relatives in the city and county. During his long life in the Capuchin Order, he served in Kilkenny, and for a long number of years in Dublin, returning to Rochestown over twenty years ago. He served there in the capacity of sacristan and is a very popular and highly respected figure. He is looked upon as an authority on the Rubrics and Church ceremonies’.
Date of death: 1 July 1950
Place of death: South Infirmary, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork

Father Salvian (Nardiocci) of the Seven Dolour.

Father Salvian of the VII Dolours, in seculo- Vincenzo Nardocci, was born in Carbognanq, diocese of Viterbo, Italy, on the I9th October I822.

Hia mother died when he was quite a child, and his father married again. The second wife was no exception to the general rule of stepmothers. The little Vincenzo was very harshly treated until he received a benifice when ten years of age and was partially emancipated from her control. He was enabled to study for the secular priesthood, but his thoughts were bent on a religious life.

When little more than 18 years of age, on April I6th 1841, he took the habit of our Congregation, and was professed on the I7th April of the following year.
In 1849 several young members of our Congregation were ordained in Sts. John and, Paul's, Rome. Of these four volunteered for the English Province. Frs, Salvian, Evarist, Raymund and Bernardine. Fr. Salvian was ordained too weak and delicate for a trying mission like England; but the then General, Fr. Anthony of St. James, prophesied that he would outlive his companions. Such indeed was the case.

He arrived in England on September 2Ist 1849. He was shortly afterwards made Vice-Master of Novices. In 1850 he was appointed Master of Devices and he fulfilled this office for more than 12 years. In I86j he was made Rector of Broadway and-in 1866 he became Rector of St. Anne's, Sutton.

In 1869 he came to the Retreat of St. Paul of the Cross, Dublin, and remained there with the exception of one year (from 1878 to 1879 when he discharged the duties of Rector of Sutton for a second time) until his death on the I7th of September 1896. Father Salvian was of slight build and seemingly of poor health; yet he was strong enough to keep the observance until his declining years, and was seldom subject to any infirmity.

As Master of Novices he was unrivalled. He was so gentle and withal, so firm that no one could resist his influence.

As Rector, he found money-matters and other annoyances belonging to the office too much for him, and always felt unhappy in such a position.

During his latter years his life was calm and full of good works. He was not a great orator or much of a missioner. His voice and strength did not suffice for these labours.
He was a most efficient confessor. Nearly all the religious went to confession to him. "The priests of Dublin looked upon him as their spiritual father, and the aity confided all their sorrows to his sympathetic keeping. He was universally loved and revered whilst a member of this community.

Within the last two years his memory began to fail, and in some degree his intellect. Such an affliction naturally deprived him of that geniality of character for which he had been all his life so remarkable.

His last illness was not a very long one. He seemed rather to waste away than to be hurried by any disease to the grave.

Numbers bewailed his loss; and one of his penitents, a secular priest, asked for the privilege of singing his Requiem Mass at his funeral.

Thus passed away calmly and without pain on the I7th of September (1896) the last of the pioneers who founded this Province.

Sebastian Keens C.P. Obituary by Fr. Dominic O'Neill C.P. 1891

The Province of St. Joseph has sustained a severe loss by the death of the Rev. Fattier Sebastian of the Blessed Sacrament, This zealous son of St Paul of the Cross, known in the world as Sebastian Keener lived 41 years in the Congregation and died on the anniversary of his birth on the 28th of September (1891) having been bom on the same date 1831.

The place of his birth was London and his parents were pious Catholics, his father having been converted from Protestantism in early youth. He entered the Congregation in 1849 and was the last novice accepted by the V. Rev. Fr. Dominic of the Mother of God. Having made his profession on the 14th February I850, tie years of his studies were marked by his love of the Holy Observance, and when in due time he was promoted to the Holy Order of the Priesthood, he was chosen Vice Master of Novices.

In 1858 he was sent by his superiors to St. Paul's Retreat, Mount Argus, Dublin, anc to this Retreat he remained attached until the time of his death, except from 1869 until 1872 during which interval he was Rector of St Joseph's Retreat Highgate, London.

It was thus at Mount Argus that the greater part of his Priestly life was spent, and here it was that he displayed that wonderful zeal for God's glory which so distinguished him. During the 30 years that he was connected with Mount Argus he was truly indefatigable in his labours. Frequently engaged on Missions in Ireland, England and Scotland his preaching drew thousands of poor sinners to the Sacraments, and every mission given by him was blessed by God with marvellous results. Without having much of the gift of eloquence property so called he spoke from the heart in his sermons and seldom failed to touch the hearts of his audience. In the duties of the confessional he laboured with unwearied assiduity, and never I seemed to rest while sinners were to be attended to in the Sacred Tribunal.

This is true of him not only on missions but i t was his daily life in the Retreat of Saint Paul.

He had a rare gift of attracting souls from the vanities of the world and placing them in the secure sanctuary of the Religious State, One of the greatest services he rendered to our Province was the number of pious and talented subjects who through his means entered the Congregation. Of these two were made Provincials, several Rectors and some of our most valued missioners were attracted to our institute under his direction. With the same zeal he led a great number of his female penitents to enter the Religious State, and it would be impossible to form an idea of the numbers who are now in convents in both hemispheres. The Sisters of the Passion gratefully acknowledge that their numerous convents in England and Ireland are filled with holy and zealous Religious who under God owe their vocation to his burning zeal.

Besides this wonderful life of zeal for God's glory and the sanctification of souls in the intervals between his missionary and spiritual labours he was for 30 years the zealous questor for the temporal wants of the community. To his exertions we are principally indebted for the spacious Retreat of St. Paul Mount Argus and its universally admired church. The words of the Psalmist can with truth be applied to him, "I have loved, O Lord, the zeal of Thy house and the place where Thy Glory dwelleth."

In his religious life he was remarkable for childlike simplicity of character. His obedience to his superiors was prompt and cheerful. His charity for his brethren was very great especially when any of the community were sick he would seek to procure for them whatever would alleviate their sufferings or tend to their comfort and he always gave great edification by speaking in praise of his brethren in the presence of seculars, thus-increasing the respect of all for his Mother the Congregation.

He was unremitting in his exertions to promote devotion to our Lord's Sacred Passion and this not only in sermons and in the confessional and through the Confraternity of the Passion attached to our church, but he established the Confraternity on missions wherever he could and invested great numbers with the Black Scapular of the Passion in all parts. Great also was his devotion to the Dolours of the Blessed Virgin and to the Divine Sacrament of the Attar. He wrote and published several volumes on our Lady's Dolours, The Manual of a Happy Death, Our Lord's Passion, The Blessed Sacrament, and Saint Michael which have passed through several editions. In this wa y did his zeal inspire him to labour for souls where his voice could not reach and took means that even after death he should yet speak to the hearts of many of God and the salvation of their souls.

His life of unremitting toil could but tell on his naturally strong constitution. For some time past his brethren could observe a great change in him and on Sunday morning the 30th August while in the confessional as was his custom at that time he felt suddenly unwell. He passed out to prepare to offer the Holy Sacrifice and while thus engaged he had suddenly a stroke of apoplexy. The medical attendant was soon with him. and for some time he seemed daily to improve having recovered the use of his right hand and side which were paralyzed. But on the 21st September he received a second stroke which paralyzed his left side and rendered him completely unconscious. In this state he remained with slight intervals of consciousness until the morning of the 28th September his 60th birthday when he calmly breathed his last fortified by the Sacraments of Holy Church. The day of his death was the eve of the feast of Si Michael to whom he had a special devotion. The colossal statue of St. Michael which now adorns the front of St. Paul's Church is due'to his exertions.

His obsequies were attended by about 80 priests secular and regular. The Most Rev. Dr. Woodlock, Bishop of Ardagh, presided at the Office, and the Requiem Mass was sung by the V. Rev. Fr. Gregory, Provincial of the Anglo-Hibernian Province. The vast numbers of the laity whom the spacious church could not contain attested to the esteem and respect in which tile good Father was held by the people in whose midst he had laboured so long and so faithfully.

We have no doubt that God has prepared as the reward of his laborious life a bright crown of eternal glory, but as he had to pass before the Judgement Seat of Him Who has declared "Ego justifies judicabo* I beg of your Reverence to have the usual suffrages offered for the repose of his soul.
Signed "Dominic of the Imm. Heart of Mary, Rector"/

Henry Shaw was born in Dungarvan in County Waterford on 18 May 1915. He joined the Capuchin Order in November 1933 and took Nessan as his religious name. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1943. As a postgraduate student in University College Cork, he completed a thesis titled ‘The Life and Times of Fr. Theobald Mathew’ for an MA degree in 1939. He retained a life-long interest in the subject and accumulated many documentary sources, publications and notes pertaining to Fr. Mathew and his nineteenth-century campaign against intemperance. Most of his priestly ministry was spent in County Cork and he was a teacher for many years in the Seraphic College in Rochestown. For a brief period in the 1940s he worked as a missionary in Aden which was, as part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia, under the care of the Capuchin friars. On his return to Ireland, Fr. Nessan resumed his priestly duties in Cork. As an avid supporter of Gaelic games, he held several senior administrative positions with various clubs associated with ‘Cumann Lúthchleas Gael’ in Cork. Fr. Nessan edited a collection of essays on the history of the Irish Capuchins in the twentieth century (titled ‘The Irish Capuchins / Record of a Century’) which was published in 1985. The last sixteen years of his life were spent as parish priest in Gurranabraher, a residential suburb on the north-western side of Cork city. He died on 13 July 1997 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Capuchin Friary in County Cork.

Baptismal name: Henry Shaw
Religious name: Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 18 May 1915
Place of birth: Dungarvan, County Waterford
Name of father: Herbert Shaw (Baker)
Name of mother: Mary Anne Shaw (née Curran)
Date of parents’ marriage: 16 Oct. 1913
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 7 Nov. 1933
Date of first profession: 8 Nov. 1934
Date of solemn profession: 8 Nov. 1937
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1943
Educational attainments: BA, 1937; MA, 2nd class hons., 1939; Higher Diploma in Education
Date of death: 13 July 1997
Place of death: Bons Secours Hospital, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Rochestown Capuchin Friary, County Cork