Dossier 9 - Irish Capuchin Missionaries in India

Baptismal name: Cornelius Francis Reardon
Religious name: Fr. Xavier Reardon OFM Cap.
Date of birth: 2 Feb. 1899
Place of birth: Blackrock Road, Ballintemple, County Cork
Name of father: Cornelius Reardon
Name of mother: Elizabeth Reardon (née Keane)
Date of reception into the Capuchin Order: 17 Sept. 1916
Date of first profession: 17 Sept. 1917
Date of final profession: 14 July 1921
Date of ordination (as priest): 29 June 1925
Educational attainments: BA (1926); Higher Diploma in Education (1926)
Missionary activities: Travelled to India in 1937. He returned to Ireland in 1948. Travelled to the United States in 1960. He returned to Ireland in 1967.
Date of death: 26 Dec. 1986
Place of death: Holy Trinity Friary, Cork
Place of burial: Cemetery, Capuchin Friary, Rochestown, County Cork.

From the ‘Necrology of the Western American Province’ (2005):

Cornelius Reardon was born in Cork on 2 February 1916. His early education was with the Christian Brothers’ schools in Cork (Sullivans’ Quay and North Monastery). He completed his studies at the Capuchin Franciscan College in Rochestown, County Cork (1915-6). On 17 September 1916 he was received as a novice in the Capuchin Order, taking Xavier as his religious name. The following year, after making his simple profession, he began philosophy studies in University College Cork. He returned to Rochestown to undertake theological studies. He was ordained to the priesthood at Holy Trinity Church in Cork on 29 June 1925. His first assignment was teaching in Rochestown College (1925-6). He then served in three communities in Ireland (Kilkenny, 1929-30), (Rochestown, 1930-1), (Church Street, Dublin, 1931-7). In 1937 he volunteered for missionary work under Archbishop Sylvester Mulligan OFM Cap. in India. For eleven years he laboured under difficult conditions, returning to Ireland in 1948. In the early 1960s he travelled to the United States and worked at various ministries in St. Patrick’s Friary in Wilmington, Delaware. Here he conducted novenas and retreats. He also helped in supply work. In 1963 he transferred to the new novitiate at San Lorenzo in Mission Santa Inés in California. Here he acted as spiritual director to the novices. He returned to Ireland in 1967 and spent the last years of his life in Holy Trinity Friary in Cork. He died on 26 December 1986 and was buried in the cemetery attached to Rochestown Friary in Cork.