When the news emerged last week that Pope Francis had approved the beatification of Father John Sullivan, I knew my mother was smiling from somewhere on high. “That man will be made a saint one day,” she declared repeatedly throughout my youth. “And then we’ll all be sure of a place in Heaven.” The Jesuit priest who died in 1933 was always held in a very special esteem amongst us Daly’s, and last week’s news from the Vatican confirmed those hopes that he would one day achieve that ultimate of Catholic honours – sainthood. It has long been a legend of the family that his connection to our home at Glencar in County Kerry played a small, but pivotal, part in becoming the exceptional individual he turned out to be. Venerated for his charity work with the poor and infirm in the early 20th century, Father John, as he was known throughout his life, was also associated with a number of miraculous cures – key elements to attaining this highest religious honour. Supporters of the former Clongowes Wood College teacher, where he spent most of his life, have campaigned for his sainthood since the 1940s – a long journey begun by him being declared a Servant of God in 1960, and subsequently deemed Venerable in 2014.
Courtesy Irish Daily Mail, 10 May 2016 edition, marking the announcement that Father John Sullivan is to be beatified. Read more from this article here.
A documentary about the life of Fr John Sullivan SJ, an Irish Jesuit who lived a saintly life.
Gardiner Street parishioners’ devotion to Fr. John;
Fr. John Sullivan’s crucifix;
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