Born: 22 July 1920, County View Terrace, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1937, St Mary's, Emo, County Laois
Ordained: 31 July 1952, Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1978, Mazabuka, Seminary, Choma, Zambia
Died: 26 October 2004, Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park, Dublin - Zambia-Malawi province (ZAM)
Part of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Chikuni, Monze, Zambia community at the time of death.
Transcribed HIB to ZAM : 01 December 1977
Father, Henry, was a builder. and Mother was Bridget (McCarthy)
Eldest of three boys with six sisters.
Early education was at a National School in Limerick and then at Crescent College SJ.
1937-1939: St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois, Novitiate
1939-1942: Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, Juniorate, UCD (Arts)
1942-1945: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Philosophy
1945-1948: Belvedere College SJ, Great Denmark Street, Dublin, Regency
1948-1949: Sacred Heart College SJ, Crescent, Limerick, Regency
1949-1953: Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Theology
1953-1954: Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, Tertianship
1954-1960: Gonzaga College SJ, Ranelagh, Dublin, Teaching
1960-1961: Sacred Heart College SJ, Crescent, Limerick, Teaching
1961-1966: Mungret College SJ, Mungret, County Limerick, Teaching
1966-1972: Sacred Heart College SJ, Crescent, Limerick, Curate
1973-1982: Catholic Church, Namwala, Zambia (ZAM), Curate (ZAM from 1977)
1975-1982: Superior, Parish, Priest
1982-1994: St Paul’s Parish, Nakambala, Zambia, Curate, Curate
1983-1985: Superior
1985-1994: Superior, Parish Priest
1994-2004: Church of the Immaculate Conception, Chikuni, Monze, Zambia, Curate
2003-2004: Cherryfield Lodge, Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Caring for health
◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - Brother of Henry (Harry) Leahy - LEFT 10 January 1944 for medical reasons
◆ Companions in Mission 1880- Zambia-Malawi (ZAM) Obituaries :
To look at Fr Maurice, a rather frail figure, one would not imagine that he was a fine rugby player on the school team during his schooldays at the Crescent College, Limerick. In a way, Maurice was a Limerick man through and through. He was born there on 22 July 1920, grew up there and went to school there. He was a bright student coming top of his class year by year and winning many prizes. He was a good sportsman and athlete, playing on the school junior and senior rugby teams. With those long thin legs of his he was, not surprisingly, the Boys’ High Jump Champion of Limerick.
He joined the Society in 1937 at Emo Park, took Latin and History at University, studied philosophy at Tullabeg and went back to Limerick for regency to his old school. After ordination at Milltown Park, Dublin, in 1952, he spent six years at Gonzaga College in Dublin teaching and holding the job of minister. From 1960 to 1972 he was back in Limerick, first in Crescent College teaching and then for five years at Mungret College, again teaching and vice-superior at the Apostolic School. His qualities of simplicity and outstanding patience and kindness must have made teaching rather a trial.
1966 seems to have been a turning point in his life as regards work. He moved to the Sacred Heart Church in Limerick as a pastoral worker for six years, functioning quietly and successfully. In 1972 another big change took place in his life, this time he was missioned to Zambia at the age of 52 where he spent the rest of his life at pastoral work. After his ordination he had asked to be sent to the missions (Hong Kong) and twenty years later his wish was answered (Zambia).
To begin with, he studied ciTonga at Chikuni and then moved to Namwala (1973) as parish priest and superior there. Here he had plenty of practice at the language as he worked in the parish with all that that entailed. After nine years there he was transferred to Assumption Parish in Mazabuka for a year before moving to the Sugar Estate at Nakambala, where he worked for eleven years in the parish, ten years of these as superior and eight years as parish priest.
His younger brother Harry singles out his gentleness and simplicity. He was always kindly and thoughtful, never bad-tempered or argumentative. He really was ‘the good peaceable man’ of Thomas a Kempis. Everyone was good in Maurice’s eyes. His brother tells of his happiness during these years in Zambia. He was at home among the villagers in Namwala, the urban dwellers in Mazabuka and Nakambala, as well as the sick and feeble in Chikuni hospital. As one person put it: ‘A man of simple and quaint goodness, who had his heart in the right place’.
In 1994, Maurice now 74, moved to Chikuni again as pastoral worker. He was a very dedicated priest, a man of God and deeply spiritual. This the people recognized in their own perceptive way. He was an easy person to live with as he was so undemanding even as a superior. He became a charismatic, again in his own quiet way and became a much-sought-after giver of directed retreats.
He developed a peculiar up-down characteristic in his speech, one minute bass and the next falsetto. This affected his preaching in public but it did not interfere with his retreat giving. He was a very methodical man. The data on the outstations where he supplied were kept up to-date so that the priest who took over the outstations, when Maurice was transferred to Chikuni, had a clear picture of each of these outstations and of the people there, who were being prepared for baptism, for marriage and so on.
At the end of 2003, he was operated on in Lusaka for a colostomy and moved to John Chula House. While there the doctor remarked that Maurice had the recuperative powers of a man of 25! – Maurice was 83 years of age at the time. The doctor suggested that he return to Ireland for the next operation for a number of reasons. This Maurice did on 14 February 2004. The operation was a success. Later, while at Cherryfield Lodge, he suffered a stroke, unrelated to the operation and he died on 26 October 2004 in Dublin but he was buried in his own beloved Limerick.
Obituary
Fr Maurice Leahy (1920-2004) : Zambia Malawi Province
July 22nd 1920: Born in Limerick
Sept. 7th 1937: Entered the Society at Emo
Sept. 8th 1939: First Vows at Emo Dublin,
1945 - 1948: Belvedere - teaching, regency
1948 - 1949: Limerick, The Crescent - teaching, regency
1949 - 1953: Milltown Park - studying Theology
July 31st 1952: Ordained in Milltown Park
1953 - 1954: Rathfarnham - Tertianship
1954 - 1960: Gonzaga College, teaching, minister
1960 - 1961: Limerick, The Crescent, teaching Limerick,
1961 - 1966: Mungret, teaching, vice superior
1966 - 1972: Limerick, Sacred Heart Church, pastoral work
1973 - 1982: Namwala, parish priest, superior
Feb. 2nd 1978: Final Vows Mazabuka,
1982 - 1983: Assumption parish, pastoral work
1983 - 1994: Mazabuka, Nakambala, pastoral work,
1983 - 1993: Superior;
1985 - 1993: PP
1994 - 2004: Chikuni, pastoral work
2004: Cherryfield Lodge, Dublin
Oct. 24th 2004: Died in Cherryfield Lodge
Fr Leahy was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital in March 2004. Following surgery, he suffered a stroke, as a result of which, he lost his speech. He was admitted to Cherryfield Lodge on April 20th 2004. While he was very frail and could not communicate, he was up and about everyday and took regular walks outside. His condition deteriorated slowly and he could no longer walk or feed himself in the last few weeks. He died very peacefully in Cherryfield Lodge on October 24h. Fr Dan Dargan and the nursing staff were with him when he passed away.
John Fitzgerald writes in the ZAM Province News, Dec. '04:
Maurice was born in Limerick in 1920, second in a family of six girls and three boys. He was eleven when he began his secondary education at the Crescent College, a Jesuit school in Limerick City. There he took the leaving Certificate in 1937 and entered the Jesuit novitiate. From those years he is remembered for the qualities he displayed throughout his life. His youngest brother Harry singles out his gentleness and simplicity. He was kindly and thoughtful, never bad-tempered or argumentative. He really was "the good peaceable man" of A'Kempis. Everyone was good in Maurice's eyes and he had no enemies. All that will not surprise those who lived with him in Ireland and later in Zambia.
Each morning he cycled from his home to serve 7.30 Mass at the Crescent, returning home for breakfast and then back again for school at 9.30. He was a bright student, coming top of his class year by year and winning many prizes. He was a good sportsman and athlete playing on the school junior and senior rugby teams. With those long thin legs of his he was not surprisingly the Boys' High Jump Champion of Limerick. In the early years of the century a first cousin of his father had been an Olympic high jump champion. In Zambia Maurice was to meet Fr, Eddie O'Connor, whose father, Peter, had been Olympic Champion in the long jump.
At University Maurice continued to shine, obtaining a first in History and so outclassing his colleagues. His mother and father, his brothers and his five surviving sisters were at his ordination in 1952.
Maurice's Jesuit life was divided between Ireland and Zambia. 36 years in Dublin and Limerick followed by 31 years in Namwala, Mazabuka and Chikuni. His qualities of simplicity and outstanding patience and kindness must have made teaching rather a trial. Certainly he had set his heart on the foreign Missions and hoped to be sent to Hong Kong after his ordination. Instead he gave loyal service in Irish schools and Mungret Apostolic School for 20 years. Then in 1973 to his great joy and relief the call came at last – not to Hong Kong but to Zambia. The qualities which must have made school work in Ireland somewhat difficult were ideally suited in a pastoral context, especially in Africa. A European arriving in Zambia at the age of 53 might have been expected to have a problem of adaptation. Not so Maurice. He was so far removed from the stereotype of the somewhat harsh, short-tempered white man. He had all the qualities the Zambian most appreciated - patience, kindliness, compassion and understanding. Harry, his brother, tells of his happiness in those years. He was at home among the villagers in Namwala, the urban-dwellers in Mazabuka and Nakambala, as well as the sick and feeble in Chikuni hospital.
During those years in Zambia, as, indeed, in earlier years, Maurice was a support and often a counsellor for colleagues. One of them writes, “A man of simple and quaint goodness, who had his heart in the right place. An early riser, devoted to daily prayer, never complaining, and happy with his role in a pastoral setting. In his retreat-giving he was again simple and did not force himself on the retreatant. His ever ready smile was full of sincerity and a willingness to bring one forward. He loved his work as a shepherd of people. When you got to know him you knew he had other values than those of this world”.
Maurice leaves the enduring memory of a man of God. All who knew him felt privileged and those who lived with him counted it a grace.
