Subfonds 176 - Fr John J Hannon SJ

Born: 24 May 1884, William Street, Limerick City, County Limerick
Entered: 07 September 1900, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 31 July 1915, Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin
Final Vows: 02 February 1918, St Mary’s College, Ore Place, Hastings, Sussex, England
Died: 18 July 1947, Curia Generalizia Compagnia di Gesù, Borgo Santo Spirito, Rome, Italy

Father died July 1891 was a shopkeeper. Mother remarried a chemist. Two sisters and five brothers.

Educated at Coláiste Mhicil, Roxburgh Road, Limerick, then at a boarding school in Mountrath and then Crescent College SJ

Father General's English Assistant - 1946

1900-1902: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Novitiate
1902-1903: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Rhetoric
1903-1906: Kasteel Gemert, Gemert, Netherlands (TOLO) Philosophy
1906-1907: St Aloysius College SJ, Milson’s Point, Sydney NSW, Australia, Regency
1907-1912: St Ignatius College SJ, Riverview, Cove Lane, Sydney NSW, Australia, Regency
1912-1913: Jesuitenkolleg, Universitätstrasse, Innsbruck, Austria (ASR), Theology
1913-1916: Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Theology
1916-1917: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Tertianhip
1917-1918: St Mary’s College, Ore Place, Hastings, Sussex, England (LUGD), forther Theology studies
1918-1946: Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Teaching Theology
1924-1930: Rector from 25/04/1924 to 22/10/1930, Teaching at Milltown and UCD
1930-1938: Teaching Theology at Milltown and UCD; Province Consultor from 11/07/1931
1938-1946: Visitatir to Christian Brothers in Ireland
1946-1947: Curia General, Borgo Santo Spirito, Roma, English Assistant to Father General

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280
]ohn Hannon entered the Society as a highly talented sixteen year old, and after novitiate and one year juniorate, studied philosophy at Gemert in 1903. At the end of 1906 he was sent to Australia, and spent part of 1906 and 1907 teaching at St Aloysius' College. For the remainder of 1907 until 1912 he taught at Riverview, and in a reflection of his ability he was senior rowing master, 1911-12.
He returned to Milltown Park for theology and after ordination and tertianship he took final vows at the start of 1918 and began teaching theology, which was his basic life's work. He was rector of the theologate at Milltown Park, and in the late 1930s was apostolic visitor for the Irish Christian Brothers throughout the world. He became the English assistant in Rome and he died in office in 1947.

◆ Fr Francis Finegan : Admissions 1859-1948 - English Assistant 23 September 1946

◆ Irish Province News 21st Year No 4 1946
Milltown Park :
On hearing of Fr. Hannon's appointment as Assistant, Fr. Rector sent a telegram of congratulation on behalf of Milltown Park. Fr, Hannon has been stationed here for a great many years. He was Professor of Philosophy and Theology and was Rector from 1924 to 1930.

Sacred Heart, Crescent, Limerick :
Fr. Rector sent a telegram of congratulation to Fr. Hannon, a past pupil of the Crescent College, on his appointment as Assistant.
Irish Province News 22nd Year No 3 1947

◆ Irish Province News 22nd Year No 3 1947

GENERAL :
The sudden death of V. Rev. Fr. John J. Hannon, Assistant, on the morning of July 18th as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage came as a great shock to the Province, R.I.P. An account of his career appears below. Fr. Provincial sent immediately a message of sympathy to his Paternity in the name of the Irish Province. .
In his telegram announcing Fr. Hannon's death, Fr. General re called to Rome Fr. Van den Brempt, the Substitute Secretary for the English Assistancy, who came to Dublin on July 14th to perfect his English, and went on the Juniors' Villa at Balbriggan the following day. Fr. Van den Brempt left Dunlaoghaire for Holyhead on the night of Sunday, July 20th.

Obituary :

Fr. John Hannon (1884-1900-1947)

Fr. John J. Hannon, English Assistant, died suddenly in Rome, in the early hours of 18th July, as a result of an attack of cerebral hemorr hage. He failed to appear for his Mass at 6.30 a.m. that morning, and was also missed at breakfast. On entering his room shortly after 7 o'clock, Fr. Henry Nolan found him dead in bed, death having supervened some hours previously. The Superior of the Curia, Fr. Martin, the Italian Assistant administered conditional Extreme Unction. Fr. Hannon had been his usual self the evening previously, and had attended to various items of business, including the purchase of a ticket to Malta where he was due to give retreats in early September. He had been, it is true, under medical care for his heart, and was on a diet for some months previously, but few realised the end was so near, though he himself had given various hints that he did not expect to live long. The funeral obsequies took place on Saturday, 19th July after Mass in the chapel of the Curia, which was offered by His Paternity, who also said the last prayers in the Cemetery at Agro Verano, where Fr. Hannon's mortal remains await the resurrection.

Fr. Hannon was born in Limerick on 24th May, 1884 and went to school to the Christian Brothers and later to our College, the Crescent. He entered Tullabeg as a novice on 7th September, 1900, where he also studied rhetoric for a year as a Junior before being sent to Gemert in Holland for his philosophy. It was here that he began to show that special aptitude for scholastic studies to which many years of his later life were to be dedicated. He shone in a class of brilliant students, in the French house, which included men of the stamp of D'Herbigny.
The six years of his magisterium in the Colleges he spent in Australia, at St. Aloysius' and St. Ignatius', Riverview, and was for the final year Prefect of studies at Riverview. He returned to Ireland in 1912 and was sent to Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol for his theological studies, which he completed at Milltown Park, Dublin, where he was ordained on 31st July, 1915 by Dr. Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. He made his tertianship during the year 1916-7 under Fr. Ignatius Gartlan at Tullabeg, and was then chosen for a biennium in preparation for a chair in dogmatic Theology in Milltown, going to Ore Place, Hastings in the autumn of 1917. He was professed of the four Vows there on 2nd February, 1918. His biennium had to be interrupted when the new Philosophate was opened at Milltown, to accommodate our scholastics who had, owing to the threat of conscription, to be withdrawn from Jersey and Stonyhurst. Fr. Hannon was one of the professors, and continued teaching philosophy for the next six years. During Fr. Peter Finlay's absence in Rome as one of the Province delegates at the 27th General Congregation in 1923, Fr. Hannon had his first opportunity as a professor of theology, and those who attended these first classes will retain a pleasurable memory of his gift of clear exposition, his youthful enthusiasm for the subject treated, his delightful fluency in Latin. In 1924 he joined the permanent staff of theological professors and was also appointed Rector of Milltown, whose destinies he guided till 1930. During this period he did much to improve the status of the studies and the material development of the House. The Chapel was the object of his special predilection, thanks to the generosity of benefactors he was able to carry out a scheme of decoration which transformed its appearance and to instal a new tabernacle set in priceless jewels. Fr. Hannon succeeded Fr. Peter Finlay in the public chair of dognatic Theology in the National University in 1924, a post he held for ten years. Once a Week during each term of the academic year he lectured to an over flowing and enthusiastic audience, chiefly from the student body of University College, Dublin, for whom he worked exceedingly hard in making available to them in the columns of “The Irish Catholic”, the weekly lecture in full. A new feature of this professorsbip consisted in written examinations in the matter treated each year, with the offering of substantial money prizes for successful candidates. To an enquiry as to the attendance which these lectures attracted, the College porter once replied: “Why, it's like a Mission”!

Fr. Hannon was. Consultor of the Province from 1931 to 1938, when he was appointed to a post which made it impossible for him to continue in that capacity, we refer to the task confided to him by the Holy See as Apostolic Visitor to the Congregation of Irish Christian Brothers, shortly after the termination of the 28th General Congregation, at which he again represented the Province. In the discharge of his new responsibilities he bad to visit practically every land of the English speaking world. From these extensive travels he gleaned, incidentally, an immense experience of men and things, and first-hand information on questions of Catholic interest, especially the extent and influence of Irish Catholic penetration abroad which impressed him profoundly and was the frequent theme of his conversation and of the eloquent public lectures he delivered later to so many different audiences.

During the war Fr. Hannon bad occasion to visit Rome in connection with visitation matters. During his stay he was entrusted by the Holy Father with the task of visiting prisoners-of-war camps in Italy and giving retreats to Catholic officers and men from various English-speaking countries detained there. We can imagine the comfort which the genial presence of this special representative of the Holy Father brought the prisoners, not a few of whom he had already met when in Australia as a scholastic or whose people were personally known to him. Fr. Hannon went again to Rome as Province elector at the 29th General Congregation which chose Fr. Janssens as General. He himself was elected Assistant to the English Assistancy on 22nd Sep tember, 1946, the second in the bistory of our Province to be chosen to that post of responsibility, the first being Fr. John Ffrench, a Co. Galway man, who died in the Professed House, Rome, in 1873.

Fr. Hannon was scarcely 10 months Assistant, and of these ten months he spent about two outside Rome, on the occasion of his short visit to the Irish and English Provinces in January and February of the present year. A stranger hitherto to the latter Province he made a deep impression on its members by his affability, his wide experience and dexterity in the management of affairs. They and we were looking forward to the possession for many years to come, of such a kindly and influential ‘friend at court’, a wise and prudent counsellor, but God decided otherwise, and called him away suddenly in the midst of his unselfish labours.

The late Assistant was a man of deep unobtrusive piety, of a simplicity and naturalness which were the key to the ascendancy which he so readily won over hearts. He had, to help him, that precious talent of remembering names and faces and could, it may be said without exagger ation, resume again, after the lapse of years, threads of conversation where they had broken off, so retentive a memory he had for people's individual interests, those little joys and sorrows of others which never failed to find a sympathetic echo in his own affectionate heart. Homo sum - humani nihil a me alienum puto could truly, and in the best sense of the phrase of Terence be said of him.

His exceptionally clear analytic mind was paired with ripeness of judgment and practical common sense, gifts these which rendered him such an invaluable counsellor in Curia circles. But, for those who knew Fr. Hannon best, the outstanding gift to him from Heaven was that conspicuus splendor caritatis with which his least word or action was instinct, in whose genial glow hearts were fired, or the mists of prejudice and misunderstanding melted away. R.I.P.

Letter from Fr. J. A. MacSeumais, Air Force Chaplain, 25-7-47 :
“I learned only to-day from the English Province Chaplains' Weekly of the death of Fr. Hannon. R.I.P. I was deeply shocked to hear of it. I saw him for the last time on Tuesday, July 8th, when I said good bye to him as I was leaving Rome that night. . I met Fr. Hannon within a short time of my arrival in Rome on July 3rd. He had written to me previously and informed me of the very full arrangements he had made for me if I came down for the canonisation ceremonies of SS. John de Britto and Bernardino Realino. When I met him on arrival he was most kind and put me in the hands of Fr. Henry Nolan. I saw him every day during my stay at the Curia. He was always enquiring about how I was getting on, suggesting I should see such a place, and he went to great trouble to get me a seat in the tribune for the canonisation for Saints Elizabeth des Anges and Michael Garicoits on July 6th. He was finding the intense heat very trying. He took recreation with Fr. O'Donnell, the American Substitute, and myself on the roof several nights, but be used to retire early, because, he said, he could not sleep in the mornings and had to try to make up some sleep at night. I think he was very glad to see somebody from the Province. His Italian was not perfect, and he probably welcomed a chance of speaking to one of his fellow countrymen. May he rest in peace”.

◆ Irish Jesuit Directory 1948

The Death of Father John Hannon
July 18th, 1947

Father Hannon is one of three Irish Jesuits who died in Rome since the Restoration of the Society in 1814. Our first Irish Provincial, Fr. Peter Kenney, died while attending a Congregation in 1841, and is buried in the Gesù. Fr. John Ffrench, who was the first English Assistant, died in 1873.

For a few months before his death, Fr. Hannon fre quently spoke about “ending his days in Rome”. Sometimes the idea was clearly expressed; at other times, it was not more than a hint. His laugh had become less hearty and rarer, but there was no lessening of his reputation as a “ray of sunshine” in the Curia, and of his geniality there was no doubt.

The departure for Ireland of most of the “colony” at the beginning of summer seemed to leave him somewhat depressed, although he showed little enthusiasm for the trip he was to make to Malta to visit the little Vice-Province which had recently been included in the English Assistancy : he was definitely a tired man. But it is easy to go back now and see symptoms of his decline where at the time we noticed little more than indisposition.

The day before his death, he was normal and bright as ever. When, in the afternoon, I went along to do some work for him - he had let his Substitute away for the summer to study English, and often called on me for odd jobs - I found him quite normal. During the three quarters of an hour that I spent with him, he spoke of the Province and the Mission, the Irish colony in Rome and all the other little things with which we were accustomed to intersperse our periods of work together. He commissioned me to get some Canonisation photos for a Jesuit in Australia, and to pass on to some Irish Sisters in Rome a parcel of foodstuffs with which he had been presented. As I was leaving him, he showed me the money which he had just got to pay for his fare to Malta: he was to buy the ticket later that evening.

At seven o'clock next day, there was a gentle tap on my door. It was the brother who lived next to Fr. Hannon : when he had waited some time for him to come down for Mass, he had a premonition that something was wrong, and on going to his room, he could get no reply. Together with the brother infirmarian we entered Fr. Hannon's room, and found him lying on his left side, as if in a deep sleep. There was no sign of any disturbance or struggle; he looked peaceful and calm, and must have died in his sleep. I gave him conditional absolution. The Superior of the House had meanwhile arrived with the Holy Oils, and in the presence of Fr. General and some of the Assistants anointed him. .

It would be quite impossible to describe in any conventional words the sense of shock and genuine mourning which Fr. Hannon's sudden death caused in the Curia and in the Irish colony in Rome. Although it was mid-summer, we had representatives of all the English-speaking Colleges at the simple requiem Mass next day, and the State was there in the person of the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, the Minister to the Quirinal, and the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, who happened to be in Rome at the time.

At the funeral next day, Fr. General said the prayers over his great friend, whose sterling qualities he had so much appreciated, whose cheerful presence he would miss.

(Father John Hannon was born in Limerick on 24th May, 1884, entered the Society of Jesus on 7th September, 1900. He was ordained in 1915 and after special studies taught theology in Milltown Park, where he was Rector for six years, He was also Professor of theology in the National University. In 1938 he was appointed Apostolic visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers and in 1946 English Assistant.)
Henry Nolan SJ

◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 76, Number 3 p 273

Obituary

“Father John Hannon SJ, 1884-1946 - Late English Assistant”

Born in the city of Limerick on May 24, 1884, Father Hannon was educated in Limerick. Having spent some years with the Irish Christian Brothers he became a pupil of our Fathers at the Sacred Heart College in the same city. Many years later, when Father Hannon had been appointed by the Holy See as Visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers throughout the world, he was able to recall these early years in the first letter which he addressed to their Congregation, and to assure them of his lasting ,gratitude for the help they had given him as a young boy.

John Hannon entered the Irish novitiate at Tullabeg on September 7, 1900, where he also spent one year as a junior. He then went to the College of the French Fathers at Gemert in Holland for his three years philosophy. It was here that he first began to show his remarkable aptitude for scholastic studies. From philosophy he passed to the Colleges in Australia, where he spent six full years (1906-12). He taught in Sydney, at St Aloysius' and at Riverview, and was Prefect of Studies in the latter college for the last year of his stay in Australia. Returning to Europe in 1912, he was sent to Innsbruck for the first year of theology, but came back to his own Province for the last three years of the course. He was ordained at Milltown Park on St Ignatius Day, 1915.

During the year 1916-17 Father Hannon made his tertianship under the guidance of Father Ignatius Gartlan, who acted as Instructor to so many Fathers of the English and Irish Provinces from 1911 onwards. He was then chosen for a biennium in preparation for a chair of Dogmatic Theology in Milltown Park. He went to the French house of studies at Ore Place, Hastings, in the autumn of 1917; but his biennium was interrupted by the threat of conscription, which brought about the sudden withdrawal of all Irish students from the Seminary at Stonyhurst. Father Hannon was one of the three Fathers appointed to open a new Philosophate at Milltown Park in 1918; he had been professed of the four vows at Ore Place on the Feast of the Purification of that year. For the next six years he taught philosophy in Milltown Park; and was given his first opportunity of teaching dogmatic theology when Father Peter Finlay was sent to Rome as one of the Irish delegates to the 27th General Congregation in 1923. Those who were present at those first classes remember very vividly the exceptional gift for clear exposition, combined with an easy fluency in Latin speech, which made Father Hannon's lectures a pleasure to hear. He became one of the permanent staff of theological professors in the autumn of 1924, being given the treatise De Ecclesia as his special subject. For the next fourteen years he taught various treatises of dogmatic theology at Milltown Park, and came into close contact with each succeeding generation of scholastics from the Irish Province and from what was then the Australian Mission.

In 1924 Father Hannon was appointed by the Irish Hierarchy to the public chair of dogmatic theology in the National University of Ireland, which had been held by Father Peter Finlay for the past ten years. The principal duty of this professorship is to give a public lecture on some theological subject once a week during each term of the academic year. Father Hannon gave these lectures for ten years, and was notably successful in his appeal to the young student body of University College, Dublin. His first course of lectures dealt with the Church; others with the Incarnation and Eucharist; a porter of the College, when asked what sort of attendance Father Hannon was attracting, replied at once: “Why, it's like a Mission”. The large lecture-theatre was indeed full to capacity, for the lecturer was deliberately striving to make his appeal to the interests and needs of the average student.

Father Hannon was also Rector of Milltown Park from 1924 to 1930. He represented the Irish Province at the General Congregation of 1938. At the end of this first visit to Rome he was unexpectedly appointed by the Holy See to the very onerous post of Visitor General to the Congregation of Irish Christian Brothers, not merely in Ireland and England, but also in almost every land of the English-speaking world. His tour was not yet completed when the outbreak of war threw everything into confusion. For the next six years Father Hannon remained for the most part in Ireland, where he was called upon to exercise his functions as Visitor for a very much longer time than had been expected in 1939.

His great tact and charm of manner, combined with an exceptionally wide experience of life in many countries, made it possible for him to win the trust and esteem of all the Brothers during these difficult years. Not until shortly before the recent General Congregation was it possible for him to be released from this onerous task.

During the war Father Hannon paid a visit to Rome on matters connected with his visitation; and he was then requested by the Holy Father to visit the various camps in which English prisoners of war were detained throughout Italy. His visit was a priestly mission as well as an errand of mercy.

Father Hannon went again to Rome as Elector of the Irish Province last autumn. He was elected English Assistant on September 22, 1946. He died in Rome on June 18, 1947. RIP

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973
John Hannon 1884-1947
Fr John Hannon was one of the best known members of the Province in Ireland and abroad among both laymen and clerics, and was the second Irishman to hold the responsible post of Assistant to the General.

He was a Limerick man born in that city on May 24th 1884. Educated at the Crescent, he entered the Society in 1900. After his ordination in 1915, he became Professor of Theology at Milltown Park and lectured also in Theology at University College Dublin. After being Rector of Milltown Park for six years he was appointed by the Holy See as Apostolic Visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers throughout the world in 1938.

In 1946 he attended the 29th General Congregation as a delegate of the Irish province. There he was chosen as English Assistant. His term of office was, alas, only too short, for he died suddenly in Rome the following year on July 18th 1947.

He was a man of very handsome appearance, of great charm of manner, accompanied by great gifts of mind, an unusual combination which he used for the glory of God and the advancement of religion. He was much in demand for priests retreats and had a very fruitful apostolate among the sick in hospitals. To him we owe the present beautiful chapel at Milltown Park.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

Bonum Certamen ... A Biographical Index of Former Members of the Limerick Jesuit Commnnity

Father John Hannon (1884-1947)

In the foregoing pages, only Jesuits who have been members of the Limerick community have been noticed in the biographical index. Yet, this centenary publication would not be complete if it did not assign a notice to two Irish Jesuits who were never members of the community. Father Edmund O'Reilly undoubtedly had much to do with the restoration of the Society in Limerick, while Father John Hannon, an Old Crescent boy, became the second Irish Father Assistant at Rome in the four centuries history of the Society.

Father John Hannon (1884-1947), a native of Limerick, received his early education with the Christian Brothers and at Sacred Heart College. He was admitted to the Society in 1900. After his classical studies he was sent to Belgium for philosophy and later spent his regency in Australia. His theological studies were made at Innsbruck and Milltown Park where he was ordained in 1915. At the end of his tertianship he continued his studies in theology in preparation for a chair at Milltown Park. For some years after his return to Ireland he taught philosophy. From 1924 to 1934 he occupied the public chair of dogmatic theology at University College, Dublin, while a member of the theological faculty at Milltown Park. In 1938, he was appointed Apostolic Visitor to the Irish Christian Brothers. His studies in this important post brought him to all parts of the world where the Christian Brothers have established themselves. At the end of the war, on the occasion of a General Congregation of the Society in Rome, Father Hannon was elected to the important post of Assistant for Ireland, England, Canada and Belgium (with dependent missions). He died suddenly in Rome some ten months later on 18 July, 1947.