File 309 - Letters from Fr Patrick Tighe SJ to Irish Fr Provincial concerning his work in Australia and as a chaplain in the First World War

Born: 02 August 1866, Dublin City, County Dublin
Entered: 07 September 1891, St Stanisalus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 1903, Naples, Italy
Final Vows: 02 February 1908, Sacred Heart College SJ, Limerick
Died: 05 April 1920, St Mary’s, Miller St, Sydney, Australia

Early Education Christian Brothers Nth Richmond Street and Carmelite Academy, Dominic Street, then Royal University Dublin

First World War chaplain

1891-1893: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Novitiate
1893-1894: Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Rhetoric
1894-1896: Maison Saint-Augustin, rue des Augustins, Enghien, Belgium (CAMP), Philosophy
1896-1900: Mungret Coll;ege SJ, Mungret, County Limerick, Regency
1900-1904: Villa San Luigi, Posilipo, Naples, Italy (NAP), Theology
1904-1905: St David’s, Mold, Wales (FRA), Tertianship
1905-1906: Sacred Heart College SJ, Crescent, Limerick, Missioner, Curate
1906-1907: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly, Minister, Socius to Novice Master, Prefect of Church
1907-1910: Sacred Heart College SJ, Crescent, Limerick, Missioner
1910-1912: St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin, Curate, Spiritual Exercises
1912-1913: Mungret Coll;ege SJ, Mungret, County Limerick, Rector from 26/10/1912
1913-1915: St Francis Xavier, MacKenzie Street, Lavender Bay, Sydney NSW, Australia, Minister, Curate, procurator
1914-1915: Curate
1915-1916: St Mary’s, Miller Street, Syydney NSW, Australia, Curate
1916-1917: Military Chaplain - 15th Battn. A.I.F., France
1917-1920: St Mary’s, Miller Street, Syydney NSW, Australia, Curate, Catechetics in Parish School

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
After Ordination he was appointed Master of Novices for a short per, then he was transferred to Gardiner St.
Later he was appointed Rector of Mungret, but only stayed in this job for a short while due to health reasons.
He was then sent to Australia where he worked in one of the North Sydney Parishes.
He volunteered to be a Chaplain and came to Europe with Australian troops.

When he returned to Australia his health broke down and he had an operation for a malignant tumour. He dieds shortly after the operation 05/04/1920. He was much loved.

(there is also a long homily preached by Father Tighe at St Mary’s, Sydney, on the topic of Revolution and War)

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280

Patrick Tighe was educated at Belvedere College, and graduated with a BA from the Royal University, Dublin. He entered the Society at Tullabeg, 7 September 1891, was a junior
preparing for public examinations at Milltown Park, 1893-94, and studied philosophy at Enghien, Champagne. He taught for a few years, 1896-1900, at Mungret, studied theology at Posillipo, Naples, 1900-04, and did tertianship at Mold, Wales, the following year.

He was a rural missioner, and involved in parish work in Limerick, 1905-10, except for a time as socius to the master of novices at Tullabeg, 1906-07. He gave retreats, stationed at Gardiner Street, Dublin, 1910-12, and for a short time was rector of Mungret, 1912-13. Because of ill health was sent to Australia.

He worked Erst at Lavender Bay, 1913-15, and then, 1915-17, was military chaplain at the No. 1 General Hospital, Heliopolis, and latter served with the 15th Battalion AIP in France and Belgium. He returned to Australia and to the parish of North Sydney after the war.

Tighe was a remarkable speaker, preacher and retreat-giver, but had a weak chest. The latter raised speculation as to how he was accepted into the military He had been suggested as master of novices in Australia, and probably performed the duties for the first few months in 1914, but because of ill health another Jesuit was chosen.

◆ James B Stephenson SJ Menologies 1973

Father Patrick Tighe 1866-1920
Fr Patrick Tighe was born in Dublin of an old Catholic family. He received his early education at Belvedere and entered the Society in 1891.

His course complete, he was made Rector of Mungret, but he held this office only for a short period, owing to ill health. For the same reason he went to Australia where he worked in one of the Sydney parishes.

On the outbreak of the First World War he came to Europe as a Chaplain to the Australian Forces. After his return to Australia, his health broke down completely, and he was operated on for a malignant tumour. `He died shortly after the operation on April 5th 1920.

He hads ben Master of Novices in Australia for some time. He was a man who showed in all his exterior actions a spirit of deep recollection.

◆ The Crescent : Limerick Jesuit Centenary Record 1859-1959

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

Father Patrick Tighe (1866-1920)

A native of Dublin, entered the Society in 1891. He made his higher studies at Enghien and Naples where he was ordained in 1903. He was appointed a member of the mission staff at the Crescent in 1905 and remained here unti 1910. Father Tighe was later rector of Mungret for a brief period and served as chaplain with the Australian army in the first world war. His later years were spent on the Australian mission.

◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 31, Number 3

“The Scholasticate of Posilipo, Naples - A Letter from Father Patrick Tighe SJ” p471

San Luigi, Posilipo, Napoli, May 1, 1903

Rev and Dear Father, PC,

Posilipo-there is a charm in the very name - a truce to sorrow, “Begone dull care”.' It is described by the Italian poet Sanvazarro as “un pezzo di celo in terra caduto”, “a portion of Paradise fallen to earth”. Painted by artists, sung of by poets of many lands and every age, loved by the light hearted children of gay Parthenope, the sunny slopes look down upon as fair a scene as when in days of old they formed the delight of the proud masters of the Pagan world.

In the time of the Emperors, Posilipo the lovely was covered with the villas and palaces of the Roman aristocracy and hither flocked in the hot summer months these jaded epicureans, whose only thoughts, as they breathed the balmy air and viewed this fair image of the Creator's Beauty, were of luxurious living and of shameless crime.

At point of the promontory where the white waves forever beat upon the rock-bound coast, there rose, as though suspended between sea and sky, a villa of Lucullus, Plutarch and the elder Pliny speak of its magnificence and describe the marble arches, wonderfully wrought subterranean passages by which it was connected with the neighboring rocks and islets. Close by stood a still vaster summer residence of Pollio to whom Virgil's famous Fourth Eclogue is dedicated. This villa was subsequently inherited by Augustus and later on became the property of Silvius Italicus who possessed there, according to Martial “cineres laresque Maronis”. Here also Icilius, Mela and many others of lesser note lavished their wealth in adorning these sumptuous villas with costly works of art and in the construction of those huge piscinos wherein were preserved the lampreys, fattened upon human flesh to present a daintier dish to the depraved appetites of a godless people.

It was amid these romantic scenes also that the purest and grandest of the Latin poets, the sweet singer of woods and streams, composed the Georgics.

    Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat
    Parthenope, studiis florentem ignobilis ott

Doubtless, too, the glorious view of the Bay as it appears from this spot suggested to him the description of the Libyan harbor which he gives in the First book of the Aeneid. His tomb is situated in the neighborhood and bears the well known couplet composed by himself ere breathing his final sigh,-

    “Mantua me genuit ; Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
    Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces”

The name of the gentle poet lives and is in honor, while of the proud patricians who once ruled the destinies of the world nought remains but a memory, and of their greatness a few broken arches and crumbling walls washed by the waves of the tireless sea.

Such are some of the old-time memories which cling round the spot where stands at present the Theologate of the Neapolitan Province.

The situation of the house is indeed superb. Midway between Naples and the Cape of Posilipo, and half way up the vine-clad hill, it commands a delightful view of the City from the terraces and shady garden 'where the. sweet magnolia grows ' and the roses are in bloom the whole year round.

Owing to the untiring energy and zeal of Rev Fr. Provincial, to whom the Province owes a deep debt of gratitude for the good work accomplished, the Scholasticate was opened in 1898 on the Feast of the Presentation of Our Blessed Lady.

It may not be uninteresting to note that San Luigi, or as it was formerly styled “Sainte Brigitte”, was originally a Dominican monastery, having been built and endowed in the 16th century by a certain Alessandro d'Alessandro. The same generous benefactor also built the church which gave the monastery its name. This church still stands and affords to the Scholastics a splendid opportunity of exercising their missionary zeal. (1)

The house and church remained in the hands of the sons of St Dominic until the end of the rSth century, when, owing to the revolutionary upheaval which devastated the continent of Europe, the Dominicans of Posilipo shared the fate of the other religious orders and were either dispersed or driven into exile. Their convent became the property of the then existing government, by whom it was sold to a Neapolitan nobleman, who in turn transferred it to a French Baron “le compte d'Agiout”. It remained in his possession for many years and during that time was the scene of many a sanguinary duel. Being the property of a Frenchman the house was looked upon as a sort of neutral territory and thus became a most suitable rendezvous for such as wished to have the pleasure of running a rapier into the body of their whilom bosom friends.

After the French nobleman's death the former monastery became a pension or private Hotel, until at last our people stepped into possession of the house of many masters.

As may easily be conceived, a great deal of transformation was necessary to render it a suitable residence for Ours. An additional storey was added at great expense, and a splendid Library built. Corridors had to be opened out, rooms thrown down or altered, walls painted and repaired, etc. All was successfully accomplished, however, and the Scholasticate is now as comfortable internally as it is externally beautiful.

Let us see it as it now stands After an ascent of ten minutes by the steep and winding avenue leading from the main road, a large and handsome villa suddenly appears before us. The vivid whiteness of its walls is pleasantlytoned by the darker green of the “Persiane” a protection from the sun in summer time and from the winter's wind. It is the Scholasticate. Entering the open door and ascending a broad flight of snow-white marble steps we reach the entrance proper. Before us is a small garden planted with orange trees from which the ripe reel fruit now hangs, and bright with white camelias. Round this garden run four corridors, and these form the first storey of the house. On this floor, besides the domestic chapel and the long course class room, there are the workshops and linen room, together with six bedrooms facing the sea. Turning to the right and ascending another marble staircase we find ourselves on the second landing. As below, four lofty corridors with twenty-four bedrooms opening off them and all looking out upon the sea or garden. This landing also contains the short course class room, community recreation room, and refectory - a snlendid room looking out upon the Bay. The third storey - the one added four years ago, is the best of the three. Broad, bright and lofty corridors, and large cheery rooms are the order of the day. In addition to twenty-four bedrooms it contains the house library, the largest and best room in the house, being 34 feet long by 21 broad and 18 feet high. This Library already contains some twenty thousand volumes, thanks in great measure to the late lamented Cardinal Mazzella to whom the house and Province are much indebted for his munificence.

Though we are already on the topmost landing, I would ask my reader, if not tired of these details, to mount even still higher - even onto the roof itself. Is it not splendid? - the asphalt terraces stretching right and left, to and fro, affording a delightful promenade in the early morning when a whiff of the ozone comes mingled with the mountain breeze, or on a moonlight night when one seems to look upon a scene from fairy-land. What a magnificent panorama spreads before us! Some five hundred feet below and so close that one might cast a stone into it from where we stand, lies the lovely Bay its clear waters assuming a thousand different hues as the sunbeams play upon them, and reflecting in their placid depths the white sails of the fisher craft which are lazily 'seeking their haven under the hill. To the left we get a glorious view of “dolce Napoli” in calm repose beside the blue waters. Skirting the sea the celebrated Riviera di Chiaia sweeps in a circle from Mergellina to the island castle “dell’Ovo” - an historic fortress built in the 12th century upon the site of another still more ancient.

The palatial residences which border the lovely drive seem to float upon the very waters. Behind and up to the summit of the hill guarded by the time-worn Castle of St Elmo, rise tier over tier the houses of the city bright and beautiful, and from out their midst many a church spire or lofty dome to remind us that we are in a Catholic land, while here and there a clump of green trees form a pleasing contrast to the prevailing red, white or grey of the buildings. Away in the dim distance, forming a fitting background to the fair scene, we descry the bare bleak peaks of the Apenines. As we follow the trend of the sea shore, art combines with nature to enhance the beauty of the scene. By the sea appear among others, the pretty towns of Portici and Resina, beneath which Herculaneum lies buried, Torre del Greco and Torre Annunziata; over the wooded slopes, and on the mountain side handsome and charmingly situated villas are scattered, while above all towers the sentinel of this enchanted land, Vesuvius, whose smoke-wreathed crest and purple summit add new beauty to the exquisite scene which lies at its feet. In front of us and on the far side of the Bay the romantic peninsula of Sorrento runs tapering to the sea, a succession of mountain peaks and smiling valleys. hamlets on the high hills, seaside resorts by the water's edge. To the right lies the historic island of Capri “a gem set in the silver sea” - recalling memories of who had a network of palaces built on its rocky heights, and who passed years there spending his leisure hours in feeding his “sacred” snakes and devising crimes of unutterable cruelty. Lastly we cannot but admire the ever verdant slopes of Posilipo, where magnificent villas lie half hidden among the pine or eucalyptus trees, or stand out in bold relief above the trailing vines. Having spoken so much of our practical surroundings, a few words as to the prose of our daily routine may not be out of place.

We rise at 5 o'clock in the morning winter and summer, vacation and work days, and retire at 10 o'clock pm, thus giving the traditional seven hours to “nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep”.

Class hours are arranged as follows : -
8.15 Morning Dogma.
9.15-9.45 Ecclesiastical History. (1st year.)
Hebrew. (2nd year.)
10.30-11 Mon Wed and Fri, Canon Law. (3rd and 4th years.)
11-11.45 Mon Tues Wed Fri, Holy Scripture. (3rd and 4th years.)
10.45-11.55 Mon Wed Fri Saturday, Moral Theol (1st and 2nd years.)

    Evening Dogma varies from 3pm in winter to 6pm in summer.
    Circles, Mond (1) Wed (1) Saturday (2), Total 4·
    Casus, on Tuesday evenings.
    There are two Menstruals held during the Scholastic year.
    Authors and Order of Course:-
    1902-3  Morning - De Deo Uno et Trino-Piccirelli.
        Evening - De Sacramentis-Prenitentia, Matr, Extr Unct, Ord - De Augustinis.
    1903-4  Morning - De Virtitubus Infusis - Mazzella
        Evening - De Religione et De Ecclesia - Mazzella.
    1904-5  Morning - De Deo Creatore - Mazzella.
        Evening - De Sacr in Genere, Bapt, Conf, Euch - De Augustinis.
    1905-6  Morning - De Verbo Incarnato - Wirceburgenses.
        Evening - De Gratia - Mazzella.

Professors :-

Morning Dogma - Fr Piccirelli - whose deep and most erudite book we are following this year, and with whom we are soaring mid metaphysical heights from which we look dizzily down on all mere mundane affairs.
Evening Dogma -Fr Starace
Moral - Fr Tunnnolo.
H Script - Frs Minasi and Jovino.
Canon Law - Fr Savarese
Ecclesiast History - Fr Minasi
Hebrew - Fr Jovino
The short course is ably looked after by Fr. Tramontano.

Ourselves:-
The theologians number 31 in all - sixteen of the Sicilian Province, twelve of the Neapolitan, one from the Roman, while two Irishmen complete the happy family. Of the Neapolitan Province three who are attached to the New Mexican Mission, and have already spent several years in the Western Hemisphere, insist upon being styled American Citizens. Nor do they allow the fair fame of the great Republic to suffer at their hands. They assure us, for instance, that if we only possessed a little of the American enterprise in this country, the B a y - which is ten miles across - would long ago have been bridged over. Neither can they understand how it is that the Neapolitans have not already devised some process by which one could daily enjoy an eruption of Vesuvius by the mere pressing of an electric button. According to the same reliable authorities, the smallest American cruiser which enters our waters could blow all Naples into the sea by a mere puff from one of its cannons, etc. Truth to tell they are a splendid trio and we shall miss them sadly when they go.

Our Vacations:-
A word as to our villa days and I conclude. We have the customary Vigna on Thursdays, but other vacation days are rare, probably indeed fewer than in any other Theologate in the Society. When they do come, however, we have every opportunity for thoroughly enjoying them.

One may enter the City and visit its many interesting monuments and Churches, or find a never-ending source of instruction and amusement in studying the strange customs and bizarre character of the liveliest, merriest, noisiest, most happy-go-lucky people in Europe. If the country is preferred there are spots to be visited where every rood of ground is associated with a bye-gone time and people. Pozzuoli, Puteoli of the Acts of the Apostles, where St. Paul landed on his way to the Capital of the Pagan world to die for the Lord he loved so well; Baia whence the Roman Fleet so often sailed in search of spoil and conquest; Miseno with its harbor erected by Augustus to defend the lower Tyrrhenean sea. Further afield the ploughshare turns the soil whereon stood the ancient and historic city of Cuma. A ruined amphitheatre alone remains to mark the spot where a powerful people lived and ruled what time Rome was still a wilderness. Close by lies Avernus, “that lake whose aloomy shore skylark never warbled o'er”, lone and solitary amid the surrounding hills, a fitting spot for the abode of the celebrated Sibyl of Cuma, whose mystic cave with its hundred entrances may still be visited. Ruined temples, palaces and amphitheatres abound in the neighborhood, truly typifying in their desolation and ruin, the false religion and lost people of whom they are the sad records.

I have endeavored in a chatty way to give some idea of the Scholastic's life here, trusting it may interest some readers of the Letters. If asked to sum up all in a few to my opinion of the Scholasticate I should say - Position beautiful, climate mild and healthy, community a splendid one, full of fun and genuine charity; food - “macaronic”; studies, well, we are at them from morn to night and are probably able to get more work out of the human machine here than in any other part of the world.

May we not conclude with a fervent prayer that for many and many a year to come, the Scholasticate of Posilipo may send forth earnest laborers to the vineyard of the Lord - saints and scholars, true ]esuits whose only aim on earth shall be to perform well the one work worth living for - to win souls to Jesus Christ?

Patrick F Tighe SJ

(1) Posilipo has bcnetited very much from a spiritual point of view by the arrival of Ours. Not only in our own Church, hut nlso in several in the neighborhood the Theologians are engaged in the unpretentious hut most useful work of teaching catechism and giving catechetical instructions to large numbers of children, many of them being of a larger growth. Our Fathers have also given several missions in the neighborhood while an ever increasing number of confessions has to be recorded. All this, however, presenting no point of special interest we give no details of the modest work done.