Blessed John Sullivan, S.J.

Life

John Sullivan was born on 8 May 1861 at 41 Eccles Street, Dublin, the youngest child of Sir Edward Sullivan, a future Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Anglican, and his Catholic wife Elizabeth Bailey. In the custom of the time he was raised in his father's Church of Ireland faith.

Educated at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and at Trinity College Dublin, he excelled in classics and was called to the Bar in 1888. Tall, elegant and known in London society for his fine tailoring, he gave little outward sign of the inner conversion that was unfolding. After visits to monasteries on the continent, including Mount Athos, he was received into the Catholic Church at Farm Street, London, on 21 December 1896.

In 1900 he entered the Society of Jesus, made his novitiate at Tullabeg and was ordained priest at Milltown Park on 28 July 1907. He was assigned to Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, where — apart from one term as rector of Rathfarnham Castle — he would remain until his death.

At Clongowes his life was one of poverty, prolonged prayer, severe penance and constant service of the sick. He cycled or walked through the countryside, often through the night, bringing the sacraments and a famous black crucifix to the dying and the ill. Numerous healings were attributed to his prayers even in his lifetime; he refused all credit.

He died at Saint Vincent's Nursing Home, Dublin, on 19 February 1933. Declared Servant of God in 1960, Venerable on 7 November 2014, his beatification cause advanced on the strength of the 1954 healing of Delia Farnham from a cancerous tumour. Pope Francis approved the miracle in 2016, and on 13 May 2017 he was beatified at Saint Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street, Dublin — the first beatification ever celebrated on Irish soil. His feast is kept on 8 May.