8 May is the Optional Memorial of Blessed John Sullivan. He was born in Dublin on 8 May 1861 to parents of a mixed marriage and was the youngest of five children, four boys and one girl. He was baptised in St. George’s Church of Ireland, Temple Street and was brought up in the Christian tradition of his father. His mother came from a prosperous Catholic family and his father was regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest barristers, becoming Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1883.
At the age of 11 he went to boarding school at the Royal School of Portora in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. It was here that he developed a great love for Sacred Scripture. The Sullivans had a holiday home overlooking Killiney Bay. On the 16th October 1877 John Sullivan’s brother Robert drowned in the bay along with a 17 year old girl, Constance Exham. Robert’s body was never found. This tragic event gave John Sullivan great empathy for those who suffer bereavement because his mother never fully recovered from it. After school he went to Trinity College Dublin and graduated in 1883, receiving a senior moderatorship and a gold medal in Classics. He took an active part in the social life of the capital and was once described as the best dressed young man about Dublin.
John Sullivan’s father died in 1885 and shortly afterwards he left for London, and he travelled extensively. During this period he reflected much about his future direction in life. At the age of 35 he was received into the Catholic Church at the Jesuit Church at Farm Street in London. He returned to Dublin and practiced as a barrister but changed from his former prosperous ways to a life of simplicity, visiting the poor in city slums, and the sick and the dying in the hospice at Harold’s Cross.
In 1898 his mother to whom he was deeply devoted, died peacefully, leading to him to reflect further on his future. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1900 and was ordained priest in 1907. Following his ordination, Fr. Sullivan was appointed to the teaching staff of Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school for boys in Clane, Co. Kildare, where he spent most of the rest of his life, with the exception of five years as Rector of Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin.
What is most striking about the Christian life of Blessed John Sullivan is its authenticity. For twenty-six years as a Jesuit priest he lived a profoundly simple and prayerful life. While at Clongowes Fr John had a hugely positive effect on the lives of the boys in the school. It is acknowledged that he was not a great teacher but his devotion to God and humble service in his work as teacher, spiritual father, and retreat director, is remembered. He was known to be an excellent confessor, and he would frequently cycle on an old bicycle to pray over the sick and comfort the dying of the area. He always carried a crucifix that originally belonged to his mother, which he used to bless the sick.
Blessed John Sullivan had a gift for living life in the present moment. One of his spiritual maxims was “Take life by installments and try to live it perfectly, and so go on day by day”. He was deeply committed to prayer and he said that “The short road to perfection is to keep in close contact with Jesus.” He loved to pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and he remarked that “If we only turn towards the tabernacle, God is pleased”. He also had a strong devotion to Mary and he said that the Rosary “is the greatest prayer…it works miracles. It goes straight up to God’s throne in heaven”.
The particular devotion most associated with Blessed John Sullivan is being blessed with his Cross. During a retreat, which he gave to Jesuit novices at Emo Park, Portarlington in 1930, shortly before he died, he said the Cross is “something for which we should have a personal love”. He said that we should always have a crucifix near us, to remind us of the suffering of Jesus, “that if He suffered so much, we should gladly suffer the little things that afflict us in life”. The Cross “is the badge of our salvation”, he said “because by the cross we are saved”. Fr. John died 19 February 1933. In 1960 he was declared a Servant of God. He was declared ‘Venerable’ in November 2014 and on 13 May 2017 he was declared Blessed. His tomb is enshrined at St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Gardiner Street, in Dublin.
