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John Sullivan was born on May 8, 1861, in Dublin, Ireland, last of five children. His father, Sir Edward Sullivan, was a successful barrister who would one day become the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Edward was also a Protestant, a member of the Church of Ireland. John’s mother, Elizabeth Josephine Bailey, was a Roman Catholic from a prominent family of landowners.
In those days, it was customary in mixed marriages to raise the boys in the religious tradition of their father, and to raise girls in the religious tradition of their mothers. Therefore, the four boys were raised as Protestants and baptized in the Church of Ireland, and the one girl of the family was baptized Catholic.
In 1873, John was sent to study with his brother William at the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In 1879, John went to Trinity College in Dublin where he studied classics. He did so well in his studies, that he was awarded the Gold Medal in Classics in 1885. Later, John studied for the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London.
In 1885, John’s father died and left John a large amount of money with which he was able to travel extensively throughout Europe and Asia Minor. John also lived several months in an Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos and entertained thoughts of becoming a monk himself.
Instead of becoming a monk, John continued his travels and spent some time in southern Italy after contracting smallpox. Armed with an excellent education, plenty of money, and access to the high society of his day, the world offered a wealth of possibilities to young John. Though he initially experimented with “the good life” of his social class, he decided this life was not what he sought.
On December 21, 1896, John was received into the Catholic Church by Fr. Michael Gavin, a Jesuit priest in central London. Four years later, on September 7, 1900, John entered the Jesuit novitiate at St. Stanislas College in Tullabeg, County Offaly, Ireland.
After finishing his novitiate, John studied philosophy and theology and was ordained a Jesuit priest on July 28, 1907, in Dublin. He celebrated his First Mass of Thanksgiving in the convent chapel of the Sisters of Charity at Mount St Anne’s in Milltown, a suburb of Dublin.
As a priest, Father John’s major ministry was that of teacher. His first position was at Clongowes Wood College, an all-male boarding school. From July 1919 to May 1924, John served as rector of the Juniorate and Retreat House at Rathfarnham Castle on the outskirts of Dublin. He then returned to teach at Clongowes where he served until his death in 1933.
Students knew Father John was a very special person, and many told how honored they were to have had him as one of their teachers.
But even though Father John’s main job was to teach, he had s strong attachment to the sick. He typically could be found riding his bicycle many miles to make a sick call, sometimes needing to walk to places where his bicycle could not make it. Even during his life, people saw him as someone possessing special healing graces, and many would come to him hoping his prayers and blessings would heal them or loved ones of illnesses.
He was also a frequent visitor to the Hospice of the Dying at Harold’s Cross where he loved to visit with the sick, frequently bringing them little gifts of food, clothing, drink, tobacco, and fruit.
Father John was also noted for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Workers frequently reported how he could be found in the chapel deep in prayer in the middle of the night, and on Holy Thursdays, he would spend five or six hours on his knees there.
In February 1933, Father John developed severe abdominal pains and was transferred to St. Vincent’s Nursing Home on February 17. Characteristic of him, he asked that his breviary be brought to the nursing center for him. He died on February 19, 1933, with his brother, Sir William Sullivan, at his bedside. Father John was first buried at Clongowes Wood Cemetery, but his remains were transferred to the Sacred Heart Chapel of St. Francis Xavier Church in Dublin.
Father John was beatified on May 13, 2017. Blessed John Sullivan’s feast day is May 8.
