Born: 29 September 1845, County Tipperary
Entered: 08 September 1863, Manresa, Roehampton, London, England - Angliae Province (ANG)
Ordained: 21 April 1876,
Final Vows: 15 August 1879,
Died: 03 January 1933, St Stanislaus, Florissant MO, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)
Was in English Novitiate and responded to call by Fr De Smet to join his Mission in the US. Fr O’Meara joined him and a number of others travelling to New York and then on to Florissant MO, where he finished his Novitiate and began his Juniorate in September 1865.
1863-1864: Manresa, Roehampton, England (ANG), Novitiate
1864-1865: St Stanislaus, Florissant MO, USA (MIS), Novitiate
1865-1867: Xavier College, Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH, USA, Regency
1867-1870: St Louis University, St Louis Mo, USA, Philosophy
1870-1873: Xavier College, Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH, USA, Regency
1874-1876: Woodstock College, Woodstock MD, USA, Theology
1876-1879: Xavier College, Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH, USA, Teaching
1879-1880: St Ignatius College SJ, West 12th Street, Chicago IL, USA, Teaching
1880-1884: Xavier College, Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH, USA, Teaching
1884-1888: Creighton College, Omaha NE, USA, Teaching, Spiritual Father
1888-1892: St Mary’s College SJ, St Mary’s KS, USA, Teaching
1892-1894: St Louis University, Grand Avenue and Pine Street, St Louis MO, US, Teaching
1894-1895: Creighton College, Omaha NE, USA, Teaching
1895-1897: St Ignatius College SJ, West 12th Street, Chicago IL, USA, Teaching
1897-1901: Sacred Heart Church, West 19th Street, Chicago IL, USA, Curate and Spieitual Father
1901-1902: Detroit College, Jefferson Acenue, Detroit MI, USA, Minister, Teaching
1902-1908: St Ignatius College SJ, Pilsen Station, Chicago IL, USA, Curate, Librarian and Teaching
1908-1909:St Charles Borromeo Church, St Charles MO, USA, Curate and Spiritual Father
1909-1914: Xavier College, Seventh and Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH, USA, Curate
1914-1933: St Stanislaus, Florissant MO, USA (MIS), Prefect of Church then Curate and Librarian
◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 42, Number 3
Obituary
“Varia: St Louis - Golden Jubilee” p389
.......
Father James O'Meara, now at St Xavier's, Cincinnati, was equally honored with jubilee entertainments and festivities on September 8th. Father O'Meara is a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and entered the Society at Roehampton, England, while Father Alfred Weld was master of novices. He came to this country in I865 with Father DeSmet to labor as he thought among the Indians and frontiersmen.
◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 51, Number 3 p 413
Florissant: Golden Jubilee of Father James J O’Meara
On September 8th Father James J O'Meara celebrated his Diamond Jubilee in the Society. At the community Mass, which he celebrated twenty young Jesuits pronounced their first vows and thus gave promise of continuing the work which he had so long performed in the Province.
Father O’Meara belongs to that sturdy old race of Jesuits who are still active in England and in the United States. Though born in Ireland, he was educated in Stonyhurst with the two Fathers Rickaby, Father Thurston, and Father Chandlery. He spent the first year of his novitiate with them at Roehampton; then he came to the United States and had a long career as professor in the various colleges of the Missouri Province. He had come at the invitation of Father DeSmet with the expectation of working for the Indians, but his zeal had to be directed to the young Indian in the classroom. For the past eight years Father O'Meara has been at Florissant acting as spiritual father. He is still in sturdy health, and expects to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood in 1926.
◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 54, Number 3 p 313
Father O’Meara Honored at Historical Commemoration
One of the features of the commemorative program carried out by the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, on Sunday, June 14th, at Saint Ferdinand's Church, Florissant, was the unveiling by Father O'Meara of a bronze tablet commemorating the names and deeds of the pioneer missionaries who set out from this locality to the Faith from this first western shrine of the Sacred Heart to the Rocky Mountains. The honor was conferred on Father O’Meara because of his close identification with the great history which tho marker commemorates. The program of the day included a special Mass for the Knights, celebrated by Rt Rev Joseph A Murphy SJ. The usual K of C breakfast and meeting followed. In the afternoon the presentation speech was made by Mr John J Griffin. This was followed by an historical address by Father Laurence Kenny SJ. Hon Judge O'Neill Ryan followed with the laymen's address. After this a life-size Crucifixion Group, erected in Saint Ferdinand's Cemetery, by Arthur Donnelly, was blessed. Solemn Benediction in Saint Ferdinand's Church closed the very successful and impressive program.
Father·O'Meara Honored at Home
A double holiday was celebrated at Charbonniere on July 4, 1925, by the Juniors. The day was the sixtieth anniversary of the arrival of Father James J O'Meara SJ, at Florissant.
The entries in the Diarium Domus Probationis relating to this memorable event are interesting. June 21st, 1865, “Mr Chambers came from St Louis bringing word that Father De Smet had landed at New York with ten companions.
July 1st, In the morning, after spiritual reading, the Juniors and Novices went to the fields and after a few hours returned home to get ready to greet Father De Smet and his companions. A short while later they arrived, ten in number, viz, Mr Walshe, CC Murphy, Lagae, Aerts, Van Loco, Van Luyten, Van Krevel, Van Acht, De Jong and Oldenhoff. Cr O'Meara remained in St Louis for a few days, because he was slightly unwell. Mr Walshe and Cr O'Meara, a second year novice, and Cr Murphy of the first year had been obtained from the English Province. At dinner “Deo Gratias”. In the afternoon the new novices went walking with the few other novices and Mr Hogan.
July 4th, In the morning Fathers Boudreaux and Stuntebeck, Messrs Ward and Walshe, and Mr O'Meara arrive.
Father O'Meara fills in the details as follows:
After landing at New York, we proceeded to Fordham College, where, in the old theologate, we rested for a week, while Father De Smet telegraphed our arrival to headquarters, asking for a business man to guide his troop of innocents over the railroads. With four theologians of the Missouri Province we enjoyed the scenes around the city, and along the Harlem River and the big aqueduct.On Monday, the 26th, we crossed on the ferry to New Jersey, and took train to St Louis. Father James Converse had come from Chicago to guide us, and Father Buysschaert (Bushart) joined us, making a troop of fifteen. The merry songs and laughter of the foreigners attracted attention and we were taken for an opera troop. Our giant De Jong was hugging a giant bow intended for a gift to an Indian chief. The trip seemed long. We arrived at Cincinnati on Wednesday morning, and we stopped over at St Xavier College for dinner and recreation. On leaving in the afternoon it was a sight for edification to see the whole community out on the steps of the Athenaeum embracing us all.
It was Commencement Day when we arrived at St Louis University. All were invited to the hall in the evening. I enjoyed the graduating speech of the now Hon John O'Meara, after listening for an hour to a poem read by the Rev Father Fitzpatrick for the degree of Master of Arts. The greatest treat was to watch the meeting of Father De Smet and General Sherman, and to see them chatting together like old chums.
After a few days rest Father De Smet led his crowd out to the novitiate, all except me. I had been taken sick suddenly. The fatigue and excitement of so much traveling added to the summer heat of St Louis had made me feverish. The jovial Doctor Linton, who was a special friend of Father De Smet, cheered me up with his way of joking, and assured me that I would be well in a day or so. Mr Walshe came back from Florissant to visit me. We had been fellow novices for a year at Roehampton. He found me in good spirits.
So on July 4th, we took train to Ferguson. And on the way I was astonished at the crowds of people in holiday dress; I was ignorant of the feast. From Ferguson we rode in a light wagon over a dilapidated plank road to Florissant, and thence to the novitiate. Father Isidore Boudreaux received me cordially, and after a little talk in the parlor said, Now let us visit the Master of the House' and as he led the way to the chapel, my wonder ceased and I understood. That lesson of piety I never forgot.
After the visit to the chapel Father Boudreaux introduced me to the novices in their ascetory. The old novices were CC Bosche, Tracy, Calmer and Charroppin of the second year, and of the first year CC Weinman, Real, Perkin and Hugh Mageveny, the manuductor. The first four became Juniors by September, joining Joseph Rigge and Patrick McDermott of the second year. I became the seventh Junior.
At Florissant sixty years ago, the community of about fifty lived in the stone house which is still the central building in front. The stone residence had a hall at each end on every floor; in the middle were private rooms. The present type- writing room was kept for Father Provincial; it stood opposite to Father Rector's room. The ascetory of the Novices was the hall on the west end of this building on the second floor. The hall at the other end of this floor was a dormitory for the Juniors.
During the month of August the newcomer from Roehampton served his probation in the refectory. As refectorian he attended to the whole basement, except the kitchen, which was adjacent on the yard-side and now serves as wash room for the Brothers.
Father Charles Coppens had just returned from Fordham, where he had been ordained, and was beginning his long and distinguished career as professor of the Juniors. He began to collect a library of the English classics. Those seven Juniors had the honor of being his first pupils.
Father Bushart, also recently ordained, acted as Socius to the Master of Novices over fifteen scholastic and seven brother novices. Father Buschots, as pastor, attended to the Creole farmers and neighboring colored folks. Two other Fathers in the community were studying English, viz, Father Shulak from Poland and Father Gretens from Belgium.
In October the seven Juniors spent a Thursday at the Charbonniere. There was no building there; and the ground was rough and covered with a woody growth. On a hillock in one corner was a small opening like a cave. Here we built a fire and cooked our dinner.
On other days we took “recreation” in the corn-field, and sometimes in the orchard we enjoyed “dentalia”. The orchards on each side of the avenue were in prime condition; and the peaches were numerous, large and luscious. The Novices were fond of walking through the woods and over the fields, striking a piece of road now and then. The Juniors played handball against the end of the stone building, and against the window-shutters of the present clothes-room and Brothers' ascetery. That generation was in blissful ignorance of baseball, tennis or football.
◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 55, Number 2 p 305
Missouri: A Golden Jubilee
On April 21, 1926, Fr. O’Meara celebrated at Florissant the Golden Jubilee of his Priesthood. That is a rare event in the Society for obvious reasons, and it was observed with unusual joy and festivities. The Juniors offered greetings in prose and verse, letters were read from Father General and Archbishop Glennon, Father P Burke spoke in behalf of the Jubilarian’s old pupils, and the Provincial voiced the sentiments of the entire Province. Of Fr O’Meara’s many pupils, 150 have become priests, including the late ArchbishopMoeller of Cincinnati. Fifty entered the Society, and over forty have persevered.
FatherO’Meara was born Sep 29,1845, inTipperary, Ireland. He was the youngest of ten children, and lost his father at an early age. After the father’s death the family moved to Lancashire, England. Here James attended school for five years. Fr Morron SJ, took an interest in him and gave him private lessons in Latin. Later he sent him to Stonyhurst College. Here the boy developed such violent headaches that he was obliged to give up studies and return to his home. Naturally, the priest was much disappointed. The holy man was inspired to take the lad to St Winefred’s Well in Wales. There he was completely cured, and the headaches departed never to return.
On Sept. 8, 1863, he entered the Novitiate at Roehampton. He had and still has a great esteem for his Master of Novices, Fr Alfred Weld. Before the end of his Noviceship he responded to the appealof Fr Dc Smet for laborers in the American vineyard. A little group of future apostles reached Florissant in July, 1865, and James O’Meara was among the number. The following September Mr O’Meara pronounced his first vows. In November he went to Cincinnati to teach. He remained there for two years, and then he returned to St Louis for Philosophy. In 1870 he went back to Cincinnati and taught there for three years. In 1873 he went to Woodstock for Theology. He had as professors Fr Romano in Dogma and Fr Sabetti in Moral. He was ordained April 21, 1876, and hence is now fifty years a priest. Verily hath he received the length of days promised to the just.
