Moynihan, John, 1843-1872, Jesuit scholastic of the Missourianae Province

Person

Moynihan, John, 1843-1872, Jesuit scholastic of the Missourianae Province

15 August 1643-29 October 1872

Born: 15 August 1843, Millstreet, County Cork
Entered: 2 June 1861, St Stanislaus College, Florissant MO, USA - Missourianae Province (MIS)
Died: 29 October 1872, St Louis College, St Louis, MO, USA

1861-1865: St Stanislaus College, Florissant MO, USA (MIS), Novitiate then Rhetoric
1865-1868: Xavier College, Cincinnati OH, USA, Regency
1868-1869: St Gall’s Church, Milwaukee WI, USA, Regency in local school
1869-1870: Woodstock College, Woodstock MD, USA, Philosophy

◆ Woodstock Letters SJ : Vol 2, Number 1

“Death of Mr John Moynihan SJ” p 80-81

The allusion contained in the closing lines of the foregoing letter is to the sudden death of one of our Scholastics, Mr John Moynihan, who died at St Louis University, on the 19th of October last.

We do not hope to add to the affectionate regard in which Mr Moynihan was held by all who knew him. We mean simply to lay our own humble tribute upon our brother's grave, for the years which he spent with us are so lately gone, and the memory of them is so fresh and green, that it is a pleasant and a beautiful task to weave the offering. A short time ago he bade us farewell with high hope and holy resolution, and we felt sure that he was going forth only to enter upon a career in which virtue and talent would win for him the crown of success. A few weeks later, and we received the news that he was on the point of death; but galloping consumption bore him away so rapidly that the grave had closed over him before his brethren at Woodstock had thus learned that he was even ill. He was confined to his room only three days; and the calm, holy, and beautiful death which he died, was but a reflex of his lifetime. One of his companions writes to us: “I was with him the evening before he died, when he made me read the points of meditation for him, and asked me to come again in the morning. When I went to him on the following day, I found him exceedingly low, yet hoping to recover. Still he then talked to me of the good chance he had of dying in the Society. I visited him frequently during the day, and found him at all times very fervent, eager to suffer and pray. He remained this way till about an hour before his death, an:d breathed his last, sitting in his chair with his habit on, while his brethren were reciting the prayers for his departing soul”. What a beautiful close to his innocent, peaceful life! What a mild, sweet twilight after the day of sunshine!

Mr Moynihan had taught four years before commencing the study of philosophy, and after finishing the first course of this science in Woodstock, had just returned to his province for college duty again, when he was called away to the better life. During the three years which he spent with us he was remarkable for his religious observance and for his close application to study. His course of philosophy was successful in the extreme. He found in it full play for the natural bent of his mind, and the pleasure which he took in it, together with the encouragement which marked success must necessarily bring about, served to strengthen the more his prime and principal motive for diligence-sense of duty. Nor did the efforts which he made after the acquisition of learning fail him in the end. His brilliant examination “De Universa” was the admiration of the Faculty, and the praises heaped upon it, though an unsought, were yet a merited reward.

But if our brother was persevering in the pursuit of knowledge, he was equally so in the observance of our religious duties. Nature had given him a simple, unobtrusive manner, and his good, warm heart was full of affection. Sensitive and timid himself, he could not easily fail in due regard for the feelings of his companions. He would not hear them blamed even in jest, and if the accused happened to be of his own delicate sensitiveness, and most of all, if he made no retort, the sympathy of mutual feeling was immdiately awakened, and Mr Moynihan ready to take his part. This was so noticeable in him that his companions, in their. various games, sought opportunities of censure, simply to admire his readiness to shield the imaginary victim. Moreover he was so humble and so ready to yield to others the better part. Only a short time before he left us,