Société des Missions Africaines –Province d'Irlande
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né le 25 juin 1895 à Leeds dans le diocèse de Leeds, Angleterre membre de la SMA le 15 novembre 1917 prêtre le 29 juin 1919 décédé le 8 avril 1958 |
1920 Cork, professeur et économe décédé à East Saint-Louis, USA, le 8 avril 1958, |
biographie en anglais à la suite)
Le père Claude TAYLOR (1895 - 1958)
A East Saint-Louis, (U.S.A.), le 8 avril 1958, retour à Dieu du père Claude Taylor, à l'âge de 63 ans.
Claude Taylor naquit dans le diocèse de Leeds (Angleterre), en 1895. Il fit ses études dans nos maisons, émit le serment en 1916 et fut ordonné prêtre en 1919. Ses supérieurs le destinèrent à l'enseignement; il était en effet d'une intelligence supérieure. Mais l'homme propose et Dieu dispose. Après un an passé à Cork comme économe du séminaire, le père Taylor partait pour l'Amérique. Missionnaire d'abord à East Saint-Louis, il devenait supérieur de Cairo en 1926.
En 1937, le père Slattery le choisit comme secrétaire général et économe général, mais le père Taylor ne tarda pas à retourner vers les Etats-Unis.
Le père Taylor était un homme de volonté, méthodique, prudent, tenace dans ce qu'il entreprenait. D'un caractère réservé, cette réserve l'a peut-être empêché de donner tout ce qu'il était capable de donner.
Father Claude Manning TAYLOR (1895 - 1958)
Claude Taylor was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, on July 25, l895. He died in St. Mary's hospital, Broadway, East St. Louis, Illinois, USA, where he had been a patient for some months, on April 8, l958.
Claude was one of three children born to Joseph Taylor of Yorkshire and Caroline Matilda (nee Hale) of Pontefract. Caroline’s father, Abraham, was a school master. Joseph Taylor was a travelling photographer which may explain how his two sons came to study in the Society’s secondary college in Cork. Mr. Taylor was the photographer who took many of the early group photographs now displayed in the headquarters of the Irish Province, at Blackrock Road, Cork. Claude followed his older brother Leo (later archbishop of Lagos) in his choice of vocation. He received his secondary education at St. Joseph's college, Wilton, Cork (1909-1914), after which he entered the Society's major seminary, at Blackrock Road. He was received as a member of the Society on November 15, 1917 and ordained a priest by Bishop John O'Gorman CSSp, vicar apostolic of Sierra Leone, in St. Joseph's church, adjoining the seminary, on June 29, 1919. Ordained with him on that day were Michael McEniry, Patrick J. O'Connell, Jim Stanley, and Thomas Conway.
Claude was never robust, indeed all through his life he had a tendency towards tuberculosis and at times the illness seemed on the point of developing. As he grew older he also suffered from a heart ailment. After ordination his superiors appointed him to teach in the Province's seminary at Blackrock Road where there were 30 students studying theology. William Butler, the Provincial, was resident at Blackrock Road at that time. Michael Collins was house superior and also taught moral theology, liturgy and homiletics. Michael McCaffrey was spiritual director and professor of pastoral theology. Claude taught sacred scripture and music. In addition to his teaching duties he acted as seminary bursar and edited the Province's journal the African Missionary. The AM was the oldest missionary magazine in Ireland, its first issue dating from January 1914. Claude edited six issue of the magazine during the course of 1920. The quality of his editorial work attracted the particular attention of a senior confrère, Peter Harrington, who was resident in Blackrock Road during 1920. Peter was despatched to the USA early in 1921 to pioneer a mission to African-Americans. Gaining admission to the diocese of Bellville in Southern Illinois, he established the Province's first American mission at East St. Louis. The parish, named after St. Augustine, served a population which was largely African-American. Shortly after his arrival in East St. Louis Peter decided to found a magazine promoting the aims of the Society in America. He applied to William Butler for Claude's services. As a result, in the summer of 1921, Claude retired from his duties in Blackrock Road and sailed from Cobh on the liner, Carmania, on August 23. On arrival he took up residence with Peter Harrington and a second priest, Cornelius Murphy, at 1400 E. Broadway, East St. Louis, where the mission was situated. For the next two years he served as editor of the new magazine, entitled The Coloured Claim. This magazine quickly proved a success, building up a good circulation. However in July 1923 Claude fell ill and was compelled to enter a sanatorium and, with no one to replace him, the magazine lapsed.
Claude spent eight months in the sanatorium. When he was discharged he re-joined Peter Harrington and Cornelius Murphy in St. Augustine's, assisting in the parochial ministry. In 1928 Peter founded a second mission to the African-American community, named after St. Columba, in the town of Cairo, near East St. Louis. Claude was named pastor of this new mission, which was located at 412 Fourteenth Street. Single-handedly Claude ministered in this parish until 1937 when Maurice Slattery, the Superior General, chose him as secretary general and bursar general, to serve in Rome. However Claude was unhappy at the change to Rome and within a year he returned to the USA, to his old mission at Cairo. Despite Claude's best efforts over the years, St. Columba's was still a small parish, with 135 members, 20 catechumens and a meagre average of 2 marriages annually. The people, among whom he worked (Jim Stanley joined him as an assistant in 1939), were materially impoverished and had been spiritually neglected by the Church for decades. Claude's work was in every sense as much primary evangelisation as that of his confrères in Africa.
In March 1941 an American Province of the Society was erected under the leadership of Ignace Lissner. Claude became a founding member of the new Province, and remained on in St. Columba's where he was now assisted by Pat Fleming. In l949, when Peter Harrington became Provincial of the American Province, Claude succeeded him as pastor of St. Augustine's where he was assisted by Jim Stanley and Michael (Ben) Burke. Claude was ill three months with heart disease before he died, but the end came rather unexpectedly. A requiem Mass was celebrated in St. Augustine's at 8.30 am on the day of his burial. A solemn pontifical requiem was sung by Albert Zuroweste, Bishop of Belleville, at St. Henry's church at 11 am. (St. Henry’s church was chosen, rather than St. Augustine’s, to accommodate the overflowing congregation) A colleague who attended Claude's funeral wrote: 'The day was bright and sunny the only contrast being the tear-filled eyes of his devoted flock and friends'.
He is buried Mount Carmel cemetery, Broadway, East St. Louis, USA.
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