Société des Missions Africaines – Province d’Irlande
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né le 13 janvier 1858 à Killermury dans le diocèse de Cork, Irlande membre de la SMA le 24 décembre 1882 prêtre le 25 juillet 1885 décédé le 13 juillet 1930 |
1885-1888 missionnaire en Egypte décédé à Marseille, France, le 13 juillet 1930, |
Le père Daniel O'SULLIVAN (1858 - 1930)
A Marseille, le 13 juillet 1930, retour à Dieu du père Daniel O'Sullivan, à l'âge de 72 ans.
Daniel O'Sullivan naquit dans le diocèse de Cork en 1858. Il remplissait les fonctions de maître d'école dans un faubourg de Cork, quand, désirant être prêtre et missionnaire, il se présenta au père Devoucoux, lequel lançait les premières maisons d'Irlande. Daniel se mit avec ardeur à l'étude du latin, et dès 1881 arrivait à Lyon. Il y fit le serment à Noël 1882 et fut ordonné prêtre en 1885.
Le père O'Sullivan partit pour l'Egypte et fut nommé professeur à Tanta. La Société, comme la mission d'Egypte, souffrait alors d'une situation bien difficile au point de vue financier. En 1888, le père O'Sullivan commença sa vie de quêteur, vie qui sera la sienne désormais pendant près de 40 ans.
Le père O'Sullivan va faire plusieurs fois le tour de la terre. Ses quêtes vont le mener plusieurs fois en Australie, Nouvelle-Zélande, Tasmanie, Etats-Unis, Angleterre, Irlande, Argentine, etc. Il traversa 27 fois la Méditerranée, 38 fois l'Atlantique, 11 fois l'Océan Indien. Il eut des succès, mais aussi des déboires. Il s'acquit comme conférencier une grande réputation. Ses talents d'écrivain lui ouvraient les pages de nombreux journaux et revues, et il laissa en mourant des brochures inspirées par ses voyages ou l'histoire de nos missions.
A l'œuvre que lui avaient confiée ses supérieurs, il se donna de tout cœur et avec un grand dévouement. Ce que sa parole ne pouvait plus donner, lors de ses dernières années, il le demandait à sa plume ou plutôt à sa petite machine à écrire qui, comme lui, avait fait le tour du monde.
En 1927, le père O'Sullivan se retirait à La Croix, continuant sur son lit de malade à "taper" de nombreuses lettres qui lui permettaient de continuer son métier de quêteur.
En ce que Dieu lui avait demandé de faire, il fut un fidèle ouvrier.
Father Daniel J. O'SULLIVAN (1858 - 1930)
Daniel O'Sullivan was born in Kilmurray, in the diocese of Cork, on 18 January 1858. He died at Marseille, France, on 13 July 1930.
Daniel was a school-master in Cork city when in 1880, wishing to become a missionary priest, he approached Francois Devoucoux, first S.M.A. superior in Ireland. With great energy Daniel undertook the study of Latin at the Society's apostolic school on the Blackrock Road, Cork, so as to be able to present himself at the major seminary, on Cours Gambetta, Lyon (France) in the autumn of 1881. He took his oath of Society membership at Christmas, 1882, and was ordained a priest, in the seminary chapel at Lyon, on 25 July 1885. Two other Irishmen were ordained on the same occasion, Andrew Dornan and Michael John Healy. When the Irish Province of the Society was formed in 1912 Daniel remained attached to the Generalate and was incorporated into the Lyon Province when it was founded in 1927.
After ordination Daniel was appointed to the staff of St. Louis college, Tantah (near Cairo), Egypt. St. Louis was a 'French' college, with some 120 secondary school pupils who received tuition through the medium of French. However there was an increasing clamour among the people for English, because this was required for entrance into government service, and was becoming increasingly the language of commerce. Irish S.M.A. priests and students were assigned to St. Louis to meet these demands, and it was to this ministry that Daniel was appointed. Daniel remained at St. Louis until 1888. At that time the Society, as well as the Egyptian mission, was in the throes of a serious financial crisis. Daniel was called upon to take up the role of fund-raiser and promoter for the Society, a task he was to discharge with great distinction for over 40 years. He collected throughout the world, visiting several times Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, the U.S.A., England, Ireland, and Argentina.
He is known to have traversed the Mediterranean 27 times and the Atlantic 38 times. He crossed the Indian Ocean 11 times. Daniel acquired the name of being a 'conferencier de grand reputation', holding his audiences spellbound with his descriptions of missionary life and galvanising their support for the work. His talents as a writer were no less considerable; his output was prolific, to be found in numerous revues, magazines and journals of the period; he also had published several pamphlets and brochures inspired by his journeys and by the history of the Society's missions. Among the titles published under his name were the following: What we have accomplished on the Guinea Coast, on the Niger River, and by the Banks of the Nile; The S.M.A. - its heroic work of Charity in Africa; Homeward through Egypt; and The Land of the Pyramids and the White Man's Grave.
In 1927 Fr. O'Sullivan fell into poor health and in hope of a recovery he took up residence in the S.M.A. sanatorium at La Croix, Var, France. There, from his sick bed, he continued to type out promotional material and, above all, letters to benefactors. However, his health deteriorated and he was hospitalised in Marseille. He spent his last days with the sisters at St. Joseph's nursing home, in Marseille. Preserved in the archives of the Irish Province at Blackrock Road there is an account of Daniel's last days written by the Superior General, Jean-Marie Chabert, to Denis' brother. 'Fr. O'Sullivan who, as you know, was being taken care of in our sanatorium, had of late expressed his desire to have a change, complaining that the climate of La Croix was too hot for him. He was then brought to Marseille and placed in a clinical hospital to receive there a special treatment. But his health, instead of improving, soon became very bad. He was then carried to St. Joseph's and entrusted to the care of the good sisters in charge of the hospital. One of our priests in residence at Marseille used to visit him often. It was soon obvious that, owing to the bad condition of the heart and of the liver, the good Father's life would not last long. He was then fortified with the last sacraments of the Church, submitted to the will of God, took up the cross of his agony and breathed his last. He was buried in the presence of the vicar general of the S.M.A., Edouard Lacqueyrie, the superior of our seminary at Lyons, Joseph Delhommel, and the priests of the procure'.
He is buried in Saint Pierre Cemetery, in the Commune of Marseille, France. (Daniel was a member of the Lyons Province. He did not join the Irish Province)
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