Société des Missions Africaines – Province d'Irlande

né le 10 juillet 1894 à Cork dans le diocèse de Cork, Irlande membre de la SMA le 8 décembre 1914 prêtre le 1er juillet 1917 décédé le 26 janvier 1959

1917-1921 Kilcogan, Wilton, Ballinafad, professeur 1921-1930 missionnaire en Nigeria occidentale 1931-1934 Wilton, directeur 1934-1943 Ballinafad, supérieur et professeur 1943-1947 Wilton, vice supérieur et professeur 1947-1949 responsable des vocations 1949-1952 Ballinafad, puis Wilton, professeur 1952-1958 missionnaire aux Etats-Unis décédé à Cork, Irlande, le 26 janvier 1959, à l’âge de 64 ans

(biographie en anglais à la suite)

Le père Francis Joseph MAC NAMARA (1894 - 1959)

A Cork, retour à Dieu du père Francis Mac Namara, le 26 janvier 1959, à l'âge de 64 ans.

Né à Cork le 10 juillet 1894, Francis Mac Namara fit toutes ses études dans la Société. Il fit son serment en 1914 et fut ordonné prêtre en 1917. Professeur successivement dans les maisons de Kilcogan, Wilton et Ballinafad, il partit en 1921 pour la Nigeria. Travailleur et bien doué, il était peu fait pour l'administration. Il réussit bien comme "manager" (directeur) des écoles à Lagos. Très sociable, il était, pour tous, le bon confrère.

Revenu en Irlande en 1930, il devint successivement directeur de Wilton, puis supérieur de Ballinafad de 1934 à 1943. Débrouillard, il était magnifique pour organiser des jeux pour les élèves. En 1943, il revint comme directeur et professeur.

Directeur de l'oeuvre des vocations pendant deux ans (1947-1949), il reprit ensuite l'enseignement à Ballinafad et à Wilton.

En 1952, il partait pour les Etats-Unis où il se mettait à la disposition d'un Ordinaire, tout en restant membre de la Société.

Father Francis Joseph MAC NAMARA (1894 1959)

Francis McNamara was born, in the south parish of Cork city, on 10 July 1894. He died at the home of his sister, 3 Carrig View, Old Blackrock Road, Cork, on 26 January 1959.

Francis (Frank) received all his secondary and seminary training in Cork. He first studied with the Christians Brothers at Sullivan's Quay (1904 1908) before entering the Society's secondary college at Wilton (1908 19l2). Next he was promoted to the Society's seminary at Blackrock Road where he studied philosophy and theology. Frank was admitted to membership of the Society on 8 December 19l4 and was ordained a priest by Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork diocese, at St. Mary's cathedral, Cork, on l July 19l7. He was the only member of the Province to be ordained in 1917.

These were years when the young Province (founded in 19l2) had few members, less than thirty, but when its student enrolment was rapidly increasing and would continue to increase. The Society had four colleges in Ireland: the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad, Co Mayo, where students studied for the intermediate certificate and mature students received a training in Latin; St. Joseph's college, Wilton, where students studied for the leaving certificate (or university matriculation) in a three-year cycle; the novitiate and house of philosophy opened in Kilcolgan in 19l8; and St. Joseph's theological seminary at Blackrock Road. Teaching staff for these educational institutes was at a premium. It was not surprising therefore that Frank, who had shown an aptitude for learning during his student days, should spend the early years of his priesthood in Ireland. Between 19l8 1921 he served as a teacher in Kilcolgan, Wilton and Ballinafad.

In 192l Frank was assigned to the vicariate of Western Nigeria which had been confided to the Irish Province three years earlier. Frank left Cork for his mission on July 13th, the day that the Truce was declared in Ireland, accompanied by Bishop Thomas Broderick (who would be his superior in Africa), and a small group of confreres. He spent a tour of four years on this mission. For his first year he ministered under the superiorship of Jean-Baptiste Frigerio in Ibusa, a station founded in 1899 and which had a community of over 600 Catholics. In October 1922 he was transferred to the mission of Onitsha-Olona where he was nominated superior. This mission, founded in 1906, had some 200 Catholics and numerous outstations. In February 1926, returning to Africa after his vacation (he spent 7 months resting in Ireland) Frank was re assigned to the vicariate of the Bight of Benin, where increasing numbers of Irish members were being deployed in preparation for the handing over of that mission to the Irish Province. Frank spent his next tour lasting four years (1926-1930) in the Benin vicariate (south western Nigeria).

In 1930 Frank returned to Ireland to become director of students in Wilton. During the following three years, in addition to his duties at Wilton, he attended U.C.C., graduating in 1934 with a B.A. degree. An experienced missionary and one of the few members of the Province to have a university qualification, he was now appointed principal of the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad, a post he occupied for nearly ten years after which he remained on as vice principal. Between 1947 49 he was director of vocations for the Province, and then returned to teaching at Ballinafad and Wilton.

In 1952 Frank went to the U.S.A. working first in the diocese of Salt Lake City and, from 1955, in the diocese of St. Augustine, Florida. He remained a member of the Society, returning in 1958 to die in Ireland. Frank (known as 'Sonny' by his students) was an excellent teacher. Physically strong and full of energy he was a good athlete, an enthusiastic sportsman, an ardent lover of nature and of the outdoor life. Well known in sporting circles in the south and west, while a student in Wilton he played on the Munster colleges hurling team. As a tutor at St. Gregory's college, Lagos, in its early years, his enthusiasm for athletics helped to establish a great tradition in that college and contributed to the growth of sport in the Nigerian capital.

He is buried in Wilton cemetery.