The first Irish saint to be beatified on 13 May 2017
Father John Sullivan, a prominent Irish Catholic convert is the first ever person to be beatified in Ireland. The beatification will take place on May 13 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Dublin, where the Jesuit priest’s body was interred.
The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin described Fr. Sullivan as “a man of learning” who was “always aware of his responsibility to care for those around him and especially the poor.” He was known for his healing prayers, his consolation for the troubled, and his devotion to God. Renouncing wealth, he lived simply as a Jesuit caring for the poor and especially the sick and dying. He also had a gift for ministering to those with scruples, obsessions or compulsions.
The priest spent much of his life teaching at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland’s County Kildare. He would often visit the sick, the dying, and people who were troubled.
The priest was known for ascetic practices: sleeping on the floor instead of his bed, placing stones in his walking boots, eating the plainest food, and sleeping for only a few hours a night so that he could pray late into the night and early in the day.
When Father Sullivan died on 19 Feb., 1933, aged 71 his funeral turned into a procession through the streets of Dublin.
His vault attracts many people seeking healing. He was declared a Servant of God in 1960 under Pope John XXIII and declared Venerable by Pope Francis in November 2014.
ACN Malta
