John Sullivan

John Sullivan (8 May 1861 – 19 February 1933) was an Irish Catholic priest and a professed member of the Jesuits. Sullivan was known for his life of deep spiritual reflection and personal sacrifice; he is recognised for his dedicated work with the poor and spent much of his time walking and (notably) riding his bike to visit those who were troubled or ill in the villages around Clongowes Wood College, where he taught from 1907 until his death.

From the 1920s onwards, there were people who testified to his healing power despite the fact that he never claimed credit or causation for himself from these reported cases. Sullivan was known for his friendliness; his amiable nature was coupled with a somewhat shy temperament but one willing to aid those who needed it most. He was noted for his strong faith and for imposing multiple penances on himself, such as eating little. Sullivan had long been admired during his life and was known as a man of inspirational holiness which prompted for calls for his beatification; the cause later opened and would culminate on 7 November 2014 after Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue and named him as Venerable. His beatification, the first ever to take place in Ireland, took place within Dublin on 13 May 2017 (Other Irish Saints were beatified in Rome or elsewhere).

Life Childhood and education John Sullivan was born in mid-1861 at 41 Eccles Street in the old Dublin. He was born as the last of five children to Sir Edward Sullivan (7 October 1822 – 13 April 1885) – member of the Church of Ireland and a successful barrister who would later become the Lord Chancellor of Ireland – and Elizabeth Josephine Bailey (1823 – 27 January 1898) – a Roman Catholic from a prominent land-owning household in Passage West. Sullivan was raised as a Protestant and was baptized in the local Church of Ireland parish of Saint George on Temple Street on 15 July 1861. According to the custom of the time, girls were raised as Catholics while the sons were raised as Protestants. In 1877, his brother Robert (1853–77) drowned after a boating accident in Killiney Bay along with Constance Exham, who was the daughter of a family friend.

After his time at the Portora Royal School, he followed in his father's footsteps and went to Trinity College from 1879, where he studied classics. He was awarded the gold medal in Classics in 1885 and he studied for the English Bar at Lincoln's Inn in London,

He commenced his Jesuit novitiate on 7 September 1900 at Saint Stanislaus College at Tullabeg. On completion of his novitiate around 1901, he was sent to Saint Mary's Hall at Stonyhurst for his philosophical studies.

Beatification Fr. Sullivan's resting-place in Saint Francis Xavier Church, Dublin The informative process that opened in 1953 saw him titled as a Servant of God. The accumulation of witness testimonies and documentation being gathered was completed in September 1960. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints was given the evidence and validated the informative process in acceptance in 1969, prior to theologians approving his spiritual writings in 1972. On 22 February 2000, the Congregation issued the official "nihil obstat" to the cause, which acted as a formal introduction to the cause and approval of its continuation.

In June 2002 another process was held in Dublin to collate further evidence, and the findings of this particular tribunal were forwarded to the Congregation, which confirmed it on 18 October 2002. In 2004 the postulation submitted the Positio dossier to the Congregation for examination by consultant theologians and this led to a positive report on its contents on 19 November 2013; the Congregation later confirmed this on 16 October 2014.

On 7 November 2014, he was named as Venerable after Pope Francis – himself a Jesuit – approved a decree acknowledging the heroic virtue of the late priest's life based on the cardinal and theological virtues. Sullivan's beatification depended on the approval of a miracle that was an unexplainable healing after his death; one such case was investigated in Ireland and it received Roman validation on 10 February 2006. The Congregation approved this miracle on 19 April 2016 after the medical experts and theologians approved it. The pontiff – on 26 April 2016 – approved a miracle attributed to the late priest's intercession and thus approved his beatification to take place. The miracle approved was the 1954 healing of a cancerous tumour on the neck of the Dublin woman Delia Farnham.

The beatification was celebrated in Dublin at the Saint Francis Xavier Church on 13 May 2017. He was also the first person to ever be beatified in Ireland.

The current postulator for this cause is the Jesuit priest Anton Witwer. The current vice-postulator is the Jesuit priest Declan Murray.

Devotions and legacies Due to his reportedly having the gift of healing, there is a constant demand for blessings with his profession crucifix which had previously belonged to his mother. It is kept in the Saint Francis Xavier Church, where his remains are located in the Sacred Heart Chapel. There is a special Mass celebrated in that church once each month in his honour, and there is also an annual Mass for the same purpose at the same church, celebrated close to the commemoration of his 1933 death.

The people of Kildare created their own monument to the late priest in Clane, close to Clongowes Wood College.

Sullivan had been a Protestant until he reached middle age, and that community was an important aspect of his life. On 8 May 1983, the retired Church of Ireland Archbishop George Simms gave the address at a memorial service to honour Sullivan's life and work, which was held in St. George's Church on Temple Street. The Catholic Auxiliary Bishop James Kavanagh attended and bought with him a text from Pope John Paul II reading: "His Holiness asks you to convey his cordial greetings to all present. In communion of prayer he gives thanks to Almighty God for the extraordinary gifts bestowed on Sullivan during his life and for the spirit of mutual understanding, reconciliation and goodwill which his memory enkindles between various Christian communities in Ireland today".

Miracles during his lifetime There have been miracles reported during Sullivan's life, such as the two mentioned below: The cure of Michael Collins (b. 1925) – nephew of the famed Michael Collins – from infantile paralysis. The child awoke one night in October 1928 in extreme distress, and the summoned doctor diagnosed him with infantile paralysis. Mrs. Collins drove to the school seeking out Sullivan's assistance; Sullivan promised to say a Mass but also rode his bike to their home, where he touched the child's leg and prayed over him for two hours. The cure of Miss Kitty Garry (aged ten at the time) from tuberculosis; he blessed her, and the ailment left her after a month.