Joseph Rooney

Joseph Rooney (d. 1857) was an Irish missionary priest who was instrumental in the founding of a number of educational institutions in India during the period of the Company rule in India. He was killed in a massacre in the Siege of Cawnpore in India, a key episode in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Biography Joseph Rooney was born in Athlumney, County Meath, the son of Lawrence Rooney. He studied Classics at the seminary in Navan, before attending All Hallows College in 1843, as the first student to enter. The college was set up by Meath-born priest John Hand, and Rooney studied to be a missionary priest. Their first job was to assist in setting up schools there; after the establishment of St. Peter's College, Agra, and St Paul's Orphanage, they started the school "for the sons of officers and gentlemen" that later became St. George's College, Agra. Overworked, he was sent to Firozpur, and quickly became a favorite of the military personnel there; they had just sacked Multan Fort, and offered Rooney some of the silver and gold they had stolen, but he declined. Here also he suffered from exhaustion, and while he had permission to return home for a few years, he declined, asked for another mission, and was sent to Kanpur.

Kanpur was the site of a large British garrison, and it became the target of a rebellion let by Nana Sahib, culminating in the 22-day Siege of Cawnpore. Rooney was killed during that siege (a 1930 sermon mentions he was hanged ) after ministering to a wounded soldier on 18 June 1857. Persico had befriended Rooney in India, and later visited the ruins of his childhood home in Ireland.