Timothy Brosnahan

Timothy J. Brosnahan (January 8, 1856 – June 4, 1915) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served as the president of Boston College from 1894 to 1898. Born in Virginia, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1872, and taught philosophy at Woodstock College, Georgetown University, and Boston College. After his presidency, he wrote a prominent article criticizing an article by Harvard University's president that deprecated Jesuit education. In his later years, he taught and wrote about ethics.

Early life Timothy J. Brosnahan was born on January 8, 1856, in Alexandria, Virginia. He was baptized the following Sunday, January 15 at St. Mary's Church, a Jesuit parish. In June of that year, his father became the overseer of a farm in northern Washington County, today located in the Brightwood neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and Brosnahan moved there with his parents. In June 1861, he and his sister enrolled as students at a private school for farmers' children near his house. In November 1862, due to the outbreak of the Civil War, Brosnahan moved with his parents from the countryside to the City of Washington, and they became parishioners at St. Aloysius Church, a Jesuit parish.

In 1863, Brosnahan developed pneumonia and doctors believed he would not survive. After recovering, Brosnahan began his education, briefly attending two private schools. He then enrolled in a parochial school, initially located in the basement of St. Aloysius Church. entering the Jesuit order on August 21, 1872.

Jesuit formation After four years in Frederick, Brosnahan began his philosophical studies at Woodstock College. Afterwards, he taught at Boston College for four years, and in 1883, he founded the school magazine The Stylus. Later that year, he went to Georgetown University, where he taught for one year. In 1884, Brosnahan returned to Woodstock for his theological studies. During the academic year of 1886 to 1887, he was the editor of the Woodstock Letters. In 1887, Brosnahan completed his theological studies, and was ordained a priest that same year by Cardinal James Gibbons, the Archbishop of Baltimore.

In 1887, Brosnahan returned to Boston College as a professor of rhetoric. The following year, he completed his tertianship in Frederick. He then became a professor of logic and general metaphysics at Woodstock College. and on February 2, 1892, he professed his fourth vow.

Boston College On July 16, 1894, Brosnahan succeeded Edward I. Devitt as the president of Boston College. At the same time, he also served as the school's prefect of studies. It was reproduced in Boston College's catalogue for 57 years.

During Brosnahan's presidency, the number of students enrolled increased to 450, and the school's finances were in good order. In 1898, he purchased a large tract of land in Roxbury, on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue, from the estate of Oakes Angier Ames.

Brosnahan began for the first time a separation between Boston College's high school classes from its college classes. Each were held in separate wings of the building, with separate entrances to each. Brosnahan was succeeded as president by W. G. Read Mullan on June 30, 1898.

During his presidency of Boston College, Brosnahan was also the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End. During the summer of 1895, he closed the upper church for renovations, which reopened on September 15.

Later years In 1898, Brosnahan returned to Woodstock College as a professor of metaphysics for one year, and then taught ethics. During this time, he published a book on ethics titled .

Brosnahan succeeded Anthony Maas as the prefect of studies of Woodstock College in 1906. In 1909, he went to Loyola College in Maryland as a professor or ethics, where he also gave evening lectures to the public. In 1914, Brosnahan's health began to deterioriate, which physicians diagnosed as Bright's disease. He paused his teaching, spending the summer at Georgetown, before returning to resume teaching in the fall. He also worked on translating his Latin book Adversaria ethica into English, which he only partially completed.

On March 1, 1915, he was taken to Georgetown University Hospital, remaining there for more than one month, and then returned to the hospital again on May 27. Brosnahan died there on June 4, 1915. His funeral was held at St. Aloysius Church, and his body was interred in the Jesuit Community Cemetery at Georgetown.