William J. Ennis

William J. Ennis (February 14, 1862 – June 10, 1925) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Loyola College in Maryland from 1911 to 1918 and was the first vice principal of Loyola School in New York City. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1879 and during his Jesuit formation, studied at Woodstock College and taught at Georgetown University. In 1895, he became the prefect of studies at Georgetown.

In 1900, Ennis became the first vice principal of the newly established Loyola School, a position equivalent to principal, and oversaw instruction for three years. He subsequently taught at various Jesuit colleges before becoming president of Loyola College. In his later years, he remained at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York.

Early life Ennis was born on February 14, 1862, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. He was baptized at the Church of St. Joseph. For four years during his youth, he worked as an office clerk for a relative, and at night, studied at St. Francis Xavier College, later known as Xavier High School.

On July 30, 1879, Ennis entered the Society of Jesus at the novitiate in West Park, New York, spending two years there. After many requests by such families and by the Archbishop of New York, Michael Corrigan, the Jesuit provincial superior decided to open such a school, next to the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on the Upper East Side. N. N. McKinnon was named the president of the new Loyola School, Construction on the school's building began in February 1899. By October 1, 1900, the building was not yet ready due to a strike, and the first classes were held in the church's rectory. Ennis oversaw the admission of the first class of eight students. On December 17, classes transferred to the completed school building, and six more students enrolled.

Ennis' office consisted only of a folding bed, which he used as his desk during the day. By the third academic year of 1902 to 1903, enrollment had increased to 40 and the school was prosperous enough that the provincial superior began assigning Jesuit scholastics to work there. By the start of the 1903 academic year, Ennis had established a full curriculum of high school classes. In 1903, he left the school and was succeeded by James P. Fagan as principal. At the same time, he became the pastor of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore. Ennis' tenure as president of Loyola came to an end in August 1918 because of a newly promulgated canon law limiting members of religious orders to six years as the superior of one of their order's houses. He was succeeded by Joseph McEneany as president and pastor. He died on June 10, 1925, at St. Elizabeth Hospital in the Inwood section of Manhattan.

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