Obituary Notice
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Fr. NINIAN O'Connor (1902-1966) Father Ninien O'Connor died in St. Anne's Retreat, Sutton, St. Helens, Lancs., on 17th June 1966. His death was sudden and unattended. He had dropped dead in his room during the morning, and was not discovered until lunzsh-time. This tragic circumstance is relieved, however, by the spiritual realities of the occasion. It was the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and it was assumed that Father Ninian, whoWss to have celebrated the evening Mass of the Feast, was absent bringing Holy Communion to the sick and the aged to whom he was known to be devoted. How they felt on lcarning of his death is best under— stood in the remark of one of them, made on the day of his funcral: "the mantle of Father Felix had fallen on Father Ninian". This comparison with Father Felix Hawarden, O.P., who dicd thirty ycars ago, reveals the people's long and gratcful rcmcmbrance of that pricst whose devotion to the Poor was so remarksble, and it measures the depth of Father Ninien's priestly spirituality by an indisputable standard. Father Ninien was born in St. Mungo's Parish, Glasgow on 21st November 1902. He was educated in the Parochial School, and later at St. Mungo's Academy conducted by the Merist Brothers. This early association with trechers and pricats who were dedicated rcligious was @ providential preparation for his Passionist vocation. He cntered -the Juniorate in Sandymount, Dublin on 13th January 1919, and was profcsscd in the Novitiate, The Graan, Enniskillen, on 26th February 1922. He completed his studies for the Pricsthood in St. Paul's Retreat, Tikley, Yorkshire, where he was ordaincd with fiftecn class—mates on 13th Januery 1929. In the following year he was appointed Vice Mastcr of Novices in Broadway. At the end of the year he accompanied his newly~professed novices as Direstor of Students in Ilkley, Highgate and Sutton, and had the satisfaction of guiding "my boys", as he called them, right up to the Sacred Pricsthood. The office of Dircctor of Studentsa - bravely borne — brought out in Father Ninian those qualities of self-discipline and self-effacement indispensable for the office of . moulding end guiding furure priests. With the tenacity of the Scot, and with 8 devotion to duty uninfluenced by any personal considerations, Father Ninisn was being prepared in this spiritual crucible for even greater demands on his pricsthood and religious lifc. At the outbreak of World War II, he accepted a commission as Chaplain in the Royal Air Force. After a period of training, and home dutics in Kentand Wales, he was posted overseas, end was attached to R.A.F. Headquarters in Rangoon. like his fellow-Passionists who accepted similar responsibilities in other theatres of the War, Father Ninian's work for souls has only the bricf mention in the official records, but the detsils are known To God in whose service he always remaincd. Occasionally there filtercd through many exciting adventures the account of on intervention by the Chaplain on bchalf of some unjustly treated soarvice-man, nor was Father Ninian the person to hesitate to argue with an officious 0.0. whose limited time and regulation-ruled mentality might otherwise heave inflicted decp unmerited suffering in the name of military discipline. One also
learned that Catholic young servicemen received from Father Ninian the same intolerance of silliness that he had shown to his other "boys" when Director of Students. At home, or abroad, in his Monastery, or on thw War front, Fether Ninian was first and always a priest ~ 8 Passionist Priest — devoted to the Master who chooses whom He pleases to be His instruments and His ministers. After demobilisation, Father Ninian resumed his religious duties with little, if any, of the well-known consequences of so prolonged a separation from the monastic atmosphere. He filled the office of Vice Rector in Broadway, Harborne, Sutton and Blythe Rall. More recently he was parochial administrator cf the smell perish of Addingham which is attached to our Ilkley Ketreat. He was transferred to parochial responsibilities in Sutton after thé last Provincial Chapter; and in Sutton he literally died at his post. In the distribution of intellectual gifts, Father Ninian would seem to have belonged rather to the category of the "two talents", but he certainly traded with them for the "other two" which merit the supreme reward and the joy sf the Master. His musical gifts contributed to the excellent concerts with which his fellow-students entertained the Community sand their friends in Ilkley, and later, as Vics Paster in Broadway, cnabled him to lay the foundations of training in Gregorian tusic in this Province. Our brethren who to-day attain eminence and ease in the performance of sacred music will readily recognise their indebtedness to the pioneer work of Father Ninian in this field. His appreciation of the sanctifying power of exact observance of Rule, far from making him small-minded, made him eather a man of principle and 8 generous comrade. He was the first to appreciate in others the gifts he did not himself possegs. Without the ability or the aspiration to be an orator, he was proud of the preaching achievements of his fellow-Passionists. As Vice Rector, he is to-day best remembered for his unfailing ‘provision of that "special charity" to the returned missioners ‘in the tradition of Our Holy Founder. This sense of service and comradeship marks out the Priesthood of Fathcr Ninian with ‘the authentic signs of the true pastor as outlined in the recent If Vatican Council. The people he served up to his death may well scho the remark made on Calvary: Indeed, this was a just man". His brethren thank God for his fidelity and his achievements. May he rest in peace. Ainen. St. Anne's Retrest, iy ; Sutton, ST. HELENS, bancs., ...25, Along Rector.
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.