Obituary Notice
This obituary notice has been digitally processed from a scanned archival document. Some words may be imperfectly rendered.
Fr. OSWALD Donnelly (1870-1935) fod. XP. St. Anne's Retreat, button, ST. HELENS, December 1935. FR, OSWALD DONNELLY, c.P. To those who were unaware of the failing health of Fr, Oswald Donnelly, U.P., the news of his death most have come as something of a shock. A man of apparently ordinary good health and atrong con- stitution, it seemed as though many years of priestly life were before him. He had, however, for some time complained of pains, and a general feeling of ill-health. Karly in October, his condition worsened, and in spite of every medical attention he was obliged to keep to his room, Towards the end of that month he Was removed to the Park House Nursing Home, Waterloo, Liverpool, and a specialist was called in, but he gradually weakened into a state of coma from which he emerged only at short intervals. Although during the Later atages of his illness he had suffered considerable pain, his death, which occurred late on Saturday night November 9th, was a peaceful one, R. iL. P. Geraid Joseph Donnelly was born in Belfast on April 24th le7u. Asa boy, he was of a quiet and reserved disposition. He cane of an artistic family, his father having collaborated with the better known Vere Foster in restoring Irish ornamantation. He was educated... , "at St. Malachy's Christian Hrothers' School Belfast, where he gave early signs of an intellectual capacity beyond the ordinary. Entering the Passionist Novitiate at the age of 19, he was professed on June 17th 10u9U, taking the name of ‘Oswald of Jesus Agonising’. As a student, he showed great delicacy of health, and his superiors sent him to Aus- tralia. There, whilst a subdeacon, he began to teach philosophy, and 1.
afterwards theology. His teaching was often interrupted when he was a priest, by giving missiona and retreats. In 1899, he volunteered for the Passionist itission in the Near East, where for many years he laboured for souls in Bul- garia. There are, perhaps, but few priests who have had careers so fruitful, varied and picturesque in character, extending their work over so many and such distant places, faced with problems almost in- surmountable in character, and overcoming them with such indomitable courage. Fr, Oswald made many converts, and when at length he returnec to these countries, he was entrusted with the duty of teaching the students at Sutton - a duty which he performed with wisdom, experience, patience and firmness, He was an ertidite scholar, and frequently contributed articles to Ingliah and Irish reviews and periodicals, Of aquiline features, he had a firm determinatton in his eyes, and a downrightness of manner, which told of a strength of character beyond the ordinary. He could not bear to see things done which in his estimation were wrong, and doubtiess his very zeal to see things right- ed would at times cause those who failed to understand his spirit an impression unjust to his true motives. Yet he never failed to receive willingly all who sought his advice or help, and his work in the Gon-. fessionai and the pulpit will be long remembered, He showed at all times a great interest in the students of the Province, and during the years of his lectorship willingly gave then of his best. “He had few worddly interests, and was but rarely to be seen outside the grounds of the Retreat where he Lives. He found great pleasure in preaching
3. the Word of God, and always prepared his sermons with great care, Up to the last, he was filled with zeal for spreading abroad a lmnowledge of the Faith, by word and by pen, and was Laying plans, destined never to be fulfilled, of once again going to distant lands and engaging there in work for God. Fr, Oswald gave forty-five years of his life to the Passionist Order, during which time he Lived in most of the Retreats in England and Ireland. His outstanding gifts made him a remarkable personality, and he will be remembered by Passionists for many years as one who laboured Long and Laboured well for souls. ad .
Source: Obituary Notices, Provincial Archive, St Joseph's Province. Passionist Congregation.