ROBERT ST LEGER SJ (1788 – 1856) Educationalist, Spiritual Guide, Administrator and Vicar Apostolic to Calcutta and Bengal
Thomas J. Morrissey SJ Messenger Publications, 2025 ISBN 978 1 78812 760 8 • pp 84
‘In tumultuous times, the gentle and the diplomatic are often lost to history’.
Thomas J. Morrissey‘s chronicle of the eponymous Robert St Leger’s impressive career as an educationalist, spiritual guide, administrator and Vicar Apostolic to India in the early 19th century succeeds in bringing the significant but ‘forgotten’ Irish Jesuit out of the shadows. Although St Leger left few personal documents, the noted author-historian has retrieved primary source material from the Jesuit archives to reconstruct the life and times of this extraordinary but unassuming innovator and trailblazer.
Morrissey’s use of sources is judicious and his narrative moves with a steady, unhurried pace that allows the reader to appreciate the full scope of St Leger’s life and work. The turbulent times in Irish Catholicism, the restoration of the Society of Jesus, his appointment as papal delegate to India in challenging times and his return to Ireland as a Jesuit provincial in a time marked by hope and starvation are presented with a historian’s clarity and measured judgment.
Whilst celebrating the many highlights of Robert St Leger’s career, including his support of Mary Aikenhead and the emerging Religious Sisters of Charity and his visionary leadership at the Tullabeg novitiate (forerunner to Clongowes Wood College), the book offers a sober seven-chapter account of the challenges he faced working within the cultural, political, and ecclesial complexities of Bengal. Despite his many successes in India, St Leger’s tenure there was marred by disharmony with the English Jesuits, Augustinian opposition and a fractious relationship with Superior General Fr. Roothaan. Finally in 1838 he was withdrawn by Rome: his involvement in discussions about the will of wealthy French adventurer General Martin which provided for the establishment of a school where the pupils could absorb the ‘Christian philosophy of life’ (an ecumenical school) and his ‘enterprising decision to avail of free education for the Catholic children of Calcutta’ was the catalyst for this decision.
Fr Morrissey’s short volume restores Robert St Leger, a man apparently ‘more sinned against than sinning’, to the pantheon of the great and the good in the annals of the Society of Jesus.
Reviewer: Mary Adamson
CHALLENGE, COURAGE AND CALL
The Word of God and Priestly Ministry Archbishop Emeritus Michael Neary ACN Church Resources, 2026 ISBN 978 1 91786 935 5 • pp 83 www.acnchurchresources.ie
Following his retirement in 2021, Archbishop Emeritus of Tuam, Michael Neary has continued to give retreats, particularly to diocesan clergy. He has also with the encouragement of some of his retreatants given time to preparing this short but profound reflection aimed primarily at priests who are in many cases as he points out fewer and older, on how the Word of God through a series of iconic biblical figures ‘initiates a dialogue with us, inspires growth and broadens our horizons, impelling us to mission.’
In his Foreword to this new publication, Fr Maurice Hogan SSC acknowledges the deep concern and even alarm that the falling away in vocations to the priesthood has caused the faithful as well as the uncertainty for priests themselves regarding their role and identity. He points to the lack of balance between the ‘cultic, prophetic, and pastoral dimensions of priestly ministry.’ But he also sees a moment of opportunity, of purification and of a renewed holiness of life enabling the priest to fulfil his mission – the sanctification of the faithful – through his cultic, prophetic and pastoral role. In that regard he describes Archbishop Neary’s book
as offering deep and inspiring insights that focus on the Christian roots of priestly spirituality, namely Sacred Scripture.
In the succeeding pages, Archbishop Neary begins with the question of priestly identity today in a complex and cultural environment. He shows understanding of the frustrations and also the fulfilment of the pastoral ministry in 2026. He brings his expertise and experience in the scriptures to bear on the challenges and changes that have occurred. In particular he chooses figures from both the Old and New Testaments; Moses, Second Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul and Mary as examples from whom encouragement and hope can be drawn from the way that they responded to the challenges that was set before them. The loyalty and leadership of Moses, the patience and perseverance of Mary, the faith and friendship of Paul and the courage in conflict of Jeremiah are just several of the perspectives he observes. He also points to the essential relevance of the Psalms which he describes as expressing ‘the various moods of the human heart.’
He concludes by reminding priests that they have the responsibility of providing pastoral care in a compassionate, warm and human way, with the realisation that we represent Christ but also represent a Church which has a human and sinful dimension. Archbishop Neary has offered a typically lucid, engaging and down-to-earth narrative which is also a springboard to hope for priests in contemporary Ireland and beyond.
Reviewer: Fr Paul Clayton-Lea