Obituary Notice Fr. Maurice Donegan, C.P. On one of the opening pages of his Bible, a Passionist priest who died of recent years had written: “He led him about, and taught him and he kept him as the apple of his eye.” (Deut. 32.10.). A fitting epitaph for his own life, these same words are applicable, in many ways, to the life and edifying death of the late Fr. Maurice Donegan. He was born on May 16th, 1888, in Belfast, of parents revered for their religious fervour and charitableness. As far as his decision to join the Passionist Congregation is concerned it is easy to see the influences that moulded his choice. There was the religious atmosphere of his own home, from which, in course of time four of his sisters would join various religious Congregations; there was the long association of his family with the Passionists and also the fact that he already had an uncle in the Congregation. So it must have come as no great surprise when, having completed his studies at St. Malachy’s College, he left home to present himself as a postulant at the Novitiate in Broadway, Worcestershire. There he was professed on January 30th, 1906, going from there to Mt. Argus, Dublin, where, in company with Frs. Brendan and Cornelius, of hallowed memory he was ordained to the priesthood on December 2lst, 1913. After Ordination he was, in the course of his life, stationed in various of our houses in Ireland, Scotland and later on in England. Worthy of passing mention is that fact that he was editor of ‘The Cross’ sometime around 1917. The year following he went to Australia, where he remained for seven years, engaged in giving missions, retreats, and in pioneering missionary work. But the life in Australia would seem to have imposed a strain on his health from which he never really recovered. In 1925 he returned from Australia. It was shortly after this date that the division of the Provinces became effective, and Fr. Maurice chose St. Joseph’s Province. Thereafter he was stationed at one time or another in Broadway, Harborne, Highgate, Carmarthen, Ilkley: even yet in various of these places there are to be found those who still remember his erudite and eloquent sermons and Gospel homilies. Talented as he undoubtedly was, it is a matter for some regret that he did not use to greater public advantage the gifts that were his – probably the explanation is to be found in ill-health from which he suffered so much, so long. On the credit side, there is the goodly number of converts whom he received, and whose fervour and perseverance testifies to the thoroughness of the instructions received. Nor can one pass over in silence the priests of our own Province who generously admit their debt to him for the example and instructions he gave them on the art of sermon construction. And this perhaps above all – his reputation as a wise and sympathetic confessor. But the Ill-health that cast a long shadow over his life demanded long periods of hospital treatment; indeed one such period ended only in 1962, when, a few days before ‘Dominic’s Sunday’, he came, de familia, to St. Paul’s Retreat Ilkley. Quietly he returned to community life again, pleased and thankful to be once more with his brethren. In his periods of better health he was most willing and obliging and now back again, he expressed on more then one occasion his eagerness to be engaged in the works of the Retreat. But the years were beginning to take their toll, and it was obvious to all that the end was approaching – indeed Fr. Maurice himself realised it, for on the various occasions when he spoke of his Golden Jubilee due to be held on 21st December, 1963, it was more often than not conditioned by “If I am spared to see it.” Without show or ostentation he began to make his remote preparation; the majesty of approaching death neither appalled nor affrighted him; the same quiet composure and unruffled calm that he had exhibited in St. Joseph’s, rocked and shaken by wartime bombs, was again evident. The hard bitter Winter of 1963, followed by the miserable Summer was for him the end. Once again he returned to hospital, this time to receive the professional nursing and attention that his condition demanded. And so on October 4th, the feast of St. Francis, after some three weeks sojourn in the hospital of the Brothers of St. John of God, in Scorton, and after having received Holy Viaticum he passed away. Conscious to the end he joined in the prayers for the dying, and with his last breath said: “Blessed Dominic, pray for me.” Let us hope the first Passionist, but not the last to seek and find mercy through the intercession of Blessed Dominic, the Father and Founder of our Province. The Communion antiphon of the Mass preceding that of October 4th, reads: “He led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye” (Deut. 32.10). Fr. Maurice Donegan, C.P. Born 16th May, 1888. Died 4th October, 1963, in the fiftieth year of his priesthood. May he rest in peace.