The Community at Herne Bay sustained a great shock in the evening of Sunday 11th. February 1962 when Father Denis of the Sorrowful Virgin died suddenly. That morning he had celebrated the 9.30 Mass in Church and preached in his usual forceful and eloquent style. In the evening, having visited the sick and the aged, he returned to the Monastery and within minutes of his return death came quite suddenly.
John Cruden was born in Glasgow on the 18th. January 1895. He received his early education at the Marist College in the Passionist parish of St. Mungo’s. From there he went to St. Aloysius – the Jesuit College at Garnethill.
After first expressing a preference for the Law he entered the Passionist Novitiate and was professed on the 11th. February 1913 at “The Graan” His studies for the Priesthood were begun at Mount Argus, Dublin and completed at St. Anne’s, Sutton where he was Ordained on the 28th. February 1920. Following his Ordination, he studied Sacred Eloquence for twelve months at Broadway after which he was appointed to Ardoyne, Belfast, where he began his priestly duties with an energetic zeal which was to characterise his work for the rest of his life, even though a heart condition had already manifested itself. He spent three years at Sutton 1925-28 and was then transferred to Highgate where for sixteen years he conducted an Apostolate which will be long remembered by the people of St. Joseph’s parish. Subsequently he was stationed at Harborne 1944-47; Blythe Hall 1947-50; back again in Highgate for another five years before coming finally to Herne Bay, in 1955.
Though, perhaps, not renowned for pure scholarship, he was a man of encyclopaedic knowledge, ironic humour and vivid imagination; in addition to which he was possessed of an unusually retentive memory and had an exceptional command of the English language. Always an interesting conversationalist. and on Economics and History (especially Church History) he spoke with authority.
Public speaking came naturally and easy to him and he soon became famed as a preacher. It was a great blow to him, and a loss to the Congregation, when a serious heart attack during a Mission in Bradford, closed his career as a Missioner as early as 1927. Despite this disability he continued to conduct Retreats and was much sought after as a Retreat Master and Confessor during the thirty odd years left to him in God’s service. Religious found in him an inspiring director – to many of the Laity he proved himself a wise counsellor and faithful friend. In his parochial work, the aged and the sick were his predilection.
As an instructor of converts he had few equals. The number he instructed and received into the Church, had he done nothing else, would have constituted a fruitful priestly life. The heartfelt expression of sorrow at his death, coming from his legion of converts in many parts of the country shows that despite the passing of the years he was still to them, their Father in Christ.
His work especially in the parishes of Highgate (where he spent over twenty years) and Herne Bay (where he lived out his last seven years) showed that over- riding physical disability, he intended to die as he had lived, in the active service of His Divine Master.
To those who knew him but slightly, Father Denis might have seemed a man whose entire life was absorbed in preaching and parochial duties. To those who lived long with him and knew him best, however, the depth of his spirituality gave an ever increasing sense of wonderment – prayerful always-noticeable especially, as he prepared for, celebrated and made his thanksgiving after Mass. No one could doubt the intensity of his love for God or the intimacy of his relationship with Our Divine Lord. He was also possessed of a great filial devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and it is surely significant that his death occurred on that Feast Day, the forty-ninth anniversary of his Religious Profession.
The Passionist Congregation has lost a faithful and loyal son. That he is now enjoying the company of The Master he served so faithfully and so well, is certainly our prayer, but we also feel assured that he has been made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Solemn Requiem was celebrated in Herne Bay on February 15th. by Very Rev. Fr. Philip – Provincial – in the presence of a representative gathering of Passionists from both the Irish and English Provinces. The Very Rev. Canon de Laubenque represented the Bishop who is absent from the Diocese; also in the Sanctuary was The Lord Abbot of Ramsgate. The interment took place in Eddington Cemetery. May his soul rest in peace. Colman, C.P. Superior, St. Mary’s Retreat, Herne Bay, Kent..
(Obituary Notice)
REV. FATHER DENIS (CRUDEN), C.P.
On February 11, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the death occurred, at The Retreat, Herne Bay, Kent, of Father Denis, C.P. Though in failing health for some time, his passing was unexpected. May he rest in peace.
Known before his entry into religion as John Cruden, he was born in Glasgow in 1895, and entered the Passionist Novitiate at St. Gabriel’s, The Graan, Enniskillen, where he was professed in 1913. His student days were spent at Mount Argus, Dublin, and at St. Anne’s, Sutton, St. Helen’s, Lancs. On February 28, 1920, he was raised to the priesthood at St. Anne’s by the late Archbishop Keating of Liverpool.
During his forty-nine years in religion, Father Denis lived in several Retreats in these countries, including Holy Cross, Belfast, St. Joseph’s, Highgate, London, and St. Mary’s, Harborne, Birmingham. He was well known – especially in England – as a zealous preacher of missions and retreats.
Requiescat in pace.
(The Cross, Vol. LII, 1961-62; p. 358)