Fr. HILARION of the Mother of God (Martin Gallagher) Fr. Hilarion was a Co. Sligo man, born at Tubbercurry, on the 1st October 1869. The truly Catholic atmosphere of his home can be gauged from the fact, that two of his brothers became priests, and a sister a nun. His secondary education he received in the school attached to the Achonry Diocese Seminary, and he entered our Novitiate at Broadway, Worcs, in 1889. Here he was fortunate to have as his Master of Novices, Fr. Raymond Disano, who was a contemporary and disciple of Blessed Dominic. Another source of his Passionist spirit was undoubtedly his being a near relative of two famous Passionists of the Anglo-Hibernian Province: Frs. PIUS and ARTHUR DEVINE, the former a biographer of our Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, and the translator into Irish of the Rule St. Paul wrote, while the latter was a well known theologian who wrote many theological books in so readable a fashion that they were worldwidely popular among English-speaking clergy. Professed on All Saints Day, 1890, his student days were mainly spent at St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, and there on the 17th November 1895 he was ordained priest by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vaughan. He had a singularly clear and brilliant mind, but from his student days was dogged by ill health. He was devoted to the Passion, and especially to the Mother of Sorrows. His ill-health barred him from ‘active work’, so his apostolate was that of study. His favourite author was St. Thomas Aquinas and his favourite book the ‘Summa’ which he had practically off by heart – a wee bit of exaggeration, perhaps, to say that, but he could quote St. Thomas on any topic brought up for discussion or clarification. Like the Ven. Charles, he had a great consciousness of the Presence of God. He was at Community Prayer (the ‘Observance’, as it was called in the old days) as often as his health allowed him. His outstanding virtue was his charity: he shrank from saying the least word that would denigrate any of his brethren. He was ‘de familia’ in Herne Bay, and in Carmarthen, two Retreats dedicated to the Mother of God. It was in the Welsh Retreat that God called him to his reward in Heaven, at the age of 80. May we learn from the example of his life. SOURCES: Anglo-Hibernian Catalogue 1893 No. 91 Anglo-Hibernian Catalogue 1917 No. 37 Obituary 1949.01.16 ————————– Father Hilarion Gallagher, C.P. By the death of Father Hilarion (Gallagher), C.P., which occurred at St. Mary’s Retreat, Carmarthen, Wales on January 16th, St. Joseph’s Province has lost one of its oldest members. Born on October 1st, 1869, at Tubercurry, Co. Sligo, Martin Gallagher entered the Passionist Congregation at the age of nineteen, taking the name of Hilarion of the Mother of God. He made his religious profession at St. Saviour’s, Broadway on November 1st, 1889, and was ordained at Highgate, London on November 17th, 1895. Three years ago, he had the happiness of celebrating the Golden jubilee of his ordination. THE first half of his priestly life was spent in the Passionist Retreats at Dublin and Belfast. On the division of the former Anglo-Hibernian Province in 1927, Fr. Hilarion remained in St. Joseph’s Province, where for more than twenty-seven years he was a member of the community of St. Mary’s Retreat, Carmarthen. The late Fr. Hilarion was of a very retiring disposition, and preferred to spend his time in the seclusion of the cloister, not seeking any save the most necessary contacts with the outside world. To his brethren he was known as an authority on dogmatic theology, and he also specialised in church history. He was very widely read, and possessed a keen and cultured intelligence; but he eschewed all publicity, and devoted himself to the cultivation of the interior life. Two of his brothers survive him in the priesthood Right Rev. J. Gallagher, P.P., Dean of Achonry and V. Rev. T. P. Canon Gallagher, P.P., Bohola. By his passing at the ripe age of eighty years, the Passionist Congregation has lost one of its most esteemed and venerated figures. R.I.P. (The Cross, Vol. XXXIX, 1948-49; p. 294) OBITUARY NOTICE OF FATHER HILARION GALLAGHER OF THE MOTHER OF GOD Father Hilarion of the Mother of God, called in the world Martin Gallagher, was a near relative of two distinguished and remembered Passionists of the former Anglo-Hibernian Province. Father Pius Divine and Father Arthur Divine, his cousin was found time, in the midst of a busy missionary life, to enrich the Catholic literature of their day with many published works, some of which had an almost worldwide circulation and are still held in high favour by both by clergy and laity. It was probably due to the influence and reputation of those two devoted priests that young Martin Gallagher felt the first stirrings of a vocation to the Congregation of the Passion. Son of James Gallagher and Mary Durkan, he was born in Tubbercury in county of Sligo and the diocese of Achonry, Ireland, on the 1st of October 1869. The character of his home may be inferred from the fact that it gave two other priest and a nun to the service of the Church. He received a sound early education in the ecclesiastical seminary of his native diocese and at 20 years of age he entered the Passionist Novitiate St Saviour’s Retreat, Broadway. Here he was trained in the spiritual life by the saintly novice master, Fr. Raymond Disano, a contemporary and disciple of the Venerable of Fr Dominic, and made his religious profession on 1st November, 1890. His studies for the priesthood were chiefly made St. Joseph’s Retreat, Highgate, where he was regarded both by his superiors and his fellow students as the most brilliant of his class and a model for all in his devotion to study and in his fidelity to the regular observance. He was ordained priest in St Joseph’s Church, Highgate, on the 17th of November 1895, by Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster. Father Hilarion was gifted with a singular clear and penetrating mind, well disciplined by study and well stocked with knowledge. He was, moreover, distinguished by a deep, simple and unostentatious piety founded in his devotion to the passion of Christ and to the Mother of Sorrows. With such mental and spiritual equipment it is little wonder that hopes were entertained of his future services to the Congregation, but he was haunted by the spectre of ill-health from the close of his student days to the end of his life. And though in the early years of his priesthood he was preparing and hopeful for an active and fruitful career in the missions, it soon became evident to his superiors that he was unfit to endure the physical strains of mission work, indeed, prolonged application of any kind. He was just condemned by circumstances to lead the life of a semi-invalid. But it was a life which continually aimed, in spite of circumstances, at the fulfilment of the Passionist ideal. It was a life of study. He had acquired a profound knowledge especially old dogmatic theology. And in this respect he may be said to have been a man of one book — the Summa of St Thomas, which he apparently had had at his finger-ends. It was always a pleasure to consult him on any point of dispute difficulty and to listen to the definite and clear-cut exposition of his views. It was also I life of prayer. He was devoted to the religious observance and, so far as his health permitted, was assiduous in his attendance at choir. He shrank from contact with the outside world except what duty imposed upon him and seemed to live constantly in the presence of God. The society of his own brethren was sufficient for him, and without it being in the least conscious of it, he was a continual example to them of the virtues most needed in community life. Perhaps the most notable of these virtues was the charity which made him shrink from saying, or even hearing, a word to the detriment of others, and always showed a readiness to praise even when praise was least merited. As to himself, he avoided saying anything or seeking anything and his humility and poverty were in strict line with his fraternal charity. St. Paul of the Cross has said that “the common life is the foundation stone of religious perfection: where that flourishes the observance of the Holy Rule and will flourish: silence and prayer will flourish”. That simple principle of holy founder was well illustrated in the life of Fr Hilarion. His religious life was mostly passed in the retreats of St Mary’s, Herne Bay, and St. Mary’s Carmarthen. It was in this later retreat that his soul returned to God, fortified by the rites of Holy Church and the prayers and t assistance of us brethren on January the 16th 1949. May he rest in peace. .