(d. 17th February 1929, aged 76 years.)
Within the space of ten days, St. Patrick’s Province of the Passionists has had to mourn the deaths of two outstanding priests whom it could in afford to lose Fr. Augustine, lent to St. Joseph’s Province, who died at Highgate, London, on 7th February, and Fr. Cyprian, who died at Mount Argus, Dublin, on Sunday, 17th February. A memoir of Fr. Augustine is appended.
Fr. Cyprian was born in Ballybeg, Co. Tipperary, on 29th June, 1853. He came of a stock of strong and healthy Catholics known for their loyalty to Faith and Motherland. Throughout his long life he clung tenaciously to the traditions of his forbears. In early youth he came to Dublin and was engaged in business till, at the age of 22 yeas, he sought admission to the Passionist Congregation.
Having completed his ecclesiastical studies, he was ordained priest, and soon afterwards was appointed to the important office of Spiritual Director to the Professed Students. This duty he performed for several years, and relinquished it only when the call came for volunteers to work amongst the Irish immigrants in the Argentine Republic. It was a call that strongly appealed to his inborn love for his fellow-countrymen. He offered himself for the work; his offer was accepted, and with two companions he set sail for his distant mission.
The district assigned to him was large, and the immigrants were scattered amongst distant ranches, with neither church nor school. He threw himself wholeheartedly into his work. He sought out his Irish flock, collected funds, and in a comparatively short time had his mission fully equipped for every purpose. His earnestness appealed to his people; his unobtrusive piety was recognised and appreciated; and the mission he founded still flourishes where his name endures to this day. Having consolidated the work which was given him to do, he returned after ten years of arduous labour.
The fame of his zeal and ability preceded him, and he was chosen Rector of our monasteries at Birmingham, Glasgow, Carmarthen, Belfast, and Herne Bay successively. It can be truly said of him that he left every Retreat of which he was Superior better than he found it. He was an able administrator and had the rare gift of combining financial success with ample generosity. He was a kind and approachable Superior, and, while avoiding undue publicity, gained the confidence and esteem of all who came in contact with him.
When the Angle-Hibernian Province of St. Joseph was divided by the Holy See in February, 1927, Fr. Cyprian was Superior of Herne Bay. Being named First Provincial Consultor of the new Province of St. Patrick, he resigned his Superiorship, and took up his residence at Mount Argus. Though advanced in years and somewhat broken in health, he sought no dispensation from the common life and observance.
During the first days of February he contracted influenza, and did his best to shake it off. It was not long, however, till his medical attendant saw that his chance of recovery was but slight. Later on he himself realised his danger, and when the Fr. Provincial administered the Last Sacraments to him, he was fully conscious and answered the prayers in a clear and audible voice. He cheerfully resigned himself to God’s Holy Will, and spent his last days in fervent prayers and pious ejaculations. His end came peacefully on the morning of February 17th whilst his brethren were gathered around his bed reciting, with Fr. Provincial, the prayers for the dying.
The obsequies took place at St. Paul’s, Mount Argus, on Tuesday, February 19th. The Office of the Dead having been chanted, Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated by Very Rev. Fr. Sebastian, C.P. (Provincial). The interment took place immediately afterwards in the private cemetery in the grounds of the Retreat, in presence of a representative gathering of the secular and regular clergy and a large number of the faithful.
(ex. “The Cross”, March 1929, Vol. XIX, P. 392.)