Rev James LonerganTitle: Rev First Name: James Middle Names: Preferred Name: Surname: Lonergan Order: Date of Birth: 17-Apr-1859 Place of Birth: Peckham Country of Birth: England Date of Ordination: 11-Mar-1883 Place of Ordination: All Hallows, Dublin Country of Ordination: Ireland Ordination Diocese: Brisbane Seminary: All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland Appointments Table
Items per page: 0 of 0 Biographical NotesOverland Passengers, The Telegraph, Brisbane, 23 October 1890, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172332090: Wallangarra, October 21, 6 p.m. --- Departures, Evening Observer, Brisbane, 3 August 1891, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article286993407: August 8.—Jumna, R.M.S., 5197 tons, Captain A. Sanders, for London, via ports. Passengers:— [...] Brisbane to London, Rev. J. Lonergan. [...] --- Kevin Condon, CM, The Missionary College of All Hallows 1842-1891, Dublin, 1986. Appendix: Matricula 1842-91: No. 1637 James Lonergan, 1881, Mill Hill College. Of William and Mary Moynihan, St Luke's, Westminster; b. 17.4.'59. Ord. for Brisbane, 11.3.'83 (Bp Crane). Warwick - Dalby - a short time in Armidale dioc. Returned to London in 1891: St Magdalen's, Brighton - Bermondsey - PP, Herne Hill, 1906-36. Died in retirement, 30.3.1938. (AHA 1910, 166.) --- T.W. Campbell, The Priests of the Diocese of Armidale: A Necrology, Braddon ACT, 2005: Listed in E J Doody, Acta et Statuta 1951, Appendix VI, Obituary List, in the section headed 'supplementary list of priests who have also worked in the diocese', but with no details other than the period he reputedly worked in the diocese, in this case 1890 - 1891. (Reproduced by permission of Tom Campbell.) --- Prayer Calendar: Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts, 1864–2025, Compiled by Annie Carrett, Diocesan Archivist, 2001, Updated by Gabrielle Saide, Diocesan Archivist, 2023: Born in Ireland, studied at All Hallows. Served in Dioceses of Brisbane and Armidale. Pugh's list Fr Lonergan as serving in Dalby 1883-1890. By 1921, he had returned to London according to a commemorative booklet printed in Dalby during that year. Reproduced by permission of Bishop Ken Howell. --- Denis M. Long, Pioneer and Early Priests, Archdiocese of Brisbane, Deceased or retired by 1929, 2021, p 86 [also includes a photo]: This priest is not to be confused with Fr Thomas Lonergan OSB who was in Queensland in the 1860s. James Lonergan was born the son of William and Mary (nee Moynihan) Lonergan of St Luke parish Peckham in the diocese of Westminster in England on 17 April 1859. He entered Mill Hill College but in 1881 transferred to the All Hallows Missionary College at Drumcondra in Ireland. On 11 March 1883 Father Lonergan was ordained at All Hallows for the diocese of Brisbane by Bishop Crane.(1) He arrived in Sydney with Fr Francis Dorrigan. They arrived in Brisbane aboard the coastal steamer Wentworth on 14 June 1883. He is first mentioned as serving in the parish of Dalby in 1883. He was there for about eight years, last being mentioned there in the 1890 listing.(2) Apparently during those years he spent some time in Warwick, Nanango, Gayndah and in the Armidale diocese.(3) Sadly, as with a number of the priests from Ireland, the climate of Queensland took a toll on his health. Some were said to be sun-struck. Dr Neil Byrne writes: Clerical breakdowns were common and embarrassing for the catholic community. In April 1890 Father James Lonergan was admitted to the Goodna psychiatric asylum under restraint, believing he was the real pope and demanding to be recognised as such by the reigning pontiff. … (Bishop) Dunne's asceticism made him indifferent to the difficulties experienced by his priests. (4) It appears that when Fr Lonergan was released from that institution he left Brisbane for the Armidale diocese. A NSW Government Gazette records Rev Fr Lonergan as living in Armidale in September-October 1891. All Hallows records reveal that he returned to London in 1891. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Southwark. He ministered in the parishes of St Magdalen's Brighton and Bermondsey before becoming parish priest of Herne Hill where he served from 1906 until 1936.(5) In 1911, at the age of 52, James had his mother Mary, aged 82, and his sister Mary, aged 47, living with him and no doubt keeping house for him.(6) He died at Brighton in Sussex in 1938.(7) According to a commemorative booklet, printed in Dalby in 1921, he had returned to England, on 2 August 1891. He died on 30 March 1938.(8) He was just eighteen days short of his seventy-ninth birthday. Footnotes Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long. |