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Rev James Lonergan

Title:

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

Date of Death:

30-Mar-1938

Place of Death:

Brighton, Sussex

Country of Death:

England

Date of Burial:

1938

Place of Burial:

Country of Burial:

England

Find A Grave URL:


Appointments Table

Diocese
Place
Role
Start Day
Start Month
Start Year
End Day
End Month
End Year
Source
Brisbane Dalby1883Fr Denis Long, Pioneer and Early Priests
Brisbane NanangoFr Denis Long, Pioneer and Early Priests
Brisbane GayndahFr Denis Long, Pioneer and Early Priests
Armidale ArmidaleFr Denis Long, Pioneer and Early Priests
Items per page:
0 of 0


Biographical Notes

Overland Passengers, The Telegraph, Brisbane, 23 October 1890, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172332090:

Wallangarra, October 21, 6 p.m.
[...] For Toowoomba—[...] Rev. J. Lonergan, [...]

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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. [...]

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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.)

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T.W. Campbell, The Priests of the Diocese of Armidale: A Necrology, Braddon ACT, 2005:
Lonergan, James

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.
No details are held about a priest by this name or somebody closely resembling this name living and working in New South Wales at about this time. The source that resulted in Bishop Doody's listing is unknown.
(Sources: Doody, MDHC A-Z L70).

(Reproduced by permission of Tom Campbell.)

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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:
Rev James Lonergan, died 30 Mar 1938

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.
(Ref. Linane L70 and Pugh's)

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]:
Fr James Lonergan

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
1. Kevin Condon cm, The Missionary College of All Hallows 1842-1891, 1986, student 1637, p. 351.
2. Prayer Calendar - Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts 1864-2007.
3. W T Southerwood, Prayer Calendar of Deceased Priests & Deacons in Australia 1788–2009, p. 42.
4. Neil J Byrne, Robert Dunne - Archbishop of Brisbane, 1991, p. 165.
5. Kevin Condon op. cit.
6. English Census 1911.
7. English Death Registrations.
8. Prayer Calendar - Deceased Priests who have ministered the Catholic Faith throughout Toowoomba and districts 1864-2007.

Reproduced by permission of Fr Denis Long.

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