Jesuit Was Awarded The "Medal Of Honor"

Get to Know … Fr. Joseph O' Callahan, S.J.

Joseph Timothy O'Callahan (May 14, 1905 - March 18, 1964) was a Jesuit priest who would later be described as "the bravest man I ever saw" by his commanding officer on the aircraft carrier Franklin.

O' Callahan was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during World War II. Specializing in mathematics and physics in addition to religious philosophy, he was ordained in the Jesuit Order in 1934.

He spent time teaching at Boston College, the Jesuit Seminary of Weston College and the College of Holy Cross. He was appointed Lieutenant, J.G., in the Chaplain Corps of the U.S. Navy Reserve on Aug. 7, 1940.

While in active service, O'Callahan reported aboard the USS Franklin on March 2, 1945, just 17 days before it was severely damaged by two bombs from a Japanese aircraft that attacked the carrier at dawn.

Although wounded by one of the explosions after the attack, O'Callahan moved about the exposed and slanting flight deck administering the last rites to the dying, comforting the wounded, and

leading officers and crewmen into the flames to carry hot bombs and shells to the edge of the deck for jettisoning.

For his action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. O'Callahan returned to Holy Cross College in the fall of 1948 as a philosophy professor. He died in 1964 and is buried in the Jesuit cemetery on campus. His Medal of Honor resides in the archives at the college. Fr. O' Callahan also wrote a book about his experiences called, I Was Chaplain on the Franklin .

Link (here)

Read more (here) at McNamara's Blog

240 Years Ago In Guam

Nov. 2, 1769 -- 240 years ago -- Jesuits were expelled from the Marianas, leaving all possessions behind. The Jesuits left the spiritual responsibilities of Guam with the fathers of the Order of St. Augustin; their farms soon lay fallow and the animals ran wild.

Jesuit land holdings were extensive. Their major properties consisted of all churches and rectories in Guam and Rota, the College of San Juan de Letran and all that pertained to it, an apothecary, and several ranches, which were well kept and well stocked.

Because of their expanding political power, influence and wealth, the Jesuits were jealously feared by monarchs and other religious orders in Europe. As a consequence, the destruction of the order was planned by the European heads of state. The Jesuits were expelled from Portugal in 1759, from France in 1764, and on Feb. 27, 1767, Charles III of Spain issued the proclamation of confiscation of all Spanish possessions of Jesuits and Jesuit land. All Jesuits were required to return to Spain.

Link (here)

South Pacific Jesuits Greet Apostalic Nuncio And New Prefect

January 6 is the date of the Solemnity of Epiphany, one of the great feasts in the Roman Catholic Church. This year on that day the new Apostolic Prefect of the Marshall Islands, Fr. Raymundo T. Sabio, MSC, was installed by Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo, Apostolic Nuncio. The nuncio, from Brooklyn, New York City, is based in New Zealand and is the Vatican’s envoy to that country and to ten other island nations in the South Pacific. The ceremony took place in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Uliga, Majuro. At the same time, the care of the Prefecture was transferred from the Jesuits to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC).

The presence of Archbishop Anthony Apuron OFMCap of Agaña, Guam, was highly appreciated. He was present as President of the Pacific Episcopal Conference (CEPAC) and as the Metropolitan Archbishop under whose jurisdiction the Prefecture of the Marshall Islands belongs. Also gracing the occasion were five Jesuits: Fr. Ken Hesel SJ, Jesuit Superior of the Region of Micronesia, Fr. James C. Gould SJ, the former Apostolic Prefect, Fr. Richard McAuliff SJ, Fr. Tom McGrath SJ and Fr Arthur Leger SJ.

Link (here) to Fr. Sean Coyle's original post and his blog entitled Bangor to Bobbio.

Jesuit Father San Vitores: Martyr And Missionary To Guam

Read a detailed account of Fr. Deigo Luis de San Vitores, S.J.
in the book called Destiny's Landfall: The History of Guam (here)