James Aloysius Cullen (23 October 1841
New Ross County Wexford - 6 December 1921 Dublin) was an Irish Catholic priest who founded the Irish ''
Messenger of the Sacred Heart
The ''Messenger of the Sacred Heart'' is a Roman Catholic periodical; the print organ of the Apostleship of Prayer, a pious association founded in nineteenth century France by the Jesuits. There are many editions in various languages, promoting dev ...
'' and the
Pioneer Total Abstinence Association
The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart (PTAA) is an international organisation for Roman Catholic teetotalers that is based in Ireland. Its members are commonly called Pioneers. While the PTAA does not advocate prohibition, ...
(PTAA)
Life
James Aloysius Cullen was born the 23 October 1841
New Ross County Wexford and received his early schooling at the school of the
Christian School Brothers in his native village before entering the Jesuit High School of
Clongowes Woods in 1856. Believing that
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
were involved only in educational work, in 1861 he chose to enter the
seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
(
St. Patrick's, Carlow College
St Patrick's, Carlow College, is a liberal arts college located in Carlow, Ireland. The college is the second oldest third level institution in Ireland and was founded in 1782 by James Keefe, then Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, an ...
)
[Our Founding Father James Cullen SJ](_blank)
Catholic Ireland. for the
diocese of Ferns for which he was ordained
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
on 28 October 1864, in
Carlow. He was appointed curate in Wexford where he introduced the Christmascrib.
["FatherJames A. Cullen, SJ", Jesuit Stamps]
/ref> From there, he was assigned in 1866 to Enniscorthy
Enniscorthy () is the second-largest town in County Wexford, Ireland. At the 2016 census, the population of the town and environs was 11,381. The town is located on the picturesque River Slaney and in close proximity to the Blackstairs Mountain ...
. It was there, Cullen first became concerned with men spending their money on drink. He worked with local businessmen to improve housing for boatmen carrying goods between Enniscorthy and Wexford.[Kennedy, Fionnula. "The remarkable legacy of the Pioneers'', ''The Irish Catholic'', December 27, 2018]
/ref>
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1881 and took his first vows at Milltown Park
Milltown () is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland. Milltown was the site of several working mills on the River Dodder and is also the location of the meeting of the River Slang with the Dodder. It is located adjacent to other suburban ...
in 1883. After studies in Louvain, Belgium, he returned to Dublin, where, he served as vice-rector at Belvedere College. In 1884, he was appointed spiritual father at Belvedere, a position he retained for twenty years while also engaged in other ministry.
James Joyce
Cullen was founder and director of the Sodality of Our Lady at the college, which duties included counseling students. In 1896, James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
was elected Student Prefect of the Society. Although not officially an instructor, he impressed on them that "the Old Testament Hebrews were the spiritual fathers of Christianity".[Davison, Neil R. Davison. ''James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Construction of Jewish Identity'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 45]
/ref> According to Neil R. Davison, the sermons in Chapter III of ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional al ...
'' are modeled on those given by Cullen during a retreat held in 1897.[
]
Apostleship of Prayer
In November 1887, Cullen was appointed director for Ireland of the Apostleship of Prayer, to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart. To that end, in 1888, he founded the Irish ''Messenger of the Sacred Heart
The ''Messenger of the Sacred Heart'' is a Roman Catholic periodical; the print organ of the Apostleship of Prayer, a pious association founded in nineteenth century France by the Jesuits. There are many editions in various languages, promoting dev ...
'' which he saw as a means to promote temperance, by presenting temperance as an expression of one’s devotion to the Sacred Heart.[ Though primarily a vehicle for the promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart, Cullen also utilized the Messenger for the propagation of devotion to Mary.Jesuit Sodalities in Dublin]
/ref>
In February 1892, Cullen travelled to the Cape Colony of South Africa and kept a lengthy diary with a view to future articles in the Messenger. While there, he preached missions and gave retreats.[Morrissey SJ, Thomas J., "Our founding father", ''The Messenger'', January 2008]
/ref>
PTAA
In 1898 he founded the PTAA.[ An extremely devout, if rather gloomy, man, he was a good organiser, who worked with great energy over many years to perfect the institution he had created. In 1899 he returned to the Cape Colony, and gave a retreat, to a British regiment. In 1904, Cullen was transferred to Gardiner Street and removed from the editorship of the Messenger. He focused his efforts on the Pioneer League and built St Francis Xavier’s Hall where he organised drama societies, Irish language classes, debates and other activities to enrich the lives of the people.][ He was a supporter of the Gaelic League.
Cullen died in Dublin 6 December 1921.
]
Further reading
* McKenna, Lambert. ''Life and work of Rev. James Aloysius Cullen, S. J.'', Longmans, Green and Co., 1924
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, James
1841 births
1921 deaths
20th-century Irish Jesuits
Irish temperance activists
Faculty of Belvedere College
Alumni of Carlow College
19th-century Irish Jesuits