Leo Madigan (28 September 1939 – 25 July 2015) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

author who settled in

Fátima, Portugal Fátima () is a city in the municipality of Ourém and district of Santarém in the Central Region of Portugal, with 71.29 km2 of area and 13,212 inhabitants (2021). The homonymous civil parish encompasses several villages and localities of ...

Early life and education

Madigan attended Saint Thomas' preparatory school in

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Lower Hutt, New Zealand Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, run by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

, and the Sacred Heart secondary school in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, run by the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

. He went to sea as Catering Boy, MV ''Wendover'',

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1956. From 1958–1960 he was a novitiate with the Trappist religious order (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance).

Career

After work as a psychiatric nurse and a short spell in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

, Madigan appeared in minor roles on the London stage in 1963. From 1964–75 he was a rating in the

British Merchant Navy The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguar ...

. Madigan then attended Sidney Webb College and was awarded the

BEd A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

degree of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1978. From 1979–81 he worked in the educational arm of

The Marine Society The Marine Society is a British charity, the world's first established for seafarers. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War against France, Austria, and Saxony (and subsequently the Mughal Empire, Spain, Russia and Sweden) Britain urg ...

, edited ''The Seafarer'' magazine and taught at Gravesend Sea School. He taught at Fatih Lisesi (Fatih High School) in

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, Turkey from 1981–82. He sailed to the Falkland Islands on MV ''Uganda'' for the Marine Society in 1982 before teaching in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

from 1983–88. In 1988, Madigan moved to Fuseta, in

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, where he worked as a local journalist and published several books. He moved to the world-famous Marian apparitions city of Fátima, Portugal, in 1998, where he has published extensively about the Shrine (the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima), about Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar and other Catholic-oriented works.

Bibliography

Non Fiction

Madigan has written short articles for ''The Seafarer'', ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'', ''Fairplay International Shipping Weekly'' and ''Catholic Life'' in the UK, ''Soul'' in the US and many English language publications in Portugal. His full-length works are: * ''Random Jottings for Young Seafarers''. 1978. Marine Society * ''Safe or Sorry''. 1980. Marine Society * ''The Devil is a Jackass''. 1996. Gracewing. (UK). * ''The Catholic Quiz Book''. 1996. Gracewing. (UK). * ''The Fatima Handbook''. 2000. Gracewing. (UK). * ''What Happened at Fatima''. 2000. CTS. (UK). ; Fatima-Ophel. 2000. (Portugal). * ''Princesses of the Kingdom''. 2001. Kolbe. (Cork, Ireland). ; 2003. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Children of Fatima''. 2003. Our Sunday Visitor. (USA). * ''Why Fátima?'' 2004. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''Armchair Fátima''. 2005. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''Alexandrina da Costa''. 2005. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The 2nd Catholic Quiz Book''. 2006. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Fatima Guide''. 2007. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Irish Monstrance''. 2009. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''Exquisite Miniature''. 2011. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Golden Book of Fatima''. 2013. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Fatima Prayer Book''. 2014 (9th printing). Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal).

Fiction

In addition to short stories appearing in ''The Seafarer'' and ''East End Magazine'' in the UK and ''The Algarve Magazine'' in Portugal, Madigan has written the following full length fictional works: * ''Jackarandy''. 1972. Elek. (UK), Quartet, 1974, * ''The Bank of Infinite Reserves''. 1987. Fatima-Ophel. (Portugal). * ''The Weka-Feather Cloak''. Bethlehem Books. (USA) 2002. * ''Who Told You You Were Naked?'' Fatima-Orphel. (Portugal) 2008. * ''Crystal Ball Cameos'' Fatima Books. 2014.

Prizes and awards

* ''Jackarandy'' ** Arts Council Award 1974 * ''The Will of Quintus Kirkwood'' ** 2nd prize Yeovil Short Story Competition 2010 ** shortlisted for Fountane Book Publishing 2010 competition ** 1st prize Dream Quest Writing Competition, Chicago, Il. USA 2010 ** (as ''Where There's a Will''), 1st prize Moyama Competition 2010; Published in ''Moyama Annual Review'' 2011 ** (as ''Where There's a Will''), 2nd place Calderdale Short Story Competition 2011 * ''Those Gorgeous Ghosts'' (as ''Brighter Than New Coins'') ** 1st prize ''Chudleigh Phoenix'' 2012 Short Story Competition * ''The Bogus Confession'' ** (as ''The Old Man From the Garden''), Ashby de la Zouch Writers' Club 2010; 3rd place ** 3rd prize, Deddington Writing Competition 2011 * ''The Seduction of Fausto Batista'' ** shortlisted, New Writer prose prize 2010. 2nd place * ''The Kambala Buffaloes'' ** University of Plymouth Press Short Story Competition 2011 ** Eric Hoffer Awards finalist; published in ''Best New Writing'' 2013, Hopewell Publication, New Jersey, USA ** 2nd place William van Dyke Short Story Prize 2011 ** 1st runner-up Colonnade Writing Contest 2011 * ''The Protest of Able'' ** Highly Commended in ''The New Writer'' 2011 Prose & Poetry Prizes, Cranbrook UK * ''The Siberian Swimmer'' ** Runner-up for The Fulton Prize, ''Adirondack Review'' 2011 * ''The Other Two'' ** 1st prize, ''The Write Helper'' Story Contest 2011

References

Interview:

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

Bookmark – 2012-06-10 –

External links

Leo Madigan Books official website

Leo Madigan Books on iBooks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madigan, Leo Christian writers New Zealand writers People from Nelson, New Zealand 1939 births Living people