Stephen James Meridith Brown (born 24 September 1881 in

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

, County Down,

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, died on the 8th of May 1962, in Kilcrony,

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has a ...

, Ireland) was an Irish

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest, writer, bibliographer and librarian. He founded the Central Catholic Library ( ga, Leabharlann an Chreidimh) in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Life

Although he was born in County Down, Stephen Brown spent his early years in

Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...

, County Kildare, where his father was a solicitor and Chairman of Kildare County Council (1899–1911). He was educated at

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

and entered the Jesuit noviceship in 1897. He studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

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, and was ordained in 1914. He initially taught at Maynooth College, and afterwards established the post-graduate school in librarianship at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

, an interest he maintained for some 24 years. In 1922 he set up the Central Catholic Library, where he later served as director. He served on the Hospital Library Council and as Director of the Academy of Christian Art. In 1953 he received a certificate of Honorary Fellowship from the Library Association of Ireland, for his contribution to the development of the library profession in Ireland. While involved with the Central Catholic Library and other, mainly library-based, activities, he was also a prolific writer of books, bibliographies and articles of all kinds up to the end of his life. In September 1960, Fr Brown became incapacitated as the result of a serious road accident in London. A fractured skull and rib injuries forced him to spend four months in the

Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, London, England, is a Catholic charitable general hospital in north London. History and operations The hospital was founded in 1856 with a Roman Catholic affiliation and is a register ...

in Grove End Road in London. He returned to Dublin but never recovered from his injuries. He died in

Milltown, Dublin 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 suburba ...

Works by Stephen Brown

The following is a small selection of the many works by Stephen Brown, S.J.: *''A Reader's Guide to Irish Fiction'' (1910) *''A Guide to Books on Ireland'' (Dublin: Talbot 1912) *''The Question of Irish Nationality'' (Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker 1913) *''The Realm of Poetry: An Introduction''(London: George G. Harrap & Company Ltd 1921) * ** Reprinted Shannon: IUP 1969 ** The first edition of Fr. Brown's ''Ireland in Fiction'' (1916) was printed by Maunsel but was destroyed by fire in the 1916 Rising. * *''The Central Catholic Library. The first ten years of an Irish enterprise.'' 1932. *''Poetry of Irish History, being a new and enlarged edition of Historical Ballad Poetry of Ireland'', ed. M. J. Brown (Dublin: Talbot Press 1927) *''Novels and Tales by Catholic Writers'' (Dublin, 1930) *''Catholic Juvenile Literature: A Classified List'' (London: Burns, Oates & Co. 1935) *''The Press in Ireland: A Survey and a Guide''. (Dublin: Browne & Nolan 1937). *''The Crusade for a Better World (on Riccardo Lombardi)'' (Dublin: Irish Messenger, 1956)

References

Other sources

* * * *

External links

Website of the Central Catholic Library, Dublin
Includes a biography and pictures of Father Brown. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Stephen 1881 births 1962 deaths 20th-century Irish Jesuits Irish religious writers Irish librarians Bibliographers People from Holywood, County Down People educated at Clongowes Wood College