Rev. James Bernard Dollard ("Father Dollard") (1872–1946) was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

parish priest and noted poet.

Life

He was born at

Mooncoin Mooncoin () is a census town in County Kilkenny, in Ireland. The population was 1,175 in 2016. Historically part of the Gaelic kingdom of Osraige, today it is in the far south of the county of Kilkenny, located in the valley of the River Suir ...

, County Kilkenny, Ireland, 30 August 1872, to Michael and Anastasia (Quinn) Dollard, the youngest son in a large family. After taking the course in Classics at

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

, he sailed in 1890 for

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada. He graduated from the Grand Seminary of Montreal and received from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Lux ...

the degrees of Bachelor of Theology and Bachelor of Canon Law. The same university conferred on him in 1916, the honorary degree of Litt.D. He was ordained to the priesthood in December 1896. He served as a curate in St. Helen's Church, and St. Mary's Church, Toronto, and for nine years, parish priest of Uptergrove, Ontario before he became the parish priest of St. Monica's Church, North Toronto. He published two volumes of poems ''Irish Mist and Sunshine'' (1902) and ''Poems'' (1910), and a volume of short stories entitled ''The Gaels of Moondharrig''. He sometimes wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of ''Sliav-na-mon''. In a lecture on "The War and the Poets," delivered in Toronto, 1916, Mr.

Joyce Kilmer Alfred Joyce Kilmer (December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection ''Trees and Other Poems'' in 1914. Though a prolific poet wh ...

, poetry editor of the Literary Digest, declared that Father Dollard's sonnet was the best poem that had appeared on the death of Rupert Brooke. He died in 1946.

References

External links

''Poems'' (1910)Sisters Respond to the Call
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollard, James B. Irish male poets 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 1872 births 1946 deaths Canadian male poets Irish emigrants to Canada (before 1923) 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish male writers 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers People from County Kilkenny Université Laval alumni