INTERCOM
FEB 2020
FROM EASTER WEEK TO FLANDERS FIELD The Diaries and Letters of John Delaney SJ, 1916-1919 Thomas J. Morrissey SJ
Messenger Publications, 2015
Dr Thomas J Morrissey, in this record of the writings of John Delaney SJ, has done great justice to the indepth diary entries of his fellow Jesuit.
The first part of this book deals with the personal diary of Fr Delaney, as it records the
events of the 1916 Rising. The diary not only reports incidents as they occur; it also conveys Fr Delaney's personal queries and insights. At one stage, he refers to what he presumes to be 'wild reports': '
Fr
Mccann states that Libery Hall was blown to bits ... His brother is reported as saying that 5000 troops had landed that morning and were marching on Dublin and that artillery had gone out to the hills.'
Fr Delaney sets out to check the veracity of these and other stories. It is this constant exposition and investigation of incidents that virtually brings the reader onto the streets. The eyewitness reports are further enhanced with images, such as a copy of Fr Delaney's Day Pass, granted by the police so that the military would grant the bearer access. Another photograph is of the envelope in which Fr Delaney placed a piece of the cloth from the coat which Padraig Pearse was wearing when he was shot.
The second part of the book provides the reader with a view of the experiences of Fr Delaney in 1917, as he works as a chaplain to the troops in the battlefields of Europe. It gives a harrowing portrayal of what was experienced by those who took part in the war. As the author, Thomas J Morrissey, reflects at the end of the book: 'Through his life there had run a deep personal devotion to Jesus Christ as his leader and friend and a trust that when his hour came there would be no need to explain anything, that, in the comforting adapted words of a distinguished Irish priest poet, he would row across the short channel to the mainland:
And find Him standing Where the white shingle Drops deeply into sea Waiting to gather him Under His russet coat.'
(Padraig Daly, OSA, The Resurrection, 2010)
A beautifully-written book, which not only highlights the contribution of Fr Delaney to both battlefields, but shows a sensitivity towards and insight into the man behind the story. It will appeal not only to historians, but also to those who celebrate the contribution that one person can make to both the living and dyig of many others.
-- Dr Ruth Forrest * Intercom *
Dr Thomas J Morrissey, in this record of the writings of John Delaney SJ, has done great justice to the in-depth diary entries of his fellow Jesuit. A beautifully-written book, which not only highlights the contribution of Fr Delaney to both battlefields, but shos a sensitivity towards and insight into the man behind the story.
-- Dr Ruth Forrest * Intercom *
