Page 13 - The Gonzaga Record 1994
P. 13
FR EDMOND MURPHY sj
Prefect of Studies 1965-7
IF ONLY TO JOG THE memories of those past pupils who knew Fr Eddie I
shall begin my small tribute by putting him into his proper context in Gonzaga
history.
He came to Gonzaga in the August of 1965 to assume the role of Prefect of
Studies (the title ‘H eadm aster’ had not yet arrived) in succession to Fr Bill
White who was kicked upstairs to be the Rector in place of Fr John Hughes. He
came to us after fifteen very successful years as Prefect of Studies of the Junior
School in Belvedere and, when he departed again in 1967, he was sucked back
once more into the life of that college, where he remained a superb teacher of
English and French until the years caught up on him. He was succeeded in
Gonzaga by Fr Paul Andrews.
His two years among us were significant in many ways. Apart from his own
substantial contribution to the academic life of the college, these were years
when the lay staff included such notable personalities as Cathal O ’Gara, Ray
Kearns, John Wilson, Tom O ’Dea and Edmundo Volpi. while among the Jesuits
on active service in the classroom were Fr Joe Veale, Fr Joe Kavanagh, Fr Bill
Lee, Fr D iarm uid O ’L aoghaire, Fr John O ’Leary, the two Fr Redm onds
(Stephen and John), Fr Fred Cull, Fr (then ‘M r’) Michael Sheil, and myself.
His arrival in Gonzaga coincided with the erection of the great steel frame that
was the skeleton of the present Boys’ Chapel. 1966 was also the year when a
large group of our senior boys marched in the 1916 Anniversary Schools’
Procession to Croke Park, proudly carrying the tricolour and the school pennant,
and the Proclamation was solemnly unveiled in the school theatre by Cathal
Brugha, grandson of the 1916 leader, and read aloud by the captain, James
O ’Rourke. It was in this year too that Barry Bresnihan got his first call-up as
centre-three-quarter against England at Twickenham.
Fr Eddie Murphy was a man of many parts. Limerick-born, he received his
early education at the CBS in Sexton St, but did not enter the Society of Jesus
immediately after his secondary schooling. Indeed, he had already attained the
ripe age of 24 and had some two-and-a-half years’ teaching in a national school
behind him before he appeared on the steps of Em o Park to begin his
noviceship. He then followed the normal course of Jesuit formation - two years’
noviciate, three years attending UCD from Rathfarnham Castle and equipping
himself with his BA and HDip in Ed. three years’ philosophy in Tullabeg, a
5
Prefect of Studies 1965-7
IF ONLY TO JOG THE memories of those past pupils who knew Fr Eddie I
shall begin my small tribute by putting him into his proper context in Gonzaga
history.
He came to Gonzaga in the August of 1965 to assume the role of Prefect of
Studies (the title ‘H eadm aster’ had not yet arrived) in succession to Fr Bill
White who was kicked upstairs to be the Rector in place of Fr John Hughes. He
came to us after fifteen very successful years as Prefect of Studies of the Junior
School in Belvedere and, when he departed again in 1967, he was sucked back
once more into the life of that college, where he remained a superb teacher of
English and French until the years caught up on him. He was succeeded in
Gonzaga by Fr Paul Andrews.
His two years among us were significant in many ways. Apart from his own
substantial contribution to the academic life of the college, these were years
when the lay staff included such notable personalities as Cathal O ’Gara, Ray
Kearns, John Wilson, Tom O ’Dea and Edmundo Volpi. while among the Jesuits
on active service in the classroom were Fr Joe Veale, Fr Joe Kavanagh, Fr Bill
Lee, Fr D iarm uid O ’L aoghaire, Fr John O ’Leary, the two Fr Redm onds
(Stephen and John), Fr Fred Cull, Fr (then ‘M r’) Michael Sheil, and myself.
His arrival in Gonzaga coincided with the erection of the great steel frame that
was the skeleton of the present Boys’ Chapel. 1966 was also the year when a
large group of our senior boys marched in the 1916 Anniversary Schools’
Procession to Croke Park, proudly carrying the tricolour and the school pennant,
and the Proclamation was solemnly unveiled in the school theatre by Cathal
Brugha, grandson of the 1916 leader, and read aloud by the captain, James
O ’Rourke. It was in this year too that Barry Bresnihan got his first call-up as
centre-three-quarter against England at Twickenham.
Fr Eddie Murphy was a man of many parts. Limerick-born, he received his
early education at the CBS in Sexton St, but did not enter the Society of Jesus
immediately after his secondary schooling. Indeed, he had already attained the
ripe age of 24 and had some two-and-a-half years’ teaching in a national school
behind him before he appeared on the steps of Em o Park to begin his
noviceship. He then followed the normal course of Jesuit formation - two years’
noviciate, three years attending UCD from Rathfarnham Castle and equipping
himself with his BA and HDip in Ed. three years’ philosophy in Tullabeg, a
5
