SÉAMUS V. Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN CFC (1921-86)

Visionary Academic in a Critical Transition

Professor of Education 1966-86

 

If the bishops of Ireland had wanted someone to project the scope and quality of their ambitions in the expansion of Maynooth's accessibility to include religious and lay people, they could hardly have picked a more fruitful and appropriate area than Education, or a more engaging proponent than Séamus V. Ó Súilleabháin CFC.

 

Born James Sullivan to Thomas and Mary Ann (nee Keane) Sullivan in New York in 1921, he would later gain two sisters; Virginia and Teresa. Thomas and Mary Anne were immigrants from Ireland; Kilrush, Co. Clare and Derryard, Co Clare, respectively. Thomas, who had been a G.I. during WW I, passed away in 1927. Mary Ann later married James Haugh, also an immigrant from her home locality. At the end of 1933, the family returned to Ireland, where two further daughters were born; Mary-Ann (Maisie) and Lourda.

In 1937, at the age of sixteen, James joined the order of the Christian Brothers. He received his PhD in 1959 and was appointed head of education in St. Mary’s College, Marino, Dublin. During this period he also performed research which would culminate in the highly regarded Marino Graded Word Reading Scale (1970), a work designed to analyze the reading ability of children, at each age level, throughout their primary and secondary education. The work is still used to this day, and is often cited. In 1966, at the age of 45,  he was appointed to the chair of education in St.Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He would play a pioneering role in the transition of the institution from a historical place of study for diocesan male clergy, to a university that opened its doors to all.

The structure that the bishops developed for this opening had already been established forty years before with the appointment of a layman, William J. Williams, as Professor of Education, to meet the needs of dioceses for qualified priest-teachers. That initiative was based around the Dunboyne Institute, set up a century previously from the controversial bequest of the apostate Lord Dunboyne, one-tine Bishop of Cork, as part of his reconciliation with the church. Primarily designed to accommodate post-graduate students in the sacred sciences, with a Prefect at its head, it had expanded to include priests studying for the Higher Diploma in Education, under the tutelage of Drs. Martin Brenan (1931-53) and Peter Birch (1953-62). Following the appointment of Dr. Birch to his native see of Ossory, some of the priest students were diverted to study at UCD, but with the demand for secondary teachers increasing dramatically with the announcement of free secondary education from 1967, it was decided to restore the on-site delivery through the appointment of the most distinguished academic available and accept lay candidates already working in the system for an evening course. Br. Ó Súilleabháin would more than meet that requirement.

In addition to contributing widely to professional journals, he would hold the position of Vice President of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) between 1982 and 1984, and was President until his death in 1986. The love and promotion of Irish culture and the Irish language was prominent throughout his life. 1964 saw the publication of “Éist agus Labhair” (Listen and Speak), which included an audio tape to assist in pronouncing Gaelic words in their correct form. He worked with Patrick Corish, Fergal McGrath S.J. and Ignatius Murphy on the fascicles of the History of Irish Catholicism that dealt with education

He died in 1986 at the age of sixty-five, This American son, whose tall physical stature emphasized his presence, traveled extensively throughout the world as an ambassador for both education and his order, but would remain known for his humble, yet warm and approachable personality.

 

Sources: Ó Sullivan Clan website, obituaries, Corish: Maynooth College 1795-1995