Page 10 - Salesian Bulletin 2014 [01] January-March

OLDEST
SALESIAN
IN IRELAND
DIES
Appropriately
for one who
did so much to
help the for-
eign missions,
Fr Tomás
Ingoldsby
(Macgiolla Íosa) died on Mission Sunday, 20 October 2013, aged 95.
In his time there, Vatican II took place and he had the joy of seeing the Irish Province established in 1972. He retired as a teacher in 1984, but remained and contributed to the beginning of the present Heywood Community College. He left in 2004
Croatia, Italy, Ireland (represented by Michael Caulfield, with umbrella in the photo), France, Great Britain, Malta, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
He was born on Dublin’s Fairview Strand, 30 April 1918, fourth of six children. At the age of 12, he entered Shrigley as an aspirant in September 1930 and did his novitiate in Cowley (Oxford) 1934-35 under Fr James Simonetti (who was Novice Master for 54 years!). He made his first pro- fession in Cowley, aged 17, on 7 September 1935 into the hands of the Provincial Fr Eneas Tozzi, who as a boy had known the elderly Don Bosco. Tomás completed his philo- sophical studies in Cowley in 1937 and began his practical training in
There were reports on the identity and mission of the Past Pupils in Europe today, and on commitment to work for migrants.
for Pallaskenry , which
home for the last 10 years of his life.
Among the greetings received was a message from Pope Francis, in which he expressed the hope that the meeting would “inspire more and more living adherence to Christ and a more generous Christian wit- ness following the example of St John Bosco”.
became his But retirement was not part of his
vocabulary . He
down the country doing supply work, leading pilgrimages to all the Marian shrines and Holy Land, giv- ing talks, running prayer meetings, writing, supporting and promoting the prolife movement and continu- ing his lifelong commitment to the missions. Pingin dos na misinéirí—a penny for the missionaries—was a constant phrase on his lips.
travelled up
and
Pallaskenry , during
father Patrick died (1938). He made his final profession in 1941.
Several meetings were held to plan long-term projects and tasks to mark the bicentenary of Don Bosco’s birth in 2015. Projects, plans, pro- grammes and activities currently underway in the local Unions in the provinces were presented.
While World War II raged, Tomás did his first two years of theological studies in Pallaskenry and his final two years in Blaisdon, where he was ordained a priest on 15 July 1945.
In his homily at the concluding Mass, Cardinal Joseph Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, urged all present to proclaim the kingship of Christ with the charism of Don Bosco, a joyful faith com- bined with a commitment to the social, political, economic and reli- gious issues in Europe.
He was appointed to Ballinakill, where for over 50 years he taught Latin and Irish and assisted in the
EUROBOSCO 2013, MALTA
school community . During
he experienced the 1950 fire that gutted the magnificent Heywood mansion. Though small in stature he was to become a giant of a presence.
The 11th European Congress of Salesian Past Pupils (Eurobosco), held in Malta, 21-24 November, was attended by about a hundred Salesian Past Pupils and delegates from twelve countries: Belgium,
10 SDB
The 12th Eurobosco is scheduled for 2017.
which time
his
that time
He spent his last months in the Abbot Close Nursing Home, Askeaton, Co. Limerick, and at his death, he was the oldest Salesian in Ireland.
France
Three good practices were high- lighted: the Business Platform of the Past Pupils of Slovakia; the collabo- ration between Past Pupils and the
Salesian Y outh Movement in
in a solidarity project with Haiti; and the promising situation of Young Past Pupils in Spain.