Last Irish Jesuit in Hong Kong Fr. Seán Ó Cearbhalláin recalled for ‘gentleness and humility’

The late Bogside-born priest will also go down in the annals of the Society of Jesus, mourners were told at Requiem Mass in St. Eugene’s on Saturday.

"I'm sure that somewhere in the Jesuit archives in the future Fr. Seán Ó Cearbhalláin will be remembered and included as the last Irish Jesuit sent out to Hong Kong on mission as well as the last Irish Jesuit to die there,” said Fr. Colum Clerkin, while delivering the requiem homily.

Fr. Seán passed away aged 87 in his adopted home in Hong Kong on August 23.

Fr. Clerkin spoke of the late priest’s ‘gentleness’, his ‘deep humility’ and his ‘mischievous sense of humour’ during the service.

Born in Elmwood Street in 1938, Fr. Seán grew up ‘in the shadow of the cathedral where his pilgrim journey of faith first began’.

"It was in this cathedral where he received the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and Confirmation. His faith was nurtured in the family home.

"He began school in Francis Street beside us. And in the Brow o' the Hill, Christian Brothers, and later St. Columb's College, Seán gradually grew more and more in the love and appreciation of the gift of faith he had been given,” mourners were reminded.

Fr. Seán entered the Society of Jesus at St. Mary’s Novitiate in Laois on September 7, 1956. When first sent to the missions in Hong Kong, there was an auspicious sign when he touched down at Kai Tak Airport.

“Even if Fr. Seán Ó Cearbhalláin had any lingering doubts or second thoughts when he first set out off for Hong Kong as young Jesuit seminarian in 1964 to study the Cantonese language his doubts or second thoughts might have been dispelled when he heard the instrumental music playing over the tannoy at Hong Kong airport. It was a familiar tune, ‘Danny Boy’, maybe a little nod of approval from on high that he had arrived in the right place,” said Fr. Clerkin.

Fr. Seán was ordained on July 23, 1971, in St. Eugene’s Cathedral.

He spent years studying and teaching at the regional seminary in Hong Kong, and was ecclesiastical assistant at the Christian Life Community Hong Kong from 1978 to 2024.

He exhibited signs of his vocation as a boy growing up in the Bogside.

“Fr. Seán must have been a born teacher. Even as a boy I'm told of nine or 10 he was teaching Irish to the other young children around Elmwood Street. So he was already well in tune at that age with the age old Jesuit saying 'give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man',” said Fr. Clerkin.

Notwithstanding his years away Fr. Seán maintained a deep ‘love for his native country, especially for Ireland's language and culture’.

And despite suffering a stroke aged 49 in 1987, he ‘continued and persevered with remarkable zeal and enthusiasm albeit in a more limited capacity as a priest, as a teacher and as a Jesuit missionary’.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated for Fr. Sean in Hong Kong on Sunday. He was buried on Monday, exactly 70 years after becoming a Jesuit.