{"id":1321,"date":"2015-03-05T08:37:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T08:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bkpdefunts.smainternational.info\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2015-03-05T08:37:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T08:37:00","slug":"le-pere-oliver-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/?p=1321","title":{"rendered":"Le P\u00e8re Oliver SMITH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Missions Africaines \u2013 Province d’Irlande<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"SMITH<\/td>\nn\u00e9 le 8 juin 1920
dans le dioc\u00e8se de Kerry (Irlande)
membre de la SMA le 1er juillet 1941
pr\u00eatre le 17 d\u00e9cembre 1944
d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 le 6 avril 2005<\/td>\n		\n

1946-1955 pr\u00e9fecture de Jos, Nigeria
1956-1976 dioc\u00e8se de Jos, Nigeria
1977-1988 archidioc\u00e8se de Kaduna, Nigeria
1989-2001 Kells, Co Meath, Irlande, retir\u00e9
2001-2005 Blackrock Road, Cork, retir\u00e9<\/p>\n

d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 le 6 avril 2005 \u00e0 l’h\u00f4pital de Cork (Irlande),
\u00e0 l’\u00e2ge de 84 ans<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

FatherThomas Oliver Lazarian SMITH (1920 – 2005)<\/p>\n

Thomas Oliver Smith was born in Tralee, in the diocese of Kerry, on 8th June 1920.
He died in the University Hospital, Cork, on 6th April 2005.<\/p>\n

Thomas Oliver Smith\u2019s parents were Hugh and Maria Agnes (nee Lyons). His father was a draper. Two of his aunts were members of the Mercy Order, while his first cousin, Patrick, became a diocesan priest in Meath. Oliver attended Moyderwell primary school, Tralee. He received his secondary education at CBS, Carlow (1933-1936) – the family had moved to Carlow at this time – and St. Mary\u2019s College, Knockbeg, Carlow (1936-1939) (a diocesan seminary), receiving an honours leaving certificate. It was during his time in Knockbeg that he made his first contact with the SMA. A photo in the 1939 SMA Calendar of a dark-haired priest wearing a white soutane and a sun helmet attracted his attention. The priest was Michael Carolan, a native of Offaly. Oliver applied to join the missionary Society of which Fr. Carolan was a member. He was interviewed in Knockbeg by John Levins, the Vocations Director, and accepted for the Society. He entered the Society\u2019s novitiate and house of formation in the autumn of 1939. Two years later he was promoted to the Society\u2019s major seminary, at Dromantine, Newry, Co Down. Oliver was first received as a member of the Society on 1st July 1941 and became a permanent member on 17th June 1944. He was ordained a priest in St. Colman\u2019s Cathedral, Newry, Co Down, by Bishop Eugene O\u2019Doherty of Dromore diocese, on 17th December 1944. He was one of a class of seventeen ordained on that day. Oliver\u2019s celebrated his first Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin.<\/p>\n

After ordination Oliver was appointed to the Prefecture of Jos in Northern Nigeria. His departure from Ireland was delayed because of the war and its aftermath; eventually he got a ship\u2019s passage in June 1946. The journey lasted thirteen days and an additional two days travelling by train northwards from Lagos. During his first missionary tour of duty, lasting from June 1946 to June 1950, he served in Shendam, Udei and Kafanchan. Shendam was the oldest Catholic mission in Northern Nigeria, established in 1907. The Jos Prefecture had been erected in 1929. Oliver\u2019s parish priest in Shendam was none other than Michael Carolan. Oliver wrote humorously (much later): \u2018I often reminded Fr. Carolan that he was largely responsible for my predicament in being caught up in the slings and arrows of my tropical misfortunes\u2019. Oliver left some recollections of those early days. He found the climate difficult, especially on occasions when the temperature rose above 105 degrees centigrade in the shade. He recalled many evenings spent in the company of Fr. Carolan as they sat outside their mission house, \u2018he wearing a singlet and shorts, I in long trousers and jacket. He couldn\u2019t understand and felt intensely annoyed that the same sweltering heat could affect both of us in such different ways\u2019.<\/p>\n

During his second tour (1951-1955) Oliver spent a year as Diocesan Supervisor of Schools and then was posted again to Shendam (this time as superior), ending the tour in Kwande. In 1954 Jos was erected as a diocese under Bishop John Reddington. Oliver spent his next tour of duty in charge of Kafanchan mission. He was to work in the Jos jurisdiction continuously until 1976. During this lengthy period he served in many posts, including terms as parish priest of Daffo, Rayfield, St. Theresa\u2019s parish (Jos), Fatima parish (Jos), and a term as Bishop Gabriel G. Ganaka\u2019s secretary. Oliver did not always see eye to with his bishop and did not particularly relish the duties of secretary \u2013 although he was excellent in the position \u2013 and during his home leave in 1976 decided to move to another diocese.<\/p>\n

Oliver returned to Africa in January 1977 to work in the Archdiocese of Kaduna, in Northern Nigeria. Archbishop Jatau posted him first as Religious Knowledge teacher in St. Enda\u2019s Teacher Training College, Zaria. A year later he was nominated by the bishop as Staff Inspector (for Christian Religious Knowledge) with the Ministry of Education, Kaduna State. He was to serve as in this capacity until 1984 when he returned to the pastoral ministry. In April 1987 he came to Ireland on compassionate leave to attend the funeral of his sister, Rose Margaret Mary. When he returned to Nigeria, a month later, he became bishop\u2019s secretary. However within a year he fell ill, had surgery in St. Gerard\u2019s hospital Kaduna (perforated ulcer and peritonitis) and was compelled to return to Ireland where he entered the Bon Secours hospital in Cork. Clearly no longer fit for the tropics \u2013 and having spent forty-two years in Africa \u2013 Oliver retired to live with his sister, Marie Elizabeth, in Kells, Co Meath.<\/p>\n

Oliver celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his ordination in December 1994. He celebrated his Diamond Jubilee on 17th December 2004. The death of Marie Elizabeth in May 1999 and a further deterioration in health led him to retire to the SMA house at Blackrock Road in 2001. Continuing ill-health caused him to be hospitalised during August and September 2002. His death came unexpectedly. On the evening of Monday, 4th April 2005, he was walking in the Blackrock Road grounds when he stumbled, striking his head against one of the parked cars. He was brought by ambulance to the Cork University Hospital. During the night he lapsed into unconsciousness and died peacefully on the morning of 6th April. At his own request his funeral Mass was private \u2013 held in the Oratory, Blackrock Road, Cork. After his cremation at Glasnevin, his ashes were collected by his cousins, Rose and Patrick Curran from Kells, and brought to St. Columcille\u2019s cemetery, Kells, where they were interred in the grave occupied by his two sisters, Rose and Marie, to whom he was greatly attached. Prayers at the graveside were offered by Joseph Egan SMA.<\/p>\n

The homilist at his funeral Mass described Oliver in the following terms: \u2018Many people will have memories of Oliver, some from his early years in seminary and<\/p>\n

mission, others from later years. He was certainly his own man, a true \u2018fear ann fein\u2019. He had an independent mind and would not be easily swayed from a path of action once his mind was made up. One would have to say he had a streak of stubbornness and could be somewhat awkward at times. His was a quiet presence, but a presence not easily ignored. His choice of funeral arrangements reflects a facet of his character that was intensely private. A spirit of generosity and kindness was also present: this was evident in his desire to leave his bodily organs after his death to anyone to whom the medical profession would deem them to be of benefit. His age counselled against actually using these organs. He is also known to have formed bonds of warm attachment and affection with staff members in this house (Blackrock Road). And he always marked his gratitude when a good deed was done to him or for him.\u2019 A capable writer, during his retirement Oliver wrote a book of short stories, somewhat in the W. Somerset-Maughan mode. Earlier, in 1992, he wrote an article on current Anglo-Irish relations, titled: \u2018The Irish Question\u2019. Copies of both are to be found in the Society\u2019s Archives, at Blackrock Road.<\/p>\n

His ashes are interred in St. Columcille\u2019s cemetery, Kells, Co Meath.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Missions Africaines \u2013 Province d’Irlande n\u00e9 le 8 juin 1920dans le dioc\u00e8se de Kerry (Irlande)membre de la SMA le 1er juillet 1941pr\u00eatre le 17 d\u00e9cembre 1944d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 le…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-necrologe-sma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.defunts.smainternational.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}