The mortal remains of Venerable John Sullivan SJ lie in a shrine in St Francis Xavier's church. It is a place where people come to pray and bring their petitions to Fr John asking him to intercede for them with his prayers.

Fr John Sullivan (8 May 1861 – 19 February 1933) was an Irish Jesuit priest who was known for his life of deep prayer and personal sacrifice. He is recognised for his dedicated work with the poor and afflicted, spending much of his time walking and cycling to visit those who were troubled, sick and dying in the villages around Clongowes Wood College school in County Kildare where he taught from 1907 until his death. From the 1920s onwards many people testified to the healing power of his prayers although he never claimed any credit or causation for himself.

On 7 November 2014 he was declared to be Venerable and his beatification received the papal approval of Pope Francis on 26 April 2016 after a single miracle attributed to him was recognized; a date for his beatification is not decided but we believe it may happen in February 2017.

Monthly Mass in thanksgiving for his life and in prayer for his canonisation takes place each third Saturday of the month at 1pm in St Francis Xavier's Church.
Special homily and blessing with crucifix of Fr John after Mass.
All are very welcome!

RTE's Nationwide showed a wonderful documentary on the Life of Fr John Sullivan which had some lovely clips of his beatification here in Gardiner Street in May 2017.

If you missed the Documentary or would just like to see it again, it is available to watch on the RTE Player.

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• Fr John Sulllivan website - www.frjohnsullivan.ie by Irish Jesuit Communications. You can see some excellent content on Fr John Sullivan and some local faces that you may know!

• Books available from Messenger Publications - http://messenger.ie/search/sullivan
  • The Life of Father John Sullivan
    By Fergal McGrath, SJ - This brief biography includes quotes of John Sullivan, SJ
  • More memories of Father John Sullivan
    By Fergal McGrath, SJ
• Videos
  • The Boy from Eccles Street, Part 1
    First part of a documentary about John Sullivan, SJ. After a young life of privilege, Sullivan converted to the Catholic faith and left all behind to live an ascetic religious life.
  • The Boy from Eccles Street, Part 2
    Second part of a 14-minute documentary about the life of John Sullivan, SJ.
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• Online
  http://www.kandle.ie/fr-john-sullivan-sj-beatification/
  http://www.kildare.ie/library/ehistory/2007/10/fr_john_sullivan_jesuit_priest.asp>