Scripture Readings

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Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Br. Chris Derby, SJ

Dominic Collins was born in 1566 in Youghal, County Cork, on the southern coast of Ireland.  Given the limited options available to a Roman Catholic young man under Elizabeth I, Collins undertook a soldier’s life in France and Spain.  In 1598, stationed by Philip III of Spain in the garrison at La Coruña, Collins had a life-changing encounter.  He met a Jesuit, Fr.  Thomas White, who had earlier founded the Irish College at Salamanca and had come to La Coruña to hear the confessions of Irish soldiers during Lent.  Collins confided in Fr. White his desire to join the Jesuits. Fr. White explained the difficulties of studies for the priesthood, but Collins was happy to join as a Jesuit Brother instead.

Collins’s eagerness to be a Brother notwithstanding, Jesuit superiors were reluctant to accept him, worrying that a battle-hardened soldier would never be able to settle into religious life. Collins bombarded the provincial with requests for consideration, and finally, he relented.  Shortly after Collins’s entrance at the Jesuit college in Santiago, seven members of the community were stricken with plague.  Many fled, but Collins stayed to care for the victims, nursing some “back to health and comforting the others in their last hours.  He had proved his worth and completed his novitiate without further question.”

In 1601, based on Br. Collins’s military experience and reputation for “sound judgment and great physical strength,” Irish Jesuit Fr. James Archer requested him as a companion on an expedition to Ireland sent by Philip III to help Irish rebels against the English.  The Spanish-Irish forces were swiftly defeated at Castlehaven, only thirty miles from Collins’s native Kinsale.  After the initial defeat, Collins accompanied rebel leader O’Sullivan Beare in his retreat.  Some months later, Collins found himself besieged inside Dunboy Castle with 143 defenders.  As a religious, Collins could not take part in the fighting, but he tended the wounded and offered spiritual guidance to the Irish soldiers. 

The rebels were defeated, and most were hanged immediately.  Three surviving prisoners were brought to Kinsale for interrogation.  The other two were soon executed, but English leader Lord Carew saw in Collins an opportunity for a different sort of victory.  Carew interrogated Collins, hoping to persuade him to become a Protestant.  He alternately tortured Collins and made him promises of advancement to high ecclesiastical office.  Some of Collins’s relatives visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending to convert, which he could afterwards renounce.  But Collins refused to be persuaded, inevitably choosing to die as a martyr.

On October 31, 1602, Br. Collins was taken to his birthplace, Youghal, for execution.  Before ascending the scaffold, he addressed the crowd in Irish and English, saying that he was happy to die for his faith.  He was so cheerful that a British officer remarked, "He is going to his death as eagerly as I would go to a banquet."  Collins overheard him and replied, "For this cause I would be willing to die not once but a thousand deaths."

From the time of his death, Collins was venerated as a martyr in Youghal, and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and Europe.  In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait and many blessings and cures were attributed to his intercession.  Almost 400 years later, Pope John Paul II beatified Dominic Collins.

Reflecting on the brief life and Jesuit career of Dominic Collins, I couldn’t help but think of Fr. Rudy Casals, a USA East Jesuit priest who passed away this summer at the age of 47, spending just shy of 16 years in the Society. Both were military men, both entered the Society in their early 30’s, both cared for prisoners and the sick, and both died too young.In the days and weeks after Rudy’s death, so many people from a wide variety of connections spoke about his effect on them: his smile, his wisdom, his challenging words, his priestly ministry.In his few years as a Jesuit Brother, Dominic Collins similarly affected many by his diligent care, his spiritual insight, and his unfailing courage.It does not take a long life to shape the lives of others, nor to become a saint.

Blessed Dominic Collins – and beloved Rudy – pray for us!

See Jesuits Ireland and jesuits.global/saint-blessed/blessed-dominic-collins for more information.

Br. Chris Derby, SJ, serves as the Provincial Assistant for Spirituality Ministries for the USA East Jesuit Province.

Previous Reflections

October 30, 2021 – By Fr. Robert Keane, SJ

Jesus once said of his own ministry that “a prophet is not appreciated in his own town.” However, a notable exception to this dictum is the perhaps little-known Blessed of the Society of Jesus, Brother Dominic Collins. Collins was born in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland in 1566 of a well-to-do Irish family. Being a Roman Catholic in a country where Anglicanism was the mandatory state religion, he had few opportunities for advancement. So, at about the age of twenty he went to France where he worked for a while in an inn in order to earn money to purchase a horse and the arms necessary for a career as a soldier. Nine years later, and with a pension from the King of Spain, he moved to the garrison at La Coruña, on Spain’s Bay of Biscay.

During Lent of 1598 he chanced to meet a fellow Irishman and Jesuit priest, Thomas White. After many conversations with him, Collins discerned that he was being called to religious life. So, he began the process of applying to become a brother within the Society of Jesus. Somewhat hesitant at first, the Jesuit Provincial eventually accepted him into the novitiate at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Collins made a successful transition and soon earned a reputation for being prudent, sociable, humble, generous, and a man of considerably physical strength. With tremendous courage and devotion and while still a novice, he cared for seven fellow Jesuits who had fallen victim to a plague which had struck the city. He pronounced his first vows in 1601.

That same year King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to support the Irish who were revolting against the British. Fr. James Archer, a Jesuit priest and chaplain to the Spanish forces, requested that Brother Collins be sent along as his companion since he could be immensely helpful, given his military background. So, Brother Collins found himself landing on the shores of his homeland at Castlehaven on Dec. 1, 1601, only 30 miles from his native Kinsale.

Things did not go well for the Irish forces. Eventually 143 rebels, along with Brother Collins, were overwhelmed by the British, to whom they were forced to surrender at the battle of Dunboy Castle. Most were executed on the spot but, as a Jesuit and an Irishman, Collins was considered a highly valuable trophy. So, his life was temporarily spared. However, he was brutally interrogated and repeatedly tortured, with the offer of relief if only he would renounce his Catholic faith. Never yielding, Collins was taken to his home town of Youghal for execution on October 31, 1602.

As Collins mounted the scaffold, something very remarkable happened. He addressed the assembled crowd in Irish and English, affirming his Catholic faith for which he was willing to die and urging them to persevere as well. Ultimately, his fellow citizens were so moved by his eloquent testimony that no one could be found to carry out the execution except for a poor fisherman who happened to be passing by. Clearly, the words of Dominic Collins made a lasting impression and were appreciated by the entire town. Brother Dominic Collins, together with sixteen other martyrs of Ireland, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 27, 1992.

History has recorded virtually no words or sayings of Brother Collins. However, the eloquent testimony of his life and death remind us of the persuasive power of one’s example. I vividly recall my own first days in the novitiate when I was sent down to the farm to harvest carrots with Brother Tommy Glennon. An illiterate Irish immigrant who fled “the troubles” in his homeland, he labored every day with devotion and humility despite his advanced age and increasing infirmities. Brother Connie Murphy, a former Marine and survivor of the Battle of Okinawa, worked tirelessly each day to maintain the buildings and grounds. And Brother Tom “Sheets” Kelly dutifully oversaw the laundry and tailor shop, assuring clean clothes and cassocks in good repair. These men habitually visited the community chapel early in the morning and late into the evening, saying little to us novices but always teaching and inspiring by their example and their personal dedication to to their vocation to religious life.

Blessed Dominic Collins, teach us to be generous. Teach us to serve the Lord as He deserves; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing I am doing the Lord’s will. Amen.