Life
1779-[1841]; b. Dublin, 7 July, son of coachmaker; ed. Stonyhurst and
Palermo; purchased Clongowes Wood for £16,000 to fnd. a school for education
of Catholic gentry, at the reinstitution of the Jesuit Order (1813-14);
invited by Viceroy to explain source of money; built Gardiner St. Church
(St. Xavier), and devoted himself to preaching and confessions along with
his administrative duties; came to be known as ‘the O’Connell
of the pulpit’ for his ecclesiastical oratory; later played major
role in the reorganization of Jesuits in United States.
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Criticism
Thomas Morrissey , As One Sent: Peter Kenney, S.J., 1779-1841 (Catholic
U. of America Press 1997), 562pp.
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Commentary
Peter Costello, Clongowes Wood (Dublin: A & A Farmar 1991), writes that Kenney responded to the no-mincing-words of JKL (Bishop Doyle): ‘I an unused to such language at my table’. Further, he travelled to America on mission after 1830. There is a memoir by R.L. Sheil.
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