Brother Azarias

Educator, essayist, litt?rateur, and philosopher, b. near Killenaule, County Tipperary, Ireland, 29 June, 1847. His education began at home, and after the removal of his family to Deerfield, N.Y., U.S.A., was continued in the union school of that place, and subsequently in the Christian Brothers' Academy at Utica. Believing himself called to the life of a religious teacher, he entered the novitiate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, in New York City, on the 24th of February 1862. He taught in Albany, New York City, and Philadelphia until 1866, when he was called to the professorship of mathematics and literature in Rock Hill College, Ellicott City, Md. Gradually his interests were absorbed by literature and philosophy, which, with pedagogy, continued to hold them until the end of his career. From 1879 to 1886 he was President of Rock Hill College. Then followed two years of research in European libraries, chiefly those of Paris and London. On his return to the United States, he became professor of literature in De La Salle Institute, New York City, and remained such till his death at the Catholic Summer School, Plattsburgh, 20 August 1893. The funeral services held in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, gave ample testimony to his widespread influence and to the esteem in which he was held. +