Collection C2 - Father John O'Connor Collection

John O'Connor was a Roman Catholic parish priest based in the town of Bradford, Yorkshire. Born on 5 December 1870 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, O'Connor was educated by the Franciscans and Christian Brothers until the age of twelve, at which point he left for Douai in Flanders to study at the English Benedictine College. He later studied theology and philosophy at the English College in Rome. He was ordained at St. John Lateran on 30 March 1895. O'Connor served as curate at St. Joseph's in Bradford, England and later at St. Marie's, Halifax, West Vale and St. Anne's, Keighley. From 1909 to 1919 O'Conner was parish priest of Heckmondwike where he helped build the Church of the Holy Spirit. It was in Keighley that O'Connor met the writer G.K. Chesterton in 1904. He would later receive Chesterton into the Roman Catholic faith in 1922. O'Connor served as parish priest at St. Cuthbert's from 1919 until his death. In 1937 he was made Privy Chamberlain to His Holiness. In addition to Chesterton, O'Connor was also associated with the Catholic authors Hilaire Belloc, Maurice Baring and the typographer and engraver Eric Gill. O'Connor published poems, book reviews and prose in English Catholic periodicals and news papers, and also translated the work of French poet Paul Claudel, (including "The Satin Slipper" and "Ways and Crossways") and the philosopher Jacques Maritain's "Art et Scolastique".John O'Connor died in the Sisters' of Mercy Nursing Home at Horsforth on 6 Febraury 1952.