MAHONY, FRANCIS SYLVESTER (18o4-1866)

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 424 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LUP-MAL

MAHONY, FRANCIS SYLVESTER (18o4-1866) , known as " Father Prout," Irish priest and author, son of a woollen manufacturer, was born in

Cork

in 1804. His classical education was chiefly obtained at a Jesuit college at Amiens, and after studying in Paris he entered the Jesuit college at Rome and was admitted into the Society of Jesus. He served inv Switzerland and at Clongoweswood, Ireland, where he was prefect of studies and subsequently master of

rhetoric

RHETORIC (Gr. psroperctj TEXvq, the art of the orator)

. Here he was involved in scandals that led to his resignation. On going to Italy he was told at Florence that he was expelled from the Society. He succeeded, however, in obtaining priest's orders at Rome in 1832, and returned to Ireland, but subsequently went to London, officiating for some time in the chapel of the Bavarian Legation. While there he fell in with William

Maginn

MAGINN, WILLIAM (1793–1842)

, and about 1834 began to contribute his celebrated " Prout Papers " to Fraser's Magazine. These consist of episodes in the

life

LIFE

of the parish priest " Father Prout," and dialogues after the model of " Christopher North," varied by translations of well-known

English

ENGLISH

songs into Latin, Greek, French and Italian verse, which he humorously represents as being the true originals from which the

English

ENGLISH

authors had merely plagiarized them. Mahony's translations have been universally admired for the extraordinary command which they display of the various languages into which his renderings are made, and for their spirit and freedom both of thought and expression. His

original

ORIGINAL

verse tends chiefly to show that with all his sarcastic and cynical wit his genius had also its tender, serious and sentimental side. His " Bells of Shandon
has always been greatly admired. In 1846 Mahony became correspondent at Rome to the Daily News, and his letters from that

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

gave very vivid pictures of the first years of the reign of

Pius

PIUS

IX. The last twelve or fifteen years of his

life

LIFE

were spent in Paris, whence he supplied the Globe with a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of piquant letters on the incidents of the day. He died in Paris on the 18th of May 1866.
The Reliques of Father Prout were collected from Fraser's Magazine and published in two volumes in 1836; The Final Reliques of Father Prout, chiefly extracted from the Daily News and the Globe, were edited by

Blanchard

BLANCHARD, SAMUEL LAMAN (1804-1845)

Jerrold in 1876, and an edition of his works, edited by Charles Kent, was published in 1881.

End of Article: MAHONY, FRANCIS SYLVESTER (18o4-1866)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/LUP_MAL/MAHONY_FRANCIS_SYLVESTER_18o4_.html">
MAHONY, FRANCIS SYLVESTER (18o4-1866)
</a>

(Previous)
MAHOMMEDAN WOMEN

(Next)
MAHOUT (Hind. mahawat)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email