Rev. James Bernard Dollard ("Father Dollard") (1872–1946) was a Roman Catholic parish priest and noted poet.[1]

James Bernard Dollard
Born(1872-08-30)August 30, 1872
Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Ireland
Died1946 (aged 73–74)
Pen nameSliav-na-mon
OccupationPoet, Priest
Alma materLaval University
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionChristianity
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
OrdainedDecember 1896
Congregations served
St. Helen's Church, Toronto
St. Mary's Church, Toronto
St. Columbkille's Church, Orillia
St. Monica's Church, North Toronto

Life edit

He was born at Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Ireland, 30 August 1872, to Michael and Anastasia (Quinn) Dollard, the youngest son in a large family. After taking the course in Classics at Kilkenny College, he sailed in 1890 for New Brunswick, Canada. He graduated from the Grand Seminary of Montreal and received from Laval University the degrees of Bachelor of Theology and Bachelor of Canon Law. The same university conferred on him in 1916, the honorary degree of Litt.D. He was ordained to the priesthood in December 1896. He served as a curate in St. Helen's Church, and St. Mary's Church, Toronto, and for nine years, parish priest of Uptergrove, Ontario before he became the parish priest of St. Monica's Church, North Toronto.

He published two volumes of poems Irish Mist and Sunshine (1902) and Poems (1910), and a volume of short stories entitled The Gaels of Moondharrig. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym of Sliav-na-mon.[2]

In a lecture on "The War and the Poets," delivered in Toronto, 1916, Mr. Joyce Kilmer, poetry editor of the Literary Digest, declared that Father Dollard's sonnet was the best poem that had appeared on the death of Rupert Brooke.

He died in 1946.

References edit

  1. ^ "Father Dollard". Digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  2. ^ "The Sacred Heart Review 16 November 1912 — Boston College". Newspapers.bc.edu. 16 November 1912. Retrieved 26 July 2015.

External links edit

  Media related to James B. Dollard at Wikimedia Commons