Fr Paul Brassil SJ RIP: “Always sharing love”

Jesuit Father Paul Brassil SJ died peacefully surrounded by close friends and family at Cherryfield Lodge on 2 June 2025, aged 91 years.

Father Brassil was born on 18 April 1934 in Dublin. He received early education at Synge Street CBS and later attended Belvedere College SJ in Dublin. He entered the society at St Mary’s, Emo, County Laois on 6 September 1952 and took his first vows there two years later on 8 September 1954. He was ordained at Milltown Park Chapel in Dublin on 28 July 1966.

In 1968 Father Brassil moved to Zambia as parish priest at Fumbo parish. In 1971 he was transcribed to the Zambian Provence and took his final vows at Chikuni, Zambia On 15 August 1971. In 1981 he became Provincial of the Zambian Vice Province. He remained in Zambia until 1999. He then returned to Ireland and worked at Manresa Jesuit Centre as spiritual director for one year. He then moved to Gardiner Street as parish priest and director of apostolate from 1999 – 2003. He then spent 22 years at Coláiste Iognáid, Galway, assisting in the church; and directing spiritual exercises until 2025.

Father Brassil’s Funeral Mass took place in Gonzaga College Chapel on Friday 6 June at 11am followed by his burial at Glasnevin Cemetery. The principal celebrant was Richard O’Dwyer SJ.

In his homily Father Richard O’Dwyer said “Everyone who knew Paul, knew him as a wonderful disciple of Jesus because of the love, kindness and compassion that were the centre of his life, he lived the commandment of Jesus that we love one another, as Christ himself loved his first disciples.”

He concluded the homily noting that “Paul Brassil dispensed the gift of love with great abundance to all who came his way”.

Father Brassil will be sadly missed by his sister Maureen and his brother Brendan, brother-in-law Gerry and sister-in-law Guadalupe, his nieces and nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, the Jesuit Community and staff at St Ignatius Church and Residence.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Read the full homily below».

Without the gift of love in our lives, the world would be a very bleak place. Without love, we might eke out some kind of lonely and dismal existence but we could not be said to be living life in the manner in which God wants us to live.

Thus, we should not be surprised to find that love occupies pride of place in the Gospel. Jesus tells us that there is no greater commandment. Jesus said that his followers would be recognised by the love they show towards one another. He went even further. He said his disciples would be judged on love. St John of the Cross, the great Carmelite mystic, was only echoing the words of Christ when he said, “In the evening of life we will be examined on love.” St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, makes a very real and practical observation about love that love ought to manifest itself more by deeds than by mere words.

To people who are sensitive to the needs of others, life offers plenty of opportunities to practise the commandment of love. It is not a question of doing big things. Nor is it a question of giving things. Rather it is a question of giving oneself in little ways – giving one’s time, one’s energy and one’s heart.

As Saint Theresa of Calcutta said, being a good Christian is not about doing big things but doing the little things with great love.

Everyone who knew Paul knew him to be a wonderful disciple of Jesus because of the love, kindness and compassion that were the centre of his life, he lived the commandment of Jesus that we love one another, as Christ himself loved his first disciples.

If you look at Paul’s life and see the extent and variety of the vital ministries he undertook as a Jesuit, you can see how he gave himself generously, selflessly and wholeheartedly. In the formation of Jesuits and diocesan priests, in the promotion of Ignatian Spirituality, in the governance of Zambian Province and in the pastoral care of the people. In Zambia, Dublin and Galway. He loved all of those entrusted to his care.

A number of people to whom I spoke to about Paul all said that their first impression of Paul was his warmth and delight in meeting them. They felt they were the most important people Paul had ever met. He made them feel incredibly welcome.

When Paul was provincial in Zambia, he caught a very bad bout of malaria that developed into cerebral malaria and he became gravely ill and his life hung in the balance. The care and treatment given to Paul by the Holy Rosary Missionary Sisters was second to none, and they saved his life, especially Sister Doctors Lucy O’Brien and Eileen Keane.

I managed to speak to a number of people about Paul and two words always came to prominence in those conversations, Paul’s kindness and compassion.

Real love requires hard work, patience, dedication and can often goes unseen and unrecognised. Real love is not something we engage now and then, not something we do when we are in a good mood or when we feel like it. It is a way of life.

People like Paul who choose to love are indeed fortunate people. They themselves are beneficiaries of their love. To love is to open one’s heart and to open one’s heart is to begin to really live. The apostle St John says that we have passed from death into life when we love another (1 John 3:14)

Furthermore, those who love selflessly become agents of God’s love and goodness. Edward Schillebeeckx, the great Dominican theologian said “The lamp of God’s love burns in this world only with the oil of our lives”

If one has known love, if one has given and received love, then one has not lived in vain. St Paul tells: There are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love (1 Cor 13:13). Paul Brassil dispensed the gift of love with great abundance to all who came his way.

Richard O’Dwyer SJ