Document Type
Finding Aid
Collection Date
1937-1980
Finding Aid Date
9-30-2015
Identifier
MS Hussey TF
Description
All physical materials associated with the New England Province Archive are currently held by the Jesuit Archives in St. Louis, MO. Any inquiries about these materials should be directed to Jesuit Archives. Electronic versions of some items and the descriptions and finding aids to the Archives, which are hosted in CrossWorks, are provided only as a courtesy.
Thomas F. Hussy was born in Worcester, MA, son of Thomas F. and Elizabeth (Conlin) Hussey. He had a brother and three sisters. After completing secondary education at South High School in Worcester he attended Holy Cross College, graduating in 1931. In September of that year he entered the Society of Jesus at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in N.Y. and after finishing the novitiate there he transferred to Shadowbrook in Lenox, MA for classical studies. He engaged in advanced studies in philosophy at Weston College in Weston, MA from 1934 to 1937, then volunteered for the Jesuit Mission in Iraq. There he applied himself to Arabic Language studies and to teaching English and Arabic History at the Jesuits’ Baghdad College. Both in Baghdad and later in Boston’s South End he was regarded with respect and affection by many hundreds of young students. When the time came in 1940 for him to begin theology studies he was unable to return to the United States because of wartime conditions, so he went to another Jesuit institution, St. Mary’s College in Kurseong, India. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1943 and returned in 1944 to Baghdad College to teach English and Religious Studies. In 1946 he returned to the United States to complete his final year of Jesuit formation at Pomfret, CT. He returned to Baghdad College in 1947 to resume his work there and served successively as classroom teacher, assistant principal, prefect of discipline, rector of the Jesuit community and finally as Superior of the entire Mission in Iraq.
In 1958 he returned to Boston and undertook a successful effort to raise funds for the newly founded Jesuit university in Baghdad, Al-Hikma University. From 1959 to 1965 he served in Boston as Assistant Treasurer of the New England Province and director of the Jesuit Missions Office, after which he spent two years in Beirut, Lebanon as Assistant Secretary of the Pontifical Mission to Palestine. In 1967 he returned to New England to consult with doctors about some medical problems, then went back to teach at Baghdad College. Along with the rest of the American Jesuits in Iraq he was expelled from the country in 1969, and returned to New England where he matriculated at Boston University to obtain a degree in Library Science. He then took up a new Apostolate in Boston’s South End, living at the rectory of Immaculate Conception Church, which later became the Jesuit Urban Center. For the next seven years he engaged in local pastoral work and served as librarian at the Urban Center, while serving also in the South End Tutorial Program. For twenty more years he continued these ministries and at the same time served as librarian and religion teacher at the Cathedral School, and Province Coordinator for ministry to the Black Community.
Fr. Thomas F. Hussy, S.J. 91, died at Campion Health Center on April 30th, 2001 at the age of 91. He is buried in the Jesuit Cemetery at Campion Center, Weston, MA.
The collection consists of 1-2.5” box of papers, largely photocopies of letters from the late 1930s and early 1940 written to his family from Baghdad College, Iraq, and St. Mary’s High School in Bombay, India. There is also a brief memoir.
Recommended Citation
New England Jesuit Province Archives; New England Province of the Society of Jesus; and Hussey, Thomas F. SJ, "Thomas F. Hussey, SJ Papers" (2015). Finding Aids, Special Collections. 15.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/findaid_nen_spcoll/15