Document Type
Finding Aid
Collection Date
1922-1970
Finding Aid Date
10-8-2015
Identifier
MS MacFarlaneJF
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 the 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.
Historical Background:
Joseph F. MacFarlane was born to Angus and Margaret (Furdon) MacFarlane in Roxbury, MA on June 22, 1908. He attended public school in Arlington, MA and graduated from Arlington High School in 1925. Then he attended Boston College for one year before entering into the Society of Jesus at Shadowbrook, Lenox, MA on August 14, 1926. At Shadowbrook, he completed his novitiate and classical studies and went to Weston College to complete his philosophy studies. From 1933 until 1935, he taught Rhetoric at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA. In 1935, he studied Theology at the Collegium Russicum in Rome and, due to illness, returned to Weston College, Weston, MA to complete his studies in 1937. He was ordained by Bishop Thomas A. Emmet, SJ on June 19, 1938. After his final year at Weston, he spent a year studying Ascetical Theology at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs, Auriesville, NY from 1939 until 1940. He then spent a year giving missions in the parishes of the Diocese of Maine with the New England Mission Band. In 1941, he was named Associate Editor of the Jesuit Mission magazine in New York City serving for eleven years, then he served as the Administrator of the America Press from 1952 until 1958.
In 1958, he opened and became the first superior of the Eastern Point Retreat House,Gloucester,MA. When the Retreat House was established and running, he then served as the National Director of Sodalities of the United States, St. Louis, MO and as Director of the Queen’s Work Press. In 1969, he returned to New England and was appointed Director of both the Social and Pastoral Ministries and in 1974, he was appointed Province Director of the Sodalities of the New England Province. In 1979, due to illness, he left the position to do pastoral work at St. Christine’s Parish,Marshfield,MA. In 1981, when his arthritic condition grew worse, he transferred to Arizona to do apostolic functions at St. Pius X. Parish in Tucson. He died in Tucson,AZ March 29, 1983and is buried in the Campion Center Cemetery,Weston,MA.
Scope and Content:
The collection consists of correspondence, meeting and task forces notes, articles, retreat notes, and reports. There are also a personal scrapbook and photographs.
Recommended Citation
New England Jesuit Province Archives; New England Province of the Society of Jesus; and MacFarlane, Joseph F. SJ, "Joseph F. MacFarlane, SJ Papers" (2015). Finding Aids, Special Collections. 26.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/findaid_nen_spcoll/26