Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., 1935–2013
During the night of November 10-11, Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., was called home by the Lord. He passed away in his sleep while convalescing after a recent surgery.
Fr Murphy-O’Connor was a member of the Irish Province of the Dominican Fathers and taught for more than four decades at the École Biblique et Archéologique in Jerusalem. He was a world-renowned biblical scholar and author of numerous books on St Paul and the Holy Land. Many throughout the world counted him their friend.
Fr Feidhlimidh Magennis, who studied with Fr Murphy-O'Connor, recalls his former tutor with affection: "We attended his classes with a mixture of awe and trepidation! Gerry was an amazing scholar with an incisive intellect and took no prisoners in debate. While I was studying at the Ecole Biblique, he had given up cigarettes and replaced them with toothpicks! If you slipped up in class, you were liable to be showered with splinters and Gerry spat out his corrections. The atmosphere was always electric! A sharp intellect, a great guide to the Holy Land, and a wonderful conversationalist. A gentleman and a scholar!"
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in the Basilica of St Étienne on Wednesday, 13 November at 12:00 pm.