Anniversary of the death of John Heuston's brother

Because of the year that's in it - the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising - it's worth mentioning that today is the anniversary of the death of Dominican priest John Michael Heuston. Fr Heuston is a brother of John Heuston, who was executed in Dublin in 1916.

He died in Rome in 1984.

To avoid confusion: before the Second Vatican Council there was a custom whereby people who joined religious orders were given a 'new' name. It meant that Fr Heuston, baptised, 'Michael', was given the name 'John', the same as his older brother.

Fr Heuston was an eccentric man, a highly intelligent man, a kind man. He excelled at mathematics and once said that his Dominican colleague, John James O'Gorman, who died in November 3, 2002, had the finest mathematical mind he had ever experiencend 

In winter 1975 someone commented to John Heuston that he was a man ahead of his times. He smiled and immediately quipped: "Not at all, the Irish Dominicans are way behind the times."

Dominican priest John Michael Heuston was a prophet too.

When CIE was commissioning the bust of John Heuston for Kingsbridge Station, now Hesuton Station, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rising, they consulted Fr J M Heuston.