Edited by Sean Hogan

Father Aedan McGrath, died on December 25th 2000, aged 94, had been a Columban priest for 71 years and was imprisoned by the Chinese for nearly three years in 1951. In his later life he did wonderful work in the Philippines going around all the islands even in his nineties and strengthening the Legion of Mary which was his first love. He also organized many lay missionaries called Incolae who went from the Philippines to Oceania. Up to his mid-nineties he was still playing a good game of golf. (Ed)

He joined the Columban Fathers and was ordained in 1929. Six months later he was sent to Hanyang in China. “I was there just in time for the flood. The Yangtze and the Han Rivers met and overflowed. Millions of people drowned. For six months, there was 16 feet of water in the house where I was staying. We had to live upstairs.”

A straw hut and 24 missions

Following a couple of years around Hanyang, he was sent to T’sein Kiang, where he lived with the Buddhist family. “There were three generations: a grandfather, three sons and twenty grandchildren. They had pickle factory. Life was simple.”

He had 24 missions spread out over a wide area. “I spent three days in each mission, staying in a straw hut. I brought my own blanket. There were no roads or buses. I walked.”

Legion of Mary handbook

When he asked from another priest to assist him he was sent a copy of the handbook of the Legion of Mary. “I called in six men with no particular qualifications. I did not think it would work; I intended to give the book back to the bishop failed. To my utter amazement, those men were able to do many things that I could not do.”

Saved by Loretta Young

In 1939, during “the rape of Nanjing”, 4, 000 Japanese soldiers arrived. “The women ran to me looking for protection. I was supposed to keep the Japanese army out. God directed me to one particular soldier. We started talking about movies. He asked me if I like Loretta Young and I said, ‘She a personal friend of mine. I had met her in Hollywood.’ He was very excited to learn that I knew his love in Hollywood. He wrote something and sealed it and put it on the door. The soldiers all saluted and stayed away. The women stayed wit home for six months. They were all baptized in that time.”

Wider mission after expulsion

He was expelled for two years because Eamon de Valera the President of the League of Nations – accused the Japanese of trespassing when they went into Manchuria. “When I was allowed back, I expected to find nothing . instead, the parish was working perfectly without me. The Legion of Mary had kept everything going, baptizing the babies, instructing the children, performing marriages.”

Following a visit to Dublin in 1946, he returned and was instructed to start the Legion all over China. Within half-an-hour, the first praesidium was formed in what was probably the most sophisticated university in China at the same time in Shanghai. “From Shanghai, I went to central China, Hankow, and did the same. Then up to Beijing. Within two years we had 2, 000 magnificent groups.”

“The work was not lost on Mao Zedong. He sent out people to search and find how the church was still alive. He called the Legion public enemy number one.”

Arrested for his faith

Father McGrath, whose work in China has been told in Enemies Without Guns by James Myers, was arrested by the Chinese in September 1951 and remained in jail for two years and eight months. He was expelled in April 1954. I was put in a tiny cell, like a dog box. It was solitary confinement for three years. There was no table, chair or bed. I could lie on the floor. I was never allowed to close my eyes, talk, or sneeze.” Aedan McGrath attributed his survival to his Columban formation, which hand taught him how to meditate.

Home to Dublin

On his release he returned to Dublin and a huge reception in the National Stadium attended by President Seán T. O’ Ceallaigh, Eamon de Valera, John A Costello and the Legion founder, Frank Duff.

In 1955, he worked with Irish emigrants In England and I 1966 traveled to the USA and Canada to work full-time for the Legion of Mary. He went to the Far East in 1977 to speak about Legion, traveling through Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

And now off the Philippines

Shortly before his death in 1980, Duff asked Aedan McGrath  to go to the Philippines. So, now in his 70s, he headed for the Philippines, where he was still working up to the time of his death. Countless Legion branches were established – in one Jesuit-run university there are 19 branches.

Platinum Jubilarian

Small in stature, Aedan McGrath possessed extraordinary vitality. He had a tremendous capacity for friendship and still enjoyed a game of golf. In August 1999, a celebration for Columban jubilarians was held at Dalgan Park. The homilist was the platinum jubilarian, Aedan McGrath, who earlier had remarked to a friend: “I think you will have to call me a platinum blonde.