John McAuliffe
Quick Facts
Biography
Brother Norbert (John Francis Joseph) McAuliffe was born in lower Manhattan, New York on September 30, 1886. As a professed member of the Institute of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic religious community of lay men, he would serve young people through education for more than 50 years until his death on July 3, 1959, in Gulu, Uganda.
Childhood
John was born to an Irish American working class family in lower Manhattan. His father, Daniel, was an immigrant from Ireland and worked on the docks of New York city. His mother, Elizabeth or Lizzie, was Daniel’s second wife and would raise a family of five children – three survived to adulthood – Walter, John and Elizabeth or Lillian. John was baptized at St. Rose Church in lower Manhattan on November 7, 1886. Sadly his father died after a short illness in 1893 and he and his siblings would be orphaned with the unexpected death of their mother on October 10, 1895.
His sister, Elizabeth, went to stay with their half-brother, Daniel Jr, from their father’s first marriage. Walter (aged 11) and John (aged 9) were accepted into St. Agnes Home in Sparkhill, NY on November 13, 1895. After St. Agnes Home was destroyed by fire in 1899, the two brothers were separated with Walter going to the Catholic Protectory in New York City while John went to the new St. Agnes Home established in Troy, New York.
In 1902, John’s life direction would change with a visit to the home by Brother Stanislaus Keating. The missionary work of the brothers and especially their work in orphanages attracted John’s attention. He was discharged from St. Agnes Home on April 30, 1902 and entered the formation house of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Metuchen, New Jersey on May 1, 1902.
Formation and Ministry in the United States
Already formed by the Dominican Sisters at Sparkhill to a pattern of prayer and common life, John adapted quickly to the spartan life led by the brothers at Metuchen. John received the habit on November 14, 1902 and took the name Norbert. He made his first commitment or vows on November 21, 1903 at Metuchen.
Norbert took to the brothers’ mission of education immediately. He lived and worked with young people in schools in a number of places and grew more skilled in his teaching, eventually becoming the school principal and superior of the local community. Places he served during this time included Indianapolis, Indiana; Meridian, Mississippi; Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He took perpetual vows at Bay St. Louis on July 10, 1910.
Norbert’s expertise as an educator and formator of young people grew with the years and saw him also serve in Vicksburg, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; Donaldsonville, Louisiana and Washington, Indiana.
During this period, the brothers rarely took up fulltime studies but instead studied through an internal program as well as summer courses. Norbert completed his high school studies in 1915 and would graduated from the Normal School at Bay St Louis in 1917, qualified by the standards of the day as a teacher. He attended summer programs at Loyola University in New Orleans, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in August, 1921, and would later receive a lifetime Indiana Teacher’s License in 1923.
Missionary Commitment
Norbert took a break from his life as a teacher for a period of retreat and recollection at the Grand Novitiate in Renteria, Spain from September, 1930, to April, 1931. This time would also see his life take another major turn when he volunteered for the missions.
As a novice, Norbert had welcomed 45 French men, Brothers and aspirants, who had been exiled due to anti-religious laws established in France at the time. Among them was Brother Albertinus who would serve as novice master, and as Provincial he would ask Norbert to be the leader of the first group of missionaries to Uganda. Brother Albertinus would later serve as the Superior General of the community and would be a close supporter of Norbert in his missionary endeavors.
Initially Norbert was not among the group that had planned the first missionary foray into Uganda but when the leader of the expedition fell ill, Brother Albertinus turned to Brother Norbert to take his place. Norbert and three other brothers, Oswin, Camillus and Coleman, left the USA on July 23,1931 travelling by boat from New York to Le Havre in France and then on to Africa. They arrived in Gulu, Uganda on August 29, 1931.
Life in Africa – Part 1
Initially the brothers served at St. Louis College, later St. Aloysius College, in Gulu, establishing both their reputation as educators and gaining a foothold in the local communities where they served. A later expansion of this project included a junior high school, St. Joseph, and an agricultural school. It was difficult, isolated work but greatly appreciated by the people and by the Church authorities.
Already though, among the brothers and especially among the local Acholi people, Brother Norbert had the reputation as a holy and prayerful man. In fact the local people had begun to call him, Dano Ma Lego, “the man who prays.”
The War Years 1939-1945.
Brother Norbert arrived in New York for his first visit home in ten years on October 15, 1939. Brother Norbert could not have timed his return home at a more difficult time. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Uganda, as a British colony, was in the midst of it. Returning to his missionary work would not be possible. Instead Norbert was assigned as the Director at Metuchen, New Jersey, the formation center in the United States where he himself had been formed. During this six year period, he sustained what was in fact a very poor community, living on the food it grew, during difficult social times.
Yet many of the witnesses of that period describe Norbert’s demeanor. His characteristic virtue was charity. He gave the best he had to people with humility and kindness. These years were not a loss for Norbert and he grew in his interior life, and these years were also a blessing for those who worked and lived with him too.
Life in Africa – Part 2
On December 31, 1945, Norbert sailed from New York back to his missionary work in Uganda, arriving on February 9, 1946. After initially working at the Brothers’ high school in Gulu, Norbert established a more permanent setting for the formation of young men as Brothers. Soon after, he was appointed the leader of the Brothers, or Director General, guiding the work of the Brothers throughout eastern Africa.
When he arrived back, St. Aloysius College had moved to Nyapea, Uganda during the war years. Norbert returned to develop St. Joseph College in Gulu. Under Norbert’s leadership, the brothers would spread their work far and wide including the development of new schools in Okaru, Sudan and Nyeri, Kenya as well as a formation center in Alokolum near Gulu, in Uganda.
In 1952, Norbert was now 65 years old and was appointed as leader for a third term. This term was short lived due to illness and a quick return to the USA for treatment. When Norbert had returned to Africa in 1946, there were six brothers. By the end of his term in 1954, there were 21 missionaries, 6 African novices and 53 postulants. In 1955, he saw the first Ugandan novices take their vows. A new generation had begun to take up the baton. Norbert became the novice teacher and taught, according to witnesses, as much by his life and by his words.
On July 3, 1959, after a few days of illness, Brother Norbert passed away. The Bishop of Gulu blessed the body and planned the mass. As a sign of the esteem for Brother Norbert, the brothers sat in the chancel of the Church while the attending priests sat in the body of the Church, so revered was Brother Norbert.
Cause for Sainthood
From the time of his passing, the brothers, students and local people acclaimed Brother Norbert’s life and ministry as holy and exemplary. They sustained their devotion to his memory within the Gulu diocese and beyond. The Ugandan bishops had invoked his name as an intercessors for all Ugandans. As a result, between June 16 – July 13, 1994, the diocesan investigation reviewed his life and met with the witnesses to that life of faith. On June 9, 1995, the Holy See affirmed the outcome of the diocesan investigation, according Brother Norbert the title, Servant of God.
The detailed examination of his life, of witnesses, of the history of the period and of the writings of the person was undertaken. The result, known as the positio, was then examined by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. On June 23, 2015 the initial review affirmed the experience of the many witnesses. On May 8, 2018, the consultors of the Congregation affirmed that Brother Norbert McAuliffe had exhibited the theological and cardinal virtues to an heroic degree. Finally, Pope Francis affirmed that result on May 19, 2018, declaring the heroicity of the virtues of Nobert McAuliffe and thus bestowing upon him the title of Venerable in the Church.