| Admin_History | Kevin Booth was born on 8 May 1906 in Clapham, London. He was educated at Clapham College and entered the Society of Jesus on 7 September 1924. He completed a bachelor's degree at the University of Oxford. His special subject, the Italian Renaissance and Italian art, brought him into contact with Fr Martin D'Arcy SJ. Booth's academic interests were in the Counter-Reformation and the early history of the Society of Jesus. He started a D. Litt degree at Oxford, with his thesis initially focusing on the Waldensians before changing his subject to the suppression of the Society of Jesus. Through ill health, Booth was never able to complete his D. Litt.
Booth was ordained priest at Wimbledon Church on 14 July 1940. Between 1941 and 1944 he taught at Mount St Mary's in Spinkhill, Derbyshire. From 1944 to 1947, Booth lectured in Church History to young Jesuits in the Juniorate. He then spent four years teaching at Stonyhurst and a further fifteen years lecturing in Church History at Heythrop. He was the Spiritual Director for the last five years of his time at Heythrop. During this time, Booth served as chaplain to St Mary's Convent and School. He proved very popular at St Mary's Convent and kept up correspondence with his former pupils until the point of his death. Booth retained a strong academic thread throughout his career. Penguin Books commissioned Booth to write a history of the Catholic Church. Booth undertook a good deal of preparatory work but the planned volumes never reached publication stage.
Booth's health deteriorated in the last six years of his life. He was partially paralysed by a stroke and spent the last two years of his life in various hospitals and nursing homes. Kevin Booth died on 21 November 1977. His Requiem Mass was held at the Sacred Heart Church, Wimbledon, on 29 November 1977, followed by internment at Gap Road Cemetery.
A full obituary can be found in Letters & Notices, vol. 83, pp. 60-69. |