| Admin_History | Fr Eustace Dudley was born on 11 September 1883 in Tooting, South London. Educated at Monmouth Grammar School and Keble College, Oxford, he left for Canada to teach after his studies and remained there until the outbreak of war in 1914. He received commission in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was wounded while serving on the Western Front. Having completed his training at Beda College in Rome from 1919-1923, he was ordained in Rome on 29 October 1922. He came to England working for the Catholic Missionary Society, of which his brother Owen, himself an ordained priest, was a member. He served as an assistant priest for a short period at Our Lady of Compassion, Upton Park, in the diocese of Brentwood.
In 1929, Fr Dudley at 45 years old entered the Society of Jesus and went on the noviceship at Roehampton. After spending a year at Manresa for his noviceship, he did his second year's noviceship as a member of staff of the Sacred Heart, Edinburgh. He returned to Manresa to take his first vows on 11 January 1931. He went back to Edinburgh and remained there until 1934. Having completed his noviceship, he did his tertianship in 1935-1936. He followed that with parochial work at Sacred Heart, Bournemouth in 1936-1937 and Edinburgh in 1937-1942. Fr Dudley studied for an MA and his name was removed from the books at Keble and transferred to Campion Hall.
Apart from his parochial work Edinburgh, Fr Dudley was in charge of the local Catholic Evidence Guild (CEG), which he had previously worked for in London. He started speaking at the Mound in January 1933, which is Edinburgh's equivalent to the Hyde Park Open Forum. This was reported by the Lauristonian, stating that two outstanding lay speakers in CEG meetings in Lauriston Small Hall had secured permission from the archbishop to commence speaking at the Mound and later at the foot of Leith Walk. The meetings were halted during the Second World War. Fr Dudley was transferred to the staff of the Holy Name, Manchester in 1942 where his main task was instructing converts.
In 1952, Fr Dudley's brother Owen, an author and a former superior of the CMS, 1993-1947, died. In October 1955, Fr Dudley was taken to the hospital with a coronary thrombosis. He recovered and was able to spend some time in convalescence at St Beuno's. He left for Manresa and even went to undertake supply work at Lewisham in the early part of 1956. However, it was found that his condition was deteriorating so he was admitted to St Anthony's Hospital, North Cheam, Surrey. He was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer and he died on 30 July 1956. His body was sent to Roehampton, where Fr Provincial sang the Solemn Requiem and he was buried. |