Francis W. Sweeney, S.J. was born in Milford, Massachusetts, on February 19, 1916 to Patrick and Ellen (McQuaid) Sweeney as the youngest of six children. His siblings were John C., Mary, Paula M., Anna, and Joseph Gerard. He attended St. Mary’s High School in Milford, graduating in 1934.

Sweeney graduated from the College of Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939. During his first two years at Holy Cross, Sweeney was day student. Then he took a year off due to ill health and heart surgery. He returned as a resident student and began publishing stories and poetry for the New York Times, as well as reporting campus news to the Times. He served as editor-in-chief of the college’s literary magazine, The Purple. Sweeney entered the Shadowbrook Jesuit novitiate in Lenox, Massachusetts on September 7, 1939. He found the Jesuit novitiate challenging, but remained there until 1942. He returned Boston College, where he earned a Masters of Arts in Philosophy and English (1944). He served as an instructor of Latin and English at Cranwell Preparatory School in Lenox, Massachusetts (1944-1945). Sweeney completed his Jesuit education in the School of Theology at Weston College (1945-1949). On June 19, 1948, Sweeney was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Richard Cushing. Sweeney studied Ascetical Theology at St. Robert’s Hall Seminary in Pomfret, Connecticut (1950-1951).

After completion of his studies and ordination to the priesthood, the Jesuit Provincial assigned him to Boston College in 1951, where he first taught English and a course on the Evidences of Religion in the School of Nursing. By 1956, Sweeney was teaching full time within the English department. He continued to teach with the English department until his retirement in 1998.

At Boston College, Sweeney was moderator and faculty advisor (1951-1998) to the Stylus, the Boston College literary magazine published by students. He founded the Humanities Series (1958) and served as director until 1998. This program brought many artists, scholars, and writers to Boston College to give lectures. He wrote over 80 Boston College honorary degrees citations and drafted speeches for Boston College President Michael P. Walsh, S.J.

Sweeney wrote and published short stories, articles, poetry, and books throughout his career. In 1951, Sweeney’s first collection of poems, Baroque Moment, was published. His second collection of poems, Morning Window, Evening Window, was published almost fifty years later (1999). It Will Take a Lifetime (1980) included many stories and essays previously published in newspapers and magazines, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, New Yorker, America, and Commonweal.

Sweeney’s writing extended to book reviews, biographical articles for The New Catholic Encyclopedia, and unfinished projects including a historical novel on Abraham Lincoln and a Catholic reader entitled Without Further Ado. Additional biographical publications included Bernardine Realino: Renaissance Man (1951), which was republished as Every Man My Brother: A Life of St. Bernardine Realino (1976). He wrote the text for The Crowned Hilltop: Boston College in Its Hundredth Year (1962). He served as editor of several projects including Vatican Impressions (1962), The Knowledge Explosion (1966), and The Vatican and World Peace (1970).

In 1987, Sweeney received his own honorary degree from Boston College. He retired from teaching the following year. Sweeney died in Weston, Massachusetts on April 25, 2002, at the age of 86.

Source: George V. Higgins, “’Go forth and write,’” Boston College Magazine (Fall 1980).