Letter from Richard Newel, senior sacristan in the College 25 years earlier, to Hogan requesting the names of Bishops of England, Scotland or America who may be willing to provide a temporary mission, 17 Jan 1916 Hogan, John Francis (1858–1918), priest, author, and president of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, was born in July 1858 in Coolreagh, Co. Clare. He was educated at Ennis Diocesan College, Co. Clare, Saint-Sulpice, Paris, and Freiburg-im-Breisgau. After ordination in the diocese of Killaloe, subsequently becoming canon, he continued his studies in France and Germany before accepting the newly created chair in modern languages at St Patrick's College, Maynooth (1886–1912), where he taught French and Italian. He was appointed vice-president (1910) and president (1912–18) of St Patrick's College, and subsequently became senator (1913) and pro-vice-chancellor (1914) of the NUI. In 1914 he was appointed domestic prelate to the pope. In 1911 he helped to organise the reception of King George and Queen Mary. During the Easter rising (1916) a group of Volunteers from the town of Maynooth entered the college to seek a blessing before setting off for Dublin. Hogan reputedly refused to give his blessing to their ‘foolish and most ill-advised expedition’ (Corish, 302) and urged them to return home. They in turn refused; responding to their spiritual needs, he blessed them, while remaining totally opposed to their activities. He subsequently addressed the students on the need to show proper respect for authority.