Columba Ryan (born Patrick Ryan, 13 January 1916 in Hampstead – 4 August 2009) was a British priest of the Dominican Order and a philosophy teacher, university chaplain, and pastor. He was the brother of John Ryan, the British animator and cartoonist.

Life

Patrick Ryan was born in Hampstead in 1916, the second son of Sir Andrew Ryan, a British diplomat who was the last

dragoman A dragoman or Interpretation was an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts. ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, and his wife Ruth. Patrick was educated at

Ampleforth Ampleforth is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, north of York. The village is situated on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish has a population of 883 according to the 2001 ...

in North Yorkshire. In 1935 he entered the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of C ...

at Woodchester Priory in Gloucestershire where he was given the name Columba. His uncle was

Patrick Finbar Ryan Patrick Finbar Ryan, TC, O.P., (1881-1975) was an Irish Dominican priest who served as Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad (1940–1966). Patrick Ryan was born in Rochestown, County Cork, the son of Edward Ryan, and Matilda Ryan. on 4 Ma ...

OP, Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad. At the age of 30 (in 1946) he completed his DPhil at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He was one of the friars who was on the Peace Pilgrimage to

Vézelay Vézelay () is a commune in the department of Yonne in the north-central French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is a defensible hill town famous for Vézelay Abbey. The town and its 11th-century Romanesque Basilica of St Magdalene are ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

, selecting "30 strong men" to carry a heavy wooden cross across France in thanksgiving for the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Ryan had an analytical mind and enjoyed philosophical controversy and debate. While teaching philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies at

Hawkesyard Priory Hawkesyard Priory was a Dominican priory off Armitage Lane Brereton, Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, built between 1896 and 1914 which included the Roman Catholic Priory Church of St Thomas. History Spode House Originally named "Hawksyard", in ...

in 1954, he set up a Philosophical Enquiry Group, an annual meeting for Catholic philosophers held at the nearby Spode House. The Catholic philosophers

Elizabeth Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, ...

and

Peter Geach Peter Thomas Geach (29 March 1916 – 21 December 2013) was a British philosopher who was Professor of Logic at the University of Leeds. His areas of interest were philosophical logic, ethics, history of philosophy, philosophy of religion and t ...

were among the first invited, remaining leading figures of the group for the 20 years. He was also bursar at the priory. He was briefly in charge of studies at

Blackfriars, Oxford Blackfriars Priory (formally the Priory of the Holy Spirit) is a Dominican religious community in Oxford, England. It houses two educational institutions: Blackfriars Studium, the centre of theological studies of the English Province of the D ...

, where he was pro-regent of studies, then became chaplain to the Catholic students at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal char ...

. Ryan's contribution to philosophy and theology was more through his influence on the people he taught, although a short piece 'The Traditional Concept of Natural Law: an Interpretation' (which he claimed to have written on the train before he gave it as a lecture) has been influential. His students included

Herbert McCabe Herbert John Ignatius McCabe (2 August 192628 June 2001) was a Dominican priest, theologian and philosopher. Life Herbert McCabe was born in Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He studied chemistry at Manchester University, bu ...

and Timothy McDermott, both translators of the Blackfriars Summa, and Fergus Kerr. He was an early pioneer of religious broadcasting, producing and narrating films about the religious life.Catholic Herald 2009 He died, aged 93, on what was then the Feast of

St Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scienti ...

References

Obituary

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

, August 19, 2009.
Independent Catholic News
August 10, 2009 * Anthony J. Lisska, ''Aquinas's theory of natural law: an analytic reconstruction''
The Catholic Herald
September 2009

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Columba 1916 births 2009 deaths English Dominicans People from Hampstead Catholic philosophers Thomists University and college chaplains in the United Kingdom