Thomas Ignatius Gasson was a Catholic priest and educator. At Boston College he was a professor of ethics and political economy and as preacher at the neighboring Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Background
Thomas Ignatius Gasson was born on September 23, 1859, at Sevenoaks, Kent, England, to Henry and Arabella (Quinnell) Gasson of the county gentry.
His father was of Huguenot extraction, while his mother’s family was rooted in the Kentish aristocracy.
Education
Privately tutored, the boy’s English education was completed at St. Stephen’s School, Lambeth, London. In 1872, he went to the United States to visit relatives, and studied under private tutors in Philadelphia.
In 1874, Gasson was received into the Catholic Church by Rev. Charles Cicaterri, S. J. ; and the following year, November 17, he entered the Society of Jesus and commenced his novitiate.
In 1877, he took simple vows and began his classical studies at the Jesuit juniorate in Frederick, Maryland, where he remained until 1880, and then for three years continued his philosophical courses in the College of the Sacred Heart, Woodstock, Maryland.
Career
Gasson was instructor in Loyola College, Baltimore, from 1883 to 1886, and in the College of St. Francis Xavier, New York, from 1886 to 1888.
In the latter year, he was ordered to the Imperial Royal University of Innsbruck, Austria, for theology, canon law, and church history. Here, on July 26, 1891, he was ordained by the prince-bishop of Brixen in the Tyrol.
Returning to the United States, in 1892, he taught in the Jesuit juniorate at Frederick, Maryland, until he was transferred to Boston College as professor of ethics and political economy and as preacher at the neighboring Church of the Immaculate Conception.
In 1907, he became president of Boston College, which largely through his vision and efforts was removed to University Heights and rebuilt on an imposing scale.
In 1914, he was ordered to Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. , to teach sociology and legal ethics and to act as dean in an endeavor to reorganize the graduate school.
In 1923, he was superior of the lay retreat house at Mt. Manresa, Staten Island, and the following year was called to Montreal to aid in the reorganization of the Society, which was divided into French and English speaking sections, and to assist in the development of Loyola College.
It was there that he died, but his remains were brought to the Immaculate Conception Church in Boston for the final rites and were buried in the cemetery of Holy Cross College in Worcester.
Personality
Father Gasson’s influence was exerted through his work as a beloved teacher and as an administrative officer; he left no literary remains beyond an occasional article in Donahoe’s Magazine, the Catholic World, and the Jesuit publications.