McNeal, Mark J., 1874-1934

Mark Joseph McNeal, SJ, was born on May 17, 1874 in Baltimore, MD, to Joshua Vansant and May Preston McNeal. He had three siblings who lived through adulthood: Stella McNeal (1876-1965), James Preston Wickham McNeal (1878-1954), and Marie McNeal Tittoni (1885-1961). After graduating from Georgetown University, Mark McNeal entered the Maryland-New York Province of the Society of Jesus and taught as a Scholastic at St. Francis Xavier’s in New York. After his ordination at Woodstock he taught at Georgetown University and was with the Messenger of the Sacred Heart. He toured the United States giving lectures and sermons to raise funds to establish the Infant Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. He taught at the new university, as well as at the Government University in Tokyo. Poor health forced him to shorten his time in Japan, and he transferred to Ateneo de Manila, Philippines, in 1924. He later returned to the United States, where he became Professor of Rhetoric at the Juniorate of St. Andrew-on-Hudson, NY. He went back to the Philippines to be a missionary priest at Daveo, Mindanao, but caught malaria and had to return to Manila in 1934. He died at St. Paul’s Hospital, Manila, in June 1934.