Lyons, Charles W., 1868-1939

Charles W. Lyons, SJ, the fourteenth president of Boston College, was born on January 31, 1869, in Boston. He attended public schools in Boston, including English High School, and entered the Society of Jesus in August 1890. Lyons taught at a number of institutions before and after his ordination in 1904, including Gonzaga College, Georgetown University, and Loyola College in Maryland. After ordination, Lyons acted as the Prefect of Discipline at Georgetown University for a year. He then completed his tertianship at St. Andrew-on-Hudson, NY, and went to teach metaphysics and political economy at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City. In 1907, he taught psychology and political economy at Boston College and was the faculty moderator of the Fulton Debating Society. Lyons spent a brief time in 1909 as the president of Gonzaga College in Washington DC, followed by five years as president of St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia before becoming Boston College president in January 1914. Lyons was the last president to serve as Father Rector to both Boston College and Boston College High School...

FATHER CHARLES W. LYONS 1868-1939 Sometime before Father Lyons’ death his name came up among a group of our Fathers. One of the group remarked, “1 have lived with Father Lyons nineteen years, and I have yet to hear one unkind or uncharitable remark pass from his lips.” This remark might, indeed, summarize the life of that great-hearted man, Father Charles V/. Lyons, S.J. It might be said as a preface that not only was this charity true of the nineteen years which were recorded by this remark, but it was true also of the forty-eight years which Father Lyons spent in the Society. Charles W. Lyons was born in Boston, and early in his life moved to St. Peter and Paul’s parish in South Boston. He attended the Boston public schools, and was graduated from the English High School...

Charles William Lyons SJ (January 31, 1868 – January 31, 1939) was an American Catholic priest who became the only Jesuit and likely the only educator in the United States to have served as the president of four colleges. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he attended the local public schools before entering the wool industry. He abandoned his career in industry to enter the Society of Jesus. While a novice in Maryland, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to Georgetown University as prefect. He then resumed his studies at Woodstock College, teaching intermittently at Gonzaga College in Washington, D.C. and Loyola College in Baltimore. After his ordination, he became a professor at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City and at Boston College...