Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Awarded Military Cross
'For Constant devotion to duty since arrival in France, when without thought of personal danger he tended the wounded and dying, and no matter what the enemy shelling or fire, he was to be found always amongst the men in the trenches unostentatiously but doing invaluable work in cheering them up by his personality and his presence. Though over 62 years of age, Chaplain HEARN has never had a days sickness or leave of absence since joining the Battalion'

Rev. Joseph Hearn, S .J., who last year all too quietly celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest. His discourses had been described by a distinguished sodalist as being as solid and irresistible as granite rock. During the course of the Great War (1914-18) and whilst in his sixties he had acted as military chaplain overseas and had received the Military Cross and other decorations for bravery.

Death of Popular Priest
MELBOURNE

One of the best loved priests in the Catholic Archdiocese in Melbourne. the Rev. Father Joseph Hearn. S.J.. died in the Mercy Hospital today, aged 87. At 60 he went to the 1914-18 war as chaplain to the 7th Battalion. He served throughout the Gallipoli campaign and later in France. On the eve of his return to Australia in 1918 he was awarded the Military Medal.

DEATH OF VETERAN JESUIT
CHAPLAIN OF LAST WAR
One of the best-loved priests in the Catholic Archdiocese in Melbourne, the Rev. Father Joseph Hearn, S.J., died in the Mercy Hospital today.
Fr. Hearn was born In Ireland 87 years ago. but had been in Australia for more than half a century. He became known to and loved by thousands of  Richmond people during the 25 years ho was in charge of St. Ignatius Church there. In Richmond he built the schools and hall of St. Ignatius, which are a landmark of the eastern suburbs.
At the age of 60 — in 1914— he went to the last war as chaplain to the 7th Battalion, He served throughout the Gallipoli campaign and later in France. 
On the eve of his return to Australia in 1918 he was awarded the Military Medal. '
For a period he was in charge of the church of the Immaculate Conception, Hawthorn, and before he returned to the staff of St. Ignatius Church, Richmond, about a year ago, he was Rector of Loyola College, the Jesuit novitiate at Watsonia, where he had been in charge for some years. 
By Diggers of the first A.I.F. who knew him, Father Hearn was respected as few men are. He was devoted to his men and, despite his age, accompanied  them right into the fiercest of actions. He was a great admirer of General Monash.
The story is told that at Monash's funeral in blustering rain, Fr. Hearn, then in his 79's, resisted invitations to travel in a car, preferring to march the  whole distance with the men. Many other stories reflecting similar devotion and independence are told of him. But today they are mostly told at secondhand. The men who could tell them best are no longer alive. As one of his admirers said today; 'Most of those who knew him best have gone to  Heaven before him." Requiem Mass will be said at 9.30 a.m. on Monday at St. Ignatius'. The funeral will be to the Boroondara Cemetery, Kew.

REV. FATHER HEARN
Obsequies of Rev. Joseph Hearn, who served as a chaplain with the AIF in Gallipoli and France during the last war were held in the Church of St  Ignatius, Richmond, yesterday morning. Rev. Padre Dexter, of Footscray, who was associated with Father Hearn at Galllpoli was present. Archbishop Mannix  presided and 100 priests and students of Loyola College Watsonia, chanted the music of the Solemn Office and Requiem Mass. The funeral left the church  for Boroondara Cemetery, and Archbishop Mannlx and many Jesuit and diocesan priests assisted in the last prayers at the graveside.