James Cullen

Who was James Cullen?

Fr. James Aloysius Cullen S.J, born the 23 October 1841 New Ross County Wexford and died the 6 December 1921 Dublin, was an Irish priest. He founded the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA).

Born in New Ross he received his early schooling at the school of the Christian School Brothers in his native village before entering the Jesuit High School of Clongowes Woods in Dublin. Believing that Jesuits were involved only in educational work he chose to enter the seminary for the diocese of Ferns for which he was ordained priest on 28 October 1864, in Carlow.

He founded the PTAA in 1898. An extremely devout, if rather gloomy man, he was a born organiser, who worked with great energy over many years to perfect the institution he had created.