Final Years
Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J. Golden Jubilee Card
This souvenir card was given out to celebrate Fr. Damen's fiftieth anniversary as a Jesuit. Credit: Loyola University Chicago University Archives and Special Collections
Fr. Damen celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit on Novemeber 21, 1887.
"Your life is a model for every priest; an example for all men… this great college, the hope and pride of the Catholic youth of our city, will remain a perpetual memorial of your zeal for learning as for religion."
– William J. Onahan, Speech celebrating Fr. Damen’s Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit, November 20, 1887
Intent on conducting missions even as his strength began to fail, Fr. Damen continued to travel after his Jubilee celebrating fifty years as a Jesuit. On June 4, 1889, he suffered a stroke while conducting a mission in Evanston, Wyoming. He was stricken with paralysis, and he spent the last six months of his life in a wheelchair. Due to his failing health, he moved to Creighton College in Omaha, Nebraska, where he died on January 1, 1890 at the age of 74.