Br. Lewis of Gonzaga

Michael Farrell was born on December 17, 1825, in Longford, Ireland, the son of Timothy and Elesa Dunn Farrell. The political situation in Ireland forced the family to emigrate and they settled in St. Louis, Missouri. At age twenty-five, Michael entered the Novitiate of the Brothers on October 8, 1850. He received the habit on November 1, 1850, and received the religious name of Brother Lewis of Gonzaga. He was one of the first to enter the Brothers who had arrived in St. Louis in 1849. In October of 1852 Brother Lewis was assigned to St. Mary's Academy, New Orleans, where he taught until his health began to fail. In January of 1860 he was sent to the Brothers' school in St. Augustine, Florida. It was thought that the climate would improve his health, but it did not and he died on July 17, 1861. He was thirty-six years old and had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for only eleven years.