Hannin, Daniel

• Daniel Hannin, s.j.

Daniel Hannin, S.J. was born July 2, 1912 in Glasgow, Scotland to John Hannin and Annie Burns. After the death of his father, Father Hannin and his mother relocated to Toronto, Ontario.

Father Hannin began his post-secondary studies at the University of Toronto in 1930, but after a year, on August 6, 1931, he left to join the St. Stanislaus Novitiate in Guelph, Ontario. Here, he completed the first four years of his novitiate, pronouncing his first vows on August 15, 1933, before relocating to the Jesuit Seminary in Toronto for three years of philosophy studies. Father Hannin spent his regency at the Residential School in Spanish, Ontario from 1938 to 1940, then at Regiopolis College in Kingston, Ontario. In 1941, Hannin briefly relocated to the Collège de l’Immaculée-Conception in Montreal, Quebec to study theology before returning to the Jesuit Seminary in Toronto. He was one of the initial group of nine Jesuits to be ordained there July 4, 1944. After completing theology studies in 1945, Hannin was appointed to the Jesuit community at Spanish as minister and teacher at the residential school. He moved temporarily to Auriesville, New York in 1947 to complete his Jesuit formation, pronouncing his final vows on August 15, 1948.

Following his ordination and at his request, Hannin was appointed to the Spanish Residential School again in 1948 as minister and vice-principal. Two years later, however, he relocated to the Holy Cross Mission at Wikwemikong, Ontario, on Manitoulin Island, where for nine years he studied Ojibwe, served as minister, director of adult education, sports, and drama

Father Hannin’s growing interest in adult education compelled him to pursue formal training in the field; he left Northern Ontario at various points to work on his studies. In 1959, he received a diploma in adult education in Antigonish, Nova Scotia; in 1964, he received a Master of Science in adult education from the University of Wisconsin, and in 1967, at 55 years old, a doctorate in sociology of religion from the same institution. Over the course of the several decades he spent working between all thirteen of the Northern Ontario missions, Father Hannin was involved in many education initiatives, including working alongside Bishop Alexander Carter in 1967 to help coordinate a “diocesan synod,” which established adult education groups and parochial councils throughout the dioses. In the early 1970s, he helped found a program to train Indigenous deacons, a precursor to the Jesuits’ Anishinabe Spiritual Centre in Anderson Lake, Ontario, which aimed to develop an “authentically Indigenous” Catholic church.

In 1976, after teaching briefly in Calcutta and Darjeeling, Father Hannin relocated to Campion College in Regina where he worked as a professor of sociology and native studies, and held an active role with college students and the local Indigenous community. In the late 1970s, Father Hannin became Superior of the Jesuit Community here, a position he retained for three years while continuing to teach. While here, he helped to establish Wickiup, a social-religious centre for which he acted as priest, and was closely involved with what is now First Nations University of Canada. Later on, he served briefly as Superior of the Jesuits on the North Shore of Lake Huron missions before leaving due to waning health.

Father Hannin spent his last years at the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, acting as minister, counsellor, and gardener. He died of a heart attack en route to celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy in Oshawa on January 3, 1988, soon after he had relocated to the Jesuit Infirmary in Pickering, Ontario.