When it comes to images of the ill-fated Titanic, many of us are inclined to picture Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet hovering together on the ship's edge.
That image, of course, is a Hollywood portrayal. But there are real images of the ship and its people taken soon before their calamitous end.
And the best-known of these pictures were taken by a Jesuit priest named Fr. Francis Browne.
Browne was born on January 3, 1880, in Cork, Ireland (which in that era of pre-independence was known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland). He was the youngest of eight children of a wealthy and influential family.
This may sound like a highly privileged start, but he actually met with hardship very early. His own mother died only eight days after his birth — and just one day after his baptism. What's more, when he was still a young boy, his father died in a swimming accident.
Now orphaned, he was looked after by older siblings and his uncle, a Catholic bishop in Ireland's County Cork.
Browne attended a series of reputable Catholic schools and later embarked on an extended traveling tour of Europe, during which time he indulged his interest in photography, having received the gift of a new camera from his uncle.
Returning to Ireland, Browne attended University College Dublin (then known as Royal University of Ireland). Among his classmates there was James Joyce, who would later depict Browne in his famous novel Finnegan's Wake.
Following his tenure at this university, Browne — who by then was preparing to become a Jesuit priest — studied philosophy in Italy before heading back to Dublin to teach at the Jesuit Belvedere College.
At one point in 1909, Browne and his uncle (the bishop) had a private meeting with Pope Pius X (later St. Pius X), who even agreed to a brief photoshoot.
In 1912, Browne's uncle bought him a first-class ticket for part of the Titanic's maiden voyage. He boarded the ship on April 10, 1912, in Southampton, U.K. While on board, he took many photos and also met a wealthy American couple who, apparently enjoying his company, offered to pay to extend his passage all the way to New York and back.
It was quite the invitation. Only a tiny fraction of humanity could get a chance to experience transatlantic passage on board the Titanic's maiden voyage.
Considering the generous offer, Browne telegraphed his Jesuit superior to seek permission. The request was rejected. Browne disembarked the Titanic on April 11 in Queenstown, Ireland, utterly unaware as to what a fortunate escape he had just made.
Upon striking an iceberg, the Titanic sank in frigid North Atlantic waters at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, less than four days after he disembarked.
By the time the ship met with tragedy, Fr. Browne had already gone back to Dublin. The dreadful fate of the Titanic meant that his photos — the final known images of many passengers and crew, including the captain — were frantically sought after by publications all over the world. He also received free film for life (a huge gift in the days before digital photography) from Kodak.
Now rather famous as a photographer, Browne was ordained as a priest on July 31, 1915. Not long after his ordination, Fr. Browne began serving in WWI as a military chaplain with the Irish Guards.
Even as a noncombatant, this was very dangerous. Fr. Browne was wounded multiple times and nearly succumbed to a poison gas attack. For his courageous ministry, he earned a Military Cross from the British and a Croix de Guerre from the French.
After the war, he returned to Dublin and served as a priest at St. Francis Xavier Church. But, as happened with many WWI veterans, the poisonous gassing of his lungs had caused persistent health issues.
In 1924, on the advice of a doctor, Fr. Browne boarded a ship bound for the warmer climate of Australia, taking photographs all the way and back.
After the recuperative voyage, he resumed his duties as a priest in Dublin before joining the Retreats and Mission branch of the Irish Jesuits. This role saw him spend decades the way he enjoyed — preaching, wandering, and taking photos all over Ireland.
Browne died in Dublin on July 7, 1960, at age 80.
In 1985, some 25 years after Fr. Browne's death, another Jesuit priest, Fr. Edward O'Donnell, was surveying the archives of an old Jesuit residence in Dublin when he came upon a large trunk. Opening it, he discovered over 40,000 film negatives of Fr. Browne's photographs.
