Fr. Dan Donovan: “A Man of Grace, Elegance and Kindness”

Fr. Daniel Donovan becomes increasingly animated as he offers two visitors an interpretation of Surrender, a 1999 Cibachrome image by artist Barbara Steinman which hangs in the eastern stairwell of Odette Hall. The piece comes from the Donovan Collection, more than 450 works of art — including paintings, sculptures, drawings, carvings and works in glass, iron and other materials — that the longtime professor has built up over more than 40 years. The collection’s various pieces can be found installed across the St. Michael’s campus, surprising, challenging, and inspiring those who pass them every day.

The image Surrender presents is the result of several photos brought together, the top half taken in an anthropology museum in Berlin while the bottom half contains images from an ice storm in Montreal. Donovan smiles as he recalls a debate with the artist about whether the images were manipulated, and he speaks with a quiet enthusiasm while offering the viewers guidance on how one might read the work, while also pointing out how key spiritual imagery of darkness and light brings to life the complexity of life, ultimately seeing it breaking out toward the transcendent.

And in these moments of description, education, and witness, the three abiding aspects of Fr. Donovan’s life come together: a deep love of art, the gifts possessed by a dedicated teacher, and, most important, a deep religious vocation, a combination that has had a profound and ongoing influence on the St. Michael’s community.

“When I think about my life, three things become clear to me: being a priest is increasingly important and defining for me; teaching theology has been an enormously important calling; and my activity in the art community in Toronto is an important way of staying current in contemporary life, a way of staying open to the world in which I teach,” he says in an interview in his office on the ground floor of Odette Hall, its walls and window ledges a testament to his love of contemporary art.

This year marks Fr. Donovan’s 85th birthday, the 60th anniversary of his ordination, and his 51st year of teaching at St. Mike’s.

As for his love of art, he points to a class he took while a philosophy major at St. Mike’s called The Philosophy of Art, as opening up a whole new for him. Both the professor teaching the course — a diocesan priest from Halifax named Fr. Gerald Phelan — and the author of the text used in the course — Jacques Maritain’s Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry — opened up a whole new world, one he has been building upon for more than half a century.

After graduating from St. Mike’s in 1958, he earned an S.T.L. at Université Laval in Quebec and then went on to biblical and theological studies in Europe, where he earned an S.S.L. from the Biblical Institute in Rome and a doctorate from Münster in northern Germany. In the heady days of Vatican II, Fr. Donovan studied with theological giants Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger, who was to become Pope Benedict XVI. He was particularly struck by Rahner’s understanding of the universality of God’s grace, a concept, he says, that has profoundly influenced his approach to art and life.

He also cites Gaudium et Spes, the conciliar constitution promulgated in 1965 that spoke to the Church’s place in the broader world, as helping him see that we are to be engaged with the world rather than adopting an insular view focused strictly on our own lives.

While studying in Europe, Fr. Donovan found the time in the midst of his biblical and theological studies to engage in another kind of study, visiting the great galleries of Europe.“I was educating myself on the history of art, developing an understanding and appreciation of it,” he says.

He returned to Toronto in 1967, bringing with him two woodcuts, Job and Habakkuk, which today hang outside his office, created by Jakob Steinhardt. In the first catalogue of the Donovan Collection, published in 2001, he notes that, “although originally purchased as souvenirs of my years in Europe, Steinhardt’s woodcuts turned out to be eloquent harbingers of what would come later.”

After teaching at St. Augustine’s Seminary for four years, he arrived at St. Michael’s in 1971, first teaching at the Faculty of Theology and then in the undergraduate Christianity & Culture program. He began dedicating his Saturday afternoons to visiting the city’s many art galleries, getting to know the city’s vibrant arts community. It was from these visits that his collection began.

In 1997, he made the first of what has become ongoing donations of art to the University of St. Michael’s College, a reflection of his love of the community where he has taught since 1971. It includes the piece he points to as launching his collection, a limestone and bronze “tabernacle” by Ted Rettig. Fr. Donovan purchased the piece, which was part of the artist’s Master of Fine Art project. It now rests in his office in Odette. One of the best-known pieces, arguably, is the giant stainless steel work, Zen West, which, given its location in Clover Hill Park, has been viewed by thousands of people.

“This is a wonderful place to show the collection and for people to really enjoy it,” he says, noting pieces are located everywhere from Odette Hall to the John M. Kelly Library, Carr Hall, the historic houses and student residences. Over time, works from the collection have been lent to numerous university and public galleries, including the National Gallery in Ottawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the University of Toronto.

“…Steinhardt’s woodcuts turned
out to be eloquent harbingers
of what would come later.”

Olga Korper, owner of The Olga Korper Gallery, recalls the first time Donovan visited her gallery, when it was located on Spadina Ave. “Anyone who walks into a contemporary gallery and is interested is welcome,” she says, describing Fr. Donovan as articulate and engaging. Fr. Donovan continues to make his visits to galleries around the city, often telling Korper about must-see events. She says he often offers a different and fresh approach to a work and has a gift for installing art so that works are in conversation with each other, often revealing new sides to individual works.

That supportiveness, of course, extends to the students. In another example of the overlap of Fr. Donovan’s passions, Korper recalls, he worked with residence students to help them pick art for the common rooms in Elmsley and Sorbara halls. Two years in succession, he worked with the students of one floor over the course of several months, creating a teachable moment. He met regularly with interested students, asking questions to help them decide what they were looking for, and taking them to galleries and studios to see the possibilities. Fr. Donovan picked the artist and the students picked the piece.

“My artists love him — even those who don’t appear in his collection — because he comes to every opening and asks such intelligent questions. He’s very supportive. He’s known among artists because when he visits he brings a pie from the Harbord Bakery…People would come and pace their visits, hoping for a slice,” she laughs.

The highlight of that project saw the students meet with the artists selected, asking thoughtful questions about the works, and then gathering for refreshments.

“That was really the high point of the whole experience. The students asked terrific questions and really seemed to enjoy themselves,” he recalls.

Students past and present are quick to point out how the components of Fr. Donovan’s life are always present and woven together.

“Fr. Dan’s theology infuses
his art with meaning and his art creates
a visual picture of a faith and a theology
that has shaped his life.”

Msgr. Jim Hannah, Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Alumna Sara Franca (SMC 0T1), who took several courses from Donovan while minoring in Christianity & Culture, says that his love of teaching — and care for students — are always present.

“What struck me — both learning from Fr. Donovan as an undergraduate, and then later staying in touch with him to this day — was how deeply personal and thoughtful his connection to the world around him was and is,” she says. “If we are talking about Karl Rahner, or the latest beautiful piece of art in his collection, Fr. Donovan brings such a deep, genuine appreciation for the art and the artist. While my favourite thing about Fr. Donovan is his warm sense of humour (which he needed when I called him at 3 am one morning during an all-nighter, to leave a voicemail — and he picked up!), I always see him as a man of grace, elegance and kindness.”

Of course, his impact goes far beyond the classroom. Fr. Donovan is often recognized for his participation in the Daily TV Mass program, broadcast across the country and picked up internationally via YouTube. He has been a frequent celebrant and homilist at Toronto’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish for more than 20 years. Many in the U of T community know him as the priest who has said the early Mass at St. Basil’s for more than 20 years.

“Fr. Dan’s theology infuses his art with meaning and his art creates a visual picture of a faith and a theology that has shaped his life,” says Perpetual Help pastor Msgr. Jim Hannah. “Occasionally in his homilies he will reference a particular piece of art that he feels captures what he is trying to say. But it is when he takes you on a tour of his art that you begin to see how he has incorporated his grasp of theology in the art pieces he collects. As he describes each piece you become aware that the artwork is a visual expression of some aspect of his theology. He brings the art to life and invites you into a much deeper interior spiritual reflection as you view the work.”

That ability to inspire is something former Principal Mark McGowan has witnessed first-hand.

“Students loved his classes on Christian thought, scripture, and Christology,” he says. “Given his passion for art, particularly that of Canadian artists exploring spiritual themes, it was not hard to convince him that a fourth-year course would be a popular elective in the Christianity & Culture Program. We have all benefitted from his presence here, in so many ways.”

Alumna Alicia Feather (SMC 0T6) is one of the many for whom Father Donovan became much more than a professor.

“I met Fr. Donovan in September 2002, when I was a new undergraduate attending my first lecture for the class Catholicism. His teaching was soft, passionate, engaging, even entertaining. I was immediately hooked. Over the next four years, I would sign up for every single one of his classes,” Feather recalls.

“Fr. Donovan was also more than just a teacher to me. He made time for people, sharing himself with this joy and passion that was contagious. When I started working at St. Basil’s Church office he would stop by, when he could, to chat or share a laugh. l looked forward to that.”

Today, Feather credits Fr. Donovan with helping shape her career path.

“Fr. Donovan’s passion has inspired me as an educator. I want to make each and every student feel important. I want to share that gift of Catholic education. That is why I was so honored when Fr. Donovan agreed to be a part of such an important moment of time in my life,” officiating at her wedding.

“On my wedding day I walked into the Church with calm and ease, knowing that he would say something perfect,” Feather recalls.
“And he did, as he always does.” 

Top: Fr. Donovan with the “Zen West” sculpture on Clover Hill, 1980. Left: Works of art inside Fr. Donovan’s office in Odette Hall.
Above: Outside Fr. Donovan’s office, Jakob Steinhardt’s (1887 – 1968), “Job”and “Habakkuk”, both woodcuts were created in 1957, Münster.

Above: Ted Rettig (b. 1949), Untitled #1, 1984, carved limestone, 13″ x 30″ x 18″, Wynick/Tuck Gallery.
Right: Roland Poulin (b. 1940), Source noire, 1994–95, etching (3/30), 52″ x 35.5″, Open Studio.
In situ: The Donovan Collection in the Kelly Library’s Café and main floor Learning Commons.