TYRRELL, GEORGE (1861–1909), leading Roman Catholic theologian of the so-called modernist movement. Adversity and agitation marked Tyrrell's life from the beginning. Born in Dublin on February 6, 1861, two months after his father had died, Tyrrell was raised in penury and vagabondage by his devoted mother and schooled in gospel kindness by Charles W. Benson of Rathmines School, but was swayed oppositely by the acerbity and agnosticism of his elder brother William.

William's untimely death sent Tyrrell on a search for stable footing in the externals of religion. Experimentation with Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism led to friendship with Robert Dolling, the later famous "Father Dolling," who served briefly as Tyrrell's mentor and spiritual director, first securing his matriculation at Trinity College (1878), then inviting him to London to see sane Anglo-Catholicism at work, hoping thereby to prevent his anticipated conversion to Roman Catholicism. Dolling's strategy failed. On May 18, 1879, Tyrrell was...