John MacErlean was born in Belfast and educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast. He joined the Society of Jesus as a novice in 1888, and in 1904 was ordained. He collected and edited the poems of Seathrun Ceitinn (Geoffrey Keating). He spent a year in Spain, and on his return collected and edited the poems of Daibhidh O Bruadair for the Irish Texts Society in three volumes.

Born:	1870
Died:	1940