John Sullivan was born in Dublin in 1861 to a wealthy Protestant father and Catholic mother.
He attended elite Protestant schools in Ireland before studying law in London. In his 20’s he stopped going to church. His father passed away when he was 24, which was a great shock to him.
By the early 1890s he appeared to have no clear religious views, but was moved by the Confessions of St. Augustine. He took religious instruction classes and read a catechism and Butler’s Lives of the Saints. More here.
