1921 – 1963 (January 29)
Philip Henry Foley was born on May 24, 1921 in Audubon, Iowa, to Philip Foley and Veda Minerman. He was baptized in June 1921, at Saint Patrick’s Church in that city. Philip attended Saint Sabina Parochial School, Chicago, for six years before enrolling in Saint Nicholas of Tolentine School, Chicago, for the last two years of his elementary education. He began his secondary education at Quigley Preparatory Seminary, Chicago, and later transferred to Saint Rita High School. After a year at Saint Rita, Philip was accepted as a postulant into Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, which granted him a diploma in 1942. He entered the novitiate on September 9, 1942, professed simple vows on September 10, 1943 and solemn vows on September 10, 1946. Philip earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Villanova College, in 1947, and pursued theological studies at Collegio Santa Monica, Rome, Italy. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 2, 1950. Following ordination, Father Foley did additional studies in Theology at the Gregorian University, Rome, earning an S.T.B. degree in 1951 and an S.T.L. in 1952.
Father Foley returned to the United States in 1952, and was assigned to Saint Rita High School, Chicago, as a teacher and chaplain. In 1955, he was appointed Director of Vocations for the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel. While serving in this position, he resided at Saint Monica Novitiate, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
In 1958, he was assigned to the faculty of the newly opened Tolentine College, Olympia Fields, Illinois. He was transferred in 1960 to Mendel Catholic High School, Chicago. A year later he was named professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Augustinian School of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri. He died there suddenly on January 29, 1963.
Father Foley is remembered as a kind and gentle friar whose presence was welcomed and company enjoyed wherever he went. There was no rancor or guile in him, but much joy and peace. He is buried in the Augustinian plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.
