1907 – 1987 (November 2)
Joseph Aloysius Coyne was born December 2, 1907 in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, to Thomas P. Coyne and Mary Finnerty. After graduating in 1927 from Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, he was received into the novitiate on September 8, 1927. He professed simple vows on September 9, 1928, and solemn vows on September 9, 1932. He earned a B. A. from Villanova College, Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1932, and did theological studies at Augustinian College, Washington, D.C., from 1932 to 1936. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1935.
Father Coyne received an M.S. in Physics from Villanova College, Villanova, in 1957, and did further studies at Catholic University of America; Illinois Institute of Technology; University of Chicago; Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, Ohio; Tulsa University; and University of Oklahoma.
Father Coyne taught in the 1936 summer session at Villanova College, then was assigned to teach at St. Rita High School, Chicago. When the new Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel was founded in 1941, he was affiliated to that Province.
In 1958 and 1959 he served as pastor of St. Matthew Parish, Flint, Michigan. He was a teacher at Cascia Hall Preparatory School, Tulsa, from 1959 to 1965, and Director of Development at St. Rita High School, Chicago, from 1965 to 1967. He served as pastor of St. Mary Parish, Champaign, Illinois in 1967. Later that year he was assigned as associate pastor and prior at St. Gregory Parish, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. In 1975 Father Coyne stepped away from full-time ministry, and resided at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Monastery, Olympia Fields, Illinois. In retirement he was active in public relations work for the Province and in support of the Augustinian Missions in Peru.
In 1982, Father Coyne returned to St. Matthew Parish, Flint, where he engaged in a limited parish ministry. For a number of years, he Coyne had been suffering from cancer, which resulted in a fatal cerebral vascular stroke on November 2, 1987, shortly after he celebrated Eucharist at St. Matthew Church. Father Coyne is remembered for his no-nonsense approach to life situations and his deep commitment to the Augustinian Missions in Peru.
He is buried in the Augustinian plot at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, Pa.
