1844 – 1897 (December 21)

John Phillips Gilmore, the son of Thomas Gilmore and Ellen Phillips, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 1844. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pa., on December 28, 1861, and professed first vows on December 31, 1862. Three years later, he was sent to Ghent, Belgium, to continue his studies for the priesthood, and was ordained there on September 22, 1867, by Bishop Braeg.

Father Gilmore returned to the United States where, in 1872, he was appointed Rector of Saint Mary's in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He said the first Mass ever celebrated in the city of Methuen and the first Mass in the new Church of Saint Augustine in Lawrence. In 1882 he was transferred to Waterford, New York, and in 1890, to Carthage, New York. The following year he was reassigned to Saint Augustine's in Philadelphia.

Father Gilmore suffered from cancer and died at his brother’s home while stationed at Saint Augustine's, on December 21, 1897 at the age of 53. Following the funeral liturgy celebrated by Father Charles Driscoll, O.S.A., at which Archbishop Ryan presided and gave the final absolution, Father Gilmore was interred in the vault at Saint Augustine's.