1886 – 1915 (December 4)
John Patrick Condon, son of Pierce Condon and Maria Meehan, was born at Stillwater, New York, on February 12, 1886, and was baptized on March 12, 1886, at St. Paul’s Church in Mechanicville. Following his early education, he entered Villanova College, and from there sought admission to the Province. He became a novice at Villanova on July 4, 1905, and was professed on July 5, 1906. He received his A.B degree in 1907 and an A.M. in 1908. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Edmond Prendergast in the Philadelphia Cathedral on May 14, 1910. He celebrated his first Mass the following day in St. Peter’s Church, Stillwater.
After ordination, Father Condon was stationed at Colegio San Agustin in Havana, Cuba. He died there in his room on the morning of December 4, 1915 of tuberculosis of the spine. He was 39 years of age. Father Moynihan, superior of San Agustin, informed the Prior Provincial that Father Condon had received the sacraments on November 22nd while perfectly conscious, and that he had suffered very little as he was able to receive necessary medication whenever he experienced pain.
A Funeral Mass was offered on December 6th with an extremely large number of people in attendance. Sermons were preached in both Spanish and English, the latter by Father Laurence Delurey, O.S.A. Father Moynihan was celebrant of the Mass, and informed the Provincial that Father Condon “was ideal in his work, a very great loss to us.” His body was brought back to the New York, where he a second Funeral Mass was said at Saint Peter’s Church, Stillwater, after which Father Condon was buried at Saint John's Cemetery, Troy.
Father Condon was the first member of the Province to die abroad.
