1907 – 1970 (July 6)

A native of Haverford, Pennsylvania, John Joseph Costigan was born on May 28, 1907. He entered the novitiate at New Hamburg, New York, on August 15, 1926, and professed simple vows on August 16, 1927. Solemn profession followed on August 16, 1930, as did graduation from Villanova College in 1931. He did his theological studies at Augustinian College and the Catholic University of America and was ordained in Washington on June 12, 1934.

Father Costigan served as Assistant pastor at Saint Clare Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan from 1935 to 1941. From 1941 to 1958 he taught at Saint Augustine's High School in San Diego, California. Father also served as pastor of Saint Patrick's Church, San Diego, from 1958 to 1968, and prior from 1958 to 1965. In 1968 he became an assistant in Saint Thomas Aquinas Church, Ojai, Calif., and served there for almost a year until ill health forced his retirement.

Father Costigan died on July 6, 1970, at the age of 63. He was buried in the community cemetery at Saint Mary's Hall, Villanova, until the cemetery closed and the friars were removed to the Augustinian Plot at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, Pa.