1896 – 1959 (August 18)
William Vincent Donovan, son of William Donovan and Mary O’Connell, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on January 1, 1896, and was baptized in St. Mary’s Church on January 12th of the same year. He entered St. Rita Hall, Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1912, was received into the novitiate on June 19, 1913, professed simple vows on June 19, 1914 and solemn vows on June 24, 1917. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Dougherty on May 29, 1920, in the Cathedral of Philadelphia.
Father Donovan was assigned as assistant pastor at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church on Staten Island, New York, in 1921. In 1923 he began serving as Professor of Mathematics at Villanova College. He was transferred to Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, California in 1925, and to Saint Rita's High School in Chicago, Illinois, the following year. Later he was a member of the Mission Band, after which he served in our parishes on Staten Island and, in 1938, in Schaghticoke, N.Y.
In 1941, Father Donovan was assigned to Saint Mary's in Lawrence, Mass. where he served until his death. He died there on August 18, 1959 at the age of 63. He is buried in the Community Cemetery at Saint Mary's in Lawrence.
