1904 – 1975 (September 13)
John Joseph Daley, son of Thomas Daley and Margaret Goldan, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 9, 1904, and was baptized in our church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine. He was received into the novitiate in 1923 and professed simple vows on June 6, 1924. For his theological studies, he was sent to the Royal Monastery of the Escorial, Spain, where he made his solemn profession on June 22, 1927, and where he was ordained on June 27, 1930, by Bishop Luciano Perez Platero.
His first assignment upon return to the United States was as professor at Saint Augustine's, Havana, Cuba. From 1932 to 1943 he was professor at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. During the war years he accepted a Commission as a Chaplain in the United States Navy, where he served until 1946. From 1946 to 1962 Father Daley served at Villanova University as professor and chaplain. At the Chapter of 1962 he was named prior of the Community at Malvern Preparatory, a position he held until his retirement in 1968.
Father Daley, known warmly throughout the province as “Herb”, was highly regarded for his gentleness with the sick. He himself suffered a lingering illness, and died at the age of 71 at Chester-Crosier Hospital. The entire community of friars from Malvern was at his bedside at the time of his death in the early morning hours of September 13, 1975. Father Daley was buried in the community cemetery adjoining Saint Mary's Hall, Villanova. His body was later transferred to the Augustinian Plot of Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, Pa.
