Donald John Ammering was born on November 14, 1915, in Rochester, New York, to John J. Ammering and Maud Shoen. He had three sisters and two brothers, one of whom became a priest with the diocese of Rochester. Baptized in Holy Family Church, his early education was in the parochial schools of Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Monica, from which he graduated in 1919. In 1934 he graduated from West High School in Rochester and worked for a year in the local post office.
John Francis Dorgan was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on October 17, 1893, to John A. Dorgan, a machinist, and his wife, Mary Kerins. John studied at the local parochial school and at Lawrence High School, and entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania in 1916. He was professed on June 24, 1917.
Thomas Galberry, son of Thomas Galberry and Margaret Byrnes, was born in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland on May 28, 1833. His family immigrated to the United States in 1836 and settled in Philadelphia where Thomas studied classics at Villanova College from 1847 to 1851. He entered the novitiate in January, 1852 and made solemn profession on January 4, 1853.
John Aloysius Drabinski was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary on September 29, 1889, to John Drabinski and Mary Maurer. He immigrated to the United States and lived in Camden, New Jersey, where he attended St. Peter School and later St. Vincent Orphanage, in Tacony. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1907, and professed simple vows on July 6, 1908. He was solemnly professed on July 6, 1911. John was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Edmond Prendergast in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, on May 30, 1914.
John Blethen was born December 14, 1922 in San Diego, California. He graduated from St. Augustine High School and attended San Diego State University for one year. He then joined the Augustinians making his Novitiate in New Hamburg, New York, and professing his first vows in 1943. He studied theology at Augustinian College in Washington, D.C. and received a Masters Degree from Catholic University of America. He was ordained to the priesthood February 2, 1949.
John Joseph Farrell was born on November 5, 1932, on Staten Island, New York, one of three sons of John Farrell and Mildred Dwyer. He was baptized on November 20, 1932, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Staten Island, and attended the parish school and Augustinian Academy. Upon graduation, he was received into the Order as a novice on September 9, 1950, and professed simple vows on October 1, 1951, at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, New York.
Thomas P. Fogarty was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on June 29, 1888, the son of Edward Fogarty and Katherine Mackey. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania in 1907 with his brother, Daniel, and together they professed simple vows on July 6, 1908. That same year, on September 30th, the two brothers went to Rome to continue studies at the International College of St. Monica, and made solemn profession there on October 18, 1911.
Joseph Ignatius Boyle, the son of Daniel Boyle and Agnes Reily, was born in Manayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 1909. He attended Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, and was received as a novice on September 9, 1928. He professed first vows on September 10, 1929, and solemn vows September 10, 1932. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova College in 1933, he went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in Education from Catholic University in 1937. He pursued his theological training at Augustinian College, Washington, D.C., and was ordained to the priesthood at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception by Bishop John McNamara on June 9, 1936. He and his brother, Francis X. Boyle, O.S.A., chanted their first Solemn High Mass at the Church of the Holy Ghost, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
John Joseph Bowles was born in Limerick, Ireland on June 6, 1839. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania in 1868, professed simple vows on January 8, 1869, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Wood on April 3, 1871. He was solemnly professed on January 22, 1872.
James Edward Farrell was born in Rochester, New York, the son of James H. Farrell and Nora A. Burke, on December 9, 1921. He received his early education at Saint Augustine Parish School and the Aquinas Institute of Rochester, and attended Niagara University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. Before entering the Province, he spent more than twenty years in the insurance business. In April, 1967 he sought admittance to the community as a Brother candidate. Following his novitiate, he professed simple vows on June 6, 1970, and solemn vows on September 16, 1973.
John Joseph Corr was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 3, 1890, to Joseph Corr and Catherine Donegan. He received his early education at local public and Catholic Schools and spent one year at Roxbury Latin School. Later he worked as a clerk, before he entered Saint Rita’s Hall, Villanova, Pennsylvania, in 1907. He became a novice on June 25, 1910, at Villanova, and made his profession of simple vows on June 25, 1911, and was solemnly professed on the same date in 1914. John was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Philadelphia by Archbishop Edmond Prendergast on May 27, 1916.
Thomas Matthew Carr, son of Michael Carr and Mary McDaniel, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was baptized, possibly on the day of his birth, at St Catherine Church, on January 14, 1755. He had one known sibling, a sister who, years later, joined him in America. He entered the Order at the age of 16, made his novitiate at John’s Lane in Dublin, and was professed on November 6, 1772. He received his education at the Augustinian house of studies at Toulouse in Southern France, and was ordained there on June 13, 1778.
James Peter Furlong was born in County Wexford, Ireland, on March 1, 1849, to Patrick Furlong and Anastasia Gleeson. He entered the novitiate from Ireland in Ghent, Belgium, in 1867, and made his first profession there on November 25, 1868. He came to the United States as a professed cleric the following year, in broken health due to the unfavorable conditions of the cold, damp monastery of Saint Stephen in which he and his companions lived. He made his solemn profession of vows on November 26, 1871, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Wood at Overbrook on February 29, 1872.
Martin John Geraghty, the son of Dennis Geraghty and Margaret Power, was born in Carthage, New York, on November 11, 1867. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1885, and professed simple vows on August 29, 1886. He was solemnly professed on August 31, 1889 and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Patrick Ryan on May 31, 1890, in the cathedral of Philadelphia.
After ordination, Father Geraghty served at Chestnut Hill, Pa. In 1894, he was assigned to preach parish missions, and two years later was named its rector of what came to be known as the Province Mission Band. For a time, he served as Master of Novices and of Professed student friars, and was a definitor of the Province. He was also an assistant pastor at Our Mother of Consolation Parish Chestnut Hill and Saint Thomas of Villanova Parish, Villanova.
Father Geraghty was elected Prior Provincial in July, 1902, and was re-elected in June, 1906, and again in 1910. During his terms in this office, he opened Belle Air, at one time the monastery, to the postulants of the Province. He opened the Chicago missions and accepted the mission of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in the Bronx, N.Y., in September 1905. In 1910 he celebrated the Solemn Mass at the dedication of the new Church in Greenwich, N.Y., and in April, 1912, as Commissary General of the Italian Augustinian Mission in Philadelphia, blessed the new chapel of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine in South Philadelphia. On September 18, 1912, he laid the cornerstone of Corr Hall, the Province’s formation house at Villanova.
Father Geraghty was 47 when he died at 9:00 PM on September 28, 1914 at Chestnut Hill, of Bright’s disease, just three months after the completion of his third provincial term. Bishop William Jones, O.S.A. celebrated the Funeral Mass on Thursday, October 1, 1914, at Our Mother of Consolation Church, Chestnut Hill. Archbishop Edmond Prendergast gave the final absolution. Burial followed at Villanova in the Community Cemetery. Father Geraghty was survived by his mother, who passed away three months later in Carthage, New York.
John Raymond Brennan was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, November 1, 1900, to Henry Brennan and Lillian Mundie, and was baptized at Immaculate Conception Church in that city. Following his elementary and high school education, he entered the Order in 1918, and professed first vows on June 25, 1919, and solemn vows on the same date in 1922. He graduated from Villanova College in 1922, and continued there to study theology. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Thomas Walsh of Trenton, New Jersey, on August 2, 1925, at Villanova.
Andrew Joseph Boyle was born on February 21, 1923, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to James Boyle and Mary Dougherty. He was baptized on March 11, 1923, in the parish of Our Lady of Victory, Philadelphia, where he attended the parochial school. Upon graduation from West Catholic High School, Philadelphia, he entered the United States Army, where, as Chaplain's Assistant, he was decorated with the American Theater Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and World War II Victory Medal. In September, 1946, he became a post graduate postulant at Augustinian Academy, on Staten Island, New York.
William Heinrich Bohmann was born on July 22, 1901, in Cloppenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, one of three sons and four daughters of Herman Bohmann and Johanna Balhmann. In 1928 he emigrated to Canada, and, in 1931, moved to the Bronx, New York. Later he relocated to Philadelphia where he worked in the Belmont Mansion, Fairmount Park, from April 1932 to April 1934.
Angelo M. Allegrini was born on April 19, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Pietro Allegrini and Maria Bonugli. He grew up in Old Saint Augustine Parish, Philadelphia, where he received his elementary education. In September, 1934, he entered Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. After graduation he attended Manhattan College in New York, from which he graduated "cum laude" in May, 1943.
John Joseph Del Casale was born on August 25, 1947, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Del Casale and Grazie Buontempo, and one of a family of six sons and four daughters. He was baptized on October 5, 1947, at Saint Monica Church, Philadelphia, and attended Saint Monica Parish School, and Bishop Neumann High School. Beginning in 1965, he worked at Boeing-Vertol, but in 1967, he entered the Province's Brothers Formation Program, at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, New York, and then at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. On August 27, 1969, he was received as a novice at Good Counsel Novitiate, and professed first vows on August 28, 1970.
