Timothy
Donovan, O.S.A.1838-1875
January 25 is the anniversary of Timothy Donovan.
Timothy Donovan, son of Michael Donovan and Mary Leary, was born in Skibbereen,
Ireland, in 1838. He entered the novitiate at Villanova on January 5,
1866, and professed final vows on January 20, 1870. After pursuing his
philosophical and theological studies he was ordained to the priesthood
at Old Saint Augustine Church, Philadelphia, by Bishop Becker of Wilmington,
DE, on January 30, 1870.
Father Donovan’s first assignment was to Saint Mary’s Parish,
Lawrence, MA. In 1871 he was sent as an assistant pastor to Saint Patrick
Parish, Cambridge, NY. The following year, 1872, he was appointed pastor
of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Schaghticoke, NY, where he also had
charge of the mission at Johnsonville.
After a brief pastorate of three years at Schaghticoke he died there,
at the age of thirty-seven, on January 25, 1875. Father Donovan is buried
in the Augustinian plot at Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Lawrence, MA.
†