1870 – 1936 (January 16)
Edward George Dohan was born in Troy, New York, on January 9, 1870, to Timothy Dohan and Katharine Sheedy. In December, 1886, he joined the Christian Brothers at Amawalk, New York, and taught with them at Manhattanville and at the De La Salle Institute. He eventually left the Brothers in 1893, and completed studies for a Bachelor of Science degree at Villanova College on June 27, 1894. He applied, and was received into the novitiate, in 1895 at Villanova, and made his first profession of vows on May 4, 1896. He was solemnly professed on May 13, 1899, and was awarded a Master of Arts degree from Villanova in 1903. Edward was ordained to the priesthood at Overbrook Seminary by Archbishop Patrick Ryan on May 27, 1899.
In 1899 Father Dohan was assigned to the newly established parish of Our Mother of Good Counsel, Staten Island, New York, and the new school, Augustinian Academy, both housed in the Villa de Sales, a former monastery of the Visitation Sisters. In 1905 Father Dohan established a mission in the Bronx and was appointed the first rector. The first Mass in the new parish, Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, was offered in a temporary chapel on April 22, 1906. At the Provincial Chapter in 1910 Father Dohan was made President of Villanova College, and was awarded an S. T. L. on July 24, 1911, and an S.T.B. on July 11, 1913 by the Order. He resigned from the presidency in 1917 and was named pastor of Saint Joseph, Greenwich, N.Y. Selected as the discreet from America he represented the Province at the General Chapter in Rome in 1920. With the closing of the Preparatory Scholasticate at Villanova, he was appointed prior and pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel Parish, Staten Island, and principal of Augustinian Academy there on January 5, 1921. Father Dohan was greatly instrumental in purchasing the property and constructing the new Augustinian Academy on Grymes Hill, which was occupied in December, 1925. He became the rector of postulants at Mount Saint Rita.
On April 7, 1926 Father Dohan resigned from duties at Mount Saint Rita due to failing health and resided at Saint Joseph Paarish in Greenwich, N.Y. until 1929, when he was assigned to Saint Augustine Parish, Troy. During these years he also served as definitor of the Province. A gentle, kindly priest, Father Dohan exercised a profound influence especially on the young postulants who greatly admired his deep spirituality clothed in such an appealing and friendly personality. Father Dohan died at Troy, N.Y., on January 16, 1936, and is buried in the Augustinian plot at Saint John’s Cemetery there.
