1892 – 1964 (May 20)
Thomas Joseph Blessington was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on November 25, 1892, to Thomas J. Blessington and Mary Ann Davis. While attending local schools, he also worked as a printer. In 1914, he entered Saint Rita’s Hall and continued on through Villanova Preparatory. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1917, and made his simple profession of vows on July 23, 1918. He was solemnly professed on the same day in 1921. Following studies, he was ordained to the priesthood at Villanova by Bishop Michael Crane on September 22, 1923.
Father Blessington spent the year following his ordination as a student priest in Washington, D.C. In 1924, he was assigned to teach at Malvern Preparatory School. In the Chapter of 1932, he was assigned to Saint Denis Parish in Ardmore, Pa, and was also appointed Provincial Econome. He was reappointed to this post in the Chapter of 1935. During the Chapters of 1941 and 1944, he was elected Definitor and appointed prior of Our Mother of Consolation in Chestnut Hill, Pa. From 1947 to 1959, Father Blessington served as prior and pastor of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Rosemont, Pa. He was also first Definitor from 1953 to 1956.
Father Blessington served at Saint Mary’s in Lawrence, Mass., from 1959 until 1962 when he retired to the Merrimack College Monastery because of poor health. He was 72 when he died in Bon Secours Hospital on May 20, 1964. Following the Funeral Mass celebrated on May 25th at Merrimack, Father Blessington was buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrence.
