1898 – 1950 (June 24)
Charles Patrick Brown was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 1898 to John Brown and Mary Lyons. He entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pa. in 1924, and, following his novitiate, professed first vows on June 26, 1925. He made solemn profession on the same date in 1928, and was ordained to the priesthood at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. on June 9, 1931 by Bishop Thomas Shahan.
After serving for a short time at Saint Thomas of Villanova Parish in Rosemont, Pa., Father Brown was assigned to Villanova College as Chaplain for the college students and Prefect of Discipline. During this time he established the Augustinian Seminary Guild in 1933, and served as its first Director.
From 1938 to 1947, he served as an assistant at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in the Bronx, N.Y. Here, he helped establish the Tolentine Camp Association, which conducted Camp Wahkon-da for boys at Lake Katrine in the Catskills. In 1947, he was transferred to Saint Patrick Parish in San Diego, California, where he ministered for two years.
In 1949, he was assigned as assistant pastor at Saint Rita’s Parish in Philadelphia. He died while undergoing surgery in Philadelphia’s Jefferson Hospital on June 24, 1950, at the age of 52. His Funeral Mass was celebrated by Prior Provincial Joseph Dougherty at Saint Rita’s, at which Fr. John F. Burns, O.S.A. preached. Father Brown was buried at Villanova in the Community Cemetery.
