1862 – 1935 (July 29)
John Michael Fleming, son of Patrick Fleming and Mary O’Hara, was born near Dundas, Ontario, Canada on September 23, 1862. Following studies at the College of Saint Jerome in Berlin, Ontario, he entered the novitiate at Villanova, Pennsylvania in 1885, and made his simple profession of vows on May 4, 1886. He was solemnly professed on May 4, 1889, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 15th of the same year by Archbishop Patrick Ryan in the Philadelphia Cathedral.
Father Fleming served first at Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he was the first superior of Saint Laurence O’Toole Parish. In 1903 he became a member of the Province Mission Band and from 1911 to 1922 he was rector while stationed at Immaculate Conception Parish, Hoosick Falls and Saint Mary’s Parish, Waterford, New York. In 1924, he was named prior at Villanova, but ill health forced him to resign this position the following year. He remained a member of the community at Villanova where he died on July 29, 1935 at the age of 73. His Funeral Mass was offered at Villanova by his nephew, Father James Hanlon. Father Fleming is buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova
