This Day in Province History: January 25, 1996
A ceremony to welcome members of the former Good Counsel Vice-Province, recently suppressed, was held on this day at Saint Augustine Friary, Villanova.
This Day in Province History: February 24, 1907
Fr. William A. Jones was consecrated Bishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the oldest diocese in the new world. The ceremony took place in the Augustinian Church of El Cristo, Havana, Cuba.
This Day in Province History: February 23, 1751
Fr. John Rosseter was born at Wexford, Ireland, to Patrick Rosseter and Margaret Bent. As a diocesan priest he joined the Augustinians and was professed on May 31, 1784. He was a pioneer of the American Augustinian Mission.
This Day in Province History: February 22, 1800
This day in 1800 was declared by the United States Congress a national day of mourning in memory of President George Washington, who had died the previous year. Friar Matthew Carr conducted the services and preached on the occasion at St. Mary’s Church, Philadelphia.
This Day in Province History: February 20, 1845
Villanova College was forced to close due to the financial crisis caused by the burning of Saint Augustine Church. The college reopened in September, 1846.
This Day in Province History: February 19, 1863
Fr. James Darragh, ordained two years, wrote to his classmate, Fr. James Waldron, on this day in 1863 about his first winter in Upstate New York, where he had singlehanded care of the towns of Hoosick Falls, Cambridge and Salem. “The church is so dreadful cold that sometimes on Sunday I don’t know whether my feet or hands are on my body or not.”
This Day in Province History: February 18, 1925
The Provincial Definitory authorized the establishment of a novitiate at Madison, New Jersey, pending permission of the Bishop of Newark, New Jersey.
This Day in Province History: February 17, 1921
Bishop William Jones, after serving 14 years as bishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, died at the age of 56 in St. Joseph Hospital, Philadelphia and was buried on the 23rd in the community cemetery, Villanova.
This Day in Province History: February 15, 1968
In a letter addressed to the Prior General, permission was given by the Congregation of Religious to use the vernacular in the recitation of the Divine Office. The Province Newsletter indicated that houses wishing to do so were to so indicate by a secret vote of the community.
This Day in Province History: February 14, 1981
Pope John Paul II ordained 12 Japanese priests in the cathedral of Nagasaki, Japan. Among them was Augustinian Father Joseph Akakura of the Villanova Province.